There were tensions increasingly thickened in the room. At the head of the table, sat the King and Queen. Next to their sides, Duke Raven of the Corvus sat opposite to the Duchess Vinca of the Ophis, and continued so on with the children. Across from where I seated was Irene, many times, we stole glances at each other awkwardly, confused of the situations and what brought together such a setting?
One of the scenarios where Irene was invited in to the castle was when she saved the prince from a disaster.. or the other scene which occurred later in the game when Cercis introduced her to his parents, an exclusive scene only if you've taken the prince route. Honestly, a lot of things have changed front the original storylines, so this is an difficult pace to assess.
"You're the Blooming Witch I've been hearing all over of in our Academy, right? Seeing you right now.. I can't help but admit you're really as good as they say." Vinca said as she observed Irene in astonished. Such immense aura from this little girl.. I almost couldn't believe it- Vinca thought.
" I've heard from Galium that you've also played a huge role in slaying the wyvern that attacked our manor as well. That I can not be thankful for enough ." Raven said with a content expression on his face which is kind of surprising.
" Irend Briar, am I correct? Such an accomplishment at such a young age.. I am truly impressed as I can be of your performance!" Carya said as he gave a big smile toward the young prodigy.
" Thank you, your majesty and your graces. I only did what I could do, so someone such as myself is not worthy of all your praises." Irene spoke.
"Haha..! You're a very humble person! I can see now why Cercis has taken a liken to you! To be honest, It's rare for my son to speak fondly of anyone as much often as you." Carya quoted.
After his majesty said that, the queen Primula by his side nudged him, signaling him to be aware that his son's ex-fiancée is presence as well. Immediately, he looked at me and realized.
"Hmph ah! With all due respect.." Carya said slowly as if he's trying to make sure he doesn't offense me in anyway.
"I am alright, your majesty. There's no need to be concerned about such feelings as I was the one that break-off the engagement. Please forgive me for creating such a predicament without such a word of notice to his grace." I said as I bowed down to beg for his pity.
Because of my sudden sincerity, it has made his majesty a bit flustered and tried to respond back the best way he could.
"Ah-ah it's alright then. You're all young, after all. If you guys don't have any problems with it then-" before Carya could finish, Raven stepped in abruptly to speak out his mind about this.
" This isn't alright, your majesty. As a father and the Duke of a house, I am deeply devastated and disappointed of my daughter's actions." Raven said as he turned to look at me with such pitiyful eyes.
"Upon hearing the stories of how my daughter acted in school and the ways she has treated others was already shaming us as one that representing one-third of the nation. To top it off, she made a mockery of the crown in front of the whole crowd of students in such a distasteful manner as well. Tell me, how is that not a problem?" Raven continued. The whole room turned quiet after he said it.
I could feel it. The eyes of judgement, the valley of shame that have brought upon me. Truly, the verdicts from these people don't matter, after all they are all fictions to me, but at the same time, somewhere in my heart, It has truly wished that the person in front of me doesn't think of me that way as well. Huuu.. this is frustrating..
Raven sighed and continued- "… I don't want to waste my breath on such an inglorious topic to us any longer. The least my incompetent daughter can make up for is apologize to your highness, mustn't she?" Raven said- "Kannavis, apologies to his highness." Raven demanded in an awful tone.
Right.. I understand now. This person, I'm shaking, not because of Kannavis's memories. My fear right now is based solely of my own nightmarish past of a manager. That scum who always put me on edge, the person who put me in an humiliation ritual in front of everyone in the workplace. They resemble each other so much. All these nervousness stemmed from that very moment, no matter how much I tried to resist or ease my anxious feelings, it wouldn't go away.
I slowly got up from my seat, sweats drooling, legs shaking, first pivoting my body towards the king and queen to give them the deepest bowed as I could muster up, and trying my best not to hit my head against the table. After doing so, I turned over a bit, face towards Cercis who was sitting beside Irene. Seriously, seeing Cercis's nonchalantly smugged expression was fine, but having to see those stressing expressions on Irene's face looking towards me is torturous. She must think I'm such a pathetic person right now.
Midway through my bow, Cercis raised his hand, palms toward me as if signaling for a pause.
"You don't have to, lady Kannavis, after all it wasn't truly all your fault. I am wrong as well." Cercis said.
His statement has made everybody raised an eyebrow in conflicting. What does he mean by that?
Cercis continued- "There was something that I haven't spoken out about this situation. Our engagement was never a one-sided fallen off. The reason so is that lady Kannavis and I had discussed about this engagement beforehand and came to an mutually agreement about the cancellation of our marriage. Lady Kannavis suggested it and it would be a lie if I have stated that I have never thought about it, so please do not blame it all on her lady."
This popped up of information was a surprised to everyone. Lady Kannavis who was always head over heels over prince Cercis agreed upon such terms? And to be the very person who suggest it too out of all people?! There must be more to this, doesn't it?
"Are what you've spoken of truly correct, your highness?… my daughter didn't put you up on this, did she?" Raven asked Cercis.
" I can assure you, your grace, that what I have said is the truth." Cercis responded.
"..Then, what might be the reason for your sudden change of heart, miss Kannavis?" Vinca curiously asked. That is the question that everybody wanted to know, what could be the reason why I did it?
After hearing the question, my eyes automatically began to move towards Irene's way. She was eagered to know of it as much as everyone else there too.
At that moment I tried to thought up of something, and suddenly Cercis spoke up something that put me in an even worse spot.
"From what lady Kannavis has told me, it seemed that I was no longer a person she holds dear in her heart." Cercis blankly stated.
From his words, people around the table have confusions written all over their face.
"Wait- does that mean-" Vinca tried to asked and Cercis continued.
"I'm afraid it's exactly as you had imagined, your grace. Lady Kannavis already has a partner that is waiting for her." Cercis said.
Everybody's mouth was unhingedly fallen down to the tip of their jaws. They couldn't believe it. Carya looked genuinely suprised and Primula was gently covering her mouth in shock as well. Raven, on the other hand, seemed to have veins popping on his head, the pale colors on his cheeks seemed to gradually turn into a red hues as time goes by. The Ophis and Ficaria looked like they're really enjoying the show, and Galium looked unexpectedly dumbfounded by this.
"What?" Raven grunted as he turned to look at me… Ah- he looked really pissed right now.
But Cercis wasn't finished with messing with me yet- "Lady Kannavis had said that she had a partner waiting for her on the dance floor, and that we can not satisfy each other needs for company… That's why I had to attend the ballroom alone that night.. more that that, I had only seen lady Kannavis entered the party in a very drunken state later that evening. Alone and in a drunken state on the dance floor, I just assumed that the mysterious man wasn't coming and left her lady in such an heartbroken state." Cercis said with a sad look on his face…
Oh he really pulled a fast one on me, this is bad at this rate.. I could think of so many sh*t nicknames they're going to give me after this gets out. Can I actually recovered from this?
"Is that what happen? You're not just a pretentious person, but now disloyal as well? Oh Kannavis Corvus, I gave you everything and this is how you repay the house back by being shameless all round the bout? Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Raven asked angrily.
I could hear it. His blood's boiling, if looks could kill, I'm pretty sure I'm getting murdered right now.
".. and at last, I must confessed that I am not innocent as well, your grace." Cercis said.
At this point, Raven was truly at the end of his wits.
"SPIT IT!!" Raven yelled.
"I am in love with Irene Briar and will be asking for her hand in marriage as well." Cercis said.
"WHAT?!" Galium, Hedera and I all shouted in unison. What the f*ck do you mean by that?