"I didn't believe it until Frazier confirmed it that you were there, at the Diamond's house." A young Lord says.
"I had to be." The one whose back faced her said.
"Why? Do you care about the Diamond? The title or the girl?" Another asks.
"None. I care not about any of it."
"I was worried when I heard you have decided to take a bride this season." Another says. "You do not need the bride price I hear she has, you already have everything you could ever need. Take the diamond out of your list, let me have her. I need the bride price I hear she has to renovate the Bowen Estate in Calhotofo. You can have the Weatherby girl, I need the Diamond."
"You seem to be forgetting that Prince Vaughn may be needing the money more than we all do. He needs to marry a lady from a rich House in order to stand a chance against his brother in the fight for the throne." Another says.
"Half brother." The one backing Kidaya says. "And I do not need to marry any little girl barely out of leading strings before I can stake a claim to the throne. Yes, she may have the money, but except I am sure she is exactly what I need, I don't care about who or what she is. The only reason I am agreeing to take a bride this season is because it has been commanded of me, aside from that, there is no other reason."
"Children?"
"Of course all women's main purpose is to breed children. Good looking ones may I add. Isn't that so, Prince Vaughn?"
"Hmmm." He nods.
"So does that mean you are not out for the Diamond?"
"If she's as beautiful as you all say, I may be tempted to involve her in a bit of scandal. It's what all wallflowers and rich girls want."
They all laugh.
"I'll still ask for her hand even after you compromise her. The money is all I want." Lord Bowen says and it makes them all laugh more.
They heard noise from the hall room.
"We better get inside before Lady Wen throws a china ware at us for dividing her Ball." One says beginning to move for the side door of the Ballroom, the others follow him.
Sighing, Kidaya holds the hem of her gown and turns to head back inside the hall too from the direction she had come from. She had just turned when she mistakenly pushed down one of the small flower vases behind her and it smashed to pieces.
The second Prince was about to follow the other men when he heard the vase fall. Swiftly, he heads for where the sound came from. He had just taken three steps when he saw a lady emerge from the flower place.
Kidaya paused in her steps when she saw a shadow in front of her. Looking up, it was the man whose back had been facing her, and he was no other person than the one she had bumped into last night at the Roxbury Ball.
"I am not surprised to see that you were the one. Of course, they are words only you would utter." Kidaya says turning to leave.
"Had your Mama not taught you that it is rude to eavesdrop on people's conversations, much more on the ones carried out by gentlemen?"
Kidaya pauses and turns to face him. "Gentlemen you say. But all I saw was a bunch of women gossiping."
Vaughn scoffs. The audacity! She didn't just call them that. Were High Ladies generally this rude, or was it just this... Wait! Of course, she would be the one, the same girl who had bumped into him on purpose last night, and then faked a fall. She was the same girl in front of him now. Of course, she must have followed him in order to get a special attention or woo him. It infuriated Vaughn.
"The things you lot do. Certainly, you didn't think that if you followed me out here, that it would make me pay attention to you, today? Or was it all of the Lord's attention you seek? To see which you could capture first?"
"What!" Kidaya exclaims when the meaning of his words finally dawned on her. "You think I followed you out here to woo you or get your attention?"
He shrugs. "Why else will you be out here without a chaperone, eavesdropping on our conversation? Did you hear anything you can use against any of us to trap us into a marriage with you by the end of the season? Perhaps you would try to report to the Diamond about all the things we said about her." He moves closer to her. "But that would only result in a scandal for you, one which I will not accept I was a part of." He takes a step closer to her and her scent hits him. Jasmine smell. It was soothing and intoxicating. He inhales it in and for some seconds it made him unstable. "You... you sm-"
"Perhaps it is you whom I should warn." Kidaya fires at him angrily. "A scandal is something I will not tolerate from the likes of you, royalty, or whatever you may be." She says shooting arrows with her eyes at him.
And for the first time, he saw her eyes. Emerald green eyes. A lovely shade at that. But right now, that lovely pair of eyes were shooting daggers at him, and for a minute he almost flinched under her gaze.
"Do not think so highly of yourself, Mr. Not every Lady fancies time with you," Kidaya says turning and walking away, but she stops after a few steps. "Least I forget, the next time you go calling on a Lady, at least be humble enough to step out of your carriage like the rest of the men, without using the human step kneeling by the door, might I add. Have a terrible evening, Lord." She says and storms off.
It took some minutes before her words finally made sense to the Second Prince. So she had seen his carriage when he had called on the Diamond this morning. Either she had been on her way out in her carriage and had peeped outside to watch, or she lives close to the Diamond. Who the hell was she and what gave her the right to talk to him as she pleases? Angrily, he storms off after her, but he loses her to the crowd of men that had surrounded her the moment she had stepped back into the hall. Prince Vaughn watched her as she smiled coyly at all the men. Her eyes turn to look in his direction with iciness in them, her smile gone, before she quickly looks back at the gentlemen in front of her and continues to smile.
He was about to take a step towards her when two ladies appeared in front of her.
"Your Grace, it is an honor to see you here. I am Lady Weatherby and this is my daughter, Margery Weatherby."
Margery gives a curtsey. "Your Grace." She says raising her head slowly and fluttering her lashes at the Second Prince.
"I am sure you know my husband, he -"
Suddenly there was applause in the hall as the Host began to give her speech and thank everyone for accepting her invitation to the ball. After a very short speech and dance from her and her Lord to open the dance floor, she announced for everyone to join them in the dance floor.
"I wonder who will be the first Lady to be asked to the dance floor today." Eddna says with a smile.
"I bet it will be -"
"May I have this dance?" Two voices chorused at once, stretching out their right hand in front of Kidaya.
Eddna and Joan look at the two men who had just asked their cousin to a dance, and then they both exchange looks and gasp in surprise.
Kidaya was about to move when she heard two voices in front of her. Looking up, two hands stretched out asking her for a dance. One belonged to the pompous Prince she had argued with outside the hall an hour ago, while the other belonged to a stranger she was seeing for the first time. Of course, she didn't want to dance with anyone, but the Queen had asked her to participate in everything to avoid gossips about her, and earlier today she had overheard two Mamas saying the reason she had never danced with any of the gentlemen was because she probably has no idea how to. Kidaya laughs mentally at the very thought of it. Of course, this was the perfect time to prove them all wrong, and it would be a perfect time to leave the proud Prince hanging by taking the stranger's offer for a dance.
Smiling, Kidaya takes the stranger's hand. "With all pleasure, Lord?"
"Trenton." The stranger replies.
Still smiling. "With all pleasure, Lord Trenton," Kidaya says walking away with the stranger to the dance floor.
Behind them, people began to whisper for many reasons. One, because of who her dance partner was, and two, because they were curious if the Diamond really knew how to dance.
The moment the man beside him had mentioned his name, Vaughn had looked up to see if it really was his Cousin Trenton, and it was. The last time he had heard about him, he was still out of town, so when had he entered the city? Was the first Queen aware Trenton was in town? Vaughn turns to look at his cousin walk away with the girl by his arms without even offering him a look. Of course, he didn't care about the girl accepting his cousin's dance offer.
He had only asked the girl for a dance with hopes of embarrassing her with it because he had heard the whispers that she may not know how to dance. But looking at his cousin and her waltz on the dance floor this very minute, he knew the gossipers had been wrong. The whispers were not true.
She knew how to dance. Not just how to dance, but she danced pretty too. Probably because she wanted to seduce the men around her into making a commitment to her.