"Is she not inside?" Park asks coming down the hallway. He glances at the watch in his hand. "She said she needed just thirty minutes. Do I need to call –
"No, she is fine, Park. She just asked me to wait out -" Ralph hears a thud noise inside the room. Smiling, "She just asked me to give her a few more minutes to get herself together." He says the last few sentences more loudly, hoping Kidaya hears him and makes haste. "Let us know when you are ready Kidaya."
Nodding, Park waits with a smile.
The door opens and Kidaya steps out dressed in her ball gown. "Oh brother, you always make a fuss," Kidaya says closing the door behind her.
Stepping forward, Park said, "He was just worried about you. I swear he had that look in his eyes that said he'll fry me when I reentered the ballroom without you." Park says offering her his hand.
Faking a laugh. "He worries for nothing." She says taking his hand and they begin to head back to the ballroom. Ralph follows behind them.
Entering the ballroom, the soiree was still going on. The first person her eyes saw was the second Prince who still had Margery glued to his arms. Kidaya scoffs. When the second Prince glares at her, she offers him her most sympathetic look before turning to her brother. "I think it is time we retire home, brother." She says letting go of Park's hand and taking her brother's own.
On their way to the carriage, they see the Duke's carriage leaving the Edgare's estate in a hurry.
"Oh, so the Duke was here too?"
~
"How was the soiree tonight?" the First Queen asks the second Prince when he steps on the balcony. She was staring at the stars, her left hand twisting the pendant of her necklace.
Prince Vaughn stares at her as her eyes are fixed on the sky. "Why are you standing out here alone?" where is your Lady-in-waiting? And why has she –
"Hush now, Vaughn before you make me a scene. Lila went to get me a coat and the guards are all here, are they not? I just need to lift my hand and I can touch them." The first Queen says turning to look at him.
"You still shouldn't be outside. You still have that cold don't you?"
"Seeing you are trying so hard to avoid my question, the soiree must not have been to your liking. Although I doubt Lady Edgare would host anything short of good."
Rolling his eyes. "It is better than last year."
"Is it?" the first Queen questions. "Was the diamond there?"
And at the mention of her name, his anger returned. Much worse this time when he recalls the ordeal she put him through with the girl Margery.
The Queen studies his expression. "Wasn't she?"
"Did you have to go ahead and cause trouble this season by choosing her as a diamond? If you didn't want to choose one you shouldn't have, instead of choosing that … that –
The first Queen smiles. "I guess she was there, and she made quite an impression on you."
"The girl is rude, proud, annoying, and causes havoc wherever –" The first queen laughs out and it forces the prince to stop and look up at her. Nothing he had said was amusing, so why was she –
"I am glad you two share the same opinion of each other." The Queen says.
It took some seconds before he understood his mother's words. "She … she said I am –
"I guess the soiree was engaging then. Did you dance with her?"
And that question, that question makes Vaughn recall how he had watched her dancing with minister Edgare's guest, how she had stared at him and they had stared at each other, how he had walked towards her to get a dance but she had pushed the Weatherby girl to him instead, and got him hooked with her the entire night. What annoyed him most was the smile of achievement she had on her face when she looked at him after that.
Smiling, the first Queen turns back to look at the sky. "You should get to know her more, she seems interesting."
And that was when Lila returned with the Queen's coat and wrapped it around the queen's shoulder.
Sighing, Vaughn walks away. Four steps later, he pauses and turns to look at the Queen. "Trenton," he says. And at his words, the Queen turns to look at him. "He is in town, and was present at the Edgare's ball. But I am sure you are already aware of that."
The Queen smiles at him sadly.
"He has grown into a fine man, you should see him, I am sure he misses you."
*
"There she is, kill her!" screamed the faceless man as they pursued her.
Kidaya ran as fast as she could, she couldn't see Ralph or anyone, she was all alone and the faceless men were after her. Just as one of them catches her and is about to kill her with his sword, Kidaya screams and wakes up, vaulting into a sitting position. Sweats beaded her head as she panted.
The next second, the door to her room swings open and Ralph walks in hurrying to her. From the way she sat and looked, he didn't need to ask what had happened. She'd had a nightmare, again. He had just been walking past her quarters when he had heard her scream.
He pulls her head to his shoulder, patting her on the head. "It is okay, Kidaya, it was just a dream."
"I can't breathe." Kidaya struggles to say.
"Should we take a walk outside?"
She shakes her head. "No. I'll go for a ride with Cyrano."
~
Vaughn jumps on his horse and takes the reins from Harlane. His nightmare had returned even when he tried to draw, it hadn't helped. Sighing, he sped off on the horse. He rode out from the back gate of the palace.
"Yah!" He screams speeding off on his horse.
More than an hour later, he was coming to a halt when someone rode past him in speed. On impulse, he flips the reins of his horse and rides after the person. But the closer he got, the faster the rider went. An excellent horseman! Vaughn acknowledged. He would fancy a competition if only the rider would stop.
"Hello!" Vaughn screams after the rider who wasn't slowing down. Looking ahead, he saw a fence six feet tall ahead of the rider. At that speed, the horse will not be able to make it over the fence.
"Hello!" He screams louder this time, also increasing his speed and trying to catch up with the rider. "Do not try to jump the fence! You will not -
The rider and its horse jump and land on the other side of the fence excellently, pulling the horse to a halt.
Vaughn pulls his horse to a halt too, and sat on it, eyes on the halted rider. He was impressed, whoever the rider was, was an excellent one. More excellent than even he.
Smiling, Kidaya turns slightly to the side with a proud smile on her lips. Without wasting any time, she begins to ride away at a slow pace this time.
Vaughn watched, his breathing slowing down because for a moment there, he had thought the horse would not make it, and there would be an accident. A bloody one it would have been. Heaving, he picks up the reins of his horse and was about to turn and head back to the palace, when the cape that had been covering the rider's face fell off the head to the back, revealing a rider with long hair that dangled down the back, past the waist.
A woman!
Vaughn could not believe his eyes. And if the rider was not so far away from him, he would have raced down to confirm what he had seen. Because there was no way a woman would ride astride a horse, and there was also no way a woman would be that fast. Well! All he had to do was wait here for the rider tomorrow morning and hope he or she decides to ride this way.
~
Kidaya rides into the stable and hands over the reins of Cyrano to the stable boy before jumping off her horse. As soon as her feet touch the ground, two swords were thrown at her, which she catches with ease with both hands. And even before she could unsheathe them, two people came at her with swords from different directions. Without unsheathing her swords, Kidaya begins to defend herself while also leading them outside the stable to the training field.
Eyes on each other, the two attackers nod their heads in agreement, and immediately, the one in front kneels down while the one behind jumps and uses the other one's shoulder as a step to push him forward as he attacks Kidaya again. Using both swords, Kidaya blocks all their moves and finally flips herself over, hitting both of them on the knee and causing them to fall to the ground.