"This is a really bad idea." Rose, Lady Audrey's hand maid whined for the upteenth time since they left the house and set out for the festival happening close to the river bank.
"The fireworks are about to start Rose, so we should hurry." Lady Audrey sounded really excited as she ran across the field towards the large gathering of people close to the river bank.
Her long purple cloak covered her entire frame and the hood that came with it made it almost impossible for anyone to get a good look at her face. This was the third year she would be sneaking out of her father's house to attend the festival without his permission.
Not like he didn't want her there, after all, it was every father's wish to see his beloved daughter happily married but he just didn't want her to attend like a commoner and meet men they were not of high status.
"What if someone tries to rob us? What if your father notices that we are gone? He would have my head if he finds out about this." Rose whined, chewing on her nails nervously.
"No one is going to tell him anything Rose and he won't find out so let's just go. After-all, this isn't the first time I'll be sneaking out of the house in the dead of night."
"Lady Audrey!" Rose cried out in horror at her response but Lady Audrey simply burst out laughing as she broke into a run just as the fireworks exploded in the sky, signaling the start of the festival.
She came to a stop almost abruptly in the middle of the crowd, her face lit up as she stared up at the hundreds of colors bursting into the night sky with a contented smile on her face.
The Star festival is held every year during a full moon and King Rutherford initiated it to assist the singles in the kingdoms to connect and meet new, potential partners under the festival fireworks. It might sound like a hopeless romantic event but every year, this festival had produced at least ninety to a hundred couples and Lady Audrey wanted nothing more than to be one of those couples.
Her father had constantly been breathing down her neck to choose a suitor ever since she came of age but lady Audrey had no interest at all in all the dignitaries that visited her father's house frequently to ask for her hand in marriage.
Almost all of them acted like she was nothing but a prize, a trophy that would adorn their house after marriage and birth their children because it was the only thing she was created to do.
She couldn't settle for a life like that so for the past few years, she snuck out during every festival dressed like a commoner in hopes that she would be lucky and find a man she would love, a man capable of the affection she craved. A man that would be able to set her soul on fire with raw desire and passion and a man that would…
Her thoughts trialed off and her head immediately turned to her side when she felt someone touch her butt. The person's hand had lingered a little too long to be a mistake.
Without a second thought, she touched the man standing beside her with his back to her and he turned around just in time for her to land a slap on his face.
"Lady Audrey!" Rose exclaimed at the scene before her and jumped in front of the both of them, "I am so sorry sir but it was a mistake, please pardon us." She apologized profusely.
"It was not a mistake Rose," Lady Audrey clapped back, "this pervert just tried to use the opportunity of this crowded space to touch my butt thinking I won't know who it was."
"What?!" The thick, heavy voice of the man she had just slapped rang out and that was when she got a good look at him.
She had almost not recognized him due to how casually he was dressed but his eyes, his familiar face in general caused a gasp to escape from her.
"You…" she muttered under her breath.
What was he doing at a festival dressed like that? Royals never attended events like this with the people so why was he there? She wondered.
"What the fuck did you just say?" Prince Arthur asked angrily as he glared at the woman hidden underneath a purple cloak that had just dared to slap him and worse still, accused him of touching her.
He only attended the festival to experience the beauty of the fireworks without having to deal with his family's squabbles while they all gathered on a balcony in the palace to watch it together, instead, he attended in person dressed like every regular person at the festival.
"You heard me right, you touched me, didn't you? Is this how you go around harassing people just because you have the power to." She continued angrily and Prince Arthur was simply taken aback.
"Do you just go around accusing people of what they didn't do and even slapping them? Are you a lunatic or something?" He asked, stepping closer to her with his fists clenched tightly by his side.
Rose realized he could hit Lady Audrey and she couldn't let her get harmed so she tried to plead with the stranger but he wasn't even listening to her, his eyes were glued to the woman in the purple cloak so he easily shoved Rose aside.
"Coming from someone like you, isn't that something," she hissed and his brows furrowed.
What did she mean by someone like him? Did she know who he was? That couldn't be possible, he thought to himself and even though it looked like he was about to hit her, lady Audrey didn't flinch and still stood her ground in front of him and that sparked some sort of interest in Prince Arthur.
He suddenly raised his fist and aimed directly for her face but at the last second, his hand went right past her head and made contact with the face of a strange man standing directly behind her.
Lady Audrey didn't so much as flinch until she heard someone groan out loud in pain behind her, she immediately glanced behind her and saw a man crying out in pain with a bloody nose.
"He was the one that touched you." Prince Arthur said angrily as he glared at her. Lady Audrey was too stunned to speak and Prince Arthur stepped past her to grab the man he had just hit by his shirt.
"Tell her exactly what you did right now before I…" he let his words trail off intentionally to make his threat sound even more serious, as if his physique haven't already gotten the job done.
"You really are a bully." Lady Audrey mumbled to herself.
"I am sorry Miss, I just… I… your body was attractive when the wind blew at your robe." The strange man pleaded and Lady Audrey was surprised to actually hear him confess.
She had assumed Prince Arthur was simply trying to bully someone like Prince Nolan had insinuated the other day at the party.
"It won't happen again." The stranger cried out and Prince Arthur pushed him to the ground.
"You should make sure you know what you're doing before you go about slapping people, if I wasn't a gentleman, I would most likely have hit you back."
She scoffed out loud and Rose inhaled sharply in panic because she could tell Lady Audrey had a death wish. She had no idea why her Lady wasn't scared of the man standing in front of her, his body alone was intimidating enough yet Lady Audrey kept running her mouth in front of him even when she knew she was wrong.
At that point, Rose believed the young Miss was hell bent on getting herself hurt so her father could end up killing her instead, she was at the verge of breaking down in tears while she watched the two of them go back and forth with the whole thing.
The real pervert used the opportunity to scurry off.
"You a gentleman? Really? Last I checked, you're very far from one."
It was undeniably that she felt stupid and bad for slapping him like that when he wasn't the one that had touched her but she was still very angry at what had happened the last time they met to just accept her error and apologize.
He had not apologized the other day so why should she? She thought.
Prince Arthur bit down on his lower lip in the most attractive manner as he watched her with some sort of look in his eyes that made Lady Audrey uncomfortable because she couldn't exactly tell what was going on in his mind,
"Do I know you?" He suddenly asked, squinting his eyes at her as he took a step closer to peer underneath her hood and get a good look at her face but Lady Audrey quickly took a step back.
"You sound familiar…" he cocked his head sideways at her as he kept inching closer and Lady Audrey's heart began to race. Each time he brought his face closer and she got a good look at his eyes, her face fanned hot and her chest heaved heavily.
She was about to hurry away from him when she stepped on her cloak by accident and slipped. Her hands shot out almost immediately in reaction to her fall and she grabbed onto whatever she could reach for.
Her hood slipped off her head and her hair poured out from underneath it as her face came into view. She was holding onto Arthur's shirt while her body hung in the air, her eyes wide open in shock.
"Well… well… well… look who it is." Prince Arthur said gingerly with a smirk on his face.