As the music kept on playing, Luke is lurking outside the garden watching the happenings inside the ballroom from afar.
“Is it time yet?” He leaned on the tree bark as he crossed his arms.
“I want to see her, now. But noooo, Father wants me to wait for his signal. What kind of signal is that??”
He looked up and saw the dragons scanning the perimeter.
“I should calm myself down or else they would notice my presence.”
Luke smiled to himself, “Ah, yes. The advantage of being a child. They cannot sense my presence since I am too small to be noticed. Or more like they can sense me but they don’t treat my presence as a threat.”
Luke climbed up the tree to have a better view of what is happening inside the ballroom.
“Ah, there she is,” he smiled to himself as he saw Flizeria with her cousins playing around with the music.
“Where’s the other twerp?” He scanned the surroundings but found no sign of Finnian.
“Oh, this makes my job easier.” He smiled evilly to himself as he let himself down.
“I should find my target while waiting for the signal.”
*****
A man stood casually at the corner of the ballroom, talking with acquaintances and exchanging greetings.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, the man continued to enjoy the birthday banquet of the princess.
“Isn’t she a lovely Princess?” One of his acquaintances asked him.
“Ah, yes. She sure is Count Philip,” the man replied with a loving smile on his face.
“Although, she does not seem to be royalty if I say so myself. But she is a lovely child,” he added after taking a sip of the drink in his hand.
Philip looked around nervously, making sure no one heard him. After confirming that no one heard them, he chuckled.
“What’s with the sudden formality? I am speaking to you formally though I am of lower rank than you, you should do the same.”
“I don’t mind you calling me casually. But I do believe calling you by your title would invoke respect for you from other people.”
“Oh, please you don’t have to do that.”
“I can and I will, as a sign of our friendship and my respect for you.”
“So I should call you formally, then?”
“Don’t bother, my friend.”
They exchanged laughter for a while when something caught the man’s attention.
“Count Philip, would you excuse me for a moment?”
“Ah, yes, of course, my friend.”
“I just saw my beautiful niece.”
The man excused himself and went over to the girl with blonde hair.
“Astrea,” the man called the girl.
“You forgot the word ‘Lady’”, the girl replied haughtily as she continued to scan the surroundings.
“And you forgot the word, ‘uncle’”, the man smiled lovingly at her.
“By blood, you are not really my uncle. I am only your wife’s niece,” Astrea shrugged.
“Who are you looking for?”
“Young Duke Finnian,” Astrea answered without looking at her uncle.
“Ah, yes the young Duke. I have not forgotten my promise to you, Lady Astrea. I have prepared something.”
Astrea quickly looked at him with satisfaction in her eyes.
“Oh, really? Do tell me more, uncle.”
The man sigh as he smiled, “You only call me uncle, when you need something. Okay, let’s go outside where no one can hear us.”
The both of them went outside the balcony facing the garden.
“So what is it, uncle?”
“Do you remember Luke?”
“Luke?”
“Yes, Luke.”
“No, I don’t have the time to remember unimportant people.”
The man sighed, “Luke, my son.”
“Ah yes, your son whom you got out of wedlock.”
“You really are informed, huh.”
Astrea shrugged, “Okay, on with it.”
“Luke is now looking for Finnian and after he finds him, he’ll come looking for you.”
“So, that’s your plan?” Astrea raised her eyebrow.
“It doesn’t seem so brilliant.”
“Just wait, Luke is very skilled in making people go crazy.”
“You want your revenge, right? Making the young Duke crazy for months must be enough to satisfy your vengeance.”
Astrea smiled at him menacingly.
“Okay, run along now, but make sure you are standing near the back doors. He’ll make contact with you there.”
“Thank you, uncle!”
With that Astrea went back to her friends while the man continued to enjoy the cold night breeze.
*****
The boys and I are now seated at a table full of snacks.
“Try this one, Fifi!”
“Ashwin, where are your manners, people are watching,” Ashnor scolded him.
“What?!”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full. People will say awful things about mom and dad because of us.”
Ashwin swallowed his food and sat upright.
“Sorry,” He said as he gently get some snacks and eat them.
“It’s okay, just mind your manners when we are in public.”
A lot of children are still trying to approach us but no one had the nerve to do so. Even those children whose parents offered tea invitations to me were hesitant to approach us.
I did not mind them, I only kept on looking for Finnian.
“Ria, are you okay?” Ashnor asked me while the other two stopped eating and also looked at me with concern.
“Fi?” I asked them, hoping they could understand who I was looking for.
I thought otherwise to mention Finnian’s name with ease since many ears are listening to our conversation.
“Fi?” Ashnor asked me one more time.
I looked at them one by one and then look at a blank space, indicating that someone is missing.
“Is the Princess looking for Finnian?” Nix asked.
I nodded enthusiastically at his question.
“Hmmm, I haven’t seen him around,” Ashwin started to recall if he saw him.
“I did see his father but he was not with him,” Nix commented.
“I do know that both of them arrived at the palace earlier, I heard the maids talking about preparing their rooms,” Ashnor added.
“But where is he, exactly?” Nix wondered.
“How about will find him?” Ashwin suggested.
“Alright! Let’s go,” Ashnor agreed.
Nix only nodded his head as the three of them stood up.
Ashnor assisted me out of the chair and held my hand while walking around the ballroom.
“Look at the princes, they really adore their younger cousin!” I heard people talking and admiring us.
“Where is Princess Fae? Aren’t they of the same age as Princess Flizeria?”
“I heard the twins are only fond of Princess Flizeria, but not with Princess Fae.”
“But why is Prince Nix not bringing his sister along?”
“Maybe he’s not that close with her?”
While people kept talking about us, I saw knights keeping tabs on us everywhere we are going.
“Where is Finnian?” Ashwin looked up and down.
“Should we ask someone?” Nix suggested.
“Let’s do that,” Ashnor agreed.
“Who do we ask first?” Ashwin asked.
“Let’s just ask randomly?” Nix suggested.
“Or let’s ask his father,” Ashnor pointed towards the doors of the balcony where two men are standing.
Both men have the same features of a person who is of imperial blood. So I am guessing they must be the Duke of the East and Duke of the West, although I am not aware of which is which.
Together, we walked towards them and people automatically parted and made way for us to walk through.
When the two gentlemen noticed us, they both smiled in our direction.
“Greetings, Your Highness.” One of them bowed while the other only nodded towards us.
“Greetings, Duke Phil Orientem and Duke Felix Occidens,” the boys also greeted them formally.
“Ah, that must be the birthday celebrant. Hello Princess Flizeria, I am Duke Felix, but of course, you can just call me casually in the future.”
So the other man must be Finnian’s father. Although the imperial family has their signature features, I can still see the resemblance between Finnian and his father.
“Uhm, excuse us Duke Phil, but we are looking for you son? Young Duke Finnian, is he around?” Ashnor asked Phil politely.
Unlike Felix, Phil does not have a friendly atmosphere around him. I can already tell that Finnian’s father is not the loving kind of father.
“Why are you looking for him?” Phil asked with his eyebrow raised.