The next day.
Ran Xueyi woke up to a hungover pain she never once experienced before. In the past, she has been drinking moderately and making certain that she wouldn't go past her limits, but yesterday night, sothing happened.
Ran Xueyi's eyes flashed with silver.
It could have sothing to do with the drink she had last night.
But she had no recollection on how she returned and got inside her room. Besides that, there was sothing that bothered her a lot.
Last night, she dread of Song Yu Han coming to her room. He looked the sa as before, a bit mature and darker, but he had longer hair and grayish eyes. She had nurous dreams about him in the past and recent nights, but all of them did not have long hair or gray eyes.
Sohow, this baffled and confused Ran Xueyi a lot because the Song Yu Han she saw in her dreams last night matched with the image of the Earl, whom she had t last night. Could it be that because he had been creeping around her like a stalker that she ended up mixing up their image?
Ran Xueyi did not have the ti to think deeply into this matter as the door was knocked by soone from outside.
When she stood up, she saw that she was still wearing the golden mini dress but the mask covering her face was already thrown sowhere inside the room. Grabbing a bathrobe from the bathroom, Ran Xueyi made way to the door to open it.
Since the royal ball was already done last night, there was no need for guests to keep wearing their masks. Of course, there wasn't any restriction that said they couldn't keep wearing them, but at the end of the three-long days of the Royal Court Masquerade, the guests would et each other without their masks on the last day to make each other's identity known to each other.
So, Ran Xueyi thought it was necessary to keep her identity a secret.
"Good morning!"
The maid who was assigned to her yesterday was standing in front of her as soon as she opened her door. She also ntioned her na in passing during their walk to the banquet hall.
"Good morning," Ran Xueyi said with a smile. "What's wrong?"
Lola, the maid, smiled back at her. "Breakfast for all the guests is now served in the dining hall. His majesty and Her majesty are also there with the princes and princesses. I'm going to lead you there now."
Ran Xueyi frowned. "Can I not go?" After a pause, she explained, "I'm not feeling too well after waking up. Look, I haven't even changed out of my dress from last night."
Lola looked at her for a second and nodded, "I will tell the head butler then that you will need your al sent to your room."
Ran Xueyi was glad that the maid accepted her excuse without any problem. She was worried that Prince Francisco sent her to serve her. But it doesn't seem to be the case seeing how she easily accepted it.
Anyway, Ran Xueyi felt uncomfortable eting Prince Francisco and especially, the Earl. The forr was easier to take care of once she leaves the palace and inside, she could make excuses to avoid him. However, the latter was even more difficult than the prince because he has more freedom than Prince Francisco. And by the look of it, even the prince could not handle the Earl. It could even be possible that the Earl was even more powerful and sinister than she thought.
After closing her door, Ran Xueyi noticed sothing amiss. She stepped back a few steps and stared at the screws that went loose from the door. Traces of it being forcefully opened could be seen and made her rember so blurry images.
But perhaps because she was too affected by whatever dr*g was put into her drink, she was unable to rember much of what happened last night aside from the dreams she had of Song Yu Han.
Taking out her phone which she turned off yesterday, she received tons of private ssages and calls from Jian Yiling, her manager, and even so other people. The surging pings after pings echoed inside her room nonstop and it only ceased to chi when she turned the silent mode on.
First, she checked Jian Yiling's ssages and chats which contained so of her friend's worried concerns, asking her how her night was and if Ran Xueyi needed any saving so she could send so of her people to invade the castle's stronghold. But most of her ssages didn't actually co from Jian Yiling herself.
[Mommy, Xiao Zhan miss you!]
[Mommy, where are you?]
[Mommy, Are you with daddy? No Fair!]
The first two ssages filled Ran Xueyi's heart with warmth. But the last ssage choked Ran Xueyi, who was taking a sip from a glass of water.
Her eyes widened as she tried to comprehend when and how her son ended up having such a conclusion. In the past year, Xiao Zhanzhan learned that he didn't only have a mother and auntie, but also a father, and had been demanding to see him.
Naturally, Ran Xueyi didn't deny him and let him see so photos of Song Yu Han. However, Ran Xueyi was not certain whether he could understand the real situation and couldn't et his father unfortunately.
But Xiao Zhanzhan's feelings for his father seed to be instinctual or innate because after seeing the photo of Song Yu Han that Ran Xueyi showed to him, Xiao Zhanzhan ended up staring at the photo to which he had put inside a fra every night. He would smile excitedly and happily whenever he looked at his father's photo.
Ran Xueyi thought that the last ssage might have been insinuated by Jian Yiling, but she still replied...
[I miss you too. Mommy will be ho later.]
After sending this, Ran Xueyi went to take a shower and changed out of her clothes. Thankfully, Jian Yiling prepared so comfortable and not so revealing dresses inside her suitcase.
Soon after washing up, the door was knocked once again.
Ran Xueyi looked through the peephole this ti and saw the maid pushing a serving trolley with food on top.
The door was opened for the maid.
Lola pushed the trolley inside with a slight rattling sound and closed the door behind her with a slight smile.
Ran Xueyi softly said, "Thank you."
"You're welco!" Lola accepted it and her gaze landed on the opened suitcase which was on top of the bed. Frowning, she asked cautiously, "Are you leaving as well?"
Ran Xueyi followed her gaze and thought about it for a second before nodding, "Yes... I have sothing important to do back ho."
In honesty, Ran Xueyi really has no more reason to stay in the castle. Since the Earl ended up to be the person who sent the invitation card to her, her intention to investigate further was gone. As for keeping a favorable relationship with him, she doubts she could do that seeing as how he has other intentions towards her.
If the Earl was soone who did not approach her with other intentions, she might have kept in contact with him. But that was not the case...
And so, there was no need for her to stay in the castle.
Lola did not know what was inside Ran Xueyi's mind and only assud that it has sothing to do with her profession as an actress. The real background and identities of the guests weren't hidden from the serving maids and butlers in order for them to serve their assigned guests better. This worked well for them since they could prepare what they should and shouldn't to match their assigned guests' preferences and not make any mistakes.
"But it's still the second day of the event..." Lola thought that it was a pity. She never t such a friendly and kind guest that was assigned to her.
In the past years, she was always assigned to a grumpy and arrogant male guest who would sotis take advantage of their 'guest roles' to subtly touch her, and there were also so lady guests who think they've beco royalty just because they're inside the castle and ordered her around.
Ran Xueyi was the only guest she served who wasn't picky and demanding. She was always relaxed, calm, and elegant.
Ran Xueyi smiled. "When you have ti to go outside, you can call so we can hang out."
,m Lola's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "Really?"
Ran Xueyi nodded. "Yes."
Lola was really happy, but she was once again surrounded with dark clouds above her head. She said, "I can only go outside the castle once every three months."
Ran Xueyi only offered her a slight smile and didn't say any promises to the pitiful maid. After all, she wasn't certain if she could stay in Ren Country within those three months.
"By the way, what do you an by 'as well'?" asked Ran Xueyi. "Has sobody announced their plan to leave too?"
Lola nodded and remorsefully said, "Well, he already left actually. It was last night when everybody was asleep. He went to speak to His Majesty and we only heard of it this morning."
"He?" Ran Xueyi raised her brows while wondering who could have the courage to face and speak to the King to leave last night.
Lola didn't think much and gave away the identity of that person.
She said, "The Earl..."
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