Arlan finally wrapped up his work for the day. The past couple hours, he had been discussing with his ministers important matters to be raised for the next day of the summit. He was pretty unsatisfied with the proceedings so far, but it could not be helped. Politics and diplomacy was part of being a mber of human royalty—he couldn’t just use pure violence to deal with all the problems they were facing.
In the evening, the royalty of garis and Abetha were invited to the guest palace of Griven for a dinner banquet. The preparations were made in the open, where an outdoor arrangent was made in the middle of the rear garden of the mansion.
The prince and his retinue soon stepped out to welco their guests, and Oriana admired the transformation of a beautiful garden into one straight out of a fairy book. Lit up with nurous lamps and candles, the white table decorations looked ethereal and magical under the moonlight. A sweet smile painted itself on her face as she followed behind the prince.
"Your Highness, everything is ready," Neil infod. The decorations were his masterpiece; he was the one assigned to prepare the dinner banquet. "The guests will be arriving any minute now."
Arlan nodded in response and walked ahead. As they stopped at the entrance of the garden, Arlan found Oriana’s behavior amusing, especially the way she was curiously looking, admiring the beauty of the place.
However, the faint smile hanging on his lips didn’t last that long as his aide once again acted in a manner that displeased him.
"Beautiful," she mumbled while her eyes were stuck at the royal couple entering the garden, more specifically at the veiled woman walking beside her husband. ’Did the Queen cast a spell on ? Everyti I look at her, that beautiful face from that night cos to mind.’
Her eyes never left the elegant woman in a beautiful light purple dress. Be it her posture or her steps, each of her movents were filled with grace. Once more, she began to imagine the beauty hidden under that veil.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Her heart was racing at the sight of Seren once more, and a furious blush spread across her face when she realized that Seren was staring at her, her eyes smiling at her. The Queen’s goodwill seemingly not minded that Oriana was just a servant.
Oriana felt overjoyed that the Queen smiled at her. ’So sad that the King has never seen her face, but I am truly a fortunate one to be able to see the beauty of this goddess.’
Arlan and Drayce exchanged displeased glances as both their won looked eager to speak with each other, and the way Oriana was staring at Seren, it was sothing that both n had to frown upon.
"How are you, Orian?" Seren asked, her act of speaking first out of character.
"I am good, Your Majesty, I hope you are feeling much better with the new dicine I made for you."
"Yes, they are working really fine. It’s good to have you as my physician."
"It’s being fortunate to be able to treat a great lady like you."
The pair continued to talk as if others didn’t exist and made the two n standing with them incredibly jealous.
’Can’t you take care of your woman and stop her from ogling over mine?’ Drayce’s brows creased.
’Mine is a pervert but you should keep yours away from her so she won’t have anyone to ogle at.’
’Who was the one to invite us over for dinner?’ Drayce countered. ’You should have kept her locked away before we arrived.’
Arlan silently agreed through his gaze. ’I should have done that.’
The conversations halted when the last guest appeared. It was Cian, the Crown Prince of Abetha.
"Brother, finally you got ti to et us?" Seren said, a little complaint in her voice.
Cian looked at his younger sister with a loving gaze. "I was busy with so important stuff and..."
As the brother and sister conversed, Oriana’s gaze was focused on Cian’s face, shifting to Seren’s once in a while.
Of course, her behavior did not go unnoticed. Arlan clenched his fists. ’The sister was not enough for her, and now, she is staring at the brother as well.’
Drayce looked at him, his gaze laughing at him. ’You sure got a perverted one.’
Arlan glared back. ’I will get rid of her pervertness soon.’
Unaware of what her master was thinking, Oriana remained fascinated by the pair of siblings. Her mind was busy comparing their faces. ’They sowhat look alike. As I have seen her without a veil, I can tell there is a resemblance in their faces, like the slight lift at the corners of their eyes, as well as the perfect contours of their noses. For such beautiful children to be born, the appearances of their parents ought to be outstanding as well.’
Her pure intentions were being misinterpreted by a jealous man. For a commoner like her, even though she had been educated about manners and etiquette by her colleagues, it was sothing she had to deliberately practice and was not ingrained in her bones. She did not even realize how rudely she had been staring at the pair of Ilven royalty.
It was Neil who fortunately broke the tension.
"Your Highness, food will be served shortly," the aide said. "Shall we invite the guests to have a seat?"
Arlan began playing his role as host and ushered his guests to take their seats on the circular dinner table in the middle of the decorated garden.
There were five chairs placed around the table. Oriana pulled out a chair for Arlan. Drayce and Seren sat next to each other, while Cian and Yorian took the remaining spots.
The servants waiting nearby began to lift the lids covering the fancy dishes. What they served were authentic Othinian delicacies, together with servings of native food from Griven. After filling their respective goblets with fruit juice and wine, these palace servants tactfully left the vicinity, leaving only the most trusted aides and knights of royalty within the garden.
"How is the investigation going on, Prince Cian?," Arlan comnted. "You disappeared after the summit conference for your secret investigation."
"I ca across Sir Alexander during the investigation so I believe Prince Arlan already heard the details from your most loyal hound."
"Your group was attacked," Arlan said in tacit agreent.
"We took care of it. I trust Sir Alexander made sure to wipe out the rest of the trail."
"He did. But next ti, be more careful. As a prince of another kingdom, you should be more discreet with your actions though this is your mother’s holand."
"Thank you for the wise words, Prince Arlan," Cian said.
When Seren heard their exchange, she could not help but ask, "Attacked? Were you hurt, Brother?"
"I am fine. It was just a minor attack."
Because of Seren’s reaction, this caused Oriana, who was staring at the prince’s handso face, to also observe his body. It was the kind of scrutinizing gaze that made a certain prince very, very unhappy, as her eyes impudently trailed from Cian’s face to his neck, then to his broad shoulders, then down on his arms—
Snap!
That certain prince’s thin thread of patience snapped.
Throughout the al, Arlan had his eyes on her and none of her actions were missed by him. His expression was dark, his food barely touched, and he had to drown his growing frustration with wine.
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