Catarina and The Prince | Tales From The Court Of Ravaeryn #1

32 | snapdragon

       His long robes were made of sultry black velvet, with cuffs that were intricately embroidered with red silken thread. Even his hat was black, save for the single bird feather sticking out of it, which was dyed bright red using carmine.

While most would attribute his dark attire as a way to distinguish himself as the head of House de Fontaine, the truth is that Elliott's wardrobe was not always this dreary before.

       In his youth, the duke preferred bright colours such as turquoise and chartreuse, but following the death of the duchess, he had only ever worn black, and even Catarina, his own daughter, had no recollection of him wearing a colour other than black.

    "Father!" Catarina exclaimed upon catching the glimpse of him, and immediately, relief flooded her heart. She was constantly on the edge for the past few weeks, but now that the Duke of Lorewell was here, then she could finally let her guard down. No one would be able to hurt her now.

    "Nina!" he called out, pulling her into a tender embrace. "How have you been? Have you been eating well?"

Catarina hummed in confirmation as she bobbed her head up and down. "I have. See, my cheeks have become so round!"

    "Clearly," he chuckled. "Though I cannot wait for this ceremony to end, so that we can all go back home."

While Elliott was glad to see her, she could still see the disdain and constant vigilance in his stance whenever he talked about the ceremony, as if he did not want her to have anything to do with it. But even though he possessed great power and wealth, Elliott de Fontaine was still a commoner at the end of the day, and he had to submit to the royal family.

    To tell the truth, Catarina did not understand why he and her cousin, Rafael, were so opposed to her marrying into the royal family. Most noble families would even go as far as to offer up their daughters to the prince, but House de Fontaine sought to shield their daughter instead.

If she were to become queen, wouldn't House de Fontaine gain even more power, thus become more prosperous?

    But this was her first time seeing her father in months, and she did not want to mark their long-awaited meeting with an argument.

So she said, "I agree. Here, I have to wake up early every morning. It's such a nuisance at times."

    "Well, once you return home, you can sleep until noon and nobody will bother you."

    After a few minutes of chatter, Elliott left to engage in a conversation with his close friend, Vince Olivier.

Catarina then stalked off to find Jessamine, but before she could even spot her, she felt a light smack on the back of her head. It was not at all painful, though it did indeed shock her.

    "Ah, what is the little kitty cat doing over here?" she heard a familiar voice say, and instantly, her features morphed into that of annoyance.

    "For the last time, Alessandro, my name is Catarina, not little kitty cat!" she growled through gritted teeth as she swiftly turned around to see Alessandro d'Augustine standing behind her with a rolled up piece of parchment in his hands, presumably the object he used to smack her with.

    "Easy there, kitty cat. You must be hungry, aren't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have been so angry. Listen, I know where you can find some rats-"

His taunts morphed into a howl of pain when Catarina forcefully stomped on his toes, and at that moment, he was certain that his bones have inevitably shattered.

    Though it was Catarina's way to take revenge on the ever so annoying Alessandro, to the average bystander, the entire scene might seem like a lover's quarrel.