I Should Let Go

Bonus 1/3: First Encounter

"This part is quite tight," Catia pointed out to her waist while her maid was halfway buttoning her dress. "I fear it might rip when I dance later."

"My lady... this is why I stopped you from going to that festival last week," the maid exclaimed, troubled.

That was the aftermath of raiding the food festival with her two friends - presently, Catia need to suck her breath and stay silent throughout the ball or she'd flash the entire hall.

Catia cleared her throat, embarrassed that she had gained weight just from the two day jolly. "Let's just bring a spare shawl, just in case..." she muttered, staring out of the window, admiring the gloomy clouds decorating the sky.

***

During Catia's third dance with a baron, she heard a small rip on the back of her dress. Still wordlessly dancing - not a sentence was spoken to all three of her dancing partners - she gave the baron a sweet smile, trying to appear nonchalant when all she could think about was the rip on her back.

Once the dance ended, she briskly walked outside - she could not get caught lacking, and finally heard the loud rip. Gone was the tightness constricting her stomach and waist, easing her from the pain.

She sighed in relief, contented that she could finally enjoy the delicacies Evie and Felicia were gushing about.

Just as she pulled her thin spare shawl she wrapped on her skirt, what she failed to notice was the challenging weather that night; the strong wind blowing on her skirt the entire time.

It was a very windy night indeed.

And so she stared at her spare shawl, flapping and fluttering up in the sky, as she slowly processed her own circumstance, feeling lost.

The exposed part on her back felt the cold slap of the wind and to think that she had to return inside for her fourth dance.

A heavy clothing suddenly rested on her shoulders. It was a coat, men's coat. Catia felt her cheeks heating up, it meant that someone saw her.

"I shall retrieve that shawl of yours, my lady. Please use my coat for the moment." a smooth voice assured her. Catia couldn't recognize his face because of the darkness, but as he ran to the tree her shawl probably stuck onto, she noticed that his legs were lean and long.

Even his coat reached her knees.

Not long after, the tall man returned with her shawl, waited for her to wrap it around her ripped dress, and even offered to escort her inside.

She blushed, taken aback by the kindness from a stranger.

Then when Catia finally saw his face, she immediately thought of a royal - a prince. He'd definitely fit as one, his regal aura alone would cut it.

"Tia! Where have you been?" her aunt, Lady Farrington, approached her, worry laced in her eyes. Then her aunt took notice of the unknown gentleman escorting her. "Oh, were you already acquainted with Lord Renard?" inquired her aunt with slight confusion.

Catia's brain gears moved. Her mysterious helper was the Marquess of Belham.

Lord Lucian Renard.

A name that she had heard almost on a daily basis, now in the flesh, right in front of her.

The two of them glanced at each other and shifted away immediately.

"Uh, not yet." said Lord Renard.

Catia fiddled with her shawl, her heart racing. "No, we are not."