A Prince and a Flower | GeminiFourth

Chapter 7: The Guests

Ms. Jittaputta was there and nothing was going like the king had expected.

The whole room was filled with an uncomfortable energy. The tension was so thick that Nattawat was sure even the meat knife he was holding wouldn't be enough to cut it. Nobody was speaking if it was not absolutely expected from them, nobody was touching the food sitting on the long table and clearly nobody wanted to be there.

Ms. Jittaputta was there with a group of people accompanying her. There was her adviser, her two secretaries, her husband, and her daughter, all sitting next to each other on the other side of the table. They looked polite enough, with respectful smiles on their faces and only compliments about the palace and the food in their words. But they also seemed very much on edge too, because they also knew what that day was about.

"I don't understand why I am your main suspect," Ms. Jittaputta said, almost sounding like a news anchor. She was behaving like she was speaking at the parliament and not at a lunch table. "I have a daughter myself, why would I want to hurt innocent girls?"

"Ms. Jittaputta, we don't want to put you under the spotlight either, but we clearly remember you calling the palace to threaten us about the ball that night," one of the main secretaries of the king spoke.

"I know what I did was wrong, but my daughter is dear to me." Ms. Jittaputta reached up and put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "She was really upset that day, and as a mother I got upset too. But that doesn't mean I thought of hurting anyone over it."

Nattawat looked at the daughter and he just couldn't imagine her being upset about not being able to come to the ball. The invitees were all bride candidates, and if the girl was really upset, that would only mean she wanted to marry Nattawat, yet this girl didn't seem interested in him in the slightest. She hadn't even looked at Nattawat once since they arrived at the palace, and Nattawat wasn't sure if believing that story would be logical. He might or might not have had a little bit of experience about having an interest in someone, and he knew this wasn't how he acted around that said someone.

She was a short girl, with ash-white skin, black hair, and cat-like eyes. She was very pretty. She looked nothing like her parents though, and it was normal because it was a known fact that she was adopted. However, she had the same empty expression on her face as her father, the same frozen smile, and the same manner of not saying anything that would defy Ms. Jittaputta. Just like her father, she generally nodded and shook her head as a form of communication throughout the whole lunch.

Ms. Jittaputta really made herself a trophy family, huh?

"Sailom went to the same school with Prince Nattawat for eight years and even attended the same university as him," Ms. Jittaputta started explaining. "She's known him for so long. She wanted to attend that ball and you can imagine how devastating it was for her when she learned her invitation got canceled because of my speech. I was afraid she would despise me for it, that's why I acted rashly." 

"But it's a known fact that you hate the palace." It was Tontawan taking a turn to speak this time. "You let everyone know about it at the parliament. Are you saying your daughter wanted to enter the royal family when you were openly against the idea of it?"

Ms. Jittaputta looked at her daughter and Sailom gave her a small, guilty smile. "I can't control who my daughter gives her heart to, am I right?" she ended up saying.

And that made Nattawat extremely uncomfortable. He didn't know this girl. He had never met her. He couldn't even remember seeing her at school, not even once, even though Ms. Jittaputta kept claiming they had studied under the same roof for many years, he felt like he was seeing her for the first time in his life. He had no idea how the whole theme of this lunch was turning into a sappy platonic love story in front of his salad.