Princess Thief [✔]

08. Twilight Party

The king stopped right in front of me and I curtsied.

"Thank you, your majesty. It is my pleasure to be here," I responded with a smile, hiding my revulsion.

He was a good king, alright, but I didn't like him for personal reasons.

"I should say the same. I'm glad to see you came despite suffering an illness. Please allow this King to escort you." He offered his wrinkled hand and I took my time to take it.

But before I could even do so, Father was already beside me.

"Greetings, old friend," stated Father. "We congratulate you for a peaceful stepping down. It's a pleasure to be invited."

"I should say the same. I thought I would never see the fifth princess of Ezriel all my life. Thank you for accepting the favor, Enmir, and indulging my insistences," conveyed the King of Deliora.

"It was a favor from a friend how can I even refuse? Besides this Twilight Party is yours," replied Father amicably with his facade on.

"Well, I guess I understand why you kept her from everyone," said the woman who appeared beside the King. "If I had a daughter as beautiful as her, I would too."

My father smiled at the comment like he was proud that I was his daughter but I knew he wasn't.

"You don't look sick at all. I heard it was quite a rare disease that you needed to be confined. I was surprised to hear a name that had been a mystery from all people," the woman, who was a royal of Nurien, continued.

"I concur. So I guess it's true when they say some of those people could heal with their own abilitie---" The King of Winlore was immediately desisted by his wife before he can finish his statement.

The atmosphere precipitously became tense as they focused their gazes on Father and me.

"Yes. My daughter had already been healed when she became like this," came Father's reply, his tone laced with deep anger that was unnoticeable for those who did not know him.

But what caught my attention was his words. Did that mean I was out of the shackle of pretending that I was sick? It was utterly out of the blue that I shot a glance at him but I had no idea what the hell was going on in Father's wretched mind.

"Oh, that is such good news! I guess I'll be seeing the Fifth Princess in a lot of balls from this moment onwards," the Queen of Areska commented.

"It still depends on my daughter as I respect her wishes. As you can see, she had been isolated in the palace for many years and hadn't coped up yet."

His statement stifled me and thankfully Willow was in time to save me from all of this. I could not stay any longer with Father beside me.

"Kings and Queens, may I excuse Princess Carline for a moment? It had been a long time since we saw each other," stated Willow with all due politeness.

They nodded their approvals and she pulled me from the crowd.

"So, how was it? Did my plan work?" delved Willow as soon as we were far from them.

"It was different than I expected but what plan are you talking about?"

She had her full smile plastered on her face and then said, "Your grand entrance."

"What?"

"Allow me to explain. My plan was to take all their attention so that they won't notice you at first then when you enter all their mouths will hang open when they see you but the second part didn't go right. They gaped as soon as they heard your name."