Around four weeks passed and it was at long last time for the royal engagement that everyone was looking forward to. Everyone was on a joyous occasion except one person who sat all dolled up and looked like the most attractive woman, with a dark blue dress with golden strings attached at the waist. The frills spread out on the side. She wore a necklace that Argus had gifted her last time. Her hair was twisted on one side with golden strands inserted that covered the top of the hair like a tiara. Rhea was normally extremely pretty since she was after all the female lead however today she looked especially like she was out of this world, an angel.
Right now she was pouting, sitting in a carriage opposite Lydia who chuckled nervously since she knew that Rhea could burst any moment
"Cheer up. We are attending the party, aren't we? You'll get to meet Argus there."
"Yeah but these past two weeks we couldn't see each other even. Either I'm busy, or he is busy trying not to get killed. We tried delivering letters to each other but even that won't work. The letters either get lost or burned up somewhere. We try conveying our message to each other through common friends, but that's not possible since whenever they would meet Argus, there would be an assassination attempt on him. I get the book is trying to force us apart so the book can proceed like originally but isn't this too extreme? At least let me see him. I can't even see his face from far away. I can barely breathe the same air in which he is in."
Rhea looked like she was on the verge of crying and would burst out at any moment.
Lydia tried patting her hair to calm her down, but she moved away.
"Don't ruin my hair. Argus hasn't seen it yet."
"...okay. Is it just me or with time you are starting to sound more and more like the original Rhea? You never cared about your appearance before. Even when you went on that date, you didn't care but right now look at you. You're becoming more and more like her."
"...I've observed that too. But it doesn't feel like I'm becoming her. Rather it feels as if Rhea was a part of my personality that got separated away a long time ago and now it has reunited making my personality whole again. I feel like me. Not Rhea, not...what was my name used to be in the past? But only just me. Don't you experience this too?"
"No. Because my personality has always been that of Lydia. I never recognized the need to seek myself or change because it has always been me."
"For all one knows you were inevitably meant to be Lydia."
"Perhaps so."
"But I still hate this book for causing me and Argus to drift apart."
"You're still sulking about that?"
"We only just had one date! Only one date!"
"Sorry..."
"Let's just as soon as possible acquire the book and rip out the pages. Have you decided on an ending?"
"A perfect one."
"It's not like everything turns out to be a dream and we wake up with none of this happening?"
"....Err...That's not necessarily accurate. There can be alternative endings you know."
"You merely thought of that ending, right?"
"...."
"So you want me to forget you guys? Everything we have done together? All the times we spent meant nothing to you?"
"No...That's not it. I just...I thought that this way you would be happy. Since you've always complained about being in this book."
"I may have complained a bit but I am not saying I don't like this life. I don't think of this life as trapped in a book but rather a new life with a new me where I encountered so many people that I hold dear and cherish. So, please...I believe you...do what is best."
"...I will."
They soon reach the grand palace for the engagement ceremony. As expected there were many carriages lined up but due to Marquis of _, Lydia's father being influential they did not have to wait in line and were instead shown the way to the VIP entrance at the back.
"I feel so terrible..."
Rhea muttered seeing so many people gathering around, merrily chatting, celebrating the joyous occasion.
"Why?"
"They all don't know this engagement is fake."
She whispered back
"If Rastos and Calista wanted this engagement to be fake, then they would have gone with a simple engagement instead of passionately taking part in its arrangement and showing off."
"Isn't it because those two know they may never get this chance to get engaged again?"
"..."
"They said so themselves!"
Rhea shrugged while Lydia narrowed her eyes at her,
"You have a boyfriend so your future is not so uncertain therefore you look happy and wouldn't understand how we single people feel."
"If it's any consolation, I haven't seen that man for two weeks. It barely feels like we are dating. To be more accurate, it feels as if I met a distant relative two weeks ago, we promised to meet up knowing that it wasn't going to happen for weeks."
"Come on, it's not that terrible. What's more, you'll get to meet him soon."
"How?"
"Just look in front."
Those two that had entered the ballroom and were standing on top of the stairs looked down until their eyes fell upon Argus, who had stopped talking and was instead gazing directly at Rhea. He wore formal military-required clothing but with no medals and instead, there was this long dark blue coat. His hair was gelled back with a few strands peeking out over the forehead. Rhea thinks about how much she longed to see him and how is that seeing him after such a long time has made him more handsome.
"You both can hang out while Giselle and I can work on the book."
"That wouldn't be fair."
"Think of it as me feeling guilty about writing this pathetic book and wanting to support you."
"You do need to give us some sort of consolidation."
"Well, I am."
"Bless you. Although I don't hate your book too much. Sure it was unfinished, but I appreciate the characters in it. If it weren't for your book, I wouldn't get to encounter all of you. So thank you."
Lydia gets teary-eyed because she has been holding in her guilt for many months now especially after they all found out she was the author and would occasionally joke around about them being stuck in this stupid book because of her. Even if they were joking, unknown to them, it, however, added to her guilt and she would cry about it at night. This was the first time someone had thanked her and she felt like all her guilt was being lifted.
"I would have hugged you if it weren't for us being all dressed up. But anyway, go. Look. He won't stop glancing this way. Just go."
Rhea hugs her tightly in return and then quickly goes towards Argus.
She is about to reach him, but many people who want to talk to her interrupt her.
Argus too is about to walk toward her, but he gets interrupted by people in return.
It's like the book is nevertheless trying to not allow them to spend much time with each other.
They both glance at each other before they are again disturbed.
Argus then coldly tells everyone,
"Move."
They are all surprised and he says,
"I don't have time to listen to your idle chatter. Move and don't cause me to repeat myself."
His chilling aura made everyone around him shutter and move away, making a path for him to walk toward Rhea.
Rhea, on the other hand, was more polite.
"Um...Kindly please talk to me later. I have to greet someone first."
She subsequently makes her way toward Argus and they both stop, standing two feet next to each other, smiling.
"Hi!"
"Hey."
"Long time no see."
Argus hugs her in return, surprising her as the crowd kept glancing and whispering. Fortunately thanks to Rhea spreading the rumors before, no one was surprised this time as they all already thought they were together.
"Argus...!"
"What? I can't even hug you now that I haven't seen you for weeks."
"It was just two weeks..."
"Two weeks? Seriously? Felt like longer to me."
"You must have been busy."
"You were also busy."
"I tried sending you messages through others. Did you not receive that?"
"No...I was too busy trying to stay alive."
"What?!"
"I keep getting attacked for no reason as if the book wants me to die."
"Oh my!"
She quickly examines him from top to bottom to see if there are any injuries
"But don't worry, as you can see I am healthy and just fine."
"But still...this is unfair..."
"Was there anything fair in this book to begin with?"
"That's true..."
"What's the status of the book?"
"You tell me. Lydia and I purposely came late after the gift offering ceremony was completed. Did Rastos manage to gift C the book?"
"Yes. And something unusual also happened."
"What?"
"You know how Calista wanted the rings to be silver and Ras wanted them golden?"
"Yes. They both disputed frequently on it."
"Well, they both secretly prepared rings for each other."
"What do you mean?"
"Calista prepared gold rings for Ras while he prepared silver rings for her."
"So there were four rings in total??"
"Affirmative. It was quite a spectacle. Then they had a little quarrel. He said he selected silver for her, so they will go with that. She said she chose gold cuz of him so they should go with that."
"Next what did they conclude?"
"They compromised. Calista is wearing silver on her ring finger while Ras is wearing gold. They are wearing the opposite color rings on the ring finger of their other hand."
"Wait, so they are wearing two rings each?"
"Absolutely."
"Wow."
"On the bright side, the public found this gesture so cute that they believe they both are madly in love and they want the other's wish to come true."
"I did not expect that."
"As for the book, he gave it to her, but she said that she would keep it safely hidden and then put it somewhere."
"Then when can Lydia start writing it?"
"I'm not-"
He notices the chandelier above them moving and instantly pushes away Rhea making her fall down a few feet far. Meanwhile, he also fell with the chandelier between them, and smoke spread all around.
Everyone gathers around murmuring.
Rastos and Calista who were nearby rush to their help. Rastos helps Rhea get up while she looks over the smoke to see if Argus is all right. Fortunately, he is but when he stands up, his arm and cheek are bleeding due to the shards of the glass from the chandelier.
"What's this?"
"Why did this happen?"
"Argus! Are you okay?"
Rhea rushes to him while Rastos summons the guard for immediate investigation.
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Hope you enjoy reading!!! One more chapter to go! Do comment to let me know what you think of the story so far!🤩♥️♥️♥️