The Duke's family had been invited to a party.
Of course, it's a given that if you succeed in inviting the Duke's family to a party, prominent figures are bound to appear.
Especially if you take into consideration how much of a people magnet Katarina Claes is to everybody.
There's no discrimination of just how big of a crowd she can attract if it weren't for her harem keeping all of them at bay from getting chances for her heart.
Still, Katarina had already found everybody to be her friends, even her fiance.
Poor Gerald, if only that wasn't the case, he could be known as the happiest crown Prince yet.
Getting engaged to an oddball sunshine is to die for.
"Are you ready, sister? Mother and Father are waiting for us."
Katarina looked up from her journal, "I'll be out in a minute, Keith!"
Keith chuckled just outside her bedroom doors.
"Okay, just don't take too long." He replied before turning around to leave.
Katarina hummed, looking back at what she wrote, 'I wonder if y/n will be there....'
She shook her mind.
That wouldn't be the case, y/n is rarely taken to parties alongside her parents let alone allowed to go to one unless she gets their approval to do so.
She sighed and closed her journal before hiding it away again.
"I should hurry before Mother ends up storming into my room for being late."
...
"Ah, Katarina.."
Katarina turned around from the table spread to see her fiance walking up to her past people.
"Oh, hey, Prince Gerald." She smiled, greeting him like usual.
The others came over to them when they caught sight of Gerald.
Greeting Katarina all the same and her greeting them back all the same as well.
Her harem is known to follow her around everywhere she goes if they have the free time for it.
Katarina understands them being busy sometimes.
"I see you've found the food." Alan joked a comment to her after noticing the small plate she had in her hand.
Keith sighed, "Mother already told you to stay away from the dessert even for an hour or so while at the party."
"Eh..? Well, you won't tell Mother, right? It's already been an hour, I counted." Katarina whined.
Everyone laughed along.
Such a goofball she can be.
She does make a point of it, an hour had already passed by now since she arrived at the party a few minutes before them.
'Gosh....' Katarina finished the last bite of the cake, looking down at her empty plate, 'The food tastes bad.'
How horrible she can be...
Her friends had started to converse with each other.
And ever so often, Katarina can hear the ever so faint whispers from miles inside her head.
Not that she cared about it since they weren't loud enough to stop her from hearing herself, the chandeliers feel too bright right now.
She looked away from her group to look around the place, nothing interesting was happening, she did expect some people coming here to make connections but as usual, there were a lot.
Taking another slice of cake from the table without her friends noticing considering they were bickering with their indoor voice, she ate well, 'I'm going to vomit at this point with all these damn sweets I'm eating..'
The smell of chocolate coming from the cake was starting to irritate how sensitive her sense of smell had become over this, she's now only realizing how horrible of an idea it was to be eating like this.
She could've used the excuse that her mother warned her and soon forgot how long she had to wait, but if she did, who knows just how much dessert her friends would bring her later to eat.
That's worse than now so this shouldn't be just as bad but it feels like she was going deaf.
Looking up, her eyes landed on Maria who was seemingly enjoying the conversation with everybody in between.
'Ah..' her eyes must've itched widening for a second when she saw those shimmering blue eyes, something felt off about herself and she knew it.
Whatever it was, she had to get somewhere private immediately.
She put the plate and fork down on the table though before she could turn to leave without being noticed as the ever-growing sense of dread for herself wavered inside the back of her head, she caught a whiff of something familiar in the air.
She paused, looking around.
That familiar scent.
Perfume.. that perfume isn't known anywhere else.
She looked around her, Sophia started to notice it after a second more of her suddenly looking everywhere in the room.
'Where is..? Where??' Katarina scanned the room as best as she could from near to further away, 'She must be here at the party..!'
"Lady Katarina?"
She flinched, looking down to see Sophia had called her.
"Eh? What is it?" She quickly put on a smile for her.
Sophia raised a brow, asking, "Are you looking for somebody?"
Katarina meekly laughed, "I just thought I heard somebody I knew so I tried to look around."
Sophia hummed, smiling back, she brushed it off as another thing Katarina did randomly.
Katarina frowned, 'Her perfume disappeared....'
Mentally groaning, she later found another chance to get away from the room without being noticed.
...
Katarina slammed her head against the concrete wall with her hands pressed against it.
It felt like her skull was splitting apart, covered in sweat and heat rising at an uncontrollable rate that no human is allowed to have.
Thank god the party was being held in the evening and into the late night by the hosts.
"Hic--!" She covered her mouth with one hand, gritting her teeth as she soon fell on one knee.
Heaving a gasp, she tried to figure out where the pain was coming from inside her body.
She bit her lower lip from screaming in the open.
"Lady Katarina..?"
She flinched, quickly jumping back up to stand, she felt dizzy for a second but managed to stay upright thanks to the wall she held on to as she looked over her shoulder and caught a whiff of the same perfume from inside that she missed earlier.
"Y/n..!" She couldn't believe how quickly she muttered that name.
Y/n meekly smiled when their eyes met, "I--yes? Well, I didn't expect we'd greet each other like this, are.. are you alright?"
Katarina pushed herself away from the wall and towards her.
It didn't take y/n a second to back away when two arms wrapped around her small figure, "Eh..!?"
The sudden feeling of two hands climbing up from her back and suddenly going back down to her waist was a surprise she didn't expect to get.
She already understands how physically clingy Katarina was but she didn't expect her to be this shameless even when they weren't somewhere private.
Her face had already turned red when Katarina rushed at her seconds ago.
'S-So close..!!' that's not something she's supposed to be worrying about with the fact Katarina shoved her face on her shoulder, resting her head into it.
Katarina took in her scent and her mind instantly cleared itself from everything else.
Y/n gulped.
Standing there, she looked over to see the side of Katarina's face ease into one of blissful calmness.
Her shoulders slumped from feeling tensed, 'She's.... She looks like she's found solace.'
She grumbled to herself, of course, how arrogant does one need to be to consider yourself as somebody's peace to go to when life feels like it's about to come crashing down on you?
"Lady Katarina..?" Mumbling her name with how close Katarina's ear was to her, she asked, "Are you okay?"
A moment of silence dawned on them.
"I'm fine..."
Y/n's eyes went round, 'Oh, my God she's either not hydrating herself with water while in the party or she'd been crying moments ago.'
"Lady Katarina." She looked away and into the hall, she just came from before asking, "Have you been crying?"
And again, a few seconds of silence passed before Katarina answered.
"No."
Y/n stopped herself from fangirling over her voice while in open public, "L-Let's go somewhere more private, please..?"
Katarina ended up holding on to her a little tighter when she gave that suggestion.
It wasn't a suggestion though. Funny.
Soon enough, y/n let out a gasp when somebody came out of the bathroom not too far from where they stood.
Katarina must've come out of the bathroom a while ago and this woman she must've been with while in the bathroom just came out now.
Oh, great.
The woman stared with wide eyes, questioning what she was looking at as she slowly raised a hand to cover her mouth, she was unsure if she was accidentally peeping or not right now.
Y/n grit her teeth and does the unthinkable thanks to embarrassment being forcefully shoving Katarina away with all her might, accidentally shoving her by the face with a hand.
"Ughk---?!!" Katarina held her head down with a hand when she did.
Y/n squeaked, now trembling with how badly she just messed up thanks to that sudden reflex, 'Crap..! Why did I do that?!?'
"O-Oh, my..!?" The woman was just as surprised that she did that too.
Katarina looked up at her, her brows were furrowed, she was pissed but when she heard the woman's voice she looked and saw her.
And boy did she look so scary right now, especially with how nonchalant she can sound ever so terrorizing when angry is a whole new level of unlocking a new fear.
"What the hell are you looking at?" A dragged voice with obvious hints of malice, it's not a wonder that Katarina scared the woman into running off.
Y/n was a sitting duck in front of a monster as she quickly lowered her head to apologize for what she did.
Looking up at Katarina.
"Tsk."
She apologized harder when Katarina clicked her tongue, holding onto one of her hands to try and appease her.
"C-Come on, can.. can we go somewhere more private first, please??" Y/n was very apologetic and understanding of everything unlike a certain someone right now.
But then again, Katarina tends to give in to her faster than anybody else.
...
In the open garden, the night seemed bright thanks to the lanterns.
"Katarina..?" Y/n twirled strands of her hair, sitting on her lap.
Katarina had her arms around her waist, keeping her in place with her head resting on her shoulder taking her in with closed eyes.
Y/n sighed, staying still before she unconsciously began playing around with Katarina's gloved hand an hour later.
Sometimes, worries can be treated with just a hug to calm somebody down.
Better yet, no human can survive without a hug even if it's somebody that can't achieve romantic feelings.
Getting a hug can be nice but getting cuddles is to die for if a body needs those healthy doses of happy pills without needing to drink it down after paying a hefty price for it.
Y/n looked up at the night sky, there weren't a lot of stars out tonight, humming to herself, "One day, if we do end up together, let's have a family together."
That loud thought put a smile on her face, "A family, huh.."
"Definitely got to have one if we do... And we should get pets, a dog and a cat." Pressing her thumb on the open palm she had in her hands, "And we'll buy a nice house up a hill or maybe somewhere near a field if you think of getting into the farming business."
She laughed to herself, she was going crazy like this over somebody who cherished her.
"Do you want to start a family?"
She gasped, "K-Katarina..!?"
Katarina woke up in between after her second sentence, "I'll ask again.."
She yawned.
"Do you want to start a family?" She repeated herself.
Y/n gulped, face red with embarrassment that she got caught talking to herself like that, those were nothing more than just loud thoughts of how bored she was sitting there.
"I-I mean, it would really be possible since.."
Katarina listened to her rambling.
"Well... You.. you're already engaged to the crown prince and that. That you would be married to her when you get older but..! If--if we could, it'd be nice."
Katarina hummed, which put a warm feeling inside her chest, "Who says I'll marry the crown Prince?"
Y/n perked, looking at her, "What?"
"I'm not marrying that man," Katarina said.
A moment of silence dawned on them, awkwardness taking over into ice.
"Wait..!" Y/n shook her mind clearly, "What do you mean you're not marrying the crown Prince when you're older??"
Katarina shrugged, "Just because we're engaged on paper doesn't mean I'd actually marry him."
"He doesn't have what I need from you." She was blunt about what she looked for.
"And somehow I have what you need?" Y/n raised a brow while pointing at herself.
Katarina nodded.
That was absurd.
What kind of thing would y/n have that Gerald wouldn't be able to just buy off of her?
Gerald has everything from social to money, he's a package deal for just about anybody lucky enough to be with him.
"I know how many people have eyes of contempt for me since they also want to get their hands on the Crown Prince thanks to his political power." Katarina was very blunt about it.
Y/n groaned, 'Is that all you see about him..?'
"You do realize he's in love with you, right?" She asked.
"I know." Katarina said, "I just don't feel the same way for him."
Y/n paused, that's new information she had to take in slowly.
She's started to understand that Katarina was two-faced since she's hidden this side so well from everybody including her friends and family but this was something else to know.
"You.... You.." her face started to turn beet red again, 'Isn't this just another way of her saying she likes only me??'
Katarina blinked, "You're the only one I like, y/n."
Y/n groaned into a hand, this was screwing the chemistry inside her head, "That's impossible... I'm not rich and I'm not somebody promising in the social world either."
"That's right."
"What?" She looked up.
"You don't have power in any of those aspects, unlike the Crown Prince." Katarina looked straight at her, unflinching when she said, "It's my type."
A moment of silence passed by them, this time, it lasted for more than three minutes.
"Your type is somebody who's not rich and also not that known in society?" Y/n wanted to clarify just in case she misunderstood.
"Yeah." Katarina was straight about it, y/n did not hear her wrong when she spoke about it.
Y/n slapped two hands to her face to cover it so she wouldn't scream, it's unladylike to scream all of a sudden unless she's in danger, 'That sounds too unrealistic!!!!'
"There's no way, right!?" She asked.
Katarina wasn't at all fazed, that's how she always is whenever she's with her, unbothered with everything if it's her and not having to react differently following what the world sees her as.
"Yes, way." She played along with her.
"But..!" Y/n stopped herself from continuing, there's no point even if she does, Katarina seemed adamant about what her type was when she spoke about it.
Oh, dear, this was definitely news to her.
She let out a heavy sigh.
"Our cuddle sessions often start with you hugging that melts into a comfortable embrace, proving that sometimes words weren't necessary to communicate their affection." Katarina pondered, looking down, "But I think you'll have to wait until I find a way to get back home to get married."
Y/n raised a brow, "Huh? Wait for you?"
Katarina nodded, "Will you wait for me?"
Y/n parted lips pursed for a second and before she knew it, she grabbed Katarina's face and leaned into her.
Katarina's eyes turned round in the heat of the moment, the soft pair of lips against hers was an unexpected twist of events she was eager to have.
And she did have it right now.
Chu..
Y/n was beet red after pulling away with Katarina grinning like a lovesick idiot over that small kiss.
"I don't even know why I have to wait for you, but fine." She was flustered, "I'll wait for you... Wherever you'd be that is."
Katarina laughed.
"Thank you, y/n."