(A/N Notes: This chapter was already ready for release, so ya'll get at least one release this week and the next one)
It was the long awaited night, the Royal palace was bustling with activity as many influential and powerful noble families mingled with each other, either sharing their opinions on certain matters, to forming new connections and alliances for the adults.
Their children, on the other hand, were a much more chaotic bunch, the more educated ones imitated their parents by acting friendly to other children. The more free-spirited ones who didn't receive an education so through were nearly held in place by a leash by either their parents or their more responsible older siblings. Then we had those who were less outgoing, who instead of mingling with new people either chose to remain close with people they knew or by themselves. And finally, there were the more bold children, mainly boys, who moved from girl to girl as they attempted to charm them.
As for Lysette, she perfectly fitted in the first category, knowing of her position as the only child of the current head of the Neville family, she knew that she was bound to attract attention from others whether she wanted it or not.
"Good evening, my fair lady Neville. Would you be so kind as to allow me to have a dance with you?"
And of course, there would always be those very same bold children who would attempt to woo her in plain sight.
"I thank you for the invitation, but it would be improper of me to accept the hand of someone else other than my fiancé"
"Oh? Then where can I meet this fiancé of yours?"
This line of hers would usually send away most of the boys attempting to get closer to her, but it didn't always work such as right now.
"Unfortunately he was not invited to the crown prince's coming-of-age ceremony"
"Then there is no problem if we have a dance, after all, he will not even know what we did or will do here"
"... *Gently smiles* Continue saying things like this, and attempting to get closer to me without my approval... And I will make sure to destroy your little house, Sir Morin"
"Eh?"
Hearing that, the boy made a stupefied face, while Lysette just continued showing a friendly and gentle smile while her closed eyes showed a very opposite feeling. Seeing that Lysette wasn't joking about destroying his family, the boy decided to run away with the tail between his legs.
"*Sigh*... I wanted to bring Edward-sama with me today"
After managing to scare away yet another boy who was only after her family's title, and her body, Lysette sighed in exhaustion as she moved to another location within the wide halls of the palace, the ceremony had barely started, but she was already feeling tired.
"! *Sneakily waves hand*"
As she was walking, Lysette noticed Isabelle talking with the King's Marshall son, Lukas, and nothing her eyes met with Isabelle's eyes, she waved her hand in a way few people would notice, and Isabelle did the same. Lysette, alongside her four friends, was asked by their parents to avoid making excessive contact with each other, to decrease the fears of other nobles and the royalty, that their families may have formed an alliance with each other, which was a belief by some due to the great relations their houses had with each other.
So unable to have a proper conversation with her friends, and without Edward to keep her company, Lysette was forced to find a less entertaining way to keep herself busy, until the person, for whom this ceremony was all for, made his appearance.
.
.
.
It would only be after what felt like an eternity for Lysette, that the ceremony would finally start moving forward. The sound of trumpets got everyone's attention, as they all turned silent and looked towards the wide and white marble staircase, there a handsome bearded man wearing expensive and heavily ornamented clothes made his appearance. This man was the king.
"To all my invitees here today, I welcome you all for coming here to applaud my son, and heir, Ludovic Callan, finally becoming an adult!"
After saying so, a fifteen-year-old boy, walked towards his father and stood beside him. The boy was a handsome one, and his flaxen blonde hair that shone under the magical lights of the palace's chandeliers alongside his sharp emerald eyes only increased his charm. It wouldn't be wrong to say that, Ludovic was the most handsome person in the hall, overshadowing all the other boys, and capturing the hearts of many, if not all, girls.
"..."
When Lysette saw the crown prince, she remained silent like everyone else, she did think that he was handsome, but that was all that she thought of him. After all, she already had Edward whom she loved, and who loved her back, so for her seeing, the crown prince for the first time, didn't result in her feeling anything special or attracted to him. Looking to the sides, Lysette also noticed that it was the same for her friends, as they also didn't show any particular interest in the crown prince, nor any of the sons of the closest associates of the king.
Then as she was deep into her thoughts, the king's single but loud clap, snapped her back to reality, and before she had noticed, the king had already finished introducing his son to all the guests presents, and allowed him to walk down the stairs to make connections with some of the noble families present.
As a member of one of the most powerful families in the kingdom, Lysette knew that she needed to at least introduce herself to the prince, be it for the sake of appearances or the genuine intention of connecting with him. With that in mind, she approached Ludovic, with a presentable smile and posture.
"Your Highness. *respectfully bows down* My name is Lysette Neville, and it is an honor to meet you"
"... Likewise. As you may know, my name is Ludovic Callan, and for as much as I would like to talk with someone from the Neville family, I have other guests I must entertain as well"
With a very disinterested tone, Ludovic gave Lysette a minimal amount of attention and an excuse to not look disrespectful to most of the other children, before walking away to continue his short greetings with all the other guests as his father told him to do so, but for Lysette on the other hand...
"..."
She just remained silent as she kept a smile on her face, but inside her mind, she was struggling to keep her cool at Ludovic's demeanor, she had heard rumors of the crown prince's disinterest in most people, and especially girls, due to his unmatched genius which caused him to look down on others.
But for Lysette, his treatment of her greetings was nothing more than rude, even though she was just attempting to keep a good appearance for her family by greeting him, she couldn't help but feel insulted at Ludovic treating her as if she just wanted to get closer to him, like the many other girls present.
"... *Deeply breaths in*" <Even Nanako-san has better social conduct than you while being an orphan and not having a specialized tutor!>
Lysette who had been wanting to leave the ceremony for quite some time, now wanted to leave even more, just so that she could visit Edward, even if it was just for a brief time.
"..." <I think, I'll go get some fresh air to calm myself>
With that, Lysette slowly attempted to make her way out of the hall, but she was occasionally stopped by other noble children, which forced her to entertain them for some time before she could continue on her way, only for her to be stopped again.
.
.
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While Lysette was busy dealing with the children of nobles at the halls, her father, Hamilton, was just as busy, if not more, in handling the parents of those same children, on the upper floor of the large hall. Handshakes, false smiles, and the usual deception were all exchanged, and Hamilton skillfully weaved his way through all of them.
"Ah! Sir Neville, It is a pleasure to see you today"
"The pleasure is all mine, Sir Hadrien. If you do not mind me asking, but how have things been for you lately?"
"Decent, if I had to put in a single word. Nothing too much out of the ordinary happened recently to me or my territory"
"I see nothing happening is always a good thing"
"I agree, but now I have something that I want to ask you, sir Neville"
"... It is about my decision to engage my daughter, Lysette to the son of a count, right?"
"You got me there, and yes, it is exactly about that. I am just too curious to know why would you pass my offer to engage your daughter to my son, but allow her to engage with the son of a count from your territory"
"If you insist, then I will tell you. First of all, her engagement to her current fiancé is a safe one, since none of the other influential houses can oppose it by the claim that I am trying to increase my influence after all do not you think that we would be a few enemies if our children were to be engaged?"
"Fair enough, but there is more to it, is there not?"
"Well seen, Sir Hadrien. The other reason was that Lysette did not show any interest in getting engaged with your son, nor did I want to bind her to an unfaithful boy who was already going out with three other girls behind their backs"
"... That was certainly an unsightly action done by my son, but I have also heard that your current son-in-law has gotten himself a second fiancée as well"
"That is true, he has a second fiancée currently, but only because Lysette chose his second fiancée without his knowledge"
"... Excuse me, you are saying that your daughter was the one who convinced her fiancé to get a second engagement?"
"Exactly"
"... Well... That is something else I suppose, if you excuse me, I need to greet the brother of my wife over there"
"Of course"
With that Hamilton was once again left by himself, he had already talked with the parents of Lysette's friends, whom he was friends with, and he had also talked with other influential nobles he was on good terms with. Meaning that right now, he didn't have much else to do.
"Sir Hamilton Neville, I thank you for coming here today"
"! Your majesty, I should be the one thanking you for inviting me and my daughter to the crown prince's coming-of-age ceremony, and giving us the honor to be here today"
"You do not need to be so formal here today, Sir Hamilton. After all, I think you know why you were invited here today, right?"
The king said so as he sat down in the free chair in front of Hamilton, who also sat down to continue talking with the king.
"You want me to engage Lysette with Ludovic, isn't it King Robert?"
"That's correct, Sir Hamilton. I believe that an engagement between our two oldest children would be of great interest to you, right?"
"... If it was a year ago, I might have agreed, but today..."
Hamilton briefly looked at the lower floor and skillfully managed to find his daughter in the sea of people, trying to make her way out of the hall in a foul mood, most likely having already interacted with the crown prince.
"I'll need to refuse your offer"
"May I ask why?"
"Of course. You see, my daughter has been engaged to someone else for a year now, and she appears to be the happiest after a long time. And I don't want to break her happiness for an engagement that although tempting, is too risky for my taste"
"... ... ... Very well, although I believe that your daughter is the most fitting partner for my son, I cannot do anything else if she has already found someone else"
"Thank you for understanding, your majesty"
"Don't worry, but can I ask you something before leaving, sir Hamilton?"
"Of course, your majesty"
"Can I ask you to have your daughter play a match of chess with my son? I still want our families to keep good relations for when they take over"
"Sure, I'll talk to her in a bit, also your majesty..."
"?"
"You are a stubborn man"
"Heh, You know me, Sir Hamilton. I don't give up so easily"
Robert flashed a confident smile when he heard Hamilton say that, and just reinforced it by admitting it himself as he made his way out of Hamilton's table
"Yes, yes, you don't"
Hamilton showed an amused smile at seeing his old friend still acting the same way as he did in the past.
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.
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"Do I really need to, father?"
"Well, you don't, but it would be nice if you could at least be friends with him, for the sake of our family, Lysette-chan"
"... ... ... Haa... Fine..."
Lysette and her father were both talking to each other, right outside, on the balcony of the hall where the ceremony was occurring, with Lysette making an unwilling face at the idea of playing chess with Ludovic, but in the end, she relented as she still had her sense of duty.
"Thank you, Lysette-chan. And sorry for making you do this to someone you don't get along with"
"Do not worry, father. His Highness most likely passed for many similar situations, so he was probably just being wary of me. Perhaps, he may open himself a little after a match or two"
"... That's my daughter"
Hamilton wanted to rub her head like the other day, but he refrained from doing so since her hair would become messy and they were also in an event with many other people, so neither of them could afford to look bad.