Chapter 24: Chapter 24
“I am not the slightest bit afraid,” Langrion said. “I don’t want any other bride... I-I think I have already come to love you.”
Perhaps it was the weariness from the travel and from all that have happened on the past few days, but the words already came out of Langrion’s mouth before his mind could recall them back. As his own words sunk into him, his ears and face turned so crimson and became so heated up, it felt like he was having a heart attack.
Thankfully, Shia looked as if she was already fast asleep. If he were lucky, she will not remember any of it. Everything will remain as it is; everything will still go according to plan...
Then reality hit him... ‘I love her,’ he thought desperately.
This was not part of his plan. He just needed her to be by his side for some time while he looked for a way to break his curse. He could not afford to love someone, or anyone, for that matter. What if he does not find a cure? Or worse, what if the Devil, the Ancient Evil, succeeds and takes over his soul? Falling in love is the last thing he needs to happen to him...
“I love you too...” Shia whispered and Langrion’s heart skipped a beat.
“I love you too, grandma...” she said again, and Langrion heaved a sigh of relief. She was fast asleep. There was no way she would remember what he had just said... Right?..
Desperate to erase all the worries of his heart and feelings in his chest, Langrion forced himself to go to sleep despite the deafening sound of his own heart beat.
******************
The signs of twilight came in rather early for Shia. For the first time in months, she slept quite well that she had almost forgotten that she was sleeping outside in a makeshift tent with the prince and that she should soon go back to her own bed chambers.
She opened up her eyes and was thinking of playing a practical joke on Langrion, but she found, to her dismay, that Langrion was already wide awake. He seemed to be looking quite intensely at her sleeping form. He must have been taken by surprise when she woke up, since his eyes widened a bit, but the stoic features of the rest of his face remained. Shia sighed inwardly. The prince was so good at hiding his thoughts that she could never really tell what was on his mind.
They immediately got up before the dawn settled in, and with a wave of Shia’s hand, the tent and the bed disappeared from underneath the earth. Langrion escorted her back to the estate and back towards the tree perched right outside her window. They bid their farewells, and Shia carefully climbed back up to where her bedroom was and slipped effortlessly in between the sheets of her silk-covered mattress.
Shia did not fully realize the reason why his majesty was getting worried about their formal engagement and becoming part of the nobility until morning came, and Shia got the first dose of what it is really like to become part of high society.
As soon as she heard a bell ring at around seven in the morning, Shia’s sleepy, droopy form was immediately whisked by the servants into the bath chambers where they made her sit in a bath tub full of milk and honey. She calculated in her head how much barrels of milk it might have cost to fill up her tub, or the amount of honey they needed to put in it. She cannot believe how extravagant and wasteful the nobles could be. She did not know that this was just the beginning of a series of headaches that she would encounter on that day.
After the servants finished dressing her up in another fancy dress decorated with laces and flowers, Shia descended the stairs to the large dining room. She found Duchess Tristal and Baroness Alessa already seated at the long, rectangular table. Opposite them sat Lady Khailis.
Today, Lady Khailis was wearing a dress that accentuated her collar bones, and her red, auburn hair was pinned neatly in place. It was so unlike her usual military garments that Shia was almost taken aback by the lovely and lady-like sight of her.
Just like Shia, Khailis sat there looking a little bit uncomfortable in her outrageous outfit as she tried to scratch at the various places of her body. This had actually made Shia smile in relief. ‘At least,’ she thought, ‘I’m not the only one suffering from all the layers of laces today.’
Shia wanted to inquire why she was there so early in the morning, but it was her grandmother that started to speak.
“Thanks to her lovely parents, we have the pleasure of having Lady Khailis’ presence this morning. I received a letter from his father, Duke Humphrey, and based on her parent’s strict instructions, she will be joining you in class starting today.”
Shia almost spilled the juice that she was drinking, “Pardon?... We have a class?..”
“Yes, sweetheart,” the duchess said kindly, “It’s the first day of your social discourse class for the debutant ball.”
“I-is that really necessary?” What Shia really wanted to ask her grandma was ‘is there really such a class?’, but she figured that her question would only earn her a hard stare from the duchess and the baroness.
“The debutant ball is an important affair, sweetheart. It will also be the first time that you will be presented under the House of Andry, and of course, you will have the option of meeting men from different noble houses. I know you might feel obliged to go through with your engagement to Langrey after... what happened...”
The duchess and the baroness began bursting into heaps of tears when she mentioned her last sentence. Shia tried to console her grandmother by handing her a glass of water while Khailis tried to offer the baroness her soiled table napkin, which she vehemently refused.
“Anyway,” the old duchess continued after drying some of her tears away, “should you find yourself taking fancy of another man while at the ball, you can always decline Langrey’s proposal. He’s still a mere boy, and I don’t think he has any intentions of sending a letter to the Capitol to formalize your engagement, so nothing is set in stone yet.”
As if on cue with the duchess’ words, a servant politely came in and delivered an important-looking parchment with a golden seal. The duchess tore it open and read the contents.
“Oh, it’s the announcement of your formal engagement from Gaulane,” she said as she exasperatedly tossed the parchment on the table.
“I guess everything is half-sealed in stone now...” Lady Khailis muttered under her breath as the baroness shot her a quick, sharp glance.
“Ah, does that mean I don’t have to attend this social discourse class? I guess I don’t have to mingle with anyone else now but his majesty at the ball, right?” Shia asked in such a hopeful manner that Khailis would have heartily laughed out loud if she wasn’t in the presence of the two strict-looking, older noble women.
“My child, that is an even greater reason to attend the class,” the duchess said sighing deeper than ever. “Now that your engagement is formalized, all eyes will be on you; you are going to be the talk of the town and the object of everyone’s gossip. As a candidate for the empress’ position, you might not just need the class for the ball. I think you need to have the class for the rest of your life!”
The worried look on Shia’s face and the way that she had turned so pale must have been so apparent that everyone felt silent.
“Ah, but don’t worry!” the duchess beamed, “Baroness Alessa here is a great teacher. She will have you two know the basic etiquette in no time!”
Khailis and Shia can only exchange dreadful glances at each other while hoping for the best as they await their fate later on in the hand of the baroness.
The next four days became a living hell for Shia as she was plunged into several, long hours of etiquette lessons.
When she was younger, she enjoyed the hunting, mind games, and self-defence classes her father gave her. He demanded that she carry all tasks with utmost discipline, but nonetheless, Shia thoroughly enjoyed it.
The etiquette classes were of a different level, however. It was devoid of fun from Shia’s perspective. Lady Khailis and she were asked by the baroness to put on different articles of clothing and learn how to color their faces and braid their hairs. They were asked to change the way they walked, the way they spoke, the number of times they blinked, and even the way that they should laugh and look at other people. There was a measurement for everything, maybe even for the number of breaths they should take in a minute. The worst part of it was that no matter how diligently she practiced, she was failing to measure up to the baroness’ yardstick.
The only thing that she looked forward in her days was her secret meeting with Langrion in the late afternoon and in the night time where she was free to complain about the sufferings she had endured so far.
“The baroness’ voice had gone too hoarse today from telling me that I mustn’t show too much of my lower teeth when I smile!” Shia exclaimed as she rested her back on the bushes. By now, the setting afternoon sun has filled the sky with a beautiful orange hue, and the birds are coming back in groups to their nests.
“Do you want to go for a short hunting trip in the woods?” Langrion asked. Lately, the two of them discovered that they both liked to hunt, and Langrion had been trying to teach her how to use arrows since she had only used her daggers to hunt before.
“I don’t think I can today. My feet ache so much from dancing. I think they might just fall off!” Shia declared.
“Ah, so you already learned how to dance then?”
“No. Khailis learned how to dance. I just learned how to step on her foot.”
“Aw, poor Khailis!”
“Yeah, it’s unfortunate that she had to endure having a partner like me,” Shia remarked.
“I think I can teach you,” Langrion said, “Come, show me how you dance.”
“Do you have a death wish for your feet, your majesty?”
“It can’t be that bad.”
“Well, if you insist,” Shia said as she stood up from the bushes and took the open and inviting arms of his majesty, “But you can’t say that I did not warn you.”
After a few missed steps, the prince laughed, “Don’t mind the steps too much. You have to flow with the music. Come, just follow how I glide. Let me lead you.”
Shia tried to listen to his advice and stopped all the instructions and the counting she was making in her head. She surrendered her body in the protective form of Langrion, and just like magic, they were able to glide effortlessly together.
“See,” he smiled.
“How come you never visit formally and join our classes? Perhaps I would have learned this better if you were there,” Shia protested.
“I had been a little busy,” he replied. They continued to move gracefully about, with the prince guiding her every move and Shia just letting him lead her to the sound of an invisible tune. “I had been seeing the mage that the commander had been in contact with every morning. He has been of great help, so far. I can use this mask for longer periods of time, thanks to him.”
“Then, does that mean we don’t need to go through with the engagement?”
Langrion’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“If your mask is mended, then you don’t need my help anymore, right?.. At the rate that the mage is going, perhaps he could fully restore the power of your mask very soon,” Shia said.
“What does that have to do with our engagement?” he remarked.
Shia could not understand the prince’s reaction. She tried to read his face, but it was a blank. “Wasn’t that the only reason why you wanted me by your side?”
“It’s one of the reasons...” he said slowly.
Shia’s eyes widened. “One of the reasons?... You mean there’s more than one?...”