"I had expected you to pick someone else." He began. I blinked and looked away.
"I decided at the last second to pick an unexpected guest. Why did you decide to come to my debut?"
"I was dragged here by Kain and Quinn. They thought I was too antisocial and needed to get out more. And see where that landed me." He gave me a look and I glanced away with a wry smile. It's for your own good Ru, you'll understand soon.
"You sure are lucky," I said.
"I sure am," Ru replied with a dry tone.
My head was spinning with all sorts of thoughts. How could I give him the ring? Perhaps by telling him it's a gift? That might work.
"I had planned on giving my partner a present for... putting up with my atrocious dancing."
"Atrocious is an understatement." I had to bite my tongue so as not to let his word get to me.
"Right. As I was saying, as a thank you, I wanted to give you a ring." Ru raised an eyebrow at that. "Listen, I didn't accept your invitation to propose to you." I rolled my eyes.
"Neither was I proposing, it's merely a piece of jewelry. Perhaps the start of a new friendship?"
"That sounds a bit suspicious." That's because I'm trying to get on your good side before you turn dark and gloomy. I gave him an innocent smile.
"Why would that be? I want to get to know you better and I think a gift is a good start." Ru narrowed his eyes at me. I heard the music slowing down and we finished our dance. I thanked him as he did the same. I took something out of my pocket.
"Well? I swear it's not cursed." Seeing how Ru paused in taking the ring, I had chosen the wrong thing to say. "It's a joke!" Ru gave me a look before he grabbed the ring again. He put the ring on and stared at it.
"It's strangely comforting. Did you put a charm on it?" I smiled mysteriously. "Something like that." Ru paused. And then he gave me a small smile.
"Thank you." I felt my heart squeeze from the smile before he waved goodbye and walked back. I felt a bit guilty when he smiled at me, as I didn't deserve it. I merely decided to make his life less worse before his family was assassinated. I'd thought of stopping it or finding out who ordered the attack, but something told me that I'd land myself in deep water if I did so. Whoever hired the assassins might decide to attack me instead. I'd rather allow the game to follow the same route than deviate that far.
And so I hurried to my table, only to be stopped by a group of guests around my age.
"Rael! That dancing was fantastic! I wonder, do you perhaps want to dance with me?" A young girl asked. Someone shoved her. A boy this time, who looked to be my age, offered his hand. "No no, you should dance with someone who is of equal status. Please, let me be your next dance?" He gave me a hopeful smile. But that was dashed when a girl with a hat kicked him to the side. "Fuck off, budget prince, Rael, you should dance with me!"
I gave them a small smile. "I'm quite tired of dancing and am quite hungry. However, I wouldn't mind talking once I'm done eating?" They let me go as I slowly walked to the dinner table. I took my untouched plate and sat down, savoring every bite. Once I was done, stuffed to the brim, I walked back to the group who were now conversing with one another.
I struck up a conversation with a boy who I vaguely remembered, he might be an extra in the game. Soon, I found myself talking with the rest of the guests as they crowded around me. I commented on the food and the girl to my right laughed. It wasn't that funny...
Finally, one of the guests made a move.
"Prince Rael, you're quite funny. I would love it if you visited my home." Someone cut him off, another boy with a haughty smile. "No no, don't go to a lowly count's house that can barely take care of itself! Go to mine, we have all sorts of delectable dishes that I'm sure you'll enjoy!" That sounded pretty fun, I won't lie.
A third slid in before any words left my mouth. "You belittle a count when you're merely the child of a marquis. Get back in line. Rael is only worthy of going to my house! We even have a Pegasus that you can ride on!" I gasped. A pegasus? I didn't know they existed in this world.
A girl with a large hat snorted. "A pegasus you say? You forgot to tell him that it's been dead for centuries and that you stuffed it up?"
The pegasus boy froze. "How did you know that?" The girl sneered.
"Poor Clara fell for your trick and its head fell off when she got on it! I heard it traumatized her!" The girl in question nodded tearfully. The girl added, "I can't believe you're still trying to do it, honestly, put that poor thing out of its misery."
The pegasus guy snarled. "It's none of your business. What's it to you? If you're going to be revealing others' secrets, why don't I reveal yours, Marie?" She crossed her arms. "Go on. I have nothing to hide."
The pegasus guy laughed as though he heard a funny joke. "Really? Can you still say that when your actual father is your damn grandfather?" Marie's mouth was agape. The pegasus guy considered that a victory, and feeling good, he decided to pick a fight with the rest of the nobles.
"You with the freckles—"
"My name is—"
"I don't care, all I know is that your father was the one who killed your dog, you're welcome. You, with the yellow dress, I heard from a little birdy that your sister stole over thousands of gold and framed it on you. And the one who's hiding behind your boyfriend of one year, he's cheating on you with your brother. Oh and Marie?"
Marie, who was still recovering, looked up. "Y-yes?"
"All of your cousins are actually your half-siblings." Marie staggered back as she was in too much of a shock to reply.
Having left a heavy blow on any noble he could reach, the adults were dragged into the arguments. Someone asked a good question. "How does he know all of this?" The pegasus guy, whose name was Al, winked. "It's a secret!"
It was too amusing watching him expose these nobles. They had little to no comeback. I watched five children confront their family members who in turn grew pale. I started laughing. This felt like a drama show.
"Your aunt breaks apart families for fun, your grandpa burned an orphanage down while he was drunk, oh and you... should never get close to a horse again." The people who were called out, grew red in the face and retreated. The horse girl sprinted from the scene.
Al was on fire. He pointed at a short girl who'd been minding her business. "You— oh wow. You know what, I'll stay quiet." Everyone stared at the innocent girl who grew red in the face. She walked off and Al mumbled out loud. "That's a high body count." I saw her run away as Al began cackling. His snickering was paused when a tall boy approached.
"Al..." He warned. Al turned pale.
"I'm not doing anything! They started it, I'm only finishing it, Kain!" Kain wasn't having it. He grabbed Al, apologized, and left early with a whining boy in tow. I kept laughing as this was a great end to the debut. It was getting late. I was curious about this Al guy. Nevertheless, I thanked the guests for coming as they began leaving one by one.
I yawned from the sheer exhaustion. I walked up to my family who was headed towards their room. I saw Wei look at me with a devious smile. "It seems that your dance went well." I gave him a confused look. Heath invited himself into the conversation.
"He means the ring."
"What ring?"
"The ring that you gave Ru?" I gasped. Oh no. Oh no no no. Did they think I proposed to Ru? I furiously shook my head.
"No! Never! That ring wasn't like that. I was giving him it as a thank you for dancing with me." Wei and Heath exchanged a glance.
"Really?"
"Yes! And why do you care so much?" Wei patted my head.
"You're the youngest so I've got to look out for your stupid mistakes." I glared at him as he grinned at me. He left and I was about to leave when Heath stopped me.
"Did I thank you? For Mary?"
"Yes...?"
"Oh. Okay. Good." He was silent for a while. "If— if you ever need advice on Ru, I can help you." I glowered at him.
"If you mean advice on friendship, then sure." Heath gave me a teasing smile before walking off, leaving me annoyed. Great. They'd misunderstood my attempt to save Ru's pitiful future as a marriage proposal.
As soon as I entered my room, I washed up and wore my pajamas. Once I was done, I fell asleep as soon as I touched the bed. I'd been too exhausted to notice that the window was open when it was previously closed. But when I woke up, it was closed again. As though nothing had happened.
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