Chapter 13: Christmas Ball Part.2

"IVORY'S MINE!" I clung to Ivory's arm.

Everyone's eyes swung towards me and Rei strung insults at me under his breath.

I smirked as Luke and Rei's glares burned a hole in the back of my head.

Well, Luke did once tell me last time something about helping a damsel in distress.

Leave it to me, Luke. I'll do exactly what you said.

***

LUKE:

Ahaha… I stared at Easton at he made a complete fool of himself. I heard Rei sigh deeply beside me and I couldn't help but agree.

The hero comes and saves the maiden? That's really charming and nicely done. Easton really did nail that part.

Except…

It's our family's necks on the line!!!

"Easton, unless you intend to start a fight, which I know you completely do not want, you've phrased it incorrectly." I smiled at Easton, walking up to him and gripping his shoulder as tightly as possible, "What you meant was 'I wish to dance with Ivory first'. It's very sweet of you to want to dance with your younger sister, but royalty must always lead the dance first."

We watched as Prince Kyle gracefully leaded Ivory into the first dance, I slumped against the closest wall.

"Did I just have my first taste of drama?" Easton stared into the distance, with sparkling eyes and slightly flushed cheeks, "Is this what they call drama? I should do it more often!"

"…Are you okay Young Master?" Rei peered down at me, taken aback.

I crumpled and knelt on the ground,

"That was the drama of my life…" I stared into the distance with dead eyes and let out a sigh of relief, "I'm just thankful it wasn't the death of my life…"

"I feel your pain…" Rei sighed, patting me on the back, "We just have to suffer through this together."

***

IVORY:

In silence, Prince Kyle and I danced in sync together. Although he may be a skilled dancer, he stayed silent and just focused on dancing.

Gaaaaaaah! It was so awkward! Say something!

At last the dance ended and we split ways. Raven waved at me he and smiled.

"Let's go head towards your brothers." He smiled, pointing at Luke and Easton, "Don't worry about Kyle. With his personality, he's the type who doesn't talk often, he doesn't talk unless someone asks him something. But he's so stubborn sometimes, when our grandma passed away, he kept visiting her manor even though he knew she was dead."

"…May I ask why your telling me this?" I glanced at Raven as I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I like you and you're going to be family!" Raven turned to beam at me, "I can't have Kyle scaring you away."

Raven and I reached the others.

"Excuse me." A girl in an adorable buttercup-yellow dress tapped me on the shoulder, "Lady Ivory? I believe I have not introduced you to my friends yet. Please follow me."

I followed her to a smaller, separate room and inside were young girls of high status. Each and every one of them stood with an elegant grace and an air of importance around them.

Great.

Let's just hope a stupid fight wouldn't break out.

***

REI:

We watched as Ivory disappeared into the distance and I turned to the others. Lady Sardonna appeared out of nowhere and appeared to be heading towards our direction.

"Why didn't they bring Luke with them?" Easton asked, tilting his head.

"Because of her." I nodded towards Lady Sardonna, "Honestly, Lady Sardonna doesn't have the proper etiquette to enter their room of elegance and politics, so they assumed if Lord Luke came, Lady Sardonna would follow."

"Ahaha… On another note!" Luke grabbed both of us by the collars of our suit, "RUN! She's getting too close!"

"…That hurts…" Easton whined tearfully as Luke dragged us away.

We were shoved inside the men's bathroom and we leaned against the door, catching our breaths. A young boy our age stood in front of us, staring at us. He stepped closer towards us and Easton's eyes widened, and he grinned and the prospect of creating more trouble with me to deal with.

Wait a minute- He wasn't going to do what I was thinking, right? Don't… don't do it Easton. Just please don't-!

"Oh? So you're approaching me?" Easton sneered maliciously, raising his arms to form some figure of intimidation. "Instead of running away you're approaching me? Come at me! I can beat you in a pulp any second now!"

I buried my face in my hands. Can someone help this idiot? I refused to give eye-contact to the boy, I was barely restraining from the urge to hit Easton.

Easton continued to smile evilly at the poor boy and eventually, the boy stopped walking towards us.

"…Um… I'm not approaching you… Can you please move?" He asked awkwardly, bobbing his head up and down uncomfortably, "I need to use the exit behind you."

In a silent, mutual agreement we parted a path for him to exit. Silently, we watched as he exited the door and heard his footsteps dash away as quickly as possible from the bathroom.

"…Poor guy." Luke sighed, shaking his head sympathetically.

***

IVORY:

I kept my fake smile on and nodded occasionally as the room continued to discuss politics.

Somehow, eventually they drifted towards the topic of my brother, Easton.

Instantly, I paid attention to what they were talking about and listened to their giggles and laughs about him.

"My deepest condolences, Lady Ivory." A girl patted me on the back, smiling at me with pity, "It must be hard living with an illegitimate child."

"Ahaha… It's not as bad as you think." I continued to plaster a smile on, "He's quite a decent child."

As much as I wanted to punch these little brats, I had to be the considerate and mature female and ignore their snipes. I had endured bullies in high school, I could easily ignore these little kids!

"I heard his behaviour is crude as a commoner!"

"The only thing he has going for him is his looks…"

"The duke's house would be involved with a tragedy if he were to take over."

"No respectable parents would allow their daughter to marry a disgrace like him…"

"Excuse me. I would prefer you not to keep doubting the choices of my father, the duke." I sipped some tea and smiled.

"Ah… Of course, we aren't doubting him…" A girl smiled, "We just… are getting to know more about him."

"Well then, I find the need to correct you." I continued to smile, looking down at my teacup, "A few of you said he was quite useless. However, I think you find his magical abilities already awakened at a young age and very powerful."

"Well then, we can sleep knowing that the duke's house has a strong ally."

"But really… he causes to much trouble to be considered a noble's child."

"So undignified…"

"I feel bad for whoever his fiancé will be…"

"There's no noble's grace nor elegance about him."

I clenched my teacup, trying not to explode with rage. However, I squeezed it too hard and shards of glass shattered everywhere. Careful not to scrape my hand, I dropped it on the floor.

"I'll take my leave now." I smiled, standing up and smoothing my dress.

As I made way to the door, I turned my head towards the silent girls,

"And I suggest you fix your manners before you talk about anyone else's etiquette, your mouths are in need of being scrubbed with soap." I opened the glossy, oak door, "In short… shut up, my ears are bleeding thanks to your incessant chattering. Don't bother inviting me again."

I slammed the door and as I walked away, I peered around to find the rest of my crew.

Vanished.

I sighed.

***

"How was the Christmas Ball, children?" Mother smiled sweetly at us as we rode the carriage home.

We all looked at each other with heavy and dark bags under our weary eyes.

"…Wonderful…" We all smiled weakly.

Rei was currently in the other carriage for servants.

"Tomorrow will be the Christmas Banquet. You can go to the market to see all the attraction." Father opened the door and stepped towards our manor, "Be careful around the commoners."

"Father." I followed Father, "I have something to ask you. May I talk to you in your office?"

"Of course, Ivory." Father looked down art me and smiled. "Let's go."

***

The door softly closed behind us as I sat on the brown leather seat and watched Father take his place behind his dark oak, working table.

"Now, what were you trying to ask me?" Father shoved his documents to one side and giving me his fullest attention.

"I want my engagement annulled." I stared at him with determination.