Reason #25: it would be the beginning to my doom (4)

Before The Guest's Arrival

Ever since we receive the telegram, Sir Jacob and I have been running around the palace for the past few days, making sure that everything was well prepared for our guest's arrival while the Prince and Sir Gregory made the final preparations for the palace events.

"I guess that should be the last thing on the checklist. Is there anything else that we need to do, Sir Jacob?"

Ivy asked as they carried all the documents together and slowly walked back towards the office.

"No, Ms.Ivy. Everything is going according to plan. Perhaps you should retire earlier today since the royal guest is coming. You will need more energy when you host them tomorrow."

"I see, then I shall..." Ivy suddenly paused when she heard something that sounds dangerous to her ear.

"Sir Jacob? Can you repeat that? I think I must've misheard. Did you say that I will be hosting them? As in face to face hosting?"

She began to quiver and pray that she heard wrong.

"Yes. Of course. You are the Prince's ceremonial co-host, after all."

"Ah, but that means ..."

Inside Ivy's mind

"But I thought my role is more like a supporting role behind the scenes. To have someone like me hosting them, don't you think it's a little..."

She said as she tries to convince Sir Jacob to make other arrangements.

"Of course not Ms.Ivy. You are not just the ceremonial Co-host. You are also his highness fiancée. You are the only one that could do this. On top of that, his highness won't be around to host them as he will be busy preparing for the first ceremony, and the Royal guest is not just any guest. We cannot let mere attendants host their arrival. It would be considered discourteous to the royal family."

"Ack!" Ivy went speechless. There was nothing else she could say to save her out from this situation.

When Sir Jacob saw Ivy panicking, he reassured her and smiled

"Don't worry. I'll be right beside you. I'll watch your every step."

Hearing Sir Jacob's words were not reassuring at all as she thought

"Watch me?? So he is the witness to my doom!"

Then the noon chime began to ring, and so Sir Jacob took over the paperwork in Ivy's hands and said

"I'll take over the rest, Ms.Ivy. You can take the rest of the day off."

After he took the papers, he bowed then went away while Ivy stayed frozen in the middle of the hallway.

A few moments later, while she is on her way to the library, she began to think

The context of the novel said

- they met at the ball and fall in love. It was love at first sight.-

So this means their first meeting will be at the ball, but the villainess will meet the heroin first?"

Ivy then paused her footsteps and sighed.

"I'm so tired these few days that I don't even have the strength to criticize the author like how I used to."

Then she tried to calm down and analyze her situation carefully.

"Ok, first of all, should I be worried?

If I'm not mistaken, after the main leads fall in love with each other, their love made the villainess jealous because the villainess loves the prince, and so she tried to get rid of the princess. All of these only happen after they fall in love, but now they haven't. So does that mean I'm still safe? Hmm..."

Because she has been feeling exhausted from all the work these past few days, so her brain finally malfunctions after overthinking, and she couldn't analyze any further.

"Urgh... too much analyzing. Even when I try so hard to avoid the danger zone but it keeps on pulling me back in!"

She ruffles her hair in frustration

"Fine, if the author insists that both the villainess and the princess to meet. Then I will do it my way! I'll stay at least 20... no, at least 30 ft (10 meters) away from her. With that much distance, at least if anything were to happen, they can't frame me in any way!"

After deciding to move forward with that plan, she immediately went into the library to heal her brain.

When she reached the resting room and saw the tea on the table, she then recalled

"Ah, I was so busy that I forgot about the tea time with Mr.Humphrey."

Ivy looks around to see whether the old man is here, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe he just left. It looks like the tea has just started to cool down too. Sigh, I must apologize later."

Without wasting any more time, she took out her knitting pouch and resumed knitting the Prince's scarf.

"Right, let's not worry too much about anything now and focus on completing one task at a time. As long as I follow according to plan, there shouldn't be any reason for me to fail...Again."

Then she began putting her mind into knitting so that it would distract her from thinking about the princess, but as the hour pass, her tired eyes began to catch up, causing her to lose her consciousness, and slowly, before she knew it, her eyes began to feel heavy.

"I just need 5 minutes," she says as she laid her head on the couch and slept soundly.

She didn't know how long she was asleep, but as the sounds of voices began to wake her from her slumber, she then only notice that the day has turned to dusk.

Then as she blinked her eyes a few times, she saw two male figures standing in front of her. Her vision was blurry, and she was still a bit delusional from her sleep, so as she rises, and she rubs her eyes and yawn

"Good morning."

The two men immediately turn their gaze at her, feeling surprised.

After a few blinks, she gradually saw old man Humphrey and Prince Leon standing facing each other.

So she asked, "What are you two doing?"

They then stared at each other, but both decided to remain silent.

and so she thought

But even after waiting for a while, they remain silent.

then she thought

And so it was up to her to break the silence. Hence she asked them with a perplexed smile, "Do you two know each other?"

"Ivy, this is..."

Before Prince Leon could say any further, Sir Gregory suddenly came in and interrupted them.

"Leon! We've got an emergency! The king..."

When Sir Gregory saw the old man in the room, he immediately kneeled and said

"Greetings, Your majesty. I'm sorry for suddenly barging in. I did not know that you were here together with his highness."

Ivy immediately stood up with her eyes open as wide as it has never before.

she screamed in her mind.

Ivy never would've thought that the old man with messy crinkly hair and faded ragged clothes to be the emperor as she did not feel a single shred of royalty from him at all.

(Author: Important lesson, never judge a book by its cover.)

she thought

(Author: the 1st was the prince, and the 2nd is the princess. But somehow or another, it was as if she was destined to meet all of them.)

"Your majesty!" She immediately bowed and greeted him, "Forgive me for my impudence, for I didn't know who you really were."

"It's fine, young Ms.Ivy. We've agreed under the same terms to call each other informally. You are at no fault here." 

"But I ..."

If this had happened to other maidens in the story, they might have felt a little remorse and perhaps even made a heartfelt apology by repenting in their house a little but not to the girl who had the strongest sense of responsibility in the world.

When she recalled all the things she said and how the way she acted in front of the mightiest ruler of this empire, it made her felt so embarrassed and so ashamed, she thought even if she bowed and kneeled for forgiveness forever, it still wouldn't be enough for her.

On top of all that!

She just notices a large blue coat covering on top of her body, which most probably belongs to the emperor, had some of her drool on it!

And so, when the very mature and very responsible girl had just realized that she had only done the biggest wrong towards the most crucial person in the whole country and just thinking about all of the above was making her crazy. Therefore she uncontrollably kneeled to the ground and yelled

"Your Majesty! I do not dare to ask for your forgiveness after what I've done to you. So please do tell me what I can do to repay myself!"

After that, there was a moment of silence in the room as everyone stared at her sudden bold action towards the emperor.

The emperor, on the one hand, tugs his beard and thought out loud, "hmm..."

While the emperor took a while to think, Ivy's brain began to calm down from the adrenaline. Then she only realizes that she shouldn't have said what she just said as her original intention was to avoid the emperor and not to gain his attention any more than this.

Then she began to raise her head and stuttered to the emperor

"Uhm, sorry. I... I think I ... overreacted little..."

But the emperor did not hear her words, and he said to her

"Ok. I shall take this to mind and call for you when I need you."

At that moment, Ivy thought she had just press the 'DOOM' button all on her own.

Then the Prince steps in and said

"My apologies, your majesty. It seems that Ms.Ivy and I are needed for an urgent matter. We shall take our leave then."

Then the Prince immediately grab her hand and left the room along with Sir Gregory while they left the Emperor and Ivy's knitting pouch behind.

**********

The Guest's Sudden Arrival

"Wait! Leon!"

Ivy yelled at the Prince while she tried to catch her breath as he pulled her quickly away from the library.

Then when Prince Leon came back to his senses, he let her hand go and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know what came over me."

He showed a sullen face and then looked away from her. When Ivy saw the Prince made that face and it was the same sad expression that she had seen when they were children, so she tried to reach out to him and said.

"Leon, you..."

However, just when she wanted to reach out to him, Gregory interrupted her with the bad news that he wanted to announce earlier.

"I'm sorry to disturb both of you, but we have an emergency that we have to attend to immediately."

Sir Gregory gave them a serious look and said

"King Haynes, along with Princess Sophia from the southern Kingdom, is on their way here to the palace."

"What?!"

Both of them raised their brows when they heard the news.

Then Ivy thought

While she glances at the prince a little, she began to shiver, thinking that it might be time for her to leave the Prince earlier than she thought.

And so she raises her voice and asks Sir Gregory to reconfirm his report.

"But they shouldn't be here this early. They were expected to arrive the earliest at noon tomorrow. This is too sudden."

Sir Gregory then scratches his head and said

"King Haynes had just ascended to the throne last year, so we haven't had much experience hosting his stay before this. We heard rumors about him being ruthless, but to do this was completely unexpected. However, that is the least our worries."

"What do you mean?"

Ivy looks at Sir Gregory as her concerns had just grown even worse.

"We've just received a report that they've bought twice the amount of servants than we've expected, and they've requested that each of their servants have a room of their own."

"What!" She yelled, "but that's just being unreasonable. We won't have enough rooms for all of them. Where will the servants at the palace stay?"

While Ivy is panicking, the Prince just places his hand on her shoulders and calmly smiled.

"What shall we do, your highness?"

Sir Gregory asks as the Prince started to unbutton his cuffs.

"How much time left until they arrive?"

"About an hour."

"Gregory, order half of the servants to move out of their room. Those who can share their rooms then stay, while those who can't, we will move them to the capital's public inn and guest house and make sure to pay them to double for the trouble we give them. Finally, get the red carpet out and prepare my formal coat. We'll have to greet our royal guest properly."

Prince Leon gave them a confident smile, and he showed a face as if he was about to rule the world.

"Yes, your highness."

After Sir Gregory left to perform his duties, Ivy let out a small laugh when she saw the Prince's face.

"What are you suddenly laughing at?" He looked at Ivy curiously with her sudden reaction.

"Nothing much. I just didn't expect that I would see you like this. You are making that same face again."

"Hmm?" He raised a brow as he couldn't understand what she had meant. "What face?"

"You didn't know? Hmm..." Ivy cunningly smiled, happy that she knew something that he didn't know about, and it made the Prince awfully curious.

"What... what are you talking about?"

He continued to ask as he was worried that she might have looked at him in the wrong way.

After she felt satisfied seeing him flustered, she then smiled at him and answered

"You have been showing that same face for the past nine years every morning after Father defeated you in a sword fight. While other knights always showed a gloomy face, you're the only one who always had a conceited look on your face like you are always overly confident that you're going to win, and you never plan to give up."

"Ack! Conceited face?" He took a step back as he had never known that he had such a habit, "have I ever??"

"Yes. Every single time. That's why father always say that"

~I need to make that arrogant brat know his place!~

"Your face is probably the reason why he is so harsh with you all these years. I always thought you knew, and you were doing it on purpose."

"Ack!" He took a step back again. Feeling shocked by the sudden truth he just learn. "So all these years, Master never went easy on me, was because of how I look?"

"Yes." Ivy just answered honestly.

The Prince then crouch to the ground, as he remembered all the devilish training that he had to endure all those years was because of his own doing.

Then Ivy squat down to his level and smiled

"Hey, but that face of yours is the one I like the most."

When the Prince heard her words, he immediately raises his head and looks at her.

"You look proud, but you also look like you're having fun. You don't know, but you have the best smile when you look like that. That's why I always feel you look the most handsome when you're defeated."

His eyes widen in surprise, and he immediately tried to hide his embarrassment looking at the ground and then he said to her

"So, you like me even when I lose? What weird taste you have."

"Huh?!" She said as she felt offended being called weird, "Just when I tried to compliment you once and a while. Hmph! I take it all back. You look the ugliest, and I couldn't be happier when Father defeated you."

She crossed her arms and looked away.

Then as she stood up and tried to turn away from him, he immediately grasps her arms and said

"You are probably the only girl that likes me even when I lose, and yet I still couldn't get you to say you love me. But I guess it's just a matter of time now.

"Huh?" Ivy tilted her head, feeling confused with his sudden strange words

"Hey, Ivy, shall we make a bet?"

He smiled at her while she tried to turn her gaze away as she could feel there is a sinister plot behind that smile.

"What bet are we talking about?"

"On the day of my first ceremony, if I can defeat every single opponent. I would like my lover to reward me."

"No." Ivy immediately reject him

"But you haven't heard what reward I want yet?"

"I won't say I love you if you win. That would be cheating." She said as she kept her gaze away.

"Ah, then there would be no worries because I'm not asking for that."

Then she immediately turns and look at him and ask

"Huh? So what do you want?"

"I just want to have a date with you."

He just smiled and answered sincerely

Ivy was surprised with his request, but she still wouldn't let her guard down as she could feel that he was planning something and so she ask

"What are you plotting, Leon?"

Then the Prince let out a sigh and said

"To think you doubt me that much, am I that untrustworthy as your lover?"

(Author: To Ivy, who trust facts more than feeling, have every reason not to trust the Prince after personally experiencing many times falling into his cunning trap.)

While she gave him a suspicious look, he holds both of her hands and said

"I wanted another chance after what happen at Ester Lake. The whole incident at Ester lake made me thought that we haven't really had a proper date before, and I want to have a second chance at that. So I like to ask if you mind giving me that chance again?"

Then he gazes at her with that look, that full of pheromone attack look. That look that all maidens fall for. That very look that she swore, she would fight against as hard as she could.

However, today she failed miserably when she says to him, "fine, you win."

Then he began to smile happily like a puppy while she firmly reminded him of the conditions again

"But that is only if you win, right? What if you lose?"

"Hmph," he gave her that arrogant look on his face again and said, "I won't."

"But what if you do?"

"But I won't."

Then Ivy place her hand on her furrowed brows and said

"This is a bet, right? If we are going to do this properly, then there should be two sides to the bet. If not, why should I agree to this then since I have nothing to gain from it?"

"Hmm..." he held his chin and think, "you are right. We should be fair. What would you like then?"

"Hehe," she gave a sneaky laugh. "How about adding another 100 gold bar to my pay?"

her sinister thoughts in her mind

"Hmph. It's that it?" He let out a small laugh, "Not a problem. Let me comfort you when you cry then."

"Huh?!" She crosses her arms while she pushes out steams of frustration. "Don't get too proud of yourself, Leon. You won't know what would happen yet."

"But I already know."

She then raised a brow and asked, "How?"

He then immediately grab her around the waist and pull her into his arms, and said

"Because I've already decided that I'm never going to let you see me lose again."

"Why?" She asked as she continues to look at him with confusion.

"Because" he then leaned towards her ear and whisper, "I will win so much that I'll make you fall deeply in love with the way I look when I win."

Then the Prince suddenly blew into her ear, and she immediately pushes him away while her whole face blushed in red.

The Prince laughs at the way she looks then he offered his hands and said

"Come, shall we go greet our guest together?"

At that moment, Ivy's face immediately changed as she remembered that the Prince was about to meet his true love, and she will soon leave his side.

She was scared, but as she saw the Prince happily smiling at her, she thought

And so she forced herself to smile and gave her best act as if nothing is wrong, then naturally held his hands and said, "ok, let's go together."

*************

(Author: OMG!!!!! Coming soon! I'm getting the jitters myself

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