Chapter 79: Femme Fatale

Lady Margarette continued to scrutinize Princess Aphra, who stood next to Prince Maxen. Princess Aphra's clothes were rather unassuming as she wore a blouse and cardigan with a flower pattern skirt. She looked comfortable in her clothes while standing next to everyone quietly.

Lady Margarette felt upset that the young couple looked like they were comfortable with each other from a bystander's perspective for a long time.

"No wonder the people look on at them as the perfect couple. Standing next to each other, they always seem like they match so well," thought Lady Margarette as she sighed and looked down to the floor.

Prince Maxen had noticed that Lady Margarette had come in with his cousins. They would always hang out from school, so Lady Margarette showing up would never look off. His cousins never knew that he had liked her in the past, and they never suspected anything even now. He tried to focus on his chatty cousins when he noticed that Lady Margarette looked over at his side.

Prince Maxen understood that she was looking at Princess Aphra, who seemed to stand next to him naturally like she had done this many times before. He was momentarily amazed at her superb acting skills. The more he saw her acting, the more stunned he would be. This level of acting felt more like she was used to certain behaviors. He secretly wondered if she had been raised to be a Lady from a young age.

He could not fathom how anyone would know the proper procedures to act in public, especially within the Royal Family's presence.

"Is this the influence of being backed by the Queen of Edalelia? Why would a Queen put so much care in a girl not part of the Royal Family?" thought Prince Maxen as he continued to banter with his cousins.

"So, what were you guys doing before we came here?" asked Radulfus curiously.

Hearing him ask, the three royals did not know how to answer right away. Finally, Elizabella smiled and answered him.

"Cousin Radulfus, we were in the theater room watching past performances of when I had been with a troupe. We had finished watching a couple of past videos when it was announced that you guys came. Zander had coincidentally hired them to perform for his birthday party. Is that not right, Zander?" asked Elizabella naturally as she turned her head to Prince Zander, who gave her a gentle smile as he felt irked inside.

"Yes. In fact, the group that came to entertain us has an internet following. They will be recording everything later and will be posted on their website. But do not worry, we can all wear masks to keep our identities hidden," explained Prince Zander as these were the initial terms of the competition's winner. "To be honest, Aphra here will be their primary focus as she is the winner of their competition. They will interview her on her thoughts on her winning work and later will perform with them."

"Wow! Director Ginny is even popular outside our school. Which one of your works did you submit?" asked Emerick as the three cousins had seen a few of her works with Lady Margarette. "Margarette here was the one who had introduced us to your productions with your debut project, the trapped ballerina. I think she became your fan because she loves ballet."

"Oh? Is that so? I am flattered to know that you like my works," smiled Elizabella humbly as she turned her gaze at Lady Margarette, who in turn nodded her head while blushing.

Lady Margarette felt a little embarrassed that the girl she had admired for producing a video with a dancing ballerina was the same girl that married the guy that she could have married. It became awkward for her when she did not know what to do other than nod her head.

"What work did you submit for me, Zander?" asked Elizabella as she was not sure how she had been picked the winner for the competition, though she did believe that they chose her for other reasons as well.

"Your debut video. I thought that it was great, so I submitted it behind your back. I hope you forgive me for doing this without your knowledge," said Prince Zander as he never had a chance to apologize to her for sending a submission in her name without her knowing.

But now that he knew that she had a past with this group, he regretted ever sending that submission. He understood that she would have won with anything under her name as he was sure they would have chosen her just to see and talk to her again. He felt his anger raging inside, but he tried to keep calm as he faced her.

"No worries, I am glad to see my friends again," said Elizabella as she secretly cursed Prince Zander for bringing them to his party.

She was upset because it was hard to act around the people who taught her to act. Her acting in love in front of her friends would appear fake to them and what was worse was that she was afraid that they would notice that she had changed. Although change is good and even inevitable in life, her change was more on the dangerous side.

Elizabella treasured her friends and did not want them ever to see her lose her cool or the monster lurking inside her. She wanted her friends always to remember the innocent Beauty they had affectionately named instead of the new Princess Aphra. She secretly sighed as she understood that they might see or notice her changes.

"Hey! Let us go and see your friends, Aphra," said Drystan as the three cousins were curious to meet her past relations.

"Let us head there," said Prince Zander in a gentlemanly smile as he felt like not going back to see Lady Elizabella with her friends.

The group went to the theater room, where they saw a group of young people busying themselves on the stage. They were talking about how the lighting and sound were when they were watching the videos. The cousins looked on and noticed a girl sitting in the front row while she looked through her CD.

Her long legs were crossed above the knee, totally unlike a Lady, as it gave off an overpowering effect. The young guys were stunned to see that the girl sitting was beautiful. She was wearing a fitted T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Earlier, she felt cold sweat on her back, so she had decided to let her hair down as she did not have a jacket. Her long, black hair framed her face as she lazily looked through her CD, not noticing that a group of new people were watching her.

This would be the first time the three cousins had met a girl so unrestrained in front of them. Typically, due to their family dynamics, all the girls they have met would turn docile and appear more lady-like in front of them. Seeing Beast sitting without a care in the world had shocked them greatly, especially since she had a lovely face.

They were awakened from their stupor as they saw that Princess Aphra approached the girl and sat next to her, making Beast look up at her with her typical arrogant gaze before looking down at her CD again. Feeling bold, the three cousins walked over to the sitting girls and looked at Aphra to introduce them to her friend.

"Cousin Aphra, will you introduce us to your friend here?" asked Emerick, as he was always the most outspoken while he gave his best smile to them.

He was not the only one that gave his best smile as his brother and cousin stood next to him, looking at Beast, hoping she would notice them. The two princes saw this and realized that their cousins were trying to flirt with Princess Aphra's friend. They furrowed their eyebrows as they recalled that she was holding hands with another guy when they first saw Beast. They both sighed as they knew that this would lead nowhere.

Elizabella, hearing Emerick asking for an introduction, understood that her friend, Beast, was attracting all the boys again. She looked at her friend, who seemed not interested in the three guys who were practically drooling over her. Her staring caused Beast to look up at her while she raised her eyebrow as if to ask what her deal was.

Elizabella mouthed to her, "Femme Fatale," making Beast furrow her brows as she looked up and saw the three guys smiling at her. Beast felt speechless as she realized that her friend was accusing her of attracting the guys again. She turned her gaze to look at Elizabella and mouthed back, "I am innocent," while smirking, making her three admirers stunned to see her smile. At least, to them, she smiled, which invigorated them to continue their pursuit. As she saw the three guys losing their calm, it made Elizabella mercilessly shoot their dream down.

"This is my best friend. She goes by her stage name, Beast. She is engaged to be married next year," said Elizabella with an innocent smile as she understood that her friend Beast hated to be bothered by people.

Hearing their dreams being crushed, the three guys seemed to deflate as their smiles dulled. This was when Darian came along as he had noticed that three guys were trying to talk to his girl. He came next to Beast, and he kissed her forehead gently.

"Hello, my name is Darian. Beast here is my fiancé," said Darian as he gave a dashing smile, making the three guys quickly admit defeat.

Darian had a natural charm and was considered to be very handsome. He had dark brown eyes, dark brown hair, and his smile was confident. The three guys quickly lost interest as they realized that they had no hope. Still, they were gentlemen and introduced themselves in a behaved manner.

Lady Margarette had seen Beast sitting down as she attracted the guys over and was also stunned to see how beautiful she looked. What was worse, she seemed to flaunt her looks without trying. Seeing her dressed so humbly, yet Beast still gave off a mesmerizing allure. She wondered how she and Princess Aphra became best friends as Lady Margarette felt that Beast was the total opposite of her friend.

"Perhaps it is true that opposites attract," she thought as she came back to her senses seeing Darian introducing himself as her fiancé. "Her fiancé is also handsome but gives off a gentler demeanor. I wonder how he was able to hook up with her."

Lady Margarette cast her gaze down as she did not want to appear like she was interested in someone else. Soon, the others in the troupe had returned with a flying drone as they were getting ready to record.