Chapter 15: Eva's truth

Dinner's been served while Diana and Eric hurriedly went to the dining hall like little kids with evil intentions. As their preparations were all set, they composed themselves and patiently wait for Duke Erwin to arrive.

Just as Diana expected, Duke Erwin comes in with an irritating look on his face as he glared at Diana.

Instead of glaring back, she gave him a charming smile, "Father, you're here. We're just about to get started eating."

"... You've been quite busy these past few days." Duke Erwin said with another meaning as he heads to his seat.

Due to the whole week's course of pranks, he eventually knew who was behind the pranks and he had no doubt that it was Diana. At this point, he wasn't going to let her have her way anymore.

"Well, business is a lot of work. I'm sure you know that as well."

Even though she was looking at Duke Erwin, Diana and Eric were actually focused on the chair that Duke Erwin is going to sit.

Servants also couldn't help but anticipate what's going to happen after seeing the preparations that Diana and Eric have set on Duke Erwin's chair.

Duke Erwin slowly approaches his seat and everyone's eyes were merely focused on him, not listening to every word he's saying.

"Hmph. You better be working and not doing anything sill-"

"PPPPPPPhhhhhrrrtttttprtrtrtrgurtrufprrrPHHhhhh....." Suddenly a loud and funny fart sound echoed throughout the dining hall as soon as he sat down on his seat which made him incredibly speechless.

Diana and Eric quickly looked away from him to suppress their laughter. They were trembling and dying from laughter that tears were slowly coming out of the corners of their eyes.

But what made them laugh more hysterically was that when Duke Erwin made another move from his seat... it made another funny sound, "prrt-poot."

"BWaHahaHahAhaha!!"

Diana and Eric bursts into laughter and the servants couldn't help but also giggle as soon as they heard the sound coming from the Duke's bottom. To think that a Grand Duke would fall for Diana's petty tricks, totally made everyone's day wonderful.

Giggles were heard everywhere and Duke Erwin was furious as he banged the table that made everyone silent, "ENOUGH!"

"Diana, your silly games have gone too far." Duke Erwin said with his deep voice.

Diana chuckled as she wiped the tears coming out from the corner of her eyes, "But Father I'm not even starting yet. Actually, this isn't even a warm-up."

"Do you want me to lock you up in your room once more?" Duke Erwin said threateningly.

"Oh please don't give me that. That's too childish of you, considering your age."

Duke Erwin clenched his fist. For all his years, he only knew how to lock Diana up to make her avoid doing nonsense. But after knowing that Diana doesn't feel threatened with the words that he usually says to her, he felt pressured as he thinks of ways to blackmail her but nothing comes to mind.

In the middle of their meal, a servant comes close to Diana with her soft voice, "Lady Diana, the clothes you've ordered from Sir Jonathan have arrived."

Diana's eyes sparkled as she gets up from her seat, "Bring it to my dressing room. Father, I should excuse myself."

Duke Erwin didn't respond as he lets Diana have her way and as Diana exited the room, his mood darkened.

Diana hums and leaps along the way to her dressing room. She opens the door like a sweet girl who's in love and cutely screamed as she saw the beautiful clothes.

"Jonathan's the best! I feel like crying. Just look at these sets of clothes, he did it in just a week by himself!" Diana exclaimed happily.

Eva, who was behind her, felt confused and unfamiliar with the clothes Diana had. From the day Diana called her out to be her personal maid, she knew that Diana had secrets. The more that she was with her, the more she wanted to know about her.

Glancing through the mirror, Diana saw Eva's confused expression. She knew how badly Eva wanted to know the truth.

Well, since she has shown almost everything to Eva, she didn't hesitate any longer and decided to tell her the truth.

"Eva, lock the door and all windows then come sit here with me."

Eva was quite confused but still did her orders right away before sitting down beside Diana.

"Can I trust you?" Diana immediately said as soon as Eva sat down.

Eva was at first confused with her sudden question but eventually knew what Diana was talking about as she gave her a sense of determination and loyalty towards her, "Yes, Lady Diana."

Diana grins at her before asking her a question, "Eva... why were you at the party last time?"

Eva's eyes suddenly went wide with the question that came out of nowhere as cold chills flowed through her spine.

"In fact, your disguise was great. I wouldn't have noticed you if you weren't staring at me every time I wasn't looking..."

Eva felt speechless. She didn't know what kind of explanation she had to say since there are also things she doesn't want to be revealed. But she had respect for Diana and she wants to gain more of her trust.

"You kept following me... Even after I met the frightening man in the garden, I knew that you were hiding. I just didn't get it..."

That's right. Even though everyone was staring at her, she still felt like she was being monitored by a bunch of prey but she only noticed it as she walked out of the hall.

"I... apologize..." Eva's sincerity could be felt and Diana felt a bit relieved but still felt uneasy.

The atmosphere was quite silent as Diana waited for the thing that she wanted to hear the most from Eva.

"I'm an assassin whose mission is to kill you."

Diana's mood suddenly darkened but her face remained composed as she intently listens to every word Diana says.

"Why didn't you kill me?"

Her voice suddenly deepened that Eva flinched a bit as she answered, "I... I couldn't... for some reason that I don't know of..."

"When you were with that man, it was the perfect time to kill you without me doing anything but after seeing your blood flowing out of your neck. I just felt the urge to stop Prince Darius..."

..... Huh...?

"But Prince Darius's aura couldn't be taken lightly unlike Prince Devin... I could feel his bloodlust from the distance and I couldn't move an inch to save you. It was truly terrifying."

..... eh...?

"But from that day on, I regretted it wholeheartedly. I was a coward. I immediately cut off ties with the organization and decided to protect you from those who'll hurt you. I hope you could forgive me."

As Eva's head was down and feeling guilty, Diana's eyes were wide with her mouth open. She was truly shocked to hear the man's name... 'Prince Darius.'

"Pri-Prince? Another one?"

"Hm? The one you met at the garden was Prince Darius..."