Chapter 109: Engagement Party

My engagement party with Garett was held at my estate. Even though I did not request any engagement gifts, my house had been flooded with dresses, jewelry and things that he thought that I might like. I had heard that Garett had chosen each present when thinking of me. It made me happy to know that he was trying to make me the happiest fiancée there was.

For the party, I decided to wear a light blue gown with that matched my eyes. Rather than a large ball gown, the silhouette was a little more slim and showed off my shoulders and collarbone. The short off the shoulder chiffon sleeves and sparkle beading gave my dress an ethereal look.

"Sir Alvin certainly has good taste," Stella said as she helped set my hair with a beautiful hydrangea hairpiece and pulled part of my hair back into a half updo.

"I hope he thinks I look pretty in the clothes he chose for me," I said quietly.

"My daughter is the most beautiful person in the world, so of course my son-in-law would find you beautiful as well," Mother said with her usual serious expression.

"He is not your son-in-law yet," I said with a chuckle.

I soon heard a knock on the door.

"Sir Alvin is here," a maid said.

I quickly went to greet him.

"Garett! You came early," I said as I toddled towards him.

"Were you in the middle of dressing up?" Garett asked as he touched my neck.

I flinched slightly on reflex.

"We were just deciding on what jewelry to put on Lady Arielle. Would you like to choose, Sir Alvin?" Stella asked as she had shown the jewelry sets that Garett had given to me.

Garett chose a chandelier necklace with five teardrop shaped diamond dangling pendants and matching earrings.

Garett decided to hook the necklace on me by wrapping his arms around my neck.

I was a bit startled from having such close encounter so soon so my heart was left without preparation and began to beat frantically.

"You will certainly be the most eye catching out there," Garett said as he took a step back to examine me from head to toe.

"Thank you," I said shyly.

He was more handsome than usual with his suit and vest. Part of his hair on the side of his head had been slicked back with wax. The most surprising factor was that he was not wearing glasses for today.

"It seems that your blush is a bit much for today...Your face it really red," Garett said as he touched my cheek with his hands.

"It is definitely not the makeup," Mother said.

"Mother! You should definitely go greet guests with Father right about now," I said as I tried pushing her out of the room.

"Take good care of her," Mother said to Garett before making her exit.

"Can I ask what happened to your glasses?" I asked.

"I don't really need them to see," Garett said as he dug in his coat pocket and took out his large and unfashionable glasses.

"...I would prefer it if you looked a bit uglier," I said.

"Are you picking a fight?" Garett asked.

"If you are too handsome, you are going to attract the eyes of everyone in the room," I said with a sulky tone.

"Would you rather be known as the woman who settled for a plain man?" Garett asked with a sigh.

"...Isn't it enough that only I know how handsome you actually are?" I asked.

"Are you out of your mind? Of course it isn't...Do you know how tough it was fighting off suitors who wanted your hand during our Academy days together? The men and women all thought they had a chance with you once they heard that you were with someone plain looking as me," Garett explained.

"Men and women?" I asked.

"Having a plain experience was fine for not attracting much attention, but when it comes to being around you, my usual appearance is actually a disadvantage when dealing with people with overconfidence in their own looks," Garett explained.

"Is that why you appeared dressed up more than usual?" I asked as I clasped his face in my hands.

"...That is one reason. The other is that I do not want a rumor saying that your eyes have bad taste in men," Garett said with a soft gaze as he held his hands over mine.

"What a considerate fiancé," I said with a smile.

"...Shall we get going now?" Garett asked as he held out his hand.

"Yes," I said as held his hand.

We soon left the parlor together and entered the engagement party hand in hand and shared our first dance together.

Afterwards, we began greeting people and receiving congratulations from various people.

I noticed that some people had taken notice that Garett's looks greatly resembled that of Prince Erik, but obviously their looks and presence were very different from one another. Even if it was not known very well, Garett was considered as Prince Erik's cousin, so it only made sense that they looked similar to each other if they were cousins. As if anyone would dare comment on Garett's looks.

If a nasty rumor occurred, my wrath would not simply end with just an apology...

"Congratulations on your engagement," Charlotte said.

"Congratulations of your engagement from me as well," Grace said.

"Char! Grace! I am so glad that both of you came," I said as I grabbed their hands and began shaking them at the same time.

"You look so divine today," Grace said.

"Thank you for your comments, Grace," I said happily.

"...This dress is not something you would have chosen for yourself, is it?" Charlotte asked as she closely examined my dress.

"...No, it is not a style I would reach out for," I said.

"I see...Then, it must be Garett who had chosen this dress for you," Charlotte guessed.

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Come on, look at those tightly hugging curves, that beautifully exposed collarbone, and those exposed dainty looking shoulders of yours with off the shoulder and see-through sleeves. There is not left to imagine about your perfect figure. On top of that, the back of the dress seems easy to undo," Charlotte said as she tucked her chin into the nook of her thumb and index finger.

I became flustered from Charlotte's examinations of my dress.

"That is a ridiculous conjecture," I said as I crossed my arms over my chest over the embarrassment that Charlotte had examined me quite thoroughly with her eyes.

"I agree...I need to greet guests on the other side of the room," Garett said as he quickly fled the scene.

"The main perpetrator is getting away without admitting to his crimes!" Charlotte said dramatically.

Grace and I shared a short laugh together.

The next song had begun playing.

Charlotte and Grace has been invited to dance with their respective partners, while I had been incidentally crowded with many hands asking me to dance with them.

"May I have this dance?" Prince Erik asked.