Chapter 10 - Blood bath

Malia quickly got out before her father could assist her. She almost stumbled as she forgot about her heavy beige embroidered dress which she had meticulously prepared for that day.

She tried to relax and was about to escape from the spot when her father called her.

"Malia! Come here, we are to wait for the prince as a sign of respect." Her father, who had just gotten out of the carriage, said.

Malia could only close her eyes and then slowly turned to approach her father.

'Curse etiquette!' She really wanted to disappear from that place. After all, it's better not to speak with Kai than to possibly offend him in any way.

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"Hey, what do you think about Malia?" Ian asked Kai while fixing his suit.

"What do you mean "what do I think about her"?" Kai asked curiously, wearing a deadpan face.

"I know you, okay? You were grinning earlier and tried teasing her. Surely you have your own purpose for doing that. Right?" Ian said while scratching his head.

He knew Kai for a year in the academy; he would never talk nor look at any girls after introductions or pleasantries. In fact, Kai would look annoyed if bothered any further by his fans. He looked like he would kill any minute or was cursing in his head the entire day.

"Stop reading too much into things. I just think she's a little bit … for the lack of a better word-- stupid.", Kai looked at his side, not really caring about Ian's words.

He really thought that the girl was either stupid or really forgetful. 'Forgetfulness is also a sign of being stupid, so it's the same,' he thought.

He was in fact expecting a lot from the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in Erias. He encountered dozens or hundreds of beautiful and smart ladies that he could endure exchanging words with.

Kai also had his eyes on Lady Clermont, which was also the reason for his visit to the Erias Kingdom. It was not really a feeling of adoration, in fact, he was enjoying how Lady Clermont was ignored by his fiancé—begging for his attention or how she would bully the upright Lady Ashmore out of desperation. He understands the feeling of being left alone, and so he enjoys seeing Thea Clermont suffering the same way. Being closer to her would mean seeing her suffering more vividly.

He was also told that this lady was constantly in the library, so he thought she was intelligent enough to possibly talk about business or the economy. However, based on what happened earlier, she doesn't seem to be interested in those areas.

"Hey, don't call her stupid! She's just... Uhm... She's just socially awkward. Yeah! That's the term, socially awkward!", Ian almost rejoiced.

"Tss, you don't have to defend her. Matthew's not here." Kai scoffed.

Kai then added, "Or… you like her?"

"It's not like that! She's Matthew's sister. I also think of her as my sister. And it's true that she was a bookworm with no friends, so it's not really strange for her to be socially awkward." Ian tried explaining. Matthew is his closest friend, and he doesn't like to hear anyone badmouthing his friend's sibling. Ian was also aware of how much Matthew cared for his sister.

"If you say so.", Kai doesn't see the need to continue the conversation.

When he looked outside the window, he also witnessed Malia almost falling in her face. Good thing she got her balance back.

Kai exhaled, 'She's not only stupid but clumsy as well.'

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"Prince Kai and Ian, please follow us." The Marquis guided the two inside. Malia was silently following them.

Her father toured the two inside the company while telling the story of why he decided to purchase the company and get into the entertainment business.

"Everything happened so fast. I was initially close-minded regarding the entertainment business, but when I witnessed Malia perform her song, I just knew that I had to support her. Not only will we benefit from it, but Malia can also do what she likes...:" The Marquis looked at the back where Malia was and saw her smile slightly, which made him smile as well.

"She's a GENIUS!", he added. Malia's mind was again floating elsewhere, and she was no longer listening to whatever was stated by her father; she was only occasionally smiling if the Marquis looked at her.

Kai and Ian, on the other hand, felt like the Marquis was exaggerating and his comments were out of love and he was overly doting on his daughter. They simply nodded in agreement.

"I know you're thinking that I'm fibbing just to blindly praise my daughter, but I assure you she is extremely talented! You'll see later what I'm saying. Come with me to the recording room." The Marquis proudly grinned, then led them to the area.

Malia was startled when they were suddenly in front of the recording room. She expected that Ian and Kai would be long gone before her practice recording.

Malia whispered to her dad, looking over the two, "Are they going to stay?"

"Darling, once the entire world knows your talent, we will eventually have to expand our company to other places. Sorav is bigger than Erias after all." Her father explained, whispering.

"Uhm…" Malia was hesitant. She felt like she was not yet ready for this.

"Are you having second thoughts? Do you not wish to perform for a large group of people?" Her father held her face and looked into her eyes.

'Right! Malia, wake up! Not everyone can get this kind of opportunity! Kill your old timid self. It's time to change.' Malia encouraged herself. It's true that her goal is to perform for everyone to see and to show everyone what she is capable of. Two people are nothing compared to her dream. 'This is only the start!'

"No dad, I'm ready. Let's go?" Malia said with an assuring smile.

"That's my girl!" He softly patted her shoulders, trying to cheer her up.

When she entered the room, she was surprised to see the girl Ashley was back, holding a guitar. She also noticed that Ashley was moving rather strangely. She then checked what Ashley was looking at. She was looking at both Kai and Ian while batting her eyelashes and smiling seductively.

'Ugh, please!' She rolled her eyes.

Ashley felt that someone was staring at her and looked to the side where she caught Malia rolling her eyes.

'This little girl is envious that I'm much prettier than her. She's indeed talented but she doesn't hold a candle to my beauty.' She praised herself. She was initially planning to go home after the drama earlier that day, but she realized that she couldn't let go of Caleb, her golden goose, and wasted her 3 years of effort.

She returned and apologized to Caleb and asked for help with the guitar. She really didn't get what Malia taught them earlier; she can only shyly ask for help acting like a damsel in distress.

Ashley was not expecting to see an unworldly blessed face in front of her. Caleb looked ordinary in comparison.

Both men at the back of the Marquis were looking around. The guy with light golden-green hair looked so cute showing his dimples when smiling, but the one with white hair was on a different level. She felt that it would be a sin to look at his face. She would willingly give herself and become his slave if he wanted to.

She kept on fantasizing about things that he would do to her when the Marquis suddenly spoke, "Everyone! Show your respect to the Prince of Sorav, Prince Kai Sorav."

Everyone in the room gave their greetings. "Greetings to the prince of Sorav. May the god Rheas bless you!"

Kai only nodded and signaled that they raised their heads.

'A prince! A real prince! I must be dreaming! Ha! Good thing I came back! This is my chance.'

She was planning to approach the prince when Malia talked.

"Let's start." She said in a cold voice.

"Tsk, this hideous bitch", she muttered silently, which Malia actually heard.

Malia let it pass since she didn't want to cause another drama, especially not in front of Kai and Ian.

"Who wants to perform first?" Malia asked, looking at them. It was Dexter who decided to perform first and played the organ.

Dexter was indeed talented. Malia could tell he was very professional, and she could not point out any mistakes in the performance.

"Wonderful! Thank you, Lord Dexter! You pass for me." Malia complimented the baron, who smiled and bowed to everyone.

"Dad, what do you think?" Malia asked her dad.

"I agree, he got the melody perfectly."

Everyone followed suit and performed using the instrument they are skilled at using.

Everyone performed very well except for Ashley. She was offbeat, and she only cared about her appearance, trying to look pretty while strumming the guitar. Even Caleb, who taught her earlier, felt ashamed. Her play earlier was good enough, but right now, she was not concentrating on her performance at all!

Malia did not stop her, she leaned to her father and whispered, "Dad, would you tell your honest opinion about her performance first? I don't want her to cause a scene and I don't want her to accuse me of marking her."

Her father nodded. He understood the situation and agreed with her. When the performance ended, he spoke first.

"I will be honest; you did not get the right pacing and missed some keys. I don't think you're qualified to be included."

"What?!! I did great! Ask everyone else! It was fine!" She yelled and turned red.

No one looked at her, everyone was basically avoiding her gaze. They agree with the comment about her performance. In fact, they knew that she wasn't that good with the guitar to begin with. They just didn't comment since she was Caleb's girlfriend.

Malia sighed; she was trying to avoid some drama, but the result was the same.

"Can you please calm down? Your performance was indeed mediocre and full of mistakes. We are not paying twice the amount for ordinary and clearly unfocused individuals," Malia said indifferently; she didn't care about this narcissistic woman in front of her. In the first place, she never likes her attitude at all.

She cannot imagine performing for months or years with this girl. She knows that she is an uncertain variable. And as she said before, she hates uncertainties. So, she needed to cut her off right then and then.

Ashley just exploded with her statement.

"SHUT UP! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? DO YOU THINK YOU OWN THE WORLD BECAUSE OF YOUR USELESS TALENT? YOU ARE UGLY! YOUR HAIR IS UGLY! NO ONE WILL LISTEN TO YOUR SONG! YOU BETTER HIDE YOUR UGLY FACE FOREVER WITH YOUR MASK! YOU'RE---"

"Knights!! Get drag her out of this place! Right this instance!" The Marquis yelled and the knights each held one arm.

"Get off me! THIS IS UNFAIR! Caleb! Help me! Caleb!" She cried.

Caleb faced the Marquis, "Let me accompany her outside, Lord Augustus." For Caleb, his talent was more important. He cannot miss this chance in his entire career.

"LET GO OFF ME!", the knights loosened their grip, and when her arms were free, she ran towards Malia and pulled Malia's hair.

"Ah!", Malia was surprised at first, but when Ashley started pulling her hair hard, she started pulling Ashley's hair as well.

The knights started separating the two when Malia let go of her right hand which was holding some hair and then used that hand to punch her twice in the eyes, which made Ashley dizzy and started wobbling.

She wasn't satisfied with that, so she punched her hard on her nose, making it bleed. Malia wasn't that strong, but since the opponent was also a woman, she didn't faze nor showed fear.

"AHHHHHH!!!!" Ashley let go of Malia's hair and screamed, seeing the blood dripping from her nose.

"Send her to prison for harming a noble! Right now!", the Marquis' voice sounded very furious. He cannot forgive anyone for harming his precious daughter. He was also proud that Malia fought back.

Ashley fainted after hearing the words of the Marquis. Harming a noble was indeed punishable by law. She could not think of that clearly due to her anger.

After Ashley lost consciousness, she was dragged by the knights and Caleb followed behind. He wanted to make sure that Ashley was not harmed on the way to the underground prison where she would be detained.

The marquis faced the prince and apologized to him.

"It's alright," Kai said in his usual tone. He tried to hide the fact that he totally enjoyed the drama that had a little bit of action. He thought he'd be bored coming to this place, but it turned out to be a lot more fun than he expected.

Ian, who felt that he had just witnessed a sword fight, was speechless ever since Malia started punching the other girl. 'Better not mess with her in the future.'

Malia fixed her hair and, using her handkerchief, wiped her knuckles that were covered with her blood and threw it in a bin.

Malia was startled when Kai suddenly spoke, "Let's all rest for a bit and if it's okay, we would like to stay to witness Lady Malia's performance later."

"That is fine with us, Prince Kai." It was the Marquis who answered.

Malia also nodded in agreement. Malia also bowed slightly and apologized to everyone in the room regarding her behavior.

Everybody left the room and headed to the lounge area.

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Unbeknownst to everyone, someone went back and took an embroidered piece of cloth that was just now discarded; the letter sewn on that lilac cloth says "Lia".

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--- end of chapter 10 ---

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