The Prince's Fiance

Chapter Four

The debutante ball was over and all nobles left one by one. Jisoo stood outside close to the entrance and waited for her family to gather so they could travel home. It took them longer as expected by her. "Jin, I will have a look at the garden. Can you call me when mom and dad are here?" "Sure, but don't wander too far off. The garden might be safe but it's still night and you could get lost." She turned away and walked a side path along which led to a side garden on the left side of the Palace. It was decorated with impressive cut sculpture bushes. Most of them showed animals. The moonlight was fortunately bright enough so she could recognize every animal. She stopped in front of a bird cut bush with spread wings. It was incredible what could be made with a plant.

"Do you like birds?" "Wha-" She made a jump forward at the sudden voice behind her and almost collided with the plant sculpture. It was Akito. Jisoo straightened her dress and stepped away form the bush. "Yes I do like them. I especially love watching hummingbirds." "Hah.. What a coincidence. The pond in the royal gardens has a lot of hummingbirds. How about we watch them together next time?" "I would love to!" she exclaimed excitedly. Akito stepped then closer to her and picked up a strand of her hair and toyed nonchalantly with it. "I will wait for you, Lady Jisoo." He slowly leaned closer. She watched him leaning in more and more with a nervous gaze and a loud beating heart. He was only centimeters away from her as a sudden call startled her.

"Jisoo, where are you? We are ready to go!" hectically she turned her head towards the direction of her brothers voice and then back to the Duke. But the Duke was already gone. The only thing left for her to do was to return to her family with a still rushing heart. On the way back to the mansion the carriage was silent. 'I can't wait to tell Lilith what happened.'

It was the next morning. Lilith and Jisoo were eating their breakfast together in the greenhouse. They especially asked to be alone there so she could chatter about the last evening without curious ears listening.

"Lili, you wont believe me what happened before we left yesterday!" "Let's see and tell me." the mage clattered with her dish as the was picking up a croissant and curiously perked up. "As Jin and me were waiting for mom and dad to arrive, I wandered alone off into the garden to have a look. I was innocently watching one of those plant sculptures as Akito Frazer appeared!" Lilith frowned as she heard the name. "And then?" "Then he invited me to watch humming birds with him in the royal garden! This will be so unbelievable romantic. Just me and him~" She hummed excited while imaging the scene in her head. Again Lilith frowned. "Don't you're forgetting something? You're engaged to the Prince."

Jisoo dropped her parfait spoon. She was right. How could she spend romantic times with another man when she was still engaged, to the Prince out of all. If she wanted to see a future as the Duchess of Frazer, in a best case scenario of course, she would have to cut the engagement to the Prince. But her parents would hardly agree and the King.. No one would want to fall in disgrace. The only chance for her is if the Prince himself would cut the engagement. She groaned in complain and sunk disappointed deeper into her chair. "Did you have to remember me on him..? He is so.. boring. And he doesn't even love me." Lilith showed a half smile to her in the hope to cheer her up again. "You met him yesterday for the first time.. How do you know that he doesn't love you? You should give it time." "But I don't want time! I like the Duke a lot more. I would rather want to break the engagement with the Prince as fast as possible!"

Both girls sighed and continued silently to eat for a while till Lilith dropped her cup and spoke up. "Yesterday as I went to get fresh air... I met the crown Prince on the balcony." "Huh? You bumped into him?" Jisoo wondered at her hesitation if something had happened. "He.. bumped into me." "Oh. what could Prince Boring want from you?" She kept watching her friend attentive. "He asked me for a dance and noticed I'm a mage." "What- He danced on the balcony with you?" Lilith nodded and waited for her reaction. "Okay this it totally romantic. But he's the crown Prince and he doesn't seem to show emotions so... this is totally suspicious."

"Suspicious- You didn't noticed that Sir Frazer acted super suspicious too? Not only as he met you in the garden but like... the entire evening??" "Sir Frazer was charming and kind! But the Prince is a true culprit who is scheming evil things!" Both girls started to have a heated debate over who of them was more suspicious. "Trust me Jisoo, I could feel it in my veins that Sir Frazer is up to something! I-I actually had a prophetic dream last night where he turned out as villain!" Lilith rose up from her chair with her hands slammed on the table. "Liar! You did not have a prophetic dream! Sir Frazer is perfect and the Prince can die in hell." Jisoo rose up from her chair too. "The- The-" Lilith stuttered, slightly loss on arguments after her exposed lie and dropped on her chair. "Okay fine. I won't call Sir Frazer suspicious anymore till I can prove it." Jisoo clapped at her win and sat down again.

They both calmed down. As they finished eating and left the greenhouse the butler was already waiting for them. "Excuse me, my Lady. But we an lot Invitation addressed to the Ladies." "Oh, that was fast. We just had our debut yesterday." Jisoo wondered but they followed then the butler to the room where all Invitations were spread on a table. Lilith sat down in front of the paperwork and stared on how much she received herself. "I don't think I will accept any." 'They surely only want to use me or my family'  She thought. "Butler, please reject all who are addressed at me." "Very well Lady Arden." He bowed at the command. Jisoo meanwhile was rather excited over all the attention and disappointed that her friend wouldn't join her. "Aww Lili.. I can't go to all those events without you." "You can. You're an adult now." Jisoo pouted at the reply and went through the letters to decide on which one to accept.

It was when a maid entered with another letter and handed it to the butler. His eyes widened as he saw from whom where it came. "Young Ladies, we received another letter from the Royal Palace. It is addressed at both young Ladies." The girls looked at each other and then up to the butler who was holding the official stamped envelope."