The Prince's Fiance

Chapter Fifteen

The day of the King's birthday celebration has arrived. His treatment was successful and he could attend without any further issues. While the preparation went smooth for the celebration banquet the atmosphere behind the scenes was tense. For several reasons. The Crown Prince expected their enemies to make a move during the banquet again and tried to prepare precautions. But his aide was since that day he crashed together with Lilith not in his right mind. Of course Raito didn't told a single soul about what happened and tried to focus.

Lilith was promised she could leave the palace after the banquet took place and so she attended it from there without having an escort. Jisoo was escorted by the Prince. Between all their secret plans for the banquet they had to keep an appearance from the outside.

It was rather awkward to face the prince after the last time she saw him and what had happened. She will never forget how her best friend was arguing with her fiance after he almost caught a magical blow from her. Not to forget the humiliation she felt after being kicked out by him. But since she was herself the one who caused the incident in the first place she didn't told her family about the day and silently returned.

Trying to shake that memory off, Jisoo stepped out of their manor where the Prince was already waiting with a carriage. Her parents were proudly sending her off what made her feel only guilty. "Lady Ayers. You look astonishing today." He couldn't seem more disinterested and he held out his hand towards her. With a sigh she took the hand and went along with the show for the sake of her family. "Thank you, your Highness. You look very noble today as well." They both entered the carriage and had an awkward silent ride to the palace.

The arrival didn't looked any different. In front of the eyes of the public they both acted and pretending to be on good terms as they entered the hall, but they haven't exchanged any words together since then. The couple was quickly surrounded by other nobles but Jisoo only tried to look for her friend in the crowd. As she finally spotted her in a corner she tried to excuse herself from the Prince. "Excuse me, I'd like to see Lady Arden for a moment." Raito was startled has he heard that name. 'Oops.. Seems they are on very bad terms now..' "No, stay by my side." "Okay.." She had no choice but to obey in front of all those nobles. What she didn't know was that Raito just followed the script of their plan to attract the attention of the nobles so that Aktio would be out of focus while acting behind their backs.

"Pardon me, could you step out of my way. I have an urgent business with the Prince." In the crowd of nobles appeared a gap where a pushy red haired Lady made her way through. She came to an stop right in front of the prince and his fiance. "Greetings your Highness. I'm pleased to see you on this joyous day. My name is Saiyumi Peres. Raito recognized the name immediately. She was the lady who would frequently request an audience with the crown prince or the King. But all the refusals didn't crushed her high ambitions. Talking to her will surely get the crowds attention but he has to be careful. "What urgend business brings you to me, Lady Peres." "It's about the clothes your Highness had ordered at my families boutique. And what a coincidence, you're wearing them today." Both Jisoo and Raito raised their eyebrows in unison. "Unfortunately the servants made a mistake and took the wrong brooch, so the one you're wearing right now isn't fitting to your outfit." "It's just a brooch. The one his Highness wears now fits to my outfit so it's okay." Jisoo felt the urge to get rid of that pushy lady and interfered. "Oh my, but his Highness attire wasn't designed to match. It was designed to be outstanding in its own way." The situation threatened to escalate and the fake prince tried to calm it before it was too late.

"Lady Jisoo, don't listen to this trivial matters. Why don't you look for Lady Lilith?" It was like heavens cue for her to calm down. "Oh, of course my dear Prince~" She strolled off and left the Prince alone by himself, just that he wasn't alone. "It was a wise decision to get rid of her, your Highness." Saiyumi showed him a seducing smile. "How about we talk about the real business now?" Raito became wary but played along in the hope to gather new intel. "After you, lady Peres." Saiyumi left into the direction of a balcony first and Raito followed her without anyone noticing them slipping away from the banquet.

As Lilith and Jisoo could finally reunied and share a overdue chat, Akito finally made his appearance on the banquet after finishing his works in the shadows. To his misfortune the informant couldn't find out who the leader of the illegal operations was. They were still walking through the dark. Luckily it was a pushback for them as well as they saw the King in a healthy condition today as well. Akito walked along the side lines of the banquet in the search of Raito but to no avail. 'Where is he?' To his surprise he found Jisoo in the crowd but without his cousin accompanying her. 'I'm pretty sure I told him to stay by her side all evening long'

He stood there a long while and watched her chatting and laughing with her friend. With another glance he looked up to his father, the King, who was enjoying the banquet to his fullest even though he was near his death only a week ago. Why should he always only work, he should enjoy life too, was what came to his mind and he walked straight towards the mint haired girl. "Pardon, Lady Jisoo. May I have a dance with you?" She was startled that Akito appeared out of nowhere and asked her for a dance. On her inside she wanted to jump for joy since he hadn't forgotten about her but on the second thought she hesitated. He made her wait so long. But she was weak for his handsome features and so Jisoo agreed with a shy nod and took his hand.

They danced to a cheerful but slow song and looked deep into each others eyes. "Jisoo.. I'm sorry for not taking any time for you recently.." This simple apology lifted her spirits a lot already but she kept listening till he finished. "I had a lot of work. Meaningful work which required my full attention. But I'll promise to take more time for you in future." "Oh Akito.." Jisoo was moved by his promise. "This is really wonderful. I was afraid that you had lost your interest in me.." "How could I ever loose interested in the most beautiful Lady in the entire Kingdom?" He cheeks flushed slightly and she started to feel giddy in his grip. If there wasn't her arranged engagement.. the world would have been perfect to this moment. "Say.. could I ask you for your help?" "Of course. I'll do my best to assist you." "Can you help me to break off my engagement to the crown Prince? I mean.. you're close to him and all..." Akito stopped to dance and snorted a heartfelt laughter. "Wha- What's so funny??" It was incredibly cute for him that she would ask for help in such a matter. For him it was clear that she wouldn't want to marry Raito. It also made him happy and luckily Raito was not the real crown Prince. "Haha.. Pardon.. Of course I will help you. You don't have to worry about this." "Thank you!" It was a relief that she had found an ally in the break off plans, Raito's aide at that. "Since this was clarified now.. Do you know where the Prince is? Shouldn't he be with you?" "Oh. The last time I saw him was as this rude Peres Lady came to talk with him." "Saiyumi Peres?" "Yes exactly!" "I have a bad feeling.. I'm sorry but I have to go and find him. I will come back to you soon." He dashed off into another direction to call for attendants who could help him to search for Raito while Jisoo was left alone on the dancefloor. "I hope you won't make me wait two weeks again.."