Ive had my eyes on you • xiaoven

2

"Alright everyone thats a wrap up!" Thoma smoothed his hair to the side and gave everyone a bright smile that just made everyones day a little better.

The grand room that the party would be in was grand, huge and could hold the whole kingdom if it wanted to. There was tables set with layers of treats for guests, areas to just sit, and to light the whole room, an exquisite chandelier made with only glass, diamond, and gold. It was glorious. Every event was held in that room, it was so old, thousands of years probably, but still in divine shape.

It was exactly 5 o'clock, the guests would be arriving any moment, this was supposed to go on until midnight, so everyone prepared themselves for a long night. Thoma walked around examining anything and everything he could. He couldn't be more proud of everything he accomplished. The thing was, Venti hadn't been seen the whole day. Like he had just disappeared.

Well, as guests would be arriving, the hosts would have to greet them. He hadn't seen the princesses, only the prince. While the kings, the kings were fine.

Thoma gently knocked on Hu Tao's door. Nervously tapping his feet, he didn't expect no one to answer. He wasn't close with them, but they have had interactions before. "Ahh, Hu Tao gōngzhǔ (princess), are you awake?" He was very close to just barging in, he could already hear the guests outside but with no one to greet them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he swore he had see a trail from dress rushing through the wind and long brown hair flowing down the corridor. Thoma almost tripped and fell when trying to chase after the giggling in the halls.

After too long of searching, she was nowhere to be found, the laughter had stopped and all that was left was a scent of ocean flowers.

"Well it's not that dirty, only in some places." Hu Tao slammed the trap door shut above them. Venti peered down the secret passageway taking note of boxes, some mud and spider webs. This palace went back thousands of hundreds of years ago, there were secret passageways that connected all around and Hu Tao just love to explore them..

She held the lantern high to illuminate the place in a yellow hue. The lantern was one she probably stole from a table, but that wasn't at all a concern.

The two stared at each other, Hu Tao's makeup was still perfectly held on even while she rubbed her hand on her face or wiped her itchy eyes. She had red lipstick and a pink blush with red eyeliner and other hidden details, but she did look gorgeous. Venti felt weird knowing if they were seen together he would be in a plain red shirt with a decorated collar and black pants. Though it wasn't his culture Venti liked many things about it, clothes, traditions, language, lots of things. Not to mention his dress code did require traditional clothing but it never bothered him in the slightest.

"Come on, I could show you where the library is!"

Hu Tao lead the way with Venti close behind her, making sure her expensive dress doesn't get ruined by the mud, he held it in his hands while the princess roamed free as a bird.

"Right here." Hu Tao pointed up and Venti studied the familiar trap door. But his focus quickly shifted to Hu tao's shoes. They didn't look stable enough to be standing on boxes that look worn out and could break any second. "Wǒ de gōngzhǔ (My princess), I don't think its quite safe up there for you." Venti bit his lip and anticipation. Hu Tao clearly wasn't listening, it had been his plan to spend the day with Hu Tao since he couldn't attend the ceremony. Who was he to go against the Prince's wishes? But maybe he should've stayed with Ganyu.