Pearls and Roses

6. As It Seems

                                                     ⌠⌠LEILA 🥀⌡⌡

I dragged my feet across the ground in a lazed unrefined manner, walking back to the glasshouse. No one paid heed to me so I should be free from scrutiny for now.

Except Lady Annabelle; she had sent word through Ellen about how my presence was causing discomfort to the guests since I was standing, and I quote, "like a pitiful wallflower and a nuisance." I was exactly that so why was there a sudden need to pretend?

And except His Highness. His gaze never wavered and held no malice to my surprise. It must be because he did not know who I was. After all, half the guests here didn't.

I only found myself looking back at him because he was so.....striking, statuesque, as if he was directly carved by divine hands. His stature was very much like his father's; hulking, broad shouldered and tall. Naturally, he wasn't a man I'd look at twice because I'd be afraid to, but, his face was worthy to behold. It was the kind that you knew you wouldn't see again. A rarity.

  Every lady's gaze in the room was directed at him and only reiterated that my sentiments were shared. Even some gentlemen's also.

It would take few days for such a man to part ways with me, few weeks, should I get lucky. And, luck was never on my side.

  I came to the end of the pathway but, saw an older lady seemingly removing something from her shoes, kicking her legs. Inside, the greenhouse was another lady who was petite, younger  and the prince. They seemed......intimate. He turned his head toward the older lady and I quickly ducked behind the flowers since I was within his line of sight.

    This action prompted the attention of the older lady, "Hello?"

My heart began to race. Should I just sprint away? Could I even do that without getting caught?

   "Is someone there?" She called again as she inched closer.

  Putting on a smile, I walked out. "Hi. It seems I am lost. A gigantic house, isn't it?"  I chuckled awkwardly.

"Oh, yes it is." Her eyes raked over me, as if she was trying to assess who I was. Not that she'd know. "If you tell me where you want to go, perhaps, I could assist you."  No introductions. Great. It meant she wasn't inquisitive or prejudiced. Or maybe she assumed my matter was more urgent.

"I was trying to find...." I looked around, thinking of an excuse, but my attention was drawn to the greenhouse and I inhaled sharply. Hoping my face was not betraying my bitterness, I put on a smile and forced myself to look at the woman in front of me. "......I was trying to find... an empty room...the guest rooms."

She looked at me like I was foolish, lifting a thin brow.  I understood her, there was no way one will walk into the gardens to find a room. But clearly, the prince and his belle there seem to be cozy in the one there.

Why did I even have to come back and try to read a book now? I could've gone anywhere else.  What right did I even have to feel jealous?

I moved my gaze swiftly towards them in the green house again to see they were still in that same position; lips touching, his arms were around her waist, hers fingers on his lapels. This wasn't going to haunt me like Philip's affair did, for I did not know the prince.

I wanted them to be caught, desperately. Then the young lady's reputation will be ruined and the prince's character, questionable. They'd fall from grace and land in the pit with me. Perhaps, we could even be friends, us three, and I the warden of their secrets.