The Crown Prince Thinks I'm a Guy

Hours before Departure

After Tabitha had invited their visitors inside, a short party ensued. It came by like a flood that we weren't even able to ask our questions.

"Congratulations on passing, Monty!" the young girl jumped and then ruffled his red hair. My friend sputtered out a few incoherent replies, but I was able to deduce that she was his childhood friend. Then, she found me looking at her. Her mouth formed slowly into an "O".

"I-I'm terribly sorry. I haven't introduced myself yet, haven't I?" She immediately blushed in embarrassment and bowed deeply in my direction. "I'm called Lara, the child of a farmer back in Hirthy Town. Please pardon my brash behavior towards my friend... I mean, my benefactor, the innkeeper's son."

Suddenly, the atmosphere dropped around us. Even some of the adults glanced nervously or distastefully in our direction. I noticed how one of the men clicked his tongue at Lara. Sensing the declining mood, I immediately laughed it off and said, "Oh, no worries, sister Lara. A companion of Joren is a friend of mine, as well."

She straightened up with a grateful, yet still slightly nervous, look. However, trouble seems to have already been set in stone, and voices soon filled the room.

"Dat lass has always been a bit stupid, ye?" I heard a man whisper loudly. To which a reply came immediately, "Da brat's too insolent and cheeky, and she ain't even dat young anymore."

A heavy claw seemed to have clamped onto my heart. I haven't felt this anger and fear in a long time. I had been basked too long within the abnormality of the floating Isle of Malaya that I had forgotten how things really were at the ground level.

My feet moved before I had thought my actions through. Suddenly standing right in front of the mocking men, I looked up and gave them a smile. "Oh, sirs, I'd rather we not think too much about these customs for now. In my sights, I would only feel bad if a young girl would be scolded because she can't act as she willed in a family she already considers her own." After I had finished speaking, I quickly searched around the room and thankfully found her gaze.

Tabitha didn't miss a beat and clapped her hands again. "Of course, Eleftherion! Mike, Lars, let's not be too stringent about the rules this afternoon. Let's just all have fun, shall we?"

The men reluctantly agreed and left us alone. I sighed in relief. The party soon filled with comforting noise, but I knew a heaviness was still floating in the air.

After Joren was pulled away yet again by his relatives, I found myself walking aimlessly around the room, only to realize that I absolutely knew no one. Then, a girl soon came into my eyes. Her figure looked much like a melancholic portrait, with her hanging her head low and not even drinking from her cup. I walked towards her.

"Hey," I called down at her. She looked up at me with shocked eyes, her cup shaking in her hands. She quickly stood up and bowed towards me yet again.

"I-I'm really sorry about earlier. It's just that... I got so excited for Jory, and-" she uttered rapidly. I, however, paid no mind to her apologies.

"Jory?" I asked with a small smile. "Now that's got to be added to my list of nicknames for him."

She blinked down at me. "Th-That's just a stupid name I made up years ago. No one really c-calls him that."

My brows went up. "Oh?"

Then, I decided to tease her up a bit. "So I guess I can't call him that then..."

She nodded her head up and down, her shortish brown hair swaying down her shoulders. "Yes! That nickname is so silly-"

"... Because you're the only one who can call him that." And feeling a great need to do it, I gave her a wink. Upon realizing my meaning, she started to blush very visibly.