DAHLIA:I brushed my thoughts aside. I must have seen it wrongly.“Lady Livia, it’s an honor to meet you for the first time.”She gave me a displeased and slightly irritated sideway glance once more, but she did not say anything.I didn’t know what to make out of it. Confirming that I did see what I saw earlier made me speechless.“My wife and I are happy that you can make it,” Tristan said, repeating part of what I had said. Surprisingly, the girl’s face broke into a smile. “I am glad to meet you here too. Thank you for inviting me.”“I heard it’s also your nineteenth birthday today, congratulations,” Tristan said.It was astonishing to see Tristan pay attention to someone else’s birthday. Was my first impression true? Were the two of them close?“Indeed, I have more than one reason to celebrate because of that, and since you broug

KAIST:I can’t believe that stupid man made my Dahlia cry. He didn’t deserve her. He had never deserved her from the very start!Honestly, I was hesitant to go to that banquet. Despite the cordial invitation that I had received, I never wanted to come to a party celebrating Dahlly’s marriage with another man. Despite Dahlly’s unawareness that I have feelings for her other than friendship, I don’t think that it was appropriate for me to come and cheer her either.However, this morning, I received some rather curious letters that made me go back on my earlier resolve.“My prince, some letters came in for you while you were sleeping,” Pelle said, handing me two strange notes as soon as I woke up from an afternoon slumber.I frowned at the sight of these strange letters. I thought now that I am almost of age, I wouldn’t possibly receive them.When I turned thirteen, I started receiving an anonymous

KAIST:The words that came out of the lady’s mouth were completely preposterous…“I need you to tempt Lady Dahlia Hurst for me so that we can separate her and Count Abell. We need to pull this marriage apart,” she said once more.My jaw was hanging open. What was she saying so bluntly?I continued to look at her, completely thunderstruck. Was she able to read minds?“Prince Kaist, do you want to sit down so that you could recover?”I nodded slowly towards her. She walked closer to me and held me on the shoulders. “Alright, sit there. I’ll help you.”She stepped side by side with me towards the bench on the pavilion where she was previously sitting. She held me gently by the arms and helped me sit down as she had promised.“Do you want anything to drink?”“N-no,” I said, still a bit shaken, “more importantly, Lady Livia… Did you me

DAHLIA:I looked at Lady Livia’s pallid face as Count Jeteris helplessly dragged her away, and I was instantly reminded of the way I must have looked when papa slapped me on the wedding day. Despite what I feel towards her, I cannot ignore the tug of my heart.“Wait one moment. I’ll just go to the powder room,” I told Tristan.“I’ll come with you.”“No… Please stay. I’ll be right back,” I said.My heart still felt sore from what I had witnessed between him and Lady Livia earlier. He did not say anything else as I hurried to leave.I went back to the house and into the front door. The pathway where I saw Count Jeteris drag his daughter could only lead back to this part of the house, so I was sure they would be there.Even before I had reached the front door, I heard a few skirmishes.“Where the hell did you disappear into, you rascal?!”“

KAIST:After the firework show ended, everybody knew that the party had reached its highlight, and so they began to leave the garden in throngs.I was still looking at the sky, transfixed. This had been a long night…I pulled my hood closer to my face. I used it as a disguise when I entered the villa, but my interactions on this fateful night had made me forget I that I should hide my face well.Thankfully, I did not attract a lot of attention. The people were too busy wondering why the count and countess had periodically disappeared from their own party to pay attention to me in the shadows.Before anyone could throw me any suspicious glance, I slipped by the side gate of the villa where Pelle and my coachman would be waiting for me.I was still thinking of how Pelle would lecture me on how I never kept my promise to just stay for a few minutes when I saw another person slip by the shadows before me. Based on the fluff of her ball go