The villainess aims for a peaceful life 91 Another boring banque

I tiredly entered my home and saw my mom dressed lavishly with a dress of course of yours truly.

I nodded in appreciation to the beautiful picture I was granted entering the estate.

Wait, mom just asked me something.

"...banquet?"

"To receive the envoys"

I blankly stared at my mother.

Hehe.

"Mary!! MARY WHERE ARE YOU WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY!!!"

I said as I dashed to my bathroom in desperation.

————

I boredly sat down in some quiet corner of the venue.

Although I don't mind socializing and even enjoy it sometimes, today was a very tiring day and I didn't have an ounce of interest in mingling among the noble social circle.

I slowly drank my bubbly drink as I looked at the people in the salon.

Some were dancing, some were gossiping, others just looking. They are all smiling and speaking amicably to each other.

Because as nobles we always have to mask or feelings, my favorite pastime is to try to guess what are they truly thinking.

For example, that group of misses right there. By their surreptitious glances at Lukas and one of the lady in their group, I can bet my money that she is the current rumored new flame.

Their probable conversation was something like:

"Fufu~ I heard that you and Sir Lukas are close"

"Please, don't make me blush. Lukas is so kind so we occasionally talk"

"Yes, Lukas-sama is kind and rich, making him very popular"

"Ah~ if only he was not a playboy, he would be perfect~"

And blablabla.

What they really mean is:

"I heard you tried to seduce Sir Lukas"

"We, Lukas and Me, are very, VERY, close"

"B*tch please, who doesn't know what you're aiming for"

"Not only he is close to you but he is also close to more 20 ladies" a voice by my side said my thoughts.

I looked at my left and a dashing man was sit on my side.

Seeing that I had my attention on him, the man flashed me a smile.

"Did I guessed wrong?"

I shrugged.

"Don't you think 20 is a bit too much Eric?"

"Not according to what I've heard about him"

"It seems our king still has to pay more attention to spies then"

We stared at each other for good few seconds and broke into laughter.

"I didn't know you still played this game. Do you remember how once we hid below the table and spent a whole party playing this game?"

"Ah, yes. If I remember correctly the table we were hiding had some people from the north, a minister from your land a Viscount from here. I think they were talking about trade? But really they were trying to sound each other territory's market"

Eric nodded.

"Two hours of boring conversations"

"You hurt my feelings this way. I thought we had fun"

I said holding my chest with a fake hurt expression.

"That's not what I meant! No matter if their talk was interesting or not, spending time with you is always fun Ceci"

Eric said looking at me with the brightest smile I had seen so far.

I averted my eyes back to the main hall trying to shield the sun burning by my side.

"It's okay for the star of the banquet be here?"

Translation: go before someone troublesome appears.

"Are you telling me to leave?"

He asked amused.

Oh, so you know!

"How could I? I just think that people are probably looking for you"

Translation: go quickly, shush!

"What to do? I don't really want to accompany them, unless..."

"Unless?"

"Unless you come as my companion"

Haha, funny joke.

There is no way I'm going.

Noooo waaaay.

"Oh Miss Cecile, so you were accompanying Prince Eric all the time"

"I'm happy to see that the best person in the kingdom is entertaining you Prince, I hope your visit is comfortable so far"

Nobles flocked around us with some small chats, some inquiries, some probing.

Eric looked at me with his puppy eyes begging for rescue from these evil people.

Urgh.

What can I say? I'm really weak to puppy eyes from a handsome man. Even more so if the handsome man is my first love.

We greeted and chatted with some nobles that came to us and Eric seemed interested in.

"Are you tired?"

Eric whispered in my ears making me tremble a bit.

Ears are totally foul play! Please stop!

"I'm still okay, but I'm a bit thirsty"

I answered with a thin tread holding my impeccable noble's mask, trying to regain whatever barring I could after the surprise attack.

"Do you want me to get juice or a drink?"

I was about to answer him but someone else interrupted our conversation.

"Heh~ Eric I see you still are shameless clinging to Cecile"

Sigh. I knew troublesome people would I appear...

Eric looked at the incoming person with dislike written all over his face.

"Albert I see that you are as dislikable as always"

The two princes stared at each other for a moment and then opened a huge grin hugging each other.

"Sorry I couldn't greet you yesterday. I was busy with some matters"

"It seems I have to thank whoever kept you busy. And this lady is?"

"Right, this is Julia. Julia this is Prince Eric from Boudin. You don't really have to pay attention to him though"

Albert said with a dismissive tone but I saw the squirrel's eyes shining to Eric instead of showing indifference.

How could I forget! The man by my side is the last member of b*tch lead-sama harem.

I curiously looked at Eric, but I couldn't see a trace of favorability in his eyes. Hell, I could even see some dislike on them.

"So you're the famous Miss Julia. I must say that's a long awaited name"

Julia blushes a bit and held her checks shyly.

"To think that the Prince was concerned about me"

...

Say what again?

With which ear did you hear him saying so?

"Sorry Miss Julia, it seems that you misunderstood me. It's just that there are many rumors about you"

Eric smiled awkwardly.

"Ah? I thought for sure-"

"Eric, I heard that you're going to spend this semester in the Academy. Unfortunately I'm not attending anymore so you're probably going to be lonely"

Albert interrupted whatever nonsense Julia was going to say and abruptly changed the conversation.

"Yes. I'll be doing some complementary study"

"That's amazing! I also go to the Academy so I could show it to you!"

Julia said with so much enthusiasm that I thought she was going to start to jump like a kid with sugar high.

"That won't be necessary since Ceci already offered herself to do it"

Sorry when did I ever said that? How come I do not know?

"Prince Eric must not be aware but Cecile barely attends the school"

Julia argued back.

Squirrel b*tch, does your lover knows you try to hook with other guys? Oh, wait. Your lover is actually by your side right now!

I could see Albert's face color changing in a blink.

Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we will have squirrel as the mains dish. We have a lot of variations, fried, sashimi, boiled and cooked. The squirrel was personally hunted and treated by our Dear Crown Prince!

As fantasies run wild in my imagination, Albert clenched the soon-to-be cooked squirrel's hand making her frown.

"Julia, my love, unfortunately you don't have the time now to be Eric's tour guide since you now have extra lessons right?"

Albert bit the 'my' with such strength that I thought his teeth were going to crack.

But he was right, she probably didn't have much time now with all her Queen's lessons. I didn't have much time to breath when it was me, I can't even imagine how is going for her who has to do what I did in so little time. If I think like that I can almost feel pity for her.

"Al I can always skip the extra lessons right? It's not like they're important. And Eric is our friend so we need to make him feel welcome"

Does this girl speaks human? What is this nonsense about the Queen's training and how can you be friends to a person you literally just met and he is disgust with you?

How can she even dare to say that with a straight face???

Look at Albert's face! He looked like he just swallowed a fly.

Once again I caught myself thinking if I should have fought for the Queen seat... I really fear for my country in the future. Hopefully our King will stop this madness in time.

Chapter end