Chapter 51: Secret Romance

Aurelius quickly grabbed Ruby's hand and dragged her away with him as the squad of ladies in high heels closed in on them. They ran through the hall where they came from with the ladies close on their tails. They were really hell-bent on getting to him even though it must be difficult considering the type of footwear they are running with which he is extremely thankful for. In a desperate attempt to lose them Ruby pulled Aurelius to a vacant room and slammed the door shut. 

"Where are they?" they heard the leader ask from outside the door.

"They could only head that way. Let's get them!" The two listened to the clacking high heels of the women who ran wildly outside the room. After a minute of waiting, they finally heard silence. They waited for another minute to pass, breathing deeply in exhaustion. Their eyes suddenly met and they couldn't help but chuckle due to their sudden hilarious escapade. 

"Prince Aurelius? I thought it was a coincidence but you're actually the prince. Pffft! I saved a prince from being beaten by a horde of brats and an ancient monster. It's like we're in a reverse fairytale. Hahahaha!" Ruby laughed. 

"Don't get it over your head. They're gone. We should head back out now. What the." Aurelius tried turning the knob but it wouldn't budge. 

"What's the matter?" Ruby asked worriedly. 

"The doorknob is stuck. It seems to be broken that's why it locks itself. Looks like we're stuck here. Let's wait for someone to pass by and ask them for help." 

"Why don't we take an alternative route?" Ruby suggested pointing to a door across the room. 

"I'm not familiar with this part so maybe we should just stay put."

"Fine. Let's wait but if no one comes after thirty minutes we're taking this door." Ruby went to the passage and tried the doorknob to see if it's locked or not and it twisted indicating that it's open. "It's even opened."

"Fine by me." Aurelius agreed before taking a seat on the fancy sofa. 

Ruby pulled a golden pin from her hair and tried picking the lock of the doorknob. Aurelius sat still and gazed at her elegant form squatting in front of him. He admired the shape of her bottom and the thin curve of her waist as she tried unlocking the door with very little luck. Her pin broke so she took another one. 

"What are you even doing? I thought we agreed that we're going to wait for someone. You should just relax for a while. Aren't you exhausted after walking for so long in those torture slippers?"

"I said I'll be waiting but I didn't say that I won't try to free us. Waiting to be rescheduled is for losers. I told you I like doing things for myself especially rescuing myself, and you, for a mess I put us in in the first place. And my feet are fine. It hurts a bit but it hurts for beauty." She persisted with determination. 

Aurelius watched her for a while until he got bored and then busied himself with looking through the room to pass the time. He found a decanter filled with wine as well as a few goblets. He looked under the table and found a chessboard and a complete deck of cards. He soon settled back into the sofa and started arranging the pieces on the tiles with the black pieces on his side of the board. Ruby surrendered as she ran out of golden hairpins making a few locks of her hair stand out. She soon joined him on the sofa set and settled on the seat across from him. 

"Perfect timing. Care to join me for a game of chess?" he offered, pouring her cup with wine. 

"This isn't even ours. We shouldn't be touching these things." 

"Then why leave it here? I'll just leave a note to put the tab on the Imperial Palace with my sign and then can we play?" Aurelius reasoned persistently. 

"I suppose that will be fine." Ruby agreed. 

The two began with the famous Sicilian defense, Ruby's white pawn goes E4 while Aurelius's black pawn responds with a C5. Aurelius took a more aggressive turn as the game progressed while Ruby used curious moves that seemed unfazed by his advances. On Ruby's tenth move things became critical for Aurelius. So far the maiden had established her white bishop on G5 attacking the line of his king with the intervention of a black pawn and her white knight established the position of E6 putting the black queen in danger as well as making C7 a danger zone for the king to be checkmated. Aurelius responded by taking the queen to safety on B6 and safeguarding C7 from the Knight but Ruby became more aggressive by deploying her other knight on D5 establishing the danger zone once more and threatening the queen. The prince countered it by deploying his own black knight to take hers on D5 and Ruby in return took his knight with her queen, endangering his rook so he placed his bishop in between, supported by his black queen. Ruby checked his black king by finally placing her knight on C7 which was easily neutralized by his queen. 

"Checkmate." Ruby smirked as she placed her Queen on E6 attacking the king on a vertical line and because a black bishop is still on the king's right the only opening is the left tile which was being guarded by her white bishop. Aurelius observed the board and looked for a way to turn things around but found none, so he only sighed and congratulated her on her victory. 

"You're exceptionally good at this. I should have figured as much after our escapade with the Chimera but I won't lose to you in the next round. Up for another game?"

"Certainly." 

The pair played some more to pass the time. Contrary to his claim, Ruby still emerged victorious until the next round but he finally won in the third round. Because they were both very competitive and headstrong the game continued on while they chatted and talked more about themselves, opening up their deepest secrets that they won't usually tell another soul even those that are closest to them. They also paused in between games to build a card pyramid after a few series of repeated failures because of Aurelius's shaky hands. During their fiftieth chess round, where Ruby had an advantage of 27 to 22, Aurelius finally voiced a question he's been holding back. 

"Can I interest you with a little dinner or if you like to be casual we can go for lunch at one of the famous cafés and restaurants at the empire?" he offered with a straight face that did not betray his emotions. 

"Are you perhaps asking me for a date?" Ruby asked with a teasing tone. 

"I wouldn't put it that way. It's a simple thank you for the time you saved my life from the Chimera and perhaps for saving me as well from my haters." 

"That will be alright I guess but if you really want to hit on me I would like you to know that I am already engaged with someone whom I love. I don't want to give you hope where there is none." 

"It's fine. My intentions are completely amicable. I wouldn't want to bring my family into scandal as well. People already hate me enough for being taken by the Abyss for such a long time and then sabotaging the relationship of the most beloved couple would surely put the last nail on my coffin. The truth is... you're the first person outside of my family and household that has shown kindness to me even though you don't know that I'm the Prince. You could actually be the first person I could call a friend since there's no one my age who would befriend me if their parents didn't tell them for political reasons. It's quite upsetting." He answered truthfully as he moved his pieces. 

"I see. Contrary to you I was put on a pedestal. My peers think that I'm better than them, that I'm stellar so they tend to avoid me since they feel small compared to what I've achieved so far. In fact, my only friend is my fiance, Carmilla, as well as my mother's knights. Please don't consider this as pity, but do you want to make our friendship official?" Ruby offered her pinky to him with a warm and gentle smile. 

"What's that? What am I supposed to do to it?" he asked, raising a brow at the gesture. 

"It's a pinky swear. You wrap your finger with mine then we swear to be friends forever. It may look childish and corny but it means that our words are sincere and our promise is eternal." Ruby explained as pink dusted her cheeks. 

Aurelius' eyes filled with wonder and they sparkled with light due to the information. He happily wrapped his pinky with hers and looked at her with a childish smile. 

"I, Aurelius the Third of House Parabellum give my oath that Ruby and Rel will be friends for life, death, eternity, and even if we lose all our fingers. I will always be your friend. I swear this oath upon my name and my crown. Did I do it right?" he asked hopefully. 

"Yes, though you were overly dramatic but I suppose it's kind of... cute." Ruby cleared her throat and then put on a serious expression. "I, Ruby Edelweiss of House Pendragon swear that I will always be your friend for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health till death do us apart and even if we lose all our fingers." she announced before giggling. 

"That's so cute now let's get out of here. It's apparently eleven already. So we've been here for roughly two hours, ten minutes, and 40 seconds. Huh, we completely missed the play" he said looking at his pocket watch. 

"WHAAAATT??! That's insane! I thought it was only thirty minutes!" Ruby exclaimed in alarm. 

"I guess time really does fly fast when you're enjoying yourself. Should we head to the other door now? It seems that our location is quite remote from the auditorium as well. That's why no one has passed by so far."

"Yes, we should. Come on. Carmilla is probably worried sick about me and she's completely alone. What if someone harasses her while looking for me? I can't bear the thought. Come on Aurelius let's hurry it up." she said, striding towards the other door and quickly opening up followed by the prince. 

They entered into a new hallway diverted into three paths left, right, and forward. Ruby debated between the three for a while and chose right since Aurelius said that that's the direction of the auditorium. The girl had a stern face as she walked at a brisk pace, her heart hammering loudly in her chest in worry for her beloved. 

"Ruby, wait a moment. Can you slow down for a bit? In fairness of your short legs, you can actually walk really fast." Aurelius voiced trying to catch up to her pace. 

"There's no time to be slow. I'm worried about her. What if she's sitting in a corner while people stare at her pitifully as she waits for me. She'd be very upset and sad, she'd think that I abandoned her! What was I thinking? Getting lost in games and getting chummy with you when my true best friend must be suffering because of my forgetfulness?" she increased her pace and made another right turn and saw another door at the end of the hallway. Her heart fluttered in joy thinking that it was the exit. Her heels hit loudly against the tiled floor threatening to shatter them due to each powerful step she took towards the door. 

"Carmilla, I'm very sorry for abandoning you. It's my fault. I got lost and then I met--" she pushed through the double doors while composing her apology for when she sees the girl but her world completely stopped at what she saw on the other side. 

Carmilla stared back at her with a dumbfounded face like a deer in headlights or a child caught in a bad act. Marcel had her wrapped around his arms as they stopped mid-dance to a beautiful music emitting from a music box while the moon shined on them with its eerie light. They stared at her with a terrified face caught in a forbidden tryst. No painter could have ever painted the look of betrayal in Ruby's face as a single tear fell from her brilliant eyes. 

"What have you done?" she whispered shakily as more tears fell from her eyes. 

"I'm sorry, Ruby. You're my fiancee but... I love him now as well." 

A pained cry erupted from her lips due to the betrayal of her most beloved so she threw herself at them and pushed Marcel away from Carmilla before landing a hard punch against his pale face. 

Ornaments broke and vases shattered, many furniture were overthrown as people poured into the room curious about the commotion. Marcel accepted all of her anger and rage, he endured her cruel and painful words as lethal as her punches and didn't dare fight back nor restrain her as Carmilla begged for her to stop. Ruby was eventually pulled from the singer by Aurelius and she cried in his hold not noticing the mischievous smile on his lips as well as the key that fell from his pocket.