9 Chapter 9 - Ghost White

"I'll start with the piano." Malia positioned herself and fixed her posture before she placed her hands on top of the piano keys. She tried to practice playing some keys and when she felt her warmup was good enough, she started performing the introduction part of the song.

She played it beautifully and effortlessly like it was something she'd been doing for years. She would close her eyes from time to time to feel the music up to her core.

Malia decided not to sing as she was still filtering the people who'll join her. She played the chorus one more time.

She glanced at her seemingly interested "audience".

"Focus!", she said in a cold voice. She noticed that none of them were really taking note of the keys or the parts they needed to remember for the music.

She was unaware that the people inside the room, except for her father, were very much overwhelmed by her performance, they were indeed not taking notes and they were just taking their time enjoying the good melody passing through their ears. Their emotions are running freely.

They tensed up after she asked them to focus. They forgot that they are literally paid for the job.

She then stood up and started playing the chorus for the other instruments needed for the chorus. As promised, she played twice for each instrument.

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Everyone was staring at her like she just grew two heads in front of them. Especially Ashley; she felt cold water pour into her. She felt like choking up. She could never be more wrong about Malia. They would have laughed at her insult if they knew of it.

Instead of astonishment, it was Ashley's jealousy that multiplied—it became greater and deeper.

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The Marquis could not believe his eyes, he had to record everything from when she started playing the piano to her playing other instruments providing feedback and making sure everyone got the right rhythm.

Malia, on the other hand, was kind of indifferent. Since meeting the group, she never once smiled nor treated them carefully like she did with her family members and Lily. She stayed cordial to them. After all, it took her one week to warm up to other servants and household workers in the Marquis's house.

She only played the instruments like it was some business she had to do.

"Now, as I've mentioned earlier, we'll give you 30 minutes to practice and master the parts and—"

"Isn't that too much?" Ashley rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "30 minutes is impossible. We're not magicians here!", she added while also trying to show her chest by clearing the hair in the front and flicking it to the back.

She successfully stole everyone's attention, hence, she smirked.

"What's so hard about that? That was just the chorus with at most 4 repeated sets and 1 slightly different from it… Isn't it harder to create something from scratch or just base it on the piano keys? This is considered spoon-feeding." Malia said with a blank tone and bored eyes.

"But we—"

"Why do you think we're paying you a lot if I have to spell everything for you? Do you want me to write it down for you?" She then looked at everyone. "If everyone else thinks the same way then we can certainly look for someone else to do the job."

"No! No! We definitely want to be part of your wonderful song. I strongly believe that it will be a huge success and could give us endless benefits.", it was Caleb who explained; trying to calm Malia.

Malia only shrugged, "Up to you."

He looked at Ashley with great annoyance and dragged her to the side.

"Ash, can you please behave? She was right, it was very simple and easy to remember. She already laid out everything that we only need to remember it. Why do you have to make a scene?"

"Scene? She's acting high and almighty! I'm just trying to— "

"Enough! This is an important deal for the band. If you don't want to play or it was hard for you then you can leave." He said with an infuriated face.

"Fine! I quit! We are also over!", Ashley walked out of the room. She thought that her role was important and some of the guys liked her but to her dismay, no one dared to follow her.

Caleb really likes Ashley; however, he needs the band to work as his family was against this passion of his. Only if he gains fame himself will he be allowed to do what he loves the most. He thought that he could pacify Ashley later with chocolates and flowers.

There was a moment of silence before Malia spoke.

"Don't worry, your payment as a group stays the same. I can play the guitar for myself. You would also receive a bonus if we can finish and record everything by tomorrow."

"Thank you, Lady Augustus," Caleb bowed as thanks.

"No problem. By the way, since it's almost lunch. I'll give you a break and we'll meet by… 1:30. Is that enough time?" Malia asked them but was directly looking at Dexter, who is their leader. Baron Dexter is a well-known musician in their Kingdom and her guess is that he is about 35 years to 45 years old.

"Yes, Lady Augustus, that time is lengthy enough," Dexter answered.

"Alright, Dad. Let's go out for lunch?" Malia asked her father.

"Okay. Let's go."

Malia held her father's arms and they walked out of the room. They were assisted by four knights to their carriage and the Marquis told the coachman the name of the restaurant that he knew. The coachman then closed the door and soon after, they started moving.

It was Malia's second time in the carriage. Earlier that day, she slept like a baby before the carriage could move. Lily woke her when they reached the company building, so she did not enjoy nor remember her first carriage ride.

She was roaming her eyes inside the fancy carriage and tried to rub her butt on the velvet cushion. It was so comfortable, so she smiled a little.

Her father noticed that and smiled at what his daughter was doing.

She then looked at the view outside the window and noticed buildings made of stone and cement surrounding the company building. They were mostly boutiques and jewelry shops, bakeries, and flower shops as well.

"Do you not like them?", the Marquis asked.

"The musicians? I'm not sure yet father. I wanted to make sure that we have talented people on our side. Was I brutal? Or was I— "

"No, not that. I promise to look for other people to perform with you if you're not satisfied with them." He smiled assuring her.

"Thank you, dad!" She smiled back.

She really felt the love and support the Marquis was giving her. She's really lucky to have doting parents in this second life.

She continued to enjoy the view outside. People are dressed in an old fashion way; some are using small parasols; some kids selling flowers on the street and shoe cleaners waiting for customers. The kids and shoe cleaners either have dark brown hair or are in a shade of brown while the well-dressed people have light blonde hair.

'That's weird, shouldn't there be black-haired commoners on the street?' she just brushed off that thought as they reached their destination.

Upon arrival, she glanced at the signboard that says, "Heavenly Smokes", she almost laughed at the name. Nonetheless, the restaurant had a luxurious ambiance to it and the people inside were nicely dressed.

They were guided inside by a young woman wearing a black uniform. 'Oh? She's wearing pants?'

After they sat down and ordered from the menu, she faced her dad and asked, "Dad, women in the Erias kingdom can own a business, and work any job they like without discrimination, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Then, are we also not restricted with our outfits? Are we free to wear what we want?", she added.

"Yes, you can wear anything you want as long as it's decent. This started when women were allowed to become knights. They started wearing pants as men do… Why are you asking this?" The Marquis felt that the question was weird.

Malia already prepared a lie in advance, "Eliza said it was improper to wear pants for ladies. I wanted to wear one, so I was trying to get your opinion about it."

"Indeed, young noble girls in high society are strictly following old traditions. I won't berate you if you want to wear one." He didn't really care much as long as she was happy.

"Dad, stop spoiling me!" Malia then laughed at her father's relaxed behavior.

"Did I? Hahahaha", Her father also laughed along with her.

They casually talked while waiting for the food.

After a while, they were served with garlic bread, soupe à l'oignon, and something else that she forgot the name of, but it was a chicken braised with wine, mushrooms, salty pork, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and a little hint of brandy.

After the meal, she felt like her hands were a little sticky, so she decided to excuse herself to go to the washroom.

When she got out of the lavatory, she was then approached by two young men. One had light golden-green hair, was good-looking, and looked quite familiar. She paused for a moment and tried hard to remember his name.

"Wow, that's a little bit hurtful not to remember me when I constantly visit your house once a week!", the guy with light golden-green hair said acting hurt.

"Oh, Ian! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude; I just forgot your face." She said in a serious tone, but her eyes were a little bit apologetic.

"Forgot my face? That's-!" *sigh* "Never mind. By the way, this is Kai Sorav… Kai this is Lady Malia, daughter of Marquis Augustus. Malia, Kai is a prince in Sorav, he's here to visit Erias."

This time Malia looked at the tall man in front of her. His ruby-like jewel eyes look at her observing her every move. She gulped slowly and even her gulp was intensely gazed at by this man. The young man has a shiny wave of white hair that looked like clouds in his head. His overall face looked ethereal—unworldly!

She focused on his cold ruby eyes; she felt cold shivers running down her spine.

'Kai… hmmm… why does Kai sound familiar as well. Kai… wait… Kai?', she froze with the realization.

'KAI GHOST HAIR SORAV?! The side villain who was so obsessed with Thea de Clermont a.k.a fiancé of the original ML!'

Malia looked at him again, 'This guy is bad news!'

"Malia?", Ian was expecting Malia to greet Kai first following the status between the two of them.

She concealed her anxiety and tried to calm down. She acted relaxed and sighed before speaking.

"Sorry, I was thinking… how do you greet a prince in Sorav? Should I bow? Or shake hands?", she asked innocently.

Kai smiled wickedly showing his nice set of teeth and she noticed one canine tooth that was extra pointy and sharp.

"What do you mean? It's always a courtesy bow for royalties, regardless of the kingdom." Ian answered.

"Ah! Yeah. I forgot." She positioned herself and bowed politely.

"Greetings to prince Kai of Sorav, I'm Malia Ava Augustus." She continued.

"It's nice to meet you, Ian and Prince Kai. I should excuse myself if you don't mind. My father is waiting for me." She said blankly.

Kai only stared at her.

"We'll accompany you to the Marquis. I want to introduce Kai as well." Ian said smiling.

"Ah… okay." She stopped herself from complaining and guided them to their table.

The Marquis noticed Malia approaching together with Ian and another young man. When the marquis noticed the white hair, he immediately stood up and greeted the young man. He was aware of the features of the royalties in Sorav and the news that Matthew mentioned a while back about the prince.

"Greetings to the prince of Sorav. May the goddess Hestia bless you."

'Oh yeah, they have that goddess included in their greetings.'

"Nice to meet you, Marquis. Ian here told me a lot about you and your recent business ventures." Kai spoke politely to her father.

Malia was only listening quietly to their conversations and got bored listening, so she used her time remembering Kai's role in the novel and the things he did to the female lead.

"Malia?", the marquis called her.

The marquis touched her hand, "Malia?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry what was that?" Malia asked, looking at the people staring at her. She was startled and didn't remember the discussions as her mind was elsewhere.

"Prince Kai wanted to come with us to the studio, he wanted to come and observe." The Marquis said smiling.

"Huh? No—I mean why?" she asked, quite surprised by the request.

"Why not?" The prince asked her; grinning after seeing her initial reaction.

"Uh, uhm… I'm shy?... Yeah, I'm an extremely shy person!", she said as a justification.

"We won't stay that long, and you don't have to be shy. After all, we're not there to watch you."

She turned red at his statement. His words sounded like she was assuming that he liked her and would follow her to the studio.

"Ah-ha-ha…right… right.", Malia could only awkwardly laugh and agree.

"So, let's go?" It was Ian trying to save Malia from humiliation.

Everyone stood up and headed to their own carriages. Their carriage moved first then Kai and Ian's carriages followed them behind.

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--- end of chapter 9 ---

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