4 The Calm Before the Storm (3) - 3

With Charlotte by my side, I proceeded to head towards Eva's room because, well, I would never admit it out loud, but I desperately wanted to see her cuteness as to heal me of the pain that I had endured earlier.

I really needed my daily dose of Evacetamore.

You see, we had literally each spent the whole day getting ready in our respective rooms, and so, we hadn't seen a wink of each other since yesterday, and the side affects of stopping the ingestion of Evacetamore for just a few hours were already showing.

At least, that was what I blamed the eye thing on.

Yep, it was definitely because I hadn't seen Eva today.

Not because of some other unknown, darker, and more evil reason.

Yep, totally.

Anyway, I had arrived in front of Eva's room, and I was waiting in front of the door with perfect posture, with both hands at my sides, Char Char standing right beside me.

Then, the room opened.

Inwardly, I was stunned, blinded by the cuteness that my little sister exuded.

Outwardly, I kept my passive and uninterested face, but, on the inside, I was squealing like a fangirl for a boy band at the moment she first met the members live.

I mean, how could I not?

My sister was in a laced blue and red dress that matched with my own suit and cape.

The dress perfectly outlined her body and exposed her flawless shoulders and neck.

Her purple hair glowed down her shoulder and two thick strands were hanging down on either side of her face.

Her make-up was also done excellently, with just the minimal amount, as her natural beauty was already enough, and any more make-up would have ruined her look.

I mean, if it wasn't for the fact that her baby fat was still there, she most definitely could have characterized the word "Beautiful" itself.

But, to me, she was just, "Extremely Cute".

"How do I look Oppa?" She asked in a slightly concerned voice.

"You look stunning, Eva."

I bowed and held my hand out for her to take.

But, instead of taking my hand, she smacked me in the back of the head instead.

"Oppa! Why are you being so formal? We still have a few hours before the banquet!" She pouted, clearly unhappy with how cold I was being right now.

But, I wouldn't budge on this, I needed to practice being formal, as this was our first time debuting at a party, and we couldn't mess it up, not even one strand of hair could be out of place.

This was the burden of being a high ranking noble.

"Please bear with it, Eva."

She grumbled the whole way to the carriage, but she complied, as she knew the implications this party had too.

...

As our dad had forbidden us from opening the drapes that covered the windows, us children had been left with nothing to do except to wait in the silence, or to listen to the small talk that mom and dad were indulging in.

This, in turn, caused Eva to adopt a very irritated attitude, but, we all had to deal with this boredom, so, she never voiced out her discomfort.

Of course, I had to bear the brunt of it through our mental connection, but I just blocked it out by thinking of what I had to do at this party.

More time passed.

...

Finally, we arrived.

We waited for mom and dad to step out of the carriage first, before I stepped out, and then offered a hand to help Eva down.

You see, as Eva didn't have a set fiancee yet, and because she didn't have any close friends that were boys and were the same status as her, I was left with the task of escorting her.

This was why I was being so formal with her, as, if she had had another escort, then I could have talked and teased her all I wanted.

Anyways, after I helped Eva out of the carriage, we then both turned to look at the venue, the House of the Azeals.

Although the house looked grand, and the surrounding gardens were carefully maintained, we both kept indifferent expressions, knowing that if we were to show weakness, then the sharks would feast on our blood.

I elegantly escorted Eva into the venue and stayed with her as we were introduced to several other nobles and their children by our mom and dad.

Honestly, I was incredibly bored throughout this entire process, but, once again, the face of our family was on the line, so I acted as amicably as possible, smiling, laughing, and conversing whenever I was needed.

And, because I was the one doing this, Eva was mostly protected from having to interact with these nobles, as, you see, I was the one that spent all my time studying this stuff, whilst she had basically no idea how to interact with other people.

As we progressed, many were impressed by my mannerisms and how eloquently I spoke, and so they praised me, making mom and dad really proud.

With this fact, combined with the fact that I was an Endendyk, rumors started quickly spreading about a child prodigy.

Of course, I wasn't a prodigy in magic or swordsmanship, no, I was a prodigy in politics.

Hearing these rumors that had spread like wildfire, many nobles had come up and tried to trap me with their words, but I was able to successfully circumvent their traps every single time, earning the praise of those around me.

The praise was even more inflated by the fact that I hadn't even come of age yet, being an 8 year old. I was also proud of myself, as I hadn't even known a single thing about politics, even in my past life.

Well, anyways, the craze around me stopped after we all started filling the tables on the dining side of the venue, a crazy migration from the dance floor, which had served as the mingling area for the time before the dinner.

As we all finished sitting down, the waiters started bringing all the food in.

And, although there were too many delicacies to count, I only chewed on some bread during the whole time, as to not fill myself up too much before our dance.

Eva was the same, as she was also nervous about our upcoming dance, and so we soothed each other with our mental connection.

The rest of the hour-long dinner passed like this.

...

Finally, after the desert and dishes were cleaned out and the finer wines and spirits were placed at the tables, the lights dimmed, as the Azeal girl was about to make her entrance.

Then, the spotlights suddenly turned on, and, at the top of the stairs that overlooked the dance hall, stood a golden haired beauty.

The lights followed her as she lifted her extravagant dress and started descending the stairs.

Once she reached the dance floor, half of the spotlights moved back up to the top of the stairs, as we all saw a golden haired man standing there.

"Everyone, I thank you all for coming to my daughter's coming of age party today!"

"As a father, I can say that, from the bottom of my heart, I am truly happy for this fine night, as my daughter takes her first steps into adulthood."

"Now, as tradition dictates, I will allow any male out there to dance the first dance with my daughter, but only if they have the guts to do so." Hearing this sent literal chills down my back, as I knew that, even though the statement said that anyone could, it was obvious that only a select few could actually touch the man's daughter.

After a little lapse in time, in which not many could move a muscle from the immense pressure the duke was releasing, finally, a boy no older than 13 stood up.

The spotlights shined on him as he walked up to the young girl of the Azeal House.

"Would you allow me to take this first dance?"

As everyone in the room heard this, there was a collective gasp.

"W-what? I-isn't that?!!! The 2nd Imperial Prince?!" Whispered someone, kickstarting a frenzy.

"What, the Prince was here?" Whispered another person.

"Wasn't he supposed to be sickly, in bed?"

"I heard that his brother had found an artifact to cure him!"

"So, is this his first debut after his closed coming of age ceremony?"

"Yes, it must be."

Listening to all this gossip, I couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Honestly, after meeting him a few times due to some compulsory duke children meetings with the king, the only thing that I could say was that the 2nd Prince really was a piece of work, in many more ways than one.

First off, he was dumb, a lump of scrawny meat that didn't use his brain.

Second, he was a believer in elitism, so... well, let's just say that he's done and will do really bad things to all types of commoners, hating them so much that he would try and rally the nobles to massacre them.

Finally, his arrogance knew no bounds. I couldn't even talk about it, it was just that bad.

Basically, to sum it up, he was the personification of the word "douchebag", if it had taken the form of a human.

Now, I had to watch the shitty guy dance.

And, like his personality and character, the guy's dancing skills sucked, but nobody could afford to comment, as he was the 2nd Prince after all.

I mean, even the head of the Azeal House was frowning at how badly the 2nd Prince was messing up his daughter's first dance.

But, nobody said a thing, as that was the power of the Imperial Family.

Finally, the music ended, and all our eyes were relieved of their torture.

The musicians started preparing for the next dance, and so, many young couples and partners walked up to the dance floor.

It was time for the, "Dance of the Young."

Standing up from my chair, I extended my arm to Eva.

She tightly took ahold of it, and we proceeded to move to the dance floor.

As tradition, the higher ranked nobles had to dance in the middle for the first 3 minutes before the rest could join in.

So, as we were the highest ranking nobles, and because the Azeal girl had taken a seat, we were the ones that had to take the center.

And, because no other Dukes were here, or they just didn't have children, we had to start off the dance by ourselves, for a whole three minutes!

As we were both worrying, making sure everything was right as we stood there, the music finally started.

I quickly performed a perfect bow, before taking Eva's hands.

Then, we started our dance, and I entered the mythical mental state, known as the zone.

It was just me, Eva, and the rhythm of the music.

Time slowed to a crawl as I focused on these three things, trying to dance the most perfect dance there ever was.

I led her, twirled her, threw her into the air. I danced like it was my very last, one where I had to give my all.

And I succeeded, as, by the time the 3 minutes was up, the hall was in silence save for the music and the ragged breathing of our breaths, as that dance had taken a lot out of both me and Eva.

Feeling the silence, I couldn't help but look around cooly whilst screaming in my head, 'Did we do something wrong?!!!!!!!'

But, what I was met with were not faces of ridicule, disgust, or contempt, but faces of awe and wonder.

Seeing the nobles' faces, I couldn't help but celebrate with Eva through our mental connection.

As we were praising each other in our minds, outwardly, we bowed and left the dance floor, proceeding to the table that our parents were at.

Sitting down in perfect postures even though we were tired, our mother started praising us loudly, drawing the attention of everyone.

And, maybe it was due to her jealousy and how our dance was godly compared to hers, or if it was just an event planned by her father, the Azeal girl stepped up to our table, before shouting in a voice that everyone in the hall could hear.

"I challenge Evangeline Endendyk to a duel!"

Not even knowing what to say, all I could do was stare at her, speechless, before my sister calmly got up.

In a clear, beautiful voice that was just as loud as the challenger's, my sister proclaimed,

"I accept!"

I didn't know what to think after this.