Chapter 7

Unfortunately, the night was far from over.

“Noah, go stop your father,” Beatrix said.

“If I had the power to stop him, I wouldn’t have had to attend all those events,” Noah replied. “Which interview are they on now?”

Mother and son stared at King Leonard in dismay.

The queen gazed at Olivia, who was being forced to sit beside the king, with pity. “That poor girl hasn’t even had a chance to eat dinner.”

Almost immediately following the group photograph, the king had ordered everyone back into the banquet hall—with the exception of Olivia, who had started to naturally trail after Margo.

“Miss Liberty, come with me for a couple of interviews.”

When the young woman had widened her eyes in alarm, Princess Margo berated her brother.

“Wasn’t your little photo op enough?”

But Leonard had whisked her away without even bothering to answer, and now she was seated right next to him as he plowed through interview after interview for the invited journalists.

The reporters pounced on the rare chance to take pictures of the famous Olivia Liberty and snapped as many pictures as they could, knowing that each snapshot would go for at least several thousand kerte.

“My eyes are aching, and I’m not even in front of the camera,” Beatrix said, frowning as flashbulbs went off in Olivia’s face.

“Come, Mother. It’ll be another hour before they’re through.”

Noah turned to lead the queen back into the banquet hall, but after a few steps, glanced back at the young woman. Her especially fair skin caught his eye—though he wasn’t sure whether the stress had turned her pale or if she always looked that way. The prince felt a pang of pity, knowing how torturous it could be to sit through hours of interviews without a bite to eat—but more than that, he felt gratified. If not for her, then it would be him sitting in that very spot at the moment.

He was not the only one happy about Olivia’s interviews. His father was highly pleased as well. Initially, the king had only been planning to take a few pictures, sympathetic to all the pressure the girl was under. He also knew how common it was for first-time interviewees to ruin their answers by nervously stammering or drifting off-topic. But this little lady was astonishing—she had only fearfully blinked her huge eyes a couple of times, then seemed to adjust almost instantly. He had even allowed her to answer the first question on her own.

“Herolington University is certainly the best of all the universities in Faulder. One might even go so far as to say that our alumni dominate the spheres of politics and finance. I’ve had the great honor of meeting First Lady Milaine, who has also highly praised the University.”

What’s this? he thought in surprise. What a clever and eloquent girl! How was it that she could choose the exact right words to say each time?

A smile slowly spread over the king’s face and soon he was grinning from ear to ear.

Noah had sat for similar interviews, but his ferocious expression would always scare off whoever was asking the questions. Olivia seemed incapable of such an attitude, and she answered all the questions to perfection—what was not to like? Oh, I can’t wait to read the papers tomorrow!

The rounds of interviews continued. Fueled by the excitement of both the king and the eager reporters, there seemed to be no sign of them stopping any time soon.

Meanwhile, Margo was back in the banquet hall, waiting impatiently for Olivia.

Fuming over her brother’s obsessive behavior, she stormed onto an empty terrace—although not before ordering a servant to inform her the minute her charge was finished with the interviews, of course.

The autumn banquet was a debut stage for high society, and thus an important event at which young lords and ladies sized one another up while lavishly decorated like peacocks.

“Why aren’t you engaged, Your Highness? You should be off the market already, or at least claim you’re too sick to attend these functions.”

A gaggle of young men surrounded Noah, grumbling.

“You should be charged with treason for saying something like that,” the prince remarked with a hint of laughter in his voice.

But the men weren’t joking.

“We’re just mad that the ladies only have eyes for you and your brother,” one complained.

“Take it up with my brother, not me.”

Noah motioned into the distance with his champagne glass. Debutantes and their chaperones were crowded around Crown Prince Arthur, batting their pretty eyelashes at him and attempting to make conversation.

Noah, on the other hand, had no such crowd surrounding him. It was likely due to his peculiar nature. Behind his perfectly sculpted features loomed a precarious sort of danger that made it difficult for anyone to approach him. Despite that, something about his demeanor—like right now, as he sipped his champagne with a silky glove slipped over his hand—had a mysterious allure that not even his fellow men could deny.

“Noah, it’s not that the chaperones and debutantes won’t come here—it’s that you make it so they can’t,” another young lord reminded him.

“Makes no difference to me,” he responded blithely.

“But it does to us. Come on, Your Highness, have some mercy on us.”

The prince gave an empty look and merely handed his drained champagne flute to the server. Who would dare approach a man sweeping the room with such impassive eyes?

“I wonder when Miss Liberty will be back,” one of the young lords said.

At the mention of her name, the other men simultaneously turned to the exit she had left from earlier, their eyes gleaming.

Noah also turned his gaze and then took out his pocket watch. It had been at least an hour and a half. This was evidence that the king was carried away, and it was becoming a perfectly acceptable reason for the girl to already be disenchanted with Herod.

Stuffing his watch back into his pocket, he silently offered his condolences to her and turned to leave.

All of a sudden, someone exclaimed, “She’s here!”

The prince reflexively raised his head. Through the arched doors leading to the garden, he could see Olivia in her white blouse. Her shoulders looked slumped for some reason, and Noah couldn’t help but chuckle. She must have been through hell.

She quickly scanned the room, then headed straight for the hor-d’oeuvre table. Noah was suddenly reminded that she hadn’t even had dinner yet.

A tactful servant handed her a glass of juice, which she gratefully accepted and gulped down.

“Let’s go.”

The young lords that were camped around Noah began to move toward her, whispering.

The prince stopped walking toward the terrace and turned around, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Pathetic fools.” He frowned at the men as they began to flock around Olivia, who hungrily bit into a small sandwich.

After a moment, he summoned a nearby servant. “Tell Princess Margaret that Miss Liberty has returned to the banquet hall.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Meanwhile, Olivia was still famished after one measly sandwich. Her first priority was to fill her belly, as the banquet hall was noisy and she was much too hungry to care about all the curious stares.

Just as she swallowed the last bite of her second sandwich...

“Miss Liberty?”

She looked up at the sound of her name. A circle of young aristocratic men had surrounded her.

Olivia had spent most of her teenage years around lively young men, but rarely had she found herself in the middle of a crowd of them like this.

She faced the men, concealing her fluster and reminding herself of Margo’s advice to act just like she did back in Faulder. But there was one problem—these men were aristocrats of Herod, and Olivia was here not only as a university student but also as a commoner.

The other nobles who’d been curious about Olivia saw that she’d returned, and once the rumor spread that Margo was nowhere in sight, they began to flock as well.

“A pleasure to meet you, Miss Liberty. My name is Eiel Foehm. Is it true you’re only nineteen?”

“I heard you majored in engineering. Did you have practice drafting blueprints?”

“I think a ball gown would suit you much better. Shall I send you one?”

Even knowing they were behaving without propriety, the young men were empowered by their herd mentality and their superiority in rank. They shamelessly cornered the young student.

Noah watched the sight from a distance.

After Olivia had disappeared earlier, Margo had as well, but she had still not returned.

As he waited for his aunt to show up, Noah began to wonder why he was even observing the spectacle so carefully. What did it matter? This was a public place, so wouldn’t be the end of the world for the girl to be briefly overwhelmed with attention. Besides, Margo would probably be back soon enough.

I have no reason to get involved, he thought, coldly turning away. But after just a few steps, he stopped in his tracks. When he turned to look, there were even more aristocrats swarming around Olivia.

“Those idiots have too much time on their hands,” he muttered. He continued swearing under his breath as he recalled how nervous Olivia had seemed just to set foot in the palace.

Whatever the case, she had saved him from his own hell. And he knew well how miserable it felt to be starving after a marathon of interviews.

Noah reacted with his feet before his head. Did those bastards really have to bother someone who’d been deprived of her dinner? This was precisely what gave them such a vulgar and wanton reputation.

As the prince strode over to them irritably, guests watched with curious eyes.