Not long after, Gewen and his family, followed by Edgar and his family, and several other high nobility came and sat on tables of honor, around the king's table.
The Athibaud girls were dressed up especially in pretty dresses, accompanying their handsome older brother. Somehow, Emmelyn felt annoyed when she realized the girls often stole glances at the crown prince and giggled.
"They keep looking at you," she whispered to Mars with pursed lips. "They were not this coquettish in the last royal ball. Are they trying to snatch you now that you are no longer cursed?"
"Hm.. wait, what?" Mars who was enjoying the opera singer's performance batted his eyes and turned to Emmelyn who stared at him with a murderous glare. The man glanced at the Athibaud sisters and furrowed his brows. "Are you talking about Ilma and Lorian?"
"Oh, so you know their names." Emmelyn crossed her arms on her chest.
Mars was dumbfounded by her reaction. "Err.. yes, of course. They are Gewen's sisters. I've known them since they were kids."
"Well.. they are no longer kids, but beautiful young women," Emmelyn replied. "And they seem to show interest in you."
"Do they?" Mars turned to see the two girls, to confirm Emmelyn's accusation. Sure enough, he saw Ilma and Lorian smile at him sweetly. Both were blushing.
"You're not blind, aren't you?" Emmelyn asked him. "I am not making things up. They are interested in you after they know you are free from the curse and touching you would not kill them."
"What, now you can read minds?" Mars chuckled.
When he saw her less-than-amused expression, Mars quickly pretended to be concerned. "Ahh.. I will talk to Gewen to find good husbands for his sisters. I think he mentioned there are some Dukes or Lords in Glendale who want to court his sisters."
He looked at Emmelyn earnestly. "Honey, you shouldn't think about other people's feelings. What matters is MY feelings for you. I would love to shout from the rooftop that you are the only woman I love and I only want to marry you. However, we have this talk already, why it's not a good idea to make such an announcement."
Emmelyn lowered her face and nodded weakly. "I know. I'm sorry."
Mars cast his glance around and noticed many pairs of eyes were looking at them. He realized that the king still had not introduced Emmelyn publicly. That might be the reason why the ball attendees were so interested in her.
They all must want to know who she was and why she got the honor of sitting together with the royal family.
"I think, we can solve this problem, once and for all, by announcing that you are a princess from across the continent who is visiting Draec. They can make their own assumption and we'll let royal gossip do the rest," Mars finally said. "What do you think?"
Emmelyn's sad eyes suddenly twinkled when she heard his words. Right then, the prince understood that it was exactly what she wanted.
"We cannot give out my identity yet, but I don't want to sit beside you like I am a nobody…" she whispered with a hoarse voice. "Does this make sense?"
"Totally. It makes sense, and I agree with you. I will talk to my father about this," Mars rubbed her hair and replied solemnly. "After we get married, I will also slowly try to make my father understand our situation. I hope he can trust my judgment and accept you into our family."
Emmelyn glanced at the king and let out a sigh. She hated the king, but she had set aside her grudge and hatred because she liked the queen and loved the prince.
Now that she had made the decision to end the vicious cycle of revenge, she hoped the king would accept her, at least for the sake of his son and his future grandchildren.
"What if he doesn't accept me even after our child is born?" Emmelyn asked with a low voice.
"I will wait until I ascend the throne and announce our marriage. By then, nobody, even my father, can say anything," Mars replied.
He was right. Once he was the king, his words were law. He no longer needed anyone's approval.
He was only worried about the witch. Before she died, Mars would never sleep well at night.
Thinking about the witch made him remember that he had not seen Ellena in the ballroom. Didn't she come to the royal ball?
"Are you looking for Ellena?" Emmelyn suddenly asked Mars.
The man nodded. "Yes. I haven't seen her."
"Her aunt and uncle just arrived," Emmelyn tilted her chin. "They are walking this way. Maybe she will show up soon."
Mars looked in the direction of the entrance and saw Lady Preston walk gracefully with her husband, just like Emmelyn said. However, Ellena was not with them.
Mars was wondering where did Ellena possibly go. He had not received any reports from his men that Ellena was leaving the capital.
Lady Preston was all smiles when she finally reached the monarch's table.
"Good evening, Your Majesty," she said after she curtseyed, while Duke Preston bowed down to the king.
"Welcome," said the king. He waved at them in a friendly manner. "You are never late for the royal events before. What delayed you? And where is your niece?"
"I am sorry, Your Majesty, we had an emergency at home. That's why we are late. I hope you will forgive us. As for my niece, she is coming with a friend." Lady Preston spoke on behalf of Ellena. "They will be here shortly."
"Ah.. is that so?" King Jared nodded and motioned the Prestons to take their seat at the table next to the Athibauds. "Please take a seat."
Mars furrowed his brows when he heard Lady Preston's words.
Ellena was coming with a friend? Who?
He didn't know Ellena had another friend. Maybe this was someone she met during her travels?
The prince was curious. However, he had no choice but to wait to see who Ellena came with. He didn't want to ask too many questions to Lady Preston and made her think he was interested in Ellena.
"Father, I have one request to ask you," Mars decided to talk to his father about announcing Emmelyn to the royal ball attendees. He couldn't let her feel sad for thinking that her presence was not acknowledged by the royal family.
"Speak." The king nodded.
"I want us to introduce Lady Emmelyn as our royal guest," Mars explained. "I see so many curious eyes around us. They seem to be wondering about who she is since she is sitting with us. If we didn't at least introduce her officially, people will think there is something amiss."
King Jared turned to Emmelyn and then back to Mars. "Do you want to announce that she is carrying your child?"
"No, that's not it. We shouldn't say anything about that one. I just think we should introduce Emmelyn as our guest. That's the right thing to do," Mars replied quickly.
The king was once young and in love. He actually could guess that his son was in love with this young woman, who was carrying his child.
When Mars objected to Ellena's request to go back to their old agreement, by saying he was bound by a new agreement with Emmelyn, King Jared realized that Mars was just using it as an excuse.
He praised his son's skills to resolve the conflict at that time. Secretly, King Jared wanted to know how Mars would deal with the issue when the time came and he had to announce his bride.
However, there was something that the king didn't understand, why didn't the prince try to be honest to him, his own father, if he really loved Emmelyn?
King Jared was not someone who looked down on the lower-class people. If Emmelyn was just a commoner girl from Glendale, it would be easy to have her 'adopted' by one of the Dukes in the capital, just like Elara before King Jared ascended the throne and announced their wedding to the public.
Something wasn't right, the king thought to himself.
However, he didn't voice his suspicion. He trusted his son. He just wished Mars would be open to him about his real feelings and his plans.
"Very well," King Jared finally gave his approval. "You can announce Lady Emmelyn as our guest."
"Thank you, father," Mars smiled. He pinched Emmelyn's arm gently and whispered to her ear. "Would you like to dance with me? I will announce you as the royal guest after we dance."
Emmelyn smiled sheepishly and nodded. "Yes."
"Thank you." Mars waved and motioned John, the royal butler to come. Once the man was before him, the prince gave his order. "We want to have the next dance. Please tell the musician to play a good song."
John bowed down and replied, "Understood, Your Highness."
He walked toward the court musicians and told them to play a song for the prince. Mars could only smile to himself when he saw the musicians' reaction to his request.
They all turned to see him with rounded eyes. Over the years, they never saw the crown prince dance to any of their songs. This was the first time.
Mars decided to wave at them and confirm John's words. Soon the musicians all smiled and nodded obediently.
Once the opera singer finished her performance, the court musicians started playing a song about love that bloomed in spring.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the crown prince will take this first dance with his date for tonight," John announced solemnly. The ballroom suddenly went quiet, except for the music playing.
Finally.. they could see the woman who was sitting with the prince clearly.
John just announced her as the crown prince's date… Did this mean the royal family will finally introduce her?
They were all curious to find out.
"That's our cue," Mars smiled at Emmelyn and took her hand.
