?

　　“It’s an honour to meet you, Princess Cordelia.” Yara Hassan said with a beautiful smile. She was the wife of the later emperor of the Eastern Kingdom and Isaiah’s sister-in-law. Her olive skin and dark eyes were indeed exquisite, causing me to forget myself for a second before I greeted her back with a smile “You resemble the evening sky after a devastating storm.”

　　“Oh…” I glanced at Isaiah who stood next to me, who seemed to not be paying attention to the conversation. “T-Thank you.” I said quickly.

　　“What Her Majesty meant is that you look incredibly beautiful tonight.” The tall man next to Yara said with a subtle bow. He had introduced himself as Nasir, closest confidant to Isaiah and the royal family and also the man who Isaiah entrusted to help Yara with running the kingdom in his absence.

　　“When Isaiah told me that he was to be wed, I thought that he had completely lost his mind.” She bluntly said. “But now that I see you for myself, I understand why he agreed to be with you.”

　　I let out a nervous laugh as I could tell that they were not aware of the arrangement I have with Isaiah. I then turned my attention to the small boy clinging onto Yara’s arm. He must be the heir to the Eastern Kingdom’s throne, Isaiah’s nephew. He looked like a timid boy, often avoiding eye contact when I would look at him only to look back at me when I turned away.

　　“This is my son.” Yara announced when she caught me glancing over to the boy.

　　I crouched down to the young ruler’s eye level, causing both Isaiah and Nasir to look at me curiously. The young boy pressed his face against Yara’s dress as though it was enough to make him disappear.

　　“Hello there. What’s your name?” I asked, even though I was fully aware of it. I wanted him to get comfortable with my presence after all.

　　The young boy glanced up to Yara who gave her son a slow nod, urging him that it was okay to talk to me. “…Karim.” He finally answered.

　　I held out my hand to him. “It’s nice to meet you, Karim. My name is Cordelia.”

　　Karim stared at my hand for a long moment before he slowly unlatched his hands from his mother’s dress and reached out to touch my hand. Before I could politely shake his hand, he pulled my hand and kissed my knuckles. He then quickly dropped it and looked away bashfully.

　　“Seems like little Lord Karim is going to steal your throne and your future wife.” Nasir nudged Isaiah playfully.

　　“I’ll hit you.” He grumbled.

　　I was about to stand up when I felt Isaiah’s hand around my arm to help me up. I looked at him in shock only to quickly place one hand over his.

　　“Thank you.” I affectionately said, trying to seem as though we had some form of affection towards each other. “Please excuse me as I have to go greet some other guests. I hope you enjoy your night, Lady Regent Yara, Prince Karim, Lord Nasir.” I bowed to them before pulling my arm free from Isaiah’s grip. As I walked away, I could hear Nasir’s voice speaking to the others.

　　“For an omega, she surely knows how to carry herself. I wouldn’t have known she was an omega if you did not tell me, Isaiah.”

　　“Yeah.” Was all Isaiah said in return. I wonder if he was in a bad mood today.

　　I made my way towards a large group at the middle of the grand hall, where they all donned similar dark attire with similar dark hair. I had deduced that this group was from the Northern Kingdom, where they are known for their dark hair and dark eyes, in contrast to how Augustus was born. But speaking of Augustus, he was once again not anywhere to be found.

　　When the group spotted me approaching them, they parted to the side to reveal the emperor and empress of the Northern Kingdom. They emitted such a strong and intimidating aura that I had silently wished someone was next to me for moral support like how Isaiah was with me when I first met Yara and Karim.

　　I bowed my head respectfully as they gave me crude nods. “Greetings, Emperor Leonidas and Empress Veronica. Thank you for travelling all this way to attend my debutante party.”

　　“Oh but the pleasure is ours, to finally meet the future empress of the Southern Kingdom is such an honour. You are truly a beauty to behold, right, dear?” Veronica said before turning to Leonidas. He merely gave her a nod in reply.

　　The longer I stared at the both of them, the more I didn't find any similarities between them and Augustus. They don’t resemble each other in the slightest.

　　“You flattery me with such kind words.”

　　“I know that you must be preoccupied with the party but where is Augustus? I have not seen him anyway.” She said, looking around the hall.

　　“Ah well-”

　　“Does it matter where he is? It’s better if he doesn’t show his face to me.” Leonidas spoke, his voice deep and hoarse. I stared at him for a moment, not knowing how to respond.

　　“Dear…”

　　“Are you sure you want to marry him?” he asked me with a straight face.

　　“Pardon?”

　　“Even an omega like you can do better than marrying a cursed child like him.”

　　“Your Majesty!” Veronica tried to stop him but he merely scoffed and walked away. A handful of the people they were with followed him while the others stayed behind with Veronica. “I apologise for my husband…he is well-”

　　“There’s no need for you to explain anything, Empress Veronica. I understand the circumstances as Prince Augustus had explained everything to me.”

　　“Everything.”

　　“Yes.” I lied, since it would be harder to explain that I only knew a portion of the story.

　　“Then do you not think we are cruel parents?” she asked, waiting for my answer with eager eyes. I paused before answering as though I needed to make sure I didn't say the wrong thing. “Forget I had said that, I was not thinking straight.” she quickly added.

　　“That’s—”

　　“Please excuse me, Your Highness but I should be by my husband’s side now. Thank you once more for inviting us and I hope Augustus will be a good husband to you. He is rather difficult to get along with but he is a…sweet boy.” She said, pausing before ending her sentence. She did not wait for my response as she walked away with her entourage. I watched as they walked away, not sure if I even understood what had just happened.

　　“Ah! There you are!” A familiar voice called out before I felt his arms around my waist. I let out a startled yelp which caused him to pull me closer to his body. “Don’t make a scene, love.”

　　“Then you should not be touching me all of a sudden!” I hissed under my breath.

　　Cassian sighed as he led me away towards the other side of the hall. “My father has been asking about you and I was trying my hardest to entertain them while you spoke with the others but Emperor Herman and Princess Olivera came over and they were trying to hint about marriage with Olivera,” he quickly rumbled, which was making it hard for me to follow along.

　　“It would seem that Emperor Herman still wants you to marry his daughter. If that is what you so desire, then I would not mind for us to void our engagement.”

　　Cassian’s hand around my waist tightened. “Surely you jest, my love.” He smiled.

　　“Stop calling me that.” I smiled back.

　　“Look, I would appreciate it if you pretended that you need me because I’m positive that Emperor Herman or my father will bring this topic up with you.”

　　“Need you?” I raised an eyebrow.

　　“Did you forget already? I had told them that I only accepted your hand in marriage because you were the first to send me an official letter of proposal.”

　　“Oh!” I exclaimed, even though I was just pretending to forget his predicament. “Are you asking a favour from me?” I teased.

　　“You little…” he muttered under his breath before stopping to turn his body to face me. He leaned dangerously close to my face, hand on my chin as he pushed my face up to look at him. “If you successfully convince Emperor Herman and my father that we are in love then I am in your debt. Is that what you want to hear?”

　　I had a proper look at Cassian's face and saw the signs of desperation. He did not want to marry Olivera because he sees her as his sister but he is powerless against the wishes of his own emperor and father, hence he is using me as his escape plan.

　　I let out a soft sigh because reaching out to brush a loose strand of his hair away from his eye. “Very well, my dear Cassian. I’ll do as you say now bring me to Emperor Herman.”

　　His lips turned into a smirk. “I could kiss you right now.”

　　“I would prefer it if you did not.” I smiled as I patted his cheek playfully.??

　　Cassian laughed. “Very well, let’s go pretend to be in love.”