Chapter 17 - Public Appearance

When they arrived at the Kingdom of Dusk, the officials warmly welcomed them. Even Prince Drake personally received them. Except for the Prince, they all bowed and greeted in chorus.

"Welcome to the Dusk Kingdom, Duke Gerald Harrington."

Duke Gerald smiled gently at them, turned his attention to the Prince, and gave a respectful bow.

"Thank you for gracing us your presence, your highness."

"No, Duke Gerald, we should be thanking you for coming here instead." He replied warmly.

Prince Drake's eyes darted towards his back, where his family was standing.

"Let me introduce you to my family. This is my first wife, Allyson, and my second daughter Sylvy. This is my son to the second wife, Kale, and my first daughter Anishina," then he explained, "My second wife was not feeling well, so she wasn't able to come. You already met them when you last visited our residence except for my daughter Sylvy." Duke Gerald stated.

The Prince nodded his head to show that he understood.

"And your adopted daughter, if I'm not mistaken." The Prince's eyes turned to the third carriage.

The Duke slightly coughed and was about to make excuses when the third carriage door opened, and Louise immerged from it wearing her veil and only showing her blue eyes. Not only the Duke was startled but also the officials and his families. Even the Prince was slightly taken about but immediately regained his composure.

The girl slowly walked towards them, stopped beside the Duke, and bowed slightly to greet the Prince.

"Greetings, Prince Drake. My name is Louise Von Royalle, and currently, Duke Gerald Harrington's adopted daughter."

Her melodious voice caught their attention. Although the girl was wearing a veil, her figure alone shows that she's quite a beauty. The Prince was taken aback earlier because he already met this girl before at Eslanwood City, the Capital of the Green Kingdom. So he, too, bowed his head and acknowledged her.

"It's my pleasure to meet you, Lady Louise."

----

The delegates were led by the servants to the banquet hall. Each was given their designated tables. And, of course, the family of the Duke was given one of the VIP areas.

The Banquet then started, and there were a lot of visitors coming from the other kingdom. The Green kingdom royalty was also invited. Even some of the nobles, including The Count's family. When the Duke's family entered, Lady Isabella from the Count's family ran towards them and greeted Anishina.

Gerald and his wife Allyson left them to do some socializing with other higher-ranking nobles. And Gerald made this time to catch with his old friend. Even Kale mingled with other noblemen on the Banquet and left the group after asking permission from the Duke.

Gerald was confident that Louise could handle any situation, so she left Sylvy with her.

"Anishina, why don't you introduce me to this lady here." Isabella started while looking at Louise.

"Oh..my apologies, this is also my first time meeting her. Even at our residence, only my father could meet her." Anishina spoke while looking at Louise and did not hide her dislikes towards her.

"Is that so?" Isabella tilted her head." But she's been with your residence for quite some time. So isn't it just right to introduce herself to your family since she's adopted?"

When Sylvy heard this, she was sure that though Isabella's tone was mild, she was actually picking at Louise. So she looked at the girl to whom she owed her life and waited for her to respond, but she didn't.

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"My mother also visited her with good intention, but father reprimanded her." Anishina added, "That's the reason why she wasn't able to attend this banquet."

"Oh, my" Isabella raised her brow and covered her mouth as if she was shocked by something. Then she gave a look of contempt to Louise.

Louise then turned her head at Sylvy and asked. "Did you hear someone's talking?"

Sylvy was startled, but she pursed her lips to hide her smile before answering.

"No, I haven't heard anyone."

"Is that so? It must be my imagination, then. Would you care to join me for a walk, younger sister?" She asked with a gentle tone, "I needed some breather. The air here is bad."

Then she started walking away from the two. Sylvy nodded her head and followed Louise. The two ladies were left furious when she blatantly ignored them.

Sylvy was silent, following Louise. They left the Banquet hall and started to walk to the fountain area, where few nobles were gathered. Louise stopped and raised her hand towards her.

"Your hand," she spoke.

Though Sylvy was confused at first, she still reached out to her. She then placed her hand on top of Louise.

"Good. Seems like your body is recovering well," Louise stated after checking her pulse in seconds.

"I haven't thanked you yet for saving my life. Thank you very much."

Louise just waved her hand to respond, "It's nothing. It's the least that I can do for staying at your residence," she then added, "You have to at least thank your father for bumping into me, or else you will be gone to the afterlife in a few months. "

Sylvy's face stiffened when she heard this.

"My apologies if that scared you. I have the habit of speaking the truth."

The young tweens shook her head, "No, what you said was true."

"Woah..look who we have here," a sudden voice interrupted the both of them. Louise and Sylvy turned their head at the person where the voice was coming from. But upon knowing who it was, Louise just impassively looked at him.

It was the heir of Marquis of the Dusk, Young Lord Roland.

"I think we met at the Eslanwood City, my Lady," Roland stated while looking at Louise and flashed his smile to the both of them.

"I guess we did, though it's not really called a formal meeting; rather, we just passed by each other," Louise replied with her casual tone.

"My name is Roland Edwards. May I ask the names of these beautiful ladies."

Sylvy started to introduce herself. "My name is Sylvy Harrington."

Roland raised his brow. "Harrington? Oh, you must be Duke Gerald Harrington's daughter that we haven't met during our visit."

Sylvy nodded her head to agree with his speculation.

"So this must be the Duke's eccentric daughter." He deduced the rest of the details while looking at Louise.

"Louise Von Royalle, I am Duke Gerald's adopted daughter," Louise introduced herself as well.

"It's nice meeting both of you" Roland gave a proper courtesy bow.

"Isn't this the young Lord Roland?" another voice was heard that interrupted their conversation.

When the three of them turned their heads to the source, they saw a group of men, including Duke Gerald's first son Young Lord Kale. The man who spoke was the son of the Count of Green, young Lord Wondon Dawnmanker, and many heirs from nobles' households. They were together with some young ladies as well, including Isabella and Anishina.

The neighboring kingdoms of Dusk were quite open, especially when it came to young men and young ladies' interaction.

"This must be your younger sister Sylvy if I'm not mistaken, and this one is..." he trailed off while looking at Louise.

"He is the adopted daughter of my father," it was Kale who answered it.

"Big brother, I've told you already, Isabella and I were talking to her in a friendly manner, but she just ignored us. We were both embarrassed." Anishina stated while pouting her lips.

"Yo, that's not a good thing, my lady. Kindness should be reciprocated by kindness."

Sylvy was about to retort when Louise raised her hand to stop her and made her rebuttal.

"Indeed, kindness should be reciprocated with kindness. I pretty much understood that logic. That's why I ignored them. But, if your definition of kindness is someone picking a fight on you, then that's quite a twisted logic that you have there."

"You!" Anishina shouted, "Stop spouting nonsense and making up stories!"

"Not as good as you making them, though." Louise calmly answered.

"Anishina, stop it," Kale reprimanded his sister.

"But big brother-"

"I said stop it." He stated with a cold voice.

He looked towards Louise, which was only showing her blue eyes and slightly bow.

"I apologized for what my sister said."

Louise slightly smirked behind her veil.

"It's fine. But it should be your sister that should be apologizing, not you."

"Why would I apologize to you?!" Big brother, I won't apologize."

"I won't force you." Louise shrugged her shoulder. "If you'll excuse us."

"Hey, stop right there!" Anishina shouted.

Everyone got excited. Seems like there would be a fantastic show to watch. But Louise turned and coldly looked at Anishina.

Anishina felt that her knees turned weak when she received that stare. She then slumped on the ground.

"Anything else?" Louise asked while smiling, which was only showing from her eyes.

Anishina felt that she lost her voice suddenly, and she felt cold all over her body. Louise then turned around and walked away with Sylvy. The group of nobles was left who had no idea of what actually transpired.