Chapter 223 16
Elsewhere in the Monarch Palace, Azalia was accompanying the King of the Aurelia Kingdom on a walk to see the palace's grandeur. Of course, she wasn't alone. There were also two members of her group, Prince Viron, and Princess Seira. On the other hand, King Leonida was accompanied by Prince Fritz, Princess Freya, and several selected mages and soldiers from the Kingdom of Aurelia.
"As expected of Arcuz Grand Academy. The palace is even more majestic than my royal castle! Isn't that so, Freya?" King Leonida was amazed after looking around the Monarch Palace. Then he turned his gaze to his daughter, who had been wearing a sullen face since they arrived at the Monarch palace.
"Yes, father." Princess Freya replied lazily. She felt bored after being separated from Ziel, Clara, and the other girls.
"Freya, you shouldn't answer like that to father." Prince Fritz warned Princess Freya seriously.
"I understand. I'm sorry, father. I might be a bit tired after a long journey." Princess Freya smiled apologetically to King Leonida. She could only sigh in her heart and endure the boredom for a while.
"Okay. We took a short walk and will soon return to our room to rest. Can you show us another place, Princess Seira?" King Leonida still wanted to look at the Monarch Palace before returning to his room because some things made him curious.
"Of course, King Leonida. We will be happy to accompany you around the palace." Princess Seira nodded and smiled sweetly. It fascinated Princess Fritz next to her.
"Haha⦠is it possible that Princess Seira already has a fiancé or a man she likes? If not, my son seems to be a match for you. He could be considered a genius in the human region, and his face was quite handsome too. I'm sure you two will make a good couple." King Leonida tries to match Prince Fritz with Princess Seira after seeing his son's fascinated face.
Azalia in the group kept quiet and didn't care about their conversation because she felt it was none of her business. Meanwhile, Prince Viron clicked his tongue secretly, thinking that King Leonida was trying to snatch one of the geniuses from the demi-human region.
"What are you saying, father!? You can't say that to Princess Seira!" Prince Fritz's face turned red with embarrassment after hearing his father's words. Then he saw Princess Seira and opened his mouth.
"I apologize for what my father said, Princess Seira. You can forget what he said earlier." Prince Fritz didn't dare look Princess Seira straight in the eye. He turned his gaze to his sister for help. Princess Freya could only sigh at her brother's behavior.
"My father didn't mean anything bad to you, Princess Seira. He saw that my brother seemed to like you and wanted to help his romance." Princess Freya deliberately participates in her father's intentions to develop Prince Fritz and Princess Seira's relationship. Her real goal is for Prince Fritz to be close to another girl and forget Princess Aishia, who can't possibly accept his love.
<br/>"Freya, youâ¦!" Prince Fritz wanted to complain to Princess Freya, but his words were stopped by the laughter of Princess Seira.
"Ahahaâ¦I know, Prince Fritz. King Leonida didn't mean anything bad by his words. If I can say honestly, I still don't have a fiancé until now and still don't have a man I like. Unlike my aunt, who can choose her partner, I don't have much freedom in my love affairs because my mother determines it." Princess Seira smiled weakly at King Leonida and Prince Fritz.
Azalia frowned when she heard the word fiancé from Princess Seira's mouth. She didn't hear that in Princess Siera's story yesterday about Kalya. Azalia only knew about Ziel and Kalya's love affair and did not hear about their engagement from Princess Irene and Princess Seira. She stared coldly at Princess Seira next to Prince Fritz.
"I see⦠I think I understand what Queen Jasmine did. Partly for your good and partly for the good of the Elven Kingdom. As for Princess Cattleya, she is an exception because she has the power to determine her destiny." King Leonida nodded and quickly understood the meaning of Princess Seira's words.
"That's right! I envy my aunt. Apart from being able to determine her destiny, she can also get an amazing fiancé...kugh!" Princess Seira nodded in agreement with King Leonida's words. She had admired Kalya since she met her back then. But when Princess Irene wanted to give another compliment to Kalya, a tremendous pressure suddenly fell on her and made her unable to continue her speech.
Princess Seira turned her gaze in the direction the pressure was coming from, and she saw Azalia staring coldly at her. Princess Seira didn't know why Azalia would suddenly do that to her. Still, she quickly figured it out after thinking about it. Princess Seira forgot to tell Azalia about Ziel and Kalya's engagement yesterday, and it seemed to make Azalia angry with her.
Although Ziel and Kalya have never formalized their engagement, Princess Seira knows from Laurell that they have a serious commitment to their relationship. Ziel also considered Kalya as his fiancé and vice versa.
Even though she didn't know Ziel that well, Princess Seira could tell that he wasn't the type of guy who liked to play with women's hearts. She could see that Ziel considered her aunt an essential and precious person to him. But she had forgotten all that yesterday. Princess Seira looked away from Azalia and no longer dared to look at her. Cold sweat slowly trickled down Princess Seira's forehead.
"What happened, Princess Seira? Are you okay?" Prince Fritz asked anxiously after seeing Princess Seira suddenly stop her words.
"I'm fine, Prince Fritz. I just remembered something." Princess Seira smiled and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She tried to ignore Azalia's piercing gaze that kept stabbing her from behind.
"By the way, shouldn't you two have met before? I heard reports from Merlick about the Incidents in the Elven Kingdom." King Leonida tried to change the subject because he felt that Princess Seira had a problem with their previous topic of conversation.
"Yes. I did meet Prince Fritz and Princess Freya while in the Elven Kingdom. Our kingdom was in trouble at the time, so we didn't have much time to chat. In addition, there had been a misunderstanding between the Elven Kingdom and the people from the Piqmentia Grand Academy. Therefore, I apologize for what happened in the past." Princess Seira lowered her head to King Leonida.
"You don't have to do that. The problem is over. After all, Queen Jasmine had already said her apologies to Merlick in person. So, let's forget about that incident." King Leonida smiled and stopped their conversation. He already knew about Queen Jasmine's actions to the people from the academy, and he had no intention of raising the matter in front of Princess Seira.
"My father was right, Princess Seira. You'd better not think about it anymore." Prince Fritz smiled at Princess Seira. He didn't want their atmosphere to become awkward after discussing the matter in the past.
Prince Viron, at the back of the group, could only grumble in his heart when he saw Prince Fritz approach Princess Seira. He couldn't do anything because what Prince Fritz did was not rude and was still within the normal range of a guest.
"I understand! But let me express my gratitude to you for sincerely forgetting the matter." Princess Seira lowered her head in front of King Leonida. Princess Freya and Prince Fritz couldn't help but smile bitterly and didn't try to stop her because it was Princess Seira's wish.
"By the way, Princess Seira. I've been curious ever since. Who is that veiled girl? I got to know Prince Viron when the people from the academy vacation in the Cirlus Kingdom, but who is that girl? I feel like you guys are being humble around her." Princess Freya slowly approached Princess Seira and whispered. She wanted to change the subject and satisfy her curiosity at once.
"He is the student with the best grades in this academy's entrance examination. Not only smart, but she is also powerful and very charming. I must admit that she is prettier than my aunt, Princess Cattleya." Princess Seira answered in a low voice so that the people around her wouldn't hear, especially Azalia. She didn't want Azalia to be angrier because Princess Seira secretly talked about her with Princess Freya.
"Hoo...prettier than your aunt?" After hearing Princess Seira's last sentence, Princess Freya became interested and glanced at Azalia not far behind her. Accidentally their eyes met, and Princess Freya got a cold stare from Azalia.
Princess Freya quickly averted her gaze and pretended not to see Azalia's cold gaze. She unintentionally shared the pressure that Azalia released on Princess Seira. Luckily Princess Freya didn't look at her for too long.
"That's right. I can confidently say that there isn't a single man on this continent who wouldn't fall in love after seeing her face. All the students in my class even fell in love with her. Especially the princes of the kingdoms in the demi-human region." Princess Seira continued her explanation about Azalia.
(all the men on this continent?)
Princess Freya could only shake her head because she knew one person who would not easily fall in love with a woman, no matter how beautiful her face was. But she grew curious and wanted to see Azalia's face directly. Just as she was about to ask Princess Seira something else, someone's voice suddenly interrupted her.
"You turned out to be in this place too, Azalia?" Prince Ozkar walked over to Azalia with his entourage. His group consisted of three people, and two of them were Princess Melkia, and a demon race boy from class S. Prince Ozkar was currently in charge of accompanying the Cirlus Kingdom. King Raghnall, Princess Cordelia, and Princess Rinne were seen in the group.
Azalia is angry after hearing Princess Seira's words about Kalya and Ziel's engagement. But the look on her face grew grim after hearing that voice. Azalia ignored Prince Ozkar's words and pretended not to see them.
Princess Freya smiled and nodded slightly to Princess Cordelia and Princess Rinne. At the same time, King Leonida greeted King Raghnall. After talking for a while, they decided to go around together to make the atmosphere more lively.
Along the way, Prince Ozkar not only kept trying to talk to Azalia but he was also seen approaching Princess Cordelia. It made King Raghnall frown, but he remained silent because he judged that Prince Ozkar's behavior had not crossed the line.
On the other hand, Princess Seira and Princess Melkia could only sigh heavily after seeing what Prince Ozkar was doing. They looked at each other and then smiled bitterly as they couldn't do anything about it.
The task of Azalia's group that night went smoothly despite the interference from Prince Ozkar. Tomorrow, Azalia's group will be responsible for the other guests, but that hasn't been decided yet.
***
The next day, Azalia wakes up with sleepy eyes. She still couldn't sleep well after hearing the story from Princess Seira and Princess Irene two days ago. Her mind became even more chaotic after hearing Princess Seira's words yesterday. In addition, Azalia had also just realized that she couldn't sneak into the Monarch Palace for a while because the security was getting tighter ahead of the inauguration of the Arcuz Grand Academy. All the problems gathered and became one in her mind.
"What happened to me?" Azalia could only sigh heavily, lamenting her situation.
After Azalia showered and put on her uniform, she intended to go to class and check on today's assignments. But before that, he heard a knock on the door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Aze, it's me, Seira. I came to tell you about our group assignment for today." Princess Seira's voice came from outside the room, and Azalia quickly opened the door for her.
"So, our group will be in charge of which kingdom today?" Azalia immediately asked after seeing Princess Seira standing in front of her room with Prince Viron.
"That isâ¦" Princess Seira looked hesitant to say it. But in the end, she said it to Azalia.
After hearing the task from Princess Seira, Azalia and the other two quickly headed to the room of the important guest that their group would be in charge of today. Azalia knocked on the door three times, and a beautiful woman with long emerald green hair quickly opened the door. She spoke after seeing the woman.
"I am honored to have met the most beautiful woman on the Clorius continent, Princess Cattleya!" Azalia subconsciously smiled behind her veil. Princess Seira, Prince Viron, and the woman in front of Azalia were taken aback by her words.