CHAPTER 40: 37: ARIA VAELTHORN. [1]

Aria was rushing towards the ballroom with all the dignity she could muster with the heavy dress she was wearing. She was already late for the ball, and it seemed like the main event was going to start anytime soon.

Father will be furious...

She lamented as she hurried the best she could.

It did not help that she had been forced to wear ridiculously tall heels.

She beelined towards the ballroom, navigating the palace with a trained precision that only someone who has been living in for a long while could muster.

She furiously bolted down the halls, the sound of her heels hitting the marble floor ringing loudly in her ears.

Then right as she was turning another corner, she saw him.

His features were soft, almost delicate, framed by pale blond hair that shimmered under the ballroom lights. His eyes—a bright, startling blue—met hers for a fleeting second, uncertain yet oddly clear. His attire was elegant but understated, touched with the faint blush of silk at his collar.

Not quite noble. Not quite common. Something in-between, like a misplaced melody.

Aria studied him a moment longer than she should have before she finally managed to stammer out.

"I’m so so-"

That was when she finally recognised him.

Nostalgia overwhelmed her.

Edward!?

"Edward?" The word left her mouth before she could hold herself back.

Edward looked at her with confusion apparent in his eyes, which made Aria do a double take on what she had just blurted out.

Was it not Edward?

Wait, but that couldn’t be the case.

Sure, It had been years since she had last seen him.

But she was sure, this was Edward. She could never mistake another for his beautiful presence.

Edward meanwhile, gave her a polite bow... for some reason.

"My apologies, I was in a-"

Time slowed down for a moment. A wave of frustration washed over her as she realised that Edward hadn’t recognised her.

She grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a desperate shake.

"What are you saying? Its me Aria."

Contrary to her expectations, there was no recognition in his eyes. Only the confusion was growing more apparent.

His next words made her heart drop.

"Pardon?"

This cannot be real...

He doesn’t... recognise me?

A thousand different thoughts flew through her already busy mind. For a moment, she was almost overwhelmed by the intensity of the emotions rising within her. But as always, she just simply pushed them down with the practiced perfection of a trained soldier.

She took another half a moment to clear her mind.

This was quite the predicament.

"That’s weird..." She mumbled to herself, trying to make sense of the situation.

Even if it had been a few years since they last met, Aria still looked notably different enough to be remembered, and that was not considering the fact that she hadn’t changed much.

if he had somehow forgotten her... she didn’t really know what to make of that.

She felt like screaming off the top of her lungs.

Outwardly, she just gave him a practiced look.

It still felt so surreal to her, not being recognised by Edward.

He had always been such a perceptive person...

She shook off her panic. Deciding that now was not the time to wallow in self induced misery, and opened her mouth instead.

"Who did you come with?"

Edward hesitated for a moment, which Aria took as her que to finally let go of him.

His next words felt like a whiplash.

"The young lady of Verdigris."

She stared at him blankly for a moment.

Then the sentence registered.

"Oh!"

Selene. He had come together with Selene. Which was.... good because Aria had been genuinely worried about how Edward would fair in such a large event.

She let go of the tension that had been knotting at the back of her head.

"That’s great to hear, can you take me to her?"

Edward hesitated, for some reason.

And she patiently waited for him to speak, wondering what the problem this time could be.

He was avoiding eye contact with her, which looked rather comical because he had to reach for him to actually avoid her gaze. Because after all, she was still almost a head taller than him.

A long moment passed in silence.

Then another.

Then another one before he finally managed to look at her.

"I.. need to find the restroom first."

Aria blinked.

"Oh..."

She was doing her damn best to not burst out in laughter.

***

Aria was sure that if she had not been there to guide Edward to the men’s restroom, the poor guy would’ve been lost wandering the labyrinthine halls of this palace. No, she knew that he would have been wandering the halls like the poor soul he was.

She was a little glad that she had somehow ended up finding him, knowing his horrible sense of direction, the party might’ve been over by the time he found his way back to the ball room.

Anyhow, they were heading back to the grand ball room now, with Aria leading and Edward following a few paces behind... which she found a little awkward since she was always used to having him by her side.

The air around them was awkward too, the silence seeping into her very bones as she struggled to come up with anything to talk to him.

It was almost painful, having to hold herself back in front of Edward.

She had no other choice really...

I need to find out what’s going on.

But alas, by the time she came up with a proper sentence, the long door to the ball room had appeared on the end of the way.

The door to the chambers opened as they walked close, and she walked into light filled room, with Edward tailing closely behind.

The moment she stepped in, the entire room went silent. Not even a peep could be heard.

Aria felt like she heard a muffled gasp.

And then, everyone in the room simultaneously bowed towards the door, the one that Aria had just walked through.

"We welcome the crown princess."