Going Through Life Again

Part 14: The Bet (Part 2)

Present time.

"I can't believe you still remember that?"

Honestly, I had forgotten about the bet. It had been about a year ago since I last had training with Prince Harry. During that time, I was more focus on thinking why Prince Leonard and Calista were not engaged.

And also about staying alive.

Basically, the highlight from last year was to see Calista engaged and for me to not die once I turned 20.

I was sure he had forgotten about the bet and was happy that I was no longer disturbing his training schedule. But looking at how he had brought it up, after a long time, he had still been waiting.

"Of course, I did promise to wait for you."

Funny enough, I don't think he made a promise that day but I brush it aside. He is the Prince, I was sure he knows himself better than I do.

I was about to reply when I noticed that Prince Harry had turned bright red. It took me a while to understand what he had said and recoiled a bit before my cheeks flushed.

I was never like this before. Have I been reading too many romance books?

I knew that Prince Harry was the biggest flirt among his sibling but seeing him blush, after saying something as cheesy as that cleared my mind.

He is in fact still human; he will obviously be embarrassed after saying that to someone he doesn't intentionally wanted to flirt with.

I cleared my throat to say something but as I was about to do that, the dance has already ended and everyone was back to occupy the spaces.

I saw Calista and Prince Hayden bouncing back to where we were standing, so I quickly regain my posture and erase the thought of a cheeky Prince Harry from my mind.

However, the prince seems to have another thought in mind. He had grabbed onto my hand and dragged me from the ballroom to an unoccupied balcony.

Once the cold night air blasted in my face, I breathed in deeply. I walked to the railing, leaning towards it to see the garden and a winding path that leads to the lake. My eyes landed on the lake that shimmer in the night from the moonlight and the stars.

"So beautiful..." I breathed, dreamily.

"I know," I heard Prince Harry replied, finally remembering he was there with me.

I turned to face him, seeing he was looking at me. I blushed slightly, flustered and overthinking that he meant about me instead of the view from the balcony.

"Yes..."

I was left speechless. I felt something going on with Prince Harry but I didn't want to voice it out. Especially not out in the balcony.

Not many knew this but if a pair of man and lady were seen in the balcony, it would mean romantic rumours was bound to be spread by the gossipy society but often time it is just a place to get away from other people.

In my case, I doubt I will be able to get out of the balcony unnoticed because I was literally with the second prince of Eveburke. He is constantly in the spotlight of not only the nobles but also the ladies.

Like my life couldn't be any worse than this.

I groaned inwardly. Being known as the outcast of the Rosling duchy, I have had many rumours about myself. It won't hurt me if one more was to appear. Except this time, it would be different.

Prince Harry will be involved and that would mean eyes on the Royal family. It won't be that easy to quell the nobles thirst for the throne and to bring down the strongest noble family, the Roslings.

"Sister?" Calista called out from the other side of the curtains.

Upon hearing her voice, I quickly snapped back to reality, pulling away from Prince Harry and looking elsewhere other than his face. Since I didn't answer, Calista called out once again.

"Sister, Louis saw you came in here."

Knowing that I will end up getting caught by the people in the ballroom one way or another, I left the balcony without looking back. Calista and Louis were waiting for me patiently, looking worried and anxious.

"Is father planning on going home now?"

"Yes. We were searching for you."

Calista averted her eyes from me to look at Louis, who seemed upset about something. His eyes didn't level with mine, making me suspicious. I looked up at the people around us and noticed that they were all awkwardly looking at me.

They saw.

I cursed in my head, knowing that by tomorrow morning, the whole country would have known that I was with Prince Harry on the balcony. From the corner of my eyes, I saw father brisk walking towards us, his face, as usual, without a smile.

He must have caught wind of the gossip but I knew from the look of it that he wasn't angry at me but angry at how the nobles love to talk and spread news.

"Let's go."

I turned away from my sibling and met Father in his mid walk. He stopped in front of me, placed his hand on my shoulder. He didn't say anything but I was sure he was trying to comfort me, in his own ways.

I forced a smile before the four of us went to the host of the party, the Clintons, and express our regrets for leaving halfway. As we walked out the door, I heard someone snicker and turned to see Lady Maria, her mouth covered with her fan but I knew she had the most annoying smile behind it.

The ride home was quiet, as if my father and my siblings were afraid that I would explode with anger if they even say anything. Instead of being mad about the silence, I was comforted by it as my mind was not in the right place.

I have to brace myself for whatever news I will hear tomorrow morning. I just hope they will not be that dramatic and ruin my family forever.

I sighed inwardly, looking out the window of the carriage. At least I would have one good memory from tonight as I counted the stars in the night sky.

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Author's note:
I would like to apologise in advance if the future updates will take a while. I had just moved house about 6 days ago but there's still many things left to clean and unpack.

Also, I'm the owner of this house so I cannot slack like how I used too before. I have to clean and make sure my house is in top shape for guests to come.

So yes, I would like to apologise in advance. Anyways, thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter, hopefully very soon!

If you want to know more about my life, follow my private instagram: afxqahazmi.

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