Chapter 8

✧ A Spy Sent By The Gentileschi ✧

Morning had arrived, and the sun was now shining its light upon every corner of the kingdom. From the bustling streets to the narrow alleys, every person was awake and ready to begin their hustle. This situation also applied to the households in the kingdom, including our very favorites, the De Luca and Gentileschi house. It was a cheery morning at the De Luca estate but the Gentileschi house was swimming in gloom. Severe signs of disappointment and dejection were shown by the family members’ behavior and this behavior even continued during breakfast.

It was as if a frown was painted upon everyone’s faces, even the maids and other staff looked dispirited. The members of the household sat firmly on the breakfast table, munching on their meals while looking highly depressed. The reason for all of this was the dance the prince had with Flavia yesterday at the ball. The only person who wasn’t in a bad mood was Eliana, who was trying her best to lift up the tense atmosphere.

“Hey! This bread is pretty delicious, no? I have to request the chef to make more of these!...” The young woman said, taking a bite of the freshly baked bread.

No response was heard from the family, only a nod was given as a reply by the head of the household, Eliana’s father, who looked highly disinterested, but then again, he always did. Noticing this, Eliana proceeded in her hopeless attempt to bring everyone back to their usual selves.

“Say mother, your hairdo yesterday looked strange for some reason. Who even did it?...” Eliana brought her head near the woman to get her invested in the topic since she knew her mother cared a lot for her appearance.

“It was done by me….” The woman responded with a straight face, looking unimpressed.

“Oh-“

Just then, a knock was heard on the door and a servant entered the dining hall with a letter in his hand. The male attendant approached the Mistress, Lady Gentileschi, and informed her about the letter directed to her that had just arrived. The woman, who was up till now in down spirits, shifted her mood as soon as she heard of it.

“It has arrived! Finally, yes! Oh look at this love! My hard work paid off! I knew buttering up to the duke yesterday would be of good use!” The buoyant woman rejoiced over the letter and expressed her delight in it arriving so early to her husband who, again, looked disinterested.

Eliana who was amused by her mother’s childish behavior, inquired after the letter which had made her mother so happy. “What does the letter say, Mother?...”

“Eliana, you were right yesterday. I DO need to be aware of other people’s feelings rather than my own. I thought about what you said a lot during the ball…and realized how hurt your OWN feelings must be after seeing Prince Kieran dance with that witch and not you. So, for that reason, I questioned the Duke for some time and the answers…are right here, my dear..” The woman composed herself and held out the letter in her hand, proudly.

Eliana looked at her mother with timid bewilderment. She didn’t understand what her mother was going on about, but desperately hoped her mother had not misinterpreted her words somehow. Her mother could detect the evident confusion on her face, and so she decided to mention the contents of the letter to Eliana.

“You see Eliana, this letter informs us about which parts of the kingdom Prince Kieran will be exploring today. It’s normal for him to take a little trip around his kingdom after returning from the war after five years ..”

“Yes…and what will we do with that information…?” Eliana asked, with her face expressing nothing but concern over the letter.

“Oh, you foolish girl! I didn’t waste my time to attain this information from the duke, only for you to be questioning me so dumbly! We now know where the Prince is heading today, so you will be accompanying him there! But of course, by pure COINCIDENCE!”

This left the girl speechless and she was unable to produce any words from her mouth. Her mouth was gaping wide open, and she was staring directly at her mother. The father, who was entertaining himself over this reaction, could only cough silently as to not to disturb the two females and their interesting conversation.

“Y-You’re joking, right…?”

“Do I look like I’m joking to you? You told me to think about other’s feelings, so I AM doing that. I am thinking about my daughter’s feelings now…” The woman formed a harsh facial expression at Eliana’s words, clearly appearing to be annoyed.

“But- Mother! I wouldn’t want to disturb his exploration trip and! What if Lady Flavia is already accompanying him there? Wouldn’t I be-“

“Oh Eliana! You catch on so fast! But not as fast as me! I already thought of that before you. I knew that Flavia girl will be pulling one of her tricks again. I have sent someone to spy on her beforehand. Just to make sure if she is leaving to accompany the prince or not~”

“Spy?? W-Who did you send to spy?” Eliana gulped nervously at the words of her mother, and cursed her bad choice of words. If only she had been clearer with her words yesterday, her mother wouldn’t have taken them the wrong way.

“Who else? The amiable head of the imperial knights, and your dear cousin, Estevan…”

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Back at the De Luca estate, a bunch of knights were awaiting the presence of their leader outside the iron gates. It seemed that their leader had already proceeded inside and was being interrogated by the guards due to him being a member of the Gentileschi house. However, they couldn’t stop him from heading inside since he WAS a part of the imperial faction, despite being a Gentileschi. The reason for his visit was due to ‘business’ apparently and no one could even dare interfere in the imperial knight’s matters.

“Alright. You’re allowed to go Sir Estevan. But please, be wary of your surroundings and make it quick. We respect you and your honor is our pride, however, stepping into an enemy’s territory is never a wise decision…” The guard performed a low bow out of obedience, and moved out of the way for the young man to enter into the mansion.

Once Estevan stepped a foot inside the establishment, he scrunched his nose and his slender fingers quickly ran through his marian bluish-white hair as his eyes inspected every single thing in the main hall. He could hear distant giggling coming from the maids in the hallways, and without thinking twice, the male very sneakily dashed up the stairway which led to the east hall supposedly.

“Okay Estevan, you just have to run a quick glance by the girl’s chamber and learn about her whereabouts for the day, just as Aunt Rosalia directed you to do so…” His light green eyes surveyed through the hallways once again before he slipped into a corner once he heard the maids coming in his direction. They seemed to be gossiping about their own Lady, quite loudly.

“I really hope Lady Flavia feels better…she’s been locked up in her room ever since she returned from that ball…” One of the maids expressed concern over the state of their lady.

“Yes…it turns out she felt unwell after all that dancing yesterday. Hopefully, she will recover soon. She keeps groaning too…poor soul…”

“We can only pray for her recovery…” The other said, making a sulky expression on her face.

Due to Estevan being in quite a hurry, he was unable to hear any of that important gossip and slipped his way through the halls before entering into a dark chamber. If only the male had heard the gossip, he would’ve put an end to his mission and saved himself all this trouble, but alas, the male paid no attention to it. The room was dimly lit and only the sound of soft breathing was heard in it. Estevan’s quick thinking led him to the assumption that this was indeed Flavia’s room. The subtle breathing also could mean that she was fast asleep, and didn’t depart for the trip with the prince yet.

“Oh, so she didn’t leave…” Estevan let a sigh of relief escape from his lips once his suspicion was confirmed. The male had been through many tough expeditions, training and challenges but none was as nerve-wracking as this.

A sudden mumble was then abruptly heard in the silent room from the young woman who was lying on the bed. “What…? Judie, is that you…?” Flavia languidly rose up from the bed, and rubbed her eyes lightly as she tried to adjust her vision to the darkness.

Estevan froze in his position with only his eyes moving around the whole room unceremoniously, helplessly panicking and finding a way to escape. He couldn’t possibly open the door, or she would see him and god forbid call the guards.

“Judie…?” Flavia once again repeated, sounding cautious this time due to not receiving an answer before. The girl understood this much that there was another being present in the room with her.

This was it, this was the end of Estevan’s career, and his honor, reputation and dignity were to be severely tarnished by this female who was calling out to some maid repeatedly.

“Oh lord, help me…” The male thought in his head, while still not moving even in the slightest.

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As Estevan failed to complete his mission of spying at Lady Flavia, Eliana also failed to persuade her mother into not letting her accompany the prince in his exploration trip. The downhearted female was situated in a carriage, on her way to the main town where the prince would make his first stop. Throughout the whole carriage ride, Eliana was cursing her luck and internally crying over her lack of understanding with her mother. She desperately wished she could turn back time and rephrase her words from the ball yesterday. Soon after a lot of cursing and internal crying, Eliana had finally reached the destination at last. The female took a small step outside the carriage, taking in a whiff of air surrounding her.

“Ahh~ It finally feels good to take in a breath of fresh air after that long carriage ride…” Eliana said, with a blissful expression fixated on her features. “Oh I just noticed, this is my first look at the kingdom center since my reincarnation...” With the words ‘reincarnation’ leaving her mouth, Eliana’s mood suddenly had a downfall once again. “Right, let’s not forget I’m still Amy who has nothing to do with this novel world, and that includes marrying the prince and becoming empress of this kingdom. No sir! Nu-uh! Not even a chance. I might as well become a designer with my knowledge of fashion from my previous life and earn a decent living independently. Away from all the family drama and specially that rude prince…”

Eliana then proceeded to approach every single stall in the town square, with a maid trailing behind her. She was dazzled by the exquisite items introduced to her by the street vendors, and began to make hefty purchases. The maid, who was an onlooker, began to grow concerned over her lady who was spending money on items usually bought by commoners and not a noble like her. As the poor maid was worrying, she spotted something from the corner of her eye and immediately alerted her Lady.

“M-Milady! Look who is there!...” The maid exclaimed, with her eyes still glued onto the sight she just saw.

“Not now, please! I finally get to make use of my rich-ness by spending all that money! Who knew shopping could be so fun when you have money to spend!” Eliana said, eyeing a handful of handmade necklaces.

Who the maid saw, was none other than Prince Kieran, accompanied by his group of guards and his friend from another kingdom, Prince Johan (The same handsome devil from the ball). Despite wearing commoner’s clothes, both the Princes stood out like a rose in a field of sunflowers. With their defined features, bright hair and chiseled looks, they were captivating all hearts around them, along with the town girls passing by, who were fawning over their looks. The only person who wasn’t paying attention to them, was our heroine Eliana herself. The young woman was far too indulged in her street shopping spree to pay attention to the handsome duo. Luckily, while walking past by them, Kieran’s crimson orbs noticed a familiar face amongst the crowd, to which he was quick to notify Johan of. Johan, being aware of the signal, turned his head in Elianas direction and abruptly whispered to Kieran.

“What a coincidence! Isn’t that one of your fiancé candidates, Kieran? Shouldn’t we go pay our respects to her?...”

“I don’t know. Its too much trouble. You can go if you want to, I personally don’t want to associate with any of my fiancé candidates unless it is completely necessary” The prince closed his eyes and exhaled softly, appearing to be highly disinterested.

“Alright. Excuse me for a moment while I go greet that pretty lady. She seems occupied in something, and I can’t help but wonder what…” Johan winked at the prince before leaving him with the guards and approached the young woman, who still looked observed in her useless shopping.

The Prince appeared not to care at all, but couldn’t help but notice his friend’s flirtatious emphasize on greeting HIS fiancé candidate. He watched him observantly approach her and make an attempt at greeting her.

It looks like the Prince had yet to experience something new in his own friend circle, and as for Eliana and Flavia, they were quite unaware of the drama about to approach them…