Angelina felt the sounds around her fade. It has been so long...

She used to long for the Marchioness's affection. But till the end she never received it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, lady Angelina." The Marchioness smiled.

Angelina was stunned.

This was the first time she saw the Marchioness smile.

So she would rather smile to a stranger than the girl who lived and grew up as her adopted daughter?

Was it because now she was Angelina? A person who was a pure blood noble?

Angelina suddenly felt pathetic.

"i-it's a pleasure to meet your grace as well, Marchioness" Angelina forced herself to focus and she curtsied to the Marchioness.

The Marchioness nodded. She seemed pleased with Angelina's posture and manner.

As Angelina lifted her head, she caught a glance of a young man approaching from behind the Marchioness.

"Mother"

"Ah Chris. Go on and introduce yourself to lady Angelina."

It was her past adoptive brother. Christopher Bailey.

"........" Angelina was stunned for a second.

"Good afternoon, lady Angelina. I'm Christopher Bailey. It's my honour to meet you." Christopher bowed, took her hand, and kissed it.

Angelina immediately felt shivers. But luckily she was able to maintain her straight face.

She felt more uncomfortable now.

"It's an honour of mine as well, young master Christopher." Angelina was so shocked, she began to feel numb to it.

"Hahaha. It seems you to could get along well. I'll have to return to my husband's side." The Marchioness laughed, then turned to her son.

"You and lady Angelina should get to know each other." The Marchioness said to her son before leaving.

"......" Angelina sighed in her heart. She looked back and all the men who were previously surrounding her has retreated.

It seems they were all scared off by the Marchioness. Angelina couldn't blame them. The Marchioness really did carry a threatening aura.

Angelina knew that he was actually quite a flirty man towards pretty women. Of course she never saw this side of him herself, since he always acted like a gentle older brother to her in the past.

But now...

She really tried her best to maintain her smile when he kept flirting with her.

He complemented her beauty. Her behavior. Angelina was fighting the urge to run away in disgust.

"I must admit, I was quite shocked when I saw m'lady enter." Christopher took a glass of wine from one of the male servants and sipped it gracefully.

"Is that so...?" Angelina was rolling her eyes in her head.

"Indeed. The rumors surrounding lady Angelina isn't exactly pleasant..."

"Yes...I've heard..." Angelina's eyes avoided his gaze.

Christopher smirked. It was clear to him that Angelina felt uncomfortable and was not interested in him. But that merely fueled his interest towards her.

He found her fascinating the moment she entered his gaze as she walked down those stairs.

He found her beauty and elegant, mysterious charm extremely charming and seductive.

If Angelina knew his thoughts at this moment, she definitely couldn't stop herself from slapping him in the face.

Just as christopher was about to speak, the sound of trumpets came from behind the entrance.

The nobles were shocked and puzzled. Usually the sound of trumpets would follow in......the coming of the royal family.....

When the big heavy doors were slowly opened, everyone held their breathes.

It was the emperor and empress!

Beside the emperor is an extremely good looking man. His attire was grand and attention grabbing.

But seeing as he was able to stand beside the emperor without lowering his head, he must be a man of the same status....

So he must be another ruler....

Seeing them enter, all the nobles bowed and greeted them in unison.

"Greetings to the sun and moon of the empire, his majesty the emperor and her majesty the empress!"

The emperor smiled and made a gesture, signalling them all to lift their heads.

"Raise your heads my subjects!"

"We thank his majesty's benevolence!"

The emperor smiled and declared, "with me here is the Emperor of the Vancelia Empire! Please treat him correctly!"

There was an immediate uproar in the crowd of nobles.

They expected the man to be a monarch...but it still managed to shock them.

With her hand around the emperor's, the empress walked down the stairs with him.

Charles walked down beside them, his gaze seemed to be pointed into a certain direction.

The duke was standing behind them. He was shocked to find out that the emperor and empress themselves attended Angelina's debut...

Earlier he was called for something important. He never expected this though!

However, unknown to everyone, the only reason the Emperor and Empress came, was because Charles wanted to attend.

Seeing that even the Emperor, Empress, and a powerful foreign Emperor attended Angelina's debut, the nobles immediately knew she wasn't so simple.

Angelina was shocked as well. She didn't expect for Charles to come.

All the nobles immediately gathered around the emperor and empress.

Many people wanted to approach Charles, but his cold and threatening air scared them away.

However it didn't stop some ladies from sneaking a glance of him.

"Oh my...that Emperor is certainly an attractive man...." A noblewomen said in awe.

She was already married, but her husband was far from handsome. Her husband could not be compared to Charles.

"Your grace....you shouldn't....what if someone else heard you...?" Her friend warned.

"Nonsense. I'm merely admiring a handsome man! What's the problem with that!?"

The noblewomen kept stealing glances of Charles. His looks were really irresistible for her.

"The first dance is coming, your grace...."

The music started and everyone started to partner up to dance.

"So? That bastard is probably asking another women to dance with him!" The noblewomen bit her lip with disdain.

"Your grace....you shouldn't speak that way about your husband-"

"Wa-wait....is...is he coming this way..?" The noble women's other friend Spoke.

"W-what...?" The noblewomen turned to Charles's direction and he was indeed coming their way.

"....." She froze and blushed. Was he going to as her for a dance?

She was preparing herself to bow and accept his hand, when she saw him pass her.

"........" She turned her head and saw him ask someone else to dance with. That someone else was the beautiful lady who was debuting...

"Lily, would you mind giving me your first dance?" Charles asked, his voice was gentle and hoarse.

"....." Angelina stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. She blinked a few times before stretching out her hand to place it on his, which was reaching out for her.

"It would be an honour, your highness" Angelina smiled and nodded.

Charles smiled and led her to the middle of the ballroom, where everyone is dancing with their partner.

When Angelina and Charles arrived in the middle of the dance floor, all eyes were immediately directed on to them.

One of their hands held each other's. Charles placed his other hand on her waist, and she placed her other hand on his shoulder.

When they stated to follow the music, their movements were instantly in sinc.

Their eyes were fixed on each other's, but none of them made a mistake in their movements.

The men stared at the graceful Angelina with admiration and awe. While the women stared with envy.

Seeing Charles dance with a women, the Emperor and Empress felt like their eyes were about pop out of their sockets.

Was this really the Emperor who publicly showed his hatred towards women!?

They were in complete disbelief.

Evelina was dancing with Chase, but her eyes were fixed on Angelina.

She gritted her teeth with hate. She didn't think Angelina deserved to dance with a young and attractive Emperor.

Her gaze fell upon Chase once again, but she was only met with Chase's wandering eyes.

He wasn't looking or paying attention to her at all!

Evelina followed his gaze and found he was staring at Angelina.

She immediately felt her heart clench.

___________________

A/N: unfortunately because of some accidental error or something.... The chapters were misplaced but I have fixed it.

So if u noticed that the comments were strange, it's cuz it was meant for the wrong chapter. But this error only happened to chapter 65, 66, 67. And everything else is fine after that.

If you do want to read the comments for the right chaps then here:

Chapter 65 was originally in chapter 67's place. So the comments in chap 67 are actually for chap 65

Chapter 66 was originally in chapter 65's place. So the comments in chap 65 are actually for chap 66

Chapter 67 was originally in chapter 66's place. So the comments in chap 66 are actually for chap 67

Sorry if it's a little confusing! (●'⌓'●)