Chapter 78

“Brother, what brings you here? Why did you bring Leon and Miss Diane too?”  

Edward, as if the greetings were over, asked Adrian right away.  

“Leon and I came at the invitation of Earl Lautrec. Miss Diane Lina…”  

The Duke paused, as if searching for the right words.  

Edward’s mouth twisted.  

So, once again, he couldn’t resist his son’s request and brought her along.  

“Leon wanted to come with his teacher…”  

Of course. It was because of Leon.  

Edward’s gaze fell to Leon’s hand, which was tightly holding Diane Lina’s hand.  

Whatever the reason, it wasn’t bad that she was here. He just couldn’t stand seeing Leon holding Diane’s hand.  

“Miss Diane, you came to see me, right?”  

Edward cut off his brother and grabbed Diane’s hand, pulling it away from Leon.  

“Uncle, what are you doing!”  

Leon raised his voice.  

“Hic!”  

Diane started hiccupping.  

It must be a symptom that appeared when she was startled.  

“Leon, quiet.”  

At the Duke’s firm voice, Leon closed his mouth but kept glaring at Edward.  

“President, what are you… hic!”  

Diane seemed to want to argue with Edward, but her hiccups made it difficult.  

Well, hiccups do come in handy sometimes.  

“You should go now, brother. To your fiancée. Miss Diane will stay here with me. The Lautrec Earldom people are all over there.”  

Edward tightened his grip on Diane’s hand, glancing at the table where the Lautrec Earldom was seated. It was such a quick glance, it was hardly noticeable.  

“Uncle, teacher should be with me…”  

“Your Highness, I’ll be going now. I’ll see you later.”  

Leon tried to speak again, but the Duke cut him off.  

“Yes, see you later. I hear there’ll be fireworks. The Young Master will like that. Oh! And I heard about your engagement. Congratulations.”  

“Ah! Thank you.”  

Adrian bowed politely, then dragged Leon toward the Lautrec Earldom’s table. Leon looked back at Diane, but couldn’t escape his father’s grasp.  

Edward’s lips curled into a smile as he watched Leon being led away.  

Just then, the musicians began to play a dance tune, and as if waiting for the signal, people started moving to the center of the hall’s dance floor.  

“Miss Diane Lina, is it? The dance is starting—would you honor me with a dance?”  

Suddenly, the Crown Prince asked Diane.  

“Ye… hic!”  

Diane’s face and even her ears turned bright red as she blurted out a mix of surprise and hiccups.  

“Miss Diane, can you dance?”  

Edward asked quickly.  

“No, I can’t.”  

Diane answered, just as Edward expected.  

Right, she couldn’t dance. How admirable.  

But this Crown Prince—was he crazy? Trying to flirt with someone here.  

A man who would be king someday.  

Edward had humored him since he was good for the hotel’s reputation, but now he seemed to be losing his head.  

How dare he ask another man’s woman to dance?  

“Unfortunately, Miss Diane says she can’t dance. Over there… hmm, Lady Jude keeps looking this way. Perhaps she’s waiting for you to ask her to dance, Your Highness.”  

Kate Jude’s persistent gaze was getting on Edward’s nerves.  

Pairing her with the Crown Prince would solve two problems at once.  

“Hahaha! Marquis, I’m not a fool. I know exactly who Lady Jude is watching, and I know where your gaze is going as well. I’ll go meet others now. See you at the fireworks. Miss Diane Lina, I’ll see you later too.”  

The Crown Prince laughed several times, spoke, and even bid Diane farewell before leaving Edward and Diane alone and heading off.  

So, the Crown Prince wasn’t a fool.  

Edward nodded as he watched him walk away.  

Anyway, thanks to the Crown Prince, he’d managed to shake off not just his brother but Leon as well—he didn’t mind that.  

He still held Diane Lina’s hand tightly.  

Her hand kept twitching as she tried to stop her hiccups.  

Why was she so cute?  

This adorable Diane Lina had come to Agris herself.  

No, not on her own—she’d been dragged here, but still, now she was in his grasp.  

Diane felt like she might faint from how absurd the situation was.  

Having to follow the Duke to Agris, then being dragged to the banquet hall by Leon’s insistence, was already overwhelming, but now she’d even met the Crown Prince.  

It was unbelievable.  

The way Edward said she must have come to see him, with the Crown Prince and everyone else present, made her hair stand on end.  

The overwhelming hotel, the lavish banquet hall she’d never even dreamed of seeing, and the crowd filling it—  

She felt thrown into their world.  

And they were watching her. It was too many stares to be a mistake, and all those gazes felt scorching.  

She’d never been embarrassed about her clothes before.  

But now, she felt ashamed of even her outfit.  

Everyone in the hall wore clothes like the ones she’d worn only once to the opera, but she was wearing something she’d worn for years, almost worn out.  

She found herself looking at Edward’s clothes.  

It only made her feel worse.  

He was perfect.  

His custom-tailored tailcoat accentuated his lean frame, and even the ruffles at his shirt collar looked elegantly calculated.  

He belonged completely to their world.  

No, saying he belonged was misleading.  

He stood at the very center of that world.  

So why was someone like him holding her hand and refusing to let go?  

She twisted her hand to try to pull free, but his grip didn’t budge.  

“Let go.”  

“No.”  

No?  

She couldn’t even guess what was going through his head.  

“Do you want some water? You’re hiccupping a lot. You’re not a child anymore.”  

While she was feeling the gap between them, Edward asked.  

He seemed so relaxed, in contrast to her sinking heart.  

“Yes, some water… hic! Please.”  

Her hiccups only made her feel more miserable.  

“Cute, Miss Diane.”  

Edward muttered, waving for a waiter. Diane swallowed hard.  

He had no idea what she was feeling.  

He was calmly calling her cute.  

After drinking the water the waiter brought, Edward led her to an empty table and sat her down.  

“When did you arrive?”  

“A little while ago. I… I didn’t know I’d end up in such a big banquet hall.”  

“Yeah, well. It’s pretty big.”  

Edward said casually.  

She’d never seen, or even imagined, such a dazzling banquet hall.  

It made her feel even further from him.  

She’d always been distant, but now even more so.  

“Aren’t you hungry?”  

“No, I’m not.”  

He was worrying about whether she was hungry again.  

But she was too overwhelmed to feel hunger.  

“President, this hotel is really amazing.”  

“Do you like it?”  

“Pardon?”  

“I mean, do you like it, Miss Diane?”  

“Ah…! Does it matter if I like it? It’s not my hotel.”  

Her words came out sharper than she meant.  

Her sense of inferiority was making her petty.  

“Why not?”  

“Excuse me?”  

What did he mean?  

Edward and she seemed to be having two completely different conversations.  

“But is that all you have to wear? Why do you always wear the same thing?”  

Diane’s face flushed.  

Maybe even her ears turned red.  

Being called out for her clothes, which she’d already been self-conscious about, made her feel embarrassed and angry.  

“I didn’t know I’d be coming to an event like this. The Duke just asked me to help Young Master Leon…”  

“Stop! I don’t want to hear about my brother or Leon. That’s not why I asked.”  

Edward sounded annoyed.  

Why was he annoyed?  

Did he think she wanted to come here?  

How was she supposed to know not to dress this way?  

She felt like she’d been thrown alone into a desert.  

She wanted to escape as soon as possible.  

“You need to buy some clothes.”  

When Edward brought up clothes again, she felt like she was being buried in desert sand.  

“I’ll take care of my own clothes.”  

“Well, maybe it’s better if you dress like that.”  

Diane glared at Edward.  

What did that mean?  

What goes on in the mind of someone who says things like that?  

She suddenly remembered his personality she’d managed to forget for a while.  

“You’re already so pretty, Miss Diane. If your clothes were fancy too, it’d really be a problem.”  

What?  

Her anger, which had reached its peak, suddenly turned to confusion.  

So that was why he wanted her to dress plainly?