Evie sat in the chair in the reception room in Moonlight Pavilion, her head dropped as people milled around her; her ears and head were ringing. "Your Highness, you have a guest," Helga said, nudging her gently, and Evie looked up to see Arthur and, standing next to him, she looked up and locked eyes with a short blonde lady with a cute button nose looking at her curiously.
"Haa," she heard a gasp. "God, the size of the bags under your eyes is massive!" the lady next to Arthur said. "Thanks," Evie replied, making the lady chuckle "I was wondering how exceptionally good-looking you would have to be to get promoted and introduced to the noble world in a week, but look at you. You are a bit paler, you could be mistaken for a corpse," the woman added giggling, looking at Evie like a piece of meat in the market. Despite her harsh words, Evie couldn't detect any malice in her voice and body language.
"Lady, before you sample me, can you introduce yourself first?" Evie said, now sitting straight.
The lady chuckled. "My cousin brother has a weird taste in women," she said, prompting Arthur to jump.
"Lady Catherine, you can't say that about the emperor!" he said, looking around nervously.
"Oh, stop it, Arthur, I can say that as his cousin. Please don't be so uptight every time. Isn't it exhausting?" she said, making Evie smile and chuckle, surprising both Arthur and the lady.
"I like her," the lady said. "She has a good sense of humour, which someone needs to appreciate my jokes. Okay, tell His Majesty I agreed; I will take her," she added.
"Take me?" Evie asked, confused.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Catherine Pierre, the Emperor's maternal cousin and your lady-in-waiting from this point forward. You can call me Cathy," the woman said, giving her a bow.
"Nice to meet you, Cathy," Evie said. "My thanks to you and the Emperor, but I don't really need a lady-in-waiting," Evie said. It's a damn shame; I like her, but right now she will be one more obstacle to my escape, Evie thought, hoping the lady didn't get angry.
"You just made the biggest mistake of your life, Lady Elara," the woman said as Evie's heart dropped. Oh God, the list of people I offended keeps growing, Evie thought, but a lovely chime of laughter interrupted her thoughts.
"I like horses and people that don't like me very much. They're interesting. So there is no way you are going to get rid of me, Cathy," and Evie's jaw dropped. "You know what Lady Isabella would do to have me as a lady-in-waiting? But you see, I rejected her. Ooh, I can't wait to see her face when she finds out," Cathy said, grinning widely. "Ooh, yeah," she said, remembering, "plus, you definitely have to have a lady-in-waiting. If not me, then another. So why not have me, as I even agreed to take you? I don't like being a glorified maid, but you see, I like you," she added, almost out of breath. Too chatty. Oh God, give me more patience to bear today, Evie thought, sighing.
"I forgot you were there, Arthur," Cathy said. Me too, Evie thought, fighting a smile. "You can leave now, Arthur. I will take it from here," she added, shooing Arthur away. He turned, leaving, but looked back, looking at Cathy with a complicated gaze, which only Evie saw. Hmm, she said in her mind, looking at Arthur's departing back and then back to Cathy. I guess I retained this ability of finding out who has a crush on whom, she thought. Yay, my crush radar is intact.
"What are you smiling at, Your Highness?" Cathy asked. "Oh, you know, I rejected the Emperor before, so you don't have to worry about me being attracted to him," she said out of nowhere, catching Evie off guard.
"Why would I be worried about that?" Evie asked.
"I don't know. Lady Isabella is always on edge, trying to keep her ladies-in-waiting and the Emperor away from each other as much as possible and sending them on small errands when he is at Rose Pavilion, so don't do that to me," she added, shrugging. Smart, eliminating possible future misunderstandings. I like that. I don't really care, do I? Evie thought. Outwardly, she smiled. "Don't worry about that, Cathy," Evie said, nodding at her reassuringly. I won't be here for all that, she added in her head.
"Did you get your outfit for tomorrow?" Cathy asked.
"No," Evie said. She didn't really bother about a dress she is never going to wear.
"Why didn't the royal seamstress come?" Cathy said. "Let me go get her now," she said, turning.
"Wait," Evie called out. "I received lots of dresses from both the royal boutique and the Empress. Can we choose from those?" she asked.
"Your Highness, I don't know if you really care about your face, but mine is very important," Cathy said, touching her cheek. "So tomorrow, when before the nobles, you are not going only with your face but mine too, so you need a few dresses made."
"But the party is tomorrow," Evie said. "There will be no time to make a dress."
"They can make it overnight, and also, the party is in the evening, so they still have time," Cathy said, turning her back and exiting, her steps faster.
Evie and Helga looked at each other, a flash of understanding crossing between them. I would have had till evening for a head start, but now, how am I going to make Cathy not realise my absence early? she questioned herself internally. Oh, a thought crossed her mind, and a smile bloomed on her face. I need to prepare that for her and Lila, she thought, looking at Lila, and she felt a twinge of sadness deep in her belly. She had formed a bond with Lila and genuinely treated her like her sister, but she couldn't take her along as she didn't know where she was going to end up herself.
She will have a much better chance in the palace than with me, Evie repeated in her head a few times, trying to convince herself. She already felt guilty about taking Helga to the unknown with her. I promise to come back and look for you, Evie promised Lila mentally.