บท 4: The ball (4)

The moment Hazel stepped out into the large garden, she felt relieved for the first time since she arrived at the palace. Since she had been in the palace a few times, so she was not as excited as the other young ladies, who weren't given many opportunities to enter the palace.

"I don't see Edgar. I think he has slipped away to go home. I was hoping this would be the time I bumped into him. I kept an eye on him for nothing," Linda sighed.

"I am starting to feel like you do not care that I am standing beside you. Tell me honestly, who do you care for more? Your best friend of many years, or Edgar?" Hazel asked.

Linda smiled to avoid hurting Hazel's feelings.

Hazel gasped, pretending to be hurt by Linda's pick. "I will remember this forever. Just know that Edgar will not be there to cheer you up when you are sad or go dress shopping with you when you want to get away from your brothers."

Linda clung to Hazel to get back on her good side. "You know that you have a special place in my life, but with all this love in the air, I place Edgar just a tiny bit over you. If there was someone you cared for, you would be the same way. I would never oust you from my life because of Edgar. I will always care for you since you are the person I run to."

"That was a wonderful small speech, but I don't know if it has cheered me up yet. Sit here with me," Hazel said, walking to one of the stone benches. "We should hide here for a while since we are not allowed to dance with anyone."

Linda sat down next to Hazel so she could look out at the palace garden. "What would you do if you were picked to become queen? I think I might lose my mind. It is too much responsibility and more pressure on us to have children."

"Well, everyone says it is an honour. Only because they don't live here in the palace. It is pretty and we would be taken care of, but I do fear the conflict in it. If Helena is picked, she would need to get some tough skin. She cries when she finds a stain on her dress," Hazel chuckled.

The best part of having a little sister was watching her freak out and cry. Her mother said to stop laughing at Helena, but there were times Hazel caught her mother laughing in secret.

"You should stop feeling like Helena is already chosen as queen and start thinking of yourself. You have to come into the palace. Give it your all," said Linda.

"I know, but I worry more for Helena because she is not as tough as I am. Honestly, I am really reconsidering this, and I don't think it is too late. Who really wants to marry a man who is always spotted with a woman? Some prince he is," Hazel muttered. "It is not different than being with a dog in heat."

"I will pretend I didn't hear that from the little princess of the Wallace family."

Hazel froze after hearing that familiar voice. She had visited the palace many times to know the voice of the crown prince.

Linda stood up first and turned around to greet Tobias while Hazel felt unable to move. "Your Highness," she greeted with a curtsy.

Tobias looked around for her brothers to make sure they weren't nearby to misunderstand him being out here with their sister and Hazel. They were so overprotective that they would tackle him. "Have you seen Edgar Collins pass by here?" He asked, looking around for his traitor of a friend.

The moment he was distracted, Edgar made a run out of the ball, and it would have to be some miracle that Edgar was still somewhere in the palace.

"The last I saw of Edgar he was standing near the throne. I am sorry that I am of no help," Linda answered, keeping her eyes low. She didn't want his attention, but she did want him to find Edgar and bring him back to the ball.

If she could, she would break the rules, and take a chance to dance with Edgar.

Hazel took a deep breath and stood to face the crown prince. "Your Highness," she greeted him. Unlike Linda, she lifted her head to look at the prince. "The little princess of the Wallace family? I fear I don't know what you meant."

Tobias found Hazel to be the same as she was when they were children. When she would enter the palace with her father and act as his shadow. They did not share too many conversations as they grew up since the boys were with the boys learning to use swords while the girls talked about whatever interested them.

When they were around each other, he found her to be judgy.

"I heard that was what your father called you before your sister was born. You are still the same with how you are always judging others," said Tobias.

"Was anything that I said a lie? Were you not caught in a library alone with a young lady?"

"So you're judgy and nosy," Tobias concluded.

Hazel didn't see how he could ever describe her as those two words when he knew nothing about her. "Excuse me," she said, deciding to get as far away from him as possible, but Tobias blocked her path. "Our conversation is over."

"Don't you know it is bad manners to walk away from royalty when you are not yet dismissed? Tell me honestly Hazel, are you jealous that I didn't pick you as the first dance? I might have if not for her brothers," Tobias said, looking at Linda who worried for her friend.

"Jealous? Jealous of you dancing with my sister? I was actually quite happy for her. It is only now that I have stopped and thought about who you are that I voiced my concerns with my friend in private. As I said before, excuse me," Hazel said, trying to get around him, but he stepped to the side to block her.

Tobias smiled, amused by Hazel. She was quite the beauty, but she was often quiet and carried this look as if she was judging you, so in the end, most would go to her energetic younger sister. Now that he heard her speak more than a quick response, he was amused.

Hazel's tongue would certainly piss off his mother and Hazel stood out from the other young women who acted like dolls in a set. It was hard to tell them apart. So much so that he had gotten the names wrong a few times.

"It seems like I made the wrong pick for the first dance. Care to join me for a dance?" Tobias asked, offering his hand to her. He was done with dancing for the night after Helena and wanted to get out of there, but a dance with Hazel did not seem so bad.

Hazel looked at his hand. If she accepted it and danced with him, people would just put her against her sister more than they already were since the crown prince picked them one after the next. It would also be troublesome if he didn't dance with anyone else after the two of them.

Everyone would look to her house for the next queen and Hazel did not want to ruin her sister's excitement so soon.

"I do not want to join you," she declined his offer.