Pig

The corner of her mouth twitched slightly. 'This brat… huh?' Faenia sized up the boy in front and let out a quiet sound of surprise. 'That's the crown prince, right? The description fits him perfectly but… why is he wearing dirty pyjamas?' It wasn't the only thing she noticed, he also didn't wear any shoes. Faenia was bewildered. Was this the crown prince or not?

"Are you deaf, little lady?" His quiet voice brought her back to reality.

Faenia became flustered and stuttered, "N-n-no, that is, that's not it. I don't know my way back…"

With a deadpan face, he plainly said, "Oh, I guess you will drop dead here," then he turned around and walked away.

Stupefied, Faenia hastily ran up to the boy and held his arm to stop him. "H-hol-hold up!"

"What?"

"Please show me the way out!"

The boy looked into her eyes and out of nowhere, he made a face saying he was ridiculing her before he continued to walk away. Faenia widened her eyes in disbelief. 'As if!' She refused to give up, so she held onto his arm tight and started to cry.

"Fae wants to see mama and papa! Wuwuwu!"

Her strategy worked and the boy was startled. "Hey—let go! Stop crying!"

However, his action made her cry even more. The boy didn't know what to do, he just wanted her to be quiet. Luckily for Faenia, it didn't take long for him to give in.

"Alright, alright! I will show you so stop crying!"

Her eyes brightened up and her tears stopped falling down. "Thank you!"

The boy clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Let go of me first."

Faenia immediately listened to him and released her grip. Watching her stare at him in expectation, the boy slightly narrowed his eyes.

"Follow me," he said.

But just as he took a few steps, he noticed that the little girl didn't follow him and he looked back quizzically.

Clutching her dress, she said, "I can't walk anymore so carry me."

When Faenia saw his expression, she thought she needed to take more measures but unexpectedly, he walked back and crouched down, facing his back towards her. That was a pleasant surprise for her; the male lead giving her a piggyback ride.

The boy knitted his eyebrows. "Hurry before I change my mind."

"Oh," she uttered.

She placed her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist as he supported her. He gently stood up and began to walk. Even though the male lead would be ten years old now, she felt that his body was rather skinny and slightly small for his age.

On the way out of the rose labyrinth, none of them said anything, remaining silent throughout. When they finally got out, he put her down and pointed his finger at the left.

He said, "Go that way and you will find someone to lead you back to your parents."

Confused, Faenia asked, "What about you? Can't you lead me back?"

"No."

Faenia didn't understand but nevertheless, he must have a reason. "Before I leave, can I know your name?"

He lowered his eyes and replied, "It's none of your business. Just go already."

'Wow, okay, rude.' Faenia rolled her eyes inwardly.

"Thank you." She bowed and then waved her hand. "Goodbye."

She didn't wait for him to respond and walked away. But before she was far away enough to not be able to hear him, his words flowed into her ears: "Don't ever come here again, Faenia Lutatia Roscius."

Even though she was curious to know the reason, she didn't look back. Eventually, just as he told her, she found two guards and approached them. They were both dutiful and led her back to the ballroom in no time. When her parents saw her current appearance, they were both worried and concerned.

"There you are, little Fae! Oh gosh, what happened?" Her mother placed his hand over her mouth and gaped.

Faenia looked down at her white dress and saw that it was a little dirty and understood why her mother acted like that.

"I'm sorry, mother and father. I got lost, but the kind guards helped me out…"

"Are you hurt?" her father asked in a voice tinged with concern.

"No, I'm okay."

He let out a relieved breath and patted gently on her head. "It's good that nothing serious happened to you. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let you be alone."

It was the first time someone has given her a pat on the head, a warm feeling surged up within her. Faenia quickly shook her head. "No, it's not father's fault. I'm actually very happy!"

Hearing this, her parents were surprised and wondered what made their daughter think like that.

She said, "There were so, so many pretty walls, I couldn't stop looking at them!"

Her mother laughed amusedly. "My little Fae is so unique that she's fascinated by the palace's walls."

The ball and celebrating the emperor's birthday hasn't ended yet so after making sure Faenia was unharmed, her parents resumed to socialise and even dance. Faenia found out that the main performance had already ended and that she missed the members of the imperial family dance. Though, she didn't mind it. Instead of participating in dancing along with most of the children, Faenia stood near the dessert table and ate as she pondered about the novel.

Since the female lead was the daughter of a marquess, her parents should also be attending the party. However, Faenia wasn't able to identify them just by looking as they weren't important characters, moreover, even if the novel had described them, she couldn't remember it.

As for the female lead herself, Faenia knew she wasn't at the party but home, sick. As a child, the female lead's health had always been poor. It was only when she became a teenager that she fully recovered. Until then, her existence was barely noticeable and reputable.

Faenia reached her hand out to take another dessert but it was taken by someone else. She looked at the person who took her dessert and found out that it was a boy slightly older than her. He looked at her with a smirk on his face.

"Heh, eating all the snacks alone, what are you, a pig?"

'Bullying a little girl to get her attention, huh?' Faenia wasn't amused, she ignored the boy and kept eating the delicious snacks. But every time she tried to take one, the boy would always snatch it before she could.

Annoyed, she shot him a death glare. The boy pretended it didn't bother him and continued to taunt her.

"This is what you get for ignoring me, piggy. Do you know who I am?"

Unintentionally, Faenia snorted out loud and she saw the boy become infuriated by her small action.

"What was that?!" He puffed out his chest arrogantly. "It seems like you don't know the great me, well, let me tell you, piggy. My name is Sigric Asher Cowill!"

When he saw her surprised face he thought she would either start admiring him or apologize, but on the contrary to his expectation, she returned to her unamused face and resumed to act like he didn't exist.

"You!" He pointed at her heatedly. "How dare you ignore the great me!"

His attempt to have her respond to him was futile, as he wasn't able to budge her. He even watched her walk past him without him having a chance to make a move. He turned around and saw her talk to two adults, which he assumed were her parents. The boy became flustered and his face was drowned in embarrassment. Faenia had ignored him thoroughly and went to her parents to ask them if they could leave.

"Already tired? That's fine, we have been here long enough, let's leave then," her mother said.

Together with her parents, Faenia exited the ballroom but before that, she turned around slightly and waved her hand at the boy with a pleased smile on her face, leaving the boy who saw it stunned and confused by her action.

He muttered, "What the hell?"

Then he heard laughter coming from behind, he swivelled round to face his friend, Luis.

"What are you laughing at?" he scowled.

Luis smiled and said, "Obviously at you. You totally failed back there!"

Sigric folded his arms across his chest and looked away. "Pfft, I did not!"

"Sure, you didn't. I totally didn't see the girl ignore you until the end."

"Shut up, Luis!" Sigric looked at his friend and then asked him, "Hey, do you know who she was?"

Luis rubbed his chin with his hand. "If I'm not wrong, that white hair… She should be Faenia Lutatia Roscius."

"Oh, I see. So it's Faenia… Sounds stupid, hmph."

Currently, Faenia had fallen asleep and was resting on her mother's lap inside the carriage. Her parents watched her sleeping and couldn't help but be immersed over her cuteness, especially her soft cheeks. When they got home, they ordered a maid to carry her to her bedroom and let her stay asleep. As much as the maid wanted to do that the young lady had to change her clothes, so she tried her best to change it without waking her up.

The maid wiped away the sweat on her forehead and sighed in relief when she was done with putting her in bed. She silently blew out the candle lights and withdrew, feeling proud that she succeeded.