The Emperor's Birthday

Faenia donned a pair of white ballet flat shoes and a beautiful white dress, matching with the colour of her shoulder-length hair. Lace and pearls were attached to the dress, and a purple sash bow was tied around her waist with the bow on the back of the dress. Purple flowers were inserted in her waterfall braid hair and pearl strings were hanging down from the braid. Checking out her own appearance in the mirror, Faenia gaped. She looked like a fairy, it was beyond her expectations. To think that Faenia Lutatia Roscius could actually be this beautiful, it was a shame she died so young in the novel.

"Wow! Young lady, you look so beautiful and adorable!" Isidora exclaimed while the maids were awestruck.

Even if she was an adult inwardly, Faenia still couldn't help but blush for a second when she heard the praise. Praises didn't come easily when she became an adult, so she was caught off guard over Isidora's comment.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. How about we go see the lord and lady now?"

Faenia nodded. It would be her first time to meet Faenia's parents and she wasn't sure how she would react. Whenever the original Faenia saw her parents, she would give them a shy but sweet smile as she greets them, and her parents would greet her back and give her a hug. They must have been a sweet family. However, could the present Faenia really do the same thing? Did she have the rights? After all, she wasn't the real daughter of the Roscius family. She didn't even belong in this world.

Faenia pondered over what to do. At the end of the day, did it really matter? The fact that she was now Faenia Lutatia Roscius wouldn't change a bit no matter what. Thereupon, she reached a conclusion. Moreover, she was in a novel, the people were only fictional characters, they were not real people—right?

"Oh my! Who do we have here? Ah, little Fae is so cute!" A brisked voice echoed.

The voice came from the white-haired woman clad in a barn red dress, her hair was tied up in a hot cross bun hairstyle. Unlike Faenia's purple eyes, her eyes were red. This must be Faenia's mother, Eulelia Alda Florus, and the dark grey clothed man standing beside her must be her father, Adrius Karl Roscius. His eyes were identical to Faenia's, but his slick back hair wasn't white but golden. While the mother looked cheerful and excited, the father looked the opposite. He had a stern face, but Faenia had noticed that his eyes were exceptionally gentle.

"Hello, mother and father." Faenia smiled at them. Undeniably, while the original Faenia was close to her parents, she never called them in an informal way such as 'mum' and 'dad'.

"Hello, little Fae." Her mother hugged her gently.

When her mother let go of her, Faenia looked at her father and saw him nod his head as a greeting.

"Little Fae."

Smiling, Faenia hugged her father.

"Did you grow taller recently?" her mother suddenly asked. "I feel like you did."

The nanny who stood behind Faenia smiled and replied, "Lady Orephia has keen eyes. Young lady Faenia has grown taller by two centimetres."

Lady Orephia became elated. "My little Fae is growing so healthy!"

"Yes, she is, Lady Orephia." Isidora nodded happily in agreement.

"She becomes even more beautiful every day..."

"Indeed, she will definitely become as beautiful as Lady Orephia when she grows older."

"As expected of my daughter. Who knows, she might become even more beautiful than her own mother!"

Those two people... The corner of her mouth twitched as Faenia watched her mother and her nanny praising her together. She tugged her father's sleeve softly a few times. Her father looked down at her with his still stern face.

"Father, let's head off to the party before we arrive late," Faenia said and looked at the carriage.

"Alright." He complied, then he looked at his wife who was still talking about their daughter and interrupted her, "Enough, dear. We are leaving."

"Hm? Oh right, the party."

Inside the carriage, Faenia looked out through the window at the sight of the Imperial Palace, where the party was held. She was about to attend the emperor's birthday party. Just thinking about it made her sigh, she really didn't want to go. To be there meant that she would no doubt meet the crown prince, who was the male lead of the novel, but also... wasn't it a bit too early for her to meet him? Even though it wasn't mentioned in the novel, she thought the original Faenia bumped into him much later on.

Then again, she shouldn't be too worried. If she sees him, all she could do was to ignore and pretend to not see him. It wasn't like she was the female lead and besides, the male lead had little but no interest in the original Faenia, so she should be fine. Convincing herself, Faenia smiled and felt lighter.

"Little Fae, this will be your first time going to the emperor's party. Make sure to have fun and interact with the other children around your age, okay?" her mother spoke.

Faenia turned her sight away from the window to look at her mother. "Okay."

Her mother smiled and continued to speak, "If a boy catches your attention, you must tell Mother! I will help you conquer hi—"

"I disapprove." Her father firmly voiced his opinion, cutting his wife off.

Startled, her mother blurted out, "Honey?"

Her father had his arms crossed and stated, "She is too young."

"Hm... You are right... How about after little Faenia tells me, we will wait until you are older and then Mother will help you—"

"Impossible." He cut her off again with a firm voice.

"What?" She didn't believe the word coming from her husband.

"No."

"What do you mean by no? I haven't said any—"

"Absurd."

"Honey! You want our cute daughter to stay unmarried forever?"

"You read my thoughts. As expected of my wife."

"Now that is absurd. It is just out of the question!"

"I beg to differ."

Faenia, who sat opposite side of her parents, looked at them hopelessly as they quarrelled over whether or not their daughter should stay unmarried for the rest of her life. Was that even something they should talk about in front of their own daughter? Faenia shook her head, unable to understand what her parents were thinking. Furthermore, what boy? Faenia didn't have any interest in little boys, and she would very much so not meet one at the imperial palace—specifically, the male lead.

Soon, the carriage came to a stop and the door was opened by the coachman. They have reached the Imperial Palace. After getting out of the carriage, her father helped her and her mother to get off. Faenia hesitated at first when she saw her father reaching out his hand towards her, after all, that was her first time for someone to do something like that for her. On top of that, her father was quite a good-looking man. If she remembered correctly, he should be in his late-thirties, the same with her mother.

Faenia watched the carriage leave the path, most likely heading to a place to park. Feeling someone touch her shoulder, she turned her head around to look. It was her mother.

"Come on, we are going in," she said and began to walk.

Walking beside her parents, Faenia scanned the imperial palace building. As anticipated, the imperial palace was truly breathtaking. Such an enormous castle. Beside the entrance were guards. When she entered the palace, there were already people from different noble families. Some were dancing, others were standing and talking to each other. Every one of them was dressing extravagant, particularly the ladies. A huge chandelier with diamonds hung on the roof in the middle of the ballroom. The drinks were served by servants who walked around with a silver tray with wine glasses. There were even guards stationary in the corners.

'Woah... Somehow I'm getting nervous...' Faenia gulped at the sight.

However, one thing for sure, with so many people, she was even more certain that she could avoid the male lead.