Teatime with the Ladies (1)

Crown Prince Ignis arrived at his private pavilion. He wore his princely attire as usual, with his fiery red hair combed back. Prince Ignis was one of the most handsome and desirable bachelors that had been fetishized a lot in his kingdom, so it was nothing weird when the noblewomen in the pavilion had swooned when Prince Ignis was walking in their direction.

However, while the ladies were swooning for Prince Ignis, some of them even had their face flushed when he approached the pavilion. There was one beautiful lady who had auburn hair and a red dress. She had a perfunctory smile and didn't seem to be affected by Prince Ignis' handsomeness at all.

She led the noble ladies by giving the Crown Prince a polite curtsy first, "Your Highness, it is our pleasure to meet you here."

The other noble ladies followed by giving their polite curtsy.

"Welcome to my private pavilion, noble missus," Prince Ignis greeted them as he walked in. He noticed the lady in red dress immediately and smiled, "I'm glad that you attend this teatime, Lady Alice Alexandrite."

The woman in red, whose name was Lady Alice Alexandrite, bowed her head politely, "You are the one who invites me, Your Highness. It is my obligation to fulfil your request. Besides, you said that you want me to bring my friends, right? I bring five of my friends from fellow noble houses."

Crown Prince Ignis nodded in satisfaction. He knew that Lady Alice was definitely reliable on this. How could he invite six noble ladies at the same time in just two days without the help of the most influential young lady in Kingdom Lunaris,

Lady Alice Alexandrite, the daughter of Duke Marc Alexandrite. She was Ignis and Corvus' childhood friend who often came to the palace to play. But after that incident that killed the King and sweet Princess Serena, Alice couldn't return and play with Ignis and Corvus anymore.

Because Corvus was now chained forever, while Ignis became too erratic and acted like a maniac in his teenage years.

They started having contact again when Prince Ignis was in the military. He sent out a letter to Lady Alice, asking for her wellbeing, and they began exchanging letters from then on.

One could say that Lady Alice was the only woman that was close to Prince Ignis.

Prince Ignis allowed his guests to sit on the chairs and asked their name one by one. Though, honestly, it was more like a gesture of politeness. Because the only one he remembered was Lady Alice Alexandrite.

Lady Alice knew well that Crown Prince Ignis' had a bad short term memory. He often forgot about the names of people who just introduced themselves. So she smiled and tried to shift the topic to make it less awkward, "Your Highness, may I know your reason to invite us here? I don't think it's just a simple teatime."

"Uh…" Prince Ignis was trying to find a good reason other than finding a wife. Because truthfully, he invited them because he wanted to see Anna getting jealous of him. He even ordered Edith to let Anna serve them tea and snack after she cleaned his room.

"Uh… there is no particular reason," Prince Ignis replied.

"Really?" Lady Alice chuckled. "But Her Majesty said that you invited us here because you want to find a lady that might be your fiancée in the future. Aren't we all the candidates to be your future fiancée? Or did you already find someone that you fancy?"

Right at the moment, there was a sound of a metal food tray being pushed to the pavilion. Prince Ignis darted his eyes immediately and saw that Anna was delivering their tea and snack.

Prince Ignis puffed up his chest and replied to Lady Alice's question loudly, "No, I haven't found someone suitable to be my fiancée yet! But I'm sure there is someone here that I fancy!"

Lady Alice and the rest of the noble ladies were appaled with Crown Prince's sudden enthusiasm. But other ladies were not perceptive enough to understand that they were only used as a folly.

"Y—Your Highness, does that mean I have a chance?" one lady asked courageously.

"Of course! Everybody has a chance! I don't differentiate based on your status!" Prince Ignis replied loudly again.

The ladies were squealing out of excitement, thinking they had a chance. But Lady Alice was an influential and perceptive lady for a reason. She noticed Prince Ignis' line of sight was not looking at her or the noble ladies.

In fact, he looked at the maid who was pushing the food tray.

Lady Alice was Ignis' childhood friend, and they were still very good friends nowadays. She knew Ignis' habit. The prince wouldn't just stare at a random maid without any meaning. Thus, Lady Alice also followed Prince Ignis' line of sight and checked at the maid.

She was a young maid, probably on her late teen or early twenty. She wore a regular maid attire and didn't seem to be a traditional beauty.

The maid also didn't seem to be in a good mood. Lady Alice could read people's mood easily with only one glance, and she knew this young maid was not pleased to serve Crown Prince Ignis.

'Huh, she doesn't even smile and dare to show a frown on her face. Does she not know that Ignis has a really bad temper?' Lady Alice frowned. She glanced at Ignis again, expecting Ignis to yell at this maid.

But to her surprise, the fiery Crown Prince had a blush on his cheek when the maid entered the pavilion…

As if…

As if he was in love with a maid…