Chapter 12

It didn't take long for the atmosphere to turn awkward with no one saying anything.

In the time it took for me to order my food and for the server to bring it to me, the room was silent, it was like everybody was a mute. Of course I was only bothered about it at first but since I decided to join them for lunch i guess being a third wheel is a given.

The moment my food arrived I only wished them bon appetit and started gracefully digging in my food since I was starving. These two lovebirds were still ogling me instead of eating their food so I had to take it upon myself to correct them.

" Why are you two not eating? Quick before it gets cold."

Finally the staring was over, although I made them feel more awkward but who told them to stare ? Food is life, you should never neglect it .

Not long after my meal was done I ordered a cup of tea.

The two lovebirds were still eating slowly clearly uncomfortable from me staring at them now.

"So..." I decided to start a conversation "how are the preparations for the engagement going?"

As if on cue , Jane started blabbering about everything, from the guests, to the cake, the dresses and so on and so forth. I only half listened to it since most of it was like white noise in my ear, just smiling and nodding from time to time.

In the middle of all this,the door to our room burst open and two ladies , which l recognized from Alida's memories were Jane's classmates, appeared like a hurricane. All three of us flinched at the unexpected intrusion.

One with brown hair and green dress was the first to speak.

" Jane dear, here you are. I'm so glad to see you." With a mouth splitting smile and big round eyes the lady squeaked and rushed toward Jane , taking her in a hug while she was still sitting.

"Emily, it's nice to see you too. I missed you girls so much." And then a whole symphony of squeaks was all I herd along with a lot of hugging.

Glancing to the side I saw Julian grimacing at this scene.

' Pfft....hurts to be you huh?' I thought inwardly. With all the squeaking who needs rodents around?

"Ah? Who's this? " The girl named Emily finally noticed me and with an air of superiority and disdain in her eyes started attacking me.

Well..if it was me at her age I would probably panic and wouldn't know what to say, if I was ten years older , even if I knew what to say i still wouldn't have the courage to do it for fear of not upsetting anyone, but unfortunately for her , my current self has more life experience than all these people combined.

Taking a sip from my cup I arched an eyebrow at her and waited for her to dig her whole deeper.

" What? Did you came here to bully our sweet Jane again?

" Hmmm..??Bully Jane? When did I do that?"

" Don't lie, we all know what you did!" Emily started raising her voice at me and pointing her finger towards me

A cold smile appeared on my face and just looked at her further.

" And what exactly do you all know that I did to Jane?"

Saying this and still smiling ,I turned my face toward Jane and glancing at her only to see her sweating bullets and tugging at Emily's dress tryin to shut her up but unfortunately for her this girl was on a roll.

'Smirking...sucks to have pig teammates huh?'

Still pointing out her finger , Emily started counting all my misdeeds toward Jane.

" And what proof do you have?" i asked when she stopped to take a breath. 'This girl sure has good lungs.'.

"What?" bufeled she looked at me.

" What proof do you have that I did all that you said?" This time I said it slowly and a bit louder.

She looked at me for a few seconds unsure of what to say then looking at Jane, which at this point had her head in shame, her hands clenched, finally put the last nail in the coffin." Jane said so , thus it must be true!"

"Ohh?" Looking toward Jane , I stretched a smile on my face.

"No! " She was quick to jump from her seat, denying everything." That's not true!"

"Is that so?" I looked sideways at Jane but raised a hand when she wanted to say more.

" Tell me miss...excuse me I don't know who you are."

With a puffed up chest she introduced herself as Emily Dikster, daughter of Baron Dikster.

"Miss Emily Dikster I see that your family raised you quite well , teaching you to scream and point fingers like a shrew not to mention badmouthing a Duke's daughter in a public place. I guess your family is very brave to not count the hierarchy of the kingdom. "

The next moment all color drained from her face.

"Sister.... Emily didn't meant that." Jane was quick to defend her friend.

" It's good to know that my dear sister not only protects her own friends instead of her family but also badmouths us to others. It seems I overstayed my welcome. Goodbye."

And with that I got up and left. After exiting the private room I knocked on the room next door and informed the guards and Flora that we are departing.

Not a minute later the door to the private room I exited opened and Mister Edelman quickly ran towards me grabbing my hand from my wrist to stop me.

"Alida wait.."

"Lady Alida to you and please let go of my hand." Frowning at this rude man I tugged my hand trying to set it free but to no avail. He was squeezing my hand quite hard that it started to hurt .

"Mister Edelman.."

"Julian..call me Jul.."

" Mister Edelman! " I said more fiercely " Let go of my hand this instance."

Right after I said that, a hand grabbed Julian's hand and in a cold ice tone said" Let go of Lady Alida's hand!" and started squeezing his hand hard I'm sure a hear a crack.

Looking up I saw one of father's private soldier looking at Julian Edelman with a death glare, one hand holding his wrist , the other on his sword attached to his hip .