Reason #25: it would be the beginning to my doom (2)

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The Beginning of My Pressure

"I'm regretting my decision already."

I should've known better, of all my years being in business. Nothing is too good to be true, and this is the perfect example of it.

"Wait, wait, wait just a minute!"

Ivy says as she tries to reconfirm what Sir Jacob and the Prince had just said.

"I thought I only have to watch over and organize the royal ball? Isn't that supposed to be only a one-night event?"

Ivy was shocked after learning she had been conned into their scam.

"Ms. Ivy, like I've just said before. This is not just any event. It is THE event of the year. Of course, it's not going to be a one night deal. The whole event is going to last for a month."

"A month?!"

She shouts as her dreams of leisurely spending her time at the library has just been destroyed.

"Yes, Starting from next week, you will be helping his highness together co-host the royal guest from the neighboring kingdoms.

Ms.Ivy shall assist his highness with

the ceremonial of manhood,

the ceremonial of prayers,

the ceremonial of gift-giving,

then finally, the finale the royal ball.

With that much work, you'll probably need to be with his highness all day and maybe even all night long."

Sir Jacob strongly reaffirms his statement.

"...."

Ivy was just speechless as there were too many complicated ceremonies, and it gave her a headache just listening about it.

Then her mouth starts to twitch as she nervously asked: "Is it still too late to cancel that contract I sign?"

In just a blink of an eye, Prince Leon quickly rolled the contract and asked Sir Jacobs to take it, and he immediately ran away with it. Prince Leon then smiled and said

"Why would you want to do that? Plus, according to the royal palace contracts, if there is any breach in the agreement, you'll have to bear 50% of the promised amount."

"What! But that's 50 gold bars!"

Ivy stood up in shock, "I don't recall seeing that in the contract at all."

"*cough* let's not dwell into the details now." He calmly smiled at her like it's a light matter.

Inside Ivy's mind, she thought

<this is precisely the time to dwell on details!!>

"Urgh... I'm getting a headache. I can't believe I rush myself into this. I should've taken my time and slowly think it through first."

She grumbled and gently massaged her tightening forehead.

While Ivy was still trying to figure a way out of this, the Prince gently clasp her hand and said

"Don't worry. There is not much for you to do for the first few ceremonies. As I've mentioned, Sir Jacobs will be by your side to guide and assist you in the whole process. All you need to do is to overlook and make sure that it's running along accordingly.

I'll be busy engaging with the activities most of the time, but I hope you could be there by my side. Would that be too much to ask?"

He gave her the puppy eyes, and it was so strong that even if she tried to resist and turn her gaze away, he would hold her hands tightly and lean close to her face until she says "Fine, I'll do it."

He immediately let go of her hands and smile cheerfully in victory.

When he saw Ivy frustrating in front of him, it somehow made him happy.

He loves these moments with her, like how they argue with each other, talking with each other casually and teasing her until her face turns red. He knows that only she could make him feel this way.

And so when she was covering her red pouting face with her long hair, he just naturally reach out and tuck her long curly hair by the ear and say

"Ivy, I love you. Would you marry me?"

While he held her cheeks with his warm hands and looks at her with his gentle eyes and a sweet smile, she, on the other hand, only had a complicated expression on hers.

Because so many things have happened, they have been spending time together like how they used to be, and it made her felt so comfortable with him that she had forgotten that they were lovers.

And so right now, as he had just proposed to her again, in her head, she knew what she had to do.

She had to reject him according to the plan, but she couldn't get the words out of her mouth. But even then, before she could say anything, the prince hugged her tightly around her shoulder and said,

"It's ok. I'm sorry for pushing you again. Please don't mind me, take your time. I'll wait for you until you say you love me."

His words made her bit her lip with frustration as she knew this is only but an illusion, and he will soon leave her for another.

<In just a month> she thought in her head

<In just another month, you will leave me and fall in love with her. By then, I wonder, would there still be a little bit of your heart?>

***************

The Pressure keeps on rising

At the office

The moment I signed the contract, my hectic days began.

My days at work starts in the early morning at the East palace offices. This is because Sir Jacob has been organizing a lot of work for us these past few days as there is only but little time left till the first ceremony - the ceremonial of manhood starts.

The ceremonial of manhood is the pathway that every prince must go through. It's a ceremony to show his people that he is now fit to walk down man's path and show them his strength as the empire's future leader. To do that, he will have a one on one sword match with all the participating noble representative across the empire.

The whole empire consists of four kingdoms, the north, south, east, and west. It was told that after many years at war with each other, the four nations finally made the west kingdom as their primary ruler, and it's all thanks to the Great War Hero - Duke Augustine.

I don't know much detail about what had happened in the past as Father and Mother have always been reluctant to let me know. On top of that, I have too many concerns of my own, but to think that I would even be part of this meeting where I have to host the guest from the three kingdoms, this would've never crossed my mind before. I feel like I've just entered myself into a world of trouble, and it's all because of him!

Ivy immediately turns her gaze at the smiling man that sitting next to her.

From the first day of her work, Ivy has been working in the same office as Prince Leon. On top of that, he made sure that her desk is placed exactly right in front of him so that he can look at her whenever he wants to.

Ever since she signed the papers, the Prince has been using it as an excuse to stick to her like glue.

They have been seeing each other almost all day and all night because she had never set any specific working conditions like working hours 9 am to 5 pm only.

(Author: Lesson to all, It's imperative that you set the right working conditions)

Even if she insisted that the contract ends exactly at midnight of the royal ball, it didn't matter to him because he had planned this from the beginning to utilize his time with her and woe her fully. So to him that 100 gold bars were worth every coin.

Seeing the Prince calm and happy face made Ivy feel irritated as his face kept reminding her that he is the reason for the massive amount of never-ending paperwork that doesn't seem to reduce, no matter how hard she tries.

Plus, her plans to stay as low profile as possible miserably failed because of this new job.

Now almost everyone in the palace recognizes her face as she had to move around to make sure the guest's arrangements are well underway. And because of her scar, it adds more pressure to her when she walks around because she had to keep checking that her pin is position well so that no one would notice her scar underneath.

While Ivy is glaring at the Prince with all the thoughts of the stressful things she is facing, the Prince just shoots back at her with a graceful smile.

The Prince was in such a good mood that it made her curious to know why so she whispers to her new assistant Sir Jacob that is sitting next to her,

"Sir Jacob, why is his highness in such high spirits?"

Sir Jacob just honestly replied to her and said, "Well, it's all because of you, Ms. Ivy. I, too, am thrilled to have you working with us here."

(Author: What Sir Jacob has meant was because of Ms. Ivy being in the office all day, it was the very first time that he could confine the Prince in the office and got so much work done. So Ivy's existence has truly been wonderful for him.)

However, Sir Jacob's reply made Ivy thought,

<Was the workload that bad till point you are happy with an extra hand like me? How much work exactly is there? You don't need a temp. permanent staff!!>

Sir Jacobs is a very outstanding assistant, just as how Prince Leon had mentioned. He already has everything all plan, and all I needed to do was to make sure that everything goes well according to the arrangement he made, which makes me feel even more guilty accepting the 100 gold bars as payment.

No matter how I think about it, it's still too much pay for such a position. However, Sir Jacob did mention to me and said

"His highness's coming of age is not just any event. Not only that, it's an announcement to all that the crown prince has come to age. It will also be the first official event to introduce his highness as the future ruler of this empire.

Therefore, many people from all around will attend the Prince's ceremony to witness the Prince's performance. Many distinguished nobles will also attend his highness royal ball to build a good political relationship. That is why this event is a very crucial start to his highness royal career!"

When Ivy recalled Sir Jacob's words, she slowly felt the pressure of being in charge of such an important event creeping into her head.

"Urgh, my head..."

"Ms. Ivy, are you ok?"

Sir Jacobs asked as he stands next to her with a stack of papers.

"I'm fine..." she looks at him with dejected eyes.

"What is that now? I've still got lots in going documents that you gave me earlier, and I've not even cleared that yet." Ivy stared at Sir Jacobs with tired eyes.

"Ah, this is the guest profile of all the invited attendees for the royal ball. It would be best that you have a look at it. You'll never know who you will encounter that day."

Ivy's eyes immediately lit up, and gaze heatedly at the stack of papers that Sir Jacobs is holding.

"Does that mean those reports have the guest's pictures as well?"

"uhh, yes, most of them." Sir Jacobs began to feel nervous, looking at Ivy's glowing aura.

After receiving the stack of papers from Sir Jacob, she immediately began to find

"Princess Sophia! She really is here, and she will be attending the event that day."

"uhh, yes. Princess Sophia will be the representative of the southern kingdom to congratulate his highness. Do you know her, Ms.Ivy?"

Sir Jacob asked as he was curious about Ivy's sudden urge to learn about the princess.

"Huh? Well..." Ivy paused, trying to find an excuse. "I heard that she is very beautiful, it said so here on her profile as well, and I wanted to see her picture."

"Ah! So that's why."

Thankfully Sir Jacob bought her lie.

Then when Ivy looked at Princess Sophia file, she thought.

<I'll have to be extra careful not bump into her on that day. Even though my chances of accidentally hurting the first day are slim, it will still best I stay alert. Just in case.>

So Ivy slowly opens the file and carefully reads the details about the Princess.

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Princess Sophia, the Princess from the Southern Kingdom. She is born under the previous king's concubine, and her only brother, who is the current king of the south, is King Trevor Haynes.

She is rumored to be the most beautiful princess in the century. Not only that, she has the personality of an angel, but she also excels in all her studies, especially in embroidery.

Likes: sweets, especially chocolate

Dislikes: None

Special Requirement: None

RSVP: Yes

**********

There is not much info on King Trevor since he is not attending, but I've heard bad rumors about him before.

Just seeing the name - Haynes, it's totally an obvious indicator that he is a bad guy type. Again the Author of this world is really bad at giving names.

But I guess I don't have to worry about him since I've only known there is only one bad villain in the novel, which is supposed to be me, the villainess.

Then as Ivy continues to flip through the pages, she found no pictures of Princess Sophia, and so she reaches out to Sir Jacob and asks.

"Sir Jacob, can I ask something?"

"Yes, Ms.Ivy."

"I can't seem to find Princess Sophia's picture in her file. Do you know where it is?"

"Well, there is none, Ms.Ivy." He smiled at Ivy courteously.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Princess Sophia is called a hidden princess. It seems that she has never ventured outside of the castle before, so nobody really knows how she looks like, but the rumors about her beauty seems to be true. We will just have to wait patiently when she comes that day."

"Hmm..." Ivy began to sulk as her hopes to avoid the cause of her doom has disappeared.

"Why are you so interested in her?"

Then a man suddenly sat down by her side and peeked at the file next to her.

"—Sigh... Your highness, what did I say about maintaining a professional relationship?" She glared at him while she kept the Princess's file away.

"Didn't I say to call me Leon? Besides, I'm just here to check on my assistant's progress." He cunningly smiled. "I'm paying 100 gold bars for your services. After all, I have to make sure that I'm getting all my worth from it."

Ivy's head is slowly popping up a nerve as she has been getting annoyed with the Prince's constant reminder on the 100 gold bars.

"But we are working right now, Your highness. It's not appropriate to mix private matters while we work."

"Well then, as your employer, I order you to call me Leon."

Ivy could hear a second nerve popping from her head, and just when her tendency to stay calm is at the brink of no return, the afternoon bell rang.

"ah, It's time." Ivy immediately took out a bag from her drawer and ran towards the door. Before she exits, she yelled at the Prince, "Leon! I remind you again, no matter what, you must not follow me during lunch hour, ok! I'll see you later, Sir Jacob."

After that, she immediately closes the door behind her and runs away.

"Where does Ms. Ivy go to every day at lunch hour with that bag?" Sir Jacob asks the Prince.

The Prince just let out a small laugh " I have a rough idea, as usual, she never changes."

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