Chapter 44 - Center of attention

He did not bother to hide his satisfied smile. All eyes in the hall were aimed at the couple as they walked to a small group. Alexandre seemed to enjoy the discomfort he caused. He walked like a king. The guests scurried aside as he made his way through the crowd. Lily, however, tried to duck her head and wished to be somewhere else. The people around had really strange expressions as they watched the Valois couple. It was part of the etiquette that members of the nobility controlled their emotions. Caresses and affection were exchanged only in private. Lily had not thought that a little kiss would cause so much attention. She felt embarrassed and tried to cool her crimson face with her hand.

"It seems like you're developing this strange habit of bringing an entire hall to halt." A man smirked with a heavy accent. His dark gray frock coat slid slightly upward as he leaned forward and reached for Lily's hand. His thin lips hinted gentlemanlike a kiss on her hand. Golden strands touched her skin, which had come loose from his combed-back hairstyle.

"Count von Calw. But you, your graces, may call me Stephan." Mischief hid in his words. Curiously, he looked at the girl with his amber eyes. The girl was pretty, like a doll. But was that enough to get Alexandre to marry her, Stephan wondered. There were new flowers every year. One prettier than the other. Why would he pick this one?

Alexandre laughed. "Stephan, I didn't know that you're back."

"The german debutantes bored me. They are always so modest. Then I remembered the ladies of Bourgogne."

"This is not an issue for female ears." Phillipe cut him brusquely, who had noticed the curious glint in the eyes of his fiancée. By no means did he want to deepen that kind of subject in conversation.

"My dear friend, you must beware of the young Viscount de Leosquebord." Stephan smiled and gave Alexandre an uninvolved look. Luckily, von Calw was a fickle character, who liked to cause problems and threw some pointy comments around to achieve his goals.

Immediately, Alexandre glanced aside and unconsciously absorbed von Calw's taunts. It had not changed much, Phillipe thought morosely as he remembered his days studying with this childish friends of his.

"Viscount de Leosquebord." Alexandre muttered hostilely, looking at the lewd grin of this man who couldn't get his eyes off Lily. "I think we'll have a word soon!"

Alexandre mumbled voiceless and pulled Lily closer.

"You look really gorgeous. Everyone here admires you." Von Calw gibed and earned a sharp look from Alexanre as Lily blushed.

"Thank you. You look lovely too. "

Stephan laughed loudly at her blunt remark. Women rarely complimented him. It was quite refreshing. However, he was used to softening the female heart with compliments. What amused him even more was her husband's warning looks. Stephan watched Alexandre, his eyes kept wandering to his wife.

"All women are green with envy." Loulou whispered mischievously in Lily's ear. Lily laughed sheepishly and wished she would never encounter one of those dreadful arguments with a jealous woman. She would be glad if she could avoid this standard plot. The very thought of these stereotypical quarrels with other women, because of man disgusted her.

Soon, Monsieur Édouard Hebertin and his wife Clara joined them. The dialogue between the seven people went on trivial. The topics were completely different and hopped from social gossip, to economics, fashion, politics and important social events. Now and then other people from the circle of acquaintances of the Valois siblings joined. The group had grown quite big. Of course, it was everyone's job to make Lily's acquaintance and involve her in conversations.

But after a while, Lily could no longer deny her fatigue. She knew that such events could last until two o'clock in the morning, which is why she decided to hide in the rest room of the de Valois family for a brief moment.

Since this was an official ball organized by the patrons of the Bourgogne upper class, it was quite natural that private rooms were made available to the aristocratic families. Where maids and servants waited with refreshments for the nobles.

Lily tapped lightly on the back of his hand and signaled that she wanted to say something.

He tilted his head. "What?"

Lily brought her head to his ear. "I want to retire for a moment."

"Wait a moment. I accompany you." But then the next one tried to engage Alexandre in a conversation. Lily did not want to interrupt him and after a while she tried to remove his hand from her waist.

Alexandre looked down at her again. "What do you do?"

"I'll be right back."

Alexandre did not want to let her go. Especially not alone.

"I'll accompany you." They wanted to break away from the group. But with Alexandre de Valois as the center, the gentlemen were eager to engage him in a conversation. Even the eloquent Sir Collin knew how to persuade Alexandre to stay. Which made Lily a little impatient. In her third attempt to save herself from the boring conversations, she managed that Alexandre summoned a servant who accompanied her to the rest room.

Nevertheless, she had to promise her husband to hurry back. What she did not intend to do. But she would not tell him that, she thought secretly.