Chapter 390 - Dining With The Royal's...

The trio was already seated, each of them looking at a menu while a waiter was standing by, waiting for them to place their orders. 

"What do you think we should order?" Ashley asked no one in particular while flipping through the pages of the restaurant's menu. 

Sato stopped reading the menu abruptly. He then opened up his menu again, finding the section where the main dishes were listed down. 

"Mrs. Jones, what about this? It states on the menu, that it's one of the restaurant's specialties. It's specially designed for the elite. Do you think we should try it?" He asked quite shyly, the reason he wanted to order it is that he really wanted to try the dish. He was simply embarrassed to mention it because the menu didn't show any prices for the dishes. Who knows how much they cost. 

While the three were busy scanning through the menu, another waiter came by, carrying a bottle of the restaurant's finest wine. 

Tanaga, noticing the waiter, closed his menu, and raised his brow.

"What's the meaning of this? I think there's been a mistake. We hadn't ordered anything yet," Tanaga asked sternly. 

"This is no mistake, sir. This wine is a gift, a form of apology for what happened outside. This was purchased as an apology gift," the waiter explained as he poured a generous amount of wine into Tanaga's wine glass. 

The three were confused. The last thing they had expected the two people to do was to apologize. What more buy a gift.

"This must've been from the man and woman I bumped into the outside. Look, they're right there," Sato said, as a matter-of-factly, pointing.

Ashley asked in disbelief and shock, "Really?" 

She turned around to see if Sato was right, and he was. Prince Alexander went strolling inside the restaurant, Lady Anyella right behind him with a scowl on her usually pretty face.

He stopped, now facing Tanaga.

"Hello, I haven't believed I've introduced myself. I'm Alexander, the Crown Prince of Stonasia, and I sincerely apologize for what had happened outside," he said as he extended his hand toward Tanaga for a handshake.

Tanaga got up and shook his hands.

"I'm CEO Tanaga Jones of the THJ Group from Japan. Your apology is more than accepted, your highness," he said as then turned to Ashley, ready to introduce her. 

"This is my wife, Ashley Jones, the President of the THJ Group and this is her assistant, Sato."

Ashley and Sato got up at the same time to shake prince Alexander's hands.

"Nice to meet you, your highness," Ashley greeted politely.

Sato on the other hand was trying to calm himself down, not wanting the prince to know that he was gay. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness," he said as he shook Alexander's hands.

Prince Alexander smiled before patting him on the back. 

There was no doubt Sato was interested in him. Prince Alexander was one fine specimen, and ladies swooned over him and desired to be with him. And Sato was no exception. 

After Prince Alexander finished with the introductions, he wasn't sure how he would suddenly ask about who trained Tanaga's bodyguard. As of now, he needed to find an excuse to stick around. 

"It seems you haven't placed your order yet. My family has a private room here. As an apology, and you don't mind dining with us, I'd love to invite you to lunch so we could get acquainted with each other. What do you say?" He said, doing his best to smile kindly. 

Tanaga looked at his wife to know what she thought of this. He knew that the Prince was up to something, but as long as it was anything but his wife, he had no issue joining him for dinner. When Ashley nodded at him, Sato's grin broadened so much that his eyes became mere slits.

"We accept the invitation," Tanaga replied.

Prince Alexander let out a sigh of relief, relieved they had accepted his invitation.

"Great, now come this way," he said before leading the three to his family's private room. 

Lady Antella was silent, not at all caring that she wasn't introduced. Instead, she was interested in Ashley. She liked what she was seeing, and she was more than just interested in that woman. 

She followed Prince Alexander and didn't say a word until they had already reached the private room. 

She made sure that Ashley sat next to her. Once they were seated, she introduced herself.

"Hello! I'm Lady Antella of Spaniard. Nice to meet you!" She said while smiling sweetly, taking in Ashley's beautiful appearance. 

Ashley smiled back. 

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ashley... Ashley from the Philippines," she replied, staring back at Lady Antella. 

Tanaga, seeing the scene unfold, was more than proud of how his wife handled herself. She had seemed calm and composed, and it was great, especially since they were dining with Royalty. 

His thoughts drifted away when Prince Alexander had started a conversation with him, discussing a mix of frivolous matters and business. 

===

The lunch went well, and the two royals that were originally quite snooty and snobby people he had bumped into were much more polite and kind to him, even though he was still considered a mere assistant. 

Tanaga was surprised to find out that Prince Alexander and Lady Antella were barely a.d.u.l.ts. 

They both acted maturely for their age, and if they hadn't told him they were 18 years of age, he would've assumed they were beyond 21 years of age. 

Once they finished their meal, everyone decided to go for a walk on the beach. Sato decided to wander around on his own and promised to meet them once he was done.

He didn't want to be a disturbance, so the best thing he could do was to step out of the way, knowing that they were already kind enough to invite them to lunch. Walking with them would've been such a burden for them. 

While Prince Alexander and Tanaga were busy talking about their security and safety, Ashley and Lady Antella were right behind them. Lady Antella dubbed this as an opportunity she was waiting for so that she could get to know Ashley more.

"Would you mind if I called you Ashley instead of Mrs. Jones?" Asked Lady Antella with a warm smile.

"Not at all, it's my name, after all, I don't mind at all," she replied.

"So, are you here for business or for other matters? How long are you staying in the kingdom exactly? And if you don't mind me asking, what's your age?" She asked, bombarding Ashley with any questions. She wanted to know as much as she could about Ashley.

"I know you're a royal, so don't take it the wrong way, but maybe slow down with the questions. I'll answer all your questions in time. For the first question, I'm here to accompany my husband who's undergoing treatment. But since we have some free time, we decided to go sightseeing," Ashley explained as the two ladies slowed down their walking pace. 

Ashley continued, "For how long we're staying here, I'm unsure about that. We'll be here until my husband's treatment is finished, and he's fully recovered. As for my age, I'm older than you, but other than that, it's best I keep my age a secret." 

Lady Antella's confidence went down the drain, and it turned into an embarrassment. 

"You're absolutely right, we should never divulge our age to others. Keeping people guessing is one of the better ways to present ourselves to society," she said as she curtly nodded while speaking. 

They chatted as they walked along the beachfront, Ashley and Lady Antella had a pretty good time talking to each other about their lives, and by the time they made it back to where Sato was, Lady Antella had invited the couple to the palace for a tour. 

Ashley didn't accept nor decline the invitation. Before she decided, she wanted to get approval and permission from her husband. She told Lady Antella she'd keep in touch with her, before bidding each other goodbye. 

Meanwhile, Prince Alexander was satisfied to obtain the information he needed. It had been an all-around successful meeting. Prince Alexander got his desired information, while Lady Antella got to know Ashley more. She was even able to find out where Ashley was staying and had promised to visit her soon. 

===

After they separated, it was already late in the afternoon, so the three had to head back to Mrs. Garcia's company building to fetch her. It wasn't too far from where they currently were, so it only took them fifteen minutes before they arrived.

Since Mrs. Garcia was not with them this time, they had to enter through the main entrance of the company building to head up and enter Mrs. Garcia's office.

Sato, not yet realizing who Mrs. Garcia was, almost fainted from shock once they entered the building. His eyes bulged out of his sockets, and he quickly tugged on Ashley's sleeve to get her attention...