Chapter 160 - Facade

In the end, Zaos's plan to stay out of sight worked for quite a while. The boys didn't want to talk to him because of the rumors and because of his name. In contrast, the girls didn't want to introduce themselves to someone who was only known as a graduated soldier who killed hundreds of enemies. After all, they didn't know how he was outside the battlefield.

Zaos's plans could have worked for much longer if Drannor and Ameria didn't look around for him a few times until they found him hidden in the corner like a statue holding a plate with food. In any case, they only approached after Drannor greeted all his old friends.

"There you are, for a second, I thought you wouldn't have come," Ameria said.

"Mom forced me to come," Zaos said. "Anyway, you two might want to stop for a little while, or you might steal the spotlight."

"How long have you been here, Zaos?" Drannor asked. "This is a party; you should introduce yourself to everyone and then talk with your old friends."

"Don't wanna," Zaos said.

"Geez, sometimes you are so cold that you look like an old man," Drannor said.

For all he could tell, Zaos was probably an old man. That was why he didn't want to get involved with kids. Regardless, his whole plan was completely destroyed now that those two were nearby, and pretty much everyone was looking at them. Drannor was famous, friendly, and amicable, so it was only natural that he would be popular with the girls. As for Ameria, she was a beautiful princess, and all the boys wanted the chance to talk with her.

"Maybe I should find another corner to hide…" Zaos said.

"Ah, you won't," Ameria said.

"Is that a royal command?" Zaos asked.

"No, but you will see why you can't leave now," Ameria replied.

Drannor eventually got tired of standing still and then left to talk with his old friends. As he talked with them, he was introduced to others. After a while, he would bring some boys to introduce them to Ameria as well… that was probably what she mentioned earlier. Since Drannor was kind of an airhead, he couldn't see when someone would try to appeal too much to the princess. Still, they could only try it for so long while Zaos was nearby, standing like a statue and making them feel uncomfortable with his silence. Once they grew tired of it, they would leave, and then Drannor would look for others to introduce.

"I assume this is a normal occurrence that made you feel troubled many times," Zaos said.

"You have no idea," Ameria said with a frozen smile on her face. "I lost count on how many parties I ruined just by coming. It surprises me that I am still invited."

"I guess that they assume that they don't have any other choice," Zaos said. "After all, you will be the future ruler of this nation. Still, when Drannor wasn't here, who was the one who caused you so much trouble?"

"Usually, the host of the party," Ameria said. "When they noticed that I was receiving too much attention, they decided to ignore me as much as possible. However, that worked for so long since unfortunately, most girls felt more comfortable trying to talk with me than with the host of the party."

"With that kind of experience, why didn't you warn Drannor?" Zaos asked.

"I figured it would put him in a bad spot," Ameria said. "He doesn't know how to say no to his friends. Fortunately, you are here to make them run away after a while."

It was a bit annoying to be used like that, but in the end, Ameria was just trying her best not to cause trouble to others. Although she knew that she was causing some trouble to Zaos, he was mature enough to understand that she wasn't doing it due to bad intentions.

"I would understand if you weren't popular with boys, Zaos," Ameria said. "I mean, you are pretty cold and harsh, but you have those accomplishments that makes most of them jealous, but why aren't the girls even looking at you?"

"Beats me," Zaos said. "Still, I am thankful to the heavens for it."

After a while, the guests stopped coming, and then Alessia finally had the chance to enter and then talk with her friends. Much to her surprise, people weren't paying as much attention to the princess as she had imagined that they would. Thanks to that, she was really cheerful.

Suddenly, some unexpected visitors appeared carrying some instruments, and then they positioned themselves on the opposite side of the entrance. They were the musicians, and things were about to become troublesome… at least from Ameria's perspective.

"Oh, crap… it has begun," Ameria said.

Once the musicians began to play, the kids began to open space in the center of the hall to let those that wanted to have a dance to dance. Since it was a noble's party, things had to go a certain way. First of all, someone had to invite Alessia to dance, and the others should join the dance as they saw fit, but that night, the boys seemed a bit more tense than usual. Thankfully, Drannor was there and invited Alessia before the atmosphere could become even tenser.

"I was about to tell you to go and call her," Ameria said.

"And I was about to tell you that I hurt my feet training this morning," Zaos said.

"That would be a lie…" Ameria frowned.

"Who knows, I might not be one… I just had to break my own leg, I can do that in a few seconds," Zaos shrugged.

"Are you really that embarrassed?" Ameria asked. "You always try to look composed and mature, but I guess that is just a facade."

"Yeah, let's leave it at that," Zaos said.

After a couple of minutes, the first dance ended, and the guests applauded Drannor and Alessia. After that, another kid invited her. Regardless, the atmosphere got weird again since the boys wanted to dance with the princess, but no one had the courage to be the first. In the end, Drannor had to be that man.