Sold to a Prince!

After hearing Melissa's loud comments, other people as well started whispering and murmuring amongst themselves.

"Oh my. How could this be?" 

"This princess is trying to get too much attention. Isn't this her party to begin with?"

"How shameless. I heard that she is a bastard child."

"Yes. Yes. I heard that too. Her mother somehow tricked the King and seduced him, so she was executed."

"Our King is so kind.. If it was my father he would have executed both the mother and the child for such a cheap ploy."

Sylvia narrowed her eyes and stopped walking away. If this woman had a problem with her, she wanted to know what it was. 

She could clearly hear other people talking about her as they were not even bothering to lower their voices.

And she already had an inkling as to why they were behaving so brazenly.

Had the news spread so fast?

"Hmm? Golden dress? I did not know that there was a dress code for the royal family." She coldly shot back, a hint of mockery in her tone that was hard to miss.

"Besides, his majesty sent me this dress to wear."

Melissa became even angrier after hearing the blunt disrespect in the way she talked about the royal family.

"What? Are you spewing nonsense because father is no longer around?"

"How could you not know? Is Mrs. Gruger not coming in every day to tutor you? Or is your brain that small that you need a year to grasp even basic common sense?"

"You neither have our bloodline nor have a brain. I wonder how is it that you are my sister?"

Sylvia chuckled coldly. "Princess Melissa. I have no reason to lie. And it's entirely up to you whether you want to believe my words or not."

"But I am not particularly in a mood to stand here and argue with you." 

"I think you are the one who is humiliating yourself and the family by standing here and creating a scene."

The princess glared back at Sylvia but she couldn't say anything because that would make her seem very petty.

In the end, she silently fumed and turned around to leave. The other sister, Kel, looked more nervous and troubled rather than angry.

She batted her long eyelashes at Sylvia apologetically, looking like a deer caught in trouble, and then quickly ran after Melissa, following her out of the room.

Sylvia sighed and she as well turned to leave as she was now only surrounded by random people who were hovering near her, glancing at her often but no one walked over to her to start a conversation or even to exchange greetings.

Even the tall and dark man she had been talking to earlier was nowhere to be seen.

Sylvia shook her head tiredly. If they did not want to accept her in the first place, then why go through all this trouble and purposefully humiliate her.

She neither planned on staying here nor planned on becoming a part of their family. If only they could have asked her beforehand, then all of this could have been avoided.

Sylvia didn't feel like staying in the grand hall any longer. 

She could already hear people whispering things behind her back and it looked like most of them knew about her white mana affinity. They had labeled her weak and useless.

Sylvia smiled bitterly and since this time no one was particularly blocking her path, she strolled out of the hall without turning back.

She walked along the long empty corridors and quickly snuck out to the gardens when she heard some voices in the distance.

There was a path through the garden as well that she could take to reach her quarters and she decided to do that.

The inside of the palace was too heavy and suffocating for her to even breathe that as soon as she stepped out, she let out a deep breath.

As she strolled through the garden, the cool embrace of the moon comforted her and she felt as if she was full of energy again, even though only seconds ago she had felt completely drained.

It couldn't ease the pain in her heart but it surely eased the tiredness in her body.

Soon she reached the small pond that she loved with the enchanting golden lotuses. She softly sighed and laid next to the pond which was her favorite thing to do in this palace.

She looked up at the sky, gazing at the bright crescent moon and the numerous stars scattered across.

Why did it feel like they were all gazing at her back? Sylvia couldn't help but chuckle at the weird silly notion.

As she blankly continued looking at the distance… all the confusing thoughts flitted across her mind.

The father who didn't want her… the kind grand father… the invitation to stay at the palace… her dress… this party… her new ability to shift into a beast… her abysmal mana affinity and the very fact that she was a princess!!!

Everything seemed so surreal. 

She felt like a stranger in her own life.

And to make things worse… the one person whom she truly cared for was no longer with her.

He had taken her heart, crushed it into a million pieces, and thrown back at her.

Sylvia smiled, a single tear drop managing to escape her mesmerizing eyes.

"You seem to like this place a lot."

A familiar face with a strong jawline, deep blue eyes, and dancing wild silver locks came into her view.

Sylvia blinked, snapping out of her trance and she slowly sat up.

"Not a fan of the party?" Roman asked, raising a brow.

She shook her head and was about to stand up when the man flopped onto the grassy lawn next to her.

He passed something to her that looked like a bundle of cloth napkins, placing it on her lap.

"This is indeed a good spot to spend a quite evening." He gazed at the lotus flowers and muttered.