"Misses maid, there are so many people wearing orange dresses here… Phoebe's gladd she was able to dodge them all, and not touch any of them."
"I only counted three, I believe…"
"It were four, actually. You're lucky Phoebe's here with you."
"Thank you for looking after me."
"You're welcome! You're way further up than Phoebe, cause you're so tall! Tell Phoebe what you see!"
"Well, let's see, there is… Uhm…"
As Petrisha looked across the room, she spotted Yamato and Yuki, though they were quite hidden behind a big vase with a plant near a wall, standing extremely close to each other. Unfortunately, that was where Phoebe was currently headed.
"Ah, misses Phoebe, I think I see some children over there, on the other side of the room!"
"Really? Hurry and lead the way then! But don't hurry too much… Or at all. Because mommy said Phoebe can't be carried here, so she has to be conservative with her strength."
"Very wise choice, miss Phoebe. You're very smart."
"Mhm~! She's doing her best~!"
Meanwhile, how Yamato and Yuki ended up in that situation this time was quite different from how they usually ended up in situations like that.
"Boo, these crackers are just so cute! I'm gonna take some for our drive back and then feed you, since you don't want any now, a—!"
He suddenly hugged her very tightly, pressing her chest against his her head into his shoulder, one arm possessively around her waist as he moved them behind a large enough vase to make it hard for anyone to spot them if they were not looking really carefully.
"You're very beautiful today…"
"H-huh…?"
"I haven't complimented you yet, even though it was obvious, you deserve to have it put into words. You're beautiful."
"Tha…"
Her voice went silent, before she could even speak her sentence, which she did not even know what it would have been. Seeing as her words failed her, she began kissing him. Playing with the idea of casting an invisibility spell and going further, but the thought of being caught exciting her. She did however cast a small anti-detection spell thatmade it a bit harder to notice them. As she wondered what prompted him do initiate this, she could not help but have the thought that he was jealous from earlier cross her mind. But she had no proof of that, nor any reason to inspect this further.
Phoebe on the other hand could not stop inspecting, being sent into a specific direction giving her hope that she would find what she was looking for. And sure enough, as if Petrisha had actually seen someone, there they were. Four boys and a girl, the girl and one boy seeming to argue with the other three. Though all were well dressed, three stood out from the rest. The girl, who Phoebe thought stood out because she was a girl. The other two were the boys arguing with each other. Their hair seemed to shine more, their clothes had more color, their posture was less that of lower aristocratic family but more one fitting a prince. The moment Phoebe saw them, she went behind Petrisha.
"Misses maid, what does Phoebe do now?"
"Well, what do you want to do?"
"Phoebe wants to talk to them! But they seem to be fighting about something… So Phoebe doesn't know…"
"You could just approach them and introduce yourself. I will be right over here if something happens."
"Okay, Phoebe will try… But if it doesn't work, you have to pull her out and use your secret forget spell so they don't remember her and she can try again!"
"Sure… Good luck, lady Phoebe."
"I don't have that kind of magic either… But telling her that might stop her from going… So I guess I will keep it a secret."
As Phoebe walked over to them, she was full of confidence, thinking she had unlimited attempts and Petrisha would reset their conversation every time. The group stop talking and looked at Phoebe.
"…Phoebe's name is Phoebe!"
Petrisha face palmed, considering pulling her out immediately and scolding herself for not thinking how Phoebe would go about it. But if she pulled her out now, it would be even weirder the next time. So she had to let Phoebe try for as long as possible, to leave her as many opportunities as possible. Meanwhile Phoebe was reassured by Petrisha's lack of pulling her out, which to her meant she was doing great and in no need of a reset.
"Uhm… What?"
"Her name! Phoebe is introducing herself!"
"Why do you talk like that… And why did you just come over here?"
"Leave her alone, James. Can't you see she's obviously lost?"
"Lost? But Phoebe isn't—"
"—And besides, don't change the subject. How dare you insult my name like that?"
"How dare I? I have every right to, Henry."
"Uhm… Hello? Phoebe's… She's… also here…"
As the two began to get louder, the girl stepped in and pulled them apart. Her purple eyes and hair, alongside her turquoise dress catching Phoebe's attention right away.
"You are both incredibly rude! She introduced herself obviously to talk to us, and neither of you responded with your names. Is that any way to behave at an event like this?"
"Well we were just—"
"—I don't want to hear it! Now, Phoebe was it, yes? My name is Violetta. Violetta Capetapart. Now you two, with an apology as well!"
"…I'm terribly sorry for my rudeness, I behaved unfitting of a prince… My name is Henry Capetapart."
"Why do I have to apologize, I have no reason to. But I suppose I will introduce myself… My name is James Bronelli. And that guy is not a prince yet!"
"We will see about that, James!"
"…"
Phoebe just stared at Henry, but she was actually just trying to remember something and did not look at anything in particular, but Henry noticed and got flustered. She thought she remembered one of the last names they mentioned, but she forgot which one and where she knew it from. So she figured it was not that important and moved on.
"Phoebe is very pleased to make your acquaintance! She noticed Violetta and Henry share a last name, so she will deduce that the two of you are related!"
She was extremely proud of coming to that conclusion.
"Why, yes, I am his younger sister, and am eight years old."
"Pheobe is also eight years old!"
"Really? So we are the same age then, how wonderful! I noticed my dress matches your hair color, it is so pretty. My favorite color, actually!"
"Phoebe likes your dress too! She doesn't get what the other guys were fighting about, but she likes you!"
Bothered by being ignored, and left out of the conversation, James interrupted them, giving Phoebe a skeptical look as well as a challenging one to Violetta.
"You said your name is Phoebe, but I don't believe you mentioned your last name. Who even are your parents?"
"Phoebe doesn't like the way you asked her that. She doesn't even think she likes anything about you. Besides, Phoebe lost sight of her parents, so if you want to talk to them, you will have to go find them yourself."
"It is common to give the name of the family you belong to while introducing yourself, shouldn't you know that?"
"That's enough.", Henry intervened.
"Why are you so interested in Phoebe anyway? Is there something you could need from her parents, perhaps?", Violetta said teasingly.
"What are you implying?"
"I think you know what I mean, dear James. But would you prefer if I spell it out for you, mhm?"
"Phoebe doesn't understand what is going on, but if you want to talk to her parents, they are over there!"
Phoebe pointed at Yamato and Yuki, who she just spotted amidst the crowd talking to each other.
"Who are they…? I've never seen them before… And don't they look a bit young to be your parents?"
"Phoebe, your morher is gorgeous! I love her hair!"
"Thank you, Violetta!"
"Don't ignore me, my concerns are justified!"
"What's your problem? There is really nothing for you to concern about. Besides, she does not owe you an explanation for anything."
"Yes there is! Okay, Phoebe, just answer me this… Where do you come from?"
While Violetta and James argued, Phoebe found the crackers in form of hats and rabbits, eating them to hearts content. Only starting to listen again after her name fell.
"Mhm? What do you mean?"
"The place where you live, what is it called?"
"Uhm… It's…"
Seeing that Pheobe was troubled by the question, Petrisha stepped in, standing right next to them without drawing attention for that exact purpose.
"Lady Pheobe is princess and representative of the Absolute Empire, attending this event with her father, holy emperor Yamato Tasumaki and mother divine head of church Yuki Hikari."
"Yes, what misses maid said!"
James confidence was visibly lower after Petrisha's professional appearance. The terms she uses clearly intimidating him.
"T-that Absolute Empire? The one because of which this event is even held in the first place?"
"If you know of other countries or organizations calling themselves the Absolute Empire, please let us know and it will be dealt with to avoid further confusion in the future."
"That's right! Phoebe is the only princess!"
"The Absolute Princess, Lady Phoebe."
"The Absolute Princess!"
Violetta took Phoebe's hand, grabbing it towards her chest.
"You most certainly are the cutest princess! Come, I want to meet your parents as well. Let's leave the boys be and do our own thing!"
"Violetta, do you like trains?"
"I'm… Not sure what that is but I'm looking forward to learning more about it."
As the boys were left behind, Petrisha followed the girls running to Yamato and Yuki, who already noticed them. Though Phoebe's running came to a quick stop stop, resulting in them starting to walk regularly halfway there.
"Hello, it's very nice to meet you, your majesties, my name is Violetta Capetapart, and I find myself really enjoying chatting with your daughter."
"Aw, look at you, Phoebe, already making friends, good girl!"
"Phoebe wants to teach her about trains!"
"Aw, yeah no, you can't do that sadly. But you can have some of these crackers!"
"Why can't Phoebe do that? And can she have the rabbit ones, she likes those more than the hats!"
"There you go! It's because they are a super secret secret. So you can't describe the concept to anyone!"
"Ah. Phoebe understands. Violetta, you can't know about trains!"
"Yes, I've heard it. That's okay. We can talk about whatever you can talk about instead. Just be sure you are really allowed to talk about…"
"Phoebe will tell you about these crackers, and why the rabbits are better than the hats!"