[color=lightgray][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/Q2XVjNh.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/uKpirjV.png[/img][/center]

[color=F0E399][b]Location:[/b][/color] Ballroom
[color=F0E399][b]Time:[/b][/color] Evening
[color=F0E399][b]Interaction:[/b][/color] Fareed [@Redking0380] 
[color=F0E399][b]Mention:[/b][/color] [@Tae] Ranya [@Remram] Askel
[hr]

Victoria’s fan moved slowly beneath her chin as she studied him, taking just long enough to make it clear she was deciding how merciful to be. She did not answer at once, and instead, her gaze drifted across the ballroom toward Ranya and Askel, then back to Fareed with an expression balanced between concern and disdain.

[color=F0E399]“I would not have approached you if it were merely idle chatter,”[/color] she said, her voice low enough to suggest discretion, though not so low that a curious listener nearby could not strain to hear. 

[color=F0E399]“A young woman being foolish over a handsome prince is hardly rare enough to interrupt my evening. But your sister is not some baron’s daughter... Your sister has become the subject of nearly every interesting conversation in this ballroom.”[/color]

She sighed as though the entire affair had become terribly exhausting.
[color=F0E399]“It began innocently enough. At first, everyone thought it was rather sweet.”[/color]

[color=F0E399]“Now they are no longer calling it sweet. The court has decided your sister is hopelessly infatuated. They say she follows him with all the restraint of a girl who has mistaken her first taste of affection for destiny. They have begun calling her [i]desperate[/i].”[/color]

[color=F0E399]“Some insist they watched her cling to him openly in the tavern, paying no mind whatsoever to who might be watching. Others swear she has sought him out in private often enough that it cannot possibly be innocent anymore.”[/color] She shook her head and her voice grew quieter.

[color=F0E399]“And now…”[/color]

She hesitated just long enough to suggest reluctance. [color=F0E399]“…now there are those who claim the affair has already become physical.”[/color]

Victoria looked almost offended by the thought. [color=F0E399]“Whether it is true hardly matters anymore. Half the ballroom already speaks as though it were.”[/color]

Her eyes narrowed toward Askel. [color=F0E399]“Some pity your sister. That Prince Askel has recognized exactly the sort of young woman she is.”[/color]

She then folded her fan. [color=F0E399]“They say he knows precisely which words to whisper, precisely how much attention to give her, and precisely how long to disappear before she comes searching for him again...The less charitable have gone considerably further. They are asking whether she has already surrendered more than her heart. Some are wondering if Prince Askel has been boasting to his companions about how very little persuasion was required.”[/color]

[color=F0E399]“I do not know whether any of it is true... But I know this much: the court believes your sister has become so enamored with that young man that she no longer possesses the judgment expected of a princess.”[/color]

She held Fareed's gaze with sympathy. [color=F0E399]“If I were her brother, I would be less concerned with proving the rumors false than with ensuring that my sister was safe from such vile manipulations.”[/color]
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