The trio sat in silence. Catherine was kicking herself for not paying more attention.
She was well aware of how events were meant to play out in Love and Malice, weariness had gotten the best of her, and details were overlooked.
Similarly to Elise, the prince was indisposed for the first day of school. However, in the spirit of keeping up appearances, he came to the Avalon Academy in person to apologize for his absence.
It was unnecessary. The Academy would've pulled any strings necessary to accommodate the royal family, but the Andsors strived not to abuse their power.
The events of the game played out like this, Isaiah would hear rumors that Catherine had bullied the academy's first commoner student, and being a man of the people he naturally took umbrage with this.
Catherine didn't know what Isiah had heard, but judging by the tone of his voice he still believed that she'd perpetrated the grave act.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Catherine asked with an uninterested tone.
"I think you know the answer to that question."
Isaiah presented himself in a cool and collected manner, but the tone of his voice betrayed him, he was annoyed with her.
Now who's this? He's certainly rude, isn't he? Thought Alice.
She couldn't see who Catherine was talking to. Alice was positioned to the left of the tall noble, directly blocking her view of the man.
She could've stuck her head out to get a better view, but these two clearly knew each other, and it'd be a bit awkward to butt in.
Alice was content to diminish her presence until the mystery man settled his grievance, besides she could always ask about it after the fact.
"I haven't the foggiest idea of what you're going on about," Catherine stated. "Would you be kind enough to explain?"
Isaiah was starting to become angry but also slightly confused. Catherine was behaving strangely.
Under normal circumstances, she'd crumble immediately if he confronted her. But now not only was his fiancee defying him, she was intentionally acting aloof.
"Don't play dumb with me!" Said Isaiah. "I know you bullied the Moore girl this morning, what kind of example does that set for the students?"
Wait, they're talking about me now?
"Excuse me," Alice interjected as she stuck out her head.
The girl meant to say more, but she immediately clammed up upon learning the man's identity.
Catherine was talking to the Crown Prince!? Alice thought in a panic.
What should she do? Should she bow? No wait! Women were supposed to curtsey! But surely doing either at this moment would be extremely awkward.
The prince was also taken aback. It was now clear to him that the situation was far different than his initial impression.
He'd noticed that someone was with Catherine, but he figured it was just some suck-up crony. Not in a million years would he have suspected the Moore girl!
At this point, anyone would've thought the prince a moron if they'd seen what transpired between Catherine Blackwood and Alice Moore, but it wasn't entirely Isaiah's fault.
The prince wasn't present for the encounter himself, and by the time the reports of what happened were finally disseminated to his royal highness, several key details were lost in translation.
The only information Isaiah was privy to, was the fact that his fiancee interacted with the commoner girl in some fashion.
Given Catherine's horrible reputation, he simply assumed that she'd bullied the poor girl. Thankfully the prince wasn't bullheaded enough to stick with that scenario after seeing the two together.
"Alice Moore?" Isaiah asked.
"Ye- yes Your Royal Highness?" Alice responded nervously.
All the color had drained from her face, she was extremely worried about making a wrong move in front of the crown prince. Doing so could spell the end of her life at the academy before it began.
"Has Catherine here-. Well, has she bothered you in any way?" he asked perplexed.
"Oh-, no not all!" Alice perked up a bit. "She's been nothing but kind to me all day."
Alice unconsciously fiddled with her hand while she addressed the prince.
"It's safe to say that my first day would've gone…um, let's say poorly, without her help. I'm-, I'm ever so grateful to her."
Having finished her statement, Alice immediately hid behind Catherine again, hoping to god the prince wouldn't ask any more questions.
"I see," Isaiah shook his head. "It appears I've made a mistake."
He looked towards Catherine.
"I'm sorry, I've assumed the worst of you and I fear I've insulted you without due cause."
He bowed his head in apology. Upon completing it he continued.
"I promise I'll make it up to you."
Catherine waved her hand flippantly.
"No need, I accept your apology," She stated without emotion. "I'm sure you have many 'princely' duties to attend to, so you best be on your way."
"Uhhh, yeah- I suppose I ought to.," Isaiah scratched his head awkwardly. "Well then, goodbye"
As he turned around to leave Catherine got one final dig in.
"Be sure to write." She said slyly.
The crown prince paused for a moment but said nothing. Finally, he left, grimacing to himself as he did so.
Isaiah didn't know what Catherine was playing at, there had to be foul play involved. Still, he wasn't going to start leveling unfounded accusations at his fiance in front of a stranger, especially one who was so enamored with her.
That's the thing, that Moore girl truly seems to like her. Now, how in the world could the Blackwood tyrant pull that off? Thought, Isiah.
He racked his brain to what actions Catherine could've taken to endear the commoner to her, but he was having trouble envisioning anything.
Alice Moore, Isaiah realized that he'd hardly even looked at her; he was too preoccupied with Catherine. He shrugged, maybe it would be easier to get to the bottom of things by talking to her...alone.
***
Back at the bench, Catherine was reaching for a third cigarette, when Alice put a hand on her arm.
"Don't you think you've had enough of those?"
Catherine sighed.
"I suppose you're right," she responded, putting the case away as she did so.
"What was that all about?" Asked Alice, perplexed.
"Just my doting fiancee checking up on me," Catherine replied sarcastically.
Alice's eyes went wide in shock.
"Oh my God, you're engaged to the prince!" She squealed. "That means you're practically a princess!"
The commoner girl had stars in her eyes imagining the possibilities. Alice would be the first to admit that she found noble affairs uninteresting, but the royal family was a whole different ballpark.
Who wouldn't want to be a princess? Just the idea of it sounded like a fairy tale, and now here she was sitting with a future royal member.
Alice suddenly grabbed Catherine's arm, making her jump slightly.
"You have to tell me all about it! First of all, what's his royal highness like?"
Alice giggled as she said "His Royal Highness." Even though it was accurate it still sounded like a joke.
Catherine had been desperately trying to get even a slight puff from the vestiges of her last cigarette which was nothing more than a stub.
Having no luck she removed it from her filter and flicked it away.
"Who knows?" Catherine shrugged.
"What do you mean by that?" Alice asked indignantly. "He's your fiance."
"Doesn't mean I know anything about him. He's gotten quite adept at ignoring me throughout the years."
The fantasy constructed in Alice's head was beginning to fall apart.
"What happened?"
"Hmmm? Oh, nothing really. The marriage was arranged by our families. The prince was a good sport about it, but he's made it crystal clear that he's apathetic to the relationship."
Catherine used the park bench arm to rest her head in her hand bored with the conversation.
"I tried desperately to make him like me, but it didn't work," Catherine yawned. "It's ok, I don't particularly care anymore at this point either, it's best not to force these things."
Considering where Cathierene's game counterpart eventually ended up, not forcing the relationship was about the best course of action one could take.
"That's horrible," Alice said sadly.
Catherine merely shrugged her shoulders.
Alice was crushed. You could tell as much by the disappointed look on her face, the speed at which the fairy tail was dashed away left her with metaphorical whiplash.
Ultimately though she was more upset at the idea that her fast friend wasn't being given the happy ending that had been promised to her.
However, her forlornness soon changed to perplexity.
"Even if you two aren't on the best of terms, jumping to the conclusion that you did something detestable is pretty deplorable in my eyes."
Catherine smiled a bit at the naivety of her companion.
"Well, it's unfortunate but that's my poor reputation at work."
Alice thought back to when Oscar had been read the riot act, but that still didn't justify the prince's actions.
Sure, maybe Catherine went a little overboard but Oscar was extremely rude in the first place, on top of that it was mostly to defend Alice. Was behavior like that enough to make her future husband second-guess his fiancee?
Noble circles sure are scary. Alice thought with a shudder.
"I don't think reputation should matter. He's going to be your partner, even if just for the sake of appearance he should still have your back," Alice went on. "Besides, your reputation can't be that bad…right?"
Catherine smiled devilishly at the girl.
"I guess you'll just have to find out."
"And how will I do that?" Alice retorted.
Catherine's devilish smile turned into a cheeky grin.
"By continuing to spend time with me obviously," She flitted her hand. "Only if you want to of course."
Alice started giggling.
"You're somewhat strange aren't you Miss. Blackwood?" She continued to giggle. "That's ok though, I like that about you."
Catherine's heart was immediately in her throat, she finally had to admit something to herself.
I don't think ignoring these feelings is going to be as easy as I thought.