It was almost as if everyone in the room was holding their breath.
And for some odd reason, her answer shocked them.
Then, the Duke laughed out loud. Her father blinked.
Even Friedrich seemed shocked despite his previous overconfidence.
The magnificent Everetta Whitmore finally accepted a man's proposal.
She was shocked by her own audacity as well.
"Thank… you." Friedrich stuttered.
She nodded quietly, not trusting her own voice.
"This calls for a celebration!" The Duke said, surprising her by rising agilely from his chair.
Her father moved as well, calling out to the servants to organize a meal.
Her mother stood as well, assisting the Duke out of the room like old time friends.
A banquet, rather than a dinner was served.
Her father had a satisfied smile all through the meal, even though he barely uttered a word.
Theodore never spoke, only glancing at his father from time to time, ensuring that he wasn't facing any difficulty.
She didn't speak either, except when her mother spoke directly to her, or when Friedrich asked her a question.
Her appetite was nonexistent as well. Her stomach felt hollow, as if a heavy weight has sunk a hole through it.
She was marrying his brother.
Not him.
After the meal, her mother and the Duke urged Friedrich and herself to take a walk in the gardens.
Being alone with the bachelor of the season didn't give her any thrill, it didn't make her heart stutter, it didn't make her blood rush.
Friedrich waited at the door of the hall, holding a coat he had collected from a nearby servant out for her.
She smiled as she slipped her hands into the coat.
The sun cast a reddish-orange glow over the horizon as it prepared to journey back to whereever it came from.
The evening was beautiful - and she of all people loved to look at the sky.
"You've been very quiet." Friedrich said, his deep voice rolling over her.
His eyes, now dark, watched her with a piercing intensity.
"My thoughts have kept me occupied."
The doors closed behind them and they left the porch lit with fire sconces to begin their walk down the wind-kissed path.
"Would I be so forward if I ask you to share them with me?"
Everetta spared him a sideways glance.
"You would rather not know."
He let out an exaggerated sigh.
"I've heard you never attended a single season. The Capital has never seen the likes of your beauty, I consider it selfish to hide away here in Valemont."
Eve smiled, her first genuine smile of the evening.
"You flatter me too much, Lord Von Virchow."
"Please call me Friedrich. May I call you Everetta?"
She nodded once.
"Yes… Friedrich."
"Why don't attend the season?"
She humphed, her shoulders squaring defensively.
"I have no interest in being paraded before men like candy before a child with a sweet tooth."
He chuckled softly. She felt him vibrate beside her.
"Is it because of my brother?"
She stilled, forgetting how to breathe for a second.
"I haven't seen him since he came back from the army."
He stopped walking, forcing her to stop as well.
The last thing she wanted to do was to stop moving - moving helped her orient her darting thoughts.
"You would rather have my brother?" The disbelief in his voice was obvious.
Eve said nothing.
What could she say?
An uncomfortable silence settled over them as they rounded the garden and returned back to the house.
He escorted her down to the stairway that led to her room.
"Everetta?" His voice was low, almost a hushed whisper.
She paused, her hand on the railing.
His eyes darted around before finally meeting hers.
"I enjoyed your company."
She almost laughed because she knew he meant anything but that. Yet she nodded all the same.
"So did I."
"I would like to invite you to the ball my father will be hosting to open the season-"
"I won't…"
"It's just one event," he cut her off, "It won't do you any harm to attend."
She nodded slowly, realising that he wasn't going to let the matter slide.
Colour bloomed faintly in his cheeks as he took a step forward, closing the distance between them.
Even when she stood two steps above him, he was still taller than her.
"May I?"
Then he leaned forward and placed his lips on hers.
A startled gasp escaped her, her hand rising to his chest.
"Friedrich?" Another masculine voice called out.
Both of them froze and turned towards the direction the voice came from.
Theodore stood there, still impeccably dressed, except for his loosened cravat.
His expression was passive, betraying nothing.
Eve felt her heart drop as she watched him wait for his brother as if she wasn't being kissed.
Beside him, the candles fluttered, the ancestral portraits of the Whitmore family scowled down in disdain as if the painter had prompted a special kind of enmity from each of them.
Friedrich stepped away, smoothing the lapel of his coat.
Eve curled her hands into fists, grateful that they were hidden in the folds of her dress.
Without another word, she went up the stairway and into her room.
"It was a disaster." She whispered to Candace who sat across from her, measuring the weight of different pearl necklaces.
"Which one do you think fits me best? This one?" She held up a polished pearl necklace with a gold chain, "Or this?" The second was a two-layered pearl accessory.
Eve's eyes widened in disbelief, then hurt as she watched her friend busy herself studying necklace samples.
"Are you even listening to me?" She glanced out the window beside her in an attempt to hide the scowl on her face.
But Candace had caught it.
"Yes, love. I heard all you said… and it bored me to a bitter and uneventful death." She placed a sample on her neck and glanced at the looking glass. "However, one interesting thing did catch my attention."
Everetta rolled her eyes. "And what thing was that?"
"Him. Theodore. Your Theo."
"He's not 'my' Theo. He looks at me as if I'm not different from a piece of furniture in an overstuffed room."
Candace laughed. "You expect a lot from a man who can feel no affections towards women."
Eve climbed down from her perch on the window and sat on the bed beside her friend.
Candace was visiting for a day, more or less a passing visit. And her destination was the ball being held at the Virchow mansion, but of course, she would arrive there days before the event. Mainly because her family was very close to the Von Virchows.
"I just expected a little eye contact. Even if he lost his… you know… he didn't lose his eyes. I've never met a man so unaffected by my beauty."
Candace rolled her eyes playfully. "You conceited idiot."
Eve giggled softly. "And it makes me want to find out what he's hiding behind that calm face of his."
"What if that's just the way he is? What if there's nothing hidden beneath the surface? The man is as hollow as he looks from all the whispers I've heard about him in court. He doesn't take whores, doesn't drink strong drinks, doesn't stay long in feasts, always uses private bathing chambers… and practically lives in the study." She let out a long breath. "If you ask me… I feel like the loss of his masculinity has left him hollow. He wasn't always so… detached before. He's withdrawing from the world because he doesn't feel like he belongs in it anymore.
And you, most beautiful lady, do not belong in his world either."
Everetta blinked.
"I don't agree with you."
Candace finally set the necklace samples down and settled properly on the bed with a soft creak.
Eve stared at her wheat-haired friend as she waited for a challenge, a dare, anything.
"You can find out…" Candace's eyes twinkled, a slow grin curving her lips.
"How?" She took the bait.
"Come with me. Come with me to the season. I'll be staying at their residence the whole time."
"But I'm not welcome-"
"You're Friedrich's betrothed, are you not?"
"Which is why this is a bad idea - you know how I feel about Theo."
Candace leaned even closer, her eyes brighter than they had been when she had been perusing the pearl necklaces.
"Will you come or not?"