Royal Princess: Doted On By The Mafia King

"It is going to be okay," Valerie promised her. "If you want to go to the Royal University, I will make them realize that they made a mistake by losing such a beautiful and talented girl," Valerie encouraged. She pulled away from the embrace and placed a gentle kiss on Anna's forehead.

Rose subconsciously looked away from the scene and left for the elevator. Standing in the elevator she found herself repeatedly telling herself not to feel sad but it seems with every harmonious scene she gets to witness, she always get reminded of her mother who was brutally taken away from her at a very young age.

Anna noticed Rose's sad expression and felt her heart tighten. She always noticed that Rose seems to be left out in every family gathering. She found herself unable to shake the thought away leaving the couple and went after Rose. She stopped the elevator door from closing. "You don't look too good. Are you okay?" Anna asked watching Rose closely.

"Yeah. The steak was one of its kinds and that fruit cake was the best I have had in a while. I love it and I will have Mara bring some for me later. Will you like to have some too, so I could tell her to bring yours too?" Rose asked easily as she adjusted her expression and gave Anna a small smile.

"You don't look too well," Anna proceeded to state the obvious when she noticed Rose was trying to avoid giving the answer she wanted and she was hesitating to ask the question directly.

"I am fine. Is there something on my face?" Rose asked innocently as she could not help but appreciate her sister's presence since it was the perfect distraction from her sulking mood.

"No," Anna said with an arched eyebrow. She pouted slightly confused if Rose was feigning the innocent or she really meant it. After staring for a while, she shook her head and pressed the close button of the elevator. "I need a nice dress. I want to wear it for a dinner date. Could you help me pick a cloth?"

"Sure. I will do that for you tomorrow. Right now, I have to do some work," Rose easily replied. She had actually started a fashion blog for fun and she wanted to write down an article to upload later.

"Oh, thanks by the way," Anna said before going to her room. She was surprised by Rose's answer. She expected Rose to give her a negative answer. She did not expect Rose to agree easily despite all the trouble making and rude things she has said to Rose for the past few days. She glanced at the closed door of her room as she fell on a sofa and shook her head. She really could not understand Rose.

Rose knew Anna was only testing her and she did not take it seriously also not hesitating to agree because she hoped and wished her little gestures will be recognized by Anna as a sign of her goodwill and prevent her sister from becoming her enemy.

***

"My sister picked it for me," was Anna's replied when her date commented on how gorgeous she looked in the blue gown she wore which stopped an inch above her knees. "She also designed it."

"Oh," was the reply of her date as he tried really had to hold himself back from scolding her angrily for talking about her sister whom he hated and was planning on ending as soon as he can defeat those walls she succeeded in building around herself.

He has been trying for close to a year now to infiltrate the strong walls of Liam's organization but it only led him to lose his best men and lose money along with the mercenaries he hired.

Looking at the dress that showed the talent of its maker, he could help but feel that soon, his patient will run out and he will have no option than to simply warn Anna directly to stay away from Rose or find a way to  take Anna totally away from that family.

As Anna made her way to the private room they were led to, she could not stop herself from smiling. It was not easy for her to admit it but for Rose to choose her cloth out for her like there was nothing wrong going on between them, made her feel glad. It told her that Rose was not angry and will still take her as her sister no matter how she decided to behave.

Just before she stepped into the private room, her eyes fell on someone very familiar dressed in expensive suit and a cold expression on his face as he walked out of a private room with a few young men around his age and she paused, her smile disappeared from her lips.

Anna actually felt the rate of her heart beat increase when her eyes met the brown eyes of the very familiar young man before her. She never knew her heart could beat so fast before because this was the first it beat so fast. She gulped the lumps that began forming in her throat when she noticed how good he looked in the suit. It made him look like the hot handsome bachelor he has now become.

He was not the young boy who let her step on his foot without hesitating. Rather, he now looked like a very strong man with a domineering aura she sure knew will keep any trouble maker away. Seeing him close up now made her realize why he did not answer her call when she tried desperately to call him few days ago.

She was obviously way below his league. They were no longer classmates. From what she heard from Wayne, he had already completed a degree but came to their school for fun. She found it funny but sad that he could actually do such a thing. He must have had a lot of fun lying to her about liking her and left as soon as he got bored.

"Are you okay," A voice asked close to her and she froze visibly before nodding hurriedly. She looked away from Jace and walked into the private room. She scolded her heart over and over again when her date pulled back a seat for her and adjusted it before sitting down opposite her.

She was already with someone who she claims to find peace with but why was her heart beating for someone else so painful since the person did not even bother to consider her existence?

"Hmmm," she said when her date fixed his gaze on her worriedly. She nodded to further assure him that she was alright.

Jace could not hold back the urge he felt to look back at the door he just passed. It was the door Anna just walked in through. He sighed slightly as guilt gripped his heart. He remembered the day Anna called his number over and over again for a while but he ignored all her calls leaving them ringing endlessly until it seems Anna got tired and stopped.

He could still remember how much he wanted to reach out and pick the call but he remembered that he should not be bothered by things like that coupled with the fact that his father informed him of Anna's true identity and how he might be the person to order her death if she ever tries to harm the princess in the future.

Seeing Anna in the slightly revealing dress she wore, though hard, but he admitted to himself that he was unhappy. He really wanted to go back to her and wrap her in his suit jacket and kick the man she was standing with far away from Anna's side.

He could recognize the man as the man as the man that saved Anna. The man became his rival from that moment and he spent a lot of time sulking afterwards but now he does not think he has enough time in his schedule to sulk about the man being with Anna.

He replayed the way Anna's eyes looked when she saw him on his mind. Doing that, he could easily take note of the sadness in her eyes the sign that showed she like him, right?

"Are you okay?" One of the men he came to eat with had to ask when they noticed that Jace's expression was not as good as when they were still eating.

"Yes," Jace replied before entering his car. In the car, he went through his call history and found her contact there with her name and he frowned. He really should not do things like that when the girl was his enemy and she was not interested in him but rather she was interested in the man who was with her.

These were words he chose to use to encourage himself and make the diversion of his thoughts easier.