Zia simply stood there with her arms folded proudly.

"You can’t just say anything that comes into your mind Zia," Elara muttered while giving her a warning look.

Zia nodded obediently. Then she immediately turned back to Tonio.

Tonio stared at her for a long second before looking back at Elara with disbelief written all over his face. "Frostiebun, where on earth did you find this baby goblin?"

Elara scoffed softly. "She’s my sister."

Tonio narrowed his eyes suspiciously before finally nodding. "I see." He paused, shuddering a little. "But girl you’ve got a little chainsaw for a mouth."

Zia still said nothing. She simply continued staring at him seriously like she was still judging his appearance.

"Really though," Tonio continued as he looked back at Elara, his eyes scanning her dress openly. "You truly went all out tonight."

Not long after, a few photographers approached again asking for more pictures, most of them excited about Elara and Zia wearing matching dresses. They even started asking silly questions about who she is.

"Excuse me," Tonio muttered as he casually snatched a glass of wine from a passing waiter’s tray. He took one look around the hall and sighed deeply. "Why does everyone look like they escaped from a museum?"

Right as he said that, a lady walked past wearing a giant golden outfit with feathers sticking out everywhere behind her like an angry peacock.

Tonio stared at her in horror. "You people in showbiz are crazy."

Zia immediately raised her hand excitedly. "When I become a famous singer, I will dress like a giant dinosaur."

Tonio looked down at her thoughtfully. "Why not a turtle? I think that will be much more lookable."

Zia actually paused to consider it seriously. Then she shook her head in opposition. "No. I want blue hair like blue hair uncle so I can become a mermaid queen." She giggled happily while pointing up at Carris.

A warm smile immediately appeared on Carris’ face and he looked down at her. But the moment he lifted his head to say something to Elara, the smile on his lips suddenly wavered as his eyes had caught sight of someone approaching from the distance.

Elara noticed his expression and turned to look behind her.

A young man dressed in a black suit was walking in their direction. When he reached them, he walked past Elara and stopped a short distance away from Carris.

Elara could already see the change in Carris’ demeanor so she guessed this might be someone he had issues with, though to her, the man did not look like someone capable of causing trouble.

"Carris." The man suddenly spoke up. "Caspian told me you would be here. I just arrived in Aurelia and I was worried he might have given me the wrong information."

Carris remained silent.

Elara guessed they probably wanted to discuss something privately so she reached for Zia’s arm to walk away. But before she could, Carris suddenly cleared his throat.

"Meet my friends," he said gesturing toward them.

Elara paused and looked back.

"This is Elara," Carris introduced, pointing toward her.

The man turned to Elara and nodded politely. But she noticed the faint narrowing of his eyes and the way his gaze lingered on her face for a second too long, as if he felt they might have met somewhere before.

"And this is Ziva," Carris continued before looking down at Zia.

"I’m Zia pretty uncle," Zia suddenly declared with a giggle while Elara quickly pinched her gently from behind.

"And..." Carris muttered as his gaze moved toward Tonio. Then suddenly, he reached out and grabbed him, hooking an arm around his shoulders. "This is Tonio."

Tonio glared at him like he wanted to protest but he quickly looked back at the man and gave a small nod in greeting.

The man’s lips pursed faintly as he stared at Tonio, but just as quickly, his attention returned to Carris.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Carris casually took the wine glass from Tonio’s hand after releasing his shoulder and downed it in one gulp.

Tonio’s eyes instantly turned cold. "You could at least pretend to ask permission."

Carris did not apologize. Instead, he gave a simple smile.

At Elara’s side, she was already exhausted. The music, the crowd, and most importantly, her dress. It felt like she was suffering for a crime she never committed.

* * * *

After spending the next few hours inside the dim theater, everyone eventually moved into the ballroom for the after-party.

Elara sat quietly on a cushioned chair, her eyes fixed on the couples dancing across the ballroom floor. She kept looking for a chance to wake Ziva who was already sleeping beside her, and finally leave. But every time the opportunity came, she somehow still stayed seated.

Zia had already been taken away by Harris. She had refused to leave at first insisting she wanted to stay longer until Harris sighed tiredly and promised to buy her a doll.

"Elara wait here, I’m coming back okay?" Zia had said confidently before leaving.

Of course... she never came back.

Elara took another sip of wine lowering her eyes to the glass as her thoughts drifted elsewhere. She only stopped when a shadow suddenly fell over her.

Looking up, she found Carris standing there. He had followed that new man away nearly an hour ago.

"Why are you sitting in this corner? Where’s that walking disaster?" he asked.

Elara knew he was talking about Tonio so she shook her head negatively. "He left already. I think he got an urgent call."

Carris raised a brow before stretching his hand toward her. "The waltz is about to switch tempos. Let’s dance."

Even though she was tired, Elara did not want to disappoint him so she placed her hand in his and stood up.

He smoothly led her toward the dance floor and they began moving slowly with the music, his hand resting on her waist.

At some point, Carris smiled down at her and stepped back a bit, preparing to spin her toward the next partner in the rotation line.

But she never made it to the next person before a hand suddenly caught her wrist firmly in midair.

Before Elara could even gasp from the sudden force, she was smoothly pulled out of the line, her front crashing directly against something hard.

Carris stopped instantly, his eyes narrowing as the music continued around them.