IT was a man with brown hair that seemed to want to get out of its styling. His hair was obviously too thick and wild that even his haphazard styling couldn’t keep it. He had thick eyebrows and a chiseled face. He was also tall and burly. It reminded Emmy of a big bear. A handsome bear, to be exact.

She caught himself. Wait- what handsome?

Because of that, she also noticed they’re compromising position. Their bodies were close to each other. The man was even still holding both her shoulders. She struggled and got out of the man’s hold. Good thing they were in a dark corner. She wouldn’t know what to do if other people saw that scene just now.

Stepping back, she just noticed that the big man was wearing a crisp black military uniform of the Empire. An imperial soldier? She subconsciously glanced at the epaulet on his shoulder and saw that he had the rank of a major. Not too high but also not too low. 

If this man was a military major, then him being present in this party was not that weird. After all, the Lancasters had a huge influence on the military. The second son of the old patriarch was already a general in the army. If this guy was invited here, then he must be under the army handled by that general.

She calmed herself and plan to give the man a perfunctory smile. But when her gaze landed on the other’s face, she noticed that he was staring at her quite intensely. Those teal gray eyes seemed to want to swallow her whole. But surprisingly, she couldn’t feel any malice from that gaze. There was another type of emotion hidden in that gaze. Something that Emmy couldn’t name. But for some reason, it made her heat beat like crazy. She could even feel her whole face heating up. So, she could only turn her gaze away.

Which greatly annoyed her. Because she had no idea why the heck was she having this kind of reaction. So, she forced herself to calm down once again. She even chased those weird thoughts out of her mind.

“This gentleman, thank you for breaking my fall,” she said, doing her best to act like a noble lady who couldn’t be faze by anything.

“You’re welcome,” the man said, simple and curt.

His voice was deep – a very nice baritone. When she heard him speak, there was no strong emotion in his voice. So unlike what she saw in his gaze. That’s why she couldn’t help but looked back at his face once again. 

To her surprise, the intense look he had given her earlier was no longer there. Instead, his face was full of seriousness – like some kind of immovable rock. Because of his built, this kind of overly stern expression just made him looked scary. 

But Emmy didn’t feel scared. She just felt confused. Was what she saw earlier just a figment of her imagination? When she thought that that was the case, she felt relieved. But at the same time, there’s a small part in her heart that felt disappointed. 

She caught herself again. Why would she feel disappointed just because of that?

So, she chose to just quickly say her goodbye before another weird thought entered her mind. She nodded to the man. Then she turned around and was about to leave. But before she could, the man suddenly called out to her.

“My lady, can I ask your name?”

Emmy was startled by that sudden request. But she still found herself answering, “Emmaline Grimaldi.”

There was a slight tremor in those teal gray eyes after he heard her name. Probably because he didn’t expect her to be a Grimaldi. After all, Grimaldis were known for their silver hair. But she had ice-blue hair – something that she inherited from her mother. A feature of her that she truly liked. 

Emmy didn’t wait for the man to speak again and quickly made her exit. Her thought of being alone on a balcony completely vanished. It’s probably better to just stay where there’s a lot of people. That Cecil would definitely not dare to do anything with that many people around. Also, she would surely not encounter another incident like with that man earlier.

With that decision, she was about to walk again towards the dance floor when a tall man suddenly got in her way. Emmy visibly frowned. She raised her head and was about to chastise the other person when she saw that it was someone she knew. 

“Brother,” she said in surprised.

In front of her was Thomas Grimaldi – or Tommy as she and Casey referred to him. His silver hair was cleanly swept back. His sapphire blue eyes were as cold as ice. He was wearing a black suit that was ironed perfectly. In fact, no part of him was out of place. She knew that it was because of him being a bit of a perfectionist. He couldn’t handle it when things were out of his control. So, even the clothes he’s wearing was not allowed to have folds in them.

“When did you arrive?” she asked, excitedly. After all, he hadn’t seen him for 15 days.

“Just now,” Tommy answered. “How was your vacation?”

She was about to answer when the corner of her eye caught the image of that man earlier. She turned subconsciously towards his direction and saw him talking with another man in military uniform.

“It was fine,” she perfunctorily replied to her brother’s question. “Brother, do you know that man, that tall one with brown hair?”

Tommy glanced at the direction she was looking. “I believe that’s Major Gage Thompson.”

Gage? So, that was his name – Emmy thought.

And her gaze once again followed him.