Elara continued staring at Zia.
It would be a lie to say she was not surprised.
Her eyes slowly moved from Zia’s face down to her dress and her lips instantly pursed.
The little girl was wearing a gown strangely similar to hers. Except unlike Elara’s own dress, this one actually had enough fabric to properly cover the back.
Zia imdiately noticed where Elara was looking and proudly raised her chin into the air.
"Scary suit uncle said I look better in black than you do," she declared shalessly. "He said you look like a burnt pancake curtain while I look like a queen."
Elara stared at her silently, completely speechless from the ridiculous nonsense coming out of her mouth. Before she could even process the lie, an exhausted cough suddenly sounded from behind them.
Harris’ figure approached. He was holding a sparkling bracelet in one hand while looking like a man who had already suffered enough for one evening.
He gave a polite bow toward Elara and Ziva first. His eyes briefly paused on Carris face before moving down toward Zia.
"You left this in the car you little gno," he muttered under his breath while stretching the bracelet toward her.
But Zia did not even attempt to collect it. Instead, she folded her arms and lifted her chin again. "A knight should put jewelry on the queen."
Harris’ eyes widened at the request while the corner of his mouth twitched dangerously. After taking a very deep breath, he bent down anyway. He carefully grabbed Zia’s small wrist and tried fastening the bracelet but the jewelry only seed to confuse him more and more. He kept turning it around awkwardly in the air, clearly unable to figure out which side was even supposed to open.
Carris let out a loud snort beside them obviously enjoying Harris’ suffering far too much. Finally, he walked over and crouched beside them. He gently caressed Zia’s cheeks. "What’s her na?" he asked while looking up at Elara.
Elara opened her mouth to answer but before she could say anything, Zia suddenly leaned closer toward Carris instead, her bright eyes locking onto his blue hair.
"Wow," she gasped in amazent. "Is that your real hair? Are you a rman?"
Before Carris could even react, Zia’s tiny hands shot forward and buried themselves straight into his hair before violently shaking it around.
He froze completely in horror as his perfectly styled hair was destroyed within seconds into sothing resembling a ssy bird nest.
"Oh..." Zia muttered thoughtfully while still touching it. "It feels real. I thought it was seaweed."
Harris, who had finally succeeded in fastening the bracelet, slowly stood upright and adjusted his shirt with the expression of a man questioning every decision that led him here tonight.
Then he gently smacked the back of Zia’s head and imdiately walked away before she could retaliate.
"Hmph." Zia puffed her cheeks angrily while glaring at his retreating back. Then she turned back toward Carris sweetly as if nothing had happened. "Anyway, I’m Princess Zia. Elara’s only sister." She said.
Carris still looked a little stunned as he slowly tried smoothing his destroyed hair back into place.
"You look very nice Blue hair uncle," Zia continued kindly. "But Elara already has a man."
Carris blinked in amusent.
"He has a giant car and a big house with so many snacks. And his face is always like this..." She suddenly forced her face into an expression that looked more ridiculous than intimidating. "...which ans Nora and Julie and nobody else will ever steal my lunch money again."
"And if he gets swallowed by a whale one day," Zia added seriously, "then you can co back and collect Elara."
Carris almost choked on air. His face flushed bright red as he stared at the child in disbelief. He finally burst into coughing while Ziva stared at the girl, a scoff escaping her throat.
anwhile, Elara’s eyes remained locked onto Zia, her lips pursed tightly silence.
"Elara you don’t want here?" Zia asked blinking repeatedly, her small face scrunching up like she had just been deeply betrayed.
Elara’s lips pursed imdiately.
Of course she was happy to see her. But the fact that Adrian had actually sent Harris to bring Zia here still felt extrely strange to her.
Why would he even do that?
No matter how much she thought about it, it still made no sense. If Adrian Vale truly calculated every single thing before acting, then what exactly was the aning behind this?
"I’m happy," Elara said softly as she bent down a little to Zia’s height and gently brushed the ssy strands of red hair away from her face. "But what did your mom say when they wanted to bring you here?"
Zia imdiately snorted. "Harris brought a lot of gifts for mom, so Mommy said he could take away forever if he want."
Harris let out an offended cough behind them, looking one second away from yelling that he absolutely did not traffic children.
He quickly opened his mouth to defend himself but before he could say anything, loud noises suddenly erupted from nearby.
Everyone instinctively turned toward the source.
Tonio was currently trapped in the middle of a large group of reporters who had surrounded him alive. Microphones were shoved toward his face while cara flashes nonstop around him. The mont his eyes landed on Elara, he imdiately stretched one arm toward her dramatically.
"You all can see clearly that I ca here to support my Frostiebun," he complained loudly, "not to answer twenty business days worth of questions."
Elara gave a small snort.
"I knew he’d co," Carris muttered quietly, the corner of his lips lifting a little as he watched the footballer struggle through the crowd. It didn’t take long before Tonio finally squeezed himself free from the reporters and hurried toward them.
"Frostiebun!" he exclaid while breathing heavily. "Please tell I’m not late."
He was dressed in a perfectly fitted white suit while his wavy hair was styled so neatly that not even a single strand looked out of place. The mont he reached them, he cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders.
"Now," he announced proudly. "How do I look?"
"You look like a rich marshmallow."
Tonio’s smile froze instantly. Slowly, he looked around like he was searching for the person responsible...
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