The King himself talking, the crowd’s talking, the announcements, the food and drinks…None of that seemed to faze Cid out of his one-track mind of watching a certain Princess.

  In the space of an hour, he had slowly gone closer to her, often stunned to the ck of life in her eyes.

  She looked so different…

  If only she would lose that lost look on her face, he’d be alright to leave! If only she would smile, ugh at something, anything, he would feel lighter!

  But no…As he slowly got closer and closer to her, his heart grew heavier and heavier.

  He wanted to race up to her and take her away! Demand her to smile!

  His resolve to let her go started to crumble into pieces as he continued to see her this way!How could he let her stay with someone if she wasn’t happy!?

  How could he do nothing right now!?

  But what could he do!?

  Conflicted, Cid could only watch with his longing eyes at the forbidden fruit that was meters away from him…

  Dammit, what do I do!? What will make her happy!?

  Should I…Somehow stop the wedding then? Is that what she wants?

  Clenching his hands into fists, Cid stood firmly, knowing that he wanted to race over there now and talk to her!

  Don’t do anything stupid! He told himself sternly.

  As it was, he was in the presence of his stepfather!

  …Just over at the other side of the ballroom was Leonard!

  Even though Cid was in the special clothes that the Princess had gifted him, making him look like every other gentleman, Cid had to be very careful not to stand out…

  …As much as Cid was thinking of not standing out, there were two people that had indeed looked at Cid with questions in their eyes.

  The giveaway to who he was, even though he was well dressed and now had a short beard on his face, was that Cid was watching the Princess so intently!

  One person narrowed their eyes, smirking to himself upon finally finding his ‘prey’. The other was the opposite, having raised eyebrows and frowning to the obvious problems that could occur from this!

  Steven was acting like he was paying attention to everyone, but he was ready, ready that is to leave and follow that sve and capture him!

  David, on the other hand, saw Steven do this, ready to interrupt anything that Steven might do!

  Without Cid knowing, that he was already found out, David was ready to send someone to get Steven’s attention and to go and get Cid away from this obvious danger!

  It had been a long time since David had seen Cid, to only see him in trouble, and he rushed to whisper to his father that Cid was there.

  Benjamin was so gd to have finally found Cid too, but he too saw the predicament upon what Steven may do.

  They both had to try and immediately get Cid back to safety! As…There was only a certain amount of time before Cid would be seen by Leonard, or told by Steven, and so before that happens, they wanted to get Cid away, especially since they wanted to talk to him and see how he was going!

  What they never thought would happen though…Was that Cid had his own pns and all they could do was try to work in the shadows to protect him!

  It wouldn’t be pns Cid made initially, but that was just how it looked like…As…

  Seeing Steven touch the pretty Princess…And seeing the Princess absently just nod and lower her head in such defeat!

  He couldn’t handle it anymore and slowly got closer, not even knowing what he was pnning to do anymore!

  In just a split second, Cid pulled the Princess around a corner and put his hand over her mouth.

  Ah…Her eyes were showing something different. So, she must still have some fight within her…She must!

  Putting a finger to his lips, showing that he wanted her to be quiet, he saw her nod with her wide eyes staring at him.

  …Did she already know who he was?

  Taking away his hand and pulling her away and into one of the four outer rooms, Cid looked back at her, to still see a shocked, wide-eyed look on her face.

  Would she act like this with just anyone that has taken her away!?

  Suddenly, Cid was a bit angry!

  She really has no idea!

  …She really should take better care of herself!

  Stopping, after going downstairs and hiding in bushes, Cid found her in his embrace before he even knew what he was doing!

  He had…

  What was he doing?

  The Princess was here, he was holding that soft body of hers…

  In his time of being in a daze, he was suddenly kicked on his leg and Cid yelped. “Hey!”

  She had turned around by this time, ready to leave the bush area…But stopped after Cid had spoken…

  Cid swallowed…

  Did he give away who he was? Should it matter if she knew?

  She was always someone that he trusted, she was so sweet…

  “Princess…”

  Reaching out to the Princess, Cid touched her shoulder and stood behind her, noticing that she still wasn’t turning around.

  Silence overcame the area, and Cid didn’t know what to do.

  Had she…Did she really not like him anymore?

  That’s right…She had said that she hadn’t wanted to see him ever again!

  …He’d completely forgotten about that!

  Frowning, Cid removed his hand from her shoulder…

  He didn’t want to leave…But…

  Taking a step back, he watched as the Princess suddenly turned around.

  Cid put a hand up defeatedly and took another step back, “I forgot.”

  That was all he could say…If he spoke more, he was afraid…Afraid of making false promises. Afraid that, even if she might have any type of feeling for him, she would only state that it was too te…

  It was always too te…There had never been once that he could be with her, and he knew that, but why, right now was he still thinking that he wanted that chance!?

  For a few moments, Cid stared at that pretty Princess in front of him. He took in that hair, that nose and ears, those beautiful eyes of hers.

  In turn, the Princess was certain that this man was indeed Cid!

  She had intended to walk away, repeating what she had st said to him but…

  After he had pced his hand on her shoulder, after his words being his, knowing who he was…She couldn’t seem to have put one foot in front of the other!

  Now turned to face him, seeing him different than before, Bethany wondered how his short beard would feel, how nicely dressed he was…How nice it was to be the center of his attention once again.

  She was unable to move, unable to do anything but stare right back at him.

  An unknown time passed by, and Cid finally was able to snap out of his daze. “I’m sorry.”

  With that, Cid turned to leave, swallowing his pride.

  He had forgotten all about what she had said!

  All that had mattered was that she was not happy, and he had forgotten!

  Feelings had resorted him to have acted without thinking!

  But, after a few steps, just about out of the bushes, hands went around him, and he stopped...

  The pretty Princess was...Hugging him...

  Her arms were around him, she was behind him, and he could feel her head lowered on his back.

  It really was ironic...All of it!

  How he adored her...

  Unable to stop himself, he pced his hands over hers, tenderly brushing his fingers against hers.

  "…I didn't mean it!"

  With her clear words coming from behind him, Cid turned around and took her into his arms.

  "I didn't mean it!"

  Hearing a sob from her, Cid held her tighter and felt a happiness surge right to his heart.

  That's right, he probably knew deep down that she hadn't meant it all along!

  Hadn’t he…All this time, just used her absence and words as an excuse!? He had clung onto her words to give him a reason to stay away…

  Did he honestly think that he could have cut ties with her so completely though?

  …He felt like an idiot…

  She has and always will be…The only one for him!

  (A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters, I just think it's beautiful how the two characters come together again.)