Chapter 66: the first call

Chapter 66: Chapter 66: the first call

"...Hello?"

For one suspended moment...

Everything inside Vivienne came to a complete stop.

It really was him.

Anthony Ashford.

Not across a lecture hall.

Not during a Foundation meeting.

Not surrounded by professors, committee members, or classmates.

Just...

Him.

And her.

Her fingers tightened around the phone.

She had imagined this moment countless times.

Now that it had finally arrived...

She couldn’t remember a single thing she had planned to say.

"...Lady Beaumont?"

His voice remained calm.

Gentle.

"Can you hear me?"

Vivienne blinked.

"...Y-yes!"

The answer escaped a little louder than she intended.

She immediately covered her mouth.

"Oh..."

"...I’m sorry."

Across the room, Claire buried her face in a pillow to keep herself from laughing.

Anthony, however, sounded entirely unbothered.

"Good evening."

Vivienne swallowed.

"...G-good evening."

Silence followed.

Not an uncomfortable silence.

Simply one occupied by two people trying to find the proper beginning.

Anthony waited patiently.

Vivienne, meanwhile, was internally pleading with herself.

Say something.

Anything.

You spent the entire day thinking about this.

Why can’t you remember a single sentence now?

Claire silently mouthed from across the room,

Talk.

Vivienne nodded.

Still said nothing.

Several more seconds passed.

Anthony finally spoke.

"You wished to speak with me?"

His tone was neither impatient nor hurried.

Merely practical.

The gentle prompt rescued her from her own thoughts.

"...Yes."

She drew a slow breath.

"I..."

"...I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

Her heartbeat quickened again.

"The Founders’ Ball..."

Anthony waited quietly.

"...Have you..."

She hesitated.

"...already made arrangements?"

There was only the briefest pause.

"No."

"I haven’t."

Vivienne’s heart skipped.

There was still a chance.

She gathered every bit of courage she had left.

"...Then..."

Another deep breath.

"...Would you..."

Her voice nearly disappeared.

"...Would you be willing to attend the Founders’ Ball with me?"

Silence.

Vivienne’s heart immediately sank.

Was that too direct?

Did I make things awkward?

Should I have asked differently?

On the other end of the line...

Anthony simply blinked.

"...Lady Beaumont."

His voice carried genuine confusion.

"I assumed we already were."

Vivienne froze.

"...What?"

"We’re engaged."

"I hadn’t thought there was another possibility."

Her eyes widened.

The receiver slipped ever so slightly in her hand before she quickly caught it again.

Anthony continued calmly.

"I should apologize."

"I’ve been meaning to speak with you about the Ball."

"I simply kept postponing the conversation."

His voice remained composed.

Matter-of-fact.

As though he were apologizing for delaying an ordinary discussion.

"...So..."

Vivienne’s voice was barely audible.

"...You’ll attend with me?"

"Of course."

No hesitation.

No uncertainty.

Just two simple words.

Vivienne bit her lip.

She was smiling.

Far too much.

Her cheeks felt warm.

She turned slightly away from Claire, as though somehow embarrassed for anyone to witness the expression slowly spreading across her face.

"...Thank you."

"You’re welcome."

For a brief moment...

Neither of them spoke.

Only this time...

The silence felt lighter.

Anthony spoke again.

"Have you already chosen your gown?"

Vivienne blinked.

"...Not yet."

"I was waiting until..."

She stopped herself.

"...Until we had spoken."

"I see."

"My tailor is preparing my formal attire later this week."

"If you’ve already decided on a color, it would be practical to coordinate them."

Vivienne stared at the phone.

Coordinate...

Their outfits?

She had thought about it.

Far more than she cared to admit.

In fact...

She had been wondering ever since the Founders’ Ball was announced whether they would wear matching colors.

She simply hadn’t expected Anthony to be the one to bring it up first.

For him...

It sounded like nothing more than proper etiquette.

A practical detail that naturally followed once their attendance had been settled.

For her...

It felt strangely intimate.

The corners of her lips lifted before she could stop them.

"...I have been thinking about it."

Her voice came out softer than intended.

"I just wasn’t sure..."

She paused, smiling to herself.

"...whether we would actually be attending together."

"I understand."

Anthony’s answer was as calm and matter-of-fact as ever.

"We still have time."

"When you’ve decided, let me know."

Vivienne nodded instinctively.

Then remembered, with a tiny burst of embarrassment, that he couldn’t see her.

"...Right."

She was smiling again.

Somehow...

She couldn’t seem to stop.

Anthony glanced briefly toward the books still waiting on his desk.

Tomorrow’s readings.

Tomorrow’s meetings.

Tomorrow’s responsibilities.

The matter of the Founders’ Ball, however...

Was finally settled.

"I won’t keep you any longer."

Vivienne had looked at the time as well.

It was already getting late.

She knew how busy he was.

She had taken enough of his evening.

"...Thank you."

There was another tiny pause.

"...For answering my call."

There was a quiet pause on the other end.

"It was no trouble."

The reply came simply.

Without hesitation.

Without embellishment.

Yet somehow...

Those four words were enough to make her smile all over again.

"Good night, Lady Beaumont."

"...Good night, Anthony."

Neither of them ended the call immediately.

For one brief moment...

They simply remained there, listening to the quiet on the other end.

Then...

The line disconnected.

Vivienne slowly lowered the phone.

She stared at the dark screen.

Claire lasted exactly three seconds before throwing a pillow at her.

"...Well?"

Vivienne looked up.

The brightest smile Claire had seen all day slowly spread across her face.

"...He said yes."

Claire squealed.

"I knew he would!"

Vivienne laughed again.

The sound filled the room.

Light.

Unrestrained.

Completely different from the girl who had spent the entire day wondering whether she had already been rejected.

She hugged the pillow against her chest.

Then looked at the phone once more.

The call log.

Anthony Ashford.

She smiled all over again.

Vivienne remained awake for quite some time that night.

Every now and then...

She unlocked her phone.

Read Anthony’s message once more.

Then, almost unconsciously, looked at the call log beneath it.

The smile returned every single time.

Claire eventually laughed.

"If you keep smiling like that, you’re never going to fall asleep."

"...I know."

Vivienne hugged the pillow a little tighter.

She simply couldn’t help it.

Tonight...

She was happier than she had been in a very long time.

In that moment...

Vivienne forgot something.

Or perhaps...

She had simply become too emotionally invested to remember it.

Anthony Ashford had been born into one of the oldest noble families in the kingdom.

From the day he was old enough to understand duty, he had been taught that some promises were never his to question.

They were simply accepted.

His engagement to Lady Vivienne Beaumont was one of them.

To Anthony...

Attending the Founders’ Ball with his fiancée required no discussion of romance.

No confession.

No grand decision.

It was simply the proper thing to do.

The natural course of events.

Nothing more.

Vivienne, however...

Heard something entirely different.

She heard certainty.

She heard reassurance.

She heard the answer she had spent the entire day praying for.

And so...

The two simple words—

"Of course."

—settled into her heart with a warmth Anthony himself would never have imagined.

He believed he had merely confirmed an obligation.

She received it as the first promise from the man she loved.

Neither interpretation was wrong.

They simply belonged to two people who had been taught to understand the same future in two very different ways.