[color=lightgray][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YGxzxVR.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/28lFG0t.png[/img][/center]
[color=D0B4EC]Time:[/color] Evening 
[color=D0B4EC]Location:[/color] Castle Dining Hall
[color=D0B4EC]Attire:[/color] [url=i.imgur.com/ErZIgzY.jpeg[/url]Dress[/url], [url=i.imgur.com/2SBcciZ.png]Amulet[/url]
[color=D0B4EC]Interaction:[/color] [@JJ Doe] Fritz [@FunnyGuy] Lorenzo [@Tae] Thea [@Helo] Leo
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[color=lightgray][color=D0B4EC]“Actually, Lorenzo, I am beginning to suspect that Alexander Deacon may not be the most good-hearted of gentlemen—”[/color] Charlotte began in a whisper, leaning slightly toward her stepfather with lowered voice. But before she could finish, Lorenzo’s voice cut loudly across the table, calling out to the Grand Hafiz with cheerful abandon.

She nearly jumped in her seat, her gloved fingers tightening around her wine glass. [color=D0B4EC]“…Perhaps we might refrain from shouting across the banquet hall,”[/color] she said delicately, [color=D0B4EC]“We may yet survive the evening without incurring His Majesty’s wrath.”[/color]

Her eyes flitted nervously around the room, surveying the damage, as though she might smooth it over with sheer will. That’s when she caught sight of Count Fritz. Ever kind, he offered her a little wave. Her posture relaxed a touch, and she returned the gesture with a warm, grateful smile.

The herald's voice filled the air once more as it had incessantly ever since they arrived, and this time to announce the Damiens. 

It felt as if her stomach dropped a little, and her breath caught in her throat. She soon found herself eye to eye with Cassius as he sat diagonally across from her. And he certainly wasted no time devoting his gaze to her. She straightened instinctively, her spine taut, but her cheeks betrayed her with a slow, unmistakable flush. Her lips parted in a soft breath. 

[color=D0B4EC]"Good evening Cassius,"[/color]  she said softly, a whisper meant only for him, as if it could protect them both from the watching world. 

But there was something different about the way his gaze bore into her than from the way it had that evening. 

It wasn’t something she could easily explain in words. But at the very least, she knew it was heavier.
If she were forced to name it, to pin it down to a single truth—It felt as though he was trying to memorize her and forget her all at once.

Charlotte blinked, her breath catching again before she willed it steady. She tore her gaze from him, forcing herself to return her attention to her plate—though her appetite had all but vanished. Her blue eyes flicked toward the wine glass, and for a moment, she studied the way the deep red liquid swirled within, as though it might offer some answer.

Her heart betrayed her with a flutter, and she closed her eyes. 

But even in the dark, she could not escape him. His voice clung to her bones, his voice echoing in her ears, his face—the way he had looked at her just the other night as if she were a secret he wanted to keep.

[color=lightsteelblue][i]"Don’t stop dancing with me, Lottie."[/i][/color]

That voice, a whisper etched into her ribs, returned now like a memory unwilling to fade.
Her eyes opened slowly, sorrow pooling in them like ink dropped in water, and her shoulders curled inward, as though the very air around her had grown too heavy to bear. And then, she briefly met Calbert Damien’s cold, unrelenting gaze with her own somber blue eyes.

[i][color=lightsteelblue]“I promise, love… I’m right here.”[/color][/i]

She let her gaze return to Cassius. There was still desire behind those eyes of his—oh yes, the pull between them remained, a flame refusing to die... But now, with their minds sober and the weight of reality pressing in, it was all painfully easier to dismantle the idea of the two of them. What once felt inevitable now unraveled quietly beneath the eyes of watching wolves.

She could no longer afford to be reckless. No longer dance like the world wouldn’t dare interrupt them.

And Charlotte felt deep in her marrow that he knew it too. Whatever they were... Whatever they had [i]almost[/i] become, needed to be buried. 

Because the way Cassius was looking at her… She could finally name it.

[i]It was a goodbye[/i], dressed in the eyes of a man who never wanted to say it.

And Gods, Charlotte, too, was [i]so tired[/i] of saying goodbye.

She suddenly rose from her seat, a small box with a ribbon tied about it in hand. Charlotte quickly made her way around the room until she lingered before a certain birthday girl. With a tender smile, she set the gift down with care near Thea’s plate [color=D0B4EC] "Happy birthday, Thea,"[/color]  she said warmly. She reached out then—one hand resting briefly, affectionately, on Thea’s shoulder, the other offering a light touch to Leo’s arm. [color=D0B4EC] "I hope you are both faring well this evening."[/color] [/color]