"Lady Belle," oh no, thought Belle to herself.
"Mr. Robinson," she greeted wondering how this man had slipped in here. It was probably one of her relatives who had invited him.
"How are you doing? It's been very long since we last met each other. I am so sorry for what happened to your parents. It is a true loss and tragedy."
She had hoped to never run by him again after their last meet but her uncle or aunt had a different opinion of this man. He was pushy, cra.s.s with his words and sometimes he got too close to her breathing s.p.a.ce which didn't sit well with her. This often happened only when he found her alone but today it appeared that his drunk state was ignoring the other guests who were in the room.
She was tired listening to 'How are you doing' and 'Sorry for your loss'. It was like she tried to forget what happened and people would come back to rub the grains of salt on her wound to open it again.
"Yes," she nodded not actually speaking and giving him one word of reply.
Her eyes tried to look for Lucas but the giant man in front of her covered her view and Simon was somewhere behind for her to call and slip out of this place.
"I heard you have been going to dance cla.s.s," how small was the world? asked Belle to herself. It was like everyone knew everyone's business, "How is that going?" he stopped the maid who was walking by and took another gla.s.s of alcohol in his hand.
Her eyes darted at the gla.s.s and then at the man, "It is going well."
"You should let me hire you a guardian who can come here and teach you instead of you going there. Don't you need male partners to dance?" he laughed, "Are you planning to dance alone?"
Belle put up a polite smile not wanting to cause a scene by saying anything, "We are still in the basics. It will be a while until we are asked to get partners."
"That's good. Don't hesitate to ask me. I will happily push aside my busy schedule to make time for you. Let me tell you, I never do that for anyone," said Mr. Robbinson.
She looked in his eyes and said, "You don't have to do that for me. Simon is very much idle, he will freely accompany me."
"Why not me? Why do I feel like you have been avoiding me, hmm?" the man asked and he took a sip from his gla.s.s.
"Didn't you just tell you were busy? It would be rude of me to ask you to push aside your work for me," she offered him a polite smile.
Her aunt Irene who was looking at the exchange quickly made her way towards them and spoke to Mr. Robbinson, "Mr. Robbinson, it was very kind of you to come meet Belle today. How was your trip to Wovile?" so it was her mother's elder sister's doing.
"It was wonderful. I brought some gifts for you and Belle. How about we meet for tea at my mansion tomorrow?"
"Of course, we would love to come there," Aunt Irene answered the man who was looking at her, "Belle can barely wait," her aunt looked at her, widening her eyes to go along.
"I have dance cla.s.s to attend to tomorrow. I am busy. I think aunt Irene wouldn't mind going there without me," she smiled back at her aunt who had tried to set her up.
Mr. Robbinson appeared to be in deep thought and he then asked, "What are you doing today? Let's go to my mansion now."
"What?" Belle hadn't expected it.
"Yes," her aunt answered for her and Belle frowned.
Bell turned to her aunt and whispered, "No. We are still having the soiree ongoing," what was wrong with her aunt?!
"Lady Belle, I understand you are shy so let me help you," said Mr. Robbinson and caught hold of her wrist and he pulled her along with him. Belle had to stop this drunkard and she tried to pull her hand from his grip.
Lucas came forward and said,
"Sir, please step away from the young lady," she heard her butler request Mr. Robbinson who now held her wrist in his grip. Belle looked around to search for the closest object she could use to stab this man. Her relatives were barely bothered. If it weren't for finding the culprit on who was helping the witches, she wouldn't have invited them here today.
Mr. Robbinson turned his red eyes from Belle to the butler, "Who do you think you are to interrupt my conversation with the lady?"
The butler gave the man a polite smile, "I am the butler which is why I ask you to step back right now. You are hurting the lady."
"What are you going to do?" Mr. Robbinson's hand turned tighter on her hand that was going to leave a bruise.
When the man turned around to face the butler to question him full of pride, Belle didn't know what happened next but Mr. Robbinson fell down on the ground and he winced.
Belle's eyes went wide along with the others.
Looking at Lucas, she noticed how one of his legs had been raised and he took it back, "My bad. I have rather long legs," he said in his calm and polite tone. Mr. Robbinson glared at him and before he could say anything, he said, "Unless you want me to beat you like a dough and mince you like the vegetables in the kitchen, I would request you to keep your hands to yourself," said the butler with a polite smile with an underlying threat in his voice.
