"You don't deserve her! You don't give her the deep unquestioning love she deserves! You don't know her like I do, you don't know her a single bit and you never will! You should be happy, you're lucky, although you never held her, comforted her, never cared about her, you are the person she gives her smile to.", Gilbert breathed heavily, his red ruby eyes gloomed angrily, he almost looked like an animal, wild and passionate, ready to attack. Roderich just looked calm and resigned. The imagine of a strayer attacking a dof out of a noble house, came into her mind – very fitting. She was too frozen in shock to do something. Gilbert took Roderich at the collar: "You should know that at the moment she's the one who saves your noble face. For her sake I'm not going to wreck it.", her hissed, "And you should know, that I got a place in her heart, her mind, her head, you should know that she'll sit next to you and think about me. One day you'll part and I'll have still a place in her heart, she'll be sneaking at my door and then I won't hesitate to treat her like the woman she truly is.", he smiled and released Roderich. Then he picked up a vase and threw it against the wall. It broke clanking into thousand pieces and Gilbert whispered to Roderich: "Scherben bringen Glück, nicht wahr, Roderich*?" He didn't give her a look, he just rushed out of the hall .

She felt how heavy her heart beat, it beat so heavily, that her cheeks started to flush bright red and she looked to the ground to not see the gapes of the guests. It was so embarrassing, he made her look like a fool again, on her engagement party but the way he acted, this outburst of emotion, made her feel electrified. She didn't notice Roderich right next to her.

"He loves you, doesn't he?"

"No, he, he…"

"Go."

"What?"

"Go and talk with him.", Roderich just said that to her and turned his back on her.

She gulped. She had to talk to him, he made them both look like a fool, she needed to give him a roasting. Also she had Roderichs permission to go and it would be nice to escape the weird atmosphere on the party right now. And – she wanted to see him. She probably wouldn't see him in a long time after Austrias and her marriage. He came to the egagement party, he wouldn't come to the marriage, she knew that, long before this evening, she told herself she only invited him to be polite but now she knew that she also had other reasons.

She wanted to thank Roderich but he was already in conversation with some guests.

First he had the idea of going to a bar and drinking an inhumane amount of beer to forget what he had done but then he decided otherwise and sat down on a hill in the cold night air and hoped, that the coldness would numb his senses. He heard steps behind him.

"Go away.", he gnarled.

"But I want to talk to you."

"But I don't want to talk to you."

"Because…?"

"Because I've said already too much." She grinned and flopped herself into the grass.

He sighed: "Just tell Roderich, I'm sorry."

"I won't."

He looked confused at her. "First because you don't mean it and second because I don't want to.", she let herself fall back into the soft dewy grass. It felt wonderful how it stroked her skin. She sighed. He just gazed at her. She was incredibly beautiful. Her chestnut brown hair flowed like silk over the grass and spread behind her like a halo. The soft pale skin looked flawless in the moonlight and the small red mouth contrasted perfectly to her skin. She almost looked like snowwhite with chestnut brown hair. Hesitating he laid down next to her and looked at her with sparkling eyes.

"You were right."

"Right? With what?"

"One day I'll come sneaking at your door.", she didn't dare to look at him so she kept her eyes closed.

"You won't, I'm not sophisticated, tidy and stuff like –"

She suddenly turned around and looked with her huge emerald green eyes at him.

"You were the one always stayed at my side, comforted me, when my heart got broken, when I felt alone, you were annoying but you always cheered me up and – you had always been my best friend – always and you'll always be my best friend.", he smiled sadly and sat up again. She followed his move, suddenly grabbed his wrists and then he felt a tiny soft mouth on his. A rush, sweet passion, tension – then she released, blushed in a bright red color.

"T-t-t-take it as a promise.", he slowly opened his eyes, smiled and stroked her cheek in a slow movement down to her collarbone onle with his fingertips. She shivered.

"I will.", he whispered, his hot breath stroking her cheek. She only blushed harder.

"And?", Roderich asked. She took his hand.

"He'll be alright."

"That's nice to hear."

"Yeah…", Elizaveta tried to hide her blushing.