A Graduation Gift

This was the first time Cassandra realised how ridiculous a man could get. Joel perhaps just churned out an absurd lie to
Courtney
and Courtney believed him blindly! The whole story depressed Cassandra very much.
"Joel confessed that he had cheated Courtney out of a large amount of money and justified himself by saying that he fell for
another woman because he wanted to escape the scrutiny of her family. Courtney was stubborn and blindly in love with him, so
she probed Joel about who the woman was..."
Rufus concluded his summary with a serious look. The fact that a scum like Joel had worked in Tang Group for two years and
nobody knew of his crimes, shocked Rufus for a long time. 'Fortunately, we've found the evidence to prove his crime, or he would
do more damage, ' thought Rufus.
"So he told Courtney that he had fallen in love with a princess?!"
Cassandra was incensed at Joel's treachery. In her mind, a man like Joel deserved to go to hell.
Courtney was devastated by the passing of her father and the betrayal of her boyfriend, thus she had isolated herself from the
whole world.
Since Joel disclosed that the woman he loved was a princess, Courtney adopted a princess lifestyle too. She was crazy about
princess-style things, such as royal-style decoration and a dreamlike princess room.
She was barely sober most of the time and when she looked disinterested, it was because she was suffering internally. The
thought of Joel greatly distressed her and she often felt broken alone in her room.
When she lost her cool, Courtney would sink herself in the past with Joe. She spent hours picking out a dress for dating and ran
to the door from time to time to see if Joel had returned. She hoped he would come back one day and profess eternal love for
her and her alone.
She was so vulnerable, that even a man like Joel could destroy her. Cassandra swore to send him to prison for what he had
done.
"That son of a bitch! How I wish I could cut him to pieces! I would do that secretly to protect Courtney."
Cassandra blushed with anger as she recalled how much Courtney was hurt within. It upset her greatly to think about that.

'Had Joel cast a spell on her? Why does she love him so much?
What if I were to love a man so obsessively one day? Would I be fortunate or not?' mused Cassandra.
"Did Courtney ask him which princess he fell in love with?"
asked Cassandra with a frown. Courtney was stubborn enough to have asked this question.
"Yes, and Joel told her it was Princess Ofelia, the Princess of N Country, who was on a diplomatic trip to our country. You can still
find the related news online now. She even made a comment on the men in our country during an interview, saying that she liked
Chinese men very much,"
replied Rufus with a confused look. He hadn't expected that Joel could make up such a ridiculous story.
Cassandra remembered Princess Ofelia. Though she was in Rome at the time, but she watched the interview on the internet.
She also remembered that Princess Ofelia had attended a banquet after the interview.
"I want to watch that interview again!"
Her eyes flashed sharply like her words.
"Why? Anything you've recalled?"
Rufus smiled at her happy face.
Instead of explaining herself, Cassandra turned on the computer and searched for the interview.
Princess Ofelia was the heir to the throne of the N Country. The young and beautiful princess still remained single.
There were rumours that she had a relationship with a foreigner. But the princess couldn't marry him because he didn't have a
royal title.
The princess, who was loyal to love, refused to agree to the arrangement of the royal family—they wanted her to marry a royal
member.
Some press houses speculated that the princess lost her heart to a Chinese man because she had showed her appreciation
towards Chinese men in that particular interview.

Cassandra could tell that the princess was a woman of noble bearing because she kept smiling when she answered the
questions of journalists.
It appeared that Joel must have seen this interview too and had misused that to lie to Courtney about falling in love with a
princess. However, Courtney believed that the princess also had feelings for Joel, so she agonized endlessly after he left.
'Alas, how can any ordinary woman ever dare to compete with a princess.
Joel really is a son of a bitch!' thought Cassandra as she watched the interview.
At the end of the interview, it was the princess dancing enchantingly and moving gracefully across the floor.
Cassandra's eyes widened in surprise. She stared at the princess in disbelief.
The princess wore a sequined gown, which made her look like a shimmering fairy.
'Is that the gown from Michelle's auction?'
Rufus was also shocked for a while as he saw the gown.
"You still have this gown now, right?"
asked Rufus as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Yes, in my bedroom!"
Their eyes locked on one another. It seemed that they understood each other without the need for words.
After a while, they smiled at each other, applauding their tacit understanding silently.
At night, the castle was dimly lit, Courtney was sleepwalking in the house again.
She walked across the corridor to choose clothes for a date-night but failed every time.
Then she ran downstairs and threw open the hall doors hoping that Joel had come for her, but the only greeting she got was a
gush of cold wind.
She trudged back slowly in tremendous pain locked within her dreams. Her face was emotionless as she sleepwalked.

Suddenly, a figure appeared at the top of the stairs and then a tune, made for a waltz, echoed through the whole castle.
Upon hearing the music, Courtney followed the sound and looked up to find a princess standing atop the stairs.
The princess had sleek blond hair and the gown she wore shimmered like twinkling stars from the sky which had lost its way and
descended onto the earth.
The princess walked down the stairs elegantly and walked past Courtney without looking at her.
The faint smell of her perfume lingered in the hall. The whole vision was as beautiful as a classic romantic movie.
Courtney turned around to see where she was going and saw that the princess was walking towards a man who was standing in
the center of the hall. She couldn't see his face because the man had his back towards her.
The man took the princess's hand in his and they began dancing to the music. Their movements were graceful and intoxicating.
The princess rested her head on the man's shoulder. They were like a besotted couple murmuring words of passion into each
other's ears.
When the song ended, the man embraced the princess in his arms and then kissed her lightly on her forehead.
Suddenly, the man looked up at Courtney. She was shocked by the face she took in.
He had an angular and handsome face.
But it was not the face of the man she had loved deeply.
Looking into Courtney's eyes, the man said gently,"Wake up. The princess loves me, not Joel. Wake up now."
The man's face came closer and closer to her yet she couldn't see his facial features clearly. Finally, her knees buckled and she
tumbled onto the floor.
Upon seeing this, Cassandra and Rufus stopped abruptly. Then Cassandra ran over to Courtney to see if she was fine.
Whitney also darted out from a corner and headed for her daughter, falling to the ground beside her.
"What happened to her? Why did she faint?"

asked Whitney, quaking with fear.
"She is fine. I just hypnotized her. She will wake up tomorrow."
Rufus walked up the stairs slowly, in conversation with Doctor Smithers,"You can measure her blood pressure. It should be
normal."
Doctor Smithers nodded his head and proceeded to check on Courtney and concluded that Rufus had been right.
"Courtney obsessively believed that Joel had fallen in love with a princess, so she wanted to become a princess to compensate
for her short-comings. She couldn't find the perfect gown because the gown she kept looking for is here,"
said Rufus as he gestured towards the gown that Cassandra was wearing, which dazzled when it caught the light.
This was Michelle's design. She had gifted it to Princess Ofelia. The princess loved this gown and even wore it on her visit to
China. No one expected that a gown which had caused such a stir could become a mental block for Courtney.
She believed that this gown represented Princess Ofelia, so Cassandra and Rufus came up with a plan—Cassandra wore the
gown when Rufus hypnotized her. He told Courtney in her subconscious mind that Joel wasn't the lover of the princess and that
she didn't need to worry about a princess stealing him away.
The sky gradually lit up and the Sleeping Beauty opened her eyes slowly.
There was a hint of a hint of limpidity in her beautiful eyes.