Raised From The Wild-Chapter 290: The Concert 2
"You don’t have to go if you don’t want to," Marx whispered to her while glaring at Fiona.
Dave and Julienne gave Amaya an anxious look. Even Stephane and the Student Council President glanced at Amaya with worry on their faces.
"Come on, Lireyan. Give your Princess encouragement and a show of support!" Fiona rallied the audience to chant and clap their hands. She was really good at turning the mood of the audience into a frenzy.
"Princess! Princess! Princess!" The chants were ear-piercing.
Amidst the deafening sound of the shouts and claps, Princess Amaya stood and took graceful strides to the stage. Marx accompanied her letting her hold the crook of his arm.
He waited until Amaya reached the top of the platform after climbing five steps of the stairs before he went back to his seat.
Fiona who was standing with an elegant poise on the stage narrowed her eyes fleetingly before she plastered a practiced smile on her face and greeted Amaya.
The audience became even more unruly. Princess Amaya was wearing an off-shoulder tulle lace over a burgundy inner evening dress. Sequin flower appliques, the color of blood, covered the upper portion of her chest making her dress look elegant and classy. A thin sash with the same color as the flower applique accentuated her slim waist.
Half of her hair was pulled up in a bun while the rest of her copper-brown locks cascaded in gentle waves down her back and shoulders. A diamond pendant hung from a silver chain on her slender neck.
In a country where the majority of women have black hair, deep brown eyes, and tanned skin, Fiona was worshipped for her beauty. Her hair, skin, and eye color stood out which made her extraordinarily beautiful. But when the Princess of Lireya stood beside her elegantly and full of confidence, the golden lady suddenly became ordinary.
Fiona could only grit her teeth and clenched her fists. She did not expect that Amaya up close would look ethereal. She has a symmetrical face. Her nose was small and the bridge was high. Her eyebrows were perfectly arched and seemed to be meticulously painted by a master with his brush and blank ink. Her eyelashes were black and long and slightly curved at the edge. She wondered if she used an eyelash curler and mascara.
A staff passed Amaya the microphone before bowing slightly and leaving the stage.
"Good evening Lireyan! I did not expect to see so many beautiful people tonight. Thank you for supporting this concert." Amaya spoke in the Lireyan dialect.
If Fiona knew how to please her audience, Princess Amaya could deal with the audience in the same way. This was her territory after all. She could not lose to a foreigner.
Amaya turned and looked at Fiona with a smile. The audience was mesmerized by that smile and a hush enveloped the auditorium.
"Everyone, let us give Miss Riyanah Miley a warm applause for a wonderful opening number." She used the Usturian language and she was so fluent that one would think it was her first language.
A thunderous clap filled the auditorium.
Fiona’s brows furrowed. What she learned was that Amaya Rocas was raised in the jungle. Wasn’t that worse than being raised in the countryside? But how come there was no trace of uncouthness in her demeanor? Did she learn that fast?
Fiona intentionally called Amaya to shame her but she was surprised to see that the Princess was very regal in her ways and she was beautiful too.
Far more beautiful than her.
’Damn! What am I thinking? She is beautiful but I have a different kind of beauty so we cannot be compared.’ Fiona comforted herself with these thoughts.
Unbeknownst to her, many from the audience have already taken their photos standing together and posted them on the internet.
One of the posts that became viral was a half-body photo of her standing beside Princess Amaya. The post was captioned: "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is prettier? The Golden Lady or the Wild Princess?"
It has only been a few minutes and yet the post was shared several times over and Riyanah Miley’s fans were fighting over Princess Amaya’s fans.
There was no news about the Wild Princess in the past few days and her fans were very eager when suddenly, there was a post about her. Her avid fans of course were ready to fight for their idol, thus a heated discussion between the rising star from Usturia, dubbed as the Golden Lady and the Wild Princess dominated the internet even as the concert was only in its first hour.
The organizers reacted very quickly and opened a live stream. In a matter of minutes, the number of viewers rose to over 10,000.
At the auditorium, Princess Amaya was speaking to Fiona aka Riyanah Miley.
"As you know, I just recently came back and I don’t know a lot of songs. I hope Miss Miley knows Lireya’s famous pop song ’A Beautiful Place.’" Princess Amaya looked at Fiona expectantly.
How can Fiona not know it? She was ambitious and wanted to be a top singer and actress. Her manager told her that to gain the trust of the citizens of a country, she should learn the basics about their language and culture. Fiona just did that.
She smiled brightly at Amaya. "Of course, I know the song, Princess. But I would like to apologize in advance if I misspoke some of the words."
Princess Amaya nodded in understanding.
She went to the grand piano on the left side of the stage. Fiona was confused for a moment.
’What is she doing? Is she not singing but rather playing the piano?’ Fiona wondered.
When the staff realized that the princess was going to play the piano, she carried the microphone stand, took the mike from the princess, and put it on the stand.
Fiona was left with no choice but to walk slowly towards the piano. Amaya’s side was toward the audience while Fiona was facing her audience.
"I am still learning the piano, I hope that you would forgive me if I missed a note," Amaya spoke into the mike. Then her fingers hovered tentatively over the white and black keys.
’A Beautiful Place’ was a fast song. The audience was nervous because it was not even three months since Amaya was brought back from the jungle. Could she play such a challenging piece?
