Princesses Amidst Flowers

As soon as the Crown Princess made her appearance, the whole crowd cheered excitedly and shouted one after another,

"Her Royal Highness is most graceful!

"Her Royal Highness is most kind!"

"Long live the Crown Princess!"

"A blessed day, Your Royal Highness!"

And so forth, the praises went.

The princess made her grand entrance, along with her two maids and a dozen of attendants whom all trailed behind her, carrying bamboo baskets, each of them filled with colourful variety of beautiful flowers.

Soon after the princess settled in the very centre of the seating arrangement, the other palanquins carrying the rest of the princesses from all the noble households of the kingdom, stepped out and settled themselves around the Crown Princess. Likewise, their numerous attendants brought more colourful flowers with them.

Fragrance of all these vibrant flowers filled the air as the crowd continued to cheer wildly in appreciation of these beautiful royal princesses as well as the common maidens of the capital who were also allowed to participate in the ceremony.

Ahanlem was utterly surprised. She didn't imagine the capital to be this bustling and prosperous in this timeline. Truth be told, she didn't expect to witness such a rich and glamorous affair. She couldn't help but stare in awe.

Thus, all the maidens led by the Crown Princess were about to begin the most anticipated flower ceremony when suddenly another mellow sound of the Moibung reverberated across, interrupting the moment.

Everyone looked at the direction of the sound.

Right at the entrance, another palanquin of exquisite design was currently being laid down gently on the ground by four men.

A pale slender hand parted the thin silver curtains slowly and a slim figure came out in an elegant manner.

The person was dressed in phanek and innaphi of rich and delicate embroidered design which accentuated her complexion very nicely. Her hair was smooth black and straight like cascading waterfalls, framing her face flawlessly.

But the most alluring of all was her face.

Her eyes were big, bright and beautifully shaped like petals. Her nose, small and sharp. And her lips were full and tinted scarlet like cinnabar.

All in all, the most beautiful face of a woman anyone present has ever seen.

The initially noisy crowd sucked in their breaths as they gazed at this maiden, stunned by her unworldly beauty. Their eyes were moving in accordance with her graceful movements, as she approached towards an empty seat right near the centre.

Accompanied by one maid and a few attendants, the maiden sat, as her shares of basketful of vivid flowers were laid down around her person. And it was a picture of extreme indulgence.

A gorgeous maiden amidst colourful flowers.

Ah, what a sight!

The crowd were awe-struck in appreciation for a while.

"Ahem."

One person cleared their throat. The crowd turned, closing their gaping mouths in unison and realised it was the Crown Princess who had made the interruption. She was sitted just beside this mysterious beauty but they had all completely forgotten about her.

The princess began, "My dear Honourable sister, how pleasant that you have arrived at last. I was worried that you were unable to get up early on such an important occasion."

"My, my! Your Royal Highness, what are saying? I am not so silly like that, more so on such an occasion like today where we will have the privilege to witness your unrivalled beauty and talent. I was merely waiting for Her Highness to be comfortably settled before I dare come in." She said as she laughed lightly, the sound pleasing like the tinkle of bells.

The Crown Princess smiled in good humour but it almost looked false. She said, "You indulge me too much, little sister. Come, let us begun the ceremony or else my father will rebuke me for incompetence."

"Of course, Your Highness! We are eagerly waiting for you to lead us."

That's what she said but later everyone can easily see that this noble princess was the one actually leading. Her skills and talent were obviously superior to any of the maidens competing. Even the Crown Princess was lacking compared to her.

The Flower Garland Making Ceremony was a delicate art of threading the flowers through a needle, designing them creatively and making colourful garlands out of them. And to present them to the deities in the temple.

The crowds watching were all praising the Crown Princess in their mouths but in contrast, their hearts were cheering for the noble princess.

Ahanlem felt a bit sorry for the Crown Princess. No matter in beauty and talent, this noble beauty has surpassed her in all aspects.

Besides, their conversation earlier seemed to reveal an already present rivalry between the two under the guise of etiquettes. It seemed even her last minute entrance was done intentionally to cast shadow over the Crown Princess, Ahanlem noted pitiably.

--

With the sun glistening above, the ceremony was almost done as the maidens finished up making their colourful garlands. The fresh fragrance of thousands of flowers wafted in the air along with the aroma of incenses. The people could already see which maidens' skills were good and which were above excellent.

As the ceremony finally came to a close, the Crown Princess stood up with her flower garlands to present it to the waiting hands of the temple priest. Her garlands were indeed good but still they paled in comparison to the noble princess's, who followed right after to present her garlands to the priest.

Each maiden offered one of their garlands to the temple and the rest were kept in clean bamboo baskets.

After paying respect to deities in the temple, all the princesses went inside their palanquins and the rest of the maidens headed towards the direction of their homes.

The noble princess was also about to go inside her palanquins when a steady galloping sound of a horse came from the distance and halted near her. She raised her eyes, long lashes quivering with the movement. She smiled beautifully as she greeted, "Elder Brother."

The said man dismounted gracefully down from his dark reddish horse. He was tall and lean. His well built figure was clad in luxurious light gold furit and pheijom. On his head, he wore a white turban with silver patterns over his dark shoulder length hair.

He approached the maiden with a steady gait, his long khamenchatpa shawl swaying alongside his body. With a light flick of his wrist, he lifted one length of the silk cloth over his left shoulder swiftly, in a sophisticated manner.

He finally raised his head.

The whole crowd was left breathless for the second time.

The young man was strikingly handsome. His complexion fair and his features were stunning. His brows, full and straight. And a high nose almost perfectly proportionate to his face. The shape of his lips, clear cut and almost tempting. But his eyes were the most prominent. They were big, black and so bright as if the stars descended on them. They were too enticing to gaze at.

He opened his mouth slightly as he said in deep voice,

"Lingel, my dear sister. I have come to escort you to the palace by our father's request."

The beautiful maiden answered him with a smile, "I'm very pleased my honourable brother spared his precious time to accompany me. I'm most grateful with joy."

Ah no wonder, the crowd muttered amongst themselves. Of course, this lovely girl is none other than the little sister of one of the most handsome bachelor in the kingdom, Prince Lamyanba of the great Ningthouja clan. Or so, Ahanlem heard from the crowd talking nonstop in excitement.

Everyone continued to greedily stare at this pair of siblings that appear more like celestial beings from the heaven than mere humans.

Really, they made everybody else here look like potatoes.

The beautiful siblings carry on their conversations in the midst of the noise.

On the other side, the Crown Princess was inside her palanquin, her men had already lifted it to go but she stopped them as she hastily peeked out. Her wide eyes were set on the image of the noble prince almost shyly.

Hm, so it seems the Crown Princess has a secret crush on this handsome prince.

The princess continue gazing longingly at the prince until the very object of her affection turned to her direction, made contact with her eyes and smiled charmingly.

The royal princess immediately blushed and clumsily turned her head back into the palanquin.

Ahanlem who was standing a bit closer to these noble people observed everything quite clearly.

Goodness, a live action romantic drama starring beautiful leads was happening right in front of her. She decided she was gonna cheer for this cute princess.

Speaking of drama, she turned to her side and saw Tomba who was still wide eyed besides her. His eyes, glued to the beautiful noble princess Lingel. He was like a mortal looking at heaven for the first time.

Even Naoba and Chaoba easily noticed his love struck gaze as they said,

"Tomba, your eyes are coming out. So is your saliva hahahaha!"

"You are already in love?! She is way out of your league! You are breaking my heart! Quit it! Hahahaha.."

At their teasing, Tomba quickly came to his senses as he wiped his mouth and muttered, "T-there is no saliva. And no I'm not in love. How can I be? I just find her very pretty..."

Chaoba put his arm around his shoulder and said, "Ah, come on let's find you a proper girl. There are plenty in the capital even better than these princesses."

Naoba joined in, "Yes, yes! As soon as we are done with business we are going to look around the place! Right, Ahanlem?"

Ahanlem was not listening she was watching a live action drama starring Tomba and the noble princess.