A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

The time slowly flew into months and two months down, the bulge of Soren's abdomen was slightly noticeable from a distance.

Soren would occassionally stand at the balcony of his own suite he shared with Conelm and bask in the afternoon sunlight.

There he would breathe and then let go of all the stress he would have and all he would do was smile at the sun setting in the horizon.

Suddenly, Soren's daily train of servants made their way inside to bearing a pile of clothes and perfumes with another total bunch of who knows what.

"Your Royal Highness." The servants said in unison as they bowed down to him

"You may rise." Soren said and they stood upright again.

"What brings you here and if I may ask, what is all this?" Soren asked.

"Well, your royal highness, we have been asked to get you changed right now by his royal Majesty." One of the servants replied.

"What for if I may inquire?" Soren asked.

"Well, it is another Scoln royal pre birth tradition." Helren said from the doorway as he walked inside and bowed down his head.

"Another set of customs, this one is so abrupt." Soren said.

"No worries, there shall be a lot more abrupt ceremonies such as these." Helren replied.

"So exactly, what is the tradition for today?" Soren asked as the male servants closed in on him and helped him to undress the green velvet gown he was wearing.

The gown was represented with a white Satin one that was decorated with a few pearls and diamonds.

"Today, as the pure bride mother, you receive the gifts of the masses and the other members of parliament.

Every good gift is valued equivalent to good luck if we should say so." Helren said as they organised the dress on his body.

The men laughed amongst one another as they each looked so priviledged.

"Your Highness." One of them called.

"What is it?" Soren replied.

"Can I ask you a question?" The young man said.

"Yes of course you may, please feel free." Soren replied.

"How does it really feel?" The young man asked.

"To be loved by the Crown Prince or to be pregnant?" Soren teasingly asked.

"Well, maybe the latter, me and my dear Cyrus were thinking of having our own little angel as well." The young man replied.

"Well, it is quite tiring but trust me it feels so wonderful to know that you will have a child of your own flesh and blood." Soren replied.

"You young master are indeed so fair, so kind and perhaps the most gentle of all the people in this Royal household." Another servant said.

"Well, do any of you know about this so called gift receiving ceremony?" Soren asked.

"Well, it is a very significant step and ritual in our society especially when it comes to the royals themselves.

Everyone from nobles to commoners presents something to the pregnant person and the most interesting bit is that even the priests and priestesses in all their leagues offer.

There's are the most sacred gifts that could ever be given and are valued more importantly than all the other goods." One of the seevants replied.

"Oh, is that so?" Soren asked as they dressed him in a pair of white flat shoes.

"Yes of course, however there are gifts that cannot be given at the ceremony and even if they are received unknowingly, it is a sign that they bring bad luck." Another servant said.

"Oh, that is very interesting, back in Endra get pregnant and you receive gifts any time, it is not like they hold a particular ceremony to present them all.

You wait for a baby shower, the closest thing to a pre birth ceremony and finally, you give birth and live happily ever after." Soren said.

"Well, you sure are beloved your Royal highness, all the gifts that you shall receive shall surely be very wonderful in deed." Another said.

"Certainly your Highness." Helren reechoed from where he was seated.

"Who would cast an evil eye of the gods' favorites." Another servant said after they concluded dressing Soren up.

"So I am guessing that I am now more than ready to go." Soren said.

"Yes of course your royal highness." They all replied.

"Then we'd better get going because Scoln guests are not fans of being kept waiting long." Helren said.

Soren turned and looked into the bedroom mirror one more time as he touched his abdomen and smiled.

"You look very beautiful." The servants said.

"Thank you." Soren replied and he was immediately led away outside their room by Helren

The servants followed behind holding the transluscent train of the Satin gown as they walked down the bright hallways that were illuminated with some candle lights much it was not yet entirely sunset.

Soren could hear noises getting louder the closer that they approached the main hall that he guessed was the centre of all commotion.

A lucky guess when the doors of the main hall were opened and Soren walked in followed by his train of servants.

With ladies on one side and gentlemen on the other, they curtsied and bowed their heads respectively as Soren walked by.

None could take their eyes off of his radiance and beauty but he cared less as his gaze was fixed up ahead where Conelm sat on a silver throne and an empty one he definitely knew was his was stationed on Conelm's left side.

Soren made his way up the flight of stairs, they were not that many but they elevated the two about a metre or two above the rest of the congregation.

The silver trumpets sounded and the master of ceremonies stepped up beside Conelm.

"The first presenters, the Princes and Nobles of the title, the robe and the blood." The man loudly announced and led by the Prime minister, a long queue made its way upfront.

Each individual representing a household brought something that was wrapped or closed, veiled or tied in something and presented it at the bottom of the staircase.

Soren and Conelm simply had to wave to show their acceptance and they would have a tiny glimpse of the gifts that they were given.

Those veiled would remove the veil slightly and show the highnesses, those tied would untie and those that were enclosed would open them slightly.

After nearly forty five minutes, close to a hundred members of the nobility were all checked.

It was now entirely dusk and all that was left glowing in the sky was  a very thin thread of orange.

By that hour, the lights and candles that burned in the palace were glowing brightest and the master of ceremonies stepped forward.

"For the second presentation, priests and priestesses, servants of the Sacred Liege of the gods and faithful defenders of the faith." The master of ceremonies announced.

Instantly, golden trumpets were sounded and followed by the Chief Priest all other members including the sorcerers made their own file and walked towards the royal couple.

The gifts presented their own gifts of clothings, perfumes and even charms to the couple, the ceremony simply went on for them and in a period of only thirty minutes, there was a smooth flow of the gifts and the second class was done with their presentation.

"And lastly, we shall have members of the common household, selected from the different parts of the Monarchy to offer." The master of ceremonies announced.

Immediately, his speech being concluded was followed by the sounding of the bronze trumpets.

The led by the town heads and other common people, the peasants and commoners presented their gifts.

Soren noticed that the most dominant people in the category that presented were the farmers followed by the traders.

With these they brought gifts such as precious imported fabrics and jewelry, farm produces of milk and fruits from the orchards and gardens.

Tea leaves and berries all a colorful collection to the diet of the royal couple.

Suddenly, from the line walked two people who had veiled themselves in thick hooded black cloaks.

They bore gifts that were enclosed in scarlet fabric and walked towards the royal couple.

Everyone must have wondered why they were veiled but surprisingly, they were shocked that they had not recognized them earlier.

The two people started to unfold their gifts and everyone including Conelm was anxious to see what they had to present.

Soren just did not care whatever it would be, he knew nothing about these traditions and he eyed the gifts that were too many for him.

The clothes he had gotten and fabric was enough to give him the stock of about five hundred thousand different sizes of clothes and the jewelry looked too heavy he doubted he would actually ever wear all of it.

The sooner the two unveiled their gifts, Conelm was the very first person to see them and his facial expression changed.

The rest of the congregation shrieked as Soren simply studied two trays of eggs in one's possession and a bottle of wine in the others.

Conelm was enraged at the sight.

"Cease them." He shouted as Soren tried to process what was going on at that very moment.

The two strangers looked around and tossed the things into the air attracting everyone's attention and everything somehow appeared to slow down.

The sooner that the things landed down, the eggs cracked open to reveal a black substance and an inevitable stench followed.

The stench irritated every one present and in an instant, before Soren could comprehend what was going on, the whole room was in chaos.

Everyone was trying to sketch for the two strangers but they were making an escape through the main entrance of the hall.

Soren could feel the stench worsening and he felt his stomach aching and gripped it.

Conelm noticed from the corner of his eye that Soren was not feeling well as he tried massaging his forehead.

Soren was losing control of all his senses as he felt his head spinning and instantly, everything in the room suddenly went black in a matter of seconds.