D(EATH)-DAY (3)

The banquet started– rather, before that, we were led to the ballroom which was on the upper floor. Like what? It's got a huge open balcony on both sides that overlooked one, the sea, and two, the entire kingdom.

The place was magnificent, a weird mixture of perfume and extravagant food hung in the air.

Various nobles from surrounding territory came to join. It was a large event which would be used to announce the nation's next plans going forwards this new year. Definitely something the nobles should pay attention to.

I checked my map.

A literal field of yellow dots. Too many to count.

Also, three familiar green dots.

There were also orange dots around. Probably some wary assassins mixed into the group.

I marked Kyoshi with a purple marker.

"As I thought.." Nine sounded irked.

"What?"

"She's here."

"Which one?"

I don't know if Nine was talking about Rin's siblings or that Duke's daughter, Elaine– was her name, I think?

"Rina.. do you want to go greet your family? Perhaps leave them a note that you are well?

"T-The Margreve.. is here?"

Liliath nodded.

"Do you think we should like.. take precautions? Is there any status thing we can adjust that acts like a protective barrier?" Prune asked.

"Let me check," Nine scrolled through her list of saved skills. "Maybe [Dodge]? Or [Nullify]?"

"July-sama.. is here too, correct?"

"Yeah, you can bring up your map right?"

"Um.."

Even though we've been together for more than a week, Rin was still quite reluctant to use the system functions. It's like looking at an indiginous person who doesn't want to learn how to use a phone.. not that I'm trying to blame Rin here.

"Ah.. it's which one?"

"The green dot."

"Then.."

"You want to perhaps greet them before the event starts? You never know when you'll regain this chance again?" Liliath said.

Rin looked down to the floor, she nodded.

"Alright. Nine, Prune?"

"To avoid any misunderstandings, I think I'll go somewhere else," Nine said.

Prune gave her a blank stare.

"Yeah. Thank you for being considerate for once," I rolled my eyes.

One guy, 4 girls. You get the point here? Plus, we're going to meet Rin's family. It might not be a good image.. I don't know.

===

"Excuse me, Elaine-sama," Nine had to weave through the crowd– even having to wait for her turn as there were many young nobles vying for the duke's daughter's attention.

"You are.. eh?" When she saw Nine, her mind went blank. She was wearing such a beautiful dress. There was this weird chasm of dissonance as she knew very well that this girl was Nine.

"Who are you?"

"I've never seen a noble like yourself, from which house are you from?"

The other nobles sized her up. Prune who decided to accompany Nine furrowed her brows. This was an uncomfortable atmosphere.

"Who I am is not important. I merely came to say my greetings, Elaine-sama… may your evening be a wondrous one.. see ya," yep, no way. Nine wanted out. This pressure from other nobles was something she didn't want to face.

Egoistic and boastful. Well.. that's part of how they were raised, to be proud of their family so.. it wasn't something Nine could really do about. She only came to say hi. Yep.

"Wait.. excuse me," Elaine, who wore a dazzling yellow dress that exuded youth tried to shake off the other nobles that tried to connect with her.

Tag, Nine's shoulder was crushed, metaphorically, that is.

"Yes?" Nine turned to her like a broken machin.

"Later, outside. After the king's speech, wait for me there," she whispered.

Nine gave her a funky look. She returned a whipsher, "How about the food?"

This time, it was Elaine's turn to show a funny look, "What food?"

"We can only start eating after the speech right?"

"That doesn't matter, just meet me there first, the food can be for later."

"If you say so."

The two exchanged whispers. From the perspective of those around, it looked as if these two people were exceptionally good friends.

"See you there then," Nine said.

"Yes, see you there," Elaine said.

===

"Found you!"

"GAk.."

What the fuck.

I turned around to see who it was that tugged on my collar.

Oh, and if I hadn't described my own attire, it's: a fancy dark blue suit with a lot of embroidered elements, a handkerchief in my pocket folded into a triangle for aesthetic sake. My inner blazer was white, with gold patterns etched into the fabric. My pants were the same colour as the outer coat, and my shoes were, well, business shoes. The black leather kind.

I've always been curious about what shoes the nobles wear since shoes are a topic rarely talked about in novels to skimp on the author's imagination. Male nobles wore dress shoes similar to mine while the female nobles had varying choices.

Curly light pink hair that refracted a blue tint under the ballroom lights, eyes that radiated dominance in a golden light– she wore a white slit dress that left a portion of her thighs and upper body exposed. Ornate embellishments and patterns covered the portion of her cleavage, she looked like an inverted lily, where the part below the torso was loose like open petals.

Absolutely divine.

Other nobles were obviously sneaking glances at her, I could sense that.

Liliath looked cuter though.

"Moirae-sama, was it?"

"You remember me?! This.. what an honor," her lips trembled.

Honor? Fuck what? You stopped me by the collar. That's just rude!

"Moirae-sama?" Rin wasn't able to catch up.

"We meet again, Moirae-sama," Liliath said.

"M-My deepest apologies for everything that has transpired.. from the rude demeanor I've treated your grace during our first meeting, the ignorant thoughts I harbored.. and Jiwon-san's misconduct.. I will take the punishment upon myself therefore.."

Hah..

"It's alright."

"Huh?"

"It's alright. I'm glad to meet you. Hopefully I didn't cause too much of a conflict between you and Jiwon-san. By the way, where is he?"

"Jiwon-san.. is in the kitchen preparing the food for this occasion.." she paused for a moment, "No, no, no. This can't be. I'm the one at fault, please accept my apologies. I'll accept any form of punishment you wish.. I'd only ask of you that it is something within tolerable limits.."

Man. This is the problem with being part of some god-class existence huh.. not that I'm God.

"Moirae. Just cut it out already. I'm alright kay'? I don't mind everything that happened before. "

"Under..stood?"

"Yeah.." you seriously don't need to show reverence. It's creeping me out.

"His Majesty the King!"

The announcer raised his voice. The hall fell into a hush. We turned to the stage– a gigantic throne made from gold– or was that orichalcum? With posh red fabric cushioned weaved in with various jewels…

The king came out of this red curtain as if having waited for this moment. He sat on the pompous throne.

The announcer continued.

"Her Majesty.."

"The King's concubine.."

"His Grace the first prince.."

"Her Grace the first princess..."

Huh. You know, I was expecting something like a pressuring aura, looks like not. My expectations have been shattered.. the pressure was nothing like the one released by His Majesty of Darcia Kingdom.

"The Ambassador of Toren Kingdom, His Highness Kyoshi Toren–"

Liliath leaned closer to me.

A guy with an angular chin, rounded at the bottom. He had curly brown hair. His face showed a lazy look, a humble smile hung on his face.

And this guy was my brother-in-law.

Really? Cut me some slack here, he's tall AF. At least a half a head more than myself.

His seat was beside Her Highness Siesta.

There were a lot of Princes and Princesses that I don't recognize. All of them wore clothes that had similar designs. Of course, there were slight differences in the articulation in some part..

His Highness Kyoshi leaned over and said something to Her Highness Siesta, the two chuckled amiably.

He then scanned the crowd.

His gaze stopped here.

Yes. Right here.

At me–

Or more like.. at Liliath.