The Event

The evening quickly drew close and William had to make sure that everything was taken care of. After a long conversation with his father hammering out the details of what they would do during the celebration, he once more went back to the Warehouse to put the last finishing touches on the product, making sure it would be as appealing as possible.

By the time he and Edmund were finally done, the time of the celebration was almost upon him; with the help of his father, guards were sent to escort the goods back to the castle so as to make sure no accidents would occur at this crucial time.

Once William was back, he quickly took a bath and then wore his clothes for the celebration; it was his responsibility as well as Marek's to welcome the guests at the castle entrance, being the first ones they saw after they got down from their carriages.

Since all the nobles that had been invited were of a lesser rank than the Marquess, he had no obligation to be there in person as well.

After readying himself with the help of his personal maid Laura, William checked one last time that everything on his end was in order before he made his way to the castle entrance.

Once there, he found that his brother had just arrived as well and was waiting for him.

"Ready for tonight?" Marek asked, then he added, with a slightly smug but mostly playful tone.

"Relax brother! We can't have you nervously stutter in front of the guests and ruin the reputation of the house."

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself just fine. I am more worried about you, in a battle, you would be my first choice for a partner, at a social event for higher society though... let's just say that the time and training required to prepare you for one would drive even a duke to financial ruin jut in tutoring fees alone."

William shot back without even batting an eye; he may have exaggerated a little bit, yet he knew that Marek knew deep down that there was a grain of truth to his words.

Marek's expression stiffened for a little bit at this "attack" and upon seeing his expression, a big smile took shape on his face.

Marek was just about to shoot back as well when the first carriage made its way into the castle district before stopping at the castle gate.

The doors of the carriage were opened by a dedicated staff provided by the Marquis, from which exited a man that by earth's standards could be considered middle age, probably in his late thirties.

He was wearing a luxurious coat that seemed to be made from very high-quality fabric and adorning golden rings on his right and left hands; once he descended from the carriage he turned around and extended his hand towards another person in the carriage that was soon revealed to be a woman.

She was wearing a beautiful crimson dress with jewelry adorning her neck and hands. Marek took a step and extended his hand to initiate the greeting.

"Welcome, Count and Countess Obarth, it is pleasure to have you here with us tonight."

The count took Marek's extended hand and shook it with his own as he replied.

"The pleasure is ours, Lord Marek, we are more than happy to be here for the occasion."

After the handshake, Marek took the count's wife's extended hand and gave it a light kiss on the back as a show of courtesy.

Noble society had its own traditions and etiquettes that differed from kingdom to kingdom. For the Kellor kingdom, it was customary for the highest-ranking noble to initiate the greeting and seen as quite the offense if this were to be breached.

Marek, even as the marquess' heir, could be considered at best of equal status to the count, who was but one rank under the marquess. The exception though, would be on occasions such as these, where the host, if they were to not be much lower in ranking than the guest, are allowed to initiate the greeting themselves as a show of hospitality and welcoming.

Even the process of arriving at the event has its own rules whereby those of higher rank arrive first and are greeted by the host or one of their family members at the entrance, then those lower than them and on and on.

Until it is the turn of the lower-ranking nobility, such as the viscounts and barons, who are rarely greeted like their higher-ranking counterparts, instead, the task is left to the head butler of the noble family that is housing the event.

William looked on from the sidelines, giving a greeting here and there for the sake of courtesy; he had difficulty identifying most, if not all the guests, not only because he was having some trouble accessing his new body's memories which he did, it was mostly because old William would rarely partake in noble social circles and did not really have to since he was not the heir.

This task mostly fell to Marek, which explains that even though he was not the best when it came to navigating and dealing with higher society, he was at least very well versed in the basics of etiquettes as was required of him by the marquess, as well as the fact that he had attended quite a few of these events before, which explains why he was able to recognize the most prominent noble guests he had to receive.

After about half an hour of playing the role of the welcoming committee, in which Marek took the lead while William mostly played a supporting role. The duo finally left the entrance to the Castle and made their way inside toward the area holding the event.

Before long they had reached a large hall, brightly lit by large beautiful chandeliers that were evenly spaced out through its ceiling, with a massive one in the middle made of some type of beautifully shaped metal.

The hall itself could comfortably house a crowd of at least fifty people, plus the personnel to serve them all, with room to spare in the middle for dancing or simply socializing.

Long tables filled with all kinds of foods and drinks were placed along its sides, supervised by dedicated butlers to serve guests. On top of this, multiple smaller tables with chairs were placed across the room to provide guests with areas to eat and socialize.

Flowers freshly picked from the garden were placed on said tables to add color to the already colorful room; curtains with exquisite patterns adorned the windows on the sides contributing to the creation of this view that made onlookers feel jovial and spirited.

The room hall could be said to have been well prepared to house a medium-sized banquet or a ball worthy of higher noble society, projecting the image of a House that was wealthy and prosperous.

It was not like this was the first time for William when it came to seeing this location; he had already come here a few hours before to check on things, even though he had to squeeze time for it. Yet the view at night was on a whole other level compared to when he came during the day.