Althea woke up, something warm and tingly in her. Oh wait, that was just the mana. The mana! Althea turned her attention inward, finding the mana to have grown since yesterday, not much, but still. The movement in it was glacial, something she was glad of. But it radiated newfound power. Had it been growing the entire night?
The mana seemed to wake up with her, speeding up its rotations. But it did not try to coalesce yet. Althea looked to her familiar, finding his leaf resting on her arm as light his leaves lay closed and drooping.
The poor guy had probably fallen asleep watching. Althea lifted his leaf and let it return to its place. Pulsie shook, but did not wake up. How to deal with him was something she was still unsure of. The little guy had threatened to kill her yesterday, but frankly, she didn’t hold a grudge.
The reason was understandable, and if she was being honest, she was happy about it. If Pulsie was willing to do this, I meant that if someday she was in danger, he would do the same. If they remained friends, of course. Althea was going to try, and she had a feeling so was Pulsie. Acting like it did not happen might not be the best method, but it was the one she knew.
"Are you ready, your grace?" Mira asked, making Althea's eyes widen in surprise. If she had thought getting ready was a chore yesterday, it was going to be a horror show today. Three rows of maids stood behind her, holding things from underwear to the tiara.
And then there were the ones with makeup, brushes and basically a team that made celebrity stylist teams look small. Wait, she had no idea how big those were. For all she knew, they were even bigger than this.
Althea sighed and got up. "As ready as I am going to be."
Mira smiled. "Well, that is good then, we would have to wake you up soon anyway." The maids ran towards her as she stood up, holding underwear. Althea snatched them.
"I think I am going to dress myself somewhere more private." she said, looking at the garden that was glistening in the morning sun. The other side was still her room, but undressing before open windows just felt wrong. The maids opened their mouths to protest, but Mira cut them off.
"The bathroom is that way, your grace." she pointed. Althea gave them a smile, and walked to it. The urge to run was great, but she could not. A Countess did not run from her maids. And besides, she was the boss here. Oh fuck, she was the boss. The realization hit Althea just as she entered the bathroom.
And came with her through the hair do, the re- hairdo, the return to original hairdo, what the heck we are doing hairdo and then the dressing…the maids were really scrambling to get her ready. Althea felt each of them were good. But neither her nor the old Althea were experts on fashion. And this was a coronation.
A thing Queens had. A thing that would give her this castle, the lands around it and so much wealth that she would rival the super rich of Earth. Althea had seen the Treasury, she had seen the carriages of jewels she had brought, and she knew the value of those manuals in the vault.
Twenty-eight manuals. Twenty-eight noble house founding manuals. Why the Diery family had not used them before, she did not know, but she planned to investigate the first chance she got.
The maids finished with her hair, finally satisfied. A few were still frowning.
"I wish we had more time, your grace. I can only do so much, you need a proper stylist." Anessa said, as another maid brought the dress. A green one with yellow embroidery on the lower corners. To match the jewels, she was sure.
The dress went on with the jewels as her mind wandered again. The entire estate came with conditions. A Countess had responsibilities. A Guarding Countess had a lot more. To her subjects, to the Empire and the world.
A Gaurding Countess was largely autonomous, and could move and maintain armies as she wished. Even the Emperor could only order her with proper reasons. The dressing up ended, and just in time, she could already sense the Steward coming- wait what. What was this with sensing things?
The Steward knocked, but Althea focused more on her senses. And how enhanced they were. What she was sensing was the mana around the Steward, the maids did not give much off. The plants were different, they seemed to absorb the mana instead.
Althea panicked, checking if she had broken through by mistake. No, the mana was still there, spinning around faster than before, and speeding up slowly, but not done. The mana would form a core when she reached Apprentice. That was about all she knew about the next stage.
Steward Ven stepped in as Mira opened the door.
"The palace steward says that we are running out of time. If we want to have the coronation on time, we better get going." the Steward said. The palace steward. That must be the old man she met yesterday. How confusing, there were two stewards now.
"The people are already lining the streets, and we've lost three scenarios already." he continued.
"What scenarios?" Althea said, getting down.
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"Oh, you don't wear the tiara yet." he said, picking it from her head. A maid ran up to her, calming her head while glaring at Steward Ven. Althea rolled her eyes, she figured there was a crowning ritual or something.
"Come on," the Steward said. Althea followed him through the corridor and then through a secret tunnel, emerging outside the city walls.
The Steward was right, there were people on the streets. A column of carriages awaited her, the Emperor's guard and a bunch of people she did not recognize with them. Wait, there was the city lord of Marile. So these were the high-ranking government ministers of Diery.
"The servants will distribute flowers and food from the carriages, so remember to walk slowly. There are a lot of them, but there are a lot of people too. But do not stop. The coronation march is not supposed to stop once it starts, the giving food thing is Silverbirch tradition. Now go, I wanted to brief you more, but the coronation has instructions." Steward Ven instructed.
Althea nodded, she had read that piece of paper yesterday.
The Emperor's guard stood at attention as she approached, taking her place at the head of the march.
"Countess Althea Deiry approaches to take her rightful seat as Countess Guarding Diery!" the announcer announced, his voice met by boisterous approval. Not the cheering kind. The 'we're here to have fun' kind. Well, she couldn't expect to be popular with the people on the first day.
Althea stepped through the gates, taking small steps and walking slowly. The coronation march was to walk through a path marked by flowers on both sides, separating them from the people. A veritable army of maids and servants rushed out behind her, rushing towards the people on both sides.
Althea put on a smile and waved, feeling a bit awkward. At first, she did not attract much attention, the commoners were too busy taking the food. But then the gawking started. The crowd began looking at her, observing their new ruler as she walked really slowly.
The march proceeded glacially, letting her observe the city. The region near the gate had the most people, making her barely walk to allow the servants time to distribute. The region was also the most poor. The market had the second-highest population, but more eyes stayed on her. The people here weren't too interested in the food and flowers. No, they were interested in her.
Althea held her head high and walked, smiling as she waved. The crowd rarely waved back, and when they did, it was the children. The children were a delight. Smiling as she passed, taken aback by the sparkly jewels and army of servants. The march then passed through an even less posh district, just after the market.
A cleaner district with smaller and more congested houses. The people coming out were more organized here, and they seemed familiar with the servants. Was this where the servants lived? How dreary. And just as expected.
Althea kept her expression neutral, observing instead of acting. The march wasn’t the time to do anything that could be handled later. The real things happened afterward, at the coronation court. Where the populace judged her and what kind of ruler she was.
The march could technically be blocked, and she could be stopped from taking her seat, but that could only be done by another noble. And would invite the Emperor's ire. The challenge hadn't been done in over a century anyway. The march was something, imitating the new royal family's rise seven hundred years ago.
A bastard son of the Emperor had declared that he would claim the throne, which was apparently his birthright, and had marched through the city, declaring he would not stop. The old royal family failed, and there was now a new one.
Althea finally passed through that district into a nearly empty posh district. A few servants collected the gifts at the gates, but there were few observers here. The neighborhood had declared sides.
Althea sighed, sure there was some political thing she was missing. And then there was the next neighborhood. The last one before the palace. The richest. And the one most eager to meet her. The families waved, from their mansions, the picture of happy subjects.
But of course, they were the ones to be wary of the most. A large number of them got reactions from people in her entourage, particularly their families. The neighborhood of politicians.
The march finally ended and they entered the palace. As they did, Althea felt a tingling in her chest. There wasn't even a need to check what was happening, the mana was acting up again. Putting a fake smile on her face, she tried to control the mana.
The orchestra began singing. Three songs. That was what remained between her and noon. Just three songs and the final ceremony. Althea controlled the mana, practically willing it to stay apart. The mana rippled, and then sped up again. In fact, it had been accelerating the entire day, and now it was getting close as it sped up.
So Althea tried slowing it down. A mistake, the mana fought her, barely slowing down even as she concentrated. Thankfully the door was shut, or they would have seen her crunched face.
But she could not let this go on. The mana had to settle down. So she tried something else, she sped it up. The mana answered her call this time, speeding up. But she knew she would not be able to stop it next time. The mana had too much force this time.
The songs ended and the county anthem began. A coronation usually had the Empire's, but because she was a guardian of the Empire, it was the county anthem instead. Why individual counties and baronies had anthems, she did not know.
Althea walked through the main hall, observers watching her from either side. The hall was bigger than the Bern march's. But smaller than the Emperor's. A throne room, really. The entourage quickly dispersed into the thin crowd, covering barely a quarter of the hall. And even that was boosted by an abundance of guards in the corner.
Why there were three rows of guards on each side was pretty apparent. The showing was poor for a coronation. But Althea did not mind. Why would she? In the end, she was still Countess if the entire royal council attended, or if it was an empty room. Perhaps not an empty room, she needed Steward Ven to coronate her. And the mana was getting irritating.
Althea reached before him and knelt, holding her head down. Where did those instructions run off to? The mana tried to merge again, Althea impatiently stopping it. But her attempts were mere irritants to the mana now, barely pausing it. Just a few more minutes…
"In my power as Steward of the Empire and as the Emperor's representative, I hereby declare Countess Althea Diery the Countess Guarding Diery." Steward Ven announced, his tone just short of being in a hurry.
The tiara landed back on her head as Althea stood up, taking the staff from Mira, who was holding it on a pillow. The mana rolled within her, poolling together as green lines appeared around her. And then, as she turned towards the crowd and taped her staff, she broke through.