At the inn, another jug of wine was ordered by the group of young aristocrats. Considering their statuses, the group could only book a private room to have a good time. While they were having a round of a gambling game, Nima leaned over to the prince to whisper.

“Your Highness, how long have we been here?”

Khayri was not participating in the game, but he still sat at the table, legs crossed and slowly sipping his drink. Truthfully, he was bored. He was a very social person, but this was not his type of crowd. They could have had this type of meeting at any time, but they insisted on doing it during festival. It was not as if the festival was there the entire year-round.

“Lord Urien, don’t you have an appointment you’re forgetting?” Khayri asked after taking a sip from his cup.

“He can leave after one more round,” said one of the young men in a playful manner.

“It would be rude to leave in the middle of a round,” said Urien in a low voice.

The young men they were sitting with were considered elites in the capital due to their powerful families. Urien being the upstanding nobleman that he was, dared not to leave in the middle of an engagement.

Among them was even one of the most popular young gentlemen in the capital but Khayri couldn’t care less about their statuses. In fact, if he told them to act like dogs they would have to crawl and bark.

When he thought about it, why would he have to mind about leaving in the middle of some social engagement he didn’t care about? It really wasn’t as if he had some reputation he wanted to protect. Without considering that he had a higher status than all of them put together, he still had his pride.

He hadn’t left the palace to be bossed around by people he barely knew all because he was their junior by a few years. While Urien was trying to keep social graces, he should also have kept in mind that being firm and prioritizing played a large part in building one’s reputation as well.

A few moments later, Khayri pushed his chair back and stood up.

“Well gentlemen, I’d like to enjoy the festival. I’ll join in some other time.”

Since he always joked around, they sometimes forgot that Khayri was a prince and his aura at that moment exuded nothing but authority.

“I’ll meet you outside in a bit,” insisted Urien.

The young prince and his attendant walked off without bowing and not long after, one of the young men threw the cards on the table in annoyance.

“I’m not even in the mood to carry on anymore. Did you see the way that brat looked down on us even though we’re older? Did he forget our identities at this table? As if he doesn’t have the reputation in the capital of being the loafer prince.”

Due to their families and current positions of their parents, most of the young men at the table were thought to be candidates to become future government officials or at least hold some power in the country.

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“He didn’t mean to offend anyone; he just gets restless very easily,” Urien insisted.

He wasn’t too sure if they would understand the enigma that was his friend. Khayri was not the type of person to use his status unnecessarily, he frankly just didn’t care what anyone thought about him.

“Well anyway, there’s no point in us having to put up with someone who’s only third in line to be the emperor due to his birth. Normally, I think his cousins are probably better qualified for the throne putting him right at the end of the list.”

The attendants in the room either smirked or kept their heads down. They were used to all sorts of scenes and speeches. The little outburst about the imperial family was nothing shocking.

“Enver, don’t you think you’ve said enough?” slowly asked one of the young men and the chattering around the table instantly stopped even though he had barely raised his voice.

He put down his cards and patted Urien on the shoulder with a smile.

“Just go and accompany the little prince. With his temperament, someone who grew up with him will handle it better.”

“Thanks Edan, I’ll see the rest of the gentlemen some other time.”

“En, take care,” said Edan as the other bowed slightly to the rest of them before leaving.

Even if Urien tried to explain that him being friends with Khayri had nothing to do with social standing, they wouldn’t understand it. The youngest prince was barely a good example of a noble let alone an imperial prince so it was highly unlikely he could ever be anything like an emperor, but his unique personality was what made him Khayri. It was just a shame how he was misunderstood most of the time.

The girls made their way through the crowds while hand in hand going from one performance to the next. While the air was infected with the beat of taarija and the vibration of buzuq strings, there were shadow plays with the most intricate puppets and gymnasts displaying their talents on other stages.

Audiences were awed by women performing a beautiful exotic dance with large silk ribbons and knife throwers with amazing aim. A few masked performers and belly dancers merged into the crowd while performing, dancing with random members of the audience.

Before Kamaria knew it, she was grabbed by the hand and spun around by one of the performers while fragrant dried petals rained down on them. The girls joined in as they all laughed. Everything in sight and not was a feast for the senses.

The trio finally had stopped to catch their breaths near the bridge when they saw the stunning flower lanterns floating along the river. They wanted to have a closer look, so they walked along the bridge.

Kamaria took off her headdress to adjust it as it had moved with all the running and jumping around.

“My Lady, your comb,” said Lili as she bent down to pick up the pearl and diamond comb.

While Kamaria was somewhat annoyed about the situation earlier, that didn’t mean she didn’t treasure the gift. She held it in her hand after Lili had given it to her. Maybe it was best not to wear it to avoid losing it.

They continued chatting as they walked along the bridge when they suddenly heard shouts.

“He went this way!”

In another instant, someone dashed past, knocking right into her. Were it not for the railing, she would have fallen right into the water.

The impact caused her to open her hands to balance herself on the railing and the comb flew into the dark flower lamp lined water below. The other two ran to the railing.

“My lady, I see it, I see it!” shouted Raisa, pointing at one of the flower lanterns.

The comb sat next to the flame, glistening from the candlelight.

“I can’t afford to lose it after using it one time but by the time I get down there it will have floated away,” Kamaria panicked as she thought about what to do.