In Louvaros, the duke received news that the party had reached the capital a few days before without incident. Duchess Saskia continued drinking her tea as her steward relayed this information to her.
Having celebrated the public Luna festival just the night before, the family was hosting something of a banquet as most of the ruling noble houses did by tradition.
“Some women have all the luck, honestly. Just look at this beautiful daughter-in-law. My eldest is just busy running around with his friends. Hasn’t even brought home a concubine to keep me company,” said one of the older women as they were served more refreshments.
The duchess merely smiled while her daughter-in-law sipped on some tea as well.
“If only the youngest son wasn’t so stubborn. He’s a military man through and through. It will be hard to find a match for him when he has the temperament of an old man,” she insisted and subtle laughs could be heard around the table.
“Mother, should I check on the progress in the kitchen?”
“Please do Eike,” insisted the duchess after which her daughter-in-law stood up and walked away.
Eike could hardly listen to them talk about Sorin anymore, so she decided to take some time away from them and luckily the duchess had granted her the mercy.
“I’m sure you’ve been hard at work looking for a prospect,” casually mentioned the duchess’s sister-in-law. The other woman sadly nodded.
“He’s just resisting simply because he barely acknowledges me as his mother. I can’t blame him since he was so young when she left us. Of course, his current occupation hasn’t helped calm his temper.”
There were sad nods around the table. It seemed that it was no lie Sorin had a distant attitude with the family especially after the death of his mother, he then left for many years only to come back and spend most of his time serving in the army.
They felt a certain pain for the duchess who seemed as if she had everything. How could a child be so ungrateful when he still had two parents?
“All men just need a good partner who’ll be able to pacify them. Besides marriage matters are up to elders to fix, he can’t take that cold stance forever,” commented one of the other ladies.
In fact, Sorin was not an entirely perfect marriage candidate. Which noble would willingly marry their child to anyone with the nickname of Blood Wolf but his family name came with benefits for those daring enough to think about it.
The duke also had a bloody reputation on the battlefield when he was still a serving soldier and he was quite taciturn socially, but the duchess had survived just fine.
“Maybe he only seems that way on the outside. In fact, the times we’ve met he has always been quite courteous,” Lady Volk casually mentioned.
The duchess’s display of sadness at her unfilial son suddenly changed to a small smile as she turned to the lady that had just spoken.
“Is that so?”
While Eike was walking across one of the courtyards, she heard the giggling of young women. The older women had gathered in one corner of the garden and the younger crowd had also gathered on their own.
“Lady Pia, a proper lady shouldn’t take part in such activities,” said Cecily with a smile as she fixed the girl’s hair. The others only smiled at her patience with the adventurous girl.
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“I would have won, but those childish idiots chased me away because they couldn’t compete,” she insisted with an eyeroll.
She was referring to the spear fishing competition that the young men were currently engaged in. Of course, the girl’s attendant had tried to persuade her from the idea, but her Lady was stubborn.
“Big brother Sorin taught me better than anyone. Besides it’s my family’s fish. Why should they have all the fun when they’re just visitors?”
At that, the young ladies only burst out laughing and Cecily shook her head with a smile. She couldn’t remember being quite this daring when she was fourteen.
“Lord Sorin should have known better than to teach you such things,” insisted Cecily.
“Sounds like my fiancé, every time he comes back from his travels, he only teaches my brothers about new hunting methods and new weapons. I guess most men are fascinated by such things especially when they’re not scholarly. Speaking of which, the young master is still unmarried, isn’t he?”
There were excited whispers around the table at the thought of it. Pia couldn’t quite understand the sudden excitement about her brother since she didn’t think any of the young women would suit him.
“Isn’t he quite cold though and even when he goes to the Red Silk inn, there’s only one person who dares to serve him. She’s the most popular hostess though so of course she’s able to converse with anyone. Even then he never stays the night.”
Cecily quickly covered Pia’s ears, so she hadn’t heard anything past the word red. She didn’t need to hear about her brother visiting such unsavoury places even if she would know about it when she was older.
“I don’t know how Lord Sorin spends his nights but he’s an honest and nice person. He’s just not much of a talker that’s all,” insisted Cecily.
They turned to her with a renewed interest, but their questions were halted when an older servant made their way to her and whispered something to her.
“If you ladies would excuse me, Lady Pia let’s go for a walk.”
The young girl nodded, and they left hand in hand with their attendants following. Seeing how close Cecily was with the young Lady, she couldn’t be ruled out as a candidate for marrying into the family leaving some of the ladies with a certain dissatisfaction.
****
The day had arrived, and the imperial event began promptly with the soldiers donning their uniforms and carrying their banner while making their way to the palace. Closer to the palace, there were bigger crowds wanting to catch a glimpse of these visitors from far away.
Their black uniform with traces of silver and black light armour with the matching wolf banner was a stark difference to the red and gold armoured empire soldiers with their lion banner. Had there been more Louvarossy soldiers, it would have made quite an intimidating and ominous sight indeed.
Sorin looked up at the old familiar walls of the palace gate remembering how they had seemed so much taller when he was younger. Instead of being a random guest, he was now here due to his own effort, and it felt completely different.
Lower officials were all gathered outside the great palace hall, and higher officials stood in their own section of the throne room while various local higher nobles and visiting royalty had their own seats.
Starting with the crown prince and his wife, the princes and princesses all filed in according to their age. Being one of the last to come into the room, one could not help but notice Velia. Her eyes which were kept low the entire time, spoke of humility and without being gaudy her outfit was nothing short of what a princess should have been wrapped in.
The long and silky dark hair was braided down her back with silk jewelled flowers and elegant hairpins. The flawless olive skin was accentuated by a light blue dress set and a circlet of diamonds with a sapphire on the forehead.
Khayri was the last to walk in, but Kamaria was nowhere to be seen. After they stood by their seats at the front, their mothers also came in while the last grand entrance was reserved for the emperor.
Each attendant stood behind the seat of the person they served. Khayri was about to send Nima to enquire about his youngest sister’s whereabouts when they were distracted by the crowd all collectively paying their respects to the emperor.
Before he could make a move about the missing princess, he saw her approaching from the side doors used by the servants leading to the throne area which made her entrance unnoticeable.
He couldn’t help but do a double take before making sure it was indeed Kamaria then turned to Nima who also shrugged, equally stunned.
Due to the position of the seats, no one had noticed her entrance except him. When they sat down, she subtly kept her white feather fan up throughout the opening of the ceremony.