[Luke POV]
During the times when I was not sleeping in the garden beside the statue of my mother, I attended tea parties that nobles invited me to. It was something I rarely did even when I was living in the palace but Orwell insisted that I did.
“You need to make friends, your Highness. Or at least maintain a talking relationship with them, this would allow Neverwinter to do trade in their territories.”
At first, I was adamantly against it but he kept pestering me so I folded in the end. I guess I can meet her too.
So for a few days now I have been attending tea parties of people around my age. However, I often feel awkward when people just keep silent and not talk to me. Maybe it’s because their families are part of my brothers’ factions making them hesitate to talk to me.
I feel kinda sad… I hope I can meet her at the next tea party.
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[At A Certain Tea Party in a Duke’s Mansion]
“So I met His Highness yesterday!”
“Me too! His eyes were very beautiful!”
“I asked my dad to propose an engagement with him!”
“I should have talked with him…”
“It’s a shame my dad didn’t allow me to be in the same tea party as His Highness…”
“How about you Lady Elizabeth have you met His Highness?”
“...”
“Lady Elizabeth?”
“I’m sure she has, she’s His Highness’s childhood friend!”
“..!”
“That’s amazing Lady Elizabeth!”
“I want to invite him to my tea party next time too!”
“May we know what snacks he prefers?”
“...”
“Shut up.”
“Lady?”
“Shut up.”
“L-lady Elizabeth?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“SHUT UP!”
That day an entire table was flipped with magic.
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[Luke POV]
“The tailor shops in the capital have declined to deliver the clothing we ordered your Highness.”
“I thought you would handle it, Orwell?”
“I know, but I can’t do anything if they keep declining to deliver it, Miss Cynthia.”
“You assured us that you’d get it on time Orwell!”
“It’s fine Orwell, I can just wear my old clothes.”
“You can’t your Highness! Everyone knows you’ve worn those in the recent tea parties.”
“Calm down Cynthia, it’s no big deal.”
“It is your Highness, the first day of the New Year Ball is a time to show a noble’s prestige, you will be a laughing stock,” Orwell spoke.
“What should we do now?”
“We should take a delivery from Neverwinter.”
“Rejected, the party is in 7 days, just delivering from Neverwinter takes two weeks by boat.”
“I should have prepared contingency for this…”
“It’s going to be okay Cynthia.”
“But what are we going to do?”
“Orwell go to tailor shops nearby and check if they have a set close to my size check in Willow too, Cynthia can just modify it instead.”
In this world, men wear intricate sets of clothes often having multiple layers and details. That is why tailoring them alone takes a week. Even if Orwell gets a tailor shop to sell a set of clothes for me, I can’t even be sure if it’ll be the right color or in season.
I don’t mind reusing my clothes but Orwell is right, it could tarnish not just my name but the merchants and the town associated with me.
Orwell left the palace as I prepared some stuff as well.
Plan B.
Cynthia looks mad. I held her hands and looked into her eyes.
“Everything will be fine Cynthia.”
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I gathered the materials I needed. Diamonds, graphene, wood, and some old clothes of mine. I wanted something that was not too complicated, so I settled on a modern white suit. After drawing it I tried using magic to make it.
“I had some practice with making armor one by one. I'll make it all at once this time.”
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{def Fabric()
Type: Clothing
Threading Materials…
Weaving Process…
Failure detected…
Diamond properties incompatible… tensile weakness…
"In that case, I'll just use diamonds as buttons and other decorations..."
Warning… user mana inadequate to complete spell…
"That's weird... it shouldn't require that much mana..."
Initiating mana absorption process…
Reinitiating threading…
"Wait... what's happening-"
Weaving…
Raw material complete… warning… stress detected…
Accessing the cerebral cortex… not enough memory…
Warning process is too complex… terminating…
“Your Highness!”
Manual override… complete…
Atmospheric and User mana overlap... 0.41%...
Overclocking… consciously processing 120 bits per second… warning!
Overload! Overload! Overload!…
Force termination… performing force regeneration…
Report... Detected irreparable damage... 4%
Time elapsed… 524,332,678 ms}
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"Doc, he's in V-fib! We're losing him!"
"Code Blue!"
The urgency in their voices cut through the haze. I squinted against the blinding overhead lights, trying to make sense of the figures moving around me. They were dressed in scrubs, their faces masked and eyes focused.
I could hear the rapid beeping of monitors and the rhythmic hiss of a ventilator. The air was thick with the scent of antiseptic. Hands pressed firmly on my chest, delivering chest compressions, while others prepared the defibrillator.
"Charging to 200!"
"Clear!"
A jolt surged through my body, and the world momentarily darkened. As my vision returned, I caught glimpses of the medical team working frantically, their movements precise and practiced.
"Still in V-fib! Charging again!"
"Clear!"
Another shock. My consciousness ebbed and flowed with each pulse, the lights above blinding yet somehow distant. The edges of my vision began to blur, the sounds around me growing muffled.
"Come on, stay with us!"
The voices faded into a distant echo as darkness encroached from the corners of my vision. The last thing I saw was the determined look in the doctor's eyes, and then everything went black. If living hurts this much then I don’t want it.