*People clamoring*

"Yes! I passed!"

"Where's my name?! Why can't I see it?!"

"Whew, thought I wouldn't get in."

There's a lot of people crowding around the notice board of the grand hall, there is a mixed bag of emotions from the crowd. I squeezed my way through the crowd and looked for the temporary name that the knight commander has appointed me, at the lists on the notice board.

*Few minutes later*

[175. Z1]

I passed. I walked to the entrance of the grand hall after confirming that I'm included in the knighthood ceremony. As I was getting near the entrance, I noticed a man in robes carrying a bunch of scrolls rush into me from the side without looking in his direction. When he was close to crashing into me, I grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"Oh! Ah, sorry for not looking at the front, I was preoccupied with something in my mind."

The man in robes said as he scratches the back of his head and nodding a bit.

I nodded back once and continued my way to the entrance.

As I got to the entrance, two royal guards stood in front of me.

"Halt! Please state your name."

"Z1."

The guard on the right looked at the paper he was holding and after a few seconds, he nodded on the guard beside him.

"You may enter the grand hall, take this badge and sit beside that knight candidate in the bottom left corner."

The guard on the left said as he handed me a knight's badge.

I then nodded and entered the grand hall, walking towards my seat. As I entered the grand hall, I saw lots of seats from the ground and balconies at the sides, while a large red carpet is placed in the middle, starting from the entrance up to the stage at the front where there are five adorned chairs, which I think is for the royal family. There's a lot of knight candidates sitting in rows, divided into four corners in the middle part of the grand hall. Those who are sitting at the front are of noble origins or outstanding fame, while those who are at the back are just considered average among the candidates or of poor origins. In the balconies, the nobles are sitting and observing the knight candidates. There are also a lot of knights standing still at the sides, seemingly guarding and waiting for the knight commander at the front of the stage to give out an order. 

I finally arrived at my seat and as I sat down, the knight candidate beside me suddenly greeted me with a smile on his face.

"Hi there! Name's Rudolf!"

Rudolf is a pretty tall guy, around 6'2 tall. He has a brown skin and eyes, with a large scar on his left cheek to the edge of his jaw. He seems to be a really talkative and jolly person, which I honestly don't feel like associating with.

"Z1."

"That's a pretty unique name!" 

I just nodded at him and looked at the front, ignoring his follow up words.

---------------------

*An hour later*

(Young Princess' POV)

"Your Royal Highness, the knighthood ceremony is about to start, it's time to go."

"Wait I forgot to take something."

I ran towards my drawer and took a special hourglass out of it, putting it into my pocket.

"Done!"

"Let's go."

I walked alongside a royal knight after I got out of my room. the maids were bowing to me as we passed by them. After we got out of the castle, a carriage was awaiting us at the front. I entered and sat in the carriage along with the royal knight escorting me, and after we close the door, the carriage then started moving.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Around 15 minutes later, we finally arrived at the back of the grand hall, where an entrance only for the grand knight, royal family, and those who are directly serving them are allowed to enter, is seen. We entered the grand hall and saw my parents, King Ramiel and Queen Esther, and my two brothers, Prince Sam and Prince Toriel, standing in the back of the stage, seemingly waiting for me to arrive.

"You're almost late Ciel"

"Sorry mother, I was working on something earlier."

"It's fine, just always be wary of the time. Also, don't forget the etiquettes later."

"Let's go, it's time for us to appear."

"""Yes Your Majesty."""

We said as we bowed to my father. We then moved to the front of the stage, appearing to the knights and nobles, who instantly stood up and bowed to us. After we got in front of our seats, my father didn't sit and raised his right hand, ordering everyone to finally sit.

The ceremony finally started and the nobles then one by one go down and knighted the knight candidates they had an agreement with or picked from those who didn't have any arrangements. I looked around the knight candidates and no one piqued my interest until I saw one plain stoic-looking man at the back.

I'm going to take this man as my personal knight. I decided right away in my mind. I just somehow felt that the man has something special within him and he's also at one of the last row of knight candidates at the back which would mean he's seen as an average candidate or of poor origin, which I honestly like because I don't feel like associating myself with the nobility regarding my upcoming plan. I then called the royal knight who was accompanying me earlier.

"Dan, please tell the knight commander to keep that man from getting knighted by other nobles."

I pointed the candidate I'm interested on as I said that.

"Yes Your Royal Highness."

"Thanks Dan!"

"It is my privilege to be of help, Your Royal Highness"

Dan then walked towards the knight commander and told him my order. The knight commander had a confused face for a second and then nodded to Dan.

Time passed by, and the knight candidates at the middle got fewer and fewer. The nobles are finally done appointing their knights, it was finally time for us in the royal family to knight the candidates that we would like to serve us, if ever there's one. Almost everyone in the grand hall is anticipating this part.

"Z1, come forth and kneel before His Majesty, the King, and Her Majesty, the Queen."

The knight commander called forward Z1 to start the knighting.

"Z1, do you swear and acknowledge Her Royal Highness, Princess Ciel Wilhelm to be your true and lawful liege?"

"I do so swear."

"Do you also swear fealty to His Majesty, King Ramiel Wilhelm, to defend and obey him until he depart the throne, or death shall take you?"

"I so swear."

I stood up from my seat and goes to Z1. The knight commander then continued.

"Repeat after me, I, Z1, do solemnly swear and pledge my sword to Her Royal Highness, Princess Ciel Wilhelm, my liege, to defend and obey her until she depart her demesnes or death shall take me, and to uphold the honor of knighthood."

"I, Z1, do solemnly swear and pledge my sword to Her Royal Highness, Princess Ciel Wilhelm, my liege, to defend and obey her until she depart her demesnes or death shall take me, and to uphold the honor of knighthood."

Z1 repeated as he faces himself to me.

"And I, for my part, do swear to defend and honor Z1 as befits a true knight."

I then received a sword from Dan after I said my line. I already noticed that the man in front of me only has a temporary name, so before I do the last part of the knighting, I asked him.

"Do you have a name that you want?"

"I don't Your Royal Highness, please call me whatever you think fits me."

This guy is oddly interesting. I wasn't prepared for this scenario and is also not good at appointing names, so I racked by brain for a while, thinking of what I should call him. After a minute, I finally settled to a name, feeling relieved in my mind.

"Then from now, you should be called Ren."

"Thank you, Your Royal Highness."

I tapped both of his shoulders lightly with the sword.

"I hereby appoint Sir Ren. Take my sword to your side, and serve and protect me well. Arise, Sir Knight."

I said as I gave my sword to Ren, who stood up after I finished. I then walked towards to my father alongside Dan and Ren.

"Your Majesty. Can I go outside for a while with my personal knight?"

"Sure Ciel, but return right before the knighting ceremony ends."

"Yes Your Majesty."

Finally done with this ceremony, I'm not really fond of this formal stuff. 

I walked outside the grand hall with Ren and walked to a bench just at the side of the grand hall. I looked around to see if there's anyone nearby, and after I confirmed that there wasn't anyone. I finally sat down and signaled Ren to also sit.

"There's something I want to give you."

I grabbed my special hourglass in my pocket and gave it to Ren.

"It's a special hourglass that is made in accord to my lifespan, the sand only falls to one side even if you turn it upside down. I actually have a curse since childbirth, which shortened my lifespan until exactly a year after from now. My parents tried to find a cure for it, but to no avail. They wanted my condition to be kept secret so only I, my family, and now you, knows about it. Keep the hourglass."

"Yes Your Majesty."

Ren nodded and put the hourglass in his pocket.

"By the way, you can just call me Ciel."

"Is it allowed?"

"I actually don't know, no one has called me that yet except my family. I also haven't tried to tell someone to call me that. Just call me 'my lady' when we're inside this capital city then."

"When we're inside here?"

Ren showed a tiny bit of confusion from his stoic-looking face. I was pretty surprised and somewhat excited seeing him finally have a change in expression. I then answered his question.

"Yes, we're going to embark on an adventure!"