Chapter 79: Royal party
1906 Words
The day had come, the day of the royal party. The party was dedicated to the heroes who fought very hard against the monsters attacking the city two weeks ago. It is supposed to be impossible for a commoner like myself to be invited to such a luxurious event. The only reason I’m here is that I’m about to get a heroic award from the kingdom for the bravery I showed on the battlefield.
To be honest, I’m only after the reward.
No matter what people say. Money is still money.
Riding a carriage together with Aster seating opposing to mine. My outfit was a stunning yellow dress with a white underlining color. Cute frills and elegant, simplistic style.
Even though I said it was simple. Wearing this beautiful dress and looking at myself in the mirror. I barely recognized myself.
I look like a noble lady.
My skincare and body care paid off.
To girls, appearance is everything after all. I don’t want to look stupid in front of the crowd.
“Are you feeling nervous, Hanayuki?”
“No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No, No…”
“How many ‘No’ Are you going to tell me? Take a deep breath and clap your hand strongly.”
I followed her instructions to calm myself down.
“Do you feel relief?”
“Kinda… I’m nervous because the people at the party are all important people, right? If I did something wrong, it might cost my head. I’ll behave myself and just curl myself in the corner.”
I said.
“Hahahaha… Curling yourself in the corner of the hall would make you stand out. Don’t think too much, it will only hinder your action. True, there are lots of people in the royal party in the three royal houses.”
Three royal houses. The three families with the highest standing in the whole kingdom of Arsland. The family of Vermillion, The family of Redgrave, and the family of the king, Archangel. For hundreds of years, this family was the one ruling the entire nation after the goddess disappeared after the demon king's raid.
There are also rumors that most of them are scumbags that only think for themselves. The most corrupted family of them all was the family of Vermillion.
While killing some time in Aster’s mansion. I often go to her library to read. Vermillion has a huge shady backstory in how they obtain their royal status. They're just royalty because they force themselves to become one. After the demon king and the sword demon’s ruling.
100 years ago, another war ignited. It was called the human war. The humans pledge war to each other by overtaking land. Expanding their territories. The war made no hint of the end, but when evil incarnate appeared, destroying a whole continent. The wind changes. The three families join forces, creating allies to destroy the evil incarnate.
There is no data about the evil incarnate being tracked down or defeated. The evil incarnate is forgotten in history and is now just a folk story told to scare off children.
“We’re here, Lady Aster.”
Sebastian said, opening the door.
Stepping out, a red carpet is waiting for us. I wonder if it's fine to step on it.
I have to act normally and with dignity.
I can’t embarrass Aster.
I started walking behind Aster when I accidentally stepped on my long skirt. My vision goes down and my head knocks on the ground with a “Thud”
“Urg!”
“Hanayuki… Are you okay?”
Aster offered her hand to help.
“Don’t worry, I just hurt my nose a little.”
“ Your nose is bleeding! Gotta heal you.”
“Don’t worry, I have already trained myself… Look… Heal.”
The bleeding has stopped and I’m back to normal. Aster was impressed that I could now use healing magic.
On the side, the other people who saw me falling smirked and funnily looked at me.
Seems like they did enjoy my funny act. I have a talent for being a comedian.
Being angry with them will only call for a useless fight. It was better to just ignore them and keep moving forward.
The moment I walked again. I stepped on my long skirt and fell. Making my nose bleed again. The crowd then burst into laughter.
I do have a future in comedy.
…
Entering the royal hall, I never thought I'd be able to go inside such a wide place in my entire life. The hall is as big as done. Placed on the table was an incredible amount. Various dishes I never saw before.
But only one dish is the apple of my eye.
“Wow! Fried chicken!”
I yelled as I took the plate and put a generous amount of chicken legs on my plate.
This is all free, it's fine to go all out.
“Despite your size, you do eat a lot, Hanayuki.”
“Sure… I love eating.”
“Oh, you also love eating… Hi, my name is Mimosa Redgrave. Nice meeting you.
A big woman spoke, walking with two trays of food in her hand. Speaking nicely to me.
“... If you like eating… I know lots of desserts. Please join me in my manor. I think we’ll have an understanding… By the way, what kind of family are you from?”
A Redgrave invited me. One of the royal families.
Royalties are considered scumbags, but there are few nice ones like hers in the castle.
“Sure… My name is Hanayuki Travel.”
“Travel... It's my first time to hear your name.”
“I don’t have any last name… I just use travel because I’m a traveler. But in my documents, it's all Hanayuki Travel, including my Adventurer card…”
“...”
She became silent and out of the blue, she pushed me with a disgusted expression on her face.
“How dare you talk to me?! Commoner!”
Her attitude shifted all of a sudden. Revealing her ugly color.
Calling me suddenly a commoner.
Pushing me, some fried chicken dropped on the floor from my plate.
Have some respect for the food.
Her fat is as thick as her makeup. Ugly and bad personality. This woman is the worst. I want to punch her face.
Before I did.
Aster stopped me and just made me face in another direction. She pushed me so that I wanted to do something that I might regret in the future.
“What is that fat-ass problem?”
“Just ignore her… There are plenty of people like her at this party. Just behave and after the reward, we go home. I also dislike mixing up with these arrogant roles.”
“Hello Aster, I can see that you are a new party member.”
A woman with long brown hair talked to us. I composed myself just in case she was the same as the fatty earlier.
“She is not my party member… She is my friend, Hanayuki. She is one of the adventurers who is brave to face the monsters and demons invading the city.”
“She’s quite a cutie… If you don’t like Aster, you can join my party. By the way, I’m Asuna… Huh? You don’t like a handshake.”
“Royalties don’t like commoners…” I muttered.
“She met a royal earlier and she got pushed away,” Aster whispered into Asuna’s ear.
“I understand… That’s why she is so wary. Don’t worry, I’m not royalty. I’m Asuna the scythe power. I might be powerful, but I’m living as a commoner with my family.”
“Asuna is a mother with one child already.”
“So young… How old are you?”
“You can guess…”
“23?”
“So nice to hear that… I look like 23 years old… I feel younger.”
Asuna giggles.
That means she is older than 23.
“Some people don’t age that much,” I said.
“Hanayuki just look in the mirror. I believe you're the same way.”
I wished to look more mature. I don’t want to be petite forever.
“Where are the other powers?”
“They’ll be here soon…”
I’m going to meet the other powers like Aster. I’m excited about meeting new people.
“There is only one representative from the king… It was the failure princess... Princess Alicia Archangel.”
“The failure princess. She should just kill herself… She is the daughter of another man after all. The queen is such a slut.”
“There is no place for her on the throne… What a loser?”
“A duke is interested in her… A 72-year-old duke who likes little girls. Disgusting… But it's her only way to stay in royalty status.”
I heard gossip behind my back.
Taking interest in the girl in question.
The girl, I mean, princess Alicia Archangel, is now standing with her head bowed down looking melancholic. Plenty of men are approaching her talking, but she is not muttering a single word.
This event seemed a bit difficult for her too.
But are they sure she’s another man’s child? Her magical power is huge. At the same level as Aster, I think.
She is royalty indeed.
“Sorry for the wait the future owner of the throne is here!”
A man claimed loudly as he enter the party with his followers behind his back.
“Who is that weirdo?”
“Its prince Zenon Vermillion… He is a prince but he's not the one next in line to the throne. He's a self-proclaimed attention seeker.”
Asuna said and stabbed her fork into the meat as if she was having deep anger.
“He's the most arrogant and cruel royal… He has an extreme crush on Princess Yusael. If Yusael married him, he'd be the one on the throne, but that is quite impossible because Yusael has a's name, William Vermillion. Cousin of Zenon… I feel bad for Zenon shaming himself through his actions.”
Aster added.
This is a love phenomenon they call the Love triangle.
“... Also Asuna…”
“Don’t say anything, Aster… I’ll kill that bastard when I have got some time.”
Asuna stabs her fork again into the pork and has a bite.
She sure hates the man.
Zenon, while walking, stopped in front of me. He paused and looked at me with glaring eyes.
“This is discomforting… Why are you here?”
“Me? I’m here to get my reward.” I replied.
We stared into the eyes of each other. Not romantically, but something like an archenemy type of thing.
He's still angry should I bow my head or something…
(0.0005 seconds passed.)
“Stop… Zenon, you’re dishonoring our family.”
Zenon’s fist is already in front of my face. On my right side, a tall man grabs Zenon’s arms before they hit my face.
“William.”
Zenon took his arm away from William and still, he had an intense glare at me before leaving.
- Writer
