761 NE-07-26

            Tonight was the party in the palace…Yesterday was  .Which I knew the truth all of what I had experienced, especially the transmutation…I didn’t know I possessed that power for these entire years. When I asked Adel and Lady Octavi about teaching me the transmutation, they refused to become my mentor of it. Instead, they wanted me to learn it from my mother…Yet, they offered some willingful to teach me to hold swords. To learn it from my mother surely would be different. 

            Even though the party was in five hours, Adel was already doing some preparation for me…She took me to the bath, and was taking bath me, which I was always doing it alone, but this time she was doing it for me. After finished the bath, she brought me back to my room, to choose dress. I told Adel to choose dress where the colour was the opposite of the colour of the crown prince’s dress. Then, she chose the black dress again, because the crown prince always wore white dress. 

            This was my first time attending a party, as I remembered. Yet, someone told me that I had attended a party; it was my debut party when I was twelve years old…Because it was my first time attending a party, I asked Lady Octavi to come beside me at the party.

            I was surprised to find out, Lady Octavi didn’t wear a dress or gown, instead she was wearing a man attire like a military uniform. Three hours before the party, she started to teach me about the manners in the party. She had taught me the basic manners, so it was   . Next, she did a rehearsal of dance with me. Before we started the dance rehearsal, she told me,

            “Let me become the lead of the dance, my lady..”

            So we started the rehearsal; like she had said, she became the lead, and I just followed her steps…While we were dancing, she said,

            “Your dress actually make you easy to move, my lady…”

            We finished the rehearsal of dancing, and she said to me,

            “The crown prince should be the lead of the dance, so my lady shouldn’t worry about the dance…Just follow his steps…”

            A few moments later, a knock on the door and the news could be heard: the crown prince had arrived…

            I came to downstairs. In front of me, he immediately grabbed my hand, and show some affection into my hand with a kiss. I just let it, and I didn’t see any other woman in his current entourage. When he met me seven years ago, he brought Lady Anna in his entourage.

            “Shall we go there now, Aurelia?” He offered his hand for me to hold it. 

            I said “Sure..“ I ignored his hand, which he wanted me to hold. I just walked toward the entrance, 

            In front of the house, there was the royal carriage with six men wearing full plates of mail and their horses around the carriage. I could see their blue robe behind them; it meant they were the blue order, like Milo. I went into the carriage. Fabian was sitting beside me, while Milo and Lady Octavi were in front of us. On the trip, I kept silent…There were no single words inside the carriage.

            The carriage stopped, and a few seconds later, the door was opened by one of the guards..At once, Milo and Lady Octavi went out first, followed by Fabian. Again, Fabian wanted to show some affection towards me by lending his hand to me, and I was about to get off the carriage. I ignored his affection for me and just got off the carriage without any help. Especially, my dress was not so big like what I had worn seven years ago, when I was 15 years old, so it made it easy to move..

            As I stepped out of the carriage, I was looking around; there was no other carriage in front of the palace. We walked inside the palace. We were walking with Fabian beside me, followed by Milo and Lady Octavi behind us, but there were the four guards from the six still escorting us inside the palace.

            I asked Fabian,

            “Is this type of escort really that necessary?”

            Fabian answered, “For safety…”

            “What about Milo? Is he not capable enough for you, that you need additional guards?”

            “Well sometimes, you need to be prepared…”

            From a distance, I could see a door with two guards. Instead of going to the door, we turned right…

            “Why we turned right? Not entered from that door?” asked me.

            “That door is just for the normal guests…We will enter the room with another entrance.” answered Fabian.

            “Another entrance?”

            Finally we arrived to another door, it was much bigger, taller, and extravagant than the previous door. In front of the door, the four guards immediately dispersed…The two guards of the door didn’t open the door immediately. We kept standing there, 

            Again he offered his right arm to me; he wanted me to hold his arm. I ignored it…

            “Is there something in your mind? That makes you ignore everything from me.” asked Fabian.

            “If your royal highness wants to receive my affection, surely, your royal highness needs to look to the past of yours.”

            “What these pa—”

            Immediately, the door opened…

            “The door was opened, your royal highness…Surely, we don’t want everyone waiting for us…”

            We entered the ballroom, as we stepped in. There was an announcement of our arrival in the ballroom, “His Royal Highness, The Crown Prince of Fotia, Fabian Julius has arrived,      with his partner, The Eldest Daughter of Aurelius Family, Duke of Florence, Aurelia Aurelius…”

            Immediately, all the eyes were on us…The music suddenly stopped…Fabian led me to the centre of the ballroom, or the dance floor. While Fabian and I were walking to the centre of the ballroom or the dance floor, Milo and Lady Octavi were standing on the side of the dance floor..All of the eyes that were looking at me reminded me of my nightmare. Yet I wanted to overcome that nightmare. We stepped our foot on the dance floor, and at once, every guest on the dance floor stepped aside from it. It was just Fabian and me on the dance floor.

            The music at once started to play, and Fabian offered his hand to me. I grabbed his hand, and immediately he led the dance…While we were dancing on the dance floor, Fabian asked me,

            “I want to ask you about earlier, what do you mean by looking at my past, Aurelia?”

            “It is not my obligation to tell you about it, your royal highness…” said me.

            “You can’t cut the honorific of me…just call me by my name.”

            I ignored it and we kept dancing on the dance floor. Again, he asked me,

            “Is there anything from me to you, to you open for me?”

            “If your royal highness wants my affection and my gratitude towards you, again you need to look at your own past…”

            “You need to tell me about it, Aurelia…”

            “*sigh* Okay then, I am a little bit disappointing and angry to you…”

            The music kept playing, and our dance kept going.

            “Disappointing and angry? Am I really doing something to you?” said him.

            I was disbelief and confused, why did he say that? 

            “Is your royal highness playing dumb? Please forgive me about my words..” said me.

            “Genuie, I don’t have any clue about it…”

            “Does your highness aware about the rumor that circulating around you, this seven years?”

            “A rumor about me? 

            For a second, I didn’t know to believe his words, that he didn’t aware or know about the rumor about him with Lady Anna, or he was just playing with me…

            The music stopped, and we ended our dancing. Again, Fabian held my hand and kissed it…We left the dance floor, and Lady Octavi was waiting for me with drinks in both of her hands. She brought the drinks to us..I drank it.

            Immediately, a lot of nobles came to us to greet us. They introduced themselves and started to praise our dancing, our matching outfits, or everything about us..Every five or ten seconds, another noble would come to do the same thing. I was just smiling…Until Lady Hillaria and Lady Clara came to us, they greeted and praised us like the other nobles. Then, Lady Clara said to me,

            “Lady Aurelia, can I have a favor from you?”

            “Favor? What is that?”

            Suddenly she leaned her head towards my face, “Can I have a shake hand from Lady Octavi?”

            “If it’s just that…Sure…” I waved at Lady Octavi to come here beside me. I told her, that Lady Clara wanted to have a shake hand from her. Lady Octavi raised his hand, and Lady Clara immediately shaked her hand..Her face was so happy, that she had a shake hand from her…

            It turned of Lady Hillaria, she asked, “Can I have a favor from you too, Lady Aurelia??”
            “What is that?”

            “Can you let Lady Octavi have a spar with me?”

            I immediately answered, “NO…”

            Her face was so sad to hear that.

            They moved out from us…

            After some minutes, greeting some nobles, all of them had been greeted to us…I found out all of the nobles in this ballroom were viscounts, counts, and marquesses. There weren’t duke or son of duke or daughter of duke, or maybe it was just only me with the peerage rank of duke in this ballroom. Where were all the eight dukes? I wondered if the absence of the other dukes was a deliberate choice or merely a coincidence. It seemed unusual for such a prestigious event to be lacking in ducal presence. 

            Out of the blue, the music had stopped, and the atmosphere of the ballroom became quiet. An announcement could be heard; it was the announcement of the queen's arrival. She arrived on the balcony of the ballroom. It was only the announcement of the queen; it meant the king was still absent from the throne. She was looking around, and our eyes met. I saw her showing me a smile.

            She started her speech on the balcony of the ballroom, “Glory for our kingdom…In here, in this pary, I want to share a great news for our kingdom. The news is about the crown prince of this kingdom……

            I suddenly felt like I knew what she was going to say... 

            She continued, “As we can see right now, our kingdom is built in truss between each other…So make the truss better, we, royal family offers the betrothal of the crown prince, Fabian to the Aurelius Family, its eldest daughter Aurelia Aurelius….

            At once, everyone's eyes were on me again…

            “Hope in this betrothal, our kingdom trusses between each other become more and more solid and stronger, making the kingdom more prosperous, than before…This union will not only strengthen the bond between our families but also ensure the stability and prosperity of our kingdom for generations to come....Let us all embrace this betrothal with hope and excitement for a brighter future together." The room erupted in applause, signaling the unanimous support for this alliance. 

            Our betrothal was being public just like that…I asked, whispering Lady Octavi beside me,

            “Can they make this bethroral public without any consent of my family?”
            “I believe not, my lady..” replied her with whispering.

            “And why the queen easily make it public?”

            “I believe it’s her plan to start jealousy…”

            “Jealousy?”

            “Remember, the rumor about Lady Anna and the crown prince…maybe with that rumor still circulating around the kingdom, this bethoral will become an obstacle to them, and blame will be on Aurelius family, for obstructing their relationship…”

            “I see, but the crown prince himself said he don’t know about the rumor around him..”
            “That’s weird, my lady…”

            “I found it weird too, maybe he is playing with me, right now..”
            “Surely, he is…My lady needs to be careful right now, with the announcement of the bethroral surely some faction will start to targeting you, whether harrasing you or trying to convince you to join their faction…”

            “Thanks for the advice…”