Part 46

                                    

                                          

I glance at the leaving princes and my annoyance at Prince Circe makes me not want to talk to them. But gaining any sort of knowledge on the attack would be really useful. I don't want anyone to get hurt. 
I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and walk briskly up to them.
"Excuse me!" I call out, they turn to look at me. 
"Yes?" Prince Astric gestures to his attendants to stop. He looks to me for a response. Oh Shoot. Um um.
"Will you be attending the mock competition we're hosting in the afternoon? The real one will be tomorrow, but we're holding a mock one to test for any potential problems." I invite them to the mock competition. Any way to get them to stay longer will be a chance to collect any information that could be important!
"Mock competition? A competition will be held at the Elden Welcoming Ball?" Prince Astric looks confused.
"Yes, there will be a horse riding competition tomorrow after the greetings. There are also prizes for the winners of the competition." I nod.
"A horse riding competition? I didn't hear anything about that! How do you know that there's a horse riding competition?!" Prince Circe exclaims.
"It was created last minute. And I'm the one that organized it." I did my own smirk. Both of the princes look at me, incredulous.
"What, you created a horse riding competition to be presented at the Welcoming Ball? You have permission to do that?" Prince Circe raises his eyebrow. 
"Yeah. I'm friends with the royal family." I say haughtily.
"Hmph. I wouldn't have peg Prince Caelum to be friend with someone like you." He says.
"What's it to you? I'm not friends with him anyways, I'm friends with Prince Orion." I corrected him.
"Prince Orion? That wimpy prince?" Price Circe ponders.
"Oh! Is Lady Annelise, Prince Orion's fiance? I remember one of the dukes' daughters is engaged to the royal family's son." Prince Astric realizes.
"You? You're engaged to the Elden prince?" Price Circe is shocked.
"...At a point in time." I don't know if I should tell them the truth. King Drayden did tell us that the engagement won't be broken till the end of the ball.
"What? What a weird way to say that." Prince Circe says.
"So will there be horses and riding gear for people to use for the competition? I would believe that many if not all the guests invited did not prepare for a horse riding competition." Prince Astric asks.
"Yes, any equipment and horses are provided by the royal family. We also arranged servants and a stableman for each guest." I answered.
"I see. How accommodating. Unfortunately, we can not attend the mock competition today. We have many things to do before the ball." Prince Astric declines.
"...I see. May I ask what?" Come on, give me something!
"...Many things. We have to first visit our sister, who we miss quite a bit. We haven't seen her since she left to discuss the peace treaty." Price Astric sidesteps my question. Well, I didn't expect them to tell me straightly.
"Yeah, we need to know how you guys are treating her! There's no way she's happy here. You guys must be treating her terribly! I don't know why she thinks this is a good thing." Prince Circe declares.
"Why else would we be coming to this stupid ball anyways? Who cares about the return of a prince? What about the damages and destruction the war caused?" Prince Circe voices out his frustrations.
"..Sorry for your loss." I realized how awkward it is for the opposing side to be invited to their enemy's celebration.
"...It's nothing." Prince Circe mumbles, looking away.
"The Elden Welcoming Ball is not just to celebrate Elden's success but also to bring harmony for both sides," Henry speaks up. 
We turn to look at him. It feels like the Vendia princes had ignored Henry's existence till now. I guess because he looks like my attending knight? His good looks certainly don't reflect that tho!
"..Who are you?" Prince Circe scrutinizes Henry. His eyes flash as he realizes Henry's godly features.
"...wah.. Handsome.." His deepest thoughts leak out. Yeah, I know. I glance over at Prince Astric. He seems to have noticed Henry earlier but didn't acknowledge him. I guess this guy is sharper than his younger brother.
"...and you might be?" Prince Astric asks.
"Henry, second commander of the Thornweathers." Henry bows, giving a simple introduction. His elegance is not masked under the shine of the two princes, in fact, it is only more heightened because of the differences in the princes' youthfulness and Henry's veteran experiences.
"A commander. And one of the four major Dukedoms. You must be a skilled knight." Prince Astric analyzes.
"But not as good as you, right brother?" Prince Circe chirps.
"Who knows." Prince Astric slightly smiles, the corners of his eyes are slightly wrinkled, creating the strange feeling of power with gentleness.
"But, Sir Henry does give a point. This celebration is meant to foster and restore relations with Vendia and Elden." Prince Astric returns to Henry's previous comment.
"Whatever. I don't think it will be that enjoyable. Who wants to fake it with a bunch of prissy nobles." Prince Circe brushes off his brother's remark.
Woah woah woah. These words from royalty?
"Wow." I couldn't help but exclaim. 
"What, you thought everyone was actually nice? They're just a bunch of fakers." Prince Circe says proudly. Uh, I wasn't actually. Also, should you be saying this to me? A duke's daughter?
"..."
"...Regardless of my brother's remarks, we are here to foster relations of peace, and knowledge about the land next to us is always useful." Prince Astric says. He pats his younger brother on the shoulder.
"..Anyways, let us go. We should go and see how our sister is." He drags his brother along. Their attendants scurry along with them.
We watch them disappear into the long hallway. Their silver hair glimmered in the sunlight.
They..., the Vendia princes were different than I imagined. Are they actually siscons and are they even capable of planning something as dangerous as a coup?