the kiah

chapter 4 : the debut party

The zosia family was given rooms get ready for the ball. As the official meeting in the throne room and the ceremonial rituals demanded different clothes than the ball they had no choice but to get ready again and again.
Ailith arrived in her designated room with the maids assigned to her by the royal palace and maids from zosia house. Her belongings were already placed in the room including the gifts she recieved from the royal family today. Under the watchful eyes of the maids, ailith opened the gift boxes. They included gold, jewelry and dresses. Typical gifts for a maiden her age. Ailith didnt bother about thwm and opened the biggest box that was remaining. Her eyes widened before narrowing in suspicion then went back to her indifference.
The last box contained books and scrolls and they were not on skills such as embroidery rather they were on politics, maps, history and other subjects.
It was probably the emperor, he was hoping for her to become the crown princess or either marry any of the prince. The emperor wasnt aware of her skillset, he did not know about her at all but he had an inkling about her being different and hence wanted to tie her down using marriage so that she doesnt become a danger to the throne. Heh! As if!
"milady the water for your bath is ready" one of the maids spoke. She was a palace maid, ailith nodded and under their guidance took a bath and got ready for her debut ball.
The maids did not notice her thoughts at all. They merely saw a young lady who was still growing behaving like a proper adult and not gloating about being preferred by the royals and being proud of having a chance to become the crown princess.
This earned ailith their respect. They liked a proper lady who would not make things difficult for them and still knew how to deal with the schemes of the palace harem.
The maids did not slack off just because ailith was a child, her dignified and superior aura was enough for the maids to submit.
........
In the royal ballroom,
Guest have begin to arrive and mingle. There were nobles, merchants and many other guests. While they were all smiling merely a few of these smiles were real. They were all tense, not because it was the royal palace but rather the lady having her debut ceremony might become the crown princess.
The zosia house belonged to the royal faction, and they had the most power after the royal family, followed by the house solarie that belonged to neutral faction and house montgomery from noble faction.
If lady ailith marry the crown prince then the royal faction would become more powerful with complete support from the house zosia.
This was not only beneficial to the royal family but also a curse to the anti royal faction.
Some nobles were also not even thinking about the royal and noble faction rather they were focusing on getting their daughters marry a prince while removing ailith from her future place as crown princess.
Ailith's father and stepmother were already in the venue, greeting guest and mingling around praising ailith, her brother would be the one to escort her hence he was absent.
"attention, the sun of the empire, his majesty philip arsenia, the moon of the empire her majesty serena reynard, the brightest star her highness queen melisende atman have arrived"
Everyone bowed towards the royal family as they made their way to their seats.
"today we are here to celebrate the debut of lady ailith, she has proven that she is a proper lady worthy of our respect and care. Today we would be officially welcoming her to step on her own path and grow to make the empire proud" the king announced earning cheers.
The king made it clear that the royal family favors ailith and is contemplating to make her the crown princess and the future empress.
"i the grand duke of the arsenio empire, thank your majesty to bless us with your prescence. As lady ailith's father i thank for your majesty's praise for my daughter. The zosia family would be under your tutelage as it had been" ralan spoke in a loud yet stable tone that everyone heard him clearly.
The emperor smiled and nodded towards ralan catching the hidden meaning behind the words. House zosia was not in royal faction as everyone assumed, it was an independant house that even the royal family had to stay wary of. Ralan caught the emperors intention of having more say in the zosia house but ralan told the emperor that even if ailith married the royal family their family would stay neutral.
As the two heads of families' interaction ended the nobles began to greet the royal family one by one.
Soon after the crowd got surprised by the announcement of new arrivals.
"his royal highness crown prince axelle arsenio, his royal highness the second prince aziel atman arsenio. and her royal highness the rose princess alita arsenio"
Yes the crown prince have arrived. Not to mention the army general who was also the second prince and the princess have also arrived.
The nobles could accept the crown prince as he was rumored to be ailith's fiancé. They were also aware of the fact that lady ailith was acquainted with the princess. But why was the war frantic the army general the second prince aziel atman arsenio here?
He rarely was even in capital city always staying at either the borders or the recruit camp and training camp outside the city. Even so, he was rarely interested in parties and never appeared unless it was a special occasion.
Yet today he appeared at a debut party of grand duke's daughter, he even dressed up in a suit having taken off his armor for once.
But the second prince was not given the most attention. It was the princess.
It was a rumor in the whole country that lady ailith was acquaintance with the only princess. Yet no one has seen the princess before, it was said that the princess was the most beautiful in the whole world but they couldn't know because she is always locked in a tower. The princess wasn't allowed to leave the royal palace. Even today she had her face covered with a veil allowing only her eyes to be visible.
Even her whole body was covered by her dress leaving no skin visible.
The princess was walking right beside her second brother who was escorting her.
Walking in front was the main point of attention today, the crown prince who was rumored to be lady ailith's fiancé.