Julien walked up the stairs of the Main Building in the Imperial Palace lead by an 'Honour Guard' of 30 soldiers who had accompanied him from the time he entered the Palace Gates. Julien sighed but he had not option. It was some old protocol required that the Honour Guards on his first visit to the Imperial Palace after being made the Crown Prince.
He walked through the atrium which had a soft red carpet laid out from the stairs at the entrance all through the hall to the other end, where it led to another set of stairs, going to the upper floors. He had visited the 500-year-old palace many times before, but he did not remember seeing the Red carpet before. It must have been put to welcome his first visit to the Emperor.
On the left was the waiting area, with sofa and tea tables set in clusters from 2 to 6 each. All guests and visitors who came to meet the Emperor on official business would wait here till he was free. On the right were the workstations set up for officials whose main work was to coordinate the meetings. The moment Julien stepped off the stairs, the guards had announced his arrival and everyone in the atrium stood up and kneeled to show their respect.
Julien turned right in the middle and went to the desk of the Charge-de-Affair. The man bowed deeply to Julien.
"Good Morning, Crown Prince. I hope the arrangements for getting you here was satisfactory. I have already arranged for a CDA for you, he will be officially appointed after you have interviewed him. Hence forth, he will coordinate everything for you..."
Julien nodded and then greeted the Protocol Officer of the Emperor. The Protocol Officer bowed deep, and then knelt down, greeting the Crown Princes in return, "Welcome to the Imperial Palace, Your Majesty!"
"Sir Oyster, you have known me since I was barely a teenager. Surely you can still call me by my name." Julien said with a smile.
"No, Your Majesty. I cannot any longer take that liberty. Earlier it was an unacceptable deviation, but now it is sacrilege. You are now many times above me in rank and protocol. I am sorry." Oyster made an apologetic face.
"Sir Oyster, you have helped me navigate through the rules, protocols and guided me in many matters that I could not discuss with even my parents. I think of you as a friend. So, I give you the right to call me by my name."
"Your Majesty, I am honoured that you consider me as a friend. But I cannot deviate from the Protocol in this respect." He bowed again.
"Ok, fine. But I don't want 30 Imperial Guards to follow me around. Please! I have enough problem with Imperial Security 'Protecting' me."
"I will talk to the Head of Imperial Guards about that, Your Majesty." Oyster replied as they both turned and went up the stairs to meet the Emperor.
... ...
The Emperor was sitting in his private audience chamber.
The Guards signalled and the AI opened the door as they ushered Julien in and announced, "His Majesty, Julien Lidwig, Crown Prince of Bravadia is here for an audience with His Majesty, Willian Lidwig XIV, Emperor of Bravadia!"
There were a dozen other officials in the room when Julien walked in. All of them went down on their knees as they bowed deeply to him and waited for him to acknowledge them.
"You may rise." He said, and then instructed, "I do not want people kneeling to me in future. Let us continue to be polite, but a bow is adequate."
His Grandfather, Emperor Willian Lidwig XIV seemed to be waiting for him. The Emperor got up and embraced his grandson and waved the others out of the room.
"Glad you could make time to come to see your old Grandfather, Julien my boy."
"Grandfather! When has it been that you have called, and I have not come?"
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The Outsider (Outsider #1) ✔️
Romance[COMPLETE] ~~~BOOK 1 OF THE OUTSIDER SERIES~~~ Best rankings: #2 in outsider #1 in businesswoman #8 in bigcity She was a small town girl in a big city. She was the outsider in a circle where everyone fit in. Dusk Hale, a rural girl from Longburn, A...
