"Did you know that guy?" Iris raised a brow, surprised by the quick retreat of the young man.
"Nah." Alan smiled to himself. "Did I interrupt something?"
"No, it's good you came." Iris waved her hand, looking over the nobles that previously surrounded her. "I hate dealing with those kinds of situations anyway."
"Is that so?" Alan nodded in understanding, glancing around him, he saw many of the nobles casting subtle glares at him.
Alan leaned back against the pillar Iris was pressed against, crossing his arms, Lucian did the same, placing his back on the marble pillar on the left of Iris, with Iris in the middle, Alan and Lucian acted as bodyguards, stopping anyone from approaching.
Iris scoffed but still didn't refuse the small consideration.
"Were we late to the ceremony?" Alan asked while simultaneously scanning the ballroom.
He saw some familiar faces, he noticed a young man standing near the second prince.
He had raven-black hair with a pair of shimmering, emerald-green eyes.
'Tyrece Alpin?' Alan thought to himself, it was the same man Arlo fought in the finals of the tournament.
Tyrece's face held a small smile as he chatted with Arlo, the man didn't seem to hold a grudge against Arlo, instead treating him as a friend, as far as Alan knew, Tyrece was the son of a duke, thus not making it too unusual for him to be speaking to the prince.
"Yes, you are." Iris answered Alan's question with a frown. "It's almost been about fifty minutes since the start of the ceremony."
"Yeah… my bad." Alan apologised, but he couldn't find the person he was searching for. "Where is Julia?"
"She'll be here soon." Iris answered.
"Alright then." Alan understood, he had already heard from Arlo she would be coming an hour after the start of the ceremony.
The three of them fell into a small silence, Iris quietly sipped her wine, while Lucian absentmindedly stared in a different direction.
Alan returned to just looking around the ballroom, watching the chatter of nobles, it felt weird, Alan wasn't used to this enviroment, the behaviour of these higher-born felt too shallow, like a performance rather than their true feelings.
A servant approached the trio, holding a tray of wine glasses in his hands. "May I offer some drinks?"
"Got any juice?" Alan tilted his head, unlike most people, Alan disliked alcohol quite a bit because the taste was absolute garbage, even in his past life, Leon would drink fruit juice at any formal event, the only alcohol he could tolerate was possibly wine.
"My apologies, sir... we only serve wine." The servant awkwardly apologised, perhaps not expecting to receive such a request.
"All good." Alan just picked up the next best thing, a glass of red wine.
He brought the glass to his mouth, pressing it against his lips, he took a small sip, the liquid hit his tongue with a sharp, acidic taste that quickly melted into a complex mixture of dark berries.
"Eh." Despite the high quality of the wine, Alan clicked his tongue with slight dissatisfaction, he still preferred something like a lemonade rather than wine, he only chose wine for the small fruity taste.
Meanwhile, Lucian stared at the tray in front of him. "Is that rum?"
"Yes, sir."
"The entirety of it?" Lucian stroked his chin, gazing at the glass filled to the brim with brown liquid.
"Indeed, sir." The servant confirmed it. "Some guests prefer something stronger."
"I see." Lucian grabbed the glass... and downed it in one go.
"What the hell are you doing..." Iris stared with wide eyes.
"Sir..." The servant started sweating.
"Tastes disgusting." Lucian frowned, even though he said that, he took another glass of rum and swallowed it in one gulp.
"Oi, stop that!" By now Iris had already turned her full attention to Lucian's concerning actions.
Gulp
But Lucian just downed another glass.
"Hello?!"
Ignoring those two, Alan was searching through the crowd of nobles again, looking for the Zevril family, and it didn't take long to notice them, being someone with the highest status on the continent often meant sticking out like a sore thumb.
He noticed Alden, who was frozen stiff, unable to respond to his situation, why? Because he was currently surrounded by noble women, many of them, all speaking over one another in an attempt to catch his attention.
Alan held his laugh back, last he heard, Alden was receiving many engagement proposals from countless noble houses now that he had come of age.
Previously it was the eldest son of the family who would receive all the letters, but the man has been away from the continent for literally eight years.
Alden caught Alan's eye, in an extremely rare, once-in-a-lifetime moment, he put his arrogant pride aside and projected a pleading face, silently asking for help.
Alan smirked deviously, raising his free hand, he stuck out his middle finger and mouthed.
'Fuck you.'
Alden's hopeful face crumbled as he averted his eyes, once again returning to reality.
Snickering, Alan looked away and also found Alden's sister.
Alessia had her hair styled in her usual twin tails, she sat on a round table with many other girls her age, excitedly chatting away while making wild movements with her hands, she noticed Alan's gaze and grinned, waving her hands at him from a distance.
Alan smiled softly and returned her gesture with a small wave, it seemed it was quite easy for Alessia to get along with others, which Alan didn't doubt, she was very lively and bright.
After Alessia he spotted someone he had only heard about before.
The man was tall, leaning against a wall, blankly staring ahead without a real expression, his hair wasn't too long but enough to drop over his ears, the colour however, was unique, a grey, not from age but something else, his hair held a metallic sheen to it.
His empty eyes looking forward were like burnt copper, deep, metallic orange.
Draxel Fen Soldant, the patriarch of the grand duchy of Soldant, a core rank 7, much like his father, was one of the strongest on the continent, unlike the other grand dukes, Draxel never married and didn't have any offspring.
The patriarch of Soldant was a real odd one, no one came close to him either, as if there was an invisible barrier separating him from everyone else.
Alan quickly darted his eyes away, before the man noticed his gaze, and started scanning the ball for the other grand dukes.
'There he is.' Alan knit his brows together, he found Alaric, his father.
Alaric was seated, with Lady Tanis, his second wife, right next to him, the patriarch himself seemed bored, mindlessly sipping on wine, Lady Tanis, on the other hand, was exceptionally giddy, conversing with the women next to her.
Alaric paused amidst his sip of wine, his eyeballs rolled to the side, instantly locking eyes with Alan, giving him a look that Alan couldn't understand.
Frowning, Alan turned his head away, only after making sure Alaric saw his scowl.
He took a sip of his red wine to relax his displeasure and started looking for the last grand duke, and after a while Alan couldn't find him, as mentioned, it was hard to miss someone with the bloodline of a grand duke, each and every one of their features stood out.
"Hey, Iris, where is your father?" Alan decided it'd be easier to just ask the daughter of the man in question, Alan didn't even ask why she had Lucian trapped in a headlock.
"Dad?" Iris tightened her grip on the struggling Lucian. "He is probably going to be late..."
"Is he just like that?"
"Well, my dad is quite something." Iris nodded but didn't release Lucian.
"Alright then." Alan turned away, allowing whatever bullshit they were up to.
Judging by the way Iris spoke of her father, he wasn't a bad father, something Alan found a little shocking, he totally assumed every high-born was just an asshole of a father, for some unknown reason.
Well, not so unknown, given his experience with his father, and the questionable actions of the emperor, it was a natural assumption in his eyes.
As he was lost in his own thoughts.
"The emperor has arrived!!!"
The guards announced the arrival of the emperor.
Everyone in the ballroom concurrently stood up, all the noisy conversation and chatter vanished instantly, leaving behind a deafening silence.
Then the gates of the ballroom opened.
Step
The sound of single footsteps echoed in the vast place as a man walked through the entrance.
His shoulders were draped with golden robes, the fabric fell to the ground behind him, dragging itself across the floor to keep up, yet the one feature that screamed majesty was the crown placed upon his head.
THUD
Every noble in the room, from the lowest baron to the highest duke, dropped to their knees in a synchronised wave of thuds, even Alden, Alessia and Iris knelt down, the only ones who remained standing were Draxel and Alaric, the two grand dukes.
...as well as Alan and Lucian.
While the crown fell to their knees, Alan and Lucian stayed in their position, casting a curious look at the emperor.
In Alan's case, he refused to lower his head to any man, be it the emperor himself or anyone else, Alan wouldn't bend.
In Lucian's case, he just recovered from being choked out and has no clue what was happening.
The emperor swivelled his head, his calm blue eyes locked onto Alan's aloof ones, the emperor's lips pulled up lightly as if finding it amusing.
Then.
BZZT
The weight of the world crashed down on Alan and Lucian, the sheer pressure forced them both to incline their heads, still in that moment, Alan didn't lower his eyes, he stared back into the emperor's gaze with a defiant glare.
The emperor lifted his lips further, like he was satisfied with something.
Pzzt
The pressure vanished, for a moment Alan's knees buckled but quickly caught himself, he wanted to gasp for breath but held back, he couldn't allow himself to show any weakness, not in front of all those gathered.
Close by Lucian did the same, he caught himself before making a scene, though he still had no idea why he was suddenly caught in some random attack, hell, for some reason he didn't even recognise the emperor as the emperor.
Those kneeling near the two of them were staring in pure disbelief, possibly wondering what maniac would dare to even think of defying the emperor, while Iris frowned in regret for not standing.
The emperor eventually reached the throne specifically placed for him, turning around, he seated himself softly and whispered a single command.
"Rise."
Everyone in unison stood up, keeping their heads lowered in respect.
"Today is the ceremony of my daughter." He started, keeping his voice plain. "I hope you all a pleasant time this evening."
No sooner than he finished speaking, the guard from behind the double doors annouced again.
"Julia Von Valenheart, the fourth princess has arrived!"