The Pack Reunites

Chapter 9

Aprilis 20th, 2087.

Decorating Temple de Ceres in Pari for the big event seemed to take forever as I, along with my crew, completed the last of our tasks for the day. All of us rejoiced when we crossed out the final item on the list, indicating the completion of our preparation process for the Ceremonie D'onction.

In all my years I've never been more excited for an event even if the event wasn't in my honor. The circumstances leading up to the Ceremonie D'onction was much different as while the other four Basili simply saw the results of their Filli achievements, Roi Philippe actually got to witness his Fil's cunning plan in action.

My crew and I did our best not to cause any major damages as we worked on fixing the layout of Le Temple. After over a month of working, Le Temple was finally ready with the only thing missing was the ceremonial Fruit of Ceres and Wine of Bacchus which is still used for Ceremonie D'onction to this day.

Once everything was ready, I reported back to Ma Tante Et Mon Oncle as we discussed the final details of the Ceremonia. Wait'll the kid here's about this I thought. After a long day of working, I took a long look at myself and could easily tell that I needed a good bath. But unlike most days I was even filthier than usual, so I decided to have a longer bath with extra soap, just to make sure I got all the dirt, soot, paint, and other things off my body,

As I'm sure one could already guess by now the Ceremonie D'onction was for the Roi and Reine's only Fillius, Prince Philippe in which he will be crowned Dauphin, the title given to the Fil, and heir of the current Roi of Painted Plains.

On the 16th of Martius 2087, my Matertera, Reine Willa, and her puppies summoned the nobles of the Regnum to a meeting. The comites sat along a long rectangular table in front of the throne locked in conversation as they discussed about the heinous behavior of their newly recaptured prisoner.

For a while I attempted to block out the conversation that was being held among the nobles who were understandably curious as to why the Famille Royales wanted to speak with them and within this sea of voices, Lord Saber's was the most prominent.

Not only did he own the oldest camitatus but also the largest. Meanwhile the rest of the nobles were chattering in and amongst themselves and I overheard several of them discussing their plans to visit and mock the offender later. The room fell silent as my aunt entered the room with my cousins. Immediately the nobles stopped all conversation and turned their attention to their Royales.

"I think we all know what we're here to discuss," Tante Willa said as she sat down on her throne. "The recent rise in bullying and class discrimination caused by that boy. What were we thinking releasing Alexandre?" She asked rhetorically and began to scan the room, looking over the faces of each of the nobles.

While a few of the nobles grinned, or even giggled at the young teenager's half straightness, most of them wore an emotionless expression as they understood how serious the situation was. It was a nice gesture I thought to myself.

"So, what do you all suggest we do about this problem? There is little doubt that mental health of lower-born children is deteriorating after their classmates' ridiculing and for all we know they may already be thinking of taking their lives to end the torment." She paused for a moment before finishing her thought.

"And now that we know these bullies cannot be reformed. How are we ever going to sooth their emotional pain?" That's going to be tough I thought to myself as I scratched my chin. Given what I've seen from our own family, mental and emotional problems are very difficult to deal with.

Just as how it happened in Blight Valley, Consobrino Meo stepped forward with a solution. Since the Floralia celebration, the biggest holiday in Painted Plains commemorating the Battle of Anjou had already begun, she thought it wise to humiliate them in front of the entire Regnum. When her Mere asked for the reasoning behind it to which she responded. "If the bullies themselves get humiliated, then the torment should stop."