Ceres

75

The royal palace is busy arranging for the banquet and now, getting ready to greet Fay kingdom's convoy. Dwight did summon for his sons to greet Fay kingdom's representatives except for Lucas. Lucas was currently with Heaven's Peak delegates and representatives and cannot be disturbed with such trivial things.

Dwight was sitting on this huge and grand chair in the royal throne room while Glenn and Orion were standing on both of his sides. The retainers of his sons were present in the throne room but were distancing themselves along with Dwight's friend, sir Milo.

Milo is not Dwight's retainer or personal guard, not even his right hand man or secretary. He is in fact known to be Dwight's friend and aside from that, his identity is mysterious. Sometimes, he's living in the royal palace while other times, he is not seen anywhere. He only shows up when he wants to as believed by the royal servants.

However, there are rumors that his status is something high that it might even surpass Dwight's.

Despite being someone respected by those in the royal palace, sir Milo didn't like formalities and attention. Hence, he preferred to stand on the side and observed things. He doesn't like to meddle with a lot of things specifically those that don't interest him.

Right after arriving at the royal palace, the Fay kingdom's royal guards were escorted to the barns or the courtyard where Lennard and Leona would stay. As such, Fay kingdom's royal guards were distributed in specific places right after they arrived at the palace. Leonard and Ceres followed Lennard and Leona to the throne room but they didn't go inside. Instead, both stayed right outside the throne room without even talking to each other. Gil was, on the other hand, ordered by Ceres to check other places and also, gather more information. The latter action was only known to Ceres.

Lennard and Leona respectfully bowed to Dwight and said their greetings.

"Lennard Reynolds, Fay kingdom's crown prince, pays respects to his majesty, emperor Dwight of Winsterein kingdom."

"Leona Reynolds, Fay kingdom's princess, pays respects to his majesty, emperor Dwight of Winsterein kingdom."

"Please stand up. We don't need such formality since in the future, we may even be relatives."

Dwight cracked a joke which he was the only person who thinks it was funny. As such, he was even the only person who laughed.

Glenn, hearing such things, didn't show any change in his face whereas Orion could only nod and act oblivious. Orion was summoned because he was still a prince. Since he was believed to be present in this event because of the princess' beauty, he acted his part.

The unfortunate thing is that Leona was still wearing her veil.

Dwight did want to look at Leona because he also has only seen the latter in portraits. However, he didn't think that it was rude for her to wear a veil since she was a princess after all.

"Forgive us, your majesty, for not arriving on the agreed date. We have encountered some mishaps along the way."

Lennard was still showing his respects despite not having any positive impressions on this emperor and his subordinates.

"Mishaps? What kind did you encounter? Did someone perhaps..."

Lennard can only nod which made Dwight suddenly stand up from his seat.

"How audacious! Who dares to cause such ruckus in our kingdom? Don't worry, prince and princess of Fay kingdom. We will immediately execute an investigation as to who has the guts to do such things. We will certainly give you a good and acceptable explanation for this!"

Dwight, after hearing such thing, called for some of the royal guards and ordered them to investigate the matter. However, everyone in the throne room knew that it was only a facade. If Dwight was really serious, he would have called for a meeting right after or during the incident or immediately summoned a general to escort Fay kingdom's royal siblings to safety. That is definitely the proper action someone who is serious should have done particularly for such an important figure.

Lennard could only shake his head. Right now, he was somehow feeling safe with Ceres and Gil coming to this kingdom with them. He thinks that with those two strong people, they wouldn't need to worry about being protected in this foreign kingdom. Moreover, who would be that daring to kill them in the royal palace? That would only implicate Winsterein kingdom and start a war between it and Fay kingdom.

Dwight sat down once again when the royal guards were dismissed from the room. He even massaged his forehead as if he really cared about what happened to the Fay kingdom's royal siblings.

"I apologize for such thing. It was a lack on our side. Anyway, we're thankful that both of you are alright and has arrived safe. Since it's still early for dinner and you have traveled for far too long, we wouldn't impose on you anymore. You ought to rest right now."

"We thank your majesty, the emperor, for your kindness. We shall not reject such offer and resign to our rooms."

Lennard was the only one speaking to the king. Leona only stood there without moving or talking since she isn't good at dealing with such people.

Dwight nodded and signaled for Glenn and Orion to come near him.

"These are my sons, Glenn and Orion. Glenn is my first son while Orion is my second son. Unfortunately, Princess Leona, my third son, Lucas, isn't present to greet you. He would have been glad to meet you. I hope you'll look past this. He will be competing in the event and thus, diligently training. You will see him in the banquet anyway."

Dwight smiled while he was introducing his sons and advertising his third son. It seems like the assassination attempt didn't even happen at all.

Glenn respectfully greeted the royal siblings of Fay kingdom.

"It's a pleasure to meet Crowned Prince Lennard and Princess Leona of Fay kingdom. I am Glenn Winsterein, but you can call me Glenn if you'd like to. And, I'm very grateful for the royal siblings of Fay kingdom to grace our kingdom's event this time around. I hope you would enjoy your stay here."

Seeing Glenn greet Lennard and Leona, Orion would, of course, step forward and greet them as well.

"My name's Orion, the second prince. I'm not smart like my first brother or talented like my third brother. However, I love traveling and my knowledge lies with adventurous stuff. If you'd like, we can talk about such things. It's my pleasure to meet the two of you."

Orion flashed a wide grin. He still acted his part which is a prince without a care about anything at all. Even though Dwight's eyes and lips twitched at Orion's introduction, he can only lightly scold Orion.

"Forgive this second son of mine. He is really known to have such attitude even by the common people. Anyway, let me allow my first son to accompany you two to your courtyard so that you can now rest."

Then, Dwight looked at Glenn and the latter only smiled.

Withwhat Dwight said, it looked like nothing was unusual for outsiders. But thetruth is that, he actually ignored his second son and gave Glenn another job todo. Orion didn't mind this and even had his arms across his chest. -tbc

A/N: So yeah... That's the five-chapter update this time. :D What can I say? I made a three-chapter update on my file without placing any numbers on it. It's about Ceres, Lucas, and the mysterious person. Hahahaha! It's way, way, waaaaaay ahead of this current event (in the story) but I suddenly got the inspiration to write it. :D Oh! Please look forward to it because it was only a joke when I said that it was way ahead of this event. Hehe. Thank you!!!

Once again, I sincerely thank everyone who reads and keeps on reading this story. :) All your reads, votes, and comments are greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoyed reading!!!

A/N (part 2): Can I just promote my other story "Beyond Those Eyes". You can browse my profile and look for it. I basically made it almost at the same time I wrote "Ceres". Don't worry because it's a complete story (that's why it's long). :D If you are waiting for updates on "Ceres", you can try reading it. It's about reincarnation by the way. Or if you just have the time, please do read it, too. Thank you so much!!