NOVEL NEXT 180- The Two Events of the Gala Dinner. Part 1.
The gala dinner?
When the time comes, Judith stops fidgeting and leaves the room, as her maid informs her that her parents are waiting. Shortly after, Berta tells me the same.
This is more than just a student ball, it's a social event with families. So Marco isn't coming to get me, as I'd initially assumed he would.
We're not going to any of the small parlors set up for family visits at the academy, but directly to the entrance of the grand hall where the dinner will be held. It's in a wing of the main building, separate from the classrooms, where I've never been before. There, alongside other nobles, my parents are waiting for me. They greet me silently, since the master of ceremonies has already begun calling the guests.
I look at him. He's an older man with completely gray hair. He's dressed in a black suit that I assume is proper for his position and carries a rather ornate staff that he strikes against the floor before calling each guest from a list on a scroll he holds in his other hand.
By the way, in the game, this dinner had two events. One, a warning about the resurgence of the dark lord—ahem, AKA Ronan the arclich—and the other about the prince's engagement to Sol.
Yes, in the otome she managed to get him to propose to her through underhanded methods. Then, if you chose the prince's romantic route, you were the one who exposed her and ended up marrying Vincent.
Well, the first one doesn't worry me. Why? Because Ronan attends the academy—something he didn't do in the otome game—and he's on the right path thanks to the influence I, his friend with light magic, have on him. And if that weren't enough, he also has Mary, and I've seen them getting closer since he helped her with Bob's daughter during the trials. As for that contract saying I'm the future demon lord, I know I'm not. And obviously, I'm not going to fight myself, nor will I do anything to make my friends attack me.
As for the second thing, Sol and Vincent's engagement, that doesn't worry me either. Rather, if everything goes as I hope, the engagement will be announced in a day or two—and it'll be mine.
I smile dreamily, so much so that my mother clears her throat slightly to indicate I should pay attention.
Oh, right, they're calling the attendees.
The arrival of guests to the enormous hall where both dinner and the ball are taking place has two distinct parts. If I think about dances back on Earth, parents would typically stay outside while you'd enter with your partner or date. But here, the format is different: you enter the dinner with your family and sit at their table. Marco, as my fiancé, will share a table with my parents and me since he has no family at the academy. However, he'll still enter separately and be announced on his own.
Once dinner concludes, we'll move to smaller halls or out to the gardens for a couple of hours. During this time, the staff will clear all the tables from the grand hall, clean it thoroughly, and transform it for the ball.
Then comes the second part—the ball itself. Families will enter first, followed by the students with their partners. The entrance follows a strict hierarchy: we'll enter in ascending order of rank, which means the king and queen of the ball will make our grand entrance last.
As for the dinner, it seems more like something ceremonial where Mary and her parents are first to access the grand hall, followed by nobles of lower rank. When it's my parents' and my turn, the master of ceremonies announces our names and we pass into the hall, where we don't sit down but remain standing and silent next to our table until everyone has finished entering—the last being prince Vincent, princess Lily, and her brother prince Sigfrig along with their majesties.
It's not until they've taken their seats that the rest of us do.
When Sol enters with her sister and parents, I'm surprised.
Her dress.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
It's the same shade of red as mine, though the embroidery is all in black. It's not strapless either, it has sleeves and a neckline. And the skirt is made of some heavier fabric than mine, without its volume. When she sees me, she gives me a vicious look full of resentment.
Why did the seamstress have a dress for sale in the same color Sol is wearing?
Shortly after, when Vincent enters, he seeks me out with his gaze and smiles when he finds me. He looks stunning in his dress coat with dark red lapels, the same color as the sash around his waist.
That red…
Mary told me red was the prince's color. I'd say blue is too, since the rest of his coat and trousers are blue. His shirt is white. The boots visible beneath the fabric of his trousers are black. But yes, that dark red clearly stands out, like midnight roses—exactly the same tone as my dress.
And Sol's dress…
That makes me understand Sol's dress choice and makes me wonder if the fact that the seamstress had this dress available might have something to do with her. Because who else would order a dress so brazenly matching the prince's color?
Not Karina, who came dressed in vibrant yellow that contrasts beautifully with her red hair.
Once the royal family has sat down and all the rest of us have taken our seats afterward, the monarchs speak. They preside over the central table where they sit with their offspring, the rector, and the colonel representing the army.
"For us it is an honor to be invited as parents to this celebration of the academic excellence of the kingdom's brightest young people," the queen announces. "Our son, Vincent Draycott, has placed among the top five not only in his class but across all three years. This institution is a place where our progeny can not only deepen their bonds with childhood friends but forge new relationships. I have very fond memories of my time here and the friendships I made. I wish both those of my bloodline and the rest of the students to take full advantage of both the excellent professors and their classmates, for without doubt it is here where the bonds that will shape our kingdom's future are forged."
Hmm… there are other academies, but this is the royal one, the most exclusive. Without a doubt, matrimonial and other kinds of alliances will be forged here.
The queen has looked at Theodore and Alistair, but also at Ronan and me. Especially at me. Well, if it's because word of the kisses has reached her ears—Berta should teach that gossipy bodyguard to keep his mouth shut—I imagine she's expecting confirmation from her son soon that he's going to ask for my hand.
My mother looks at me when the queen does, and I decide to study the pretty white cloth napkin with green thread embroidery in front of me.
"Is there some good news I don't know about?" the countess asks me quietly as the king takes the floor to praise the professors' good work and officially begins the gala dinner.
"Not yet, Mother," I answer.
"And that daring color of your dress?"
"The seamstress had made it and had no buyer. I tried it on and liked it."
"I see..."
I don't understand that ironic "I see" of hers and, besides, how tactless of her when Marco is sitting at this table. To me he's that stranger who was Bianca's fiancé, but supposedly my mother has dealt with him on more than one occasion.
Speaking of dinner companions, I thought this dinner was going to be boring and uncomfortable, but I take back the boring part. And not because of Marco, who's on the same side of the table as me, with my father across from him. But because of, for example, Mary and Ronan's parents.
Yes.
The baron and baroness were already seated when we entered. Their table is farther from the king's than mine and much closer to Mary's.
Mary attends as Theodore's partner, but since she came with her parents, she's at the table farthest from the royal family's. Theodore, with his parents, is at a closer table, at the level of the professors' table.
But of course, Mary entered first being a commoner, and the baronets and barons shortly after. Ronan came without a partner for the ball; in any case, he entered with his parents. When I arrived at the hall, they were in silence, and I seriously doubt Mary had exchanged any words with them before, since we all waited in ceremonial silence for the hall to fill and their majesties to arrive. However, when I entered, I found Mary somewhat pale and staring at the barons without taking her eyes off them. They seemed annoyed that a simple commoner student would take such liberties. Ronan was beside his parents, ignoring them as if they weren't there, and was looking at Mary with his usual inscrutable expression.
But I can communicate with him, so I asked him mentally:
Is something wrong?
No, my lady. It is just that Mary won't stop staring at my parents and she's paler than usual; it has me somewhat worried.
Since I seriously doubted he was referring to her skin tone, I tried to see if any kind of white aura surrounded her. Yes, there it was, stronger than normal.
And that's another thing. Do I see it because Mary is concentrating it as if she were preparing to cast a spell? Because that theory they told me in class—that if they don't use magic I don't see mana—doesn't quite add up with her or with Ronan.
Unless she intends to cast a purification spell on his parents or something like that.
Because she knows about the basement.
Moreover, now that the evening has officially begun and the waiters are starting to offer us drinks, Mary keeps looking toward Ronan's parents.
No. This dinner isn't going to be boring.