The banquet is being held inside the Sun Empire's castle. Yuri thought that the duke's mansion was already extravagant enough, but the castle that is front of her right now is five times the size of the mansion. As Yuri and the three of the other maids are being mesmerized by the beauty of the castle's architecture, an elderly butler came out from the huge gate and welcomed the duke and the four maids before bringing them inside. The butler led them to a long hallway where all kinds of expensive gems and antiques were publicized beautifully for the guests to see. This made Yuri amazed by how much wealth the plot has portrayed this kingdom to be. When she went inside the room where the banquet is being held, all she sees are these sparkling chandeliers hanging on the ceiling, while gold outlines extravagantly decorated the details of the room.
As Yuri was awed by all these richness that are in front of her, soon, she saw a young man standing at the highest position of the room. Duke Lumen walked up to that young man and bowed to him, while the four maids followed.
"Congratulation, His royal Highness. I am very glad that you have reached your 20th birthday. May the Light from the Sun always be with you and bring peace to the empire." The Duke chanted.
Although duke Duke said it with a light and respectful tone, but Yuri felt like the words that he said was more like a mockery for this young prince.
The young man smiled at the duke softly. Although that smile of his seems bright and melancholy, Yuri can feel that it's just an act in front of the duke. With that said, his appearance truly fit the title of a Prince. Golden hair that glisten under the brightly lit room, while his dark blue eyes stare at you with pride and mightiness. Although the crown prince may not be as tall or strong as the duke, you can still tell that his body has been properly trained with a good proportion of lean muscles. With his good looks and aura, Yuri can see that imaginary halo shinning behind the Crown Prince also.
---...another UV Light
Yuri thought as she continues to look down at the floor so that she won't be blinded by two UV Lights that are standing in front of her.
"Thank you for coming Duke Lumen. And yes...indeed, I did reach 20. Surprisingly, right?" The young man stated as he continues to smile at the duke softly.
"With His Highness Mikel's luck and power, I believe immortality might even be possible for you."
Lumen said it in a joking tone to Mikel as they both continue to use their smiles to hide behind their true intentions.
---I guess... they're rivals.
Yuri kept stealing a look of their side profiles on both the duke and the crown prince as she bows her head while letting out a quiet sigh from her heart.
Once the party started, one of three maids that has more experience became the one that serves the Duke around the banquet. While Yuri and the other two maids stand at the corner of the room together with the rest of the other maids. While standing there and doing nothing, Yuri starts to analyze the banquet. In Yuri's conclusion, this event is basically a place for people to gather around and talk about their success, or gossip about others while drinking, and of course, today's main topic is the Crown prince and the Duke. Everyone in the room were trying to find a way to get the Crown princess and Duchess positions in their family bloodline, while at the same time, trying to prevent others from succeeding before them.
"It seems like no matter where it is, humans are still cannibalistic for powers."
Yuri stared at those people that are laughing and giggling, while she herself, snickering at a dark corner, watching them planning for their successions.
But then, the room suddenly became quiet and all of them looked at the same direction. Yuri turned her head towards the direction that they are looking at. That is when she realized that a girl with pink hair and a cute yellow dress walked up to the two main alpha males of this banquet. When she lifted her head up after giving her courtesy to the duke and the crown prince, all the men in the room were awed by her beauty. Her pair of yellow doe like eyes glimmer like a pair of gemstones. While her cheeks are slightly flushed with a pinkish tone under her pale skin, as her pink plump lips smile softly at them.
Yuri turns her head at the two men, then look back at the cute girl. The cute girl was about to open up her small mouth to say something, but before she was able to say anything, another girl with straight dark green hair, while wearing a dark green dress that matches her hair perfectly, walked up to the two men, then stand right next to the cute girl. This second girl also gave her courtesy to the two men that are standing high and mighty in front of her, while the cute girl looks at her nervously. When the dark green hair girl lifts her head up, the men in the room were in awed the second time. Her violet fox like eyes look at the two men sternly, but her reddish tinted lips smile at them seductively. Also very beautiful.
---cute vs hot?
Yuri thought to herself interestingly as she starts to find this situation amusing. The banquet room is now filled with whispers instead of silence.
As people gossip about the current scenario, the dark green hair hot girl spoke out first.
"Good evening, His Royal Highness the crown prince, Mikel Luxington, and Your grace the Grand Duke, Lumen Augustine. My name is Sabrina Arden. I understand that right now may not be the best time to speak, but I would like to speak to your highness and your grace regarding about the situation in the borders between the Sun Empire and the Moon Empire."
The duke and the crown prince looked at her coldly. However, the duke spoke out to her first
"Sabrina Arden? Then you must be the daughter the Earl Arden."
"Yes. As you may know, the Arden family has been in charge of the town that is near the border of the Sun Empire and the Moon Empire. It seems like the battles between our kingdom and the enemy kingdom, has been creating some problems for the town. Thus, as the town's lord daughter, I would like to voice out the problems that the civilians been having."
Sabrina Arden said in a strict and respectful tone as she looks at the duke earnestly. But before the duke replied back to her, he looks at the cute girl standing nervously next to Sabrina.
"and you are?"
The duke coldly asked.
The cute girl's round eyes stare at him nervously. It took her a couple second to speak out, but eventually she let out in a soft tone
"My name is Vanessa Carlson, the youngest daughter of the Carlson household. Um...well...I'm, I'm..."
The duke looks at her impatiently, waiting for her to finish speaking, while the crown prince still smile at her softly, but his eyes are staring at her coldly.
"I'm...I'm just here to give your highness and your grace my courtesy. That's all! Now have a good night!"
After spitting out the last couple of words like bullets, Vanessa quickly ran away from them, but then after a few second later, she ran back to them, and bowed down.
"A-Actually, I have something to talk about with your highness and your grace about my family situation also! I'm, I'm just kind of nervous so I ran away, but-but I came back, so please forgive me"
Vanessa turned red from her embarrassing action, but because of that, Mikel started to laugh. Mikel's laugh startled Vanessa a bit, while Lumen and Sabrina looks at Vanessa with a flabbergasted expression.
---ok...so, I guess the genre is romance?
Yuri look at the four good looking people that are currently the center of the attention. When those four people stand next to each other, Yuri felt like the main character halo lights merged into a one big UV light that can blind everyone in this room.
Yuri sigh as she close her eyes away from the blob of UV lights that are mentally blinding her eyes. When Yuri open her eyes again, straight from her perspective, she saw a person standing at the opposite corner of hers, smiling. That person is standing at the side where the light doesn't hit brightly, lazily leaned against the wall with his arms folded together as he quietly sips his glass of drink. Yuri was not able to get a clear view of his face, since there were too many people standing and walking between them, but she can tell that he is a pretty tall guy with his long legs lazily bended and laid on the wall behind him. His long black hair that is messily tied up, while few loose ones laid on top of his broad shoulders. For some reason, Yuri has the urge of wanting to get a proper look of this man that is standing quietly at the dark corner, smiling at something that seems to have catch his attention. And like that, Yuri also stand at the other side of a dark corner, curiously and quietly stares at a person that is across from her.
She is not sure how long she has been staring at him for, but soon, a pair of blood lusted red eyes that were hiding behind the shadow became prominent in her view.
Badum* Badum* Badum*
Yuri's heart suddenly start to beat rapidly
Badum* Badum* Badum*
She can feel her heart beating faster as each second passes by. Maybe because she got caught staring at him for too long, or maybe because that pair of red eyes that stared back at her gave her an unsettling feeling. Either or, the feeling that erupted into her heart is unfamiliar to her. It makes her mind goes blank. Unsure of what she is doing or what she should be doing, Yuri just stand there very still. Like the time itself has froze, her dark brown eyes stare back at that unsettling pair of red eyes, not moving an inch.
Soon, that pair eyes stared back at hers too.
Yuri is not sure how to describe the feeling that she felt when that pair of eyes are staring back at hers. But she knows for sure that those eyes contain a lots of things, a lot unsettling feelings and greeds....but at the same time, she can feel the contentment that resides in his eyes.
Yuri became bit flustered when he noticed that she was staring at him. As much as she is flustering, it didn't stop her from staring at him shamelessly, after all, a sudden curiosity aroused inside her heart.
What got him filled with contentment in his pair of blood lusted eyes? How does he look like? How does he sound like? What is his name?
All these questions that Yuri has never really thought of for anyone, started to float out of her head. With the unfamiliar beating of her heart, she didn't realize that she was looking at that person with greediness.
Then, that man parted his lips, like he was about to say something, but she wasn't able to hear him since they are far away from each other. When Yuri was still trying to figure out what he had said, he put down the drink that was in his hand next to the table from him. Then suddenly, a herd of people starts to walk up to where the four main characters were at, making Yuri lost her view of that person that was in front of her. After the people cleared up from her view, the person that was originally standing at that dark corner disappeared.
His sudden disappearance made Yuri stepped foreword from the spot that she was originally standing at, with a speechless face. She looked around the banquet hall, trying to see if she can find that person. But in the end, she can't find him in the room at all. She looked back at that dark corner where he stood. All there was left, is a drink that was barely touched, standing alone, on top of a table that has nothing but that glass of drink itself.