Chapter 39: The Official Ceremony.

I bowed, instinctively.

And not just me, everyone did.

Every head in the hall was kept down, be it the fragile commoners or the mighty Dukes all of them kept staring at the floor, as if looking up was a grave sin in itself.

And the space, it kept trembling.

Before a ripple so gentle that it felt out of the place passed through the hall.

Keeping my head down, I watched with bated breath...

The floor, the marble floor that had a peach-colored design on it, changing. From bare peach to red, a bright red.

But that was just the start of abnormalities.

Even with my meager senses, I could feel it, the guests were moving, no, they were being moved, away from us.

And before, I could make any sense of the situation, I heard a voice that resounded through my very being itself.

"Rise."

It was a single word.

And yet, it resounded like an irrefutable command.

Like a hen that had finished having its meal, I lifted my head, only for my jaw to drop.

This...

Neither was this the banquet hall, nor was it the world I knew.

It an assembly, a Imperial assembly.

Generals.

Ministers.

Intellectuals.

And Guards.

All of them separated by their merits and ranks.

But looks like the situation was unexpected even for these great personas, as they looked as confused as me, with some exceptions, I guess...

Anyways, we had moved, or should I say we were teleported?

Doesn't matter.

What did matter was the fact, that we weren't in the confines of the marble walls, rather we weren't even in the material realm.

Right now, we were in a space bubble, a spontaneously created space bubble, that was made to replicate the Imperial assembly.

White walls, filled with red and golden patterns, depicting the tales of different races, kingdoms, and empires. Their rise, their fall, and their struggle to survive.

Many patterns ended halfway, marking with them the end of that race, as for the ones who prevailed?

They stood in front of the walls that depicted their tale, which continued with golden red patterns that kept moving upwards, thwarting all other groups, before meeting on the ceiling with similarly 'champion' groups.

A ceiling that had a single pattern, a single portrait, depicting a single girl.

A girl, that rose above all.

A warrior, that crushed anything and everything that dared to stand in her way.

A intellectual, that won over a fourth of the continent before anyone even had the slightest idea.

And that girl, the Empress, Adeline Von Grey Jurgen Alexis, was portrayed in the center, with everyone submitting to her, willingly or else.

"Rayne Von Ellsworth."

And right now, I stood in front of her, on the red carpet, along with my family as the center of attention, while she called my name.

For the first time, I laid my eyes on her, and...

...I had no words to describe her.

There was no crown, no jewelry, no makeup.

Just a simple white one-piece dress that covered her from her neck to her knees.

In fact, she was even barefoot.

But despite that, I find a fault in her.

Her atmosphere, more than made up for anything I could imagine.

Seriously, just how could someone have such an intense atmosphere, in that appearance!?

I didn't know.

I couldn't comprehend.

Contradicting her long name, or violent feats, the Empress didn't look the part at all.

Unlike the mature women that comes in mind when mentioning those feats, all I could see, was a young girl with white hair, red eyes that was abnormally beautiful and was for some reason staring at me really hard.

But even then, I could only say...

...perfect.

Yes, perfect.

I couldn't describe why, but that was the first word that came to my mind after I saw her.

Her movement, her gestures, or even her speech, all of them had a sense of natural, yet, otherworldly grace that I couldn't wrap my head around.

Was it this?, Or was it something else?

Once again, I didn't knew.

But there was one thing I was sure of; I was mesmerized by her...

Thankfully, I had seen her a few times in Rayne's memories, or else I would be too shell-shocked to even move.

So, while the white haired, red eyed Empress stared at me, I took a step forward, and bowed.

"Your Subject Rayne Von Ellsworth!, the first heir of Ellsworth County!, humbly greets Your Excellency!, Her Highness!, with utmost respect!!"

"Subject, also greets His Highness, The Emperor, the same!"

And greeted both, the Empress and the Emperor, getting a nod of acknowledgement from the Emperor, while the Empress was too busy in staring at me.

Just from the greeting that I was taught, it was clear that the Empress was the backbone of the Empire. Of course, the Emperor wasn't someone to scoff at either.

A man, a Archmage who could become the Emperor when even several Magus' couldn't, spoke the volumes of his capability.

Anyways after that greeting, I stood straight and stayed silent, after all, my part was over.

"Lets not waste any time. Start the official ceremony. Hmm, General Kahaval, do the honors."

Spoke the Emperor, and in response, a peculiar beast man, who was one many people in assembly stepped forward.

"Yes! Your Majesty!"

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He said in a booming voice that resonated throughout the space.

The man was peculiar, and actually, he was a monkey-man, which was quite obvious, from his long tail, round ears and broad flat nose. But what was actually peculiar about him was his neck or more precisely his throat.

It was so unnecessarily thick, so unnecessarily filled with muscle that his throat was just shy from been as thick as his face.

'The Booming Archmage Marco Kahaval, the little brother of the head of the Howler Monkey tribe...'

I thought, as I saw the man making his way towards the Emperor.

'Boreus Von Grey Jurgen Alexis.'

The Emperor, the person who actually ran the Empire from the inside. A sturdy, fair-skinned blonde man, with cunning blue eyes.

'This man...'

I looked at the Emperor's face just for a moment-

"...!"

And our eyes met, as he gave me a soft smile.

'...he is dangerous!!'

I thought, while resisting the urge to jump back instinctively.

Taking out a scroll from his storage device, the Emperor passed it to the general.

Which was then read aloud by the monkey-man.

"Today, Rayne Von Ellsworth, son of Count Reynold Von Ellsworth, and first heir of the Ellsworth County, has reached the age of 14 years old, so by the...henceforth, the Alexis Empire recognizes, Rayne Von Ellsworth, as an adult!!"

It was just a long speech, which I would normally ignore, but thanks to the booming voice of the booming Archmage, even that right was stolen from me.

But that wasn't the worst part of it, rather, the worst part was the pair of blood red eyes, that were locked on me from the beginning to the end.

The Empress who didn't speak more than a single word, kept staring at me. It felt as if her eyes were striping me naked, baring all my secrets open for her to see...

"Rayne Von Ellsworth!!, Sign the magical contract!!"

The rumbling voice brought me back from my stupor, as I noticed a piece of paper, burning in bright blue flames, floating a step away from me.

'Don't get distracted, stupid!'

Taking a step forward, I placed my hand on the burning contract and injected my Mana in it, before stepping back, as soon as my name appeared on the contract.

"Earl Ellsworth!, As Rayne's father, sign the clause stating your presence, and agreement!!"

With that, the Earl, who was standing just two steps behind me stepped forward, while making a reassuring gesture with his eyes as he passed by me.

Despite being quite troubled due to the unnerving stare, I gestured back an – I'm okay.

Repeating the same gesture to my mother, who was looking at me with a worried gaze, before moving back to where I was initially standing.

Just like me, the Earl injected his Mana in the contract. The contract glowed for a bit, before being engulfed by the bright blue flames, which then split into two small fireballs, one going straight for the Empress, while the other coming straight for me.

'I would have thought that this was an assassination attempt if I wasn't informed about this beforehand.'

I thought with a wry smile, as I looked forward to what will happen next.

But contrary to expectations, nothing happened.

The flames came at me and got absorbed in my body just as expected, same happened on the Empress's side.

And with that, the assembly was declared finished by General Marco, as the Emperor said a short ending note.

"Noble subjects of the Empire, I apologize for not being able to attend the following banquet, but you don't have to restrain yourself just because of that. The night is young so enjoy it as you please."

Finishing there, the Emperor took a step back, as the familiar space once again started trembling.

"Long live the Empire!!

Long live the Empress!!

And long live the Emperor!!"

The Booming Archmage got to work as soon as the Emperor stopped speaking, starting a chant of his own as the crowd inside the bubble started to chant right after him.

Not standing out, I followed the Archmage and chanted the same, as the center of attention I had to do so.

The space kept trembling, followed by cracks that started forming in empty air.

Before I knew it, the people started disappearing, most likely being sent back to the material realm.

But my focus wasn't on that, rather, it was the two blood red eyes that completely occupied it.

They just kept staring at me as if possessed, as if obsessed.

And I couldn't figure out why?

Actually, I could somewhat, but I wasn't sure.

Why?

Because the Adeline I designed, was not supposed to be like this.

If she wanted something, then she would get it, no one could stop her.

So, considering that she did absolutely nothing other than staring at me, I wasn't sure if she got my hint or not...

The cracks in the bubble continued to increase but our stare-down didn't stop.

And just when the cracks reached the critical point, just when I couldn't even see most of her face, just when I could only see one of those eyes – for a moment – just for a moment – I saw that eye narrowing and-

-BOOOOMMMMM

All the cracks between us disappeared!, before the space itself started flickering! Seemingly appearing and disappearing, feeling real and unreal at the same time.

It was as if this space was held in place by an external power, defying the rules of the world on someone's whim...

I felt myself being pulled back into the material realm, but my body didn't move. Despite all the pull I felt, I too was held in place.

The two blood red eyes that were staring at me were narrowed to small dots, as an immense pressure hit my body while they scanned it.

The pressure so intense, so immense, that I couldn't even think of anything, much less speak.

In the end-

"I see..."

-I heard a faint murmur.

Before the cracks reappeared, the space cracked and the bubble burst. Fortunately, I was teleported back before I could be swallowed by the void.

And with a – whoosh – I was back in the banquet hall, standing on the same place that I previously did. Just this time, I was perplexed as I couldn't make any heads or tails of what happened.

'Really, just what did happen!!??'

I resisted the urge groan as I was in front of the crowd, and had to keep my behavior in check, after all, I was now officially an adult.

'Fuck my life...'

I thought, as I assisted my father in controlling the atmosphere.

Being a young is really isn't all fluff, I guess?

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