Chapter 24: Chapter 23

Julia

 

The ballroom had been lavishly decorated for the engagement ball. Marko and Leopold filled champagne glasses with sparkling wine and orange juice so that others could carry them to the guests. Finn had the evening off, as there was nothing he could help with. Their guests, the most important noble families, chatted to cheerful music. Small, fine appetizers were served.

Peter sat next to Julia and Babette in the stands. Finn had embroidered a few flowers on his suit, which Babette eyed disgruntled. Peter also wore Julia's necklace around his neck again. Babette had surpassed herself with her poison green dress. The skirt was made of more sumptuous tulle than a person should wear.

The Queen and the King also sat in the gallery with their three eldest and watched the guests with satisfaction. After some time, the queen stood up and the music fell silent. Peter and Babette stood up as well, while their mother solemnly announced their engagement.

Peter finally took the simple metal ring out of a blue, fancy box and put it on Babette's finger. The guests applauded.

Babette smiled forcedly. She looked at the ring. It was obvious that she had expected something different.

"Do you like it?", Peter innocently asked, and Julia stopped herself from laughing.

Babette smiled. "Of course. The ring is... Extraordinary."

The ring was indeed extraordinary. Cheap junk. Inappropriate for a future princess.

"I'm happy about that. It’s a special one," Peter said.

Julia noticed how her mother looked at the ring, stunned. She was silent. No doubt she would tell Peter her opinion later. Loud and vehement.

After that, the ball went like any other ball. There was food, laughing, and dancing. Peter danced with Babette, who stepped on his feet. Perhaps intentionally to take revenge for the ring. Cleo drank too much champagne and was already laughing while talking. She told embarrassing stories from the time when she had started as a soldier. Fritz and Lea danced together, and Julia danced together with Helga out of boredom, since Helga attended the ball too. The two girls laughed happily as they raged wildly across the dance floor and danced against the rhythm of the music.

At some point, Julia replaced Babette and danced with Peter, who thanked her for saving his aching feet. Meanwhile, Babette ate her way through all the snacks offered. Crumbs fell into the tulle of her dress.

"Where is Cleo?", Peter asked, looking around the ballroom as they danced. "I haven't seen her in a while."

"I don't know. Maybe we should look for her? She drank a lot..."

"That sounds like a good idea."

The two sneaked out of the ballroom unnoticed. They didn't have to search for long. The drunken Cleo fleetingly and clumsily kissed an equally drunken witch behind a pillar. Charlotte von Schlossstadt. The daughter of a smaller aristocratic family who had lived in Castle Town for generations and played an important role there. Charlotte, the youngest daughter of the family, was Cleo's childhood best friend. Charlotte was, along with her mother, the only witch in the family. She attended the ball alone. The two friends laughed happily. Charlotte wavered a little.

"Oh." Julia couldn’t say any more.

Peter grinned. "At least we found them. Should we leave them to their own devices?"

The two witches giggled, joked, and danced clumsily across the hallway.

"I think we should go." Julia shook her head. "How much did she drink?"

"I kiffed my beft friend!", Cleo rejoiced. The other witch laughed loudly and stumbled. She dragged Cleo to the floor, where the two remained laughing.

"Although..." Julia looked at her brother. "We might better put her to bed! I'll take one drunk and you take the other?"

"Sounds like a plan. I'll put Cleo to bed, and you take Charlotte to a guest room?"

"Agreed."

The two tried to separate the two giggling women, but Charlotte held on to Cleo and whispered something about a teddy bear.

In the end, the two lay in Cleo's bed in her old room, sleeping soundly as Peter and Julia could not separate them.

"I think Cleo surpassed me today!" Peter covered the two.

"Definitely." Julia laughed. "Let's go back to the ball. Before someone searches for us."

 

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The next morning, they all sat together at the breakfast table. The queen had been surprised when she heard about the unexpected guest next to the von Steinhofs. Charlotte and Cleo were both sitting at the breakfast table with pale faces and couldn't remember anything.

"I have a headache... I think I'm sick," Cleo groaned. Charlotte nodded.

Babette looked at the two in disbelief, as if she could not believe that two adults could behave like this.

"Does anyone know why I slept in Cleo's bed?" asked Charlotte.

Julia giggled softly, earning an indignant look from her mother.

"Because you two had clung to each other," Peter told her willingly. "You didn't want to part with each other."

"We did that?" Cleo yawned. "I can’t remember..."

"That’s what you get from trying to drink all the champagne alone," her father reprimanded smiling. "You two overdid it."

"At least we had fun." Cleo poured herself some coffee.

 

Marie

 

Marie was tired. She struggled to keep her eyes open while her political science teacher gave her a lecture on the most basic laws of her home country.

Marie had been reading half the night and dreamed of attending all the balls at the castle. She missed Julia. She wouldn't come back until Sunday evening.

Marie would have liked to be at Prince Peter's engagement ball. It must have been wonderful. Instead, she had written a test and distracted herself with a book in the evening. She was frustrated. Now she was finally friends with the princess, but she was not invited to the ball. Her eyes fell shut. She was so tired...

 

Leopold

 

After the ball, he and Marko helped out in the kitchen. A lot of rinsing had to be done. Countless champagne glasses, plates, bowls... He was tired. The ball dragged on for half the night and a lot of sparkling wine and orange juice was drunk. He had only been able to catch a glimpse of the ballroom and at the guests. He had seen the royal family sitting in the stands. Julia looked beautiful...

 He would have liked to dance with her and that made him feel guilty.

 He had been given an important task! He would not abandon his people.

Some of the non-human servants talked about not being allowed to send letters to their families. Leopold became perceptive.

"We’re not allowed to send letters?" he asked the two elves.

"A law has been written. Because of the uprisings," said one elf. Her interlocutor nodded. "The laws are getting tighter and tighter. Who knows, maybe one day we won't be allowed to leave our homes... How is this supposed to end?"

"We'd better not talk about it anymore." The other elf sighed. "We can't change it."

Leopold would change it. He would change everything.

This cruelty would end. Three months. That's how long he had to wait. He had hidden the potion well. No one would find it.

The fact that he couldn't write to anyone wouldn't stop him. The princess wouldn't stop him...

He had an important task.

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