Chapter- 13 : The Party

In the evening of that day.

We all have just arrived at the Royal Palace.

The party is being held in the grand hall of the palace.

The grand hall is really big, so the party is kind of divided in two. Not literally but in a customary sense.

The right side is for the kids to celebrate while on the left side for adults to interact.

And there is a dancing area in the middle.

As soon as we entered the hall, Ian and I separated ourselves from adults.

We pass through the guests and head to a side. There's still some time before the star of the evening makes his appearance.

I noticed several characters of the game there.

Someone playing for the first time would not know that these kids appearing in the background are actually the important npcs of the game.

And there are your capture targets as well.

The first one I saw is the least favorite capture target, Jin Curzon.

The eldest son of the Duke of Casus, a territory in the northwestern part of the kingdom.

He is a head strong type character and also the strongest among capture targets.

Jin is a year older than the heroine and thus a second year student when the heroine entered the academy.

In the game Kai was his friend as a fellow member of a noble faction in the academy.

After meeting the heroine, Jin's thinking starts to change and he falls in love with the heroine.

Though he was engaged with Crystal not long before entering the academy.

He breaks the engagement in the later half of the game and apologizes to Crystal and her family.

In his route Kai dies when a fight breaks between the two, it gets to the point where Jin couldn't control his attack's power.

Let's just simply avoid him, no interaction no incidents.

Then I saw another capture target, Ralf Walker, eldest son of the kingdom's one of the richest business families.

His father is one of the leading figures of the commoner faction.

He is the clever type among the three capture targets.

He was also a second year student when the heroine entered the academy and also the leader of the commoner faction in the academy.

In the game, he and Jin were at opposite ends of ideals and are always at each other's throats.

In his route, he and Jin reconciled with the heroine's help in the later part of the game.

But then Kai who has become one of the leaders of the nobles group becomes his enemy.

In this route Kai gets assassinated by a third party who then framed Ralf for it.

Of course they found the real culprit in the end.

Just as I was thinking about all of this I noticed someone walking towards me.

Well not actually one but three, Elena, Allia and Crystal.

They seem to have just arrived.

"Good evening Lord Kai"

"Good evening Lady Elena"

First I exchanged greetings with three of them one by one and then I introduced them to Ian.

[Author: sorry, I couldn't find good enough material to write the whole interaction. English is not my first language anyway]

Allia and Crystal then went to greet some girls but unexpectedly Elena stayed behind.

She is not good at this I guess.

"Well I was just thinking, what kind of gift you want on your birthday Lord Kai"

Elena suddenly asked an absurd question.

"Nothing in particular, I am happy with whatever I get"

"What about you lady Elena?"

I asked out of courtesy.

"Me? Mmm I would like something I can keep with me for a long time"

As Elena busied me in some random chat, we heard some people saying 'pretty', 'cute' or 'beautiful'.

When I turned in the direction to see, I saw a really pretty girl.

Despite her being less than ten years old anyone can tell that she will become an extreme beauty in another ten years.

Hina Blessen, the heroine of the game 'Holy Maiden'. With light brown hair and honey colored eyes she is an absolute beauty.

She is the eldest daughter of the Viscount of Mani, a small territory south of Marquis Saffron's territory.

Of course that's what the general public knows, but in truth she was an illegitimate child of Viscount and his concubine who was originally a maid in their household.

After several years of not being able to have an heir both viscount and his first wife distracted their minds in their fancies.

The wife started gambling while the viscount had an affair with the maid.

The maid got pregnant and viscount's affair was found out by his wife.

It resulted in a rift in their already damaged marriage.

At that time Viscount's father who was almost in his death bed urged the viscount to marry the maid who was going to give birth to their heir.

The viscount's first wife is already dead after indulging herself in drugs for years.

"She is pretty but it's not good to stare at her Lord Kai"

I heard Elena's somewhat displeased voice.

"I was not staring, I was just wondering why everyone is so flabbergasted"

I gave the most fitting reply I could think of.

"Weren't you the same as them? "

Elena replied with a doubtful expression.

"Of course not, why would I be when I know so many pretty ladies, like My mother, Marchioness Adelia and also you lady Elena"

Just praise the girls and they will not make an objection, I know I sound sexist but it is a tested method.

And as I expected Lady Elena didn't reply due to embarrassment.

"We should greet her, shouldn't we?"

Ian asked me with a nervous expression.

I didn't expect this from you Ian but it can't be helped I guess, it's normal for a boy to get attracted to a beautiful girl.

"Go if you want, I am not interested"

I sincerely replied.

I am not a lolicon, if it has been a girl in her late teens or early twenties then maybe I had also got attracted.