Visitors to the Imperial City (I)

"Now that the festival costume has been sorted. What will Princess be wearing to the throne room ceremony?" asked Lili as she poured Kamaria some tea.

"I'm sure there'll be a formal set of garments I haven't worn in a while. I'll decide when I have time to look through them."

Lili nodded to the answer not mentioning that she had seen the other young people in the palace having new outfits delivered for the occasion.

It wasn't only about the throne room ceremony, there was also a banquet to attend afterwards.

Seeing as the event had coincided with the days that the Luna Festival was celebrated, there would be many royals, high titled nobles, and aristocrats who were not locals.

"Even so, we'll have to find time to braid your hair."

"Fiiiine, dearest Lili. Anyway, I'll have to ask Uncle to get an arrow from the Louvarossy army to add my collection. I hear this man called the Blood Wolf of Louvaros will be part of the soldiers getting rewards."

"Sounds horrifying. What is he, a bloodthirsty werewolf or something?" commented Lili with a look and Kamaria laughed.

"Of course not, I'm sure he's an ordinary man since he's related to the Ulfric family. They call Uncle the Red Beast, but you know he how he is."

"I think that man is probably scary in looks and temperament anyway only Princess isn't frightened by the Commander so in all you just have a very strange aesthetic sense."

Lili wasn't too sure how Urien's calm gentlemanly appearance and demeanour had worked its way past Kamaria's somewhat skewed vision.

"My Lady should be interested in something else other than military matters unless she's planning to join the military."

"Well, I certainly would have if I could," replied Kamaria while standing up, leaving Lili shaking her head while thinking the princess might as well have married a military man.

While there was a certain amount of risk, it also afforded her more freedom than a typical noble family.

It was just a shame that most of the high titled officers they knew were too old for her at thirty-five and above.

Kamaria on the other hand was thinking maybe joining the military would have saved her from her current troubles.

After rummaging in the cupboard for a few minutes, she came back with a medium sized wooden jewellery box and sat down again.

She removed the top compartment which had an assortment of small trinkets and placed it on the table.

There were some gold coins and notes at the bottom of the box. This was the savings made up of her palace allowance.

Since they were provided with clothing and food, this allowance was to give to servants to run errands for them and buy them specialities that weren't available at the palace or any knick-knacks they liked.

Everyone was supposed to receive the same base amount from the emperor but if their mother had enough to spare, they would give more to their dear children to ensure they lived how they wanted.

Looking at the coins even Lili had to admit that for a Princess it wasn't much.

The empress's people saw to the distribution of allowances and Kamaria never asked what happened to the rest of her base allowance. In the palace, she learnt to live according to what she was given and look the part.

"It's not as if we'll be buying any rare stuff so let's just convert this to some common change."

She counted about five gold coins and found a pouch to put them in before handing it to Lili.

"I don't want to deal with the household department, and we have that royal scholar from one of the kingdoms coming to do a lecture today. So, I can't leave the palace in case we don't make it back in time."

"How dare you tell the Princess where to go!" They heard a voice shout.

Lili neatly slipped the pouch into her skirt pocket while Kamaria returned the top compartment of the box and locked it into place.

Princess Velia sauntered into the room with one of the servants behind her.

Her lack of concern was as if she owned the entire residence. The maid's freckled skin was quite fair, so the angry looking handprint appeared clearly on her face.

As an inner maid of another princess, neither Velia nor her people had the right to touch her, but this princess was obviously above the rules.

Kamaria gripped the teacup to calm her breathing. Velia stood in front of her without saying anything and they silently stared at each other.

This time Kamaria was not standing up or greeting her since they were not in public.

Without saying a word, Velia pushed the box off the table and the contents of the top compartment spilt all over the floor, but Kamaria still didn't move.

In fact, she had the overwhelming feeling to ask Velia if she was a cat or something, going around and pushing things off tables but she swallowed the words.

Princess Velia couldn't believe that this little girl had developed some nerve to look at her directly in the eyes with such defiance. She smiled kindly and lightly put her hand under Kamaria's chin.

"I'm just here to tell little sister to not be silly this afternoon. After all, Father seems to care about the babies of the family."

Raisa came in with a tray of refreshments when she encountered the tense scene. She slammed the tray onto the table which startled Velia making her take her hand away from her sister's face.

"Do we have a problem here your Highness?"

Kamaria simply took a sip of tea without saying anything to her sister. Raisa was not a particularly big girl, but she was known for her temper.

Although she ended up getting punished almost every time even when they were younger, she was not afraid to get physical if the situation called for it.

Velia's attendant, Remei tugged at her princess's sleeve. She knew Raisa's temper better than anyone else.

Although Velia wouldn't admit it, but she was intimidated by Raisa so in the end she huffed at being ignored and marched out noticeably faster than when she had come in.

"Lili, get some ointment for her face otherwise it'll swell up."

"I'll be fine your Highness. Don't mind this servant," insisted the maid.

"Looking like a squirrel with one stuffed cheek isn't fine with me. Sit down, that's an order."

Lili fetched a medical box and pulled out a porcelain bottle of ointment while the girl hesitantly sat down across the princess.

She had never been this close to the princess, and she found herself catching her breath as Kamaria rinsed her hands.

"If you're not breathing, it won't work out well for either of us. Now relax," said Kamaria with a slight smile.

The young maid nodded. She didn't know what it was but the gel-like substance the princess gently applied brought a cool sensation to her burning skin. She couldn't help but observe the princess's small smile that made only the corner of her glossy lips lift the slightest bit.

"One day I'll give that cow a beating to remember, in fact calling her a cow is an insult to cows," mumbled Raisa as they started picking up the jewellery.

The girl thanked the princess profusely before scurrying out of the room with the ointment bottle in her hands.

"We're too old to be doing this," commented Kamaria considering that Velia was older than her by a year and some months.

Kamaria wasn't sure at first why Velia was so specific about her behaviour but then she remembered that scholar would be travelling with a royal party which included the king's sons, and a few other young nobles.

She was so uninterested in the study session that she'd even forgotten about that since there would be local young nobles and aristocrats attending as well.

The session was already interrupting her work schedule time, so the guests were the last thing on her mind.