28 The wedding

Luke Nirono's wedding was a grand event. After the wedding, the guests assembled in his manor to congratulate the newlyweds. It was a known fact that minister Nirono was one of the most important ministers, there was an entire faction under him and the Nirono family was the most famous family in the capital in terms of wealth and power.

The most important guests at the wedding were the Keirish prince Edgar and the second princess of the kingdom. Minister Nirono personally accompanied them and finally left them with other young people who had gathered. These young men and women included sons and daughters of ministers under the Nirono faction, daughters from other nobility of the capital, and also scholars who saw this as a chance to climb the ladder and become court officials.

Princess Sam sat clad in a purple gown that went well with her figure. Everyone noted that she was far from the image they had of her, she did not certainly look like a rugged pirate of the sea but more like a beautiful warrior princess with ambition. Some tried to make conversation with her but the more intelligent and well-informed ones took caution and kept a distance. They knew very well the position of the second princess. They had come to the conclusion that the king had appointed her as the superior marshal in order to balance the power of the crown prince in the future.

As for Sam, she sat making light conversation with the scholars around her. She had to find an advisor and was clueless as to whom to chose.

Just then somebody started a game of Backgammon and several young men and women gathered around to play. Just when the game began to get intense, the ladies squealed and even the young men were stunned by prince Edgar's entry into the game.

He won three games in a row after which he declared that if anyone could defeat him if it is a man he would be recommended to the royal court, if it is a lady, she could have him as a partner for tonight's ball.

With this, there was a rush among all the smart young men and women to compete with the prince, but they were all defeated one by one. As for princess Sam, she sat watching the game with interest. She was not very familiar with backgammon or other games that young nobles played, though she knew a little about gambling from the pirates.

She would rather remain a mere spectator than be defeated by the prince in a quick match.

But prince Edgar was not in a hurry to end the game, he patiently waited for Sam to challenge him and was a bit disappointed by her aloofness. When he had waited enough and defeated most of the scholars and smart nobles, he got up and turned to Sam.

"I thought I would have the honor of playing a game with the superior marshal."Said he.

The whole assembly fell silent at this remark. They looked eagerly at the princess. Some of them concluded that coming to the feast tonight was the best thing they had done in a while, now they were about to watch a very interesting show!

The haughty second princess was once defeated in a sword duel by the prince, now they could witness her getting defeated again tonight.