A WAR IN DISGUISE

It was a huge castle, built with white coloured bricks on top of a hill, covered with a non dangerous forest. There were big buildings surrounding a huge tower in between. There were huge trees in and around it. The castle was beautiful as it should be, but for some reasons, Elora was not impressed by it. For her, this castle didn't have the enchantment that was needed for her to be in awe.

Also, this was a place, she had visited uncountable times in the last twenty years. Soon the carriage rolled and came to stand in front of the castle gate. As it was a prestigious royal ball, many noble and wealthy families were invited to it. So, the carriages had to stand in a queue, so that everything could happen in a systematic order. And right now, Elora's carriage waited for its turn.

Finally, after a few minutes, when it was their turn, the guards came forward and opened the door of the carriage of invite the guests like they did for others. Frederick was the first one to climb down the carriage, followed by his wife who took support of his stretched hand. And the ever so energetic Xavy, was the one to climb down the carriage. And the last one was Elora.

When Elora climbed down, she saw the entrance of the Castle brilliantly decorated with lights, candles, and flowers. She looked around and then entered the castle as if she owned it. The guards guarding the entrance of the castle were for a moment mesmerized by her, before bowing to her. As she walked ahead with her family, Elora noticed all the maidens have dressed themselves into fairy like belles. Everyone, be it she-wolves, or vampiress, all did the best they could to bring out and highlight their beauty, and right now, each and every one showed their outmost manners.

Elora looked around at everyone with a smirk. This Ball had turned into a war. A war in disguise. War between many beauties and the trophy is the Prince, or better framed 'The new King'. And the more Elora saw all this, the more satisfied, she became. Elora's smirk turned into a satisfied smirk and she thought, "Good for her."

Elora was just thinking all this, when she stepped into the main hall. The hall was all bustling with different people who visited from different parts of the Kingdom. It had been barely a few seconds that Elora and her family entered the hall, when the busily bustling hall went quiet. Completely quiet.

The sudden silence made Elora snap out of her thoughts and she focused properly on her surrounding. And then she saw everyone staring at her without uttering anything. It was difficult even to move their eyes from her. Mostly everyone had seen Elora many times in the past, and knew her undeniable beauty. And every time they saw her, she seemed to turn more beautiful. And as Elora doesn't like to socialize much, many didn't see her for sometime

And time seemed to have done some magic as she looked enchanting tonight. And not only gorgeous but something else too, she looked kind of powerful.

While most people stared at Elora in awe, the look that the maidens present in the room passed her were dripped in envy and jealousy. For them, Elora was a strong potential rival for the position of the Queen and the King's bride. None of them could see their dream of being the Queen ruin by someone even before they could compete for it.

Ava and Frederick too noticed their daughter being the centre of attention, but not in a very good way. Frederick then bent to Ava's ears and wishpered something. Ava heard him and nodded in agreement. She then went to her daughter who was just served a glass of wine by a passing servant. She sipped on it as if everything was normal and she was not the reason of an extremely awkward situation.

Elora elegantly sipped on the wine and looked around at the decorations and sometimes at people who stared at her, with such confidence, with her head held high that the starer himself gets awkward and moved his eyes elsewhere.