Ball preparations

The day of the moon festival grand ball finally arrived. So many nobles were invited, the women dressed up their daughters to be perfect with the hope that they would find suitors and they all eagerly waited for the night.

No one wanted to be late for the ball, though all excited, majority were flabbergasted because a ball based on the moon festival or anything else had never taken place in the castle to the extent of inviting humans. They weren't informed about the motive and actually didn't expect to be informed.

The journey to the castle was four hours, it was very far from the town which Olympia was living in and they would even go through cities before they would arrive at the castle.

"What are you thinking about?" Asked Lola while brushing the silky golden strands of Olympia's hair. Olympia stared at her reflection on the mirror with a perplexed expression. She was indeed beautiful tonight and Lola as usual to Olympia's demand, added a little makeup since she didn't want to look attractive tonight but strangely she was even more beautiful than usual.

"Could you remove the makeup Lola?" Olympia asked and held her breath.

Lola's eyes widened in shock. "But I barely added anything."

"I still look beautiful," Olympia groaned childishly.

Lola sighed deeply then smiled as she realized what was happening. "You are naturally beautiful my lady, you are a golden phoenix of course without makeup you are even more beautiful and you know that"

"Yes, but I don't want to look attractive tonight, I don't want the king to like me, I don't want to get married" Olympia admitted and closed her eyes.

Lola was touched, it was rare to see Olympia bothered about something and sad. Her lips parted, just as she wanted to utter words, "Olympia, are you done? We can't afford to be late" Said Luana as she barged into the room.

"I..I.. she is done" Lola said nervously to Luana then dropped the brush on the table.

Olympia got up from the chair and faced her mother whose jaw dropped on how her daughter looked so exquisite.

Her golden hair stood out with her being in the pure white ball gown that was without straps and exposed her neck and collar bone. The gown really suited her and lacked stone works but a lot of white thread work. The top tightened her body according to the corset top that she wore inside and the dress traveled to the ground. Luana blinked rapidly as her eyes moved to her daughter's face which had a little makeup but still she was inexplicably beautiful.

"M..mother" Olympia uttered nervously. Her mother was looking at her as if she had seen a ghost and it was extremely creepy.

"Mother, I want my hair up" Added Olympia more clearly to snap her mother out of her creepy gaze.

Luana blinked rapidly and smiled brightly.

"Yes, yes my dear" She said eagerly as she looked at smiling Lola. "Do what she says quickly, it's a four hours journey, we can't afford to be late," Luana concluded and walked out of the room.

Olympia sat back in front of the mirror and Luana did her job by placing Olympia's hair up and used pins to hold her hair. She curled some strands of her hair and they fell on Olympia's forehead.

Lola was proud of her work because no matter what she did, Olympia ended up making it look like perfection.

"Thank you Lola," Olympia smiled faintly.

Olympia finally walked out of her room meeting her mother and father in front of her wearing proud expressions. Her focus moved to the silver mask Luana was holding.

"Mother," Olympia called with widened eyes.

Luana gave her the mask which she collected immediately and wore it.

"Dina made it, she couldn't make it today, her mother is sick" Luana informed with a mixed expression of joy and sadness.

"I am a bit disappointed but it's understandable," Said Olympia, who was trying hard not to disappoint her parents no matter how much she wanted to disappear.

"Even without stone work, the dress fits you perfectly" Patrick complimented.

"I am glad I chose it" Luana said and sniffed emotionally.

Olympia was fed up with the compliments. "Is it time to go? It's four hours to the castle, remember?" Olympia remembered dramatically and walked past them.

They all arrived outside meeting a huge carriage held by six horses and a man who was wearing a full mask unlike Olympia's and was the carriage rider.

"The king sent a carriage, Olympia" Luana informed. Though Olympia wasn't impressed she forced a smile to her mother and father.

They walked closer to the carriage and the rider got down to open the door for them. Up close, he didn't look much like a guard and his eyes weren't clear, so Olympia got suspicious and held her parents by their wrists to stop them from going to the carriage.

"Olympia?" Patrick asked angrily, offended by her sudden action.

"What's wrong?" Luana asked worriedly and confused.

Olympia's emerald eyes narrowed to the rider then she spoke with a voice filled with suspicion. "We need proof that the king sent you, you must have told my father that the king sent you but I don't believe you"

"Olympia!" Patrick yelled in anger but Olympia tightened her grip around her parents wrists even though they didn't struggle.

"Smart" The rider chuckled in amusement and removed his mask with hesitation revealing his blood red eyes and gorgeous face.

"V... vampire!" Luana exclaimed in shock. She wasn't expecting that the king would send a vampire.

"This is not a proof, you may be an assassin" Olympia insinuated sternly which exposed that she wasn't moved by the strikingly gorgeous vampire.

The vampire smiled and nodded then glanced at Patrick who was extremely angry at Olympia. The vampire walked towards Patrick and laughed.

"You don't have to be mad at her Mr Smith, she is meant to be suspicious" He chuckled in amusement and moved away then removed a dragon seal badge out of his gray coat pocket then showed it to Olympia.

"It's the king's official seal and I am someone dear to him that's why he sent me because I am very able to protect you in case anything happens" He informed and chuckled in amusement.

Olympia scoffed, released her parents' wrists, lifted her gown and held the carriage door handle.

"You must be proud of yourself" Olympia scoffed, opened the door and entered the carriage with a little struggle but succeeded.

The vampire smiled, shook his head negatively and looked at stunned looking Luana and angry looking Patrick.

"We apologize for her behavior, that's not how she really is" Luana apologized nervously with a lie.

The vampire nodded. "It's okay, I don't mind, she is the king's future wife after all"

Luana laughed nervously and nodded while Patrick maintained his furious expression while staring at the carriage door.

"Oh, would you look at the time even though I have no watch with me, you two go in, we better go now if not, we will be late " He informed Patrick and Luana then opened the carriage door.

They entered immediately, he closed the door and returned to his station.

Very soon, the carriage started moving and it was heavily quiet. Olympia didn't bother to look out the window nor remove her mask, she didn't want any attention and was glad that the vampire didn't see her face. She was lost in a roller coaster of thoughts and didn't notice that Patrick still maintained his furious expression while staring at her.

Luana glanced at her furious looking husband then tapped his shoulder. Patrick looked at her and inhaled deeply seeing how worried she was.

"Why are you angry with Patrick?" Luana asked with a whisper.

"She already placed us in grave danger, if she wasn't so stubborn and obeyed us by not going out, he wouldn't have sighted her or known her and threatened us" Patrick suddenly revealed furiously but succeeded in lowering his voice.

"But still Patrick, it's not really her fault, we also didn't except it, we didn't even know, no one knows that he even comes out, no human has seen the king, you don't have to blame her" Said Luana coaxing her husband who suddenly smiled as if he wasn't angry a second ago.

"I am not, it's a great opportunity for us, we will be related to the royal family" Patrick suddenly said with a greedy smile.

Luana's eyes widened in shock as she didn't expect Patrick to say that.

"Mother, Father, do you think the king is an old man? Am I going to marry someone who is fit to be my father or worse grandfather?" Olympia suddenly asked with a low voice filled with sadness.

Luana and Patrick looked at their daughter with widened eyes. Olympia bowed her head, sighed deeply and placed with her fingers nervously.

She wasn't bothered whether the king was old or young at all, she was thinking about the moon cakes she would eat in the ball. How would it taste? And whether it would be different from normal mooncakes.