"I don't know why this wasn't your first pick." Alan scrutinised Lucian as they walked.
Striding right beside him was Lucian, dressed in a pure white suit, with greenish-blue patterns engraved in different places.
"My first fit was much better." Lucian retorted.
"Hell no."
The two of them were on their way to the age of coming ceremony, Alden had already left them an hour ago, informing them he was required to attend with the family.
Noble families had been gathering in the castle since long ago, from the windows of castle corridors, Alan could see the numerous carriages arriving at the royal castle, the coming of age ceremony of the fourth princess had already begun about twenty minutes ago.
...And they were lost, Alan and Lucian had no idea where the hell they were.
"This castle is too big..." Alan complained, staring through the window, he could see noblemen and women all gathering to a certain place.
But he just had no idea how to get there.
Walking for a while longer, it felt as if... they were getting even further from the event?
"God damn it, where the fuck are we?" Alan ruffled his hair with one hand, they stood before an enormous double door, made of pure gold, with absolutely no one in sight.
"Why not ask someone?" Lucian suggested.
"Ask fucking who?" There were quite literally no maids or servants in sight.
"Not sure." Lucian didn't even blink. "This door looks cool, though."
"You're right..." Alan rubbed his chin, inspecting the golden double door. "Let's open it."
"Great idea." Lucian agreed immediately, as if he was waiting for it.
Alan shrugged, the ceremony could wait, and so, they moved towards the double doors.
Thud
But before they did, the doors opened and closed by themselves, and out came a familiar face.
Arlo stepped out of the audience chamber, with his head lowered, gazing down at his boots, he didn't even notice Alan and Lucian standing right in front of him, Arlo's face was a mix of complex emotions Alan couldn't read.
"Eh?" Arlo stopped just before he bumped into Lucian. "...Why are you two here?"
"I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to." Alan had an awkward smile.
"What does that even mean?" Arlo shook his head, then his eyes widened. "How much time do we have until the ceremony?!"
"Oh, it already started like half an hour ago."
"Then why the hell are you here?!" Arlo shouted before quickly dashing off in a certain direction, down the corridors of the castle.
"Oi Lucian." Alan called out. "Look, he's showing us the way."
"Let's follow then."
Whoosh
The two of them cut through the air, speeding through the hallways following the tracks of Arlo, a passing maid gasped as a blur of black and white blitzed past her, leaving her very confused.
Moments later Alan and Lucian skidded to a sudden halt in front of a wooden door in the middle of the hallway.
"There is no way the ceremony is here." Alan had his doubts but opened the door anyway.
Click
The door swung open, revealing Arlo in a state of panic and struggling to pull a piece of tunic over himself.
Arlo froze the moment the door opened, slowly turning his head to the entrance. "Why are you even here?"
"...We thought you were taking us to the ceremony...?"
"Get out!"
"My bad..." Alan gradually closed the door, just before fully shutting it, Alan peeked his eyes through the little gap. "Are you still taking us or...?"
"GET OUT!"
...
"How unbelieveable." Arlo muttered under his breath, rubbing his brows. "Do you two not have a single shred of dignity?"
Now dressed in his golden ceremonial attire befitting that of a prince, Arlo led Alan and Lucian through the hallways of the castle to the age of coming ceremony.
"Not really."
"Yeah, not really."
Alan and Lucian replied without a second thought.
"You two are absurd." Arlo could only shake his head and continue walking.
"Aren't we, like, super late?" Alan asked. "It's already been forty minutes since the start of the ceremony."
"Indeed." Arlo nodded, agreeing to his words. "But the age of coming ceremony is quite special, of course."
"Huh."
"The person in question is scheduled to arrive about an hour after the start of the ceremony, after every guest is present." Arlo paused in his sentence. "Also because of the emperor..."
Arlo's words trailed off in a weird way, but Alan didn't question it. "Also, what was that golden door?"
"...The audience chamber?" Arlo halted, turning a wary glance to Alan and Lucian. "Why were you two even there...?"
"Man, I was going to steal the doors too..."
"Oi, why were you there?"
"So sad..."
"Answer me!"
...
"So it was over here, huh?" Alan stroked his chin, staring forward, ahead of him was a grand corridor, lit with bright lights.
A few nobles moved in one direction, heading deeper into the corridor, small chatter naturally made its way to Alan's ears, but he didn't pay it much mind.
"We made it to the ballroom." Arlo informed them, walking forward. "I'll enter first."
Arlo was gone, he headed straight down the bright corridor, vanishing from Alan's view, leaving him and Lucian standing there.
"We should get going too." Alan looked around his surroundings, there really weren't many nobles here, he assumed the majority had already entered the ballroom.
On silent agreement, the two of them stepped forward.
The grand corridor leading to the ballroom was an eye-pleaser; multiple high chandeliers hung from the ceiling above, illuminating the hallway in a pale golden shine.
The side of the walkway wasn't empty, pillars of white marble, veined with actual silver and gold, rose to support a ceiling painted with the history of the Valenhearts from hundreds of years ago, illustrating tales passed down in books.
The very air in here was different.
However, Alan paid no heed to it, he simply kept his gaze locked forward, passing by the paintings without as much as a glance.
"Halt!" They soon arrived in front of a large, expensive wooden doors, with two knights standing guard on either side. "State your ident...ity..."
The knight's words trailed off the moment he noticed Alan's violet eyes, quickly he lowered his head, and so did the other knight.
"We apologise for any inconvenience!" They yelled in unison, then asked. "Please provide your invitation."
"Alright." Alan waved them off, tapping his necklace he brought out the envelope given to him by the head of the Zevril family two months ago.
"Thank you, sir!" The knight retrieved the letter, scanning the seal for its authenticity, he quickly stored the envelope.
While the first knight occupied himself, the second knight stepped forward and made a polite request. "May I have your name?"
"Name?" Alan thought for a moment, then remembered something Alden once told him.
There was an obvious social hierarchy in the noble world, from barons, viscounts, counts, marquesses and dukes.
To the ones leagues above, the grand dukes and royal family, the status of these two family branches was the highest on the continent.
As such, they held privileges in different places, for example, when coming to a formal event, before entering, the guards would announce their arrival to the entire venue, with their full name and the position they hold.
'Well, that's a bit awkward.' Alan scratched his cheek for a moment, currently he and Lucian were literal commoners, there would be no reason to make an announcement... well, it could be fun?
"Just Alan and Lucian." Alan gently smiled.
The knight stood attentive for a moment too long, then tilted his head. "Sorry sir, may I request your full name?"
"Alan and Lucian." Alan's smile didn't change.
"Excu—"
"Alan and Lucian." Alan was grinning ear to ear, unnerved by his attitude, the knight yielded, lowering his head.
"Yes, sir." The knight moved back, exchanged a small puzzled look with his co-worker, but shrugged, deciding it was better to obey than to question.
Pressing their hands to the closed doors, they swung the double door open, revealing the interior of the ballroom.
"Sir Alan and Lucian have arrived!"
The noisy ballroom instantly hushed, every eye in the place snapped towards the entrance.
Alan led the way, passing by the knights, he strode into the ballroom, moving in an aloof posture, his midnight-black long coat unnaturally billowing behind him, his face plastered with a mischievous smirk.
Beside him, Lucian was the perfect counterpart, his polar opposite white suit created a clear contrast against Alan's dark one, yet it only made the two of them look quite the duo, Lucian's expression didn't tell a single one of his thoughts, remaining as emotionless as ever.
Countless eyes scanned the two as they confidently entered the the ballroom, some stared in calculation, others in curiosity, most in pure confusion.
Of course everyone knew of the tradition, what no one understood was why someone's arrival was announced without their family name.
Then they noticed Alan's eyes, some instantly connected the dots, realising his identity, while others remained oblivious but clearly taken aback by the appearance of a Zevril.
"Oi Lucian, they're looking." Naturally Alan didn't care about what they thought, he was holding his mouth, suppressing a giggle that threatened to slip.
"Yes indeed they are." Lucian replied, unsure as to why Alan was so jolly all of a sudden.
The reason? Alan planned to absolutely bomb the ceremony, it was his very first formal event debut, and he wanted to make it his last.
Alan took a breath, calming his nerves, and observed his surroundings, the eyes that peered into him and Lucian were gone, and the noisy chatter amongst the nobles returned in full swing once more.
The ballroom was spacious, so large that Alan couldn't be sure it was proper to be called a ballroom, the floors were cleaned enough to reflect his own image, ceiling high enough to turn his neck.
Leaving his thoughts of the place aside, Alan walked off to the side, passing by circular tables placed on the floor.
He was searching for Julia and Iris, it's been a while since he heard of them, by now Alan was a little worried.
Traversing the ballroom, passing through crowds of noisy nobles for a very long time, Alan finally found someone he was looking for.
He saw Iris, leaning against a marble pillar with a wine glass in her left hand, she was adorned in a beautiful scarlet dress, surrounded by noble men and women alike.
She was smiling, listening to the words of those gathered around her, responding lightly, but Alan could tell her smile was forced, her eyes expressed her obvious displeasure.
Iris looked away for a moment, then locked eyes with Alan from the distance, her forced smile for a split second shifted into a genuine one, with her finger she pulled it, signalling for Alan and Lucian to come to her.
"Alright then." Alan scoffed, along with Lucian, he approached Iris.
As their footsteps grew closer, some of the nobles circling around Iris noticed them, turning a slightly annoyed look, only to shrink back after seeing Alan's eyes, in the next moment, all of them moved a safe distance from Iris, well, all except one.
"Lady Iris, you must understand the significance of my position..." Alan tuned his ears out the moment he heard the noble's sentence.
Iris smiled gently, listening to his words, but it was easy to notice she had enough of the young noble's rubbish.
The young man was too busy singing praises about himself to Iris, trying to make himself appear great in front of her, that he didn't even notice Alan standing right behind him.
Tap
Alan placed a hand on the man's shoulder.
"What insolent..." The young noble spun his neck around, only freeze after catching Alan's eyes.
"Oh?" Alan grinned, he recognised the young man, it was the same person he met in the second district, the one made publicly urinate himself and pass out. "What a pleasant surprise?"
"U-uh..." The noble stepped away slowly, carefully and broke into a fast pace strides across the ballroom.
"Hehe~" Alan giggled. "What a funny guy."