The Imperial Courtroom had a massive arched doorway—left opened as the chaotic raising of voices that were desperate to take over each other echoed until outside the courtroom where I stood. Lady Elizabeth was beside me, saying that she will be here to support me as an emissary from the East since my father had much more pressing matters to attend to. Still, I was very grateful.
Courtiers that were part of the Lower Courts stood by the hallways, giving me nervous glances. They might have covered the lower half of their faces with fans but the expressions on their eyes were all it took to make them look obvious.
A hand gripped my shoulder gently. The slim woman had concern all over her face.
"Are you ready?" she asked.
I nodded. "Yes, let's go."
I was about to take a step into the room when I heard Lavi's voice from a distance. He was talking to two men taller than him—the three of them wore matching black and gold robes, and their hairs were the same straight and long blue. The tallest one had the lightest hue like the day sky at noon.
"Just let me go in, already!" Lavi scratched his head aggressively.
The one who seemed to be the oldest sighed. "How many times have we told you, little brother? You are not up for this yet."
"Can't we just let him tag along?" The man who had a loose ponytail tied by a thin black ribbon took a step between them.
Lavi's face was filled with hope.
"You dote on him too much, Lennard. We follow what father says, no ifs, no buts." Then he turned around, bright blue hair fluttering behind him as he left the younger ones.
"But the others will be there, why am I the only one not allowed?" Lavi scrunched his brows.
"Lavi, those 'others' are of the royal family and a young lady who has something to say about her powers." He ruffled the youngest brother's hair. "I know you're worried about her. But try to stay calm, alright? I'll tell you what happened once we return home."
The young wizard looked away. I caught sight of the pinkish tint that was forming on his cheeks. "Who's worried about whom? …I just think it's unfair." A glowing circle of squiggly texts appeared beneath his feet. "I'll wait for you at home."
"Calla, is something wrong?"
I quickly turned back to the Countess. "No, it's nothing."
Lady Elizabeth's lips tugged into a calm smile. "Let's go, they will start soon."
***
If one would stand at the middle of the courtroom, they would see a dais across — on it were raised platforms where the Emperor sat between his two sons. There were other chairs placed on the lower left and right steps of the dais. The four members of the Elder Council and the High Priests sat on them, their faces showed their determinations to ignore each other.
On each side were seats lined into rows and clustered into three groups, separated by low wooden railings. It was in order to identify which region these nobles came from.
But I say it was useless, for you could easily tell who was who from the clothes worn by the nobles. All of them wore the color schemes of their region's source of life force — except for us Easterners, who instead of donning ourselves with flowers like the others, we wore black in order to mourn the dead. Some noble ladies even wore black laced veils to cover their faces.
Since my father was absent, I was the one to sit at the middle front while Lady Elizabeth sat beside me.
In the middle of their conversation, a Southwestern woman in Lilac-filled attire rose from her seat. "Why don't we just attack them first? Think about the King of Kairos' audacity! It is truly preposterous. We are three times bigger than them!"
A man from the Southeastern group replied, "And what of those monsters? What if last night was just a mere fraction of their strengths? The Ventus could not have attacked first if they did not know that they have leverage against us."
"That is true. Just because our enemy is small in number does not mean they are weak."
The woman threw a hand towards the Northwestern ones beside them, "What about the Dryads? This wizard guild's contributions to our empire have been very helpful throughout generations. Surely that is a greater force on our side!"
Wizards donned in black and gold robes were the majority of the Northwest representatives. After hearing the woman's remark, the magic users nodded in approval.
"Magic and any kind of physical attack do not work on those shadow creatures." said someone from the Western region who sat by our right side.
"How sure are you?"
"There were knights and wizards present during the banquet. All of them were helpless against the monsters."
"They could not have been that defenseless. There were survivors, weren't there?"
"If the young lady and her friends didn't arrive in time then no one would have made it out of there alive. There were hundreds of people present at the banquet and only one percent was saved."
The rambling continued about. My mind was swirling to different places, unable to think properly.
"And now what? Should we head to war?"
"Is war really the only solution out of this?"
"He dared to threaten our emperor and empress. To defile our rulers is to defile our land!"
"What does the King of Kairos want from us anyway?"
"Is it not obvious? He wants the whole continent all to himself!"
"I say we take their nation first!"
"For Khloris' sake, it is not that simple. The years of peace had softened our military strength!"
"So what? We train soldiers and send them to the boundaries to protect our empire."
"You heartless buffoon! What of their sons and daughters? Their wives and husbands? You selfishly decide to break families when there are clearly other ways other than war!"
"Then should we just let a Ventus king trample the name of our land like this?"
A minute more and I would have forgotten my manners and just covered my ears with my hands. Until the woman beside me stood up — it made the room gradually fall into silence, for not a single soul among the Easterners has spoken a single word since the start of this meeting.
"All of you shut your goddessforsaken mouths."
Lady Elizabeth's voice came out calm, but sharp.
"You talk as if we, Easterners, are not here. All of you speak as if you have seen how our people had been ripped apart into pieces, how they screamed in pain as their limbs were gnawed away by that horrible creature. Yet do you truly care about what happened to us? All I see are prideful men and women who are more scared of losing their riches to the Ventus than the actual safety of the citizens. Not once have you mentioned what you can do to help us. You say you are worried about our empire, but are we not part of this empire as well? As the first victims of those monstrosities, I believe that the East has every right to say on what happened."
A man with curly caramel hair stood from beside her. I saw that it was Lord Frederick. His hair was a mess and his eyes had deep dark circles. He opened his dried lips to speak,
"We want vengeance."
The room fell into soft murmurs. The whispers slowly turned into arguments, the voices getting louder and louder.
Until the emperor spoke — his voice boomed in a way that made everyone, including me, flinch. "Enough!"