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Once I had settled the prince's, I returned back to the throne room to assume my place once more for welcoming the guests. My father too, returned quickly.
He told me that the next king to arrive will be travelling from the direction that had the newly constructed highway. This marvel will certainly not go unnoticed and we had to be cautious in our approach of dealing with releasing of the information regarding coal-tar used in construction.
This was a topic we had already discussed in brief on my return back to the capital, but he was still conflicted on the approach that I had planned. This was the reason for his worry and cautionary warning before I meet the guests.
In total at least three of our important guests will arrive at the capital travelling the newly constructed highway, this meant that once they meet with other guests everyone will learn about the construction wonder that had been done in our kingdom. The extra smooth travel, the ease of securing the route and the possible benefits will be irrefutable just from the testimony of the guests themselves.
I too had no issues with them knowing about it. As a matter of fact, I wanted them to be more interested in this. The reason for that was the recent undertakings that I had started to work on and the decision of the royal court regarding my future expenses. If I remember correctly, then I only had three to five years of buffer time left to complete most of the projects related to our own kingdom before I had to willingly or unwillingly move on to a bigger stage.
I needed new and easy sources of funding. Who better than the kings themselves?
Throughout the day, we received at least fifty more guests. The number of prince and princesses that arrived were a shocker for me. According to my own memories and what I gathered from my conversations with the captain, the usual number of guests arriving will be far less than what I had seen.
The most common custom for a kingdom of our size, was the presence of a few neighbouring kings along with their children. This would mean that the guests we received should be ten or fifteen at the maximum. By guests, I am referring to the most important people in the entourage. By having welcomed fifty guests, we currently had fifty people of importance attending my birthday.
The other peculiar trait among the guests was the number of princesses present. Almost every other guest had arrived with a princess in tow. Considering that the birthday was of a prince, the custom dictated that the guests bring their respective princes for bonding. Afterall this celebration was thrown to introduce myself in the social circle and nobility.
We always knew that the number of guests can be highly varied from our own estimations, therefore the arranged for accommodations was left with plenty of additional room for erecting necessary tents to fulfil the demand. But once the number of guests crossed thirty, we knew that the area will not be enough. To tackle the situation for tonight, we had the remaining guests rest in the castle for the night.
The accommodations for the female members of the entourage were arranged in the castle, while the important guests were given the tents prepared for the princes. The princes were transferred to the mansion outside the capital where I had stayed for a good part of last year. I was the one accompanying the princes, while the captain and Adishri were instructed to care for the people staying in the castle.
After the completion of the project, I offered Adishri a permanent place by my side to learn from me and she was happy to accept. She told me that she understood very well, that if she wished to enact a sizeable change in the general circumstances of the women in the kingdom than I was the best candidate to allow her to achieve that. She left her position to another female in the camp and after everyone knew that she was to work directly for me, I was sure that no one would dare to trouble the women in the camp.
After I settled the princes, I returned to the area of accommodations for preparing the needed tents. I was there till early in the morning to see the finishing of the accommodations.
I had little time to shut my eyes before I had to return to the palace to stand by my father's side. Today would be the introductions. As I had many sleepless nights in the past year, it was not especially taxing on my body physically or mentally. By the time I was ready to return, I was informed by one of the soldiers that the princes had already returned to settle in their own tents.
I distinctly remembered my father instructing me that the introductions will be held in the royal court. This added to my confusion when Adishri arrived before me to convey that the place of introductions had changed from the royal court to the gardens.
I understood that the number of guests exceeded our expectations, but it was not to the point that we would have trouble accommodating them in the court. Afterall the introductions will only have the presence of the kings and their children and not the entire entourage.
While we made our way to the gardens, I asked her about the princesses' reactions to their accommodations by the pool and if they had any thoughts of discontent. The reason for this was not because I was curious or very interested in girls I had never met, but because I genuinely wished for them to be a good experience, at least while I was the host.
She chuckled lightly and recalled how the various princesses had reacted while witnessing their accommodations, the garden, the pool and the relaxing chairs. She said that many male servants following them were also enraged when they were stopped by the guards from entering.
Many raised doubts that if no males were allowed, who will keep an eye on the guards themselves if they were to leave their princesses unattended. She was smiling when she recalled the faces of everyone, including the princesses, when the guard politely bowed towards her, while introducing her as a confidant of the prince himself and her appointed duty as the escort of the princesses for the entire duration of the celebration.
As we were discussing, we reached the gardens where I could already see the various princes and princesses already seated among their own friends and entourage. The kings however were all seated with a slight nervousness on their faces. This immediately had my mind running, thinking about the possibility of such an emotion.