Chereads / His Moonlight / Chapter 17 - The reunion

Chapter 17 - The reunion

Lune knows that in her previous world, there are plenty of cultures that practice coming of age rituals, but she never thought she would be in one right now.

The priest has been chanting without much break, and since the chants are fast and the pronunciation is a little off since it's in the old language, Lune doesn't focus listening to the contents and just wonders how the priest has the time to breath with his mouth keeps moving without any breaks. She moves her eyes to look around the chapel to see if she finds any familiar faces among the attendees, and besides the king and some ministers that she dealt with before, the rest are strangers to her. There are lots of guards with different uniforms standing in a straight line at the sides, and that's when she gets a little nervous about how princes and princesses from the other kingdoms do attend this kind of event.

Her mind wanders for too long that she doesn't realize that the priest is calling her, and Sol quickly recovers her embarrassment by answering for her, and when the priest is telling Lune to repeat after him, she follows quietly and makes a mental note to thank her twin later. After feeling like it's an eternity, the ritual is finally ending with the last action to be taken, which is to drink a goblet of holy water by facing the attendees.

When Lune holds the goblet handed to her by the priest, she takes a peek into it and frowns when the water is a little milky instead of crystal clear, and she starts to hesitate since she doesn't know the contents. Sol must be thirsty since he just gulps down without wasting a drop, and realizing that everyone else seems to be waiting for her turn, she braces herself and swallows everything, and passes it back while hoping that it's not some kind of drug or something that will mess up her hormones. The priest announces that the ritual officially ends, and that's when Sol takes over by announcing to the crowd, "first of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming to our coming of age ceremony. Please follow the guards to the ballroom for activities for the rest of the day and night."

The attendees seem to be eager to get out of that chapel from how fast they walk out. Lune waits for the crowd to clear a bit before moving on since she feels tired from the heavy dress, and before she can start moving, she waves down one of the maids and asks, "can you help me take out the train?"

"Yes your highness," finally removed from the long dragging fabric, Lune stretches herself a little before holding up her skirt and walks carefully towards the ballroom, eager to get some food for her grumbling stomach. When the ballroom doors are opened for her, it seems she caught a few stares from some jealous looking women, and she giggles from how humankind never ceases to change no matter what time it is.

The desserts that are served are to die for, since she remembered she taste tested it before and decided to order it from how delicious they are. The moment she bites into the chocolate muffin, she moans in ecstasy until someone is daring enough to interrupt her moment by approaching her comfort bubble, "Congratulations Princess Lune for reaching adulthood. I'm Prince-'' she waves him off before he can ask her for a dance, which makes him frown at how fast he got shot down, "surely the princess would not be so cruel to leave me without a dancing partner for the whole night?"

Without even looking at him straight in the eyes, she throws away the wrapping paper of her eaten muffin and complains, "I don't care if you are the prince charming or even a king. This is my party, so I'm allowed to choose whoever to dance with, thank you," and she frowns when he doesn't seem to be giving up on her, "my kingdom is the main supplier of-"

"A lady dislikes a pushy man, especially one that doesn't know how to read the room."

A sense of familiarity hits Lune hard when she hears the voice, where she turns to the direction of the most welcomed interruption, and her eyes widen when she sees the familiarity in his looks. He has silver hair, where he has a messy look on it but it suits him somehow. Though he wears a mask that covers half of his face, his azure blue eyes speak volumes of his identity to those that knew him. Even though he wears a simple black suit, he has the first few buttons open, revealing part of his chest.

"Who the hell are you? I doubt you are powerful enough to offend someone with my statu-" the prince is instantly cast away when Lune greets the masked man cheerfully, "good day! I hope the food here suits your palate."

His blue eyes seem to be staring at something on Lune's hair, and he smirks before sipping on a cocktail drink where he has been holding on, "why yes. Thank you your highness for asking for my well being," and after placing his empty glass on the nearby banquet table, he extends his hand and asks, "will the princess accept my invitation to dance?"

Before the prince can protest further, Lune has already placed her hand on his, "gladly, I have something to talk to you about anyway."

He starts leading her to the center of the dance floor, and the duo starts catching the attention from the onlookers, and Sol seems to be staring hard at Lune's choice of dance partner, obviously uncomfortable with her choice. Once they start to get into position, their little dance starts slow.

"I never thought to see you again after all these years right here," the man tilts his head with an amused look on his face and feigns ignorance, "what do you mean, your highness? I think you're confusing me with someone else."

"Chilve-" he quickly twirls her once before holding her tighter, and he grins, "not so loud, I'm here today as a banker, not as a werewolf."

"What's the difference?" She grins when he looks a little flustered, and he says, "some people know the name Chilve as the werewolf, so let's be careful here with names, shall we Lune?"

"Fine, then what do I call you then in front of the others?"

"I go by the name Evan," he smiles wider when she seems to be pouting instead, and asks, "what's the matter?"

"You haven't given me an explanation on why you disappeared without a trace for this long."

'Ah, someone's been feeling sour about how I can't visit after ascending the alpha position.' "I will tell you later, alright? Since it seems that someone is approaching us."