Today was another day. I wasn't particularly interested in what would happen today. Not because there was nothing particularly interesting would happen, but because of the people that attended the said event. Yeah, the family would have a party to celebrate Lobaev's birthday.
The house was cleaned, and I was told to dress up since many different nobilities from many different branches of the family would come. Yeah, it was more of a tradition than a requirement, and there was nothing I could do to solve it. For now, let's just see how it would go.
The mansion had been decorated in many places, just for the sake of celebrating a boy's party. With how much budget this family had just for this party alone, I swore I'd retire immediately if I had that much money. Lavish silver and gold cutlery were placed on top of the white sheets of the table.
Besides that, clear glasses filled with aged wine was scattered across the entire table. How many people would be coming? We were just a viscount, not a duke. If this was a viscount would get, I wondered what a duke or prince would get as a birthday. Probably, a whole town would have a holiday or something.
"Cathleen, keep up your behavior, alright? I don't know what happened to your head, but your manner seems to be improving after that accident. Let's keep it that way. Don't embarass yourself, alright, little sis?" Joseph fixed his bow tie.
I replied with a nod.
Both of us were heading for the ballroom, a large room where most of the nobilities were gathering. My parents were with Lobaev, and I was left in the care of Joseph. He might be sixteen, but he had taken care of most of my needs ranging from academic to self-defence stuff so far. He even gave me my first sword.
The butler opened the door heading for the ballroom. The blinding lights from the lanterns of the chandeliers on top of the room went straight into my eyes. The room was rumbling with conversations coming from many people there.
Leupold was also there, not really someone I wanted to see. Probably, he was there to brag about something again if I approached him. He was eating a cake while sitting down at a table. Nothing out of the ordinary, to be honest. It was just him being a human being, nothing more, nothing less.
Then, in the centre of attention, my parents and Lobaev were sitting on a throne. The other children of my family were scattered across the room as spectators. Joseph and I were sticking to each other because he had to keep an eye on me, as per my mother's order. Then there was Beth, my older sister.
He was older than me but younger than Joseph. She inherited the white hair from my mother, while I was the combination of both. I didn't remember whether she had any background back in the game, nor was a girl called Beth in my family. See, as long as I had my nobility status, the game didn't match my current background.
I approached her, "Enjoying the party?" I asked.
"More or less." She was looking at Lobaev while drinking a glass of water as if that was a glass of wine. She sniffed the water, whirled it around, and she drank it very slowly. I did that a long time ago, back when wine was something I couldn't drink.
Still, from the look of her face, the party seemed to be boring her. I meant, in actuality, the party was more like a formal ballroom meeting. No kids were playing, nor there was toys or birthday gifts. It was just a gimmick to improve the relation from one noble family to another.
It seemed that I wasn't allowed to be walking around freely either. Joseph always followed me from behind. What was my mother's order? Stalking me in case, I did something dumb? My memory was still fragmented. I didn't remember too many things about Cathleen childhood.
"Attention please." A butler knocked on the glass with a piece of paper. The whole ballroom went quiet as my father stood up from his throne. He looked so elegant, with a formal white suit for royalty. He must have prepared this for a very long time.
He began with a speech, but I didn't listen to any of it. It was the usual formal greeting, followed by thanks, then the usual "Bon Appetite" closing statement for that kind of party. I never liked the formal speech, even from an inspirational figure. It seemed that every single bit of that speech followed the same template, over and over again.
To make matters worse, I should be in here. I couldn't leave the ballroom, or I'd create a rage in my father that would boil down the next morning. Welcome to nobility life, where every single bit of action had an exaggerated reaction.
Beth approached me, then whispered in my ear, "Do you want to slip out?"
I then whispered back, "Wouldn't father become angry? Like, really angry."
"Well, not really. He only wants us to see his speech, after that, we are free to go. Besides, it's not like the whole mansion is not populated."
Even a slight glance would tell me that people were not particularly interested in the ballroom itself. Some higher nobility might slip out from the party because of the lack of respect for a viscount.
Beth told Joseph that she would take a walk alongside me. Joseph nodded. He didn't even bat an eye as someone else that he knew approached him, probably one of his friends from the academy.
Beth pulled my hands away from the party. Finally, it ended. The room really felt hot, was there nobody that had any incentive to use cooling magic or something? The moment I stepped out of that room, all of the heat just went away.
Like seriously, didn't anyone feel sick in that room? Or was it just me? Probably just me, everyone didn't even break a sweat. Thinking about it, rather than hot, it was probably just the lack of oxygen in that room.
"[Wind Breeze]." A flow of cold air came from the hands of my sister. "You looked unwell in there, was it the heat?"
"Yes." I couldn't help but to enjoy the air-conditioner like air flowing from the hands of my sister. "How long is that party going to last?"
"Long enough," My sister just answered with that.
We both walked towards the courtyard, the air was fresher there. There was a clear view to the ballroom as well, I shouldn't miss anything from here. It was not like I'd be missing anything from that party.
"Are you alright? You seem to be changing."
"Huh? What do you mean, Beth?" I asked back.
"Your manner somehow improved. You seem not to have any bad rapport with Joseph. And you spent time in library, not something I really expect from you."
"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" I wanted to ask that.
"A good thing, to be honest. I meant, don't push yourself too hard. Joseph will return to the academy two weeks from now. I hope you don't have any quarrel with your old tutor," Beth said.
"My old tutor?"
"Ah, mom told me that you'd have a partial memory loss. Mr. Herbert is your tutor, he comes here everyday before you have some sort of tantrum. If he comes back equipped with plate armor, don't be surprised, ok?"
"Plate armor? Why would he wear a plate armor to teach me?" I asked.
"Why do you even ask? Don't you remember that you always play with him with your magic? Even to the point of almost killing him. Well, we're quite lucky that he didn't even report. I remember father was so angry, he almost threw a chair at you," Beth said.
"He was?"
"You don't remember?"
I shook my head. I didn't remember a thing, maybe I could try to remember. However, I didn't have any glance at such specific memory. I just acted the way I would be. What was the worst that could happen?
"As expected. Well, you remember me, right?"
I nod. I lied too. I only remembered her name and her face, our past memory? No, I didn't have any of it. I only knew that she was my big sister, and that was it. If we had any relationship, I didn't know much about it.
The party continued for the nights. I slept earlier way before the party ended. My parents wouldn't mind either, I honestly wouldn't think that they would expect a nine-year-old to pull a all-nighter.