My parents and the elders went towards the left of the event hall while Celes and I went to the right side. It is customary for the younger ones to be on the right side where they could mingle with peers their age.
Risa was an exception as she was too young so she would stay in her mother's arms for the rest of this ball.
"What was all that about?" asked Celes as we strolled.
Her hand that I held jerked as I realized it was time for me to let go. I slowly unclasped my grip as I slowed my pace to be beside her.
"Doing that was necessary." I said.
The little show in front of the hall entrance had to be done.
"Why?" she asked with a confused expression.
I sighed when seeing this as her memory often fails her.
"Do you not remember what used to happen at the events the school held?' I said with exasperation.
"Oh!" She seemed to have figured it out. "Do you mean something similar was going to happen here too?"
'Yes. Do you forget how beautiful you are? Do you forget how deadly your charm was?" I emphasize the words 'charm' and 'beautiful'.
Her attractiveness has always been deadly from the day she entered the SSS. The young men would do find any excuse to talk to her.
Celes being Celes would get annoyed by their endless pestering and would end up challenging them to a duel and beating them half to death.
"Ah! Beauty and charm. Why can't you compliment me more often?" she pouts cutely.
My eye twitches slightly after seeing such an innocent expression. My brain started to spasm. This girl, knew what she was doing.
That kind of expression was my weakness but Celes shouldn't know that.
"Where did you learn to pout like that?" I asked, staring at her with doubt.
"Elina said she does this whenever you don't agree with her on something." she says after returning her expression to her usual smile.
"Shit! When was this?" I ask with a betrayed tone. No wonder the expression hit so hard, it was almost the same as Elina's pouts.
Elina shouldn't go around handing away my deepest weakness like that.
"Hehe. It was during the breaks we took in the carriage. Since you were always so distracted with your reading, Elina decided it would be nice for me to learn more about you."
Celes explained how Elina told her about my days before going to the SSS. She told her stories about us harassing the city and the trouble we caused for everyone.
"Hmph!" I snorted. "She didn't tell you any of my other weaknesses?" I asked.
"Hmmmmm!" Celes's eyes sparkled when she heard this. "You have more weaknesses?!"
I shouldn't have said that. It seems that Elina didn't really reveal anything more. Unfortunately, I had already opened the pandoras box.
Looking at Celes's excited expression, I was sure she would seek out Elina later for some more tips. Celes was keen on collecting as many weaknesses as she could so that she could one day beat me in a sword fight. Since she could never beat me head-on, she has been always looking for unconventional methods to give her the boost she needs.
Regardless of all that, we should get back to the issue at hand.
"Now that you remember how often you got harassed at those parties, do you get why I made such a commotion?" I asked her. She needed to start understanding some of these things on her own.
"Hmmmm." she ponders while putting her index finger on her lips.
"By calling me your companion in such a vague manner, are you marking me as yours?" she says after a couple of seconds.
She figured it out. That was quick. Why couldn't she just do this without me having to guide her?
"Correct. None of those young will now approach you. They will think we already have that kind of personal relationship. Given my high noble rank, they won't dare do that. And as for nobles with a higher rank than me, they have fiancees who are quite controlling for their partners."
I explain to her the way noble society works. There are very few people who would dare approach a woman taken by a high-ranking noble heir.
The young men who would belong to the ducal and imperial family. But those young men have fiancees who have quite a lot of pride and wouldn't let their partners's eyes wander.
"So you can't use force like we used to?" Celes mentions.
"Yeah. The SSS is an institution where noble ranks don't matter much. It was about our strength. We were 2 of the strongest, none of them dared approach us after we teamed up.
But here, political power matters, so I went about it a more political way." I explained.
"Mmmhmm. I get it now. Your plan was to draw attention toward me but at the same time make sure they wouldn't approach me?" she said while putting her arm in between mine.
This was something we did often back at school.
"Yeah."
'Okay, but that doesn't stop girls from approaching you right?" she said with a smirk.
"Huh! What do..." Before I could continue, I saw the dozen young women coming towards us.
We had just entered the right side but I could already recognize everyone here. Especially the women that were rushing towards us.
"Shit!" I curse lightly under my breath.
I totally forgot about protecting myself from those girls. Whenever I would attend any sort of party with girls my age, they would always flock to me.
It didn't take long for the young noble ladies in beautiful dresses to surround Celes and me.
"Ryan, long time no see!"
"Wow! You have gotten much taller."
"Look at those arms. Have you still been training?"
"Can you show us some of those cool sword tricks?"
"I heard you did great at the SSS war!"
"Can you share some war stories!"
Their voices were enthusiastic and full of curiousness. Some were even trying to touch my arm. These girls were even more energetic than three years ago. They had only gotten more annoying.
"Hahaha! The night is still young my ladies. There is no need to rush. There is plenty of time for us to catch up." I say with a courteous smile.
"But before that, can you ladies give me some space? My fiancee would not approve if I am surrounded by so many ladies at once."
I let out the fact I am officially engaged. So far, the news of Elina and my engagement event has been made public except for a couple of families that we are close to. We have to publicly let this information out at some point so what better chance than now?
Of course, doing so was going to cause another large commotion.
"What?
"Really?"
"No way!"
"When was this?"
"Who is it?"
The lovely ladies are obviously taken aback by this news. I was one of the few bachelors in my age group as most of them had already been engaged since childhood. Many of the ladies around me are fourth or lower in line for inheriting their parent's noble titles.
Given that, it is obvious they would look for a capable man to marry. Given my stellar resume, many of them have attempted to get along with me for years but I carefully maintained my distance. I don't like treating something as important as marriage as a political tool.
It is a sacred, lifetime commitment that shouldn't be sulled.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
A somewhat loud noise of someone clapping rhythmically interrupted the swarm of ladies that were buzzing like bees.
Everyone's attention quickly turned towards the figure that was clapping. It was a tall, robust figure wearing a full set of metal armor. The silver color armor gleamed brilliantly under the mana-powered chandeliers of the hall.
The only place where you could see the young man's body was from the slivers on his helmet. All you could see were his striking, rose-colored eyes that seemed to be filled with a fighting spirit.
"When did our lovely sword prince get engaged?" he said in a mocking tone.
His deep voice sounded slightly muffled due to his helmet's obstruction.
"Just a couple weeks ago your grace." I said with a smirk on my face.
"I was wondering what was taking you so long but you have finally done it." He says while walking towards.
His armor created a very striking noise as he took long strides. The cluster of young women parted ways as they made space for the young man.
I could finally breathe thanks to this man. He walked right in front of me and placed a hand on one of my shoulders.
"Long time no see old friend. I hope you're doing well." He says in a softer tone.
"I am doing well but why call me 'old friend' your grace? We are both still quite young." I say jokingly.
"Hahaha! How long will you continue to call me 'your grace'? I told you countless times to just call me Leonard." I say while laughing.
I join him in his laugh and rebut by saying "Maybe now that I'm engaged, I'll call you Leonard."
I don't refer to him as 'your grace' this time.
As he realized this, Prince Leonard wrapped his arm around my back and gave me a hard couple of encouraging pats.
"Hahahahahaha! Finally! I thought you were going to be so formal forever. No, we can finally get rid of those needed titles and be real friends." he talks with a booming voice that startles everyone.
We could all clearly hear the joy in his voice.
"So who is the lucky lady? Is it the one holding onto your arm?" He asks in a joking manner.
He's close enough to me to know who it is but still makes such a comment.
"No. This is Celes. A companion I met at the SSS. We fought side by side during the war against the Purple Phoenix Sect."
I introduced Celes to my good friend and everyone else around us.
"I see. So of course the one you engaged to is..." Before he could finish another voice cut in.
"Is me."