"Caroline Hurst and her niece Melissa Orlando."
Amy stopped to look at the door to see two ladies walk in and sat in their seats after being greeted. The doors close slowly.
Amy was shocked to see Melissa. She has brown hair and a moony expression. She immediately recognize her. This is Queen Melissa. I was wrong. Amy thought before recognizing the name. Orlando?
It makes sense now. Melissa Orlando is the niece of Caroline Hurst meaning that she is the Prime Minister's daughter. She knew he has a son but doesn't know he has a daughter. That means she is either adopted or recently legitimized who he isolated from society. This would explain why she never caught on to this information.
Amy sighed in relief. Melissa Campbell is not her. She is a toddler while Melissa Orlando is the same age as her future husband.
The doors opened again to show the most captivating woman that Amy has ever seen.
"Her Majesty, Queen Helena" the man doorman announced.
Dressed and jeweled up like a queen, she displays a dazzling, regal aura suitable for her standing. Everyone curtised upon seeing her and move aside to create a path for her to walk on. Amy took a look to see the queen. She has blond hair and green eyes but she could see that Leon resembles his mother in beauty and facial structure.
"Welcome everyone. I am quite happy that all of you have accepted my invitation." the queen said with a smile. She has a bit of a husky voice but it is still quite enchanting. "It has been nearly forty years since his Majesty had a selection. I have been married to his Majesty for ten years and I never had the privilege to be a part of a selection myself." she said. "I read all of your files and I wish to evaluate the abilities of all the young candidates myself. Would the non-candidates be escorted to another room?" she said and the older ladies were escorted away while the rest are taken to a separate room.
It appears to be a dining room with a long table with rows of chairs. On top of the table, there are only dinner plates in front of each seat which equals the number of candidates and each seat has a name plate with their full name. The strange part however was that there are no silverware and Amy had a chance to look at the other candidates while looking for her seat. There are twelve girls in total. She then spotted Sabina at her seat. She actually looks normal and not the deranged psychopath she saw in the manga.
"This is exciting." Viola whispered to Amy who only nodded in response.
She sat on the seat with her name and the others follow suit.
"Ladies, place your hands on these dinner plates in front of you until it changes color."
Everyone obeyed without question and Amy placed her hand gently on the plate. She then noticed what is happening. The plate is sucking up her power bit by bit. These dinner plates are magical items that evaluate a person's power, not their magic. This is gonna be hard to do since she wishes to hide her construction/deconstruction ability.
Just a little longer. She thought then the dinner plate cracked in half resulting in everyone staring at her. She overdid it.
Amy was in a state of panic. Oh shit, she thought then turn to stare at the queen who maintained her cool expression while everyone else is perplexed.
"I apologize, your majesty." she said.
"My, that is quite sudden." She commented gently. "Not to worry, my dear. Mistakes are inevitable."
The ladies see their queen as a gracious woman but not Amy. She has a glint in her eyes but she didn't say or show anything else. That's it. For some reason, this silence is quite terrifying and foreboding. What does this mean?
Then she noticed the dinner plates glow. Each one is of a different color. The queen stares at them with the same unchanging expression.
Amy broke the plate. She can't tell what this means. Is it because her power is too strong or that she has a second ability?
Amy looked at Melissa's plate which glowed into a soft golden hue and Viola's whose has a royal purple color.
"Now everyone!" The queen smiled at everyone. "Please follow me to the garden."
After getting off their seats, Amy looked to see that the plates are being collected by some individuals who are definitely not part of the staff. She had a few quick looks by those people before Amy followed behind.
Viola and Amy look to see their mother waiting anxiously for them.
"Mother," Viola said and approach her mother while the other girls see their guardians as well.
"What happened? How did it go?" Their mother asked.
"We put out hands on dinner plates and they glow." Viola answered.
"That's it?" she said with a confused look.
"Yes," Amy said.
"Amy accidentally broke a plate but Her Majesty forgave her."
She looked at Amy. "You broke it? It is unlike you to be clumsy."
"I wasn't clumsy, mother. It cracked in half by itself." Amy said in her most apologetic tone.
"By itself?" her mother repeated. She is quite worried.
Oh no. She knows something. Holy—
Amy had to stop herself from cursing again.
Everyone is now looking around in the garden while a servant approach the Anthos trio.
"Pardon me, Lady Anthos but the queen wishes to see you."
"Well then, I'll be right there." She then stare at them. "Girls, you must behave. Okay?"
Then their mother left, leaving the twins alone.
"There are so many girls. I wonder who will be chosen. I feel like that girl Melissa Orlando might stand a chance."
"I hope so." Amy answered.
Viola stared at her sister in disbelief. "What does that mean?"
"She is most likely the daughter of the Orlando Duke and the prime minister. She might get chosen."
"Do you know her?"
"Our fathers met, Viola. They get along. He praised father for his hard work." she told her.
I have never heard of him in the story. I wonder if he is one of the corrupt officials that Leon got rid of. But that would probably not make sense as it would affect Melissa's crown. Then again, he is both prime minister and a duke with a duchy. Usually that doesn't happen.
Politics is still confusing to her. In this story, territory in Solin is split between nobles peerages like pieces of a puzzle but with the monarchy as its central form of government as the person putting the puzzles together. Most of the nobles with peerages are usually in charge with managing the territories but they also take up the military responsibilities as well especially the ones that are bordered near other countries. They organize troops and lead them to fend off their national enemies and monsters who threaten human livelihoods and civilization. They also train soldiers to send to the national army. The duke should already have his hands full of managing the territory to be prime minister. He must be overworked by now.
"Really? Then we should be friends with her." Viola said and before they could approach, she approached them first.
Melissa has the same resting moony look. "My name is Melissa Orlando. Do you know what happened with the dinner plates?"
Wow, even her voice matches her expression.
"I am not quite sure." Amy said truthfully. "My name is Amaryllis Anthos and this is my younger sister; Violet."
Melissa smiled briefly. "I have been to the palace thrice. This is my third visit. The queen is quite hard to read, is she?"
The girls nodded.
"What are your powers?"
"We have purification abilities." Viola answered. "Well, mine are stronger than Amys'. But we have variations. Mine involves feeling the presence of others. She is a true mage."
Melissa nodded. She seemed interested. "I can heal people but as for how strong it is... I don't know. I only healed small wounds. My father wouldn't let me heal the poor soldiers in the territory." she said with remorse. Despite maintaining her moony look, she seems sad. "My power has no variation that I know of. I started out quite late actually. My ability appeared when I was seven but it started out strong." then she stared at Amy with an even more interested look and grabbed her hands. She observed them and felt it on her own. "These hands held a sword. Are you training?" she asked Amy.
"Yes, I am actually training with a spear and a bow and arrow." Amy answered.
"And your sister?" she stared at Viola.
"No, I don't but I do train in other things." Viola answered.
"I see." Her hands glowed and Amy can see that her calluses she had over the years, disappear and heal. It isn't just that. It looks like her skin also seemed stronger.
"It looks like you do have a variant in your power. It seems that my skin will not have calluses as easily anymore."
Melissa seems surprised to hear that and gave a genuine smile. "I like you. Can I send an invitation to invite you both to my aunt's place for tea? I will be staying here for a few more days before I return to the duchy."
"Of course!" Viola says with a hint of excitement.
After she left, Viola looks like she wants to squeal for joy. "This is great, Amy. We can make friends here?" then she looked around. "Is there anyone else who is around the same age as us?"
"There is one more. Her name is Sabina White. I'm guessing she is the adopted daughter of the earl since he has no living children or heirs."
"Ah, let's go talk to her then." Viola said and dragged her sister to Sabina.
Sabina has striking straight baby blue hair and eyes. She remembered how Sabina looked in the manga. She is an incredibly busty woman who wore and acted seductively. She acted that way around Aron because of his resemblance to Rufus but refrained herself from acting that way towards Rufus himself.
"Ah, I've talked to Melissa Orlando earlier. I was about to look for you." Sabina says in a smooth voice. She sounds similar to her TV show version. "My name is Sabina White. I am the daughter of Herman White of the White Earldom."
"My name is Violet Anthos and this is my older sister Amaryllis."
"You two look alike except the hair and eye colors. Are you the same age?"
"We're twins." Amy answered.
"Ah, that's interesting." she commented. "I have a younger brother name Salvador. People always commented that we look alike and we are constantly mistaken as twins." then she focused her attention on Amy. "How did you break that plate? It didn't seem like you did much."
"I didn't. I wonder why."
"My power is to move really fast. Just watch!" Sabina disappeared for a couple seconds before coming back with two flowers. One is a lily and the other is a rose without thorns. "I plucked the thorns as much as I could. I couldn't find any Violets so I picked this rose." She gave the lily to Amy and the rose to Viola.
"You shouldn't pluck the flowers from the royal garden like that. It's disrespectful." Amy said.
"Don't worry. I asked the queen if we could have them and she said sure. I think she is more interested to see my powers in person." Sabina said.
Sabina White is a speedster. It is ironic that a person like Sabina to have a good affinity ability. The same cannot be said for her brother though.
"What are yours?"
"We have the ability to purify things."
"Purify what?"
Both girls are unsure how to answer that. "Well, we can purify water from dirt and germs, cure minor illnesses and sterilize wounds."
"That sounds amazing. And you both have it?" Sabina says in surprise.
"We have different variants of that power but yes, we have the same one." Amy said.
"We're twins so it is not a surprise we have the same power." Viola said.
"Do you guys live in the capital?"
"We live near it. Our father is a government official here." Viola answered.
"You are a part of the Anthos House. I heard you have the birthmark of a flower."
The girls showed their birthmarks of the flowers of their namesakes to her. It is considered rude and embarrassing to ask to show a birthmark but for the Anthos House, it is their source of pride so she gets a pass for now.
"That is weird." she murmured.
It seems that Sabina has much to learn before she could enter high society as she grows older.
"Are you two gonna enter the Magic Academy when you turn eleven?" She asked.
Both nodded in response.
Her face brightened a bit. "I'll be joining too! I want to become even faster so that I can run around the world."
How ambitious. It is both strange to see her as a child and sane to be honest.
"I'll see you girls later." she said and quickly left upon seeing her guardian.