The awaited coronation was tomorrow, and Louis was bombarded with teachings from instructors about how to behave. He was not only known for his pretty face and innocent nature but also for his loquacious manner, he was a massive talkative until now. He zoned out once again as the instructor talked about how to sit on the throne and what to say, his back was hunched over and he held his face with his palm. He groaned as a palm was put on his back and then he was forced to sit straight once again for the fifth time, "Sit straight young master, please-", and the elder man Infront of him continued ranting but he couldn't zone out due to the uncomfortable position he was in now. The lesson on etiquette continued until he was requested for lunch, he practically ran out of the room with an exasperated expression.
"Good afternoon family", Louis said in a happy tone, and he went to his seat to sit. He looked at his plate as he sat down and sighed, 'I would never enjoy something like this back home', he picked up his fork and began to eat. Once again, everybody else other than Ryan had started eating before he made his appearance, he did not care as it only crossed his mind once because of his beautiful younger brother, Ryan. He ate and continued to eat even when he felt the piercing gaze of his family members directly on his bent head. 'This is rather uncomfortable', he thought, and he raised his head. Most times, when someone raises their head and you're staring at you at once stop; but not Bowen. Bowen is the son directly under Louis and the most jealous one of them all in his opinion, he has tried to make himself the favorite, but his hideous side always bursts through. Louis looked Bowen straight in the eyes and the latter did the same with envy clearing showing through all the muscles in his face. The side of his lips drifted upwards with envy and one of his eyes crinkled, the sight was funny to Louis, so he kept a smile on his face. The stare down continued until Ryan poked Louis' back. He arched his back and then he mistakenly hit the table alerting the other members of the family that were unaware of their little play going on. Louis and Ryan shared a look and then looked back at the faces of their family, "Sorry, please. Accept my apology on Louis' behalf, I'm the one that pushed him.", Ryan said in a pleading manner. Louis didn't give a damn, he just stared at them giving the piercing gaze they were giving him back a hundred-fold times. That little drama that occurred finished as soon as Ryan apologized and then everyone went back to eating, lunch ended, and everyone went to their separate duties including Louis who was forced to still learn proper etiquette. The day came to an end once again and he was in his room about to go to bed, he looked at the floor and then bent down to pick up the sword; the sword was a black blade and it looked like it had just been sharpened and polished. It had a red engraved writing on the blade, /Blessed by the gods/, it read. He swung the blade and then stood in a long stance, with the sword in front of him and one leg behind him. "I guess the skills come in naturally.", he said to himself, he swung the sword but then as he swung the sword it was caught by someone, Braize. "Hello buddy!", the man said enthusiastically, and Louis put his finger over his mouth and made, 'shh', Braize obviously didn't care and walked over to his bed and sat down, "So, tomorrow is your brother's coronation.", he said before patting the side of the bed beside him as if it was his own. Louis rolled his eyes at the action and came to sit down, "Yeah", a quick answer from the new Louis which made the pride spirit laugh. His laugh was long and when he finally finished, "You know what you must do, don't you", the last part was said in a teasing tone. Louis hissed at him then nodded, they continued to talk until Louis looked like he could faint by moving his head slightly, 'Goodnight, Louis', Braize thought to himself as he watched Louis sleep then he vanished into smoke.
'A peaceful sleep', Louis thought to himself as he fluttered his eyes open slowly. That thought was a jinx to what was to come, Louis' mother slammed the door open and walked towards his bed. "Wake up hunny~", she announced to him but then noticed he was awake. She pulled him up, "Today is your brother's coronation, I'll pick out your clothes personally today", she said, and Louis stood up due to her enthusiasm. He moved into the bathroom and had his bath, 'It's pretty weird to come out in just your towel Infront of your mum.', he thought to himself as he came out and met his mother sitting on his couch with a new visitor in his room, Caspian. Caspian wore a pretty mint dress and a pastel yellow scarf that almost covered her mouth, she wore pastel lavender shoes and white socks. "Here you go", his mother said, and she gave him a white shirt with a mint green waist coat and dark blue trousers. The decorations that were to go with the outfit were with her, he moved into the restroom to change and then came back out. Everything looked okay other than the waist coach which was tighter than it was meant to be and highlighted more of his waist, his mother smiled, and Caspian clapped playfully. He walked towards them and then the countess decorated him with ribbons to tie his hair up and to decorate his trousers and chains with headpieces. They finished all the decorating and little chats, then left for the ballroom.
The ballroom was beautifully decorated, golden ribbons draped everywhere and tables aligned with at least five chairs around each table. The front of the ball room had many chairs for each person in the Bragi count family, some were already seated, including the staring maniac Bowen. Their mother led the way to the seats, Ryans own seat was noticeably bigger than the rest of the siblings own, 'Better for me', Louis thought. Louis sat down right behind the nearly appointed crown prince's own, he was happy about that but the third born was seated beside him. Maertisa Bragi, she is the third child and first daughter of the Bragi family; she has a striking resemblance to their father not only in looks but also in personality towards people her father disapproves of, including Louis.
Louis stared forward at all the visitors who were entering the large court room, people with all kinds of attire walking in. It was clear this was a strong territory because the masses had a little space of the court room which they occupied and the rest for the young royals and other count territories that came. Other than the large chairs that Louis' ass was glued to, there were 4 chairs on the other side: most likely for the emperor of the nation and his family. Louis continued to stare at the door letting in the people of the celebration but was only knocked out when the tune of a trumpet echoed all over the hall, on the east and west side of the room, the emperor and his family and Ryan came in on the 2 opposite sides of the hall. Everyone stood up starting with the masses then the invited royals and finally the family of the crown prince, Bragi territory family. The 2 parties reached the intersection, Ryan bowed to the powerful family and the emperor touched his shoulders signaling him to stop. He stopped and smiled at them, the emperor gave the smile back and then they dispersed; Ryan coming towards the north and the emperor's family going towards the south to climb the stairs to their seats above.
Ryan's seat had a podium in front of it, he stood on it before he sat down. The celebration had just started so the pledge was first, the pledge was custom designed by the crown prince.
"Good morning masses, counts families, my family and the emperors. My name is Ryan Bragi, I am the eldest son of the Bragi territory. Today I am being appointed to be the soon-to-be count of my territory. I pledge to always remember the masses in new rules coming to the county. I pledge to be the best leader for all of you and serve as an example for all members of our county. I pledge to make respect a thing and nobody is above the law even myself. Thank you, everyone, and please have a good celebration.", Ryan pledged and stepped down from the podium. He made way for his father and the actual count, the brown-haired man looked at his son and then held out a golden badge. The golden badge had the territory name engraved in it at the top and at the bottom a bunch of flowers designed to be one that depicted the Bragi territory motto, 'longevity'. The count pinned the badge on the left side of his clothes where there were no decoration pins. Ryan bowed his head when his father was done, and they both turned to meet the masses and the higher family in the court. The hall ruptured into applause, and from every corner of the courtroom there was the sound of clapping, mothers carried their babies high above their heads and the children clapped, even the emperor and his family clapped.
The celebration began and the higher-ups moved around and exchanged conversations, the common folks stayed in their seats yet it's clear they were happy with the current celebration. Food was served to everyone in the hall, the food quality did not change no matter the economic class the person was in, and it was all because of Ryan. Families of counts came to the stairs to give gifts and Ryan went down to collect them, according to the etiquette that Louis was taught; he was to sit straight and smile while haven't eaten since the morning. He was doing the complete opposite. He slouched his back, and his hand supported his face as he stared forward. 'Braize, can you hear me?', Louis said in his mind as he continued to gaze, 'Louis, you finally found out I can disturb you while you're awake too', he heard Braize's voice, and it sounded louder than his usual obnoxious loud voice. Louis winced at the sound, 'I'm bored.', he said to Braize and then the sound of a snicker followed by a very loud laugh echoed. Red spread across Louis' face in embarrassment and then he sat straight to forget the moment that recently occurred, that embarrassing moment was forgotten but was replaced by the thought that he would have to use the sword he snuck into the courtroom at past midnight because of the attack. He continued to think about what his plan would be since he didn't want too many casualties to occur while also protecting Ryan since he needed to survive.
As he continued to ponder, a torch met his line of sight and a person beside it. This person did not wear the normal attire of a count, nor did the person wear the attire of a normal citizen. The person's outfit was extravagant in a beautiful way but not to count families, it was more of a decolletage way of dressing. Louis looked around the room and noticed more people dressed like that near the torches in the room, he further assessed they had badly hidden scabbards on them and there just turned out to be fabric streamers around the torches. Louis put his hand on the floor and picked up his blade then leaned it against his chair on the side so nobody could see it, he breathed out and he rubbed his hands together. His hands were sweaty, 'I carried one thing to this world', he thought as he smiled nervously at his hands that shook slightly. He looked up at the people and they were all still standing in the same positions, he looked with a side eye to not alert them that he had noticed them and saw a person on the top left holding up two fingers that slowly became one and slowly became an Immediately the streamers were consumed in a flame, and some of the sparks came down and caused another fire on the main ground. The screams of people filled the air as mothers carried their children and men protected their wives, the higher-ups screamed, and some jumped on their chairs. Some people ran straight for the door, the first person was notably the count of a neighbouring territory; no one saw it. The man fell to the ground and blood flowed from his neck and mouth, the muscles in his neck were showing and the screams of newly traumatized people echoed in the hall. The group of people that tried following the now-dead count at once ran back to the crowd in the middle that was being protected by the knights of the Bragi territory, Ryan spoke up to all, "Everybody please calm down!" Most people looked up to him and he continued, "We have people to help and don't worry, we will try our best to ensure all your safety by the name of the Bragi territory and by my name, Ryan Bragi." It looked as if most people calmed down for a bit until another scream was heard at the back of the crowd of people gathered in the middle, people turned around and were met with the sight of one of the guards on the floor. The guard was on the floor, but he didn't appear to be dead though there was a clear cut on his back that seemed to be deep. Louis looked around seemingly to find the people in the extravagant clothing, he caught sight of one of them. This person seemed to be a woman as he assessed, there was a wine-red dress flowing on the floor where she stood. Louis stood up and kept his blade beside him as he walked down the stairs calmly despite the demanding screams of his family to stay back in his seat, the people at the stairs cleared the way for him and he moved into the crowd. No one saw him for a while until someone caught sight of him moving to the back of the hall and towards a woman, there were whispers heard as the crowd slowly turned towards where he was walking to. "Excuse me, madam. Please move to the area assigned to protect the members of the celebration.", he said calmly, and his fingers gripped the scabbard on his waist, 'no one has noticed', he thought to himself. The woman that he came to talk to stared at him for a long while before a sword came flying at his side and he jumped back landing in a crouching position. There were gasps heard from the crowd, Louis continued to stare straight at the woman and then she rushed forward with impressive speed, she held two daggers in both hands and swung with one at a time. Louis dodged everyone until this time an arrow was shot, and he lost footing, his opponent also tripped because of her now failed attempt. The lady fell on him and one of her daggers fell from her hands and slid across the floor, she swung the other one and Louis pushed her, and she fell back. Louis pulled out his sword, he heard Ryan calling to him, but he had to finish it off. He pounced on the lady and used the sword to press against her neck while using his elbow to hold the hand with the dagger. "Guards, hold her!", Louis screamed and knocked the people out of their stupor, the knights practically ran towards him. One of them helped Louis up as priority and the others tied her up, Louis didn't look back other than his mauve hair that was no longer in the lavender ribbon he was given and the gash along his cheek and his forehead though that didn't stop Ryan from coming running towards him while carrying Caspian in his arms.
"Louis!", Louis turned around to meet the owner of the anxious voice, Ryan. "I'm okay.", Louis said quickly to avoid extra worry from his brother, and he continued, "I noticed a group of people near the fire and cloths in the hall, she is part of the group, I caught her trying to escape." Ryan sighed and let go of Caspian who was struggling to get out of his grasp, she ran towards Louis and hugged his legs and in return Louis carried her this time instead. Ryan faced the crowd, "Everyone look around, if anyone wearing the same type of clothing as the fair lady captured in our mist, please call for help.", Ryan announced to the crowd, "You and you, come with me, search in the crowd.", he took 2 guards and waked away leaving Louis and Caspian with his now defeated opponent. Louis walked towards the woman and asked her, "Where are you from or I'll show no mercy.", the woman was tied face down on the floor and she lifted her head up to look at the one who asked this question. She smiled at him, and Louis knew something was up, he knew all eyes were on Ryan looking for the people and the guards that were with him went to various parts of the hall except for one. Ryan turned around and saw the guard on the ground, blood spewed his now missing arm and he couldn't scream even if he wanted to due to the cloth on his mouth; Louis felt a gush of wind behind him. He was still holding Caspian so he couldn't do anything alarming so he backflipped instead of the original plan which will not be mentioned, he held Caspian tight and landed in a crouching position; he stared but there was no one other than the guard and the woman there. He looked at Caspian and the little girl smiled at him, he stood up and walked towards where their family was while ignoring all the whispers and piercing eyes coming from the people. Louis' mother embraced Caspian then Louis, "Are you okay?" she asked, and Louis left the hug. Their mother put her hand on the slit on his cheek, he held her hand, "Mother, I'm okay besides I'm still elder than Ryan, I'll be his right-hand man.", he said and smiled to reassure her. "I still have work to do anyway, mother wait for me with Caspian and Ryan.", he continued and walked down the steps again, he walked away from the crowd and walked towards the spot where the woman laid. He moved his hands up to touch the scabbard and he heard a wire being stretched, he paused and listened again but there was no sound this time. He used his finger and struck the air, he looked at his finger, 'blood, this is garrote wire', he thought, the injury stung, and it felt deep. He unsheathed his sword and looked around him, making sure no one saw him, and he closed his eyes and spun around slashing everything around him until he felt safe. He opened his eyes and then heard a snicker in his head, 'Braize, you're a spirit, you should know what to do.', he said to the man in his mind and Braize answered, 'Of course, I was waiting for you to realize boy.' Louis sighed and dropped his blade; he sat down on the ground to start a proper conversation with his pride. 'Okay, Braize, what do I do?', Louis asked as he closed his eyes, 'Get up-', Louis got up, 'Move to where your family are-', Louis ran towards the stairs and jumped to the top, this time everyone was seated together in the middle and they stared at him as he stared up to space, 'Go up to the top using the stairs-', he ran up the stairs and caught two people. One of them had a cross bow and the other a regular blade, the one with the blade came towards him and attacked him, their swords clashed, and his focus was on his current opponent, but he forgot the one with the bow. The one with the sword pushed him against the wall and Louis was cornered, 'CROSSBOW', he heard Braize shout and *thwack*, an arrow was shot. Louis let go of his sword and held his current opponent's arms making him immovable, the arrow went through the man's back and Louis at once dropped him. He walked towards the one that shot the crossbow and *smack*, the man went unconscious. Louis breathed in and out and grabbed the two men by their collar, he walked down to the ground floor with the 2 scraping the ground behind him. "Some help!", he said, and it alerted everyone he was back, 'You can sit down and rest now, the other members have escaped, the one that was pierced with the arrow is dead but the other 2 are alive', Braize said in his mind. Louis sighed and let go of the two people and went to sit down on the ground beside his mother's leg, the guards tied the 2 of them up. Louis' mother cupped his cheeks and smiled at him and then Ryan came running towards them, "Louis, are you okay?" he said frantically and knelt near him. "I am fine, tell a guard to cut the wire at the door before anyone leaves and explore the perimeter if not there's no one here again", Louis whispered just loud enough for his mother and brother to hear, and Ryan stood up shocked then went to announce it to the public. The rest of the time spent in the court room was to apologize and secure the perimeter and make sure everyone leaves safely. The few who got injured were taken to the medical room, excluding Louis. Louis went with Ryan after they patched his face up, "What are we doing?" Louis asked genuinely confused. He continued to follow Ryan who led the way silently, after a few more minutes of walking Louis grabbed Ryans shoulder and turned him around, "Where are we going, I'm tired.", Ryan stared at him and then blinked, "Oh, I'm sorry Louis. I want to talk to someone, and I thought I would bring you along as my right-hand man", Ryan said and smiled making Louis blush. Louis nudged Ryan and smiled and then they continued the journey.