Ignis woke up to the light knock and voice of Albert on the door. She rubbed her eyes and straightened her dress and hair before calling Albert inside.
"I apologize to disturb you so late, My Lady" Albert bowed and apologized sincerely.
"You do not need to apologize, Albert. It was I who asked you to keep me updated on our guests" she dismissed his worries and smiled at him. "So tell me, have you heard anything from the Terra Land delegations?"
"Yes My Lady, the delegation will reach here anytime now. I would ask you to get ready to welcome them".
"Oh really! Then I will be outside soon" she summoned Domi and got ready in an instant. Once outside, they waited to welcome the party.
Soon the gates rolled open and a simple wooden carriage entered along with around fifty Knights behind. The carriage was lit with lanterns on all four sides and had an insignia of Land of Terra on the door. Before the carriage could come to a stop, a red hair head popped out of the carriage window and frantically waved at Ignis.
"Ignis!!!" the lady, Dahlia Sol beamed at Ignis. The moment their carriage stopped, the Crown Princess threw open the door, jumped out of it and ran towards Ignis. Ignis herself took a few steps towards her and opened her arms to embrace her childhood friend. Her voluminous and vibrant red curly hair bobbed when she ran towards her. Her pale face looked tired due to a long journey but her rosy cheeks and bright green eyes showed excitement for meeting her old friend.
"Lia..." Ignis embraced her friend tightly, although, it was Dahlia whose youthful and athletic build nearly took out all the air from Ignis. "You are crushing me" Ignis laughed.
Ignis took a step back to carefully check her friend from top to bottom "Are you well? What happened? Why are you so late? Did something happen along your way?" Ignis bombarded her with many questions to which Lia simply laughed loudly.
"Are you going to ask everything right now? I am tired and would like to rest before I tell everything in great detail"
Ignis rubbed her forehead in frustration "Oh goodness, where is my head? I apologize, please come inside. The staff will take you to your rooms."
"I see you both are already acquainted" Both ladies turned to see Roana coming out of the palace to greet the guests.
"Princess Roana, it's a pleasure to meet you. I have heard so much about you" Dahlia curtsied.
Roana did the same and smiled warmly at the young lady "I have heard so much about you as well Crown Princess Dahlia. I welcome you to the Land of Aqua".
"Lia is my childhood friend, Princess. Even when we grew up, we stayed in touch by occasionally writing letters to each other. Didn't we?" Ignis answered Roana but her gaze was on Dahlia, affectionately stroking her red hair.
Dahlia nodded "Yes we did. Even though Ignis is so bad when it comes to writing letters, I was always happy to hear from her" Roana stifled her laugh. She knew how dreadful Ignis felt when she wrote letters to Adrian.
Ignis groaned at Dahlia's jest, making a very funny sound. This made Roana lose all control and she snorted with laughter.
Albert, at once, guided the guests to their rooms before anyone noticed the unlady-like behaviors of the three princesses.
Once everyone was well fed and settled, Ignis and Albert took their leave and walked towards the main palace.
Ignis heard that the palace cook had already started to prepare for the grand feast of the wedding. She decided to visit the kitchen and make sure everything was in the order. Albert was nervous. In a few hours it will be morning, but, the lady still insists on working, when she should actually be resting in her chambers. After observing her for the last few months, Albert has noticed that whenever the Princess was anxious, she would take up more work to keep her mind busy.
'Is that what she is doing right now?' He thought.
For nearly a month now, she dedicated herself to understanding the duties of the Queen, working tirelessly on the wedding banquets and participating in the weekly meetings along with Princess Roana and Lord Aldo. She has also shown exceptional results in a few of the tasks that she took to lessen Roana's burden. Preparation for winters is also going smoothly under her leadership. With everything running as expected, Albert was unable to discern the root of her anxiety.
"My Lady, how about leaving the remaining task to me and returning to your chambers? It's a big day tomorrow for you and His Highness. You need to get proper rest to get through the busy day" Ignis could see the genuine concern in his eyes. "Please tell me if there is anything that is bothering you. I will try my best to resolve it for you" he added.
Ignis smiled softly, but her eyes were not at ease. There was something that was bothering her but she could not put her finger on something specific. After thinking for a while, she decided to give an honest reply.
"I honestly do not know what is bothering me, but as time passes, I keep feeling that something is amiss. That I have not paid enough attention to something. That I have forgotten something. But I do not know what it is" she shook her head, smiling bitterly.
"I am not sure if I understand your feelings completely. But something similar happened with me in the past" Ignis shot her head up to look straight in his eyes. Albert nodded "In fact, the same is felt by everyone at least once in their life. It is quite common to feel anxious before your wedding, My Lady" It was comforting for her to know that she is not the only one to feel this nervousness. "If I might as well add, I was more nervous than my wife. And, this feeling stays with you until you see your partner standing on the altar."
Ignis smiled at the old man. She felt grateful for talking with him. But soon, she brazenly asked him "What happened after you saw your partner?"
"Oh that..." Albert trailed off for a moment but soon regained his composure. "Well, when I saw her standing on the Altar, dressed like an angel, looking at me with tears of joy in her big eyes, I felt that I was the luckiest man in this world." He was looking straight ahead as if thinking of that moment "She is a wise and kind woman. And to tell you the truth, to find such an extraordinary woman is no easy task for a common man"
Ignis couldn't help but ponder if there are really such couples in the world who feel this way for each other. That they would talk as affectionately as Albert is talking about his wife. She only read about such things in novels back home. She internally made a note to meet this extraordinary woman in future. For now, she should take a good rest for tomorrow.
Ignis reached out to the butler "Now, will you be kind enough to escort me to my room, Head Butler?"
Albert lightly took her fingers in his hand and bowed "With pleasure, My Lady".
They both chuckled and walked towards her room.