Pain filled every fiber of Amber's being as her skin burned and bubbled. Her mouth was open in what would have been a scream, but no air came out. She choked on air as it all tried to come out all at once and her lungs fluttered uncontrollably.
An entire teapot full of boiling water was dumped over her head and poured over her body. She could feel the water searing her scalp. Long strands of her beautiful silver hair fell off of her head and around her feet. The smell of burnt hair and burning flesh filled the air.
Behind her, Jenna's eyes glowed in glee, but she tried to keep a concerned look on her face.
"That will teach Lady Arabella for trying to steal my man! I don't care what anyone else has to say, the First Prince can only be mine! Now Lady Arabella will be hideously deformed and bald! No one will want her!" thought Jenna.
"Oh my goodness! How clumsy of me," said Jenna, with sparkling eyes while holding out her arms in dramatic fashion.
Prince Elystar came rushing around the table to heal Amber. However, seeing the elfin man approaching Amber, First Prince Macallan roughly yanked her up by her blister covered arm, and tightly wrapped her in his arms. He had no intention of allowing Amber to be touched by Prince Elystar. Blood oozed from Amber's arms and back due to Prince Macallan roughly squeezing her in his embrace.
"Hand Lady Amber over at this moment! You're injuring her further! I need to heal her immediately!" Said Prince Elystar.
"I will not! She's mine! I won't allow you to touch her. She'll just have to wait to be healed until after a doctor can be fetched," said Prince Macallan.
"That could take too long and she could receive permanent damage by then. I have healing magic. There's no reason to wait when I can heal her right now!" Prince Elystar said with panicked eyes.
Prince Elystar reached out a hand towards Amber, sure that Prince Macallan must have seen reason. However, Prince Macallan squeezed Amber even more forcefully, until her ribs loudly fractured. In his rage and jealousy, he used strength magic on Amber, breaking her back.
"Aaaahhhh!!!" Amber screamed out as pain overwhelmed her and her head rolled back.
"That's enough! Stop acting like a child and hand her over this instant! You will comply or I will make you!" Yelled out Prince Elystar.
His once calm golden eyes turned a deep red with slit pupils and his fangs extended. He released his magic pressure, making sure that it didn't extend to Amber, and cast a protective bubble around her. It was forbidden for foreigners to throw magic around, but Amber's safety couldn't wait. As soon as the protective bubble bounced into place, the pressure on Amber's body released. The bubble gently cocooned her, holding her up, but didn't cause her any extra pain. He flicked his hand up and the magic bubble holding Amber, lifted her up into the air, and out of Prince Macallan's grasp.
Prince Macallan let out a rage filled cry while trying to grab hold of the magic bubble as Amber was lifted away. Prince Macallan started to angrily stomp towards Prince Elystar with his hand glowing Ice blue. It was obvious that he intended to retaliate against Prince Elystar by using ice magic. Prince Elystar flipped his other white glowing hand downward and released more magical pressure onto Prince Macallan.
Prince Macallan's eyes widened in shock as his knees gave out and he was forced to kneel on the ground. His back bent forward and he fell onto his forearms. His body broke out into a sweat as he gritted his teeth in the effort to prevent his forehead from smashing into the cobblestone.
"You will pay for this." Prince Macallan gritted out.
"I swear I will make you pay for this!" he yelled while beads of sweat rolled off him.
"If that's the case, why should I hold back?" Prince Elystar said while flicking his hand once more.
With that, Prince Macallan's head loudly smashed into the cobblestone and he abruptly lost consciousness.
As maids and several ladies rushed to Prince Macallan's side, Prince Elystar quickly brought the bubble holding Amber with him to his guest room, weaving around the crowd that was quickly forming around Prince Macallan. The other two elf ladies, who had been sitting at the table with them, exchanged looks and then quickly stood up to follow. The twin elfin women followed Prince Elystar close behind him.
Duke Dreyfus continued to sit in his seat for a few moments with a calculating look in his eyes. Then while no one was looking, he silently stood up and slunk off into the shadows.
Cray frowned while looking at a small book lying on the ground right under where Amber had been. She walked over and picked it up, while everyone's attention was on Prince Macallan's sorry state.
Although Cray loved the First Prince, there was no way to fight off the surrounding crowd. So there was no point in rushing to check on him. She was sure that he would be fine, as he always was.
Soon her fingers wrapped around the little book that she saw lying on the ground. She saw the letters on the front of the cover swirl around until they read, 'Superior Lightning Magic Manual'. Cray's eyes widened and she quickly held the book to her chest. While looking around to make sure no one was watching, she stuffed the little book down the front of her dress. She then stood up and quickly walked away. She needed to go somewhere private so that she could read her new treasure.
This was only the first day of the seven week Nexum Celebration that happened once every four years. If you were a debuting noble, attendance was mandatory to all of the parties hosted by the royalty. A debuting noble was anyone who was finally old enough to participate in the Nexum Celebration for the first time. If there was no Nexum Celebration for a few years after they came of age to debut, a noble was permitted to have a small ball to debut. This was a rare occurrence since it gave a person much better future prospects if they waited for Nexum.
The first day was the Royal Tea Party. During the rest of the first week, nobility would send out invitations to their own tea parties, poetry readings, garden parties, and boating outings. These parties could be attended throughout that week. The nobility and royals would proudly display their invitations like trophies and gossip about who got invited to what. People were only allowed to come by invitation, unless they outranked the person who threw the party.
Commoners were also allowed to follow the trend in making their own parties throughout the celebration. However, they weren't allowed to attend any of the royal's events and were required to wear a tan ribbon if they attended a noble's party.
This was due to a shocking incident between a commoner man and a Count's only daughter. She was told by that commoner that he was a foreign dignitary. He ended up stealing her inheritance and then quickly abandoned her, after seducing her. Because of this incident, she was ruined socially and moved to the country in seclusion. This furthered the feelings of dislike the nobility had towards commoners into feelings of hatred, causing a large rift between the two. After that, it was a punishable crime for commoners to go to nobility's parties without wearing a light brown ribbon.
Foreign royals and nobility were also allowed to attend throughout the seven week Nexum celebration. It was common that they did, to find marriage prospects, and make advantageous social connections. Although, it wasn't always safe for foreigners if they were of a species that looked somewhat different. The yuki-onna were quite proud and so it was common for them to look down on other species of people. Foreigners had to take their chances and be extra careful when attending these parties, 'accidents' were known to happen. The ice people would be a formidable foe, so it was quite desirable to get on their good side. Because of this, they managed to get away with most mischief simply by saying it was an accident and at the most apologizing. Although the risk was great, the rewards for becoming partners with the yuki-onna were numerous and would be greatly beneficial to most countries.
On the first day of the second week, there would be a Royal Hunting Party, followed by other hunting parties throughout the second week where participants would travel into the kingdom's mana forests. There they would capture magic beasts to make them their familiars and collect mana pits to attach to magic weapons and armor. This was to show off their talents and strengthen themselves.
At the end of that week, there would be a magic test. Each person who was having their debut, would have their magic elements tested, and their aptitude strength. These test results were kept secret from the other participants, but they were reported to certain interested parties who were scouting for talent.
Normally, the forests were forbidden, or had restrictions on certain areas to the public. However, during the second week of the celebration, all areas of the spirit forests were open to the public. Although this could be quite dangerous and accidents happened, they kept healers and combat experts on standby in case of an emergency.
The third week started off with the Royal Ball and the rest of that week would be full of invitations from nobility to their own balls where they would dance and mingle. It was mostly to see if they could make a fortuitous match.
The fourth week was the last week of Nexum and was dedicated to the Magic Games. During that week, participants of the Magic Games could receive invitations from various sects to train under one of their masters. Prominent sects often sent scouts to the games to look for prospective new members for their sect. Competition was both fierce for the competitors and between the recruiting sects.
It was the big event that everyone was waiting for and which would decide the fate of many. It was a one on one combat competition where the victor would go on to continue to fight by eliminating their opponent. There would be one victor per day and so, by the end of the Magic Games, there would be seven winners. There was no way to die during the game, because the arena was enchanted with a lifesaving spell, but that was all. The Magic Games could get pretty rough since there was no need to hold back, and so usually women didn't sign up. After all, they wanted to appear delicate and demure, even if they were wildly excited in their hearts from watching. The Magic Games were the only main activity that didn't have the required participation of people debuting.
These games and parties were disguised as little fun activities, but they were serious business to everyone involved. They allowed people to make connections that would have otherwise been impossible. They allowed people to show off their abilities for better life opportunities. They helped people make a good engagement. They allowed people to be scouted to enter a prominent sect. They allowed countries to make marriage and trade agreements. These events were so much more than meets the eye. There were power spectators scouting for just the right person for various reasons. Getting the attention of just one of these powerful people could drastically change the course of their life in monumental ways.
Amber laid on Prince Elystar's bed with her eyes closed. Her breathing was painful, but steady. An embarrassed flush shone on Prince Elystar's face while he looked down at the sleeping Amber and debated on how to proceed.