"Hail! The Emperor is leaving the Imperial Bedroom! Let the palace be aware!"
From them, the other Imperial Guards who were resting by the side hurriedly stood up, bowed towards him for three seconds before raising their spears with a golden cloth tied below the spearhead and ran to their respective paths while clamoring, "The Emperor is approaching! The Emperor is approaching!"
The servants who saw the Imperial Guards approaching were immediately alerted and went to their masters and informed them that the Great Emperor is, indeed, out in the palace. One of the servants, with her hands on her stomach, rushed to the garden at the palace's west wing to a marbled gazebo where a stunningly elegant and sophisticated woman— one that has obviously mastered the essence of being a noblewoman— with silver-ish hair tied to a simple yet eye-catching coiled braided bun, donning a golden dress decorated with regalia similar to that of the Emperor's with a sparkling chiffon cape draping down her back. She sat in the gazebo comfortably whilst drinking tea and watching two six-foot adults, more than 20 years of age, have a match to compare their swordplay.
The clanging of the steel swords began to reverberate and grow more and more intense as the fight between the two continued longer. It seemed that the two's fighting styles were going neck and neck, on par with each other despite the differing stances that they were taking. The younger man, one wearing a green woolen clothing above a long-sleeved shirt, aggressively advanced with his offensive-style swordsmanship against the older one wearing a red-blue variant of the younger's clothes who remained solely on the defensive, being impenetrable even when persistently attacked on differing sides.
At the side, several yellow-caped armored knights looked at the two with such extreme reverence and fervor, knowing that these two men right here, despite having been raised up in a peaceful era, have developed such exquisite and indomitable martial techniques that even they, who fought alongside the Great Emperor for several years, knew that they would definitely have a hard time keeping up once pitted against them. Such was the influence of the Two Asturian Princes over the militarymen of Asturas.
Returning to the events in the gazebo, the servant first knelt as respect to the woman. The woman, after glancing momentarily at the servant, nodded, as if to acknowledge her existence. It was only then that the servant stood and said to her, "Empress Athenasia, the Lord Emperor has pushed open the Golden Gates." Athenasia, upon hearing that phrase, raised her eyebrows for a second before it returned to normal. She then placed down the teacup on her hand before standing up and calling out gently, "Weise, Voltaire, come here. Play time's over."
Piack! After a swift draw where both parties couldn't advance any further, the two immediately disengaged, jumping backwards before sheathing their swords in their scabbards. After a brief shaking of hands, the two men walked towards their mother. "Why end our practice so early, Mother?" The older Prince, Weise, 23 years old, wearing a blue double-breasted woolen cloth over a white, polo-like buttoned shirt made from cotton asked in a confused manner.
"Older Brother is right, Mother! The heat was just getting greater!" The other man, Voltaire, 21 years of age, donning a similar outfit to that of Prince Weise but with a green-white schematic, pouted as he complained.
"Why? You don't want to greet your father?" The woman, with her two hands resting in front of her stomach as she stood with an elegant poise, looked at her children and asked them with a gentle smile. Hearing that, the two men's eyes brightened as they rejoiced, "Father's out?!" And, like a kid, Voltaire ran ahead, excited to see his father.
The Empress just looked intently at Weise before he caught up to his brother and calmed him down, "Voltaire, Father made the Golden Gates sound out. We cannot meet him as his children, but as officials of the Empire. You're not a kid anymore, so calm down." He reminded Voltaire, acting exactly how a big brother should.
"Oh… okay." Voltaire once again pouted as he was restrained from doing what he wants. "Me and Father hate formal meetings! We can do whatever we want if it was just us." The tall yet disgruntled guy muttered like a little kid before returning behind their mother. Weise could only shake his head and sigh before following suit. He understands his brother completely.
Usually, their father would entertain them within his quarters where they would play all kinds of board games like Wyverns and Ladders, Chess, Merchants, and so on. If they had the chance to go outside, they would be able to have a sword match, which would inevitably result to their loss. Basically, if their father had no formal matters, they do not need to adhere to any Imperial customs and could freely have fun. But, once there is a formal meeting between the ministers in government, he needs to maintain his regal status in front of everyone as to not dismay them, which would result to him treating them not as his offsprings but as simple high-ranking men within his glorious Empire.
It truly is complicated being a monarch.
After fixing themselves and donning their own ceremonial robe that was handed over to them by their servants, the mother, and her sons, together with their lines of servants and guards, paraded towards the Main Hall of the Suncrown Palace.
The main hall is located in the central rotunda of the vast Suncrown Palace, where it lays as the intersection for the two wings and the Great Hall where the Imperial Family and their retinues reside. The building itself is 8,000 square meters wide whilst the main hall's size was 150x100 feet with its ceiling being over 300 feet tall. Painted on the ceiling were images of the vast history that shaped the Empire, from its time as a simple Earldom to becoming established as a powerhouse that would be renowned throughout the continent.
The hall itself, shining with pristine marbled walls and pillars, was adorned with art and architecture similar to that of Baroque, amplifying the magnificence of the rulers in the eyes of those who beholden its brilliance.
Inside this grandiose hall, Reynald firmly sat on the high throne embossed with a two-headed eagle that's elevated from the main ground by a 3-foot-tall platform. The throne was made from a special class of metal which made it reflect different colors in the eyes of the ministers below, giving off a sense of majesty and vast difference from his throne and that of the ministers'.
One by one, the ministers came and entered the hall and stood in front of their seats. They are not to sit until all the ministers and officials that were currently present in the city are complete.