At the Gabriel Empire’s capital, Gabriels City (Sword Capital) imperial city palace area, Rose Palace. Some places in the imperial city are given random names, just like this Rose Banquet that was just a temporary name given to a palace, named just for the Rose Banquet. In the human continent of this Other World, all the emperors of each empire would choose to hold such large-scale banquets in the afternoon, which goes on all night long.
This type of large-style banquet is truly a banquet with a large number of participants. Generally, the guests are first seated before they wait for the banquet host’s speech, after which they dined. After they were done with their meals, the ball and socializing time will begin. The host of the banquet is, naturally, Emperor Alfred the Third and Empress Deborah the Fifth.
The Rose Banquet was attended by many important guests. Even though it was said to be a banquet prepared for the young noblemen and women who were attending the Hundred Flower Festival being held a few days later to meet each other in advance. However, with the elders of the no.1 guardian of the Gabriel Empire, the Hilikas family presiding over the place and coordinating the banquet, the representatives of the four factions which were originally heavily-armed and waving their swords outside came as well.
The three princes of the Gabriel Empire, Prince Angus (Emperor’s father-in-law), Prince Frauer (Emperor’s younger brother), and Prince Brad (Emperor’s older brother), have all come. The people from the three great families of the empire, the Renalds, the Johnstons, and the Ignazs, were also present. However, even with the Hilikas family presiding over the banquet, these political veterans still privately invited the people from the Human Imperial Union to participate in the Rose Banquet.
No matter how shrewd Emperor Alfred the THird is, he wouldn’t dare to do anything in front of the Human Imperial Union’s ambassadors. As for the private actions of these families, both Emperor Alfred the Third and the Hilikas family’s elders were caught off guard. They really did want to take advantage of the Rose Banquet to control the movements of these restless factions.
The Hilikas family’s elders generally wouldn’t care about the ambassadors from the Human Imperial Union, but the ones who came this time were no normal people. They are from the northern Octavia (knight) Empire’s Ostafa family. The Ostafa family is the Octavia Empire’s no.1 guardian, similar to the Hilikas family, but their strength is many times over that of the Hilikas family.
The Hilikas family has only six Sword Gods but the Ostafa family has a total of twelve Divine Knights, which is twice their numbers. These Divine Knights are constantly involved in the war against the Demonic Race, so compared to the six Hilikas Sword Gods in the South who would come out to abuse the beastmen every once in a while, they were not at the same level at all. If they really get into a fight, then a Sword God would not be able to defeat a Divine Knight in battle. Unless they had a great equipment advantage, the Sword Gods can only dodge against the Divine Knights charging on their Holy Beasts.
The Hilikas family elders all had awkward looks on their faces. Knights and swordsmen have always looked down on each other, just as knights and mages do on each other. The visiting Ostafa family members may not be at the level of a Divine Knight, but this beautiful knight that looks to be about eighteen years old in age has strength surpassing that of a Dragon Knight General, and can crush most Dragon Knights.
Dragon Knights have to obey the orders of Dragon Knight Generals, so facing the command of this beautiful girl, that large group of old Dragon Knights can only submit, unlike the other guests attending the banquet. This beauty was not wearing an evening gown, instead donning a simple silver knight’s light armor. She did not even wear the knight’s ranking emblem to signify her status. Very clearly, she had only come here perfunctorily and dressed very casually. If not for having been given this task by her family, she would not have chosen to attend such a boring banquet.
However, this simple silver armor does not take away from the beauty of the Ostafa family’s young mistress, Ostafa Olya, at all. She had platinum hair and a pair of jet black pupils that formed a strong contrast with each other. Unlike the other beauties, Olya has the unique temperament of a knight, and with her height at around 190 centimeters tall, she was clearly towering over most of the girls her age, easily overwhelming the girls who came up to greet her with her pressure.
Olya had exquisite and cool features that were very angular and defined. Under the illumination of the light, her skin was so fair that she was almost surrounded in a frosty glow. She is a long-time combatant on the frontlines and usually wore a knight’s helmet, and had only put that aside temporarily to attend the banquet. Olya has the standard tall big sister type body with a bust size that crushed all the other girls at the banquet. Unfortunately, Olya wasn’t good at dressing up. If she changed into more finely crafted armor, she would definitely look like a “war goddess”.
The seats next to Olya were both empty. Not to mention trying to talk to her, the guests didn’t even have the courage to come close to someone like her, a fighter who lives most of her life on the battlefield at such a young age. These experiences caused Olya to have built up a strong aura around her. Most of the attending guests have never been on the battlefield and simply can not withstand that impressive aura. For a stunning beauty like Olya, they can only admire her from a distance.
Olya swept a glance around the room in a bad mood. She didn’t like these types of banquets at all. Since she spent so much time on the battlefield, she had even forgotten how to smile. For a knight like her, attending these banquets that required you to put on a smile was simply torture. She would rather return to the north to continue fighting demons than stay in this hypocritical palace for more than a second.
However, Olya was assigned a task in this outing. She received a commission from Emperor Octavio the Twelfth and the arrangements of the Ostafa family to head to the south specifically to investigate whether the Gabriel Empire’s largest female warlord, leader of the Sarnia Duchy, Grand Duke Bellina, is actually the Octavia Empire’s Ninth Princess Felia who has accidentally died away from the empire not long ago.
Olya had seen Ninth Princess Felia before, and in her impression, that blonde girl was very hardworking, but not very talented. However, later during the Dragon Knight qualification trials, her little sister suddenly shot out halfway and mysteriously awakened her inner talent, Tenth Princess Lisha, causing her to lose the selection as a Dragon Knight.
After that, Felia participated in the continent’s expedition fleet, and as the fleet was later wiped out in the exploration of the Demon Continent, the ninth princess herself went missing. As they were unable to find the body, Emperor Octavio the Twelfth who did not care too much about her took the liberty to announce in advance that the ninth princess had died.
The Ostafa family has also collected a lot of information regarding Duke Bellina. Like the Hilikas family, they also did not have any clear information regarding the Darkness Sacred Region. They only know the general strength and combat power of the Sarnia Duchy that was established by Bella. Olya was in disbelief when she first saw the information. It had taken less than half a year for Bella to build up such a terrifying amount of power.
To take control of a large territory south of the Gabriel Empire and annexing of the northern autonomous region of the Beastman Continent, allying with the beastmen forces, even involving with various secret deals with the current ruler of the Manasvir Empire’s Empress Manya Felan. Is this still the same Princess Felia who only knows to bury her head in her training and is not good with words?
This transformation was too fast, it’s like she’s a whole other person. The way Tenth Princess Lisha who used to be a bratty young miss suddenly waking up with a drastic change in personality after almost drowning and falling into a coma was hard to believe to begin with. However, compared to Ninth Princess Felia who had such a strong identity transformation after mysteriously disappearing, Tenth Princess Lisha’s changes seemed almost normal.
Even with several princesses, Princess Irene, Princess Luce, and Tenth Princess Lisha testifying that Grand Duke Bellina is the mysteriously disappeared Ninth Princess Felia, Olya didn’t believe in such a miracle. After being prepared to deny everything, Olya finally saw Bella who had come late.
Bella’s appearance was definitely not expected, because Emperor Alfred the Third did not invite her at all. Bella had come completely uninvited. The banquet hall turned silent for a while. Many of the guests at the banquet were feeling frightened at the sudden appearance of the grand duchess. The leader of the Southern Alliance with millions of troops, as well as strong financial backing from the wealthiest Manasvir Empire, controlling the entire food production in the south.
Bella wore a golden evening dress with a golden rose decorating her long blonde hair. It was a requirement of the Rose Banquet that all the female guests attending wear roses in their hair of any color. If any of the male guests want to invite the female guests to dance later, they will take out a rose of the same color as the one decorating the hair of the female guest they intend to invite from a special flower pot placed at the banquet venue.
Bella’s golden gown was designed by herself and the decorations on it were quite majestic, making her appear extremely glamorous under the light. The other female guests couldn’t compare with her at all. Since she is a dragon knight by occupation, she wore a sword at her waist which was quite different from the ones used by swordsmen, giving her a unique sense of beauty.
The golden rose she wore confused many of the male guests who wanted to invite her out on a dance after, because Bella was the one who had created that golden rose, and she was the only one with it in the entire banquet. There were no golden roses in the special flower pot in the venue at all. Bella had deliberately created this rose as the best way to refuse any male guest who wanted to invite her to dance later.
Young Mistress Helena of the Johnston family was wearing an aqua evening gown as she walked into the banquet venue with Bella while holding hands with her, just like a couple attending the banquet together. Due to the political marriage between the Johnston and Ignaz family being ruined by Bella, she was considered one of Grand Duchess Bellina’s political rivals.
Seeing his daughter, Helena, holding hands with Bella, the Johnston family’s current patriarch, Duke Johnsker felt so angry that his complexion changed. His son’s political engagement was called off because of her, and now she had even hit up his daughter. This was simply too much. In the presence of so many guests and in full view of the public however, Duke Johnsker couldn’t go off on her and could only pretend not to know anything.
Grand Duke Bellina now has the qualifications to take on Emperor Alfred the Third. This grand duchess is different from the other princes who have to worry about their identity, morality, or righteousness. She didn’t care about reputation or prestige and only believes in strength. She’s the type of dangerous terrorist who won’t even bother to find a reason to rebel. There are hardly any nobles present who can really go head-to-head with Bella.
Bella could see a complicated look on Olya’s face from a distance. The armor worn by this beautiful Dragon Knight General is strongly disharmonic with the environment. Olya is also taller than most of the guests and it was quite obvious at first glance. Even though she doesn’t know Olya’s identity, Bella could guess that this stunningly beautiful and aloof female knight comes from the Octavia empire, someone from the country of the surrogate body she is using, Princess Felia.
Olya’s fingers on both hands are decorated with rings with engravings of dragonic markings, which are the “Rings of Dragon Authority” which symbolizes the authority to command the Octavia Empire’s Dragon Knights. One ring corresponds to one Dragon Knight legion, and Olya wears a total of six, symbolizing her ability to command seven troops of Dragon Knights. This is more than Princess Felia’s father, Emperor Octavio the Twelfth, who only wore five, two less than Olya has.
To have authority higher than that of the Octavia Empire’s emperor and to be young and beautiful, Bella could not guess the identity of this knight for a moment. However, she was constantly looking at her, clearly having recognized her as Princess Felia. There was no hostility in her eyes, but more curiosity and disbelief.
Many people believe that Ninth Princess Felia has already departed from the world, so even if Olya has killed countless people on the battlefield and has seen so much in the world, she was still shocked to see that she had come back to life. Bella rarely ever evaded the gaze of a beautiful girl. Openly holding hands with Helena, she went towards Olya’s seat. No one dared to go near Olya, so she could use her to avoid being disturbed by the flies around the venue.
“Hello, Big Sister Knight, I am the wandering knight, Bella. Do you mind if Miss Helena and I sit next to you?”
“Feli…Grand Duchess Bella, you’re still…I’m Dragon Knight General Olya, commissioned by the Imperial Union to observe the banquet. Please, do as you wish. There is also something I would like to talk with you about later!”
As soon as Bella spoke, Olya was able to confirm that Bella is in fact the empire’s ninth PRincess Felia. That voice was hard to imitate. As for the name, Bella, it was probably just a pseudonym. This is the Gabriel Empire’s banquet. Olya did not wish to leak any news of the Octavia Empire to other empires and could only go along with Bella’s play, pretending as if this was the first time they’d met. She reluctantly put on a smile on her cold face that was not great at smiling.
Olya’s smile instantly petrified many of the Gabriel Empire nobles who were hoping to watch a show nearby. There are a lot of meanings behind that smile. No matter how you interpret it, Bella’s relationship with the Ostafa family must not be simple. Even the Ostafa family’s Young Mistress Olya who never smiled at anyone smiled at Bella. it may even be possible that the two of them are allies.
The Sword God elders of the Hilikas family observing the scene in secret were all sweating bullets. They secretly made hand gestures to stop the family’s experts that were originally set up around the venue to drive Bella out. If Bella shares a close relationship with the Ostafa family, then she really would have the ability to pick a fight with the Hilikas family.
The one in the most awkward position in the banquet venue is Emperor Alfred the Third. He did not even invite Bella, so for a moment, he had no idea what to say. Fortunately, Empress Deborah the Fifth who was beside him nudged him with her elbow, reminding him that it was time for the opening speech of the Rose Banquet.
With a wave of his hand, Emperor Alfred the Third gestured to the master of ceremonies, signaling him to begin. Then, he went back to his own seat together with Empress Deborah the Fifth. He was busy reorganizing his words and deciding on how he was going to confront Bella later. Bella and Emperor Alfred the Third have not really met each other before, and this was also a very unexpected meeting both in terms of timing and venue.
“Dear guests, a moment of your time, please! We shall invite the princesses to enter now!”
After the announcement from the master of ceremonies, the empire’s princesses took turns entering from the special entrance used by the royal family at the other side. The one in the lead is Bella’s “girlfriend”, Princess Kriss, followed by the other princesses who are already close with Bella. Princesses Khalifa, Karin, and Kliveny.
In normal times, the one in the lead should have been Grand Princess Kliveny, but the emperor intended to have Kriss become the focus of the Rose Banquet instead, so she was placed at the front. The princesses all wore pure white evening gowns, and the decorations on their heads were also white roses.
White roses are the most abundant ones in the special flower pot at the banquet, signifying that every guest attending the banquet would have the opportunity to invite the princesses to a dance. So that the Rose Banquet can go smoothly, it can be said that Emperor Alfred the Third expended a great deal of effort. However, as for whether he can finally achieve his political goals, that will have to depend on how Bella and the other forces are going to act after this.
Bella saw Kriss. As soon as the latter entered, her eyes found Bella’s at the first instant, their eyes instantly meeting. After seeing Bella, Kriss was extremely happy. However, so as to ensure the banquet runs smoothly, she did not break away from the group and run over to Bella as soon as possible.
