Her call was in one simple, sharp, and single shout. The dragon’s black head appeared behind the rail a second later, a bit wet, and Nana realized that Krai had stayed on the beach nearby since that morning.
Tessa, who already knew her cousin’s intent, walked over, holding the same dress. Just like Nana, her hand was cut in multiple places, but as previously, her green scales appeared, pushing the little shards out and covering the cuts. Hence, she didn’t seem to care at all, and held the dress near the dragon’s snout, making it sniff it.
“Find th-them,” ordered Cessilia. “B-bring them b-back t-to us.”
The dragon sniffed a bit longer, and then suddenly flew away with a long growl. Tessa sighed, and threw the dress down, annoyed.
“Can Sir Dragon find the culprits...?” asked Nana, a bit calmer.
“It might take him a little while, but he will,” nodded Tessa. “A dragon’s sense of smell isn’t particularly great, but their memory is. Krai will never forget something he smelled once. Plus, the culprits might not be too far...”
“It’s probably one of the other candidates,” muttered Nana, still upset.
Cessilia shook her head calmly. She was carefully bandaging Nana’s hand with a little piece of linen fabric that had been spared, although her wounds weren’t that bad.
“Th-they p-probably p-paid someone to d-do this,” she said.
“I agree,” nodded Tessa. “The noblewomen we saw so far all wore perfume, but I don’t smell any here. Plus, they probably aren’t so dumb as to risk getting caught and disqualified before the first banquet... This looks like a warning from some petty bitches.”
“This is so mean and... bad!” protested Nana, sullen. “All your money, and your dresses... and the first banquet is in less than two days now! What are we going to do...?”
Next to her, Cessilia began taking off all of the gold jewelry she was wearing which hadn’t been stolen. In fact, she was wearing a lot of gold, and when Tessandra did the same, everything put together still constituted a small fortune. The only thing left was Cessilia’s choker, which she apparently had no intention to take off.
“C-can we exchange th-this for m-money, Nana?” asked Cessilia.
“Of course! That should be a lot of money, but... you’ll just trade all of this for a lot of silver. Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“We have more where that came from,” chuckled Tessa.
“If our g-gold is what scares th-them,” added Cessilia. “We c-can d-do without t-this.”
Nana nodded, although she still felt bad about trading their gold, as they would definitely be losing in the change. Gold was so rare and precious in this Kingdom... She had also thought the two young women’s wealth would be one of their strongest assets in the competition. Yet now, Cessilia seemed to be renouncing all that gold so effortlessly, and Naptunie was a bit admirative of her. The Princess had probably grown up with different values, but to be able to give up on her money to stand equal to the other candidates was still something... She took a deep breath.
“It will be fine,” nodded Nana, suddenly resolute. “I’ll get as much silver as I can out of this, and we will buy you the prettiest dress we can!”
“I d-don’t n-need a new dr-dress.”
This time, even Tessa seemed surprised by her statement. They both stared at the Princess, a bit lost. Cessilia was already gathering the ruined clothes together, careful as to where she grabbed them, and shook them carefully. The many pieces of glass were clattering to the floor, showing the insane amount hidden in the clothes. From the multiple colors, they had clearly been from broken bottles or vases, as they had seen many of those in the market. In the Dragon Empire, glass wasn’t common and most containers were made of clay or metal. Here, though, glass was a common material, and just like their windows, many daily objects were made of blown and tinted glass.
With a sigh, Tessandra began doing the same next to her cousin, shaking each piece of ruined fabric to make sure no glass was left, and putting it on the bed, which had been miraculously spared. Naptunie wanted to help, but one of her hands was damaged, and she was afraid she’d spill blood all over.
“I’ll go get a broom!”
She came back very quickly and since Cessilia had dismissed the servants, she used it herself to carefully assemble all that broken glass together in a little pile. The more she gathered, the more upset she was at how people had done this to injure the Princess.
“They are cheaters,” she grumbled as they finished. “Just cowards to do this while you were gone! I hope Sir Dragon finds them and gives them a hard time!”
“He won’t eat them,” scoffed Tessandra, “but he’ll bring them back to us and then we can make them pay... I wish I meant that literally, for once. Looking at this, it looks like they didn’t spare anything. Of all the outfits and fabrics we brought, they ruined most of them... or stole the whole thing. What do we do, Cessi?”
Indeed, the end result was a bit disheartening, and Nana almost felt like crying again, looking at all the ruined dresses. Many had the skirts ripped open, the fabric torn apart, and the little gems broken or smashed out of their spots. It was clear they hadn’t just stolen the gold jewelry, but even the precious gems sewed into the dresses and the piece of clothing itself, if they couldn’t take it out, probably to disassemble it elsewhere.
Strangely, though, Cessilia’s eyes on the pile didn’t look upset at all. Much to Naptunie’s shock, she even had an enigmatic smile on while staring at all her ruined belongings.
“We have a b-bit of t-time left before the b-banquet,” she said. “Let’s g-get t-to work.”
Chapter 8
The banquet hall had been prepared with the utmost attention. This event was bound to bring a lot of nervousness for everyone present. The long, rectangular room had high walls and large, glass windows, and a magnificent ceiling with a unique mosaic made of a myriad of polished nacre. The chamberlain had picked each curtain, each rug, and each chair cushion so nothing would be out of place, all in dark shades of blue to enlighten the white and light wood furniture. The highlight, though, came from the dozens of beautiful glass bowls, hanging from the ceiling, on the walls, or decorating the tables, each containing a candle on a little bed of sand. Each was glowing with the color of the glass surrounding it, but there were so many that it felt like the night could fall and the room would remain as bright as during the daytime. In fact, it wasn’t late, but it was already quite dark outside. The sun had been covered by dark, heavy clouds that carried a promise of a storm; there would be no sunset viewing that day. Indeed, it was humid and hot inside, and the rain was just beginning to fall against the glass windows. The servants, who were running left and right to bring the first dishes and pour drinks into the guests’ cups, were frequently sending worried glances toward the large doors on the side, hoping the wind wouldn’t blow them open.
None of the already present guests seemed concerned about the upcoming storm. The sounds of their polite chatters and chuckles were somehow louder than the first rumbles of thunder outside. A lot of those laughs and smiles were forced and fake, though. It was hard to remain joyous and enthusiastic, locked up in a room with a monster.
Sitting alone on his throne, at the end of the room, the King’s eyes were sending daggers. Even the ladies who had been waiting off to the side for their chance were a bit too scared to approach. Ashen the White hadn’t even bothered to change his usual outfit. In fact, he was half-naked, with a thick, black, fur cape on his shoulders for decoration only. He didn’t wear a crown or any jewelry, and even his pants and boots were completely dark and plain. Yet, his imposing figure allowed no mistake as to who was the alpha in the room. He was sitting, but it felt as if he was standing taller than anybody else. He wasn’t moving, but his piercing glare was circling the room as if ready to set on its prey and hunt it down. The only human being daring enough to stay by his side was a red-haired woman. She was even sitting on one of the arms of the throne as if it was a stool. While the King leaned on the other one, not glancing in her direction at all, his hand slowly making his wine swirl in his cup. Jisel was the one to regularly pour wine into his cup instead of the frightened servants, and from time to time, she would lean in to whisper something in his ear. He never responded to her, but she didn’t seem to mind at all, a faint and confident smile stuck on her red lips.
That woman’s red dress was surprisingly simple, compared to that of the other women in the room. Especially the young women, who all looked dazzlingly beautiful. They all wore jewelry of white nacre, silver, or seashells on their dark skin, and had complex hairstyles, with braids and white pearls, or wild curls let loose. Even more dashing were their gorgeous, long dresses. Despite those having long skirts and sleeves, they subtly exposed their shoulders, collarbone, cleavage, or back, each adapted to the lady’s best asset. They all were in cool colors such as purple, blue, green, or darker shades of red. Each dress was prim but close-fitting, tailored to complement the beauty of the lady wearing it. The most extravagant ones included feathers, fur, white pearls, or embroideries for details.
The candidates for the Queen’s title were the easiest to spot, each more beautiful than the last, and the center of attention where they stood.
In one corner, Counselors Yamino and Yassim were both equally nervous, their glances going alternately from the King to the entrance door of the hall, where people came and went in regular intervals.
“Our ladies are late...” sighed Yassim behind his cup.
The old man was the main target of the King’s glares, and an invisible circle was formed around him that no one would dare approach, except for Counselor Yamino. It was as if he was carrying some deadly disease or a target on his back that no one wanted to block...
“Naptunie did mention she wanted to stay behind and help the Princess and Lady Tessa,” muttered Yamino. “I hope this is just them being fashionably late...”
“Or perhaps they have nothing decent to wear,” chuckled a high-pitched voice.
