42 Royal Birthday Party (1/2)
A few months ago, back when Catherine hadn't summoned Joshua yet.
The King's birthday was a national holiday. The capital was bustling with life as festivities were organized all over the city. Business was thriving as people were buying food from various stands and drinks were being poured everywhere. Obviously, every noble family was present as well and had to partake in the official proceedings.
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A traditional ceremony was being held inside the palace. The King was sitting in the center of the room, his heir Prince Joachim standing next to him. In order to reaffirm their loyalty and to wish for the King's well-being for the coming year, each noble family had their youngest member bring their gift forward along with a blue iris. Summoner families were the highliest ranked amongst the nobility so it was normal they would initiate the ritual.
Catherine wasn't at ease doing this as she had a pretty bad opinion of the King. There were several reasons for that. His poor leadership is one of the reasons the war broke out a few years back and even after the treaty was signed, he continued to make questionable decisions. Still, her father was extremely loyal to the royal family even if disagreed on several points with the current ruler. As for Catherine, she had learned a long time ago to remain stoic during royal proceedings.
Catherine was the first to go. She took a deep breath and stepped forward carrying her family's gift. For the occasion, she was wearing an elegant red dress. Arriving in front of the king, she knelt. He gave her a sign to stand and she handed him the gift. He thanked her, a smile on his face yet she felt it was merely pasted on his face. On the other hand, Prince Joachim had an expression that looked much more genuine.
In the coming months, she would finally acquire her spirit. It was impossible to know beforehand what kind of creature would be summoned, but a conjured spirit was always the perfect match for the Invoker. Considering her desires, she expected her Guardian to be a serious figure with a strong sense of justice. Yes, that would be the perfect match, she thought.
The origin of the summoner's ritual had been long lost, hence it was unknown why only a few families in each country had such abilities. Even amongst the five families of Cestor having summoner abilities, it wasn't rare to only have one or two children per generation being born with the required abilities. When a child is born in one of those clans, an old ritual is held to see if the newborn has been gifted with the ability to summon spirits or not. Those that do will be trained from young ago by the current head of the family, whether the child is their own or a distant cousin and will be raised as a potential leader of the clan. Catherine's parents could consider themselves lucky as their three children were talented.
While each clan had their own military might, they all had their specialty. The Lippi clan was the one with the strongest army and Catherine's father was one of the most respected generals in the country. With rumors of another war breaking out soon, he was spending more time away from home as the King often required his presence. As the King accepted her present, Catherine sighed silently while thinking about this. The previous war had claimed many members from the Lippi clan and her father had sustained a grave injury back then. He recovered eventually but had to lie in bed for half a year. Her business done, she bowed and returned to her seat.
She crossed paths with her cousin Vera Praal. Always cheerful, Vera winked at her as she brought her gift to the King. Catherine smiled back at her and sat down. The Praal family were mostly researchers. The three people currently capable of crafting runes in the country had ties to them, some more direct than others. Other than that, they also helped research ancient history, as well as maintain the Royal Archives.
Next came the proud Edward Blaise. His family was the one who was the closest to the Royal family as several of their members were part of the royal guard. Since Edward was the future leader of his family, he would probably soon be assigned as a personal bodyguard to Prince Joachim.