[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/nFq9mJx.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/uGddlzt.png[/img]
[color=BBC7E1]Time:[/color] Early Evening
[color=BBC7E1]Location:[/color] Caesonia Kingdom Ball
[color=BBC7E1]Interaction:[/color] Lorenzo[@FunnyGuy] 
[color=BBC7E1]Attire:[/color] [url=i.imgur.com/kzux34s.jpg]Click here[/url]
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Watching Lorenzo was like reading a story that incited feelings of impending doom for the beloved characters on the pages. The dark tendrils of tragedy would start to tighten their grasps on the characters more with every page, but tearing one’s gaze away from the book was impossible. It was as if the reader was tied to a runaway minecart as it went down a dark shaft.

But this was not a novel.

Charlotte felt as if her heart had stopped beating as she watched first the Sultan fall then the Grand Vizier. She gripped the skirt of her dress tight; she was certain she wasn’t breathing for that moment. It got worse as Lorenzo was not the least bit apologetic. He had not read the room as she had worried; he had no idea that those were the Alidasht royals that he had just interrupted. Every word from his mouth was like another plunge of a shovel into the ground below as he dug his grave. 

As if answering her grim thought, the Grand Vizier rose up, demanding Lorenzo’s [i]head[/i].

He was Icarus and he had now flown too close to the sun.

Her chest began to rise and fall rapidly with rising panic. Tears blurred her vision and she staggered backward a little, but two guests behind her caught her arms and steadied her. A kind woman started to wave her fan on her as she asked if she was alright. 

[color=BBC7E1][i]Not again… Please.[/i][/color]

This was her fault. This was no runaway mine cart. Her arms had been free. Her mouth had not been taped shut. She could have stopped him, covered his mouth, pulled him aside…[i]anything[/i]. 

[color=BBC7E1][i]It’s not the first time you failed your family, Charlotte. Where were you when your mother died?[/i][/color]

A blurred image of a silhouette of a female body, dimmed by the darkness of the night, flashed before her eyes. It faded and then she saw her father in his bed, the life slipping away from his eyes. She struggled not to let her face contort with grief and fear as she clumsily moved from the grip of those nearby her. She had been too wrapped up in her own shock to follow what had been said, which she wanted to kick herself for. This was no time to be selfish.

Charlotte had heard Count Calbert’s voice dimly as if he had been in another room. It felt like a nightmare or a strange fever dream as the room erupted into applause and King Edin encouraged it. A false sense of hope that things had taken a positive direction filled Charlotte, only for it to quickly diminish as The Sultan spoke once more:

[color=CFA36D]“We would be quite pleased to get back to festivities, however, regardless of whether or not this man [i]misinterpreted[/i] things, something still must be done. We have been humiliated and we demand retribution.”[/color] 

The minecart was still racing.

Charlotte glanced Lorenzo’s way. As silly as the man’s actions had been, Charlotte knew in her heart that he did not deserve this. She wanted him to live and smile more, to see Kier once again, to smile he had done earlier which had felt like such a seldom event after Emina had died. As the grief threatened to drown her, her anger was what kept her afloat. 

How could a man, with all the power and money one could dream for, have such a fragile ego that he would call for the death of another over a mere accident?

Queen Alibeth’s filled the room as she asked the Sultan, [color=DDB705]“Is there anything we can give you to compensate you for the pain you have felt today, your Majesty?”[/color]


This was not like her mother. 

She was still here. She could stop this.
She had to [i]stop[/i] this.

Charlotte’s legs were moving before she could even figure out what she planned to do as she moved to the center of the room and stood in front of Lorenzo.  She kept a grip on her skirt to hide how her hands trembled. She curtsied politely before speaking.[color=BBC7E1]”Hello, your Majesty. My name is Charlotte Vikena. I want to first welcome you to Caesonia Kingdom.”[/color] Her voice only shook a little as she put forth effort into coming off collected. Messing this up could mean the end of Lorenzo. She took a deep breath as she relaxed her expression, then met the gaze directly of the Sultan.

[color=BBC7E1]“I am the one responsible for your humiliation. I apologize as this was the last thing I wanted to do.”[/color] She got down on her knees before them, [color=BBC7E1]“My youth and naivety betrayed me tonight. I misunderstood you all to be performers hired to welcome the Alidasht Kingdom when that’s just who you were. My kind father Lorenzo put his trust in me. He is a Duke who would outrank mere performers if that had been the case so he went forward when he should not have. If it had not been for me telling him so, I am certain he would have taken a moment to consider the situation before him. We have not attended events for the past year since my mother’s death and we are out of sorts with the proper etiquette.”[/color]

The Sultan Raif met her gaze with an unreadable one. She could feel him studying her as if she was an insect crawling about his feet. The intimidation of this man was unsettling. When he did not immediately answer, Charlotte’s nervousness prompted her to continue. Royals whether they be a Queen, a King, or Sultan, they were all the same. What they wanted was to feel above all else, to know others were beneath them. Being King was not enough to quench such a hunger, it had to be continuously satiated daily by those around them.  

It was harder to keep the emotion out of her voice as she pressed on, [color=BBC7E1]“I-I can offer my services during your stay for the season here. Whatever you and your family need, I can personally provide.”[/color] A Lady lowering herself to servant was essentially social suicide,  a price that possibly meant no one would marry her, but that no longer mattered to her. If she could save Lorenzo, her only family, then it was a small price to pay.