Mayet could feel the stares of the Caesonian nobles on the Alidasht party as they walked down the ballroom. From fear and bewilderment to amazement and admiration. Few were those who were able to even open their mouths as they made their entrance and even fewer were those who dared to keep staring towards them for too long.
"It seems like our glory and might are too radiant for some of them to handle." Mayet said with an amused expression as she looked to her siblings with a proud, satisfied expression.
While there were some among the nobles who had a more negative reactions, Mayet simply didn't give them any attention. After all, there were people who were simply incapable of understanding true glory and greatness even if it hit them in the face. Besides, Mayet was simply
better than those people. Those types didn't even deserve her attention.
Still, there were some reactions that were definitely surprising. One of which was the white haired, pale noble whose cold eyes not only met Mayet's gaze without looking away, but also raised his glass in a silent toast towards her. Being one of the few who were able to meet her gaze and not falter under it, he had already caught Mayet's interest, but his cold piercing gaze made him stood out from the rest. Curious enough to make Mayet let out a discreet but amused smirk as she looked at him, marking him as someone who would definitely be more entertaining than the other nobles.
The other nobles who caught her attention, albeit in a bad way, were the nobles who first had the audacity to clap to their entrance, treating them as if they were performers that acted simply to amuse and entertain others. Mayet did take special note of the nobles who did so. Did they even know what was happening? Mayet wasn't sure if they were drunk or got so excited by their grand entrance that they ended up forgetting their place and to pay their respects to the Alidasht royals... Regardless of their reason, they would soon learn to respect and fear Alidasht, especially Mayet.
With their grand entrance nearing it's end with the Alidasht royal party paying their respects to the hosts, Mayet couldn't help but roll her eyes and let out an mischievous smirk towards both Nahir and Munir as she noticed that both of them seemed to have already found some
toys to play with among the other nobles.
"You are welcome, dear brother." Mayet said in a playful, teasing tone towards Munir as he looked towards a red haired noble, which seemed to be entranced both by him and Nala.
Her sister Layla's actions also caused her to let out and amused, satisfied smile, as she ordered some of the guards to raise her in their shoulders as she looked around, being sure everyone was able to see her. Just like Mayet herself, Layla made sure to let everyone present know their glory. Zilal, which seemed to be overjoyed to be near Layla, laying his head on her shoulder, gave Layla's image a 'dangerous' charm, which only made her presence even harder to ignore.
"Layla! You know how competitive I am... I'm almost feeling left behind! Not only you are already taller than I am but Zilal is absolutely stunning today!" Mayet said to Layla in a low, discreet tone as she gave her a playful smile.
From the almost solemn silence that their entrance caused to the reactions of the nobles and even the expression of the hosts, everything was going extremely well. Such grand entrance was only fitting for the mighty kingdom of Alidasht and especially Mayet herself. She was personally satisfied with her and Nala's parts on it too. That was... until a loud, irritating voice suddenly interrupted their entrance, announcing his own entrance in an obnoxiously loud and arrogant way seemingly unaware of the terrible mistake he made by interrupting their entrance.
Mayet's satisfaction and good mood after such a perfect entrance immediately turned sour as she looked at the foolish noble as he continued his little spectacle, despite the clear warnings he was being given. What was happening was such an absurdity for Mayet that she could only look, outraged and speechless, still finding it difficult to realize that was really happening. Not only he had the gall to interrupt their grand entrance and walk where they had walked, but he also had the audacity to call them commoners, refer to them as mere performers, going as far as to say that her and her sister Layla were mere tamers!
It was the first time Mayet had been so humiliated and insulted. Someone of her standing, someone as
perfect as she was, mistaken by a commoner, a performer no less? Was that a plot by the Caesonian royals to ridicule them? It was utterly unbelievable that someone could purposely be so tactless as to act like that man did. Even his loud, uncouth and foolish behavior made Mayet find it incredibly hard to even believe he was a noble. Without missing a beat, Mayet immediately looked back towards the king and the queen. Her enraged expression and her dangerous stare were more than enough to send shivers down the spine of most people and were definitely enough to tell them how insulted she felt. The moment she did so though, she realized how nervous and distressed both the king and the queen seemed to be and the idea of all that being a plot to mock and humiliate them immediately disappeared. Her anger was then directed towards the only one responsible for all that mess... Duke Vikena.
Unfortunately for everyone present, Duke Vikena's antics were far from over, almost as if he wasn't satisfied of insulting and making a mockery of the Alidasht royals and their party. As he began to approach the chevron formation where the Sultan and his children were, Nala immediately began growling towards him in an incredibly dangerous way. Mayet, with her eyes and expression clearly showing an equal amount of danger as Nala did, was simply unable to calm Nala down, as she was almost dealing with that
vermin herself. It was only thanks to Munir's interference, whom approached Nala to at least make sure she wouldn't rip that sorry excuse of a man to shreds that she stood down, despite the loud and dangerous growls.
When one of the guards finally decided to act as the "Duke" Vikena got dangerously close to the Sultan, charging towards the offender, the latter shifted his footing and ended up tripping the guard, whom ran right into one of the men who were holding the Grand Vizier and the Sultan's palanquins. After an unfortunate chain of events, both the Grand Vizier, the Sultan Raif Kadir and her sister, Layla, who was standing on the shoulders of two guards ended up falling on the ground. Only to further aggravate the offenses that were already made to the Sultan and the Alidasht royal family until now. The ballroom became completely silent, no one dared to even open their mouths after what happened. No one other than the foolish Duke Vikena, of course, whom despite all that, still went towards the king and the queen to present himself.
"You! Bring me my weapon... Now." Mayet said, in a dangerously low tone towards one of the dancers, which was standing completely still, almost as if she was trying to become invisible. The woman, after seeing everything that happened was almost completely pale, her eyes open wide as she covered her mouth, unable even to breathe properly.
Immediately after hearing Mayet's orders, the dancer nervously nodded her head as she hurriedly ran outside, going towards the carriage where they came in. Not even the guards had the courage of stopping the dancer, seeing how angry Mayet was at the moment.
Unsurprisingly, Mayet wasn't the only one that was fuming with anger. The Grand Vizier was the first to let everyone know how outraged he was. While Mayet didn't really like the Grand Vizier that much, she could totally understand his anger. After all, if she was on his place, she would want to kill the one responsible for that herself...
While the Sultan Raif Kadir was able to contain his feelings a bit better than the Grand Vizier, it was clearly evident by both his tone and his hands that he was dangerously angry. Fortunately, the king himself seemed to understand that very well, even bowing down and apologizing. Such a scene once again confirmed to Mayet that King Edin was also an unfortunate victim of Duke Vikena's ignorant behavior.
With the proper apologies being given by the hosts, there was only the punishment of Duke Vikena left to discuss. Which was something Mayet was sure that not only her and her sister Layla but the Grand Vizier and the Sultan themselves would also demand. He had to pay for his behavior. He would be made an example to the other nobles. An example of what awaited those who wronged Alidasht.
When one of the nobles around suddenly started speaking, trying to defuse the situation and blame everything on a random servant, Mayet simply couldn't stay quiet. As the room started to erupt in applause, encouraged by that insignificant nobody, Mayet could only feel even more mocked and ridiculed.
"I DEMAND SILENCE!" Mayet shouted, just after the people began applauding, followed by another loud roar from Nala, who was visibly agitated and still being held by Munir, who kept trying to calm her down. Unfortunately, unlike Nala, there was no one trying to calm Mayet down.
"Do not treat us like some street performers that act for your own amusement! Applause, especially after such humiliation can only be seen as an insult!" she said, looking around to the nobles that dared to applaud with a fiery, dangerous stare.
"You... Whoever you are, you would do well to be very careful with your words... Or better, just keep your mouth shut. " Mayet said, looking towards the noble who first suggested the applause with a piercing, fiery gaze.
"Not only we were humiliated by that sorry excuse of a noble, but you now are insulting our intelligence, saying that it was 'someone else' who is to blame for all this? Or are you trying to insult our soldiers and our military force, saying they were the ones to blame?" Mayet asked, looking towards Count Calbert with a clearly insulted expression.
"The Sultan's words are Alidasht's words. We demand retribution." Mayet said, with a fierce stare as she looked at both Count Calbert and the King, whom had also entertained the Count's suggestion for the applause.
It was at this exact moment that a pale, delicate looking woman approached them, introducing herself as Charlotte Vikena, presumably Duke Vikena's daughter. Despite her shaky voice and visible nervousness, Charlotte still knelt down, trying to take the blame for her father's foolish behavior, even though she was nowhere near him when Duke Vikena started to insult them.
Looking at that girl was almost as if she was looking to a rabbit that was about to be eaten by wolves. Despite her frail appearance and evident nervousness though, she still was brave enough to step forward and take the blame for her foolish father, something that Mayet could definitely respect.
Much to Charlotte's own dismay though, the one who laid eyes on her was no one other than Layla herself and Mayet knew very well how cruel her older sister could be to those who had incurred her wrath. Her expression and her words as she approached Charlotte were certain to give the frail, porcelain-doll looking girl nightmares.
Before Mayet could intervene though, a red headed noble approached them, more specifically her sister, Layla. Despite the excessive flattery, his polite approach was appreciated, paying the proper respects Layla deserved as a Shehzadi. But just like the other noble before him, he too tried selling them a ridiculous excuse, this time blaming everything on the servants, whom according to him, over-polished the floor.
"Leo Smithwood, Heir of Stravy, do not insult our intelligence with such ridiculous excuses." Mayet said, with a piercing stare towards the red headed noble, clearly referring to what she had just said a few moments ago to Count Calbert.
Surprisingly enough, the same noble whom had piqued her interest a few moments ago, the white haired noble with cold eyes approached them, introducing himself in typical Alidasht manner, much like Leo Smithwood did. Prince Wulfric was the first Caesonian noble that gave a reasonable suggestion since all that confusion began. Much to Mayet's own surprise, not only his thoughts were similar to hers, but he was surprisingly good looking, despite his extremely pale skin. Mayet intended to let him know that she was satisfied with him as she gave him a nod of approval, despite the tense situation they were in and how on edge Mayet was at the moment.
It was at that exact moment that the poor dancer whom Mayet had sent to get her weapon finally arrived. Still sweating and extremely nervous, the girl handed the weapon, which was wrapped around a silk cloth in order to protect the blade, to Mayet which she received with a nod, before sending the girl outside with a wave of her hand. The poor girl would probably pass out if she got any more nervous than she already was.
"I make of Prince Wulfric's words my own. Your frail daughter, despite being nervous and afraid, has thrown herself to the lions in order to save your pathetic self, Duke Vikena." Mayet said, being sure her sister Layla was hearing her words and trying to redirect her anger towards the one who was truly responsible for that instead of Charlotte, which seemed to be guilty only of having someone as incompetent as Duke Vikena as her guardian.
As she approached Duke Vikena, she started to take out the silk cloth from around her weapon, revealing a big, razor sharp,
ring-blade. Despite it's simple design, the exotic weapon was adorned with complex, golden patterns inside, a clear indication of Mayet's personal touch to the weapon.
Holding the ring-blade over her shoulder, she walked towards Duke Vikena, with a vicious look on her face.
"If we were on Alidasht, I would have your mouth sewn shut for your insolent behavior or have you thrown into the desert and force you to walk back with only the clothes you were wearing... But in respect to our hosts who seem to also be victims of your inexcusable behavior, I will give you a chance to redeem yourself." Mayet said in a dangerously low tone towards Duke Vikena.
"You, who seem to put so much importance on your own self, arrogant enough to interrupt and insult the Alidasht royal party on their own grand entrance..." Mayet said with a piercing stare.
"You will grovel! Kneel, put yourself where you belong and beg for our forgiveness. Accept the consequences for your own actions, whichever they might be and at least keep what remained of your own honor after letting your poor daughter take the blame for your foolish mistakes..." Mayet said, as she approached Duke Vikena,
"Or refuse to atone for your mistakes and face my wrath. Now choose, Duke Vikena." Mayet finished, both her authoritative tone and her presence exerting a pressure which was surprising to see from someone so young and petite like her.
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