Chapter 11: Foundation dayThe Month of Noel, Day 17, Year 681 of the Second Holy Calendar“Close your eyes, please, your highness.” Dominic did as he was instructed and felt the sponge slide over his eyelid, causing him to shiver.

  “Is this so uncomfortable?” Nora, who was standing right next to him, compined.

  “Just another moment, your highness.” The domestic sve, applying makeup to Nora's face, said. When the domestic sve was finished with him, Dominic got a good look at her. She was a sve. Dominic had never been in contact with a commoner, but he'd been in contact with sves almost his entire life. The Royal Family actually had several sves just to apply makeup.

  “Rich people really are incredible. They waste so much money on unimportant things.” Once they were done applying makeup, both stepped back and, lowering their heads, walked out of the room.

  “My face feels wet,” Nora compined again. “What's even the point of this stuff?”

  “It's so the light reflects better on your skin,” Luce expined.

  Nora twisted up her face. “That sounds completely pointless. Can I take it off now?”

  “No, you can't,” Luce said while lighting another cigarette. Usually, she only smoked when she was thinking about something essential or stressed out, but recently she started chain smoking, and Dominic was actually getting worried.

  Nora looked at her own perfect appearance in the mirror with dissatisfaction. In this world, nobles were obsessed with perfection, or at least the idea of perfection; everyone's appearance had to be perfect, makeup was used to hide any blemishes at all, and facial scars were intensely despised, although you could just get them healed with healing magic. Hence, it wasn't a big deal.

  The nobles of this world would indeed despise already ripped jeans, as the idea of ruggedy or rough around the edges was somewhat attractive, but it was utterly foreign to them.

  “Hey, I noticed that Flick and I seem to have the same exact clothing.” They were both wearing Old Lanter Empire military uniforms. The Lanter Empire had turned War into a simple practice of crushing your enemy with logic and reasoning in numbers. Their uniforms were retively simple pants, shirts with buttons, and attachable cloaks.

  Modern military uniforms had the cloak fastened at the neck or on the shoulders. Dominic didn't know why this change was made, but he had to say Old Lanter Empire military uniforms looked a lot like Nazi uniforms than the modern ones. “Good thing Twitter hasn't been invented,” Dominic thought with a smirk. Lanter Empire we're treated a bit like the Nazis by some in this world as they had committed terrible terrible atrocities primarily against the Temple of Sia. But many people still admired them, especially in the Kingdom of Bck. During the Bck Revolt, Francis had openly emuted Eleanora Lanter. The military uniforms of the early days of the Kingdom of Bck modeled those of the old Lanter Empire. This is why everyone wore old Lanter Empire-style military uniforms to the foundation day celebration.

  “I guess I didn't tell you, but you didn't have to get a fitting this year because your brother did it for you. You have basically the same proportions and are almost identical, and since you hate girls' clothing, I just got you the same exact thing as him, adjusted for your height.”

  Nora gnced at Dominic before gncing at her own appearance in the mirror, before gncing at Dominic again. The two of them were identical, except that Nora was a bit taller and had long hair.

  Women in the Kingdom of Bck generally wore their hair straight and long enough to reach the small of their back but not any longer. For some reason, it was considered two wrongs if it touched your backside. They also didn't wear it up, although they occasionally shifted ponytails or braided it. Apparently, this was because in the Kingdom of Anttur, they wore their hair in updos, buns, or short. When Dominic heard about this, he felt simir to when he heard that the Americans drank coffee because the British drank tea.

  “Dominic, Dominic, come back to us, please.”

  Dominic blinked back, “Sorry, spaced out.”

  Luce rolls her eyes. “Well, we're done. The two of you have to go meet with the queen before you go out. So don't space out in front of her majesty.”

  “Don't worry, I won't,” Dominic said with an edge to his voice.

  His retainers still hadn't returned to his service, and Luce had finally told him about some of their behavior. Sophia had been troubled during the assassination attempt, given that she actively protected him, so she wasn't just a noble dy looking to work as a maid of honor for a prince to boost her resume before marriage.

  Dominic and Nora were guided into a room where they found Antonio and Anton were already waiting for them. The heavy open door smmed shut with finality, and there was silence in the room. Nora made a point of reaching her hand into her pocket, but Dominic knew it was empty. “What are they teaching her exactly?” Dominic thought he was acquainted with the strategy of pretending you had a weapon even if you didn't, but how a princess would somehow happen upon that knowledge at the tender age of eight was beyond his guess.

  The room was a well-appointed sitting room with plenty of couches and cabinets filled with bottles. It was lit by a bunch of fancy sconces, and Dominic could practically feel the money melt away as the candles flickered. “I say we rush ‘em, you take the bastard, I take the bitch,” Nora whispered in his ear.

  “Lady Luce wouldn't like to hear you talk like that,” Dominic said non-committedly. The room was clearly divided into Nora and Dominic's side and Antonia and Anton's side, as if the cousins were splitting the room in half just to avoid each other.

  Before either side could attack each other, the door burst open and Veronica strolled in. She was followed by two people whom Dominic didn't recognize but who knew precisely who they were at first gnce.

  The man to her right was ugly and scarred; in fact, ugly was an understatement. He had rust colored hair, which was cut short and clearly not combed. Crisscross scars on his face help hide some of his negative features, like his pug nose and beady bck eyes. He was the Marshall saint of the Kingdom of Bck, Luca. The Marshall Saint was the representation of the Kingdom Knights. The selection of the Marshall Saints was purely based on their strength; if someone challenged the standing Marshall Saint and won, they would be the new Marshall Saint.

  The woman standing to her left was the por opposite of Luca. She had wine colored hair and beautiful features. She wore a graceful bck dress, and all around, just came off as a stunning, elegant, slightly older dy. She was the “bck witch,” Christina. The two of them were the military trump cards of the Kingdom and generally stayed inside their isoted corner of the capital except for on Foundation Day and for wars. On Foundation Day, when the kingdom treated with foreign ambassadors, they would drag them out to put them on dispy—showing off their Immortal witch and their greatest knight.

  Veronica gnced around the room and promptly ignored whatever was happening as Nora removed her hand from her pocket. “The four of you will be attending Foundation Day, but you won't be attending as private citizens, and no other children will be in attendance. There will be foreign ambassadors and most of the high nobility present. Needless to say, any mistakes you make will reflect poorly on the kingdom. I and your other Guardians will be highly displeased.” She gnced around at all of them, allowing that point to sink home.

  “Normally, you two wouldn't be allowed to attend,” she pointed at Anton and Dominic. “However, I used my personal judgment to allow Dominic to attend, and my beloved Husband compelled me to allow Anton to attend. So, be on your absolute best behavior, or I will personally remove you from the guest list and re-educate you in manners. Am I understood?”

  “Oh that expins why Luce was so pissed. If I remember correctly, Nora wasn't allowed to attend at 6. I wonder what's different about my case,” He couldn't help but gre at Veronica still feeling that same sense of hatred as before. “I just want to wrap my fingers around her throat and squeeze until she's dead.” Oliver had been more or less a normal person, and Dominic generally didn't have any violent thoughts, but for some reason, that's all he could think about when in the presence of Veronica.

  Dominic said he understood in a loud, clear voice for giving a formal military salute to Veronica. he was obviously just mocking her, which apparently didn't go unnoticed by her as she smirked at him. Still, Luca apparently didn't get it as he gave Dominic an approving nod.

  They held the party in the Royal Banquet Hall. Dominic and Nora mostly passed it in a corner; a few of the adults came over to talk to them. Dominic followed Luce's standing order not to engage with anyone he didn't know seriously, so he deflected them until they left. They spent the rest of their time enjoying their evening and the cuisine, as well as, the fact that Luce wasn't watching them closely, so they could eat whatever they wanted.