Chapter 53: Chapter Fifty-One: Emperor Lucius Aria Caelum
The party was going on as planned for the emperor, who has yet to make his appearance. Ren spent time talking to a few of the guests who were willing to speak to him while the girls were talking to people greeting them.
Lucilia didn't let him fade into the background; instead, she not only brought him up in conversations but also dragged him to meet some of the nobles, especially the parents of the nobles that Ren would be fighting.
It was then that Ren was offered a drink by one of the lords, but Aurelia slapped the drink out of his hand.
"Do not eat or drink anything tonight. You never know what could be tainted or not." She warned him.
"Wait, they might actually drug me?" Ren asked.
"Den of Wolves, Ren. They would do anything to get ahead. Even poison you." Aurelia said.
It was then a bell rung in the room, which quickly garnered everyone's attention in the room.
The head butler of the mansion stood on top of the big staircase. He stood straight, with all of the poise in the world.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to the celebration before the battle tomorrow. As you know, the battle is for Princess Lucilia Aria Caelum. This will be a battle of thirteen of our best and brightest...along with someone from Earth..."
"Well...fuck you, dude." Ren thought to himself, noticing the butlers disrespect, and he wasn't alone, as the girls also picked up on his tone pretty easily.
"However, before we begin the official celebration, some of our guests of honor have arrived."
The butler cleared his throat before speaking again. "As you know, Empress Ivy Aria Caelum, Princess Aurelia Aria Caelum, and Empress Ivy Aria Caelum have already arrived, but the rest of the royal family has finally prepared themselves and will be introduced."
The Butler soon moved out of the way as what sounded like a piano and violin began to play in the background.
"Introducing First Princess Artoria Aria Caelum and her husband, Prince Lars Junius Caelum."
As the butler said, two people appeared arm in arm walking down the stairs. One was a man with black hair and gray eyes; he almost looked as if he were blind, so Ren asked Lucilia, who was standing next to him, if that was the case, but she said that he could see fine.
Next to the man was a beautiful blond-headed woman with her hair wrapped up in a pontytail, and she had glowing orange eyes. She was wearing a tight dress that showed all of her curves, and even if she wasn't as gifted as Lucilia in some departments, she was still a really beautiful woman.
The two walked down the steps, waving to members of the crowd, before stopping next to a throne on the back side of the room.
The butler then spoke again.
"Now introducing Princess Sienna Aria Caelum."
The next girl to walk down the staircase had long green hair and bright green eyes. She, like the other princesses, was without a doubt beautiful. She didn't give much fanfare, unlike Artoria; instead, she waved twice, once to each side of the staircase, and went down to the throne, joining her sister.
"Next Prince Marcel Aria Caelum and his wife Salia Marvivia Caelum." the butler said.
Next up, a man a few years older than Ren walked out of the curtain; he had short black hair and glowing blue eyes, walking down with a woman with light brown hair and light red eyes, a similar shade to Lucilia's.
"Next, Prince Caius Aria Caelum." the butler said.
Next up was a man with silver hair and bright, light blue eyes walking down the steps without a partner. Even though he was married, his wife had other business she needed to attend to on her home planet, so Caius arrived alone.
"Finally, before the arrival of our Emperor, Princess Octavia Aria Caelum." the butler said.
The final woman to arrive garnered the most attention from Ren.
She had long blue hair with green highlights, but that wasn't the only thing that Ren took notice of. She had heterochromatic eyes, as her left eye was a bright green, just like his eyes, but her right eye was a glowing shade of blue.
"She's beautiful." Ren thought to himself.
Lucilia and Aurelia took note of Ren's reaction. Aurelia had a slight smile, while Lucilia's face angered quickly. "We are NOT doing this again, Ren." she thought to herself.
Ren could feel his spine shiver as he looked over to see Lucilia looking as if she was about to stab him right then and there.
"Did she read my mind?" Ren asked himself.
Meanwhile, on the stage, two pairs of eyes landed on Ren and Lucilia across the room.
"So that's the man who captured our dear sisters hearts, is it?" Sienna said.
Octavia looked at him a little more "Hmm, he better be worth this farce of an event..."
The royal children had all gathered, pretty much all of them not wanting to be there except for Artoria and Caius, who were taking in the fanfare, waving to the crowd, and talking amongst the nobles. Octavia, Sienna, and Marcel mostly just stayed amongst themselves, and Lucilia and Aurelia didn't go anywhere near the throne.
The Butler then came back on stage and once again spoke.
"We will now introduce the arrival of our most important guest, the conqueror, the Hero of Sarlan IX, the Great General of the Igancian Wars, the man who united our entire planet, our Emperor Lucius Aria Caelum!"
With the butler's announcement, every single set of eyes in the building turned to the staircase as multiple armored guards walked down the stairs, standing on both sides. The lights in the room turned down, and a spotlight hovered on the staircase as the music changed to an entirely different song than what was playing for the children of the family.
Then he arrived.
A man with long graying hair and bright golden eyes, his appearance definitely made him look older, but his body build was that of a man in his prime. Even through his extremely fancy clothes, anyone could see he had way more muscle mass than a usual older man does.
"He looks like the mentor stereotype in anime..." Ren thought to himself.
The man walked down the stairs with the admiration of almost everyone in the crowd—except for Ren and all of the other girls, not to mention some of his own children who were standing next to his throne.
Artoria and Caius, however, were the opposite; they looked at him with all of the admiration in the world.
The man walked down to his throne and stood in front of it, beginning his speech.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight, all of us here gather in celebration of the events that unfold tomorrow. Twelve young men will no longer be with us, with one of them standing champion and receiving the honor of marrying my daughter, Lucilia. Tonight is not just about celebrating the union of one of our best and brightest and my daughter, but also because tonight stands as the last chance to create memories with those who will fall, so enjoy the night. Drink, laugh, and celebrate together. Now I will ask each of those who will be joining the arena tomorrow to step forward in front of me. Firstly, Ignis Cassius Vargas...."
The Emperor ran down the list of each person who would be battling in the arena tomorrow; each of them, after being called, walked up to the throne and kneeled in front of the entire royal family.
However, then he got to the final name.
"And lastly...Ren from the planet Earth." he said with a hint of disdain in his voice.
Lucilia tried to stop Ren from walking up to the throne, but Ren reassured her with a smile and walked up to where all the other nobles were kneeling, except instead of kneeling, he stood in front of the Emperor with his hands in his pockets, smiling, showing the emperor nothing but disrespect.
"You insolent fo-" Caius said getting angry seeing the disrespect coming from Ren.
The Emperor raised his hand, making the Caius go silent. He looked at Ren for a few seconds, saying nothing but observing his actions.
"Like something you see?" Ren jokingly said this to the Emperor, which caused gasps and murmurs of anger from the crowd. The Emperor, however, stayed silent.
The Emperor then sat down on his throne and sighed "You...Ren? Why do you not have a last name? Is that customary on your planet?"
"Usually it is; I just don't really have one that I use." Ren said. "Although Caelum sounds good."
Ren taunted the Emperor with his last name, a name that garnered a lot of respect on the planet, but he used it so casually. Even the royal children were shocked at such a display.
"I will say this, Ren. You have a lot of guts. I can understand why my daughter seems so interested in you. However, you will die tomorrow; that's a guarantee. So I will grant you this: you won't be sent to prison for such a disrespectful attitude towards me and get to spend the rest of your life with my daughter. That is as great a mercy as I'm going to give you because come tomorrow, you will be cut down where you stand by one of the better men next to you." The Emperor said it in a threatening voice.
"Hm...so is that a promise?" Ren asked.
"A promise?" The Emperor asked.
"You said I get to spend the rest of my life with your daughter; is that a promise?" Ren reiterated. "Because now if I win, there is nothing you can say to change the outcome...unless, of course, you want to lose some of your honor and go back on your word."
The Emperor realized the way his words were taken by Ren but ignored them, as he fully believed he would only be alive for less than a day anywhere.
"You are dismissed." The Emperor said simply, Ren had started to aggravate him, so he chose not to deal with him.
Ren walked back without bowing like the other candidates and went back to Lucilia and Aurelia, who were jaw-dropped at his attitude.
"Ren, why would you act like that?" Aurelia asked.
"Because I have no respect for the man, why would I ever show him any?" Ren said.
"Ren...I fucking love you." Lucilia said with her eyes shining.
And in one last screw you to the Emperor, she said that loudly, gathering the attention of the nearby nobles, and once all eyes were on her, she kissed him passionately.
The Emperor glared seeing this. The royal children had mixed reactions, as some were angry and the others were rather amused by it; however, the worst response was from the other candidates, especially Ignis.
"I will kill that obnoxious, disrespectful, useless man no matter what..."
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