Page 153 of The White King's Favorite

“...May this second banquet start,” he groaned.

This time, there would be no dances. He’d had enough of useless ceremonies and had insisted this banquet would be less frivolous than the previous one, with only servants putting large tables full of food on each level so they could watch the performances without moving around. The musicians were playing on their own in one corner of the arena, filling the time until the first candidate’s performance. It was quite austere, but this way, all the candidates had to remain there too, so no one could get assassinated in the middle of the banquet a second time... which led the banquet to debut with a rather awkward tension in the air. Cessilia didn’t even touch her food, only drinking wine with her free hand. She couldn’t shake that bad feeling she had, and right below her on the stairs, Tessandra was also watching the audience like a dragon waiting for its prey to come out.

Soon enough, though, Ashen turned his eyes to the Sehsan Tribe Leader, and they exchanged a nod. The Lord slowly stood up, and walked down to the center of the arena, quickly gathering the audience’s attention.

“Honorable Lords,” he said, “my King, and everyone here. I have an announcement to make as the leader of the Sehsan Tribe. As you can see, my dear, first-born daughter and our tribe’s candidate, Bastat, isn’t attending the banquet today. My dear Bastat has always been a wise child, doing her very best for the sake of our tribe, and, in the future, I will happily entrust her with the title of Tribe Leader. Today, however, she shared with me that she had made the decision to renounce the position of this Kingdom’s future Queen. She said there would be no point in her attending this banquet and the next when there was a candidate much better suited to accompany our King.”

Cessilia was rendered completely mute. Lady Bastat was forsaking the competition? In her eyes, she had been the second most likely candidate after herself! Cessilia had no intention to lose to anyone, but she couldn’t help but be shaken up by such a strong candidate openly giving up, and so soon too... Yet, she found herself even more shocked when Lord Gebri turned to her and bowed very deeply. She could have mistaken it for a bow to Ashen if the man hadn’t been so obviously addressing her.

“Lady Cessilia of the Dragon Empire, my daughter places her full trust in you, and so will the entire Sehsan Tribe. My daughter Bastat and I will fully support you as a candidate, and thus, are retiring from this competition in the hope that Lady Cessilia becomes our Queen.”

Cessilia was speechless. Lady Bastat was giving up so her tribe could support... her? Right as she was wondering how she should respond to this, if she had to answer at all, the Yonchaa, Hashat, and Dorosef Leaders or representatives slowly stood up, and came down to the center of the arena.

“The Yonchaa Tribe joins the Sehsan Tribe’s position. We are forfeiting our candidate Nanaye’s participation, and giving our full support to the Princess.”

“The Dorosef Tribe forfeits our candidate Naptunie’s position as well, to support Princess Cessilia.”

“The Hashat Family gives its full support to the Princess as well, thus candidate Ishira will no longer partake in the competition from now on.”

Cessilia was stunned. She couldn’t even speak or get up to thank them. Should she even thank them? Half the candidates were leaving the competition for her sake! When had they even decided on such a thing? This was insane! Naptunie and Tessa both turned to her with bright smiles, but Cessilia was unable to process what had just happened.

On the other side of the arena, the Yekara Clan Leader had lost his smirk, and his expression was now absolutely furious. He stood up, glaring at the four families’ representatives.

“You are all insane! Leaving this Kingdom to a foreigner!”

“We are leaving this Kingdom to a promising young woman who can do something for it,” retorted Lord Gebri, Bastat’s father. “Lord Yebekh, this young woman spent the whole day outside, under the downpour, caring for our people more than anyone in this place has in a long time. Where were your candidates then? In my eyes, and my daughter’s, this brave Princess more than deserves to be our future Queen already!”

Despite what she was hearing, Cessilia had a hard time believing all of this was even real. She had been so nervous about this second banquet and the lack of time to prepare a performance to measure up to her rivals that she hadn’t even thought about how the others could have lost interest in the meantime. Not in a million years would she have imagined four of the candidates forfeiting, and for her sake too. It was a lot all at once. Moreover, the leaders were now all arguing over her.

“You bunch of spineless cowards!” the Yekara Clan Leader was shouting. “You dare let this foreigner win over your own daughters? We cannot allow one of our enemies on the throne!”

“Wake up, Yekara,” retorted the Dorosef Tribe Leader, a very large man named Poseus, and one of Naptunie’s grand-uncles. “The war ended long ago, despite what you like to think! We have more to win by working with the Dragon Empire than against them.”

“That’s so typical of you,” hissed Yebekh. “You’ll run away at the first sign of a fight. You should all be ashamed! No matter what, you should have let your candidates try and defeat the other girls!”

“You forget this competition is more about who is most suitable to become Queen than who can survive their rival’s jealousy,” retorted Lord Gebri. “I am not willing to risk my only child’s life any longer for the mere sake of my pride. My child is the only pride I need, and I will happily serve a queen who can do great things for my tribe and all of our children.”

“Our own daughters or nieces have chosen their Queen already,” nodded the Yonchaa Tribe representative. “The next generation knows the way, and the Princess has shown a lot of grace and kindness already. Yes, she is a foreigner. But she still has the proper lineage as a princess and inherited power and knowledge from the current ruler. Nothing disqualifies her, and her actions have only given us more proof that she is a great candidate, at the very least. Admitting defeat is no shame when the winner’s victory makes it valuable.”

“You fools!”

Despite the Yekara Clan Leader’s furious shouting, most other people in the cave seemed to be agreeing with the four family representatives’ words. As Cessilia looked around, Axelane of the Nahaf Family seemed to be chatting with her Family Leader, a bit worried. The Pangoja, however, looked like they had taken a big bite out of a sour fruit. They seemed to disagree with both sides. They most likely hated the Yekara Clan too much to agree with them but also didn’t believe in Cessilia. They had never hidden their intentions but she believed their clan wouldn’t be as scheming as the Yekara, at least.

Still, Lord Yebekh wouldn’t calm down. He slammed his hand on the armchair, shouting back at each argument the other leaders gave him. However, neither party wanted to change their minds, and this debate was going absolutely nowhere. Cessilia sighed. If this was just the beginning of the banquet, it would surely last a while…

“Enough!” finally roared Ashen. “Lord Yebekh, whether you agree to it or not, this is the other Lords’ decision, and you have no right to interfere with it. Their candidates are all willingly giving up. The remaining ones are free to stay or drop out of the competition as well, but I won’t hear any more protests today. Sit back down and shut the hell up or I’ll assume your candidates are forfeiting this one.”

Lord Yebekh slowly sat down, still glaring at his King with a furious expression, his fists clenched. Every single inch of his body expressed his silent and barely contained anger in some way. His daughter and niece were calmer, but they had similar furious glares at the King. Cessilia couldn’t help but wonder why those two were so bent on becoming Ashen’s Queen. They didn’t seem to have much affection for him, yet they were participating in this competition as if there was no way they could lose.

“…The candidate of the Nahaf Family should perform first,” finally said Ashen after a heavy silence.

Axelane jumped up from her seat as if she had just remembered why she was there. She awkwardly went down to the center of the little arena, but as soon as her performance started, it felt much too weak for most people to care. In fact, her fan dance may have been beautiful, but she was obviously not focused, and even made a couple of mistakes, dropping one of her fans twice, and sending scared glances left and right. Cessilia couldn’t help but wonder if she had been threatened in some way? This was the first time she had seen this prideful, young woman so shaken up…

When Cessilia glanced up at the other side of the arena, a man was whispering in Lord Yebekh’s ear, making him nod slightly with a frown. Whatever was up, he seemed fine with it. His candidates were looking down at their rival’s performance with bored expressions, like most of the public, but Ashra kept glancing at her Clan Leader. She also seemed interested in whatever he was being told.

Cessilia kept looking around. This banquet was definitely much more tense than the previous one. In fact, many eyes kept coming to her. Some were simply observing, while others sent her regular glares as if they needed to remind her not everyone was on her side. She didn’t care much for those, though. It was always the same people, and she had the same contempt for them. She realized that only half of the ten candidates remained. It was now down to the two Yekara girls, Axelane of the Nahaf Family, Istis of the Pangoja Clan, and herself. Even Nana seemed a lot brighter since her Tribe Leader had announced she wasn’t participating anymore, although Cessilia wondered if she had known beforehand or not.

Axelane’s poor performance came to an end with a dramatic last note of music, and those who did remember to clap did it without much conviction, aside from the people of her family. Cessilia sighed, but Ashen gently caressed the back of her hand with his thumb.

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