The Apathetic Mage Loves Cats

Chapter 21: During-Chaos

Who would've known that our fake wedding ball today would change our lives forever?

"Entering King Caiden Luther James Roth Ekalen. Everyone rise!" Two knights slowly opened the doors, causing bright artificial light to flood and dance across Caiden's face. I felt my fingers twitch as I watched Caiden's face slowly change from being one of a scared man to one of a King filled with maturity and confidence. His shoulders rolled back, and his chin went up as he took a confident step forward, a stern look making its way across his face.

Loud applause went across the floor, and small chatter danced as Caiden stepped forward, past his throne, and up to the edge of the balcony that overlooked the center of the ball. The ball itself was decorated in a bright and sunny theme to emphasize the birth of a new nation and of a new royal family. The room had circular tables decorated with white tablecloths and colorful flowers. The tables all surrounded half a football field of space utilized for a dance floor, and couches were plastered around the outer edges of the walls to allow people to rest. This wasn't a dinner, but a celebration, which meant that there were no assigned seating and people could rest whenever. This was also why food was placed on four separate tables in the middle of the room so guests could get something to eat whenever they wanted. Across the walls hung white streamers and flowers to emphasize that this is a celebration for a wedding. On the far end of the ballroom were the doors that lead to the garden, which shone with lanterns in the nightlight. The entire thing was pretty minimalistic, per Caiden's orders, but it still gave a grand feel to it to make sure people didn't question the authenticity of the affair.

Caiden cleared his throat beside me, causing the applause to die down and the chatter to cease immediately. He took a moment to stare out at the people below, all dressed up to honor Caiden and his choices as he brought in a new royal family member. Caiden's eyes furrowed, and I'm pretty positive he had thought in his mind that something should've happened the moment that he appeared, and a slight tone of unease settled across his face as he noticed that nothing happened. What an idiot.

"Please, enjoy the evening, everything shall be revealed soon." He waved his hand and a band started playing on cue. There were probably located beneath us since I couldn't see them.

Caiden took another small glance at the people as they all started to talk amongst themselves curiously; most likely about the fact that Caiden didn't have a female with him to announce whom he was marrying. He only had me.

This was definitely going to be more trouble than it was worth.

Caiden cleared his throat softly and turned around, making his way back to the throne that he had to walk past in order to speak to his people. As a group, we agreed that the risk was far too high to have Caiden located on the ground where he typically would be during ceremonies, so that meant that we placed him high above the others to ensure faster exit if a problem occurred. His throne was less spectacular than regular, but it still had plush red fabric and golden trim. A second throne sat beside him, almost exactly the same as his but white trim and slightly smaller than his own, to emphasize that not only was the person of lower status, but they would also be female since that was were originally his "wife" was supposed to sit.

I watched Caiden as he sat down on the throne, his hands slightly trembling and his body heaving with anxiousness. I walked forward to stand slightly behind him and to his right, my shoes clicking against the floor and my collar straining slightly against my neck as amusement arose within me. Don't get me wrong, it isn't like I really wanted to be a part of this anyway, but I found it amusing that he thought that something would attack him the moment that he appeared so that he wouldn't have to go through with whatever plan he had in his mind. However, that didn't mean that I was going to tease him for it. I couldn't bring myself to do so, after watching his brain struggle to figure out what was next on his list of ideas.