Chapter 184: The Banquet
(From Blue's Perspective)
The Queen of Mazazine quickly recovered and fixed her expression. She gave me a friendly smile as she looked at me. But I found this friendly smile almost as venomous as snake venom.
"Ah, the Queen of Querencia is looking particularly lovely tonight. It's no surprise that so many people are staring at the queen," she said.
'Ugh, they're not looking because I'm beautiful. More than half of them are intrigued by the human who became King Demetrius' queen. And she's just reminding me of the same thing, that I'm a human. And her looks are saying that I am a stranger in their world who should not be here.'
"The Queen of Mazazine is also very attractive. Those who assisted in preparing the Queen must be very talented, and the Queen's natural beauty must also be admirable," I smiled.
"Ha, yes, they are very talented," she said.
"Of course. Or how can making a vile facial expression make someone look so lovely?" I smiled once more. "I think I need to find a good make-up artist who can also do that for me. After all, a more experienced queen showed me just now that it's very necessary. I am grateful for the assistance of the Queen of Mazazine.
Or I'd have no idea that making obnoxious facial expressions for no reason and bickering for self-satisfaction are so important."
Her hands were trembling and her face was red. Perhaps the King and Queen of Mazazine had a strained relationship. He appeared to have left her to deal with her conflicts and problems.
"You are really... crossing the limit, Queen of Querencia," she muttered, gritting her teeth. Her voice was trembling as if she was trying to keep it together.
Dem tried to say something, but I pressed his arm, motioning him not to say anything. It was my problem. I needed to deal with it.
"Oh my," I said, covering my mouth with my hand. "Please accept my apologies. Since I have been resting in bed because of my health, I seem to have forgotten that the Queen of Mazazine has a limit. I keep comparing the Queen of Mazazine to me. What can I say? My husband never mentioned anything about limitations."
"You..."
"My queen, why don't we enter now?" the King of Mazazine finally said. It seemed he wanted to get away as soon as possible. "And the King and the Queen of Querencia need to enter the banquet as well."
"Pfft..."
"Stop laughing," I said as I nudge Dem with my elbow. He was literally shaking beside me. While I was wondering if I had been too rude, he appeared to be enjoying the situation.
Evelyn was laughing behind us as well. Her husband seemed to be trying to calm her down. Even Ava knew that it was no time to laugh. But these two siblings did not care about the situation at all.
"My wife is really... My stomach... Haha, I feel like my stomach is going to burst from laughing," Dem mumbled between fits of laughter, while I had no idea what was so amusing. "The nasty facial expression, haha... I really like the limit part."
'Of course, you do since you are in that part...'
"Will you stop?" I grumbled.
"The King and Queen of Querencia have arrived!"
The huge door opened in front of us. The brilliant golden light almost blinded me. I could hear gasping and murmurs.
When everyone was eager to take a look at us and I was so nervous, my dear husband was still shaking with laughter. I had no idea what to do in this situation. He seemed to barely be able to breathe because of how hard he was laughing. The same case was with Evelyn.
"I can't... I still remember how bitter she looked, pfft!
"Dem! You... They are staring at us..."
"Oh my goodness, is that King Demetrius really laughing? It's the first time I've seen him without a poker face."
"Indeed. And look, he is clutching the Queen's hand tightly."
"The rumors seem to be true that King Demetrius is madly in love with the Queen."
Hearing the murmurs around us, I became even more nervous. Did they not realize that everyone could hear them? They were not being particularly quiet about it. Rather, it seemed they wanted everyone to hear.
Dem did not seem to care about it at all. Rather, he was still laughing over what happened a while ago.
He was accustomed to being in the center of the spotlight. However, it was not the same for me. Even when I was crowned the Queen of Querencia, I did not feel this uneasy. Now there were more eyes on me. It made me feel very uncomfortable.
We greeted the King and Queen of Ataraxia. There were five banquets held a year. Each kingdom held one banquet. I heard the banquets had already been held in the other four kingdoms. It was the final one of the year. Since I was not here before, I could not join them.
To be honest, I was relieved that I did not have to join the other banquets. One was stressing enough.
"Ah, Luc is here," I said, noticing Luc, who was drinking indifferently while surrounded by a swarm of women.
He did not seem to bat them an eye. Luc was very good-looking. If I had to rate, he would be third after Demetrius and King Ford when it came to handsomeness. So, it was natural that women would have a crush on him.
"Jeez, how are you even walking around in that?" Luc grumbled as he approached us. "Is that thing around your neck connected to your dress? How did you even put it on?"
The women looked very displeased that Luc did not care about them and rather, started talking to Dem and me. But I did not understand why they looked so surprised. We were the king and the queen of Querencia and Luc was the master of the magic of Querencia. It was natural that we would talk.
"Why are you interested in my wife's clothing?" Dem snapped.
"I am merely asking. Are you jealous about that too?"
"I don't even count you as a threat, you silver punk!"
"My god, we are at the banquet! Why are you two fighting here?" I said. Whenever these two were together, they would argue and that was also for no reason. And I had to stop them every single time.
"He started it!" Luc said.
"Huh! My wife knows who started it," Dem smirked. "She also knows you are just bluffing."
"Dem... You're no longer a child," I said, patting her on the arm. "And Luc, you can't act like that either. Behave yourselves, you two."
"Yes, Ma'am," Luc responded.
"OK, I'm not going to waste my time with this childish bastard too," Dem said.
"Dem, don't be mean," I said. "You said you have some work. I will be fine with Luc. You can go."
"It appears that my wife wants me to leave as soon as possible," he muttered.
"No, I don't mean that... You are the one who said that you have to... You can stay with me if you want to...," I said quickly.
He just chuckled. A song started. The melody was sweet. I had not heard such a beautiful tune. It was truly breathtaking.
"Before I leave, I have one more wish," he said, abruptly bending his shoulders and asking for my hand.
"Can I have this dance, my queen?"
'Oh my god! I can't breathe... It looks like a scene from a fairy tale! I should tell Ruby about this! Well, for now, let's calm down...'
"... Yes," I mumbled and gave a nod, placing my hand in his.
Despite what was going on in my mind, I managed to remain calm. But my face surely turned completely red.
"I will drink some more until you come back," Luc said. "Then we will taste the lemon cake together."
"Alright," I nodded.
Dem led me among the other couples. Everyone was keeping a distance from us since we were the King and the Queen.
I learned how to dance by observing. Since my body was weak, I could not move much and I could not learn as well. Hearing this, Perita told the knights about it and it turned out Kade was very good at dancing. He had told me that his parents were good at dancing and he had witnessed them dancing a lot of times. He learned dancing from them.
Ruby knew how to dance as well. Both of them danced for hours for me so I could grasp the basic movements.
I was confident that I would be able to dance well enough not to embarrass myself because of them. All I had to do now was give it my all and make those two proud since they had done so much for me.