Chapter 7
Despite his best efforts, Arne could not avoid the nightmare that was the entrance ceremony, and it was shaping up to be significantly more unpleasant than he had considered.
When he arrived at the great hall in his dress uniform, he was ushered into a waiting room by an attendant after a quick rundown of how the beginning of the ceremony was to play out. Students belonging to high houses would be called upon in ascending order of importance, meaning he would be rather late to the whole affair, entering just before the ducal heirs.
Fortunately, his high station meant waiting in a comfortable salon filled with fluffy armchairs.
Unfortunately, his high station meant waiting uncomfortably in a salon filled with ducal scions lounging in fluffy armchairs.
Thanks to his mother’s machinations, the attendant had not led him to the waiting room for the children of margraves, landgraves, and imperial counts, but instead right into the maw of the proverbial beast.
“Prince Arnold! I am delighted to see you!” Prince Matthias von Falkenstein did not miss a beat in declaring their houses’ tentative alliance and acceptance of his recently claimed standing, much to the annoyance of most others present. Clearly a calculated move, judging from the smugness permeating his aura.
Arne did his best to cordially reply to the greeting, then returned the Altendorf and Sonnenstein successors’ openly dismissive nods with a nod of his own, adding greatly to their annoyance. Maximilian von Altendorf even sneered at him, causing Arne’s heartbeat to quicken – he had not made friends here, and though Maximilian may only be the third son of the Emperor, he was still the third son of the Emperor.
‘That was inevitable,’ he tried to calm his fraying nerves. ‘House Altendorf has a vested interest in preventing Father’s ascension, after all.’
He turned to the two princesses in the room, who were currently trying to hold amicable conversation – and seemingly failing, judging from their auras. Klara von Eisenberg and Maria von Greifenhain made for a stark contrast both in appearance and temperament.