Chapter 20: (Self Edited) The Representative Oath
To continue this damn story, the stage where the pledge of the student representative oath had finally arrived. I stood up and went on stage.
I made two salutes along the way, and I was on stage with Carol. The Queen was sitting in front of me.
She was a slender woman who was a bit older than Satsuki. It might be the genetic feature of the Queen’s family that she and Carol had blonde hair and blue eyes.
Her appearance was about forty years old but, since Shanti was young in appearance, she might be about sixty years old. She was looking at Carol with a face of a parent who felt her the growth of her child. This was helpful but I couldn’t bear for a moment especially when I looked like a suspicious child with a maple mark on my cheek.
“Salute!” (??)
Along with the decree, I thrust one knee slowly and kneeled down. I put a hand on the other knee and the other hand on the floor. This was the salute that men did indoor in the Shanti society.
Putting a fist on the floor brought similar meaning as offering a sword. In the case of outdoors, the fist would become dirty if the ground was muddy. Therefore, putting a hand on the chest was done instead.
Carol, who was next to me, kneeled with a knee, placed the raised knee on the opposite shoulder, opened her hand high, and put it on the floor to hold something.
When women met the Queen in a place like this, they were supposed get down on both knees and linked both palms as if they were praying to God, but since it was a gesture to look up to the emperor in ancient times, it would be strange if Carol, who was a royalty, would do it to her mother.