Once the festival was finally set up, the Chosen were given maps and allowed to roam as they pleased. The culmination of everyone's efforts were visible even from the get go; initially Alfred had been on edge with the sheer amount of people streaming in, but as the morning continued, things had been nothing but peaceful.

The foyer, entrance and ground floor of the Spades palace had been outfitted to take in the townspeople, most having arrived by a specially organised train. Pushing away his exhaustion from taking out so many people out the last week, Alfred allowed himself to appreciate all his hard work from the balcony of his bedroom. As the royals all stayed on the first floor guest rooms, it was the sound of his fellow royals getting ready that woke him up.

Two of his favourite royals were at the door even now. "Come back inside, you're not ready to give a wave to your adoring public like that," Ludwig, already dressed formally for the events of the day, spoke gruffly from where he stood against Alfred's doorframe. Next to him was Feli, dressed down from his formal attire in a pale red shirt and light shorts, looking more like a tourist than the Jack of Hearts.

"Oh, morning! Trick question," Alfred leaped from the small incline, reaching for the blue polo he'd left on his chair. "I'm not ready to give a wave to my adoring public at all."

"Alfred, at least put on some clothes…I know we're close, but…"

"What, Lud?" A grin played on his face, as he shrugged it on, getting his glasses tangled up in the buttons, "We've swam with each other before! No way you can't handle seeing me without a shirt."

"Not to mention it's too hot, isn't it, Alfie?" Feli chipped in, and Alfred could hear the sound of him squeezing Ludwig's hand. "Besides, he's a bit like a furnace when he sleeps. Like someone I know."

"Feli, that's different compared to going outside on the balcony…" It was funny how easily Feliciano got to Ludwig, as he looked slightly embarrassed. "Anyway, I can't help it. Are you ready to go?"

"Huh?" Alfred's glasses were lopsided as he peered at the two of them. "Uh, I mean, you guys are waiting for me?"

"You're not seriously thinking we won't try to spend as much time with you whilst we're still here, right?" Feliciano gave him a playful smile. "Wait wait, put on some cologne, at least." Coming up next to him, he rummaged around the prince's messy drawers until he found something he liked, and stood there as he watched Alfred put it on. "There we are. Don't forget you are the most eligible bachelor in Cards, no?"

"Other people really like this kind of stuff?" Due to their small height difference, Alfred gave himself a once off look in the mirror – he'd asked his maids to help with preparing for the summer solstice celebration instead of getting him ready. At Feliciano's enthusiastic nod, he relented. "Pff, okay. Just let me get my clock, and I'll be ready."

"You really want to bring that today?"

"Just in case something happens, right?" Alfred offered Ludwig a smile as he followed the couple out of his room. Many of the royals had already left the floor, but Alfred didn't mind being late if it meant he could spend time with them.

After all, there was no way he'd confess to Feli and Ludwig that though everything was peaceful now, he couldn't help but feel as if something was coming up.

As for Arthur, he and the rest of the Spades and Hearts Chosen had their breakfasts in their rooms as the dining hall was used as a place to put more stalls and ensure that there were enough places for people to walk around. Now he'd been pushing himself to spend more time with his friends in the palace, he found that it was also easier to speak with Anna, so in a way he was relieved to be able to be eating with her.

So it was with a relatively good mood that he walked down to the foyer to meet up with his friends, the five of them agreeing to walk together for awhile before splitting up. Emma and Sakura were happy to look at the various art goods, so they made their way there first – much like the market that he and Alfred had visited last week. Arthur couldn't help but search for the small vendor they had seen that day, but wasn't able to find him. According to Alfred's comments about the café he'd visited before with Avie and Sakura, he wouldn't be surprised if the artist had been swarmed with requests for photo frames.

Much like the rest of the palace, they had been instructed to simply behave, as the summer solstice was meant to be a celebration and much less of a formal event. Though Arthur at first was apprehensive at all the stares and whispers when he and his friends walked around the layout of the palace, after awhile it seemed to simply fade into background noise. Once he and Kiku found an old books stall shortly after parting with the others, it seemed to fade away completely.

"If you are interested in something, please let me know," Kiku said as soon as he saw his best friend's eyes latch onto several books – the stall owner looked thrilled as she watched them. As they had organised this section to be adjacent to the food stalls, both boys had picked up a few sweetmeats, though Arthur still preferred the scent of old paper to the cotton candy Kiku had picked up.

"It probably won't be necessary," he said, before noticing a strangely familiar book at the corner of his vision. "Kiku – isn't this the comic you were interested in back at the holding facility?"

The shopkeeper seemed to respond to their conversation. "This one?" she asked, holding it up, observing Kiku's expression with a smile. "Hey, it's been awhile since I saw a fellow fan. This one's in pristine condition!"

"Good catch, Art," Kiku said, clearly trying to keep his cool. The comic in question had been completed during the early years of their holding facility days, meaning that Kiku hadn't had a chance to collect it before it went out of print. Some summers, he'd return back to their dorm with stories about how he'd managed to tap into his connections to find one volume, coupled with a dozen other failed attempts. "If it is not that much of a trouble…can I ask how much it is?"

As he and the shopkeeper continued to chat happily, Arthur allowed himself to survey their surroundings – because he and Alfred had been out that day, he hadn't gotten the chance to see the finishing touches being applied to everything. But now from this vantage point, he could see the efforts of his and the other Chosen's work. If it hadn't been for the lessons and the assistance from Jack Yao, Joker Katya and Matthew, he'd reckon the Spades Chosen would have made a right tizzy out of it.

Too busy appreciating the warm glow of the sunshine on his pale skin and the noise of Kiku's unusually excited voice, Arthur didn't notice Alfred until it was almost too late. He was almost like the Pied Piper that Erin had read stories about to him as a child – having a small army of children following him around with Ludwig and Feliciano behind him.

"Kiku," Arthur got enough time to warn his best friend, and the two boys dipped into bows as the royals approached.

"Your Highness, Jack Feliciano, King Ludwig," Kiku said, clutching the paper bag containing the comic to his chest as if he hadn't been fanboying over the condition of it mere seconds before. "It is a pleasure to be able to attend these festivities. Ah, Prince Alfred, do you need some help with that?"

"Huh? Naw, it's okay, Sir Kiku," Alfred was still trying to pull a child from his pant leg, "Glad to see you're enjoying your time in Spades though! At least, I can see you and Sir Arthur spending a lot of time together."

"Ah…it's just because we haven't seen each other in so long," Arthur blustered quickly, not quite sure how to respond. Somehow, it had been one of the few times they'd managed to speak in the past week, and they were talking about how much time he'd spent with his best friend. Not particularly embarrassing at all. "I hope you don't mind, Your Highness."

"Not at all, heh – hey, careful, that's my shoe you're stepping on!" As always, Alfred seemed to be everywhere, handing off the child in his grip to Feliciano, his arms flexing as he did so, causing Arthur to look away sharply. "Pff, sorry about that. But it's okay, really. It's hard for me to spend time away from Lu – uh, King Ludwig, so I get it."

"Well, I am glad for your kindness-" Kiku said, bowing once more, only to be stopped by Alfred craning his head closer to the paper bag in his grip. "Your Highness?"

"Hey, is that a comic book?" he asked cheerfully, gesturing to the stall behind them. "Is it okay if I take a look? I'm really into that kinda stuff."

A pang flickered in Arthur's chest, for some reason. He hadn't known Alfred liked comic books.

Feliciano stepped in easily, despite the children who still bunched around the royals. "Sir Arthur, we have heard so much about you – it's great to meet you again! Since there were so many of you last time, we didn't get the chance to talk. I'm Jack Feliciano, but you can call me Feli! It's great you went to the holding facilities in Hearts."

He's as bubbly as Alfred, perhaps that's why they get along so well, Arthur thought to himself as he shook Feli's outstretched hand, then moved onto King Ludwig, who seemed to have much more trouble than his husband when it came to tending to the children.

"Oh, wow, your eyebrows really are that thick in person," Feliciano commented as soon as Arthur was about to bend down to speak to one of the boys, causing his back to stiffen. "I think it's cute though!"

"T-Thank you, Your Highness," Arthur said awkwardly, not quite sure how to respond. In an almost friendly gesture, Ludwig looked apologetically at him. "Erm, if you don't mind me asking, where did you get this throng of children following you around?"

"Oh! My brother – Ace Lovino, as you might know – was feeling the heat, so we took him to rest in the shaded area, where a lot of parents have taken their children today."

"Woah, that's pretty much mint quality!" Alfred's impressed voice came over the din of the busy square. "So, uh, how did you and Arthur – uh, Sir Arthur – meet again?"

"Their parents looked quite tired, so we volunteered to take them around," Ludwig said, though he sidestepped a child that would have crashed into him otherwise. "It is good to spend time with our people of all ages."

"They're also lots of fun! At least, when they're not yelling at the top of their lungs. Then maybe they're not as cu- wait," In the middle of his energetic chatter, accompanied by rapid fire hand gestures, Feliciano's hand went to his pocket. "Wait, which one of you took my list? Give it back!"

"We, um, we were acquainted with each other in the holding facilities," Kiku seemed faintly surprised, but it was only visible to Arthur, who had known him for that long, after all. "We have been close ever since. Has he said anything about that?"

"Yes, he's talked about you a lot, but – pff, what's that?" Breaking away from the conversation briefly, Alfred paused to speak to a toddler who had his hands raised up in an almost pleading gesture. "You wanna be picked up, hm?"

Arthur half expected him to gently refuse the child, but to his surprise, Alfred picked him up without exerting much effort, balancing him. "There we are. View's better up from here, isn't it?"

Doing it so effortlessly…how could anyone not think you a perfect person, let alone a perfect monarch?

"Oh. Heh, I love taking care of kids," Alfred grinned, mirth dancing in his eyes as he met Arthur's inquisitive gaze. "Matt let me visit a lot when he was over in Diamonds, and we played with Lili a lot. Vienne and Elly when they were born, too. Y'know, because I was around them a lot, I'd love to have my own one day, if I could."

"As lovely as children would be…I just don't think it's my time to be thinking about them, at least for now." For some reason, the self consciousness whilst interacting with the two Hearts royals had evaporated in the face of Alfred's beam. "You're a future king, and the position of king in Spades passes on hereditarily, so I'd be astonished to see if your future spouse wouldn't want them."

"Hereditty-airily?"

Rolling his eyes, Arthur failed to notice Kiku hiding a laugh behind his paper bag. "Hereditarily – oh, fine, passing from your offspring to the next, like how all the old kings used to do it. So I'd be astonished, as I said, if your spouse decided not to have children."

"The Fates in Hearts can sort that out," Alfred said, pausing to pat a child's head before returning him to his father. "At least, there's something the Jokers can do to help people who can't have kids conceive. Or something."

That piqued Arthur's interest – he hadn't studied about that. "Really? How does th-ah, hello there," he wasn't sure how to react when the child in Alfred's arms started pulling at the end of his blue shirt, "Can I help you?"

"Careful, Sir Arthur doesn't like to be touched, especially by strangers," Alfred's tone was soft as he gently removed the child's hand, letting Arthur settle for patting his downy hair instead, trying to ignore all the eyes on the two of them. "Y'know, if he's really unhappy with you, he might pinch your cheek or call you an idiot…"

"I have no…I have no idea what you mean," Arthur sputtered, feeling his cheeks warm – but that was only due to the summer heat, that was all.

Near the entrance to the palace, another group of royals were chatting amongst themselves.

"It's nothing personal, King Ivan," Francis tried to keep his tone light, but the other man was clearly not comfortable, "We'd just like to know. After the epidemic, we all resolved to solve our kingdoms' problems together. To the best of our abilities. If we could offer just a bit of help-"

Yao and Vash exchanged a glance. "Perhaps later-"

"Francis," Elizabeta stepped in quickly, with Vienne in tow – Elly was being carried by Roderich, the family having been within earshot. "Can Vienne and I take a walk with you quickly? It's something we have to discuss."

"Eliza, is it important?"

"Yes, it is," she said in a tone that warned him that it was not suitable to be speaking about at a celebration, "We can always come visit the rest of the festival along with Ivan later, yes? Vienne, wasn't there a section you wanted to visit?"

More often than not, royals in Clubs inherited the position from several families in the court, meaning that Vienne, Roderich and Elizabeta's eldest child, was most likely to inherit the position from either of them one day. She took the duty seriously, judging by the way she took out her map, already adorned with neat notches. "Is King Francis going to be accompanying us?"

"Yes," Elizabeta patted her daughter's shoulder fondly, but it was with a stern gaze that she gently propelled Francis away from Ivan – she didn't have a reputation for being the mother of Cards without reason, after all. "Lead the way, dear."

The remaining royals stood awkwardly for a few moments, before Vash shrugged. At least Lili and Ivan got along, but in that moment, he couldn't help but feel as if he were chaperoning two children to an amusement park. "So, is there somewhere you two want to go?"

After that encounter, Arthur and Kiku decided to split for a little, Kiku on the guise of wanting a break (really, he knew his best friend wanted to admire his comic a little more under the shade of the ground floor.)

To his dismay, as soon as he bought a cold drink and positioned himself on the wall standing adjacent to the golden gates of the palace, Marianne found a seat next to him. Initially, there was a silence, but before long, she began to speak.

"I'm not surprised to hear you haven't been spending time with His Highness – Alfred," she quickly corrected herself when it was apparent there were no more cameras around them, "Maybe that solo date clarified things between you two?"

"I'm just spending some time with my friends." Leon wouldn't appreciate it if Arthur told Marianne of all people he was leaving, so it was best to trim the fat and omit some details.

She scoffed, unable to disguise her contempt. "Friends. If you were looking for friends, you'd go to the Inner Circle to socialise for the summer. Or go to a mage association, or even for university. You're not meant to look for friends in a Deciding, you're meant to be looking for a husband. Speaking of which, you don't happen to know where the prince is? It's an awfully large celebration, and I have no idea."

"Haven't seen him today yet."

Marianne stared at him, probably to gauge whether he was telling fibs or not. Once she'd gathered he was telling the truth, she relented. "Fine. He truly is doing the rounds today, anyway. Doubt he has time for you."

"Perhaps," Arthur said, not looking up at her. Could he even bring himself to do it? She was right, after all. With everything going on nowadays, he and Alfred hadn't spent time together. He understood that it was because of the other boy's heroic nature that he wanted to do the rounds, but yet…he hadn't been able to think about it in Kiku's company, let alone wanting to spend time with Leon before he left. But now the two of them were busy, and he was sitting with Marianne, there wasn't much to do but to process the reality.

There was a pronounced silence between the two of them before Marianne spoke up again. "What, that's it? Perhaps? Do you really not care? What happened to all that talk about being here for the right reasons?"

"What?" Arthur's head jerked upwards from where he was staring at the pavement at the front of the Spades palace. "Nothing's changed."

"Really? Because it seems to me whilst everyone is stepping up their efforts in order to woo Alfred, you've been frolicking around your friends. Especially that Kiku from Hearts. Is this something you holding facility kids do or what?"

Bristling at her comment, Arthur turned away. "What do you want from me?"

She ignored him, gesturing with her chin at the throng of people that milled around the castle entrance. "Not so much what happens to you, rather making sure that the prince doesn't make a foolish decision. For example. Clare isn't very enthusiastic of the sheer number of people Alfred has around him," Marianne said as if she were reading from the newspaper, even when it sounded like she was spilling her closest friend's secrets. "More often than not she whinges to me about how badly she wants him for herself. She's beyond ridiculous to think she even has a chance if she tells him any of this. Yet she harps on about wanting to be honest about this, wanting to be honest about that. Sound familiar?"

Arthur couldn't hide his disbelief. Taking a sip of his cold drink to both ward off the heat and the discomfort of the conversation, he spoke. "Why are you even telling me this?"

"To get it into your mind that you shouldn't be frolicking around with your friends when you have better things to do. Not to mention driving into your paltry head that having friends are useless." Even the hustle and bustle of the celebration, and the delicious taste of fish cakes couldn't push away the bitterness in his mouth.

"They're not useless to me," he retorted. "I'm not sure what you and Clare are doing, but-"

"It's an alliance. We keep each other company to stay sane and stick up for each other, but if push comes to shove, she's not here for me, she's here for the prince. And so am I. Which makes your behaviour even more confusing." Narrowing her eyes, she moved forward, scrutinizing him again. "Did something happen on your outdoor trip that put him off you? He doesn't seem to be eagerly pursuing you even after that date."

"Are you saying it was a success?" The reply came out sharper than he'd meant to.

"You might have been good enough at fooling Cards, but not so much those in the palace," came her retort, which he couldn't get anything out of. "Whatever. It's not important. What is, though, is the fact you're actually brainless for blatantly ignoring the prince in favour of your friend from Hearts, even if he's the frontrunner in the Hearts polls." Marianne stared at his surprised expression, unable to hold back her scoff. "If Sir Kiku is so important to you, then why's this news to you?"

Not having a good answer for that, Arthur pressed his lips in a thin line and looked away, feeling the perspiration from the cup of fruit punch slide over his palms. "I'll admit I haven't been paying too much attention to the rankings, no."

"Not even the ones from Spades?"

"No."

Though he couldn't fully decipher her tone, it wasn't particularly friendly. "Are you afraid or something?"

"Afraid?"

"You with your little," she flicked at an invisible speck of dust on her shoulder, "Your little complex. You might not talk about it much in interviews, or on the Broadcast or whatnot, but it's not difficult to spot. Is that why you like the prince, hm?"

Arthur couldn't help but stare at her, thick eyebrows lifting slightly. "Pardon?"

"Something sickening, too. As if he's heaven on Earth or something."

"I've never said anything of that sort-"

"Not everyone has to be as much of an open book as Avie or Emma to figure things out. Anyone just has to be in the same room to see the way you look at him, which is even more unfortunate for the rest of us that have to live with it. But at the same time," she said, gesturing to Kiku who was walking with Sakura and Leon, "You've been spending your entire week with your friends. What gives?"

All the small bits and bobs of dialogue he'd been running in his head ever since the first Meeting ball, not to mention Emma's hints that gossip had been swirling around him after his outdoor date, faltered. He'd expected her to attack the fact that he was a commoner, someone without noble birth, or the fact that he hadn't reined in his temper until months into the Deciding. Yet there was an uncomfortable truth in her words – why had he not been spending time with Alfred recently?

He had to start somewhere, at least. "His Highness," it was easy for Arthur to call him by his title when they weren't anywhere near each other, "His Highness has several other people to care about at the same time. And I know he's trying to give everyone a chance."

"Trying to give you a chance. Remember two months ago, when you were allergic to the cameras outside of the scheduled interviews? Must have been a real joy for the prince, to work with you overtime to make sure you caught up to everyone el-" Marianne paused as a pair of cameras were strolling past them, adjusting her clothes and putting on a pleasant smile. In the face of the blinding sunlight and the generally unpleasant feeling that was scrounging at the bottom of his stomach, Arthur had to force himself to comply.

The cameras stayed for shorter than Arthur would have liked; they were both asked about the proceedings of the day, the excitement surrounding the masked ball tomorrow evening, and what they had been doing at the festival. Despite the leaps and bounds he had come ever since entering the palace, it was easy to see how much at ease Marianne was with the camera, catching onto their attempts at banter, leaving Arthur to sit much more awkwardly on the lip of the wall. With the heat beating down on him, it only amplified the sickness in his stomach.

Once they had left, though, Marianne segued back into their conversation. "Do you really think you're good enough for him if he has to put up all that effort?"

That, coupled with her pointing out his inferiority complex, made it feel all the more worse. If Alfred walked past them this moment, he…

"I see," she said – apparently his silence was enough of an answer for her. "So, what do you intend to do now, if you do intend to stay? Stop spending time with your friends? Turn on them to pull yourself up?"

"I don't want to do things like that."

"Oh, what a saint," Marianne said, pushing off the fence, contempt in the way she fixed out her pants. Standing up to leave, she paused before turning back to Arthur, who was tightly clutching at his plastic cup. "Doing things like what? Playing the game to get to his heart, like it should be? This is a competition, not a romantic novel. Even if you are truly in love with him or whatever," she didn't sound terribly convinced, and with the way Arthur had been around Kiku last week, he didn't blame her nearly as much as he should have, "You ignoring him will make that stop, and when more and more people catch onto the fact that he's spending time with one less Chosen, they'll pounce. But oh yes, walk away knowing that you lost with grace, or whatever you care about. Perhaps that'll comfort you during the lonely nights in your mage association rooms."

With that, she strode away, leaving Arthur to dwell in his thoughts, something that didn't leave him until the night of the masquerade ball.