After dinner, Seto, Yami, and Maura all stood near the entrance of the ballroom to greet people as they came in.
Mokuba sat on the stairs next to Seto's throne chair. He remembered his stepmother did that to her guests as well. He didn't want any part of smiling and shaking hands with a dozen strangers. He always hated parties, even when he wasn't forced to serve just to get refills when asked.
Then Seto's nightmare came in. Princess Katrine of Evony came up, and instead of a curtsy, she hugged Seto.
"Princess Katrine, that is not how you greet a king." Her royal guard Justin Little said as he bowed.
"Our apologies, King Kaiba. We are sorry we missed the banquet." Queen Lyra, Katrine's mother said.
"Yes, we shall reprimand her thoroughly. We regret not being able to attend the banquet. But the snow caused our train to become trapped. We couldn't travel by magic since my wife is afraid of portals." King Ethan, Katrine's father said.
Katrine stood up and said, "Why is it so wrong to hug my future husband?"
"Princess Katrine…"
"Catia, Seto."
"That's King Kaiba, Princess Katrine. We have discussed this. I've told you every year that we are not getting married. My father was the one to arrange our marriage. When you showed up to his funeral to express your condolences, I told you that while I appreciated your trying to comfort me. That I was not going to go through with the marriage. Your parents were gracious enough to understand that I wasn't and am still not ready to marry."
"I told you I don't accept your refusal!"
"I'm sorry you feel that way. It doesn't change my decision. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other guests to attend to."
"If you would like, the staff can prepare something for you. I can arrange for someone to take you to the dining hall." Yami said.
"I don't want to burden your staff too much, dessert and hors d'oeuvres will have to do." King Ethan motioned to his daughter's guard to bring her.
Princess Katrine's bodyguard dragged her away. Despite her continuing to protest.
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Arabella stopped her husband, "I'm so nervous."
Elias patted her arm, "It's fine. You'll be fine. Let's go."
Arabella was still nervous, but holding her husband's arm, they entered, and he was basically pulling her along.
Seto smiled and reached out to shake hands; King Elias gladly took it. "I'm happy you could make it, King Elias. I was just telling Master Yami the other day we should do a family vacation in your lovely kingdom. I was only a child when I last visited the Kingdom of Leyva."
Yami bowed to the king.
"If you do decide, then please stop by the castle first. I could give you a tour of the kingdom." King Elias said.
"We shall do that." Seto said.
"I'd like you to meet my wife, Queen Arabella."
Yami bowed, but as he stood up, he stared at her. Something about her seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Queen Arabella. King Elias has been telling us about you for years. I'm happy that you finally are well enough to come."
Arabella was confused but smiled and said, "Yes, thank you." Then she grabbed her husband's arm and moved away. "What have you been telling them?"
"I couldn't exactly tell them you simply refused to come without an explanation. So I told them you were sick."
"Every year around the same time? Isn't that a bit suspicious?"
"Perhaps, but what did you expect me to tell them?"
Arabella sighed; there weren't a lot of things he could say.
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Mai, Isis, and Natalie came in the side entrance.
"Why are we coming in the side entrance?" Natalie asked.
"I don't think the king or Master Atemu would exactly approve of us coming in the same entrance as royal visitors." Mai said.
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Natalia said.
"If we were to try to walk in, even if a guard didn't stop us. If a royal stopped and asked what kingdom we're from and our titles. Especially since none of us are wearing crowns or have bodyguards. It might not look good for the kingdom when they learn we're servants and you're a commoner and we're coming in the same entrance."
Natalia nodded. "Yes, that makes sense."
The girls wandered around chatting with the other servants and guards.
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Reinette hadn't even begun to dream that taking over her grandmother's old business would lead to her being here at the castle attending a royal ball. She felt so underdressed. She couldn't afford anything she felt was nice enough for a formal ball. She found an old dress she assumed belonged to her grandmother. She took it with some sweet bread and a few other things to the tailor, who agreed to help make adjustments to make it fit for the price of the bread.
She soon got over her fears as more and more people learned she was the one responsible for the night's desserts and more laid out on the table. More than a few asked for the recipe of certain desserts. Smiling, she said that while some of her recipes were her own creations and that she wasn't selling them, others were family recipes.
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After getting a dress, Shizuka snuck through the rear door. She shattered the potion she had been using to induce Ryo to focus on her and forget about Mokuba out of her rage. She then proceeded towards Ryo.
"Can I have this dance?"
Ryo turned around and his eyes went wide. "Shizuka, how did you get in here?"
"Apparently you didn't tell everyone that we broke up. I waved at the guards as I passed through the front gates, and none of them said anything."
Ryo scowled, he wasn't sure if they let her in to cause problems or prevent it, as many of them were still upset about the forced tryouts. Some had already let go of their resentment when they moved up in the ranking or eventually awarded knighthood, which had previously been denied to them.
