Chapter 273 - Banquet Night (Part 1)

Wolstan stayed at the Main Palace but did not see King Tarendino. The King invited him over for so many times, but he just sent a message that he would visit the King when he finished the urgent matter that he must attend to. No one knew what it was, not even Vaughn.

Around noon, Wolstan told the Head Steward of the Main Palace that he would like to have lunch with the King and Queen. Everyone got busy with the preparation. It was the first time in so many years that the former King of Tissuria would eat lunch with the current King.

Queen Mina kept walking back and forth while waiting for Wolstan. King Tarendino's body had fully recovered, but Doctor Hugo told him to take it slow. He should not force his body to work.

"Mina, can you please sit down? Grandfather will come."

"I know he will come, that's why I'm so nervous. I am certain that he had always been with Vaughn all these years. I remember that Vaughn told me once when he was little that he had a grandpa by his side and taking good care of him. I did not believe our son, and I thought that it was just an imaginary friend. He could be thinking back then that I was a negligent mother."

"I'm sure that grandfather did not think you were negligent. He had always thought highly of you."

"Why did he not let us know that he's still alive? All these years I thought he died somewhere and was buried in a grave without a tombstone."

"Mina, you are so bold now. Are you cursing me?"

Queen Mina gasped and turned around. Tears fell from her eyes, and she did not even notice. She only stood there as she looked at the Old King walked toward the dining table.

"Humph, do I look so scary that I made you cry?"

Queen Mina wiped her tears immediately. King Tarendino stood up and fetched his wife back to her seat. He wiped the remaining traces of tears from her cheeks.

"Grandfather, please don't tease Mina anymore."

Wolstan was stunned when he heard how King Tarendino called his wife's name lovingly. The gentleness in the tone of his voice was unpretentious.

'What happened?'

Wolstan looked at the couple who did not seem to be faking their affections. Wolstan witnessed in the shadows how his grandson had treated his wife unfairly after a year or two that they had Vaughn. He thought that they would be together after that, but King Tarendino suddenly agreed to take in Jayda as his concubine. More concubines joined the harem after that. 

The Old King sighed. He had a hunch that the Left Minister had something to do with it. He was not interested to know anymore whether his hunch was true or not.

He knew that his oldest grandson, the Left Minister's father, would not be a good ruler. He told his son, the current King of Tissuria at the time, to replace the Crown Prince immediately. He recommended that the youngest prince be the Crown Prince.

Something led to another, and the process of replacing the Crown Prince had been delayed for so many times. Wolstan saw Mina when she accompanied her father once in the Main Palace. She was around nineteen at the time. Wolstan thought that she was a good match for his youngest grandson. On top of that, her family is one of the most influential clans in Tissuria. With her help, his youngest grandson would gain strong support.

"Grandfather, please. Let us have our lunch now."

They talked about a lot of things, but they did not touch anything from the past when Vaughn just turned two years old. That was when the nightmare began.    

* * * * *

Sunset, the Palace of the Crown Prince…    

The night of the banquet had finally come. The military men of Ishelon were given formal suits that the gentlemen and nobles of Tissuria would often wear. Even Jorick, Duke Gordon, and the rest of the gang were provided with formal suits. They were a bit different from the clothes that the soldiers from Ishelon would wear. 

It was Queen Mina who ordered the suits from the different shops in Tissuria. The outfits were all made of quality materials. She had decided to give one to Zenia too. She was the heroine who brought the formidable Military Unit of Ishelon to Tissuria.

Zenia's suit was tailored in accordance with the usual cut of a man's formal attire, but Queen Mina had some parts altered to make it more feminine without losing the dignified aura of the suit. Zenia had not yet checked the ensemble that she was going to wear at the banquet.

Jorick and the others knew how to dress themselves up. Jorick helped his brother to get dressed. Richaem was still not used to wearing such clothing. Roy received that set of clothes from Wolstan before and already knew how to wear it.   

Zenia helped Vaughn with his outfit first. She then asked to be excused so she could help her brothers get dressed. Vaughn frowned. Zenia was left with no other choice but explain.

"My brothers are not used to wearing formal suits. Big Brother would often go in his uniform while Zeze… Well, he would dress up as me." She lowered her head when said the reason that Zekiah had.

Vaughn did not want to know where she went during those times that she had Zekiah dressed up as her. He had a hunch that she went somewhere with Thunderbolt. Vaughn knew that there were so many times when she and Zekiah would ditch a banquet in Ishelon and would only return after a few days. Both of them were not fond of attending any social gatherings. 

"Make sure to return here immediately. You still need to prepare too."

Zenia smiled and give Vaughn a peck on his lips, "I will."

She ran quickly toward the door before Vaughn could change his mind. He touched his lips and smiled.

'I guess I should hurry up and schedule that trip to Shadora.'

Zenia hurried up and went to Zekiah's room. Zander was also there. He was asking Zekiah for some help with his suit. Both brothers seemed wrestling with their respective outfits when Zenia arrived there.

Both men turned their heads to the direction of the door when they heard the creaking sound. The looked at each other and ran as quickly as they could to lock the door, but they were too late.

Blag!

Both of them fell to the floor. When Zenia pushed open the door, she saw the sorry state of her brothers.

"Zenzen, help me!" Zander and Zekiah wailed simultaneously.

They both turned to look at each other and said in unison, "I said it first."

They glared at each other and took a deep breath.

"Zenzen will help me first," both of them said the same thing again and added at the same time, "Why are you always copying me? Stop that! Humph!"

Zenia felt like a headache was coming and roared, "Children stop! I will help both of you."

She helped Zekiah up first and told him to help her with Zander.

"Oomph!"

'No wonder Vaughn kept calling Big Brother a Big Ape. He's so heavy.'

Zenia and Zekiah tried their best to help Zander up.

"Whew!"

Zenia took out a handkerchief from her inner pocket and wiped her sweat. She felt like she ran a few laps. Zekiah was no better. He was still gasping for breath when Zenia turned to him.

"Rest for a while, Zeze. I will help Big Brother first."

Zander looked smugly at Zekiah as if to say, 'See, Zenzen likes me more than you.'

Zekiah met Zander's eyes and answered back, 'You're so heavy! Zenzen obviously cared for me more and told me to rest first. If not, she would definitely take care of me first.'

Zenia had a good grasp of what was going on between her brothers and suddenly blurted, "Aw, stop it you two! You're not little anymore. By the way, Big Brother, did you send a message to sister-in-law yet?"

Zander became stiff and panicked. He turned pale because he had totally forgotten that his wife could be waiting for his message. He did not order any of his men to send a report that everything had been settled.

Zenia looked at Zekiah and winked. Zekiah was deeply touched that his lovely sister helped him vent.

'Zenzen, I love you the most among my siblings.'

Zenia shook her head and continued helping her Big Brother who seemed to have lost it. He was thinking about how long Odessa would make him sleep in the study. He had seen his mother did it to his father whenever she was mad at him. 

* * * * *

Vaughn took off the lid of the box, which contained Zenia's suit. His mother was the one who chose the outfit. It resembled the suits that Zander and his men were going to wear, only a bit more feminine.

He touched his mask that was resting on the table. He knew that his mother wanted to reveal the true Zenia Anisen before the eyes of the people of Tissuria. Queen Mina wanted to stop the people from saying that Zenia was not worthy of the title of Crown Princess. When in fact, her title as the Junior Commander of the Military Unit of Ishelon was even more praiseworthy than that of the Crown Princess of Tissuria.

His wife would surely attract more eyes to look at her, especially when they learned of her true beauty. His looks were not inferior to his wife, and he wanted to reveal his face to deter those who might think of snatching his wife away from him. They should just keep their thoughts to themselves and crush it once they saw his real face. He smirked and decided that he should do it.

"Your Highness," Harnen suddenly appeared in the balcony of the bedroom.