CHAPTER 38: 35: BALLROOM.

"Lord Myrvale, Lady Verdigris." The knight standing in front of them gave them a deep bow in greeting before escorting them inside the palace.

Edward was still drowning on the feeling Vertigo of as they traversed the winding halls of the palace, led by the knight who had greeted them. They walked for a short while, which in his opinion was still too long to walk inside a manmade structure before they arrived at their destination.

The doors in front of them, and the quiet corridor behind him dissolved into a flood of wealth and laughter.

The hum of human activity washed over Edward as he and Selene entered the ballroom. The knight wished them a good time and promptly left.

Edward gave himself a short moment to take in the ballroom.

The first thing he noticed was the giant chandelier that hung from the ceiling, looming over the entire room as it illuminated the entire ballroom. The cascading sunlight danced off of the crystals in it, the kaleidoscope of colours enchanting to whoever looked at it.

Then came the saccharine smell of wine, and mixed with it, a heavy tide of perfumes overwhelmed his nose. Edward felt himself breathing a little too hard as he struggled for breath in the fumes.

The conversations, high pitched laughter of women, and soothing hum of strings being plucked flowed into his ears. The music had an almost fantastical quality to it, making the insides of his ears tingle a little.

The bright ballroom overwhelmed Edward for a moment, but he managed to pull himself together.

The ballroom itself was large enough to contain several moderately sized houses from Earth.

He stole a quick glance at Selene.

She looked somewhat taken aback too, at least from what he could see.

Then he remembered that he was supposed to escort her.

He took a deep breath to steel himself, then cleared his throat as he offered Selene a hand.

He could’ve sworn that he saw her eyebrows raise in surprise for a small moment before she took his arms. Together, they walked into the sea of people, with Edward doing his best not to swept away by the atmosphere.

"You seem to doing especially well." Selene filled the silence between them.

Edward flinched, and then looked at her. "Well... I did have to sit through classes for weeks."

The corner of her lips curled slightly upward in a controlled manner. Selene’s eyes were still taking in the room, and unlike Edward’s it wasn’t restrained panic that was apparent in them, no, her midnight blue eyes were full off cold detached intelligence as she studied the stage she had been thrusted into.

Edward had immediately noticed the shift in the air the moment they had stepped in. The covert glances at them felt like measured probes more that genuine curiosity. He was sure that Selene had noticed it too, but she looked like she was way more used to it than Edward.

Then the system chimed.

[ Objective Complete: Impress at the ball ]

He took in a shaky breath, ignoring the system as he followed Selene’s lead around the room.

For an observer from the outside, it might have looked like they were walking in equal pace, but no, they had discussed this already.

He remembered his father’s words.

"I entrust my boy to you, young lady. Keep him safe in there."

Selene was walking a few centimetres ahead of him, leading him around to meet people that he was supposed to greet.

"Ah! Greeting lord Myrvale, Lady Verdigris."

"What a pleasant surprise! Hello there, child, it has been so long. And greetings, Lady Verdigris."

"I wasn’t expecting that the young master of Myrvale had recovered so quickly, greetings Edward."

A plethora words poured into him as he met and talked to all the people he was supposed to greet. There were old friends of his fathers, people who was his peers, and even business partners as Selene dragged him around. He had to even say hello to some children that had been quietly playing in the corner.

By the time they were, Edward was almost ready to collapse on the floor and turn his brain off for good.

But obviously, that was not a choice.

So instead, done with the compulsory pleasantries, they headed towards the table reserved for the both of them, finally managing to take a seat after an hour after arriving.

"You’re doing better than I thought." Selene said in a type of quiet admiration that Edward was completely oblivious to.

He gave her a weak smile, dabbing his face with a towel to keep dry.

"I’m already ready to go home."

She smiled at this, and glanced at the main stage, where a few people were dancing along the elegant music.

"You know, I was quite irritated when my father suggested that I come to the world with you."

Edward blinked.

"Where did that come from."

She waved her hand and pointed to a table next to them with her face.

"See that person, that’s lord Vivian, 3rd claim to the crown. I was supposed to go with him."

Edward’s neutral expression turned a little forced.

"But I just realised that this is better, no one is going to bother us with you being here."

"What does that mean?"

She looked at him.

"You really don’t know?"

Edward tilted his head. "Know what?"

At this, Selene let out a low chuckle. "He really doesn’t"

She shook her head. "Enough with that, what are you planning to do now. Do I need to stay with you?"

Edward shrugged. "It depends on what I need to get done."

"You don’t need to worry about that, people our age can mostly relax at such an occasion."

Edward nodded along, looking around the room.

"I’ll stay with you for the time being, so just focus on getting used to the atmosphere, got it?"

"...yeah" He said without really looking at her, because he was staring to his left. More exactly, the system panel that hovered to his left.

[ All four nexus has been gathered, The story will now begin. ]

[ Good luck, Edward Myrvale.]