The Romantic Trials Of A Transmigrated Empress-Chapter 320: On balls and commoners.

They returned home after spending three hours at the fair. They were exhausted, slightly traumatized but mostly happy. They were also covered in the smell of funnel cake, barbecue beef, grilled cheese, cotton candy, caramel apples, hot dogs and ale. They had been eating barbecue beef when a burrow of ale exploded and rained all over them.

"It is too bad we did not do the potion lunge." Mauve sighed tiredly as she fell into a chair in the living room.

The potion plunge was a ride that riders took into a room and got plunged into a tube with a potion of their choosing which altered their outfits, eye or hair color. They emerged from the tube and fell into a pool of glittering water. Everyone that had taken the potion plunge had been walking around covered in glitter.

"Did you see the guy that looked like a roasted phoenix?" Christie chuckled like a storyteller who knows the plot twist and is going to ruin everyone’s evening. "Red hair is not for everyone."

"That was flaming red, not just red." Sigrid commented, holding back a yawn.

"I think I saw Emmah there she was with that Valerius knight." Mauve sat up, accepting a cup of tea from Lama.

Sigrid had ordered for a sunmint digestive brew to be cooked before they returned to the estate. She was a little worried about all the eating that they had overindulged in.

Sunmint tea was her secret brew, it was sold in her coffee shop to those those that had chaotic digestive troubles often. Even doctors in the capital were recommending it to patients.

It had become a must have tea in all the noble houses because it saved them their dignity after they over indulged in fried foods and cake.

"Does this mean she has given up on Benji?" Galen asked with a wicked plotting like smile on his lips. "If it is official, I would love to visit my younger brother and share this news with him."

"Of course you would." Sigrid mumbled.

Galen would take any chance available to make Benjamin’s life more miserable.

"Will he be at the ball?" Christie asked. She addressed the question to Roland and Sigrid, looking at the couple which was canoodling together for the first time in almost a fortnight.

Christie thought that Roland was angling for an opportunity to sleep over.

"No, Benjamin will not be attending any balls until my father wakes and decides on what to do with him." Roland shared, playing with the strings of Sigrid’s dress near the neck. He kept rolling them around his finger and unrolling it. "Not that we are sharing this fact with anyone so I will as always continue to appreciate your secrecy. When people ask about his whereabouts, we will simply continue to say he traveled out of the empire to tour another empire."

His estate had been turned into a prison, not even his shadow could be seen outside his house. Meanwhile, his business had been sold off by Roland and the money was in the royal treasury. It would be left up to King Raff to decided what to do with the money.

Mauve leaned forward to take a cup and a question fell from her lips. "I thought the king would wake soon. Why is he taking so long to open his eyes?"

"The poison has no known cure." Roland took Sigrid’s fingers and rubbed his chin against them like a cat. "As long as he is breathing we are hopeful."

The answer to Mauve’s question on the delayed waking of the king was in the room with them. Sigrid had no plans to let the king open his eyes for now. He would be allowed to wake after she and Roland had a firm grip on a thriving empire.

"Indeed, as long as he is still breathing, there is hope." Sigrid stifled another yawn.

Meanwhile, Christie turned the Tv on checking to see what was on Eldoria’s only three channels. One was showing a movie, one was showing the news and the last one had a historian narrating an old war. It was a documentary and some very old people that had been alive at the time were narrating what they saw and heard.

Christie settled on the news which was talking about the debutante ball. Reporters were interviewing people on the street on what they expected to see.

An old man that was had a smoking pipe in his mouth and some of the brownest teeth Sigrid had ever seen said, "I be reckonin’ it’s a sorry shame that us common folk ain’t got no grand debutante ball aye!"

"I know a man that has lived on the sea for most of his life." Christie laughed slowly.

Mauve frowned with a question on her mind that she asked loudly. "He does have a point. Why don’t commoners have debutante balls?"

Strolling into the room, Mrs. Elsworth and her overly loud, newly acquired walking cane, provided the answer. "Debutante balls are reserved of aristocratic and upper-class families for the single reason of introducing young women to high society and potential suitors. They are meant to promote marriage alliances and show off social status. Commoners have no business at such events."

"Unless they are serving the drinks and playing the music." Sir Orpheus mumbled and added a scoff.

"And the story of Cinderella is only fun in fantasy. In real life, the more you marry down, the more your family coffers trend to shrink." Sigrid added to the conversation.

"Who is Cinderella?" Prince Galen asked.

The rest of the family and the Ridley’s returned at around that time, and they sat down in the large living room. As they received their Sun mint tea, Sigrid started narrating the story of Cinderella.

"Once upon a time, in a faraway kingdom...."

"Oh which kingdom?" Lady Iryne interrupted immediately. "Is it a magic kingdom? Is it in the West, East, North or South?"

Roland huffed. His blood started to rise immediately. Everyone else sighed, this story was going to be a long one.

Sigrid exhaled sharply. "It doesn’t matter what the kingdom is called, just know that is a fantasy kingdom which doesn’t exist. Anyway, there was a young woman named Cinderella."

"Cinderella, what kind of name is that?" Lady Iryne let out a derisive snort. "Cinder means burned coal, you know. If your mother names you after burned coal then she doesn’t love you. Now if she had been named something like....."

Sigrid groaned almost rose up to jump up and down in frustration. "It was not Cinderella mother! Her name was Ella but she had stepsisters that added Cinder to her name because she was always covered in cinders. Now, will you let me finish the story?"