The moment they stepped into the light, Rize's eyes widened. His very first thought was simply how radiant and foreign they looked. He had been seeing the faces of people for hours now; all of them were the creme of the crop of society. The top 0.0001% of society or even higher who have all the wealth, power, and influence of the world, and yet for some reason, the royal family instantly stood out for him.
Whether it was their attire, which was decorated with gold and yet didn't exude extravagance, or their looks that radiated ethereal beauty. Naturally, the one who stood out the most was Venera herself with her otherworldly beauty, but her brother, father, and mother were all extremely good-looking.
The king was especially the one who stood out the most. He had that distinct white hair his daughter had and a very good-looking face that had the effects of age visible on it with wrinkles and marks. His mere presence in the room commanded all the attention with ease, and his sharp, wise eyes seemed to carry endless knowledge.
His wife was gorgeous beyond words, with dark black hair and green eyes. The signs of age weren't that visible on her as she looked coldly around the room. As for the star of the show, Prince Kane, he had an almost bored look on his face as he rested his head on the back of his hand.
The King, Theodore, signaled for everyone to sit down as they sat down.
"Thank you all for attending my son, Prince Kane's, awakening ceremony. We, as the Royal Family, are happy to see our son, Prince Kane, finally take his biggest step toward Adulthood. His contributions to our nation are already numerous, and now that he will gain his true power, we are certain that he will only shine brighter, and we would ask you to follow his journey."
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*
The entire venue started clapping in response to the King's words. Rize was simply in awe at the radiance of the aura the royal family was giving. Theodore was strong… Extremely strong.
Rize could tell that he was on a completely different level to anything he had seen so far. It was said that Theodore was the strongest human alive, or perhaps one of the strongest.
'I didn't get to the part of the story where he could show his true power, so this is all speculation. But what is certain is that he is a different kind of monster. He is single-handedly keeping this empire in order with his presence… I don't even understand how strong someone has to be for that to be the case.'
A million thoughts crossed Rize's mind as he felt the crushing pressure of the man's presence. Even when it was clearly subdued, he was still applying pressure on everyone there.
While Rize was trying to resist it, his eyes landed on Venera, who was staring at him. He didn't even realize she was staring at him that entire time. He blinked for a few seconds before he frowned.
'What?' He asked with his eyes.
The girl blinked before showing a faint, barely visible smile and looked away.
'That girl.' He gripped his spoon. 'She's mocking me! Oh my god!'
He fought the urge to yell as he watched the scenes.
"Now, Kane, would you please step forward. It is almost time."
As those words echoed in the entire room, the world focused on Kane. He still had a bored look on his face as if he didn't want to be there. He sucked in a deep breath and then stood up.
'Kane is a very interesting character in the book. He is always carefree and never really cares about the political side of his life or the fight for the throne. I bet they had to force him to attend his own awakening ceremony.' Rize thought to himself.
The young prince stood before the masses with a calm look. He put his hand in his white pants and looked at the clock hovering above their heads. Only a minute is left before the awakening happens.
Everyone waited patiently for the time to tick down. Many were thinking about the talent he would be granted and the powers he would gain. Many citizens were even betting on it.
"Here we go." Rize adjusted his seat as he saw the time tick down to 10… Then 9… Then 8…
The lower it went, the more people leaned in to watch.
7.
6.
5… 4… 3… 2…
As the clock reached that point, everyone braced themselves. They expected the power to unleash in one fell swoop, or perhaps spread around slowly. However, as the timer reached 0… Nothing happened.
They all waited in silence for several seconds. Nothing happened or changed. Not even a single shift in the atmosphere or in Kane's state.
"Huh?"
It didn't take long for audible confusion to spread across the masses.
"What?"
"What is happening?"
"Is this supposed to happen?"
"Did he awaken?"
Questions were raised everywhere around them as the King, the Queen, and even Venera seemed a bit confused.
Geralt's expression darkened as he watched the scenes.
"What is happening, Your Esteemed Self?" One of the invited people asked.
The king frowned and looked at his servants, who seemed as lost as he was. They were supposed to have accurately written down the time his son was born. This is an unforgivable mistake.
"Kane, come here," Theodore said to his son, who seemed slightly shocked, the very first reaction he had shown that entire time. He expected this to go smoothly.
"If you will excuse us, ladies and gentlemen, it seems some sort of mistake happened," Theodore said as he pulled his son away while his wife seemed to be barely keeping her expression from crumbling.
Something was very off about the situation, and Rize instantly picked up on that. However, he wasn't that surprised as he remembered hearing something about this in the book, even though it wasn't talked about in depth.
'So this is indeed what happened, huh? Kane didn't awaken at the right time.' Rize frowned. 'I heard theories about this before… Some people said that it was a mistake in writing down the time… Some said that it was because the wife cheated on her husband… Some even went as far as to say Kane was their adopted son…'
Rize didn't realize the weight of the situation until he stared around him. Everyone seemed confused, almost… in disbelief.
Their eyes that had deep admiration and reverence for the Royal Family lost that light faintly. They didn't expect the King to make such a stupid mistake. The King, who was not that far off from a deity in the eyes of many.
Rize knew that this was no coincidence and that this moment wasn't going to pass off normally, even though Kane awakened at some point in the future.
'I remember someone even theorizing that this very moment… Is the moment that ignited the first ember of change that will occur in the empire. All of a sudden… The Royal Family isn't the perfect entity they always imagined them to be, and it all happened on live television for the eyes to see.'