Birthday (Part 2)

Edited by: Chip

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The Imperial family arrived ten minutes after the Eumia family.

Since it was not an event created by the Imperial family, they wore their usual black, gold, and purple outfits and didn’t include their crowns. The Emperor walked hand in hand with his wife, King Consort Gale Hirean. King Consort Gale was Mila Norrs’ younger brother, so he also had short navy blue hair. His hair seemed much darker than Duke Mila's, looking almost black. He also had blue eyes, which showed that Water was his strongest magic attribute.

Behind them, Imperial Crown Princess Scarlett Hirean arrived with Imperial Prince Ronan Hirean. The Imperial Crown Princess was four years older than Prince Ronan. Scarlett had long silver hair and, just like her name, scarlet red eyes. She wore a silver A-line dress with an asymmetric neckline.

She was a lot more expressive than Prince Ronan, but everyone knew that she was a capable heiress.

As for Prince Ronan, he wore a similar outfit to his father, but there were fewer details, he didn’t wear a crown, and he wore a blue cape that matched his eyes.

Prince Ronan looked out of place within the happy family. Still, most of high society knew what he was like so no one paid attention to his indifferent and domineering aura. It also didn’t stop many parents from wanting their kids to have a relationship or friendship with him.

With everyone in their assigned seats, the Alnhart family finally made their way into the ballroom from the second floor.

The first to come out was Duke Alnhart and Duchess Alnhart. The Duke and Duchess wore matching outfits that suited the black, purple, and gold theme. Instead of a black nobleman’s suit, his was white. The duchess also wore a beautiful purple and white gown with gold embroidery.

The two didn’t walk down the split staircase and stood on the balcony to give a speech that would start Cyrus' and Atlas’ birthday.

“Good evening. I would like to thank everyone, especially the Imperial family, for being able to make it for my sons, Cyrus and Atlas’, birthday celebration.” Duke Alnhart was the one to give the speech. “As you all know, my wife and I had recently adopted Atlas who coincidentally has the same birthday as my son, Cyrus.”

“Due to serious circumstances, they will not be able to show their real hair and eye color for their birthday this year. That is why, please do not be offended when you notice their hair and eye color changing earrings.”

Many people began to whisper. What hair color could they have that they had to keep hidden until their official high society debut?

And for them to do this in front of the Imperial family? People thought Duke Alnhart and his wife had a lot of courage.

“With that out of the way, I would like to introduce my two sons.”

Cyrus and Sophie were the first to walk out from the hallway. He was really that extremely heavy ceremonial outfit that was white, gold, and purple. His hair color was brown like Duke Alnhart’s and his eyes were yellow. Next to him, Sophie wore a light blue and gold outfit, which complimented her hair and eyes. Her outfit was a different color from the theme because she had to stand out with Cyrus.

Behind Cyrus, Atlas had short and wavy lavender hair with light pink eyes. His hair was slicked back because they frequently got into his eyes. He wore a matching outfit to Cyrus, making them look like fraternal twins. Next to him, Sirius was wearing a similar outfit to Duke Alnhart, just less gold decorations.

With the two main characters' appearances, the Alnhart family descended the stairs to join everyone on the first floor. Duke Alnhart and Duchess Alnhart went down the right staircase while Cyrus, Sophie, Atlas, and Sirius went down the left staircase.

With the Alnhart family on the first floor, the first part of the birthday started. At the start of every high society birthday celebration, the guests greeted the birthday individual and as a family, they would give their gifts. The families gave their presents together to lessen the time of this part of the birthday celebration.

The Imperial family was the first to greet Cyrus and Atlas, and they came with gifts.

“Happy birthday, Cyrus and Atlas. I hope you will enjoy these gifts from my family,” Emperor Ermir said while motioning some servants to bring in all the gifts that the Imperial family had picked out.

“Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty the Emperor,” Cyrus and Atlas said while giving a formal bow. “And thank you, Your Imperial Majesty the Empress.”

They then gave a formal greeting to the Imperial Crown Princess and Prince Ronan.

After a brief small talk, the other Ducal families lined up to give their greetings and their gifts.

Since it was Atlas’ first time celebrating his birthday in this world and it was Cyrus’ first public birthday event, they got so many gifts that they had to move a majority of the gifts to a different room.

This meet, greet, and gift-giving took two hours…

*****

Once the greetings finished, Cyrus and Atlas were able to go back to the changing room to change into their second outfit. Atlas almost collapsed on the floor after taking off the heavy ceremonial outfit.

He didn’t mind standing for long periods, but the outfit seemed to get heavier as time went by. It was like holding a bucket of water as a punishment. The amount of water never changed, but the arms got sore from holding the bucket after a long while. That’s what it felt like.

When they finished, they were finally able to eat the buffet food.

They couldn’t eat a lot though because the dance portion of the birthday was about to start.

When Atlas took his last bite of food, he was ushered onto the dance floor with Cyrus, Sirius, and Sophie. The pairs took their place and waited for the music to start.

Cyrus’ first partner was Sophie because they were engaged. As for Atlas, his first dance partner was Sirius. After that, Cyrus and Atlas would dance with each other. Atlas was leading in this dance.

The orchestra began to play the first song, signaling Atlas and Cyrus to start dancing. Since it was their day, they were leading in the first dance, even if it was a little awkward for Sirius.

The music that was being played was music Atlas practiced for months, so he was able to smoothly guide Sirius. His dancing was phenomenal and he never missed a beat or stepped on his partner’s feet.

As for Cyrus, he had always practiced dancing with Sophie, so the two knew each other well, almost like they were one on the dance floor.

Everyone else was quiet, watching the main characters dance gracefully across the floor. They made sure to give the two pairs enough room to move from one area to the next.

At the end of the song, the pairs bowed at each other and gave their thanks for the dance.

Finally, everyone else was able to link up and dance. A lot of people danced with their partners while some decided to stay seated and eat the delicious buffet choices.

Atlas and Cyrus became the center of attention as they danced with one another. Atlas had a huge grin on his face as he joyfully led Cyrus through the next song.

The next song seemed to reflect Atlas’ mood. It was joyful and passionate, and it was a song that gave the dancers a lot of energy.

Once the Alnhart families finished dancing with each other, Prince Ronan took the opportunity to approach Atlas.

“Lord Atlas, may I have this next dance?” Everyone seemed to hear Prince Ronan’s question because they all stopped, asking each other if they were dreaming.

It was the first time Prince Ronan had ever asked someone to dance with them. Most of the time, he danced with a few lucky people who were able to ask him first. After that, he refused to dance stating that he was tired.

That was why, everyone was shocked and pitching their legs to wake themselves up from this lucid dream.

Atlas didn’t seem to care about what everyone else thought because he accepted the dance. Also, he didn’t know that Prince Ronan had never asked anyone to dance with him.

“It would be an honor, Prince Ronan,” Atlas said while grabbing onto Prince Ronan’s extended hand.

Atlas let Ronan lead him to the middle of the dance floor, jumping in halfway through a song and then continuing to the next song.

The two were the same height, so it didn’t seem awkward to let Ronan lead. Ronan’s right hand was on Atlas’ left shoulder, while Atlas’ left hand was on Ronan’s right shoulder. Their other hands were held together.

Atlas was a little nervous because it was his first time dancing with someone outside of the Alnhart family. Still, he had good dancing skills, so he didn’t step on Ronan’s feet nor did he lag behind.

As for Ronan, he was perfect in every way and was ready to cover for Atlas in case he messed up.

A lot of people were looking at the two danced together. They slowly moved across the floor with the other dances but they looked like they were in their own world.

“May I call you, Atlas?” Ronan whispered into Atlas’ ear. “You can call me Ronan if you want.”

Atlas’ ears felt a little itchy from Ronan’s breath, but he tried to ignore it. “I don’t mind either way, Ronan.”

Hearing Atlas say his name without any honorifics felt like music to his ears. He didn’t hate it at all and wished that Atlas would say his name a few more times.

It was a feeling he had never felt before.

Ronan passed by Cyrus who was dancing with some noble girl he couldn’t remember. “Since we are on a first-name basis, can I ask you a question?”

Cyrus looked at Ronan with a peculiar look in his eyes. Did Ronan say that while passing him on purpose? They were in the middle of a dance so he couldn’t do anything but hope Atlas would not fall for his cunning and sly ways.

Atlas didn’t see Cyrus or the look he gave. He was looking at Ronan who seemed to be staring at him intently. “If it’s not offensive, I don’t mind answering.”

“Would it be offensive if I asked you why you have to hide your hair and eye color?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s offensive, but I definitely won’t be able to give you the answer that you want.”

“But I heard that Sophie has seen both you and Cyrus’ real hair and eye color. What will it take for me to be able to do the same?”

Cyrus had told Atlas if someone had asked him this question, there was only one way he was allowed to answer it.

“You can wait until we debut or,” Atlas got closer to Ronan’s ear with a grin on his face and whispered. “You would have to become my fiancée.”

Atlas moved his face away. “The former is when everyone else would find out and the latter is how Sophie was able to find out. I don’t want to have a fiancée right now though, so you will have to wait just like everyone else.”

He seemed really happy explaining and didn’t notice the look on Ronan’s face. Ronan was contemplating it.

Ronan found Atlas to be interesting, but he was not in love with him. Therefore, he also didn’t want to rush into an engagement. What would happen if he got bored of Atlas after a while? Wouldn’t he have to go through the hassle of breaking off the engagement? That would also ruin the Imperial family’s relationship with the Alnhart family.

“I understand. I also prefer the former.”

The two didn’t say anything else until the song was over.

Once the two finished dancing, Atlas gave a bow and thanked Ronan for the dance. “Thank you for inviting me to dance, Prince Ronan. We should do this again another time.”

Prince Ronan gave a bow back. “And thank you for accepting my dance. I would be honored to dance with you again in the future.”

After the two parted ways, the night was just getting started. It was filled with dancing and eating, going late into the night.

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Grandpa Marky: This might be a slow romance now that I am thinking about it XD I hope you all don't mind that. I wouldn't say it's really long slow burn, but it's definitely going to be kind of long.