They headed toward the castle in a carriage. In theory, that should have been the practical choice. In reality, it was barely faster than walking.
The roads leading toward the nobles district had become a slow-moving river of wheels, lanterns, banners, horses, guards, and noble impatience. Carriages packed the main avenues in long glittering lines, one expensive vehicle after another crawling forward with all the dignity of trapped livestock. Servants ran alongside some of them. Guards shouted for space that did not exist. Drivers cursed under their breath while pretending they were too refined for that sort of thing.
And it wasn’t just the invited guests.
Too many people from the capital wanted to be nearby as well. Even from a distance, seeing the castle lit up for the emperor’s birthday was enough for them. Families stood along side streets. Crowds gathered near plazas, rooftops, terraces, and any point high enough to offer a decent view. Some had brought food and drink like this was a festival. Others were simply craning their necks to stare, talk, and say later that they had been there when the empire celebrated.
So the entire approach had become a mess. A slow, decorated, expensive mess. Ludger sat by the window and watched it all with growing irritation. His plan had been simple. Stay there for an hour. Be seen. Avoid trouble. Disappear.
Now? That plan was fading fast.
If it took this long just to get there, then leaving cleanly and early would probably become its own battle. The castle grounds would be packed. The roads worse afterward. And if too many people began departing at once, the whole thing could turn into a parade of trapped nobles trying not to show how furious they were.
Ludger clicked his tongue softly.
Of course the capital had found a way to make even leaving annoying in advance.
As he was looking through the window, Viola suddenly said, “You should’ve fixed your hair too.”
Ludger glanced at her. “I don’t need to.”
Viola did not even bother pretending to consider that.
Then she turned toward Luna and said, “Fix it anyway.”
Ludger frowned. “No.”
Luna, naturally, moved at once. Apparently, his opinion had already been ruled irrelevant.
She reached somewhere inside her things and produced a comb with the kind of silent readiness that suggested she had either prepared for this specifically or simply lived in a world where carrying tools for other people’s appearance made perfect sense.
Then she shifted closer. Ludger stared at her. She ignored that and began working on his hair with calm, practiced hands. He sat there in silence for a second while the carriage continued inching forward through the capital’s beautiful traffic nightmare.
Then he muttered, “From a dress-up doll to a hairstyle doll.”
Viola heard him immediately and smiled with far too much satisfaction.
“That’s your life now.”
Ludger looked out the window again, expression flat. Truly, there were many indignities strength could not prevent.
Once Luna was done, she stepped back without a word.
Viola looked at him, then gave a small, satisfied nod as if a final flaw in the evening had been corrected and the world could now continue turning properly.
Ludger couldn’t see his own hair.
He also didn’t care.
As long as it wasn’t getting in his eyes and no one tried to touch it again, that was enough.
The carriage rolled forward another few slow lengths before finally reaching the outer flow of vehicles near the castle gate. By then the roads had become even worse, thick with nobles stepping out under lantern light, servants hurrying to open doors, guards directing movement, and enough polished wheels and fine horses to fund a small war.
Eventually, they disembarked. The moment Ludger stepped down, the first thing that struck him was the scale of it all. The castle grounds had been transformed.
The gardens stretching out before the approach looked less like a real place and more like some rich man’s dream of what beauty should look like if enough gold and labor were thrown at it. Every path had been cleaned until the pale stone almost reflected the lights above. Flowerbeds had been arranged in elaborate patterns around trimmed hedges and small trees wrapped in glowing threads of magic. Statues stood at measured intervals, polished and decorated with ribbons, wreaths, and magical lights that made their carved faces seem almost alive in the shifting glow.
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Fountains had been enchanted too.
Water rose in elegant arcs while colored light ran through it from beneath, turning every spray into liquid crystal. Some pools reflected the fireworks still bursting above the city, making it look as if the sky itself had been shattered and poured into the gardens. Servants moved through it all like pieces placed exactly where they should be, carrying trays, directing guests, and maintaining the illusion that none of this took any effort at all.
Nobles filled the grounds.
Men in layered coats, capes, and uniforms stitched with family colors. Women in dresses bright enough to rival banners, with jewels at throat, wrist, and ear catching the light every time they turned their heads. Laughter rose softly around the garden, mixed with music drifting from somewhere ahead, and the whole thing carried the polished atmosphere of a gathering where everyone was smiling and judging at the same time.
Ludger walked beside the others across the paths, cloak trailing behind him, eyes moving once over the crowd and then toward the castle itself. The entrance towered above them in pale stone and imperial arrogance.
Massive doors stood open, framed by carved pillars and lit from both sides by enchanted braziers that burned without smoke, their flames gold-white and too perfect to feel natural. Imperial banners hung above the entrance in deep red and gold, shifting gently in the night air.
Then they stepped inside. And the world changed. The entrance hall was enormous.
Not merely large, enormous in the way only royal architecture ever tried to be, as if size itself were a weapon meant to remind everyone entering that they were small and temporary while the empire endured. Marble floors spread beneath them in gleaming polished patterns. Pillars rose upward like tree trunks carved from wealth, each one worked with gold along the edges and crowned with detailed ornamentation near the ceiling.
The ceiling itself seemed absurdly high, painted with scenes of imperial victories, divine beasts, and rulers from centuries past staring down over the living like they had personally approved the current level of excess. Great chandeliers hung overhead in layered circles of crystal and gold, each one filled with magical light so bright and steady that the whole hall glowed like a second sun had been trapped indoors and taught manners.
Everything shone. Gold trim along walls. Gold borders around murals. Gold worked into railings, frames, moldings, and decorative lines that spread through the hall like wealth itself had decided to grow roots in stone. Mirrors reflected the light again and again until the space seemed even brighter than it should have been. Silver trays flashed in servants’ hands. Gems at noble throats glittered like sparks. The polished floor caught it all and threw it back upward.
The place looked like another world.
A world made of shine, glass, silk, perfume, and imperial self-importance.
The crowd inside was even denser than the garden’s. Nobles from all over the empire moved in shifting knots, speaking in refined voices while measuring rank, influence, alliances, and weaknesses under every smile. Foreign guests stood out here and there, some dressed richly, others more severely, all of them drawing glances. Guards in ceremonial armor lined the walls and entrances to deeper halls, standing so straight and still they looked like part of the architecture.
Music drifted from farther inside, strings, soft wind instruments, something elegant and carefully arranged to float through the air without interrupting conversation.
Ludger took it all in for a second, then muttered under his breath, “I’m going to get a headache soon with this much light.”
Viola elbowed him immediately. Hard enough to make the point.
“Keep useless thoughts and comments to yourself,” she said through a smile that looked polite enough for anyone watching.
Ludger glanced at her. “That was a useful comment.”
Viola’s smile sharpened slightly. “Be quiet.”
Ludger clicked his tongue softly but obeyed, at least for the moment.
Because while the castle was trying very hard to blind him with gold and light, he had more important things to look for than whether the empire’s taste was terrible. Somewhere inside this shining monster were the people he actually cared about finding. And unlike the chandeliers, they might prove interesting.
They walked through the hall at a measured pace, letting the flow of the event carry them without rushing toward anything too directly.
That, apparently, was how these gatherings worked. Move. Pause. Speak. Smile just enough. Then move again before any one conversation trapped you too long.
Torvares handled it naturally, of course. He exchanged polite words with nobles, accepted greetings, gave careful answers, and somehow managed to sound cordial without ever truly relaxing. Viola did well too, slipping into the rhythm of it with the ease of someone raised close enough to power that its rituals no longer felt strange. Luna stayed near enough to belong beside them while still carrying herself with the composed discretion that kept most eyes from lingering too long.
Ludger, meanwhile, did the bare minimum. When people asked his name, he nodded once and introduced himself properly.
“Ludger.”
That was usually enough. Then he went back to being quiet.
Most of the time, he simply stood there while others filled the air with polished nonsense. Merchant families trying to sound more important than they were. Minor nobles speaking in carefully measured words that meant little and implied too much. Elderly men smiling with all the warmth of sharpened knives. Women asking harmless questions while clearly evaluating posture, bearing, and the cut of his clothes more than anything he said.
Ludger answered when it became necessary. He did not volunteer much. That worked well enough.
A few ladies looked at him from top to bottom and smiled in the way women at these events often did when they found something visually interesting and wanted to see whether it was also socially useful. Their eyes drifted over the dark suit, the cloak, the shoulders, the face, the silence. A few lingered longer than others. One or two even looked faintly amused by how little effort he made to be charming.
But every time Ludger looked back at them, even briefly, their smiles shifted. Not disappeared entirely. Just… changed. Then, for some reason, they looked away. The same thing happened often enough that he noticed the pattern.
Luna had a similar effect.
Men looked at her too, of course. They noticed the emerald dress, the poise, the calm beauty that looked expensive even without jewels. More than once, Ludger caught some young noble or polished hanger-on glance her way with the expression of someone considering whether approaching her would be worth the effort.
Then their gaze would slide to him. And that was usually the end of that.
They would hesitate. Reconsider. And leave. Ludger did not fully know whether to be insulted or amused.
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