BXBX NOVEL Chapter 74: The Royal Ball Begins
It was hard for Benjamin to speculate the situation on the Church’s side. As for Michelle...
When Michelle left the abandoned wine warehouse, she said the reason was that she wanted to find some news, but she never returned after that. Benjamin guessed that she had been summoned by the Church as a holy knight. But this was just his speculation and there were no solid evidence for it.
He really did not have a single news about Michelle.
Was Michelle dead? She would have rushed to Benjamin to obtain the method in opening the treasury if she was not dead.
The priority she gave to the treasury was definitely no joke.
However, Michelle had not appeared in front of him for so many days. This meant that she was in some sort of a trouble.
Benjamin sighed as he thought about it.
He hoped that there was no bigger plot that he did not know of growing in this peaceful city.
He thought about this as he stood in front of the mirror, tidying his suit and bow.
"Master Benjamin, the royal ball is about to begin. Grant already left half an hour ago. Master and his mistress have departed too and it is about time for you to go as well."
Jeremy’s voice, which was heard through the door, broke his chain of thought.
Benjamin emerged from his deep thought, and shrugged his shoulder as he looked at himself in the mirror.
That’s right, there was no point in thinking about this. What could he do even if he understood the situation?
The day for the royal ball had arrived.
It was time to go.
"Have you called the carriage?" He asked as he turned around and walked outside.
"Yes, it is waiting for you outside." Jeremy answered.
Benjamin nodded, went downstairs and left the Lithur household’s main entrance. He immediately got up the carriage that had been waiting for a long time.
"Alright, I’m heading out. Go do what you should do." He told Jeremy.
Jeremy nodded and went back inside.
Benjamin sat in the carriage, on his way to the legendary royal ball organized by the royal family, which Claude had forced him to go.
He had already went through the information regarding the royal ball with the System before this.
The royal ball was a thing because the daily lives of the aristocrats was boring. They tend to stay at home as they have nothing to do at all. Hence, they like to gather together, having drinks and conversations. And the royal ball eventually became a thing.
There were two types of royal ball, one of them was the "grown up" royal ball. The nobles at their thirties or forties gathered together and talked about their lands and other things. Occasionally, they would play tricks with each other’s minds. Some of the single aunts and uncles would sneakily go for a one night stand. As it would be inappropriate to elaborate further, we would just stop here.
The other type of royal ball was called the youngster’s royal ball. It was for the people aged between fourteen and twenty four throughout the kingdom. Those who were ugly could enjoy steaks and champagne and those who were attractive could talk about romance. If not, they could also talk about nonsense and make fun of the laughing stock. In short, everyone could find their own entertainment here.
However, this was not the case for Benjamin.
At least, Benjamin never thought so, because in the past he was the laughing stock of the group. For this reason, Benjamin tried to avoid these kind of gatherings as much as possible.
If he did not want to go, he would not go, otherwise Claude would not have had to personally request his attendance.
However, the current Benjamin did not think much of it anymore.
Honestly, he even felt curious.
He was never really involved in these kind of social events in the past. The most "social" place he had been was probably just a KTV center. He really wanted to know what these high class social people were up to.
The purpose of the royal ball hosted by the royal family was to celebrate the princess’ birthday.
Benjamin was quite excited to meet the princess after the System explained the purpose of the ball to him. The System then quickly continued its next sentence: "The princess will be two years old soon. You have actually met the princess once. She was held in the arms of her nanny and blew a bubble out of her nose. You laughed very loudly at that time and you were scolded by Claude when he heard about it."
"..."
His anticipation quickly vanished after the explanation.
The royal ball would be separated into two venues. Claude and Mary would go to the "grown up" royal ball which is located at the main hall of the palace whereas Benjamin was heading to the youngster’s royal ball which is located at a high class restaurant near the palace.
Benjamin was very happy about the separate locations of the royal ball. He even hoped that the two locations to be further apart from each other so that he would not be able to meet Claude who would annoyingly give him a lecture.
Benjamin’s intention to going to the royal ball was not only to see the world.
He even planned to probe information of the Church’s movement from the other aristocrats.
He has been forbidden from leaving the Lithur household since he was rescued and this cut him off from the outside world. While Michelle could help him send messages and retrieve the things he had buried at the outskirts of the city, he did not expect Michelle to be able to have news regarding the church’s movement.
At this moment, he really wanted to know what the Church has been up to for the past few days.
It was impossible to obtain such an information out in the streets. However, these rich playboys at the royal ball would definitely blurt out the secrets they overheard from their parents when they were drunk.
With this ulterior motive at place, Benjamin entered the royal ball as the restaurant’s servants greeted him at the entrance.
The restaurant’s quality was topnotch since it was chosen as the venue for the royal ball. This restaurant, named Ross, claimed to have the nation’s best chef and the most grand interior decoration. The size of this restaurant was definitely bigger than the Lithur mansion. It was obvious that the restaurant had invested a lot of money into its decoration as they had murals painted across the ceiling and lamp shades made out of crystals.
Although it was no match for the high quality restaurant in movies from the previous world, it was enough to stun Benjamin.
The price at the restaurant was out of this world, so much so that typical aristocrats wouldn’t even frequent the place. But the royal family was so wealthy that they booked the entire first and second floor of the restaurant, including the rooftop and the balcony for the royal ball.
Benjamin could only say that no commoner could understand the royal family’s extravagant expenditures.
Under the guidance of the servant, he passed through the corridor and arrived at the main hall of the first floor.
There were a lot of young aristocrats wearing suits or dresses there and Benjamin predicted there were at least a hundred people as he glanced through the main hall.
The aroma of the steaks and wines along with the performance of the pianist by the side projected a very fun yet graceful atmosphere.
Benjamin felt hungry as he admired his surroundings.
However, no one would go for the food the moment they arrive the royal ball. He would definitely get scolded by Claude if he were to know about this. Hence, Benjamin had no choice but to resist himself and look at the crowd instead.
He glanced around but he did not see any familiar faces at all.
Where was Grant? Didn’t he arrive already?
Benjamin smiled as he recalled the day Grant hid in the blanket with someone else. Grant must had hid himself somewhere with his lover doing what lovers do.
Besides Grant, Dick was the only other aristocrat Benjamin was familiar with.
Dick, as the son of the capital’s aristocrat, would definitely attend the royal ball and Benjamin had already found him in the crowd. However, Dick revealed an expression similar to seeing the God of plague when he saw Benjamin. He sprayed a mouthful of alcohol at the lady in front of him.
"..."
Benjamin stood afar witnessing the lady slapping Dick and left the place. Naturally, the crowd laughed.
Dick held his face and looked at Benjamin in fear. He then disappeared into the crowd.
Benjamin could only laugh and shook his head at the situation.
He then picked up a glass of champagne and went into the rowdy crowd.