The Legend of Carmine

On the 10th day, the palace was bustling with servants to finish the final preparation of the grand banquet. Finally, the hour of banquet arrived.

All the guest submitted their invitation on the banquet gate and each of them had an entry announcement done to introduce them by their name and rank.

Carmine who had dressed in one of her simple but elegant Princess attire, as she was able to get hold of her belonging after it was delivered to her current room. She walked reluctantly and slowly towards the banquet gate. From a far distance, she could see all the men entering the banquet. And all those men had a sense of arrogancy around them. And she thought why wouldn't they, as each of them were high-rank Officials or Ministers of Norand. Carmine intentionally walked slowly, and when she finally made it to the gate, the last invited guest had also made his way through the gate. Finally, when she reached the banquet gate.

The guards looked at her in astonishment as if they have seen a mad person.

As she handed the invitation to a guard. The guard took it reluctantly. When he opened the invitation it had written an invitation to "Armine, General of Lapen".

As he was reading the invitation, another guard who was standing next to him also ducked in to read it.

The first guard shouted to Carmine " How dare you, steal .." but before he could finish his sentence he was pulled at the side by the second soldier.

Carmine had a feeling that this invitation would cause a problem because Cyanx wanted her to come in female attire but had clearly sent her the invitation in General Armine's name.

Inside the banquet, everyone had arrived but Cyanx had not formally initiated the banquet yet.

An environment of huss was going around. A subtle chatting was going around. All of the guests wondered why he has not started the banquet yet. Finally, some of them did notice a seat at the back, on the left side, was still empty. The banquet hall was divided into two sides by a long red carpet in between it. And at the end of the carpet, a pedestal was present over which Emperor Cyanx was seated and just below the pedestal on his right side, the first seat was occupied by Rulean, who was accompanied by Alor ( Alor was standing between Cyanx and Rulean)

Outside the banquet, the second guard who had pulled the first guard to the side whispered, "Look, at the lady's clothes it looks simple but it is certainly made of high-quality material. What if she belongs to one of the noble families. Even if she did stole the invitation from the General of Lapen by using her power as he is already been defeated by Norand. We still cannot let her go in. She must have cunningly got the banquet invitation to get inside. But if we try to be harsh with her, to make her leave from here, what if she turned out to be one of the official's daughter. We will be in hot water. Either way, we will be in trouble even if we let her in or not. We are just low-rank soldiers we cannot afford to offend those high officials."

Then the first guard voiced, "What do we do then?"

They both looked towards Carmine and the second soldier said, "Wait, wait; I will ask with the organizer of the banquet."

So, the soldier rushed in the banquet and went to Alor. He had organized this banquet. When the soldier whispered in his ears that there was a noble lady with General Armine's invitation waiting to enter the banquet.

Alor was surprised as to why Carmine had shown up in female attire when she had clearly got the invitation in the name of General Armine. Suddenly, he remembered what Cyanx had said that morning. That he was very much looking forward to today's banquet. These banquets had been like a tradition to them and a routine but it was the first time he had seen Cyanx looking forward to the banquet. Therefore, he understood that it was all his doing. Alor just smiled and said, "Oh yes, she is a very special guest. I was busy so I forgot to inform you all. Please send her in announcing Armine, General of Lapen."

Finally, her entrance was announced. When she entered everyone's eyes were on the entrance. All of the Official and Ministers eyes were eager to see the General Armine. But when a young girl showed up at the entrance of the red carpet.

One of them said, "Miss you must have got lost in the palace. This banquet is not for a little girl like you."

Carmine just ignored the comment and walk towards the pedestal. But all the eyes were still glued at the end of the carpet in expectation of a gallant hero to make an entry. Carmine reached near the pedestal, she bowed down and said, "Your Imperial Highness, I, General of Lapen, General Armine pay my respect and expresses my gratitude for the invitation to the banquet."

As she finished the sentence the enter banquet went into utter silence with shock and everyone's face had this unbelievable expression stuck on them.

Others were still trying to grasp it. But the Finance minister recovered from the shock and said, " Impossible. Your imperial highness, this girl cannot be the General. How could you believe it? This girl is a liar. How could she command those large numbers of soldiers?"

Cyanx calmly replied," So, do you think I am lying to you all."

His answers made him speechless.

Then he continued, "Let me tell you how she was able to be the General and command such a larger number of soldiers."