Shara wore a beautiful blue dress, with fine embroidery throughout the clothes, in a fashion that exuded both elegance and traditional values of the Golden Republic.
It was a dress especially chosen by Matthew for this precise occasion. The only thing that perhaps stood out was the small black amulet around her neck, but aside from that, she looked incredible.
Incredible, and naive.
She was no older than 16, so everyone who saw her could imdiately tell that she was no more than a child. Her presence made everyone wonder why they had waited an hour for soone like this.
"Is this a joke?" Oleander asked with so confusion. "Their candidate is a child?"
"I don’t think it’s a joke," Jema said. "But that doesn’t an I’m not going to laugh at it."
The prince chuckled on his own. He had been worried for no reason at all. In his eyes, the young girl was just a figurehead, perhaps even a decoy. ’At least choose soone prettier,’ he thought, looking around.
He searched around for any potential candidate he might have missed, but there were none he could tell. The ones around the young girl were mostly military n, one of whom he even had a vague mory of seeing before.
He couldn’t tell exactly, but he rembered this man being a commander of so sort. ’What is he doing with this girl?’ he wondered. ’Is this a desperate attempt by the republic to stick soone onto the throne?’
At this point, he couldn’t imagine another reason.
He waited until the group finally walked onto the stage. Most remained behind, but Ning walked up along with the military guy whose eyes remained on the three and their people at all tis.
’He’s a cautious one,’ the prince thought before stepping forward.
"What may I call this young lady?" he asked, looking down at Shara.
Shara looked at the man. "If you’re in such a hurry to call sothing, prince, why don’t you call Your Majesty. It will save us both so ti."
The man was taken aback by her sass. "You’ve got quite the tongue on you, girl. Did you learn it from older n in the tavern you worked in? Let’s see how well that works for you in this debate."
Shara ignored the prince’s words as she was instructed and walked past him. She glanced at Oleander, who looked down on her as well.
"You are out of your depth, kid. It’s not too late to go back ho," he said.
"It’s too late for to go back ho," Shara said. "So I might as well make this my new ho."
Oleander was about to say sothing, but Shara walked on ahead, ignoring him.
Jema didn’t say anything. The other two had embarrassed themselves enough, so she simply gave a smile and nothing else.
Shara continued on without even giving her a glance before sitting on a newly prepared seat on the other side.
Ning stood further back along with Matthew, just outside of the stage, but still close enough to save her should she need his aid.
Matthew leaned in closer. "We’ll need to find a new dress for her inauguration if everything goes well. This dress wasn’t ant for a debate."
"I know," Ning whispered. "How the hell was I supposed to know they would do a debate of all things? I can’t even understand why they’re doing this."
"They can’t decide among themselves without more bloodshed, and they don’t want that. Which is why they want to do it this way. Let soone else make the choice."
"I get that," Ning said. "But how do we determine who is ’soone else’ and who isn’t?"
Matthew looked at the crowd, his own people, and frowned. "Do you think they’ve sneaked their people into the crowd? I can’t find any that could match."
Ning couldn’t see any either. "If I was to beco the next Emperor, I wouldn’t leave it up to chance. I would make sure I beca one no matter what."
Only, he couldn’t see anything just yet. He would have to keep looking.
"We shall be starting soon," Theodore, the counselor, spoke up. "With our fourth candidate arrived, I would like to ask each one to co to the stage and announce who they are to the entire city."
The prince stood before even being called and walked up to the front.
"I am Trenaut Ron-Golhlog, Emperor of the Golhlog Empire. I am the only man worthy to beco your next Emperor."
Having said as much, the prince turned back and sat in his seat.
Oleander stood up next. "I am Oleander Wes-Gauss, son of the noble Gauss family of the Marsh Kingdom. I have taken it upon myself to beco the next Emperor of the Onyx Kingdom, and I promise that with , there will be prosperity in your land."
When Oleander sat back, Jema walked up.
"I am Jema Tayla-Gronn, daughter of the Gronn family of the Olvia Kingdom. Your land has been wrecked throughout history because n are too stubborn and too stupid to keep peace. Which is why I, as a woman, will take all of us out of this darkness and into a new dawn."
She walked back and sat, eyeing Shara whose turn it was next.
Shara felt her hands tremble at the sight of the many people, but she clenched her fist tightly, so much so that her nails dug into her skin. She walked up to the stage and stared at the crowd.
Anxiety took hold of her seeing so many faces, unsure if she could speak or not. She tried to calm herself, after all, failing in front of this many people was not a choice for her.
She took a deep breath and unfocused her eyes. It was a trick Ning had taught her.
As she unfocused her eyes, the heads of everyone beca fuzzy in her vision, to the point that she could not see anyone clearly at all. And with that disappeared all of their eyes on her, and their expectations.
She finally cald down, and opened her mouth to speak.
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