20 Guests

Several days passed, and Friday has arrived.

Once again Roxie's friends have to compete in the arena, leaving her alone to find a seat in the spectator seats.

All the places were occupied by people. She kept searching the place for an empty seat.

Her eyes then caught an empty space in the middle of the crowd.

Her face immediately brightened up as she walked quickly to take it. But she was too late to take her seat when someone else had already run over to sit on it.

Her smile turned flat. Then, she returned to look around at the stadium.

The match hadn't started yet but the flow of people entering the stadium was very tight. She often gets pushed by a lot of people from behind. She kept on protecting her body from falling, but she almost tripped backwards if there was no help from her legs that reflexively kept her from stumbling back.

She then tried to push forward, against the grain to go to the very back of the stadium.

She later faced a wall after she struggled against the heavy currents of people. She held onto the wall to keep herself from falling while panting heavily as she huffs a lot of air. After that, her breathing stabilized again, and she was able to stand up straight.

She then continued to look around the building, feeling like giving up because there were hardly any empty seats nearby.

She sighed in resignation, 'Well, I guess I should just skip the day and go back to the dorm,'

The path to the way out soon is clear, as everyone was already seated in their places, anticipating the match to start.

Roxie then walked towards the stadium exit.

~⧫~

At the exit, there were two bodyguards standing on each side by the door. She thought it might be to keep an eye on the royalties and not for ordinary people.

However, she soon stopped when she was about to head over to the door. A bodyguard's hand blocked her path.

"Hey! What's going on?" She protested as she looked at the man's sunglasses.

"Miss, you can not go out at this time. Today's tournament we will have guests coming from outside. So please return to your seat," said a bodyguard who wears a black suit and looked like he was in the Man In Black film, wearing sunglasses, and bald.

"What? But what if someone wants to go to the toilet? How can you stop them from peeing?" Roxie insisted, deliberately using another excuse to get out.

He then lowered his head closer to Roxie's face, "Then they have to prepare a bottle to take a piss there," he mocked as he stood up straight again. He then smirked as he crossed his arms.

Roxie grumbled irritatedly as she stomped her foot away from him. Of course, she didn't forget to swear at him in harsh words before leaving.

She then groaned in frustration, 'What am I supposed to do here? There's no seat left,' She thought sadly.

From afar, she spotted a hand waving at her from the top balcony of the building. She had to squint her eyes to see the person. The person then shouted her name.

"Roxie, come here!" asked him.

Roxie is still guessing who had called her. She felt familiar with that voice. His voice is similar to Ben's.

Her eyebrows raised when she realized that it was indeed Ben that she had seen.

She then felt someone tapping her shoulder behind.

Instantly, she looked back.

"Demitri?"

She saw Demitri standing behind her, wearing a cloak. So as not to let other people know about his identity.

"What are you doing here?"

"Come with me, there are no other seats left in here,"

She narrowed her eyes, "How did you know I was struggling to find a seat?"

"Let's say, we all have noticed you from the distance,"

Roxie quieted, then she looked at the balcony again. Val, Ben, Isaac, and Zef waved their hands in return.

"Let's go," He then grabbed her arm, and walked away with her.

⧪~⧪~⧪~⧪

Roxie finally sat on a King Lion Throne chair.

There are ten chairs arranged in a row, five in front, and five behind. These chairs have solid mahogany hand sculpted. Completed with gold and covered by red velvet with antique metal tacks.

She sat on the balcony where the Princes sat to watch the show. Her position is at the back seat on the left, right behind Demitri. The five seats at the front were reserved for the five of them.

She didn't mind at all, she was rather grateful that she was at least covered from the eyes of those in the audience below.

There were guards guarding the entrance to the balcony. She was able to successfully enter because she received a direct invitation from the five princes. How lucky she is.

Ben crinkled his eyes and nose, chuckled when he tilted his head back to see me, "So, Roxie, how is it when you're facing the bodyguards at the door?"

Her mouth opened, "You saw that?"

He grinned, "Of course, all of us did,"

Isaac smiled as he glanced at Roxie, "It was a good try though,"

"You should've just smacked their bald heads. It would've been a good show," Val grinned.

Isaac, Ben, and Demitri throw their heads back, laughing at his remark. Zef smiled as he looked away.

She scoffed, "I would. Can you imagine? He told me to pee in a bottle to stay inside."

"The audacity!" She threw her hands up to emphasize her words.

They laughed again.

Ben stopped laughing to see me, "We may not be able to hear you talking to the guard. But hearing your reaction like this makes me wish I could watch it live," he laughed again. He then wiped his tears that came out.

Unfortunately, our conversation ended when the air horn sounded loudly at the stadium.

We all then sat up straight.

"Incoming guests at 4 o'clock," Isaac informed.

Our eyes then fixed on the entrance to the stadium.

There were four people walking in, the two in front were Beatrice and an elderly man whose hair was winter-white, faded timeworn face, limping unsteady but still managed to stand tall, wearing white robes with gold patterns, and his two fingers linked together as he walked beside Beatrice who smiled at her surroundings.

His face remained flat as he stared straight ahead.

Meanwhile, the two people behind them were a middle-aged lady, shoulder-length platinum blonde hair, deep-set almond eyes, nose button, wearing a white dress with gold hues. She looked like a nice person with a smile aimed at the students as she walked past them. Next to her was a person wearing a smiley mask, white gloves, and a black robe.

He didn't greet the students, he just stared straight ahead like the old man ahead of him.

Roxie thought that the mask was very suspicious. Along with the person. But she put the thought aside as they almost reached the throne seats.

As soon as they reached their seats on the throne seats for the important people, they stood in rows facing the arena.

The sound of the trumpets sounded, and the Crown Princes stood up in unison.

Roxie, who was still sitting at the back, didn't know what to do. Confused, she hid behind one of the red curtains tied to each wall in the balcony.

She cursed the Princes who brought her up here.

She then peeked behind the curtain.

The old man opened his mouth to speak. The entire building immediately fell silent as he spoke.

"Greetings, to the Crown Princes, Prince Demitri Nikolai Estevan Douglas of the Kingdom of Ederis,"

"Prince Benson Constantine Nathanial Coleman of the Asterion Kingdom,"

"Prince Isaac Quentin Julian Emmett of the Aretheron Kingdom,"

"Prince Zephyr Maximus Kingsley Malcalester of the Kingdom of Zemira,"

"Prince Valiant Sebastian Gabriel Montgomery of the Kingdom of Valmeadow,"

"And also greetings to the students, we have come to visit this place to see your great abilities. We also would like to thank the Headmaster of the Fiaxora Academy, Beatrice Lynn, for welcoming us to this school. We will look forward to this glorious Friday by watching the special children,"

"Please with the permission of Your Excellencies,"

The four of them bowed. The Princes replied with a nod.

They then stood up straight again.

"Thank you, Your Excellencies,"

This time, it was Beatrice who came forward to speak.

"Now, children, let me introduce our guests who came today,"

She then faced the four of them.

"On the far left is Charles Phantom, an aristocrat of Ravaryn,"

Charles Phantom, the masked man did a neck bow to the audience. The students did curtsy on him in return.

"Then next to him, there is Lady Phoebe Hutton, a respectable Lady of Varsha,"

She smiled at all of them while bowing slightly, and stood up again. The students responded with a curtsy as well.

"Then next to me is an Assistant King of the Oryn Kingdom, this is Archibald Woodwick,"

Hearing the mention of her Kingdom's name, Roxie's eyes widened in surprise.