The state banquet on the night of the Festival of Longevity ought to have been one of the biggest celebrations of the year but the undercurrent of trepidation that rippled through the officials seated by rank beneath the dais was palpable.
The Ministry of Rites had spared no expense; how could they? Envoys from the other kingdoms that paid them fealty were present. No matter how reluctant His Majesty was to acknowledge what should have been a happy occasion, Great Ye had no choice but to put on a front.
A/N: Thank you very much for reading and for the comments, gifts, power stones, and golden tickets!
We are finally at the birthday banquet, this was one of the scenes I thought about a lot at the start when planning the novel and I struggled to actually write it because there was so much I wanted in there I had to rewrite whole section to structure it the way I want it. It's going to be a long evening but hopefully by the end of this arc we'll have more questions answered!