By now, Esther was on good terms with the other servants who were working along with her under the Queen. Not only the other royal servants, she was also friends with the Queen''sdies-in-waiting, who treated her like an adorable younger sister. After all, Esther was easy to get along with, and she was kind no matter who she talked with. Thesedies were also excited to show the yearly festival celebration to Esther.
On the evening of the first day of the year-end festival, Esther found herself wearing a pretty dark blue dress that was gifted to her by the Queen. It wasn''t made of expensive silk butmon cotton, as the Queen knew Esther would use that as an excuse to refuse it, but it was made with delicate details by the royal tailor. Her long honey blond hair was loosely tied with a ribbon of the same colour. The otherdies with Esther all praised her when they found the blonde finally wearing something that wasn''t the pce uniform.
After gushing over each other''s appearances—and teasing about the boys they would likely charm tonight—the group ofdies were finally ready to leave the pce and enjoy the festival.
"Esther, this kind of grand celebration is only held once a year, where we girls can take a break together and still get additional pay, so we must not miss it! We must y to our hearts'' content! I am sure you will like it too," one of the girls said excitedly as they walked out of their quarters. The other girls also started chiming in with their expectations for the night.
"I want to see the performance in the za! They say that Miss Nightingale, that famous singer from Griven, is invited to perform tonight."
"Oh, what I''m looking forward to is the dance afterwards!"
"The dance? Why? did you get invited by some unluckyd to be his partner? Is it Arkus, that handsome gardener, or that Warren boy, the young apprentice knight from the other night?"
"No, no, stop! No one invited me!"
Sweet femaleughter could be heard as their group reached the carriages arranged by the Queen''s order to carry her servants out of the pce. While riding the carriage, Esther observed the streets of ckhelm, the capital city of Megaris, which was brightened up with seemingly countlessnterns. Music could be heard on the main streets, as different performances could be spotted. Stalls and shops with fancy decorations offering curious items and food could be seen as well. It was as if the entire city was shining with life, keeping the darkness of the night away.
As she normally stayed within the Queen''s residence, Esther only saw this city from the pce, more specifically from the window of the Queen''s chamber. For the past month, the Queen didn''t leave the royal pce grounds, and as herpanion, neither did she. Although she did visit the city proper on her own before during her breaks, it was only because she needed to purchase some things, and didn''t stay longer than an hour before returning to the pce. This was truly the first time she would be enjoying the outside world.
The carriages took them to the centre of the city.? The za was filled with people dressed nicely. Because the people were gathered on the roads, no carriages could enter because they were blocked by the crowd. The streets nearby were full of stalls of food as well as different interesting items that small merchants were selling as trinkets. Groups of artists were performing some acts on a built stage, and the bystanders were rewarding them with money after giving them thunderous apuse. The festive crowd looked so lively—from the young children running about with toys in their hands, to the young couples enjoying the performances, and even the families lining up to buy food from the stalls—that it brought a radiant smile to Esther''s beautiful face.
"Esther, are you not going to dance?" one of the girls asked after dancing in therge dance area designated in the za for a round. "Oh,e on—"
Esther found herselfughing as her fellow servant pulled her to the middle of the za, where the other servants looked like they were having fun. She was unfamiliar with the music ying, so she merely held her skirt and twirled like the other girls dancing with her. Unknown to her, she was already having a great time.
After another round of dancing, their group finally left the dance area with bright smiles on their pretty faces. Esther could see that even though they were tired of dancing, they were still all pretty energetic as they teased each other about who stepped on someone else''s toes.
One of the girls pped her hands. "All right, I''m starving. Let''s first buy trinkets from the stalls here so we don''t have to return again. After that, shall we eat and then go lightnterns?"
"Lanterns?" Esther asked curiously.
Another girl exined, "What she meant are floatingnterns. It is a year-end tradition where you write your wishes for the iing year on thenterns and you either let it float on the water to be carried away into the sea, or you let it fly and reach the sky."
"We will have to go to the harbour area for that, so we normally do thatst after ying here in the za," one of the older servants added.
Esther blinked. "I heard that it was done on thest day?"
The older servant nodded. "Yes, and it would involve the royal family. The King and Queen, along with the royal princes and princesses, would start sending out their floatingnterns first. After that, everyone else can follow suit. It was like that several years ago, but there were too many people crowding together in the river harbour and it caused some security issues, soter on, the royal family extended the tradition for the entire three days to avoid having casualties. The royal family would still do it on thest day, but for usmoners, we normally do it on the first or second day."
Esther understood and thanked them for exining. Of course, the group of girls continued to tease each other as they walked around the za. Esther took that chance to mostly observe and enjoy every single thing that came into her sight, things that she had been missing out on for the years she spent hiding in the forest.