"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Kristen asked, looking between Venus and her sister.
"Hm? Oh! Queen Kristen, it's an honour." Cecilla curtsied politely, before looking at Technoblade. "I'm awfully sorry if my sister has been a bother... shall I accompany you to perhaps help you relax?" She asked.
"Sister?" Technoblade straightened up and took her hand, kissing it, "nevermind that, congratulations, Cecilla, I hope your new brother is well. It would be a pleasure to spend some time with you; my, you look stunning in blue." He spoke into her hand chivalrously before walking away with the sister.
Venus sighed looking at the two. She didn't really care about if her sister was led on or not, it wasn't Venus's responsibility. With Cecilla's beauty, she could probably land the man. If she didn't, it almost served her right for laughing at dead women.
"Alright. Uh... what's she talking about?" Wilbur turned to the girl. It was awful for her to try and explain.
"She's a princess. Go change Venus." Philza gently ordered the girl, pushing her lightly into the castle and following behind her. The rest of the family followed before they split off. Light chatter was heard as Venus walked past some maids, who nearly dropped their cleaning supplies at the sight of her.
"Princess Venus! You're... you're back!" A maid smiled happily to the girl, she smiled back brightly.
"I've missed you! My goodness it was so lonely there. We should talk about it later - now I should change to meet with my father." Venus excused and quickly went off to her bedroom, which was directly connected to a locked away section of the library via a spiral staircase. It was very pretty, she was grateful to have the locked away section. Her mother gifted her the room when she was 10 and Allegra took her older room.
She changed into a decorated, pleated shirt, and tucked it into her ankle-length skirt, which was the kingdom's red. It was embroidered in the same colour with floral patterns to create a calculated shine on the heavy satin skirt. To finish it off, she threaded red ribbons through slits on the sleeves of the shirt, they were just below her shoulders. That, before her personal maid walked in. Her name was Hertha. She was fair, with blonde hair and large blue eyes. She was pretty, but she was also very child-like in appearance. She walked in and helped Venus with the ribbons, tying them into a bow facing outwards and tying a six-ended bow to her neck, under the collar of the shirt. With a golden brooch and a rebutton of the waistband of Venus's skirt, the girl sent her off. There was light chatter as she was being styled, but Venus was surprised to be dragged back.
"Do your hair." Hertha ordered, asking Venus to brush it out. For a girl as timid looking as herself, she certainly did not play the part. Venus did as told before Hertha styled her hair, leaving her fringe and her hair out, but tying two braided strands of equal proportion into a loose ponytail which made room for her face to fully show and her fringe to appropriately structure her face. It wasn't braided once tied, so it looked as though it vanished into the rest of the girl's wavy hair. "Lord, I've missed working on you. You're just so pretty and easy to work with." Hertha explained and pulled out some inks and pencils. Makeup.
"Please not too much. I haven't taken a proper bath in days. The best I got was a cleansing potion prototype from Tubbo." She explained. Hertha, though she cringed, understood and lightly worked on mainly her eyes. After finishing with the girl's eyelashes, Hertha gave Venus her tiara, golden just like her sisters'. It rested on her head comfortably, and she was pushed out of the room with a new set of shoes, which Venus changed into as she walked. She dropped the boots into the arms of a servant as she brushed past, thanking them before turning the corner into the throne room, where it was decorated for the ball. Venus had completely forgotten about the festivities. But that didn't matter, she was faced with the family, Phil's, that is, and Technoblade with Cecilla on his arm as a couple of plus ones. Looking at Phil, Venus realised the man had used her name, and she never recalled telling him. She curtsied them all before facing her father.
"Ma fille!" Her mother cried, rushing over with tears in her eyes. The French the woman spoke was just her being over emotional. She hugged her daughter lovingly, though slightly shorter than Venus, and squeezed her. "I cannot believe you didn't take anyone with you! The next time you do that, you're going to be in big trouble." She scolded Venus, who only smiled and nodded quietly before hugging back. "I missed you so much..."
"See? Told you she was a brat." Cecilla whispered to Technoblade, who watched from where he stood. Venus had never smiled before. And she looked great with what she was wearing. Her hair was a natural beauty; and Technoblade looked at the tiara with confusion. So she truly was a princess. How did she manage to keep it from the great king?
"Well since my daughter is back - I'm sure the family will be fine. Technoblade! Watch yourself around my daughter Cecilla okay? I know you've a reputation for hurting young ladies like herself." The king warned his taller, pink-haired acquaintance. "Cecilla, no alone time with him." He ordered.
"But dad!~ He won't hurt me! He's special." Cecilla exclaimed and whined. Technoblade knew what she was doing. It was clear she was the favourite child - she was abusing that power.
"My word goes." The old man ordered. He had dirty blonde hair which was greying quite like Phil's, as well as stubble to show his jawline. He was attractive for a man his age, he was 52, and looked 42. Cecilla moped as Technoblade looked over to Venus with her mother, the two were talking and laughing off to the side. He wondered how Venus's laugh sounded for a second, both women talking there had beautiful voices, though he could pick out the different laughs, he didn't know which one was the girl he thought was a messenger.
"King Damien! Is she here!?" The same tanned boy from three days ago appeared. Cecilla turned to look at the man who barged in and so did Technoblade.
"Sapnap!" Venus cheered and ran over to him.
"Venus!" Sapnap cheered in return and caught the girl his height, spinning her around slightly. "Wanna explain now, Venus?" Sapnap asked.
"Hm?" Venus asked, before realising, "right! Oh... Technoblade intercepts the messages to make sure they aren't threats of war or betrayal in the making." She explained, resting her hands on his shoulders. His hands rested by her arms. Technoblade realised he didn't know Venus's name until that moment. He hadn't a clue until Sapnap called it out.
"Right okay, so that explains the no letters. Why'd you leave without me again?" Sapnap asked, narrowing his eyes and leaning closer to the girl, who leaned away.
"Well if I was gonna die there I may as well do it alone. I think we all know that I'd rather die than flirt with someone like him." She snickered childishly while pushing off of the boy. She turned to everyone else, "meet Sapnap, my old friend. He's been my personal guard for a while but we'd rather tell people he's my friend." Venus explained to Kristen in particular.
"He's the one that tried fighting me? A knight?" Technoblade asked, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't impressed by the boy himself, he was impressed by the courage the boy held.
"He would have beaten you." Venus nearly hissed at the pink-haired man, it satisfied her to see his reaction, taken aback and surprised all the same.
"Venus!" Her father scolded as Cecilla consoled the shell-shocked man.
Technoblade was insanely talented: fighting, riding, general sports and intellect in particular. He never learnt how it was to lose. Every war he fought, he conquered; every man opposing him lost even in the democratic vote; every woman trying to seduce him ended up tripping over their feet. But as it stood, Technoblade was beginning to lose more. He failed to seduce Venus, who despite being a firework of colours, stayed ice cold with him. He was losing her even more with her older sister, though Technoblade couldn't deny the woman was good looking, her slight distaste for Venus, or better said, her morbid humour directed at Venus, warped Technoblade's vision on Cecilla. He wasn't sure why. It didn't happen often, only when they truly said something distasteful. But so far, all Cecilla did was crack jokes about her sister, maybe that was why.
Venus spoke to the man, Sapnap, with great fondness. She hadn't seen him for what felt like forever, though it was only three weeks at most. He looked the same as ever, and Venus pulled on his light beard as both of them walked out of the throne room to the courtyard.
Philza stood there talking to a girl. Venus wasn't sure when he left the throne room. The girl was short, sizing up to around 5'2. She had dark brown hair and eyes just like Venus, though they were larger and rounder. She smiled up at the old man, her nose scrunching as it fell into a grin. She wore green. A green top with a brown skirt, laced with black. Allegra. Venus watched their discussion play out with interest.
"You're so old, Philza!" Allegra smiled. She was fond of the man, who stuck around until she was around 14. Essentially, Philza was like an uncle to her.
"Hey! I'm only 40." Philza argued back with a small laugh.
"Your hair is grey and your eyes are dull with age." She retorted, pulling at his beard, though there wasn't much to pull, "only old men have beards."
"My hair's still blond! My eyes are still blue! Little brat, my beard doesn't mean I'm old." He picked her up by the armpits and spun around. "Now I curse you with dizziness." Phil scolded.
"No! I'm not 9 anymore, that doesn't work!" She cheered and pushed herself off with a laugh.
"I'll just do it to your brother then." Philza chided, crossing his arms and looking at Venus with Sapnap.
"Leave our brother out of it, Philza." Venus sighed and sat with the two, Sapnap sitting cross-legged on the floor.
"Whatever you say." Phil mimicked a sigh to copy Venus.
The conversation continued fondly between the four. Venus would mention embarrassing moments of Philza's time in the castle. Sapnap would relate, feeling comfortable enough to mention it. Philza told them stories of his past and of Technoblade. As well as the times Venus spent in the castle. Even about the hallway of paintings which Venus thought she was alone in looking through. Allegra spoke of the ball, and made fun of everyone there. She was better to talk to when people were around, she was generally better than Cecilla, but had it just been Venus and Allegra one-on-one, the best they could do was read and make ambient music on a piano. Which in its own way was great for the sisters to spend time together.