The two days passed by very quickly and it was already the night before the gala.

The entire palace was in a hubbub. More beast clansmen flitted in and out of the palace.

There were suddenly more guards, more maids and even though the ball was held at very short notice, it looked like the preparations were still thorough and extravagant. 

Sylvia, however, continued doing her own routine. She meticulously repeated the set of movements Gruger had taught her both in the morning and in the evening.

She was only able to do them once in the morning before tiredness overtook her but she was able to repeat them several times and hold the poses a lot longer during the night.

This seemed a bit weird and unusual to her so she decided to ask the tutor about it during their next lesson.

Another surprising development was the missing grandfather. Sylvia hadn’t seen the old man for the past couple of days, ever since their affinity testing.

She didn’t know if this had anything to do with her almost abysmal potential. After all, it was too coincidental, but she didn’t mind it.

That was the way the world worked. If something was useless, it was typically ignored and cast aside.

Besides, as the patriarch of the clan, she assumed that the man would probably have so much more responsibilities than coddling her every day.

“You two can go ahead and rest. I won’t be needing anything for the rest of the night.”

Sylvia dismissed the two maids who were watching her from a distance and then continued training under the moonlight for almost the entire night.

Only at the brink of dawn, she finally felt tired and fell asleep.

While she was sleeping peacefully within her quarters, several families of the Kingdom started arriving at the royal palace one by one, including the various clan elders, clan Lords, and temple guardians.

Even though the grand ball was in the evening, this was a rare opportunity for them to meet with the King. So several guests arrived well beforehand.

The main star of the party, however, slowly woke up in the afternoon. 

She was about to retreat back to the garden and train, when all the three maids, Evie, Coral, and Lola blocked her path.

“Your highness, please allow us to help you prepare for the evening.” 

The three of them looked very nervous and seemed to be awaiting Sylvia’s response as if their life depended on it.

“His highness… He…” Lola began to explain when Evie quickly gave her a sharp glance, the three of them looking at each other with guilty expressions.

“What happened?” Sylvia asked, her brows knitted together, a frown on her face. “If you can’t tell me then don’t bother returning back here.”

“Your highness!” All three of them exclaimed in fright.

But Sylvia did not budge and continued to stare at them firmly. Seeing her stern expression, they couldn’t help but start shaking.

They couldn’t refuse the commanding aura that was seeping out of Sylvia even without her knowing.

Evie was the first one to break and she started talking.

“Your highness, his majesty, the King had visited you while you were sleeping and he asked us not to disturb your slumber. Ummm… so we did not wake you up sooner.”

“His highness also gifted you a dress for the ball and particularly insisted that you were it for the ball.” 

“He also instructed us to make sure that your highness was presentable. Please forgive us.” 

“We were not sure if we were allowed to reveal this to you because his majesty had asked us not to bother you with the details.”

Evie found herself unable to stop talking and blurted out everything from start to finish.

Only after spilling all the information, she finally took a couple of breaths and then made an O with her mouth as if she couldn’t believe that she had just told Sylvia everything.

“Hmm… So that’s what this is… interesting.” Sylvia nodded, gazing at the maid who had now covered her mouth with her hand.

She pensively looked at the distance for a while before finally relenting. “I understand. You can start with the preparations.”

Once Sylvia gave the go signal, the three maids immediately buzzed around like bees and started doing everything, attending to her from head to toe.

They prepared a scented bath for Sylvia. They helped her get into a gorgeous dress that looked proportionately heavy.

Once that was done, Sylvia sat in front of the mirror, while Coral brushed and combed her long silver hair.

Sylvia did not bother herself with these small details and basically allowed the maids to do whatever they want.

She sat patiently while the maids took their time with her. They even ended up trying three different hairstyles on her before they finalized one.

“Your highness, which jewelry do you prefer?” Evie asked and Sylvia shrugged once again letting them decide whatever they pleased.

All of this was very new for her, and she neither liked nor cared for such extravagance.

The three young maids, however, excitedly fuzzed over her and attended to each and every detail.

Sylvia was naturally beautiful, so they only put on light make-up on her face and even then it almost took all of the afternoon until they were fully satisfied.

And when the preparations were finally done, the three maids had dazed looks on their faces. “Your highness…” 

“Hmm? Are we done here?” Sylvia asked and the three of them quickly nodded.

It was not that they had done a lot of work on her and it was difficult to put a finger on exactly what it was, but something made the woman in front of them look like an ethereal goddess.

There was an air of elegance and nobility about her that was unmistakable… as if it was her birthright.

Not long after, a guard promptly knocked on the chamber doors. 

“Your highness, the guests have all arrived.. His majesty, the King, has requested your presence at the main hall.”