"Is Your Highness ready? The master of ceremonies has been waiting outside for quite some time."
A palace attendant knocked on the door as he spoke.
"Almost, almost. Oh, how is my King Father? Can he get up today?"
Chen Cheng asked the attendant through the door.
"Your Highness, His Majesty still has no appetite and cannot get out of bed."
The door creaked open. Chen Cheng straightened his ceremonial robes and said:
"I haven't had time to visit my King Father these past few days. Make sure you find him the best physician and give him the best magical medicine."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Take a look. Are my robes in order? Help me fix anything that's out of place."
Chen Cheng wore the grand court robes of a marquisate's Crown Prince. They were the official robes the Empire had bestowed on the Hazy Kingdom when it granted the fief.
The attendant looked him over and smiled.
"All is in order, Your Highness. You should go quickly. Today is an important day; you mustn't arrive behind everyone else."
"All right, enough chatter. Remember to take good care of my King Father."
"Make way for His Highness!"
When Chen Cheng emerged from the official guesthouse, the procession was already lined up outside. Once he boarded his carriage, the master of ceremonies at its head cracked his whip and called out.
The other kingdoms' guesthouses had processions of their own, but the size of each procession and the ornamentation of its carriages made the differences between the kingdoms plain.
The ranks of duke, marquis, count, viscount, and baron bestowed within those kingdoms no longer counted for much. Under the Empire's old order, the kingdoms themselves had been fiefs of those five ranks.
After the Empire fell, every one of those fiefs had