Iver and Lily arrived at the Silver and Tin Palace at half past five in the afternoon, when it was not yet fully dark.
As a result, they still had not finished eating by quarter to nine that evening.
There was no ball, nor was anyone else present. It was simply Iver, Princess Isabel, and Master Yanis chatting endlessly.
The first round of dishes had gone completely cold before they had finished eating, so a second round was served.
It included baked apples, sponge cake, pan-fried scallops with foie gras...
At one point, Isabel realized that Lily, the maid who had been standing behind Iver the entire time, was hungry. She warmly invited Lily to sit down and eat with them. She had already drunk three glasses of wine, leaving her cheeks slightly flushed, but her eyes were growing brighter and brighter.
Although it went against etiquette for a maid to eat at the same table as the esteemed Princess... Lily really was hungry. Although she had eaten something before leaving to stave off hunger, standing ramrod straight behind Iver as an ordinary human still consumed a great deal of energy.
But according to the rules, whether she could sit down and eat still depended on her master Iver's attitude.
Not only did Iver agree, he even asked Isabel whether Lily could sit there and rest after finishing her meal instead of continuing to stand behind him. Isabel agreed without the slightest hesitation.
None of the three cared much about "rules." Isabel had basically been raised by her grandmother, Queen Sophia, while Yanis had even accomplished the feat of hiking alone around the world. As for Iver, with his adaptability to the Path of Transcendence, there was even less to say.
Thus, the trio's banquet happily became a gathering of