Cate walked calmly, ensuring she moved in the exact manner of the real Galeazzo. She was not willing to see her hard work in making Galeazzo her avatar go to waste simply because someone noticed a change in his gait.
Cate paused slightly when she saw a familiar face in the crowd. At the front of the grand hall, the Seamless Emperor sat upon his emerald throne. The man wore imperial robes of deep purple and red, crafted from a magical material that seemed to possess a life of its own. It glowed in the light, signaling to all that even the radiance of the sun was not above the emperor. From what Cate could discern, any magician who had not attained the rank of supreme would have no hope of damaging this robe, no matter how hard they tried. Even tearing a simple hole would be impossible.
"Is the robe made from the skin of some mythical beast?" she wondered.
The colors that comprised the garment were not things just anyone could obtain. Cate already knew that only the emperor could wear purple, but this shade was not the one used by ancient human societies. It was made from divine blood rather than crushed snails. Cate immediately identified this as the blood of a god the moment she laid eyes on the emperor. This was because she herself had become the Herald of Set and had divine power coursing through her own veins.
From Galeazzo's memories, she knew about the Living Purple, the imperial robe passed down from one emperor to another for thousands of years. Still, she could not believe there was a god foolish enough to let lower beings possess their divine blood. The number of rituals that could be carried out using such blood was countless, and magicians were always willing to do anything for more power. Even Cate had to admit she wanted to get her hands on the Living Purple.
The emperor was a truly glorious figure, but Cate had seen actual gods, so his presence was not what caught her attention. At the front of the hall, right next to the Seamless Emperor, stood a young woman of uncommon beauty: Jordan Staranse.
This young woman had been on Cate's team back in Avalon. She was the sister to the real Catherine Staranse, the girl Cate had impersonated to join Avalon in the first place. Cate had not seen her since she took leave from the academy. While she had always known Jordan was part of the Staranse mage clan and that her father was important, it was only now that she finally put everything together.
From the little information Cate had gathered from Catherine, she had never learned that the father who abandoned the girl for being a bastard was the emperor of the Seamless Empire. This was new information that Cate had to include in her calculations. Jordan was a princess, which explained her entitled behaviors, and the fact that Catherine's father was the emperor explained why she had been thrown out of the Seamless realm. An emperor having bastards was a cause for concern, especially for empires as old as this one; they fully understood what a single bastard could do to thousands of years of legacy.
Cate kept her calm and approached the front of the hall with her head barely raised. When she reached the throne, she fell to her knees and lowered her head even deeper. The rules of etiquette in this place were very strict, and she had made sure to fully capture them in each gesture.
The hall was filled with people, yet it was completely silent. Speaking before the emperor said a word was a crime worthy of losing one's head and all of one's family wealth. No one was crazy enough to risk it. Cate said nothing, waiting for the emperor to speak. She felt his gaze move over her body as though he were trying to make a difficult decision.
"Upon this most auspicious day, we bid a triumphal welcome to the Red Prince, returned at last to the bosom of his Empire," the emperor finally said. "Having traversed the mortal coil and harvested the very fruits of worldly wisdom, he hither returns, no longer a seeker, but a master of man's estate. From this hour forth, he shall dwell amongst us, a fixed star in our firmament, to pilot our people toward a more sublime and everlasting enlightenment."
Cate finally let out a sigh of relief. She had done everything she could to enter this place as Galeazzo since he was a Staranse, but there had always been a chance she would be beheaded on sight. Before Galeazzo left the Seamless realm to wander the mortal world, he had been a playboy who partied through the night and slept through the day. He bedded men, women, vampires, and anything else with legs. He had tasted every wine possible and experimented with all sorts of drugs. In fact, he had been given the title of Red Prince because of the sheer amount of red wine he had consumed over the years.
It would not have been shocking if the emperor decided that, for the sake of the empire, this nephew was more trouble than he was worth and needed killing. No one would dare object to the will of the emperor. In this realm, the Seamless Emperor was god and his word was natural law.
Cate was not the only one who let out a sigh of relief. Finius Staranse, Galeazzo's father, who was standing a few feet away from the throne, was also visibly relieved. He knew his son and understood that he caused more problems than anyone else in the realm. His return was also seen as a kind of silent threat to the power of the emperor.
The emperor had a single legitimate heir, Jordan Staranse, but she was a woman. Even though the empire had evolved greatly and many barbaric practices had been cast aside, most people still expected a man to sit on the throne, even though the laws made no mention of gender as a qualification. Galeazzo was the emperor's nephew, and it would not be the first time a man had grabbed the throne away from a rightful empress.