The day had come once more. It was the time of year when ghosts danced and made merry—the time when children dressed up as those same spirits, asked for candy, and went around playing tricks. Indeed, this was no holiday for grown-ups.
Or it shouldn’t have been, anyway, but for us court staff, it presented a rare, once-a-year opportunity. It just so happened to be the one day of the year when dressing up in a costume and scaring the dignitaries was considered a permissible offense. Alas, all our attempts so far had ended in disaster.
“Konrad, this is going to be our year!”
I was an employee of the royal archives, and the one giving me a pep talk was from another department. Even more new faces were joining in on the free-for-all festivities this year. It was the perfect chance to make friends with people who worked in different areas.
Having been roped into participating once again, I responded with a noncommittal nod. All these years, we’d dressed up in costumes and done our absolute best to scare a certain prince. This was a product of our growing resentment and envy of him for constantly flirting with Lady Elianna right in front of us, when none of us had girlfriends of our own. Seeing him act like a scaredy-cat over a ghost would be the perfect way to blow off a little steam! It had all begun with that silly little idea.
This year, things were going to be a little different. Queen Henrietta herself had found out about our secret free-for-all and decided to lean into it. In her view, events that allowed the staff to interact—civil officials and military men alike—were a good opportunity to get to know the members and roles of the other departments. Furthermore, allowing an outlet—albeit a modest one—for everyday grievances and malaise would clear the air and help revitalize the court.
With those goals in mind, the plan was to hold an unorthodox free-for-all on a trial basis. However, a few rules were laid down to ensure that things didn’t get too out of control. First, it was against the rules to scare anyone who wasn’t in costume. Second and third, each participant would receive a piece of candy, and the person who collected the most candy would receive a special prize from the queen. The fourth rule was that there would be four special ghosts among those in costume. Said people would have multiple pieces of candy to hand out, and each of their candies would be worth ten regular pieces. And lastly, the festivities would begin once the work day was over and end when the clock rang 8 o’clock.
All the participants ooh-ed and ahh-ed when they heard the explanation. There was going to be a special reward! And from the queen, no less!
The first ones to chime in excitedly were the crown prince’s personal guard, who were said to have become even more embittered since last year. “Does that mean we could get an apology from a certain prince who’s always yanking us around from east to west and demanding the impossible?”
“No, I’d rather lecture him speechless! Just imagine that... His Highness at a loss for words...”
One voice calmly urged them to reconsider. “Think bigger. It’s a special prize from Her Majesty.”
As everyone’s attention turned to the speaker, a question in their eyes, they heard one of the younger guards swallow hard. “Do you mean...we could ask her to set us up with one of her personal, handpicked maids or court ladies?”
The look on the faces of all the lonely, single men changed the instant they were made aware of the possibility. Is that possible? Would she really do that?! Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask! went their wishful thinking.
As I watched this, I thought to myself, C’mon, guys. No one even said the special prize is a favor from the prince or queen.
And so began a day of revelry for spirits from all walks of life. As soon as the bell rang to signal the end of the work day, ghosts flocked one after another to the royal archives, which was located toward the edge of the royal palace. The fact that we were less likely to disturb the other departments made it the ideal location, and it was where we’d held the event in secret last year. However, it was extra rowdy this time around.
Why? Because the first hurdle was a werewolf blocking the door.
“Why are you standing in our way, Commander Glen?! You’re supposed to be on our side!”
“Forgive me. I had no choice.”
“Yeah right! I bet His Highness told you he’d give you a day off if you held us off!”
“D-Don’t be ridiculous!”
“Traitor! Hand over the candy!”
It devolved into an incomprehensible squabble, with one person threatening to put a curse on him to make him bald.
From the sound of it, Commander Glen of the imperial guard, the special ghost dressed up as a werewolf, was holding his men back outside the door. It seemed to have turned into a fistfight, as it was forbidden to draw one’s sword in the royal palace except in cases of emergency.
Meanwhile, we librarians and the other civil officials had been hanging out in the archives since before the work day ended. Dressed in our ghostly garb, we exchanged glances and breathed a sigh of relief. Hand-to-hand combat was not our area of expertise.
The civil officials from one particular department celebrated the fact that we’d cut down on the competition. Word of the special ghosts had already gotten around, so they’d arrived one step ahead in anticipation of such a situation.
Just as we took off in search of the person who was supposed to be farther toward the back, someone else called out to us. “My, what’s this?”
It was a voice like a chill that crept up the legs from the earth. A few members of the aforementioned department froze, instantly recognizing who it belonged to, then nervously turned around.
Without a shadow of doubt, the one standing there was their boss, Alexei Strasser. His icy blue eyes bore an intense frostiness as he stared back at his subordinates. “When I heard that staff were sneaking out of work before the day was over, I insisted that no such slackers could be under my command... How very embarrassing for me.”
I could have sworn I heard the men’s silent screams.
One brave soul among them spoke up in a quivering voice. “We’re very sorry, Lord Alexei! We’re ready to accept whatever punishment you may dole out later. But won’t you please grant us some of your special ghost candies?!”
Several others echoed the request, at which point I saw a blue vein bulge out on Lord Alexei’s temple.
“Do I look like I’m in costume to you?”
“Huh? I thought you were supposed to be an ice demon...”
As soon as they said it, the men seemed to realize their mistake: a workaholic like Lord Alexei would never participate in an event like this. They clamped their hands over their mouths, but it was too late.
The ice demon’s lips curled into a rare smile—in this case, an absolutely terrifying grin. “Now is as good a time as any. I ought to have a nice, long talk with my direct reports every once in a while.”
Praying for the handful of men who had dropped out of the race, still rooted to the spot in fear, the rest of us headed for the innermost parts of the archives. This had long since ceased to be the library where we worked on a daily basis; now, it was an underworld labyrinth. It was certainly a fitting stage for a free-for-all. The autumn sun had gone down early in the day, and the handful of lanterns lit along the walls were like signposts guiding us through the maze. We couldn’t even imagine what lay in store for us next.
The civil officials left in the game were down to us librarians, a few young men from the Pharmacy Lab, and, surprisingly, a handful of doctors. From what I understood, they wanted to get a morale boost from the queen’s special prize before Doctor Harvey, the court physician, could make another unreasonable request of them. It went without saying that the men from the Pharmacy Lab bore the same grudge against the prince that we did.
One of the group nervously ventured, “Say, there are four special ghosts, right? If one is Commander Glen, and the second isn’t Lord Alexei...who’s left?”
“The third is probably the princess, and the last has to be the demon lord.”
The queen hadn’t announced who the ghosts were. Still, judging by all the traps the demon lord had laid, it was safe to assume that he and his beloved were included among their ranks.