Yura and the priests were officially gone.
Now that the person who had been making a fuss in the castle was gone, Rosenta’s mind was at ease.
As always, he gave work as an excuse to the household staff.
"I'll be heading to bed as soon as I finish work, so let everyone know."
"Yes, sir."
After that, he immediately closed the door. Enoch was behind him, of course.
He asked Enoch about the box.
"What about the box?"
At his sudden question, Enoch calmly pointed at it.
"I put it over there."
There was a box where his finger pointed.
After nodding his head, Rosenta began to pull out the clothes and accessories one by one.
He then told Enoch,
"Go in the bathroom."
He had to change his clothes after removing all the magic tools, but he couldn't show Enoch that.
Of course, Enoch also knew that.
So, he headed for the bathroom, nodding slowly without saying much.
Rosa struggled to change into the dress by herself. Of course, she then put on the jewelry.
It wasn't until then that she called Enoch.
"Enoch."
As if waiting for her call, Enoch came out at once.
Enoch remained motionless in front of the bathroom door. He stared at her with a dazed look.
For some reason, his gaze was embarrassing.
She smoothed her bare arm, which had no cloth on it.
At the same time, she was worried about whether he felt something was strange, asked,
"Is something strange?"
“……No."
Enoch's blurred focus began to become more focused.
Enoch slowly approached her.
Then, he looked closely and headed behind her.
"Oh."
There was no emotion in Enoch's brief remark. It was neither admiration nor concern.
Soon, Enoch touched her braid.
Then, he loosened her hair tie.
"Your unbraided hair is much prettier than your braided hair."
She felt her hair falling down lightly across her back.
‘That's strange.’
Vivian had said tied hair looked better with this dress.
But Enoch was also adamant.
"As expected, this is much prettier."
She couldn't bring herself to braid it again when he had that smile and satisfied tone of voice.
Well, it doesn't matter whether it's braided or not.
It would all be the same once she wore her purple veil anyway.
"Then let's go like this."
To finish things off, she put a veil on her head.
Then she wore heels.
“……Ugh."
Apart from balancing, the soles of her feet hurt quite a bit.
‘But I'll get used to it soon.’
She lowered the hem of her black dress. Then she saw black heels glancing through the geometric white lace.
It was a strange feeling to be decorated from head to toe like this.
She was still looking at the dress and heels when, suddenly, an arm wrapped around her waist.
It was Enoch's right-arm.
"Rosa, I'll escort you."
***
Enoch's mobility magic made arrival faster and easier.
She intentionally avoided using a delivery carriage or other means of transportation.
The courier service had already been sufficiently promoted and was expanding its hubs.
If it was needlessly associated with her, all kinds of rumors would start to spread and there could end up being more reporters than customers.
So, she headed to the Imperial Palace alone.
Wearing a dress did not mean she couldn’t ride a horse, nor did there exist a rule that said women must ride in a carriage.
So, she rode a horse.
"Whoa."
When she pulled the reins, the horse reared its front hooves and quickly stopped running.
She neatly jumped off the horse.
Then, she spoke to a nearby servant as if it was all perfectly natural.
"Please."
She passed by the attendant.
She climbed the small stairs and approached the people guarding the entrance to the banquet hall.
As she got closer, she heard a commotion in the banquet hall.
After going through various processes, she felt like she had unintentionally arrived at a time when many others were already there.
She didn't want to be the main character.
She prayed to herself that everything would be fine and that everything would pass quietly without any problems.
"Here’s my invitation."
An invitation letter with a gold leaf seal was given to the person near the entrance.
The man was visibly startled upon glancing at it.
Especially at moment when he saw the name 'Rosa' on the invitation letter.
“……Well, let me introduce you."
"Yes."
Strangely, the man paused to look at her. He even cleared his voice vigorously.
"Mhmhmhm!"
And as if it were a sign, the golden door, which had been tightly closed, slowly began to open.
Through the open door, the man's voice rang very loudly.
"The Purple Saint of the Helios Empire! Announcing Lady Rosa!"
"What are you saying now…….”
It was an unexpected title.
Usually, one was supposed to be introduced by the name written on the invitation letter.
But why was she called the Purple Saint?
Not even the Woman in Purple, but the Purple Saint.
"Well, that's what His Majesty...….”
‘Theodore, I am speechless.’
She sighed internally, but she raised her chin to look confident on the outside.
Then, she walked past the man and took one step into the banquet hall.
Unlike the dark outside, the inside was bright and bright.
A banquet hall full of gold.
Everyone looked at her as they paused their conversation.
She found Vivian staring at her with twinkling eyes among the eyes that were drawn towards her.
After that, her steps were relentless.
She quickly headed towards Vivian before the crowd could swarm.
However, people came to their senses immediately and threw a barrage of questions at her.
"What's your last name?"
"Are we not familiar with you because you’re from a collateral line?"
"Why are you hiding your identity?"
She was confused whether those in front of her were aristocrats or journalists.
And in the meantime, there were quite a few people who were curious about her face and urged her to take off her veil.
"Show us your face."
"Just a little bit, lift the veil...….”
In fact, someone put his hand on my veil without any concern for manners.
But the attempt failed.
This was because Vivian hit the man's hand fiercely.
"Lord Venice! You are so rude. How can you touch someone without permission?"
"Oh, that's...….”
"Even if it's a veil, it's still taking off someone’s clothes. This is really disappointing."
It was a very cold voice.
She pulled Rosa away from the man with a look of contempt.
Then the man apologized with a red face and turned away.
"I'm sorry!"
Starting with that, the people who’d surrounded Rosa began to fall one by one.
Everyone looked at Vivian.
"Rosa, are you okay?"
There would be no one there who could stop the outspoken Vivian.
Especially after seeing the aristocrat who was just scolded by Vivian, they wouldn't be able to approach her carelessly.
She finally felt relieved.
"Yes, thanks to you, I’m fine. Thank you very much for helping me."
Rosa couldn’t speak comfortably because people were still hovering around.
Instead, they covered their mouths and chatted in a very quiet voice.
"Vivian, if it wasn't for you, I would be in big trouble."
"You’re here at my request, so leave everything to me today."
"Yes, please."
Flutter.
Vivian's fan fluttered.
Vivian's eyes smiled at Rosa’s answer, gently drawing a line.
But, before their next conversation could even begin, they fell quiet.
It was great timing for him to appear.
"The Sun of the Helios Empire, His Majesty the Emperor Theodore Royal Helios enters!"
***
No one was interested in Yura.
Actually, she wasn’t completely ignored. There were still a lot of people around Yura.
However, Yura did not want the attention of these clumsy aristocrats.
She wanted to be center stage.
She wanted to be by that wonderful person's side in the spotlight.
But reality wasn’t matching her desires.
"If you don't mind Saint, could you give me a blessing?"
"I have work that requires me to visit the Holy Kingdom, so may I bring a special gift to you then?"
The only ones approaching her were those hoping to get something out of it.
While they were praising her, their eyes were also directed at Theodore, Vivian, and the Woman in Purple.
‘Ha! What is she calling herself?!’
‘I'm a saint of the Holy Kingdom, but she's basically a volunteer. Doesn’t she know her place?!’
Yura burst into a cold sneer.
"Ha!"
"S-, Saint?"
I didn't want to be the one to go to Theodore first, who didn't even look her way.
It would hurt her pride even more.
So, Yura turned around as if she didn't want to see them anymore.
"I want to get some fresh air. I'll step out for a bit."
She went out to the terrace.
When no one came after her, Yura's expression crumpled.
Standing on an empty terrace, she glared into the hall.
Then, she turned her body as if she didn't want to even hear the noise.
Something came into Yura's view.
“……What's going on?"
As she turned her gaze toward the bushes connected to the terrace, she saw something like a shadow between them.
She heard a rustle.
Then, a man wearing a black robe appeared. He reached his hand out to Yura.
"Where’s the book?"
Yura's eyes grew wide at those words.
She wasn’t surprised that he’d come looking for the book, as though that were a given.
She was just taken aback by the man's voice, which sounded so familiar.
"You were the one in my dreams...….”