The day after the visit to the Imperial Palace and the second day since Enoch went on vacation.
Rosenta had fallen asleep for the first time in a while. He’d been pretty busy lately.
There were finally no more plans and no one to disturb his sleep.
However, as if to ridicule his thoughts, someone began knocking on the bedroom door early in the morning.
"Duke."
It was Edmund.
He called Rosenta anxiously as if there were a very urgent situation.
The feeling of sleepiness that he had felt was completely gone.
"Duke?"
Rosenta jumped up to his feet. It was because Edmund's impatient voice made him feel anxious.
He quickly put on his coat and shouted loudly to Edmund outside.
"Please wait a moment."
He couldn't go out right away.
Rosenta checked carefully in the mirror that no magic tools had fallen off.
Then he unlocked the door and went outside.
"What's going on?"
Edmund was startled by his appearance and quickly put away the handkerchief that he had been using to wipe the sweat off his forehead.
It was the first time Rosenta had seen him, who’d always maintained a neat appearance, like this.
"I am sorry, but a gift has come for the duke, as they are difficult things to deal with...….”
‘Difficult to deal with?’
He even referred to them as 'things'.
When Edmund said this, Rosenta felt like he should see it with his own eyes right away.
Without further hesitation, he immediately ordered Edmund,
"Guide me there."
"Yes, sir."
At first, it seemed like they were heading to the first floor, so he thought they had piled up the presents there as usual.
But he didn't see anything.
Edmund passed through the hall and tried to open the castle door, which was closed.
But it didn't open easily.
"Ugh, it must be caught from the outside again. Please wait a moment."
The door was not normally this stiff. Rosenta was curious but waited first.
It was a difficult struggle.
At last, the door opened. Rosenta looked out immediately.
Only then did he understand why the door wouldn’t open. It was because of the gifts piled up like mountains that blocked the entrance.
Edmund gave a careful warning before going out.
"There are many fragile objects, so you have to come out carefully."
Then, Edmund went outside, dodging the gifts at the entrance.
Rosenta also had no choice but to move through the gifts as if he were navigating an obstacle course.
“……There are so many that it's hard to get around."
It wasn't just a matter of quantity.
All the gifts looked bulky and weighty.
It seemed that, since they could not be brought inside, they had been left outside in this state.
"Who on earth did this...….”
The more Rosenta looked at them, the dizzier he felt.
Regardless of the volume and quantity, they revealed a terrible gifting sense.
Porcelain dolls for the garden, decorative stone statues, esoteric abstract paintings, tableware studded with precious stones, etc.
It wasn't his cup of tea, there were unnecessary luxuries.
‘Yeah. This is pretty garbage.’
"It doesn't even match my style."
All of them were quite expensive, but they didn’t match the style of the castle.
He wondered who had this terrible sense of humor.
"Where did it all come from?"
"While the duke was asleep, an imperial carriage came to the castle."
He immediately guessed who it was.
Someone who said they were jealous that Rosenta only exchanged gifts with Vivian.
“……Your Majesty."
***
Rosenta looked out the window.
Even though it was a sunny day, people seemed busy moving presents.
Of course, the gifts were still stacked like mountains at the entrance.
He felt sorry for no reason. ‘Should I give them something?’
He left the bedroom.
He was going to go to the kitchen to look for the cook. It was to ask for a special meal to be prepared for those who were struggling.
Caw!
At the crow's cry, he stopped walking in the hallway.
He looked at the balcony where the door was wide open.
This was the place where Enoch often stood. For a while, whenever he walked past this corridor, he’d see him standing there...….
He walked to the balcony as if he were being led by something.
“……Where the hell are you?"
The floodgates opened.
Because of this break, thoughts of Enoch began to fill his head.
All the questions he tried to forget spilled out.
"Even a vacation for three days...….”
Enoch was always anxious that something would happen if Rosenta was away from him.
‘But you've gone on vacation for three days?’
Without even contacting him?
Rosenta had a hunch that he was hiding somewhere and that he was up to something.
Caw!
Again, came the crow's cry.
Caw!
He looked up.
A crow was circling over his head.
He had a feeling something might happen.
‘Is this crow Enoch’s familiar? Or has he transformed?’
Rosenta quietly called his name.
"Enoch."
There was no response, no change.
Only the cold wind passing through his body.
“……Enoch."
His name kept lingering in his mouth like gritty sand.
Rosenta was anxious.
He kept having bad thoughts.
"Then, Enoch...….”
Before Rosenta left, he remembered the last time he saw Enoch.
At that time, Enoch said something in an annoyed voice.
‘Yeah. I'm sure that time...….’
"He said he'd break it."
Alas, it was only then that he could guess what Enoch had disappeared to do.
Enoch was probably in the back alley.
According to the novel, people paid money to commission a mage there.
I’m guessing you’re trying to save as much money as you can there for the next three days.
"Should I go there first?"
This was just Rosenta’s guess.
‘To find out the exact details, I need to meet Enoch and ask him.’
He had no intention of stopping Enoch.
‘But...….’
"Ha, I don't know anymore."
It was good for Enoch to be free.
However, Rosenta didn’t want him to get hurt or have a hard time because of him.
"It seems like it’s getting more and more difficult."
The deeper he thought about it, the more tangled the thread of his thoughts kept getting. He leaned his back against the railing with a deep sigh.
Then, he raised his arm above his head.
Caw!
He raised his head and looked up.
The black crow kept flapping its wings and circling over him.
"There’s still a long way to go before nightfall."
He reached straight for the hot sun that was hurting his eyes.
Whether or not his thoughts were tanged, he intended to meet Enoch first.
He thought this might unravel the tangled threads, and better understand what he was thinking.
"Light in the Darkness."
Before meeting Rosenta, it was the name of the inn where Enoch was staying.
It was a place where the night was the morning.
So even if he tried to find Enoch now, he wouldn’t be able to.
‘Above all...….’
"I'll have to hide my identity."
He couldn’t allow word that Duke Estella had visited the back alley to spread.
In the worst-case scenario, a ridiculous rumor that he went to request an assassination could spread.
At that time, when he went to meet Enoch for the first time, he was careless because he was in a hurry.
He couldn't do that this time.
“……There’s no other way."
He glanced at one of his rings.
The magical space storage ring where the purple veil and dress were stored.
***
The time when everyone slept.
But it was morning for the people of the back alley, where Rosenta was heading to.
"Duke?"
"I’ll be inspecting the area for a while. To make sure that the castle is safe."
"Yes! I see!"
There was no Enoch to help him.
So, he had to leave the castle pretending to go on an inspection.
He was wearing some partial armor to deceive the guards' eyes.
However, he couldn’t go to the inn where Enoch had previously stayed like this.
Before going to the back alley, he wanted to visit the basement of the delivery building.
There was no more secretive place than there.
"It's definitely a remote place, I don't see any light."
It was dark and deserted.
He walked toward the underground passage, relying only on a small torch.
He stumbled into the basement.
However, he did not relax. After turning on all the lights, he checked to see if anyone else was there.
Then he reached out his hand.
"Magic space."
A black hole immediately appeared in the air. He put his hand into it without hesitation.
‘Is it because the skeletons are gone?’
He didn't even have to rummage around much before he found the purple veil and dress right away.
"Shall we begin now?"
The preparations had begun in earnest.
He began to pull all the magic tools out of his ears and off his fingers.
She didn't forget to put them in the jewelry box she brought to prevent losing them.
"I'm sure it worked right?"
It was difficult to check because there was no mirror.
Eventually, she confirmed by patting herself all over with her hands.
Finally, she pressed her neck.
She couldn't feel her Adam’s apple at all. It was a smooth neck, with no curves.
She had transformed.
No, the caterpillar was back to its original self as if it had peeled off its skin.
“……It's perfect."
Then her hands fumbled awkwardly to put on the dress.
The same purple dress she’d worn last time clung tight to her body.
"As expected, it's uncomfortable."
Still, the end was now in sight.
Even though she was fidgeting because the dress was uncomfortable, she calmly placed the purple veil over her head.
She walked over to the torch hanging on the wall. It was to check her changed hair color.
"Perfect."
It was no longer indigo blue.
It was a very deep purple, resembling the color of her eyes.
No one would think of her as the Duke Rosenta Estella.
She smiled satisfactorily and even covered herself with a black robe.
This was the end of her preparation to go meet Enoch.