Chapter 57

After a long carriage journey of about three hours from the Blackwood Estate, we finally managed to enter the Imperial Palace.

I got up with my stiff body due to sitting in the shaking carriage for a long time and slowly got off the carriage with Ethan’s help.

As soon as I was in an environment where I could stretch my body for the first time in a while, a refreshing moan naturally burst out of my mouth.

“Aggghhh…!”

It’s times like these when you can really feel that Luminor Academy has a medieval fantasy setting.

No matter how good the carriage of a ducal family’s noble son is, it can’t match the suspension of a car I rode in my previous life.

Moreover, since the roads weren’t made of asphalt, it felt bumpy here and there.

Considering that most of this was a well-maintained road leading from Blackwood territory to the Imperial Capital, unpaved mountain roads or dirt roads would be even more uncomfortable than this.

Somehow, just imagining them made me feel sick, and my expression naturally frowned slightly.

“Lilith, are you tired? Want to rest for a bit before going in?”

“…No, it’s fine. If I can’t even endure a carriage ride of this level, no one would see me as a noble lady, right, Ed?”

“…R-right.”

Although I had a desire to rest my body that was tired from the long journey for a while, I just gave up on it.

My acting had already begun the moment I entered this Imperial Palace.

Since I had already taken on the role, I would only faithfully carry it out by matching it.

I’d do so just like how I had acted as Lilith Rosewood, the maid of the Blackwoods, for the past 3 and a half years.

…Personally, I had a stronger desire to enter the Imperial Palace quickly and see the original characters rather than the rest.

“Have you visited the Imperial Palace before, Ed?”

“…I may have come before, but I don’t have any particular memories left. It was probably much earlier than when I met you, Lilith.”

I thought that as a noble son of the Blackwoods, he would have visited at least once, but it seemed that it didn’t leave much of an impression due to the time he was bedridden with the Curse of Erosion.

The Imperial Palace of the Argentian Empire was famous for its notoriously complex structure, even among players.

If you’re not careful, whether you’re a noble or not, it’s the perfect environment to get lost and become a laughingstock.

…There’s no choice, I have no choice but to use my knowledge from my previous life here.

“The gatekeeper said that there will be servants on standby in the central hall, so let’s go there first and get guided to the ballroom…”

“…This way, Ed.”

“Lilith…?”

“The ballroom is to the right after entering from the west entrance and going up to the 3rd floor using the stairs you see ahead. As soon as you go up the stairs, there will be a three-way fork, with the Morning Glory Hall on the left, the Noon Sunflower Hall in the middle, and the Evening Rose Hall on the right. The place we need to go is the Evening Rose Hall, so…”

“…Lilith, there’s something I’m curious about, can I ask?”

“Yes?”

“As far as I know, Lilith, you are a commoner, but how do you know the structure of the Imperial Palace so well?”

“……”

Ah, I’m an idiot.

I should have just quietly followed where he was going; why did I suddenly get switched to yapping mode at a strange place…

Rambling on when I knew something was an unavoidable habit from my previous life. …Or it could be a characteristic of most humans.

…I have no choice but to somehow gloss over it with a suitable excuse.

“I knew through prior preparation. Since I was participating in an event hosted by the Imperial Palace, I thought it would be good to collect information about that in advance.”

“…As far as I know, the structure of the Imperial Palace is kept secret and not explained in detail, even to nobles.”

“……”

“Lilith. I’m asking just in case, but have you visited the Imperial Palace before…”

“…Yes, I was wrong. As you said, Ed, it would be better to receive guidance from the servants in the central hall. That would be more reliable than following my insufficient guidance and wandering around the Imperial Palace.”

“Ah, no! I didn’t mean to say that I couldn’t trust you, Lilith! It was just a minor question…”

“Shall we go to the central hall where the Imperial Palace servants are, Ed? You said there will be Imperial Palace servants that you can trust stationed there. It would be much better than following my guidance on unfamiliar paths and shamefully getting lost.”

“No, no! Let’s go to the stairs, then head right! I trust you, Lilith…!”@@novelbin@@

Somehow glossing over it like that, when we finally arrived at the Evening Rose Hall, there were servants wearing masks waiting at the door to guide us.

The butler wearing a mask spoke in a slightly surprised voice, seeing Ethan and I walking to the banquet hall as if it were natural.

“It’s not your first time here.”

“…Why do you think so?”

“The Evening Rose Hall is a room that has never been open to outsiders before. You two are the first guests to find this place at once without the servants of the palace.”

“……”

I could feel Ethan’s gaze through the mask, and my mouth felt parched again.

I should have kept my mouth shut after all… Am I really an idiot…?

Why did I confidently volunteer to guide the way, drawing more attention than necessary?

…Well, what’s done is done, and for now, I should focus on acting as Ethan’s fiancée.

Even if I make excuses later about knowing the structure of the Imperial Palace, right now, I have to be faithful to the role I need to play.

Rather, at times like this, I need to be brazen to make it difficult for them to say anything later.

“Why are you staring like that, Ed? Aren’t we going in?”

“…S-sorry. Let’s go in.”

Ethan, who was flustered by my confident words, hurriedly entered the hall.

Such a reaction was natural, in a way.

Now that we had arrived at the venue for the masquerade ball, the one who would be in trouble if my acting as a noble lady was exposed was not me, but Ethan.

With that thought, as soon as I entered the Evening Rose Hall with the noble son of the Blackwoods, dazzling lights, and gentle music started to enter my eyes and ears.

Guests who had already arrived at the ball earlier also started to come into view one by one.

‘Hasn’t Seraphine joined yet?’

If a person with that unique appearance was walking around the ballroom, there’s no way she wouldn’t attract people’s attention.

Of course, she would also be wearing a fancy mask covering her eyes like the nobles attending this masquerade ball, but her appearance and features were not something that could be hidden by just a small mask.

At least, based on what I experienced in-game, it felt that way.

Of course, it’s a prejudice I might need to change when I see her in person.

‘As for the other key figures… They don’t particularly stand out right now…’

Putting aside other characters whose exact whereabouts I don’t know yet, I thought at least ‘Orion, the Sage of Green’ or ‘Agnes of the Inferno’ would have attended.

Well, they may be enjoying the banquet from their respective positions without catching my eye yet.

Since this was the birthday banquet of the Third Princess, it was expected that several people would attend, so it was too ambitious to expect the main characters to catch my eye immediately.

Although I’m not certain, it seemed like a few people who were presumed to be supporting characters in Luminor Academy passed by. Like the brown-haired noble lady with short hair who just passed by over there.

Of course, I wasn’t a passionate person who memorized the names of all the supporting characters one by one, so I just passed it off as ‘it is what it is.’

“Is it interesting, Lilith?”

“Yes?”

“You seemed to be looking around diligently.”

“Ah…”

“I thought you might be familiar with it since you knew about the Evening Rose Hall with such confidence earlier, but I guess this is your first time in the Imperial Palace, too?”

“…Of course, Ed.”

…It wasn’t a lie.

This was indeed the first time I saw it with my own two eyes and not on a monitor.

Of course, in the game, I knew the geography like the back of my hand since it was a place I passed through about five or six times whenever I played through the main story.

It was a situation where my looking around to find the main characters was misunderstood as being surprised by my first visit to the Imperial Palace, but thinking about it, it was actually better to let the misunderstanding continue.

After all, it would be much better than making them suspect that I had visited the Imperial Palace before.

Thinking that I had glossed over my previous mistake with a natural answer, Ethan asked me about my condition again.

“Is the dress not stuffy? Or are the shoes a bit awkward?”

“It would be a lie to say it’s not uncomfortable, but I have no intention of neglecting my role as your fiancée, Ed, so you don’t have to worry.”

“…Can you repeat what you just said one more time?”

“The part about enduring the discomfort?”

“…A little further ahead.”

“I have no intention of neglecting my role as your fiancée, Ed. …Is this the part you’re referring to?”

“…Yeah, that’s enough. Thank you, Lilith.”

I don’t understand his intention in insisting on hearing that part again.

Am I that unreliable to the point where he needs to get confirmation two or three times?

Well, it wasn’t something I couldn’t understand him being anxious about.

From Ethan’s perspective, bringing me, a maid, as his partner must have been a very adventurous act.

As I said before, bringing a commoner maid as a partner to an event hosted by the Imperial family like this was something that could easily cause misunderstandings in many ways.

Although Ethan said he had discussed my arrival with the Third Princess in advance, other nobles couldn’t support that situation unconditionally.

If he was unnecessarily poked at politically or unfavorable slander was amplified, even the Blackwood family wouldn’t be able to quell the controversy easily.

…Thinking about that, I still couldn’t understand why Ethan brought me as his partner.

If he really wanted to act, it would have been much safer to set a lesser-known young lady from a branch family of the Blackwoods as his partner.

Well, maybe there was no particular special reason for bringing me.

Perhaps the lady he had previously discussed with couldn’t attend for some reason, and he hastily replaced her with me.

From the beginning, the strategy of bringing a partner to the banquet hall to avoid causing a commotion was a role that could be replaced by anyone, not just me.

It just so happened that I was the exclusive maid closest to Ethan among the maids, so I was coincidentally given this role.

Even if Isabel or Catherine had taken this position, what they had to do wouldn’t have been much different.

‘…No, I guess Catherine wouldn’t work after all.’

She was a girl whose heart was so weak that she was completely distanced from acting and such.

If a passing noble just tapped her shoulder in this banquet hall, she would automatically blurt out ‘Young Master, Miss,’ and her identity would be exposed.

Tap.

“Ah?!”

…Yes, exactly like in this situation.

The hand of a lady with sky blue hair walking from the opposite side while looking away slightly bumped into my shoulder in the banquet hall.

As a result, some of the contents of the cocktail glass in the lady’s hand had spilled.

“Ah…”

“……”

The young lady’s glove and the shoulder part of the dress I was wearing got wet at the same time due to the spilled cocktail.

…This one dress I’m wearing right now seems to cost more than a mid-level maid’s annual salary. Surely they won’t ask me to compensate for it later, right?

Well, I’ll think about that problem slowly later, but for now, I had to deal with the situation at hand first.

If I cause a commotion like this, I’ll only stand out unnecessarily, so I need to approach this as gently as possible…

Honestly, the damage to me, whose dress got wet, was a bit greater than that lady whose glove got a little wet, and it was her fault for not paying attention to her hand as she held the cocktail.

But I, who didn’t want to cause a scene, bowed my head first and spoke.

I thought that if we just apologized to each other moderately and moved on without causing a scene, that would be enough until then.

“I’m sorry, Miss. I didn’t notice you approaching because I was looking away for a moment…”

…Perhaps, I had been underestimating the ‘nobles’ of a medieval fantasy world setting.

I had a naive thought that even if it wasn’t my fault, if I apologized first, we could move on without any issues, momentarily forgetting that my thinking was a modern person’s way of thinking.

“Kyaaaaah!”

“……”

“M-my glove is ruined because you were looking away! How are you going to take responsibility for this?! Huh?!”

…The audacity of this fucking bitch?