CH 5

Chapter 1. Strange World

Episode 5

Raymond’s appearance was quite spectacular.

Surprisingly, the hair blowing in the wind or the petals expressed in the illustration were not fake.

In fact, his magic was that kind.

Raymond was far more docile than I thought.

“Are you sure you want to go in here?”

“That’s right, so will you get out of the way?”

Now that the corners of his smiling lips are trembling, he doesn’t seem to like this situation at all.

Actually, I didn’t date Raymond for very long.

It was partly because he quickly fell for Tatiana, but I didn’t like Raymond as much from the start.

That attitude as if he was pretentious and mastered everything in the world.

It looked like he had a secondary disease.

“I was just about to stop by here.”

“Ah. A womenswear boutique?”

“I want to give a present to Tatiana.”

It’s a pity, you crazy man.

Wilhelm wasn’t the only one.

Tatiana was married, but there were still men in her fishing grounds.

“But it makes me feel a bit inferior since you are coming here.”

“If you don’t like it, you can go somewhere else. Can you get out of my way now?”

“Ah really. But it’s where I’m going, so can’t I stay?”

I went into the boutique to avoid him talking nonsense.

I could feel Raymond chasing after me, but he ignored him. I didn’t want to care much since I didn’t want to waste any more time.

“You’re a woman who doesn’t know what real consideration is.”

Raymond was constantly barking behind me.

Every word he said was childish.

As I entered the store, I deliberately headed towards the stairs leading down to the basement.

The basement was a high-end ready-to-wear store, not custom-made.

“Everything you need to find will be upstairs.”

I shrugged at Lily’s words.

The high-priced items mainly purchased by the high-ranking nobles were on the second floor or higher.

And our bluff Raymond will head to the second floor to buy some expensive stuff. Read only at pm tl.

“I don’t want to be with that guy. Let’s start from the bottom first. It’s been a while since I’ve been out, so Lily, we can get some clothes for you.”

Lily nodded her head at my words.

A waiter blocked us as we headed down the stairs.

“Princess, the present from His Majesty is ready.”

“What?”

“It’s not just us. There was a message on this street that the famous boutique had special gifts for the princess, so please enjoy it.”

He politely bowed and led us to the top floor.

I thought he would only send presents, but I didn’t think he would prepare something like this.

Lily pushed me on the back, fearing that I might refuse.

“Come on, miss.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll go up.”

It was burdensome, but it was quite fun to go up to the third floor laughing at Raymond.

The highest floor of the building was a private room, where everything was prepared according to the taste of the visiting customer.

It was a kind of personal shopper service.

“His Majesty must have fallen in love with a real lady.”

“Ha ha ha.”

Upon arriving on the third floor, a wide open space was revealed. There was nothing missing, from a low-saturated pink dress, shoes, and jewelry to silk stockings.

Just looking around, I found only the things that fit my taste.

“His Majesty has told me to prepare in advance. We prepared this in consideration of the taste of the princess who had been shopping in our boutique.”

I was happy, but I was hesitant because I thought it might be a bit excessive.

It was a confession I made while I was drunk, but I wondered if it was okay to do this.

“Please take a look around and call me if you need anything.”

After saying those words, the employee quietly retreated.

Lily was more excited than me, checking the clothes and jewelry.

“Awesome, miss. Come and try it on. Oh my gosh, how did they collect only the ones that seemed to fit so well…”

Then, suddenly, Lily’s actions and words began to slow. The scent of flowers was everywhere and the petals fluttered.

I quickly figured out what had happened.

“Raymond?”

“You get it right.”

“You appear with such a commotion, how would I not know?”

“You’ve become very picky while I haven’t seen you. Or have you been hiding your personality?”

I was disgusted by Raymond pretending to know me so well.

He and I were engaged for less than six months.

“How much do you know about me?”

“It’s obvious. Compared to Tatiana, you’re just a boring, stupid woman, right?”

That disgusting mouth didn’t change at all even after graduating from the academy.

But I had no sense of becoming angry.

He was the one who protected Tatiana and had been tormenting me for quite some time.

Thanks to you, I have a steel mentality.

“You’re just a pathetic loser who chases after married women.”

“Tatiana and I have a relationship built on friendship and trust.”

“Is the meaning of the words friendship and trust different from what I know these days?”

Raymond kept his mouth shut at my words that had no politeness.

Fortunately, unlike Wilhelm, he seemed guilty of becoming Tatiana’s paramour.

I smiled and said to him, who kept his mouth shut tightly, who was always talking non-stop.

“If I don’t have anything else to say, will you please leave? As you can see, I’m a little busy.”

A dark shadow fell over his foreign golden eyes.

I felt the mana in the air fluctuate according to his emotions.

The magical power was so strong that even I, who doesn’t know much about magic, could feel it.

Raymond’s magic was mighty, but it was unstable as his pathetic state of mind.

He was mentioned as the next tower master, but he had not yet been succeeded because he was insufficient to lead wizards with ultra-legal status.

‘I think he’s still out of his mind.’

Now I frowned at the pressure so strong that my flesh stung.

“Karina, Karina, Karina. You’re acting like you’ve already become the Empress…”

Raymond took one step closer to me as if he was going to kill me with magic at any moment. The attitude of asking me to apologize was the same.

Still, I stared straight into his eyes.

“This is not the academy you used to go to. If you raise your magic power a little bit more here, other wizards will come running to arrest you.”

I purposely raised my voice.

It was a bonus to lightly step on his foot with my high heels.

“And you’ll be locked up on the top floor of the tower for the rest of your life. Even if I die.”

His face, which had always been full of haughty smiles, clouded.

That alone made me feel pretty good.

Unfortunately, the heel attack doesn’t seem to work that much.

“You… You’ve changed.”

“I’ve always been me, Ray.”

I smiled brightly at Raymond.

As if you knew everything about me until just now.

His dazzling golden eyes fluttered as if he was looking for something in me.

“Okay… A pathetic, boring woman. That was you.”

At the end of those hazy words, his figure disappeared from his sight.

Soon the flow of time returned to normal. I brushed off my skirt and organized my clothes.

“Miss! Look at this.”

Lily smiled brightly as she lifted the necklace adorned with sapphires and diamonds.

I smiled and walked up to her.

“Oh, I like that.”

Shaking my head, I pushed away useless thoughts. It was good to quickly forget the idea of ​​garbage.

~*~

A few days later, an official invitation came from the imperial family.

Again, the invitation, in an unusual pink envelope, had a courteous sentence in a surprisingly lovely font.

‘It’s cuter than I thought.’

I kept the date written in round letters in my mind.

And the day came.

I carefully selected my clothes and accessories.

Among the clothes that are neither too flashy nor too light, I chose a sky blue dress similar to my eye color.

The upper body has a simple design, but it shone softly by adding lace made with silver threads.

The dress hem was embroidered with gold and silver, but it was not too flashy because it was not wide.

My long black hair fell behind my back and I wore a diamond headdress that Aster gave me.

“Hmm.”

“You’re beautiful, my lady.”

At Lily’s compliment, I looked in the mirror again.

There stood a woman with a sharp impression.

She seemed a little nervous and at times not cheap. She was different from the lovely-looking heroine.

“You are so beautiful, His Majesty must have fallen in love at first sight.”

“Well, there must be several reasons.”

Leaving Lily’s sweet flattery behind, I left the mansion.

The carriage sent by the emperor had been waiting in front of the duke’s residence since morning.

‘You didn’t have to worry about me this much.’

With a heart that was starting to feel more and more burdensome, I got into the carriage.