***
Until the banquet was held, neither the East nor the Magic Tower sent any reply to her letter.
As she expected, the East seemed to have answered indirectly through the letter Valen sent.
Inside the carriage heading to the Capital, Liselotte stared absently out the window at the splendid gardens of the Imperial Palace passing by.
Eren, who had been quietly glancing at her deep in thought, asked,
“What happened to the recent letter you sent with my seal?”
Since replies had been slow to come, she had sent another letter with Eren’s seal, and they were now on their way to the Capital.
Rumors that Liselotte behaved willfully might have reached the Magic Tower, so using the Head of House’s seal meant she had his permission.
Liselotte smiled helplessly.
“There’s no answer.”
“The Magic Tower is always like that. I doubt anyone has ever received a proper reply from them.”
It seemed the Magic Tower simply ignored letters.
‘Well, they’re still supplying magic devices to House Gloria. It might be burdensome for them.’
It was disappointing, but she had expected as much, so Liselotte brushed off any lingering regret.
Before long, the carriage came to a stop at the Perida Imperial Palace.
Eren naturally extended his hand to escort her.
She placed her hand in his and stepped lightly out of the carriage.
Ail approached quietly.
Standing beside Liselotte, he spoke in a ventriloquized whisper behind a smile.
“There are rumors the East has been chaotic lately, so it seems all the Families from the East have come.”
That was enough.
It was hard to meet people from the East normally, but once she saw their faces and questioned them directly, it would not be easy for them to avoid answering.
No matter how notorious she was, no one could ignore a question from a Princess. Even if the quality of the answer was poor, she would at least hear something directly.
‘I’ve finally entered an ocean of information!’
This was exactly the purpose of a social gathering like this.
Since Valen had set the stage anyway, she intended to make full use of it.
After thanking Ail for the information, Liselotte turned to Eren and smiled brightly.
“Shall we go?”
“…You’re finally smiling.”
“What?”
“Do you know that your face was completely stiff the entire way here in the carriage?”
‘Ah. Was it?’
She hadn’t been worrying that seriously, but it must have looked that way to him.
No wonder someone as quiet as Eren had been making conversation for once.
With an easy, carefree expression, she replied with a wide smile,
“Not at all. Since I’ve come to the palace for the first time in a while, I should enjoy it.”
“…If so, that’s good.”
Following his lead, Liselotte walked forward without complaint.
Led by the attendants, they entered the banquet hall, and Liselotte let out a sigh of admiration as she looked up at the vast hall and its tall arched ceiling.
It was a place she remembered, but experiencing it in person felt completely different.
‘I see why Liselotte wanted to come back so badly.’
The scenery was the total opposite of the Keilos Duchy, where everything was rough and minimal, only what was necessary.
The walls and even the floors were decorated with ivory to appear luxurious yet elegant.
It wasn’t embellished as extravagantly as the Gloria estate, but the dignity and grandeur it radiated had a unique weight.
‘If you were born and raised somewhere like this, it’s understandable you’d feel dissatisfied with the North. Fair enough.’
She had always thought the Keilos ducal estate wasn’t bad.
The corridors were spacious, and while it wasn’t overly dazzling to the eye, everything essential was there.
Liselotte even lost her way in it constantly.
She tilted her head as a new thought struck her.
“Come to think of it, my room feels quite different from the overall style of the mansion, doesn’t it?”
“It was part of the marriage conditions.”
Ah… so Liselotte had been Liselotte again.
She wondered what her daily life must have been like to not even remember that.
Feeling awkward, she tried to smooth things over with a bright smile.
Although for a moment, a hint of suspicion seemed to flicker across Eren’s face.
“The Grand Duke of the Northern Keilos Duchy, His Highness Eren Keilos, and Her Highness the Grand Duchess are entering!”
Their entrance was announced, naturally burying the moment.
The massive doors of the Great Hall opened, and the soft melody of the orchestra swelled loudly.
The overwhelming hall sparkled with the brilliance of the chandeliers and the ornate attire of the guests.
Of course, the sharp, prickling gazes directed at Liselotte also played their part.
‘So what?’
Whatever she had done in the past, she was innocent now.
And it wasn’t as if this was the first or second time she’d received looks like these.
Liselotte shamelessly picked up a champagne glass from the tray a passing servant was carrying.
Taking a calm sip, she quickly scanned her surroundings with her eyes.
‘Where are the families from the East?’
But the person who caught her eye was someone she hadn’t expected.
Duke Gloria attending with Diana made sense. But the man with light brown hair standing beside him— The small, distinct tear mole at the corner of his eye.
‘Hedmilton?’
He kept glancing around the hall, as if checking his surroundings.
Liselotte followed the direction he repeatedly turned his head toward.
There, a group of nobles stood together, whispering among themselves as they glared at him.
Hedmilton seemed to say something to Duke Gloria, then briefly cast a glance at Diana.
Diana said something to him, and after bowing politely, Hedmilton began walking toward the nobles who had been glaring at him.
Something about it looked strange to Liselotte.
‘What? Didn’t Hedmilton like Diana?’
In the original story, it was written that he always hovered around her during banquets.
And there had even been an episode where Diana, aware of his feelings, felt burdened and rejected him in advance.
So Liselotte had no doubt about it.
But now, Hedmilton’s behavior was nothing more than that of someone serving the Young Lady of his House.
There wasn’t even the slightest hint of personal affection.
‘I assumed Hedmilton would always take Diana’s side no matter what, so I didn’t even consider him…’
Liselotte extended her lips thoughtfully and watched Hedmilton cross the hall without once looking back.
***
“Look at this. Among all the families here, we’re the only one that didn’t bring even a proper knight-commander escort.”
Duke Gloria muttered with a voice thick with suppressed anger.
Thanks to the orchestra’s calm music, no one but Hedmilton and Diana, who were standing close, could hear him.
At his words, Diana agreed with a tone that sounded genuinely regretful.
“Exactly. It pains me to see Father struggling with this issue all the time.”
Recently, the eastern subjugation force had been an absolute mess.
After that commander left with a large number of mercenaries, it had long since lost its core stability.
She had thought, ‘Would the subjugation force collapse just because one person left?’—but it had collapsed.
Because of that, all capable knights were urgently reorganizing the subjugation force and had no time to accompany the family as escorts.
And as if the recent friction with House Keilos wasn’t enough to sour the Duke’s mood, the North had arrived with a proper knight-commander escort as if flaunting it.
Ail, who was assisting Eren, was someone he recognized well—
He knew his skills well, and that annoyingly angelic smile even better.
Just seeing it was enough to make irritation flare up.
“All we have is someone useless.”
His sharp gaze shot toward Hedmilton, who stood one step behind them.
But even that moment didn’t last long.
“Oh, Duke Gloria. It has been a while.”
“Oh, Baron Gallek!”
At another noble’s greeting, Duke Gloria instantly brightened with a warm smile, as if his earlier irritation had never existed.
Using that moment, Diana subtly turned her body and offered Hedmilton a gentle consolation.
“Hedmilton, you must have too much work on your hands, right?”
“Not at all.”
Hedmilton answered with a relaxed smile.
At that moment, a strange chill ran down the back of his neck.
Sensing danger instinctively, he turned his head slightly—
And there, gathered along the outer edge of the Great Hall, were members of his family, clustered together.
Every single one of them was glaring at him with stiff, hard expressions.
Hedmilton calmly smiled again, as if he hadn’t even noticed them, and listened attentively to Diana’s words.
“It’s a shame. If only my health were a little better, I could help lighten your workload as an aide… Who knows? Maybe I even have some talent for the role.”
