Chapter 6
The Invitation
When Sena handed her the package, Mia received it with careful hands.
Unlike Sena’s hands—rough and knotted from daily labor—Mia’s were unmistakably the hands of a true noble lady.
A faint sense of resignation flickered through Sena’s heart before fading again.
Mia leaned in close, opened the package, and took out the mask, then held it up to Sena’s face.
The black mask covered only the upper half of the face—no doubt chosen to complement the silver color of both their hair.
“Doesn’t it suit you?” Mia teased with a playful smile.
Seeing her faint reflection in the window glass, Sena thought …not bad.
“You really are an angel to me. A dear friend who shared the hardest days I endured in this foreign land. I’m grateful to you.”
“Then forget what you said earlier, okay? So… what are you planning to make me do with this mask?”
“Before that, won’t you have some tea with me?”
“…Fine.”
Sena glanced at the clock on the wall. She had less than twenty minutes left.
“I already ordered tea. The service staff brought it just now.”
“Well, in that case… fine.”
If she had to prepare the tea set from scratch, it would take time.
But if everything was already laid out, that was a different story.
All she had to do was pour tea, enjoy the aroma and taste, nibble on sweets, and chat for a bit.
Maybe fifteen minutes, Sena said, setting a limit, and poured two cups of tea from the pot—one for Mia, one for herself.
Working nine-hour shifts was mentally exhausting.
And thanks to that awful Baldo, today had pushed her to her limits.
A short break felt like a blessing.
It was a rare moment of peace.
“The masquerade ball is the night after tomorrow,” Mia said.
“That soon?”
Choosing her timing carefully, Mia revealed the topic.
Sena pulled out the hotel’s monthly schedule from her breast pocket and checked.
According to the timetable, the party would start at 4 p.m. this Saturday evening.
“You’re right. The schedule says so. The whole place has been buzzing—any employee could tell. To us, that’s just a sign that things are about to get busy.”
“Hehe. Immediately thinking of work—how very you.”
The owner of this hotel was the younger brother of the Emperor of their homeland, the Empire.
A master of business, he had built the Hotel Gazarick chain across various resort destinations worldwide.
Because of that connection, Sena—an outsider—was allowed to work in this foreign country.
That thought naturally brought to mind the story of the Crown Prince.
Rumor had it that the masquerade ball was a marriage-selection event for Crown Prince Robert to choose a future Crown Princess candidate.
For someone like Sena, it was a world completely unrelated to her.
“Do you know about His Highness Crown Prince Robert?”
“He’s famous. Of course I know.”
Mia asked while munching on sweets.
Surprisingly, she seemed to have regained her appetite.
If this continued, maybe tomorrow she really could sit with her on the terrace for lunch.
Sena smiled at the thought and answered:
“He comes to this hotel often, doesn’t he? Have you ever seen him?”
“…Twice, maybe three times, from afar. He’s visited with his male friends and noble ladies. They came to have fun, I suppose.”
“At night?”
“It’s private, so I can’t say. But when you have ten or so adults staying overnight in a suite, there’s only so much they could be doing.”
“Like what?”
“They drink, swim in the pool, open bottles of wine, and drink until they’re completely gone. Then close couples retire to their rooms… but I’ve never heard of drugs or anything illegal. And I don’t think many of them actually become that intimate.”
“Why not? Back at my university, someone just had a shotgun wedding recently.”
“Well, that’s a university. Here, the men who gather are usually in public office. People in positions of responsibility despise scandals more than anything.”
“So the women they bring?”
“They’re probably nightlife workers who keep them company—women whose job is to drink with men.”
“I see…”
In truth, it wasn’t so simple.
Hotels often partnered with agencies to arrange escorts who sold physical services.
Prostitution wasn’t illegal in this country—pay the fee, and problems rarely occurred.
But royalty was different.
If a prince had a child with a prostitute… society would explode.
Crown Prince Robert wasn’t that foolish.
His political actions—highlighted in the news every now and then—showed firm support for the current queen’s government.
And there had never been any rumors of a breakup scandal from a woman claiming to have been involved with him.
He was clean, at least in public.
How true that was, no one knew.
“If a one-night affair ever came to light, both the mother and child would be sent to the afterlife before the baby was even born.”
“Sena, please don’t talk about scary things.”
Mia raised a finger as if to scold her lightly.
She herself would eventually return to the Empire and serve the royal court.
There, she would witness political darkness far more horrifying than anything she could imagine.
Thinking of her friend’s difficult future, Sena silently cheered her on and turned her thoughts back to Robert.
