Chapter 74
And a moment later—
“I don’t really know. In some ways he seems like a light, easygoing person, but in other ways he feels very strict and old-fashioned….”
When I remembered how he’d burst into laughter watching me get knocked over by Nemir’s pounce, I couldn’t help thinking, ‘This guy… is the king of a whole nation?’ He seemed as light as air.
But then when he nagged me about studying history, he felt like a completely different person.
“Oh, and he raises a black panther. Well, it’s called a panther, but it acts like a huge house cat.”
I finished speaking while remembering Nemir aggressively rubbing his face against mine.
Lena let out a short laugh, looking me up and down.
“So that’s why you’ve got black fur all over you?”
“What? Seriously?”
Only then did I finally check my appearance.
Nemir’s thick, coarse, black fur was stuck all over my white robe.
“Ugh, what am I going to do…! They said we’re having a banquet tonight, but I can’t show up like this…!”
Panicking, I tried brushing the fur off, but it was stuck too tightly to come off easily.
And hearing that, Lena grew just as frantic.
“What? A banquet? Oh no…! Why are you only telling me this now…! What am I supposed to wear!?”
She flipped her travel bag upside down and started holding various clothes against her body.
“……?”
I needed a moment to process what I was seeing.
So this is the kind of banquet where you have to dress up…? Like one of those balls in princess fairy tales or romance fantasies? With dresses and tuxedos with tailcoats…?
Aren’t those normally formal events hosted by the royal family?
And come to think of it, even if the culture was different, a royal banquet is still a royal banquet.
“Can’t we just wear anything? When we went to the Silvagrove Forest, we just wore whatever we usually wear.”
Still not fully grasping the situation, I asked this—only for Lena to yell at me.
“That was different! This time it’s a banquet hosted by the royal family…! If we show up looking sloppy, everyone will look down on our Hagion Hero Corps! Wait—this is no time for this. I’m going to the boys’ room.”
She ran out, saying she needed to warn the guys about this emergency as well.
Watching her dash out, I could only blink blankly, still unable to feel the urgency.
…If this is that kind of banquet, then I’m in big trouble. I don’t have anything to wear…
All I brought were pajamas, some underwear, clothes for fighting or gathering materials, and a swimsuit.
And the swimsuit wasn’t even fancy—just a zip-up rashguard.
But it’s not like I came here for fun. We came here expecting combat, not formal events, so who would pack formalwear…?
Apparently Lena thought differently.
Her suitcase had dresses and elegant outfits in all sorts of colors.
After informing the guys, she came back and picked out a red silk dress the color of her eyes.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to change?”
She even urged me.
“…I don’t have any clothes.”
I could only answer in the most defeated voice imaginable.
I never thought I’d get to indirectly experience Cinderella’s pain—being unable to go to the ball because I had nothing to wear.
“…What?”
“No, really, I don’t. I didn’t expect there’d be a formal banquet at all…”
This was the curse of having once played this world as a game.
Game protagonists never cared about TPO.
Players dressed them however they wanted, whether it was a royal banquet or the middle of a battlefield.
So you’d sometimes see someone wearing a Hawaiian shirt in a snowy blizzard.
Or a serious cutscene ruined because the player equipped a ridiculous mascot costume.
Naturally, I never thought, ‘Let me pack a formal dress just in case I get invited to a royal banquet!’
“…What do I do?”
When I panicked and looked like I was about to cry, Lena huffed in disbelief.
“I knew this day would come. Really… Hold on. Let’s see if any of my clothes fit you.”
She pulled out several long-hemmed dresses and held them against me.
Since I was slightly taller than her, short dresses probably wouldn’t fit.
But we weren’t more than 20 cm apart in height, and our builds were similar.
Eventually, she found something that looked like it would work.
“Hm, let’s go with this one. It should look good with your green jade accessories.”
She held out a deep green dress with a large ribbon at the waist.
The only problem left was shoes, but thankfully I had a pair of dark flats that matched decently well.
“Come here. I’ll do your hair.”
After I shyly changed into the dress she gave me, Lena curled her finger at me, then twisted my long hair up and pinned it securely with a green jade hairpin.
Thanks to her, I looked fully prepared for a royal banquet—polished and elegant.
“Thank you so much, Lena… What would I have done without you?”
I bowed gratefully to her—my savior.
But Lena, in her red silk dress with bare shoulders, crossed her arms and stared at me as though bothered by something.
“W-why? What’s wrong?”
I checked myself frantically, wondering if I’d forgotten something.
But she just pressed her lips firmly together and frowned.
After a long moment—
“…Annoying.”
She muttered this.
“W-why are you annoyed…?”
I blinked slowly, confused why she was upset after voluntarily lending me clothes.
Then Lena turned bright red and whipped her head away.
“It’s my dress, so why does it annoyingly look better on you…!!”
…Did I hear that correctly?
She’s annoyed because I look better in her dress than she does?
Honestly, I could understand.
Sometimes you picture an outfit for yourself, but then a friend you lend it to ends up looking way better in it.
But the fact that our prickly roommate Lena admitted that out loud… somehow made my heart feel fuzzy.
“What? I didn’t hear you.”
I actually heard her perfectly, but pretended not to—because I wanted to hear it again.
“I—ugh, forget it!”
She stormed out of the room before repeating herself.
I chuckled and followed her out.
In the annex’s lounge, the male teammates were already sitting and waiting, dressed in formalwear.
Their differently colored bowties lined up in a row made me laugh—it was such a funny sight.
“Wow, Lady Elaine…! You—you look beautiful!”
As always, Leo—our five-minute compliment rapid-response unit—beamed at me, practically ready to clap.
Feeling shy, I twisted my body awkwardly.
Darren, who normally would’ve said something like “Oho, milady!”, sat there with a bright red face, merely opening and closing his mouth as he stared at Lena.
Well, to be fair, Lena did give off a sort of untouchable aura tonight.
Elegant, noble—very much a lady of a prestigious house.
I didn’t expect Darren, of all people, to wear a tuxedo, though.
It seemed I was the only one who underestimated the importance of a royal invitation.
As I was about to sit among my fully dressed comrades—
My eyes met Adrian’s.
…Ah. Right. That happened with Adrian.
I’d completely forgotten that only a few hours ago, I’d followed him and witnessed something strange.
In the rush of preparing for the banquet, my looping thoughts had been swept away.
Ahhh… this is awkward…
I couldn’t confess that I spied on him earlier, nor could I demand answers.
But facing him felt uncomfortable.
Because doubts I had never imagined started growing inside me.
It made me wonder if I’d dreamed it.
That maybe Adrian had never left the annex today, never gone to the ruins alone.
I wanted to believe that.
But I couldn’t dismiss it as hallucination—not when Adrian’s eyes were still bloodshot.
It was as if his red eyes were telling me:
You saw it. I was there. I cried there. It was real.
While I was silently drowning in awkwardness—
Leo cleared his throat and spoke, cheeks slightly rosy.
“Oh—right. I found this in the pocket of my robe, Lady Elaine…!”
He pulled out the handkerchief I had slipped in and opened it proudly.
A handkerchief embroidered with red poppies.
“Oh—yeah, that’s right. I put it there.”
You only just noticed? I literally shoved it in there.
I shrugged, not thinking much of it.
But then—
“…What the heck? You gave him one too? I thought I was the only one.”
Lena huffed loudly and pulled out her own embroidered handkerchief.
