Chapter 38
The Imperial Palace Ball
Lou immediately went to see Monica, and I headed back to the lodgings with Deriksha. As we walked side by side, Deriksha suddenly spoke as if she remembered something.
“Oh, right, Lily. While you were gone, a guest came.”
“Who?”
“Damian… or was it Olivia?”
At Deriksha’s words, I stopped walking. I hurriedly grabbed her arm.
“Is he still here?”
My unusually excited reaction seemed to confuse her. Deriksha blinked a few times, then slowly nodded.
“…Yeah. He’s in the guest room.”
“I know where that is. I’ll be right back!”
Damian always stayed in the same room whenever he visited the duke’s residence, so I found it right away without getting lost.
I arrived in front of the door in no time and knocked as if I were about to break it.
“Who—”
“Damian!”
I hugged the person who opened the door tightly. Damian’s face brightened when he saw me, and he hugged me back.
“Lily! It’s been so long!”
“Oh my gosh, look how tall you’ve gotten. I told you to visit more—why didn’t you come?”
“Sorry, I was busy… Ah, I’m learning work from my father now! I’ll make lots of money and buy Lily lots of good food!”
I knew Baron Olivier had gotten his act together and returned to work, but I didn’t expect Damian to be properly training as his heir.
My baby really grew up…
I looked at Damian with a warm feeling.
“Did you wait long? I’m sorry.”
“No! It hasn’t been long. I wasn’t bored either—someone played with me.”
“Someone…?”
I felt puzzled. The only people Damian was close to here were me and Lou.
Before Damian could answer, the person he mentioned appeared behind him.
“Hi, Lily!”
Seeing the familiar silver hair, I immediately frowned. I grabbed Damian’s arm, dragged him outside, and slammed the door shut.
Damian looked at me with confused eyes.
“…Lily?”
“Don’t hang out with people like that. You’ll learn bad things.”
“Why? His Highness the Prince was very kind to me…”
Right. I couldn’t exactly explain the original story to him.
Seeing innocent Damian, I sighed.
In the end, I opened the door again. Chris was calmly sitting at the tea table, drinking tea like nothing had happened.
“…Why are you here?”
“I heard Odin found out about you, so I came to see.”
Chris said with a bright smile.
Ah. Should I leave again?
I held back the urge to grab Damian and run, and smiled instead.
“You know it’s because of Your Highness that I was found out, right?”
“Hahaha, sorry about that!”
He didn’t look sorry at all. The faint, sentimental mood I saw last time was completely gone.
“…What was found out?”
Damian asked, confused.
Oh right. He’s here too.
I gently stroked Damian’s hair and smiled.
You don’t need to know, Damian…
“Did Lou not come with you?”
“He’s busy right now. If you have something to say, I can pass it on.”
I didn’t want to interrupt Lou while he was having a serious talk with Monica. Chris thought for a moment, then smiled again.
“Then I’ll just say it directly. Lily, do you want to come visit the Imperial Palace this winter?”
“…What?”
I was flustered. He was the one who warned me twice not to meet the Crown Princess—now he wanted me to go to the palace?
A bad feeling crept up, and I stepped back.
“…I don’t want to go to prison.”
“Why would you go to prison?”
Damian asked with wide eyes.
Ah. I keep forgetting he’s here.
I didn’t answer and just stroked Damian’s hair again.
Chris spoke with a harmless-looking smile, as if reassuring me.
“You’ll never run into my sister. Don’t worry.”
“Wow. That’s not convincing at all.”
“If you get caught and dragged away, I’ll go to prison with you.”
That’s even worse.
I frowned at him, but Chris kept smiling. If he said that much, he probably had something he was relying on.
I sighed and sat down on the bed next to the tea table.
“Why the Imperial Palace all of a sudden?”
“My sister’s wedding is happening! The entire Leofrum family will probably attend. Damian’s going too.”
Damian nodded blankly.
The Crown Princess’s wedding meant her ascension as Emperor and the unification of the empire. Was it this fast in the original story?
I tried to remember, then gave up. I’d already changed the story enough—what did the original even matter anymore?
“Of course, you shouldn’t go near the ballroom. The place where the imperial family and the Dern Empire nobles stay is far from where the Leofrum family stays, so it’ll be fine.”
“…But do I really need to take the risk? If I say I won’t go, Young Master will understand.”
Lou wasn’t the type to force me if I said no. He’d probably go alone without asking why.
Chris smiled brightly at my words.
“I just want to show you the Imperial Palace!”
That tour doesn’t include prison too, right?
Knowing the original story made me suspicious of everything. I’d lived as Chris’s exclusive maid for months—I knew his stubbornness couldn’t be changed.
So I gave up and nodded.
At a wedding, it would be chaotic. No royal would care about a maid, and Dern Empire nobles didn’t even acknowledge servants. As long as I stayed quietly in the room, it would be fine.
“I’ll tell Young Master, so you should leave now.”
“I’m not leaving.”
Please leave.
Seeing my annoyed expression, Chris smiled even wider.
“You just looked a bit like Garnet!”
“We have the same face. Of course we look alike.”
“Garnet…?”
Damian looked confused.
It felt bad talking while leaving him out. I stroked his hair and said to Chris,
“Should I just tell him too?”
“Damian would be fine, but… is there really a need?”
True. There was no need to spread that I was a traitor. And if Damian found out, he’d worry so much he wouldn’t sleep.
After thinking, I shook my head.
“Oh, if it’s hard to talk about, you don’t have to tell me!”
Damian hurriedly said.
Honestly, he’s too kind—how will he ever become a lord?
Chris laughed and also stroked Damian’s head. Damian looked flustered, being patted by both of us.
“Damian, how long are you staying?”
“Uh… about a week.”
“Then I’ll stay that long too!”
Damian nodded happily. They must’ve gotten really close…
I looked at Chris with displeasure.
“Good morning, Lily!”
Once again, Chris greeted me first thing in the morning.
This was clearly Lou’s room—why was he sitting there so confidently? The week Damian planned to stay had long passed, but Chris was still at the duke’s residence.
Because of that, Damian was also stuck here and couldn’t go home.
“…Aren’t you going to the Academy?”
Lou had already returned to the Academy since the semester started. Chris grinned shamelessly.
“You can graduate as long as you meet the minimum attendance.”
“….”
What kind of empire lets a prince skip school this much?
While I stared at him in disbelief, the door burst open without knocking. Odin entered with a furious expression and spoke to Chris.
“Do you want to die?”
“I didn’t do anything today though…?”
Odin walked straight up to Chris and grabbed him by the collar, acting as if I didn’t exist. Chris looked genuinely flustered for once.
“What’s wrong? I really didn’t do anything. This is unfair!”
“Was it you who put magic on the teacup?”
“Oh, yeah, that was me. Sorry!”
Chris wiped his fake sad face and smiled brightly. Odin lifted his head and let out a deep sigh.
Wow. He looks seriously angry…
I quietly watched from the corner.
“Calm down, Odin. You’re scaring Lily.”
Chris suddenly dragged me into it. Only then did Odin notice me. He released Chris and looked startled.
“…Lily, you were here.”
“I’m not really scared, so please continue.”
I already knew about Odin’s temper, so I wasn’t surprised at all. I honestly wished he’d just keep grabbing Chris’s collar.
But the moment Odin noticed me, he erased his fierce expression and forced a smile.
“You look fine for someone who was affected by magic.”
“…I wasn’t affected.”
At my question, Odin sighed.
If not Odin, then—
“…Was it Deriksha?”
Odin nodded.
When I thought Odin was the victim, I didn’t care much. But hearing it was Deriksha made anger surge.
“Young Master, could you grab His Highness by the collar one more time?”
“Hahaha, both of you calm down.”
Chris stepped back, trying to stop us.
Calm down? How could I, when Deriksha was the one pranked?
“Is Deriksha okay?”
“…Actually, I ran away too.”
Odin said quietly, avoiding my gaze.
If things were bad enough for Odin to run away, how serious was it?
Anxious, I asked quickly.
“What kind of magic was it?”
“……”
Odin bit his lip without answering. His face looked slightly red.
“He just kept saying… that he likes me.”
“Odin’s embarrassed~”
Chris grinned beside him. Odin finally kicked Chris in the shin.
