D-1.

Finally, with one day left before going to the imperial palace to meet Yvel, Roa crossed her arms in front of Reno.

During that time, Roa, who had been too busy with Reno’s education and preparing new books, had lost 3 kilograms even though she needed three bodies.

Roa, with her face devoid of fat, brushed her face.

“The time has come for our special training to shine.”

Roa declared solemnly. Beside her, Reno reflexively raised her hands to praise her. They held hands.

Having gone through all sorts of hardships, they had an understanding just by looking into each other’s eyes.

“Today, let’s prepare gifts for tomorrow.”

Roa said as if she was being generous, but in truth, she had planned lessons for today as well, but her plan was rejected by the maids.

‘Miss! You’re not thinking of seeing the princess looking like that tomorrow, are you?’

‘Today is absolutely for rest.’

‘Sufficient rest is good for the skin. Understood?’

‘Suf.fi.cient.rest.’

Roa was a bit scared of the maids’ burning eyes, and after seeing herself in the mirror, she had no choice but to decide on rest.

Unaware of this hidden truth, Reno couldn’t contain her joy at Roa’s words. Compared to the lessons, gift wrapping was a piece of cake.

Reno voluntarily brought Yvel’s gift and the fanfic that Roa had dangled as a carrot.

Meanwhile, Roa, who had prepared wrapping paper, sat down on the carpet.

Though outwardly a noble, Roa was a girl who truly loved the floor. Reno wasn’t surprised by her behavior, as sitting on the floor was familiar to her.

“This is really a reward for doing well this past week. You know it can’t be discovered, right?”

“Of course. I even got a safe.”

Despite Reno’s prompt answer, Roa couldn’t hide her uneasiness. Her boldness always led to the books being discovered.

But she couldn’t take back her words. Roa acknowledged that Reno had really worked hard for the past week. Roa sighed.

“Just don’t let it be discovered that I’m the author.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Even if she was anxious, there was nothing she could do. The book had already left Roa’s hands. Since Roa couldn’t trust her, all she could do was pray.

‘Please allow her to take the existence of this fanfic to her grave.’

“Make sure the cover isn’t visible when you wrap it.”

Roa said as she handed the pale yellow wrapping paper to Reno. Reno received the wrapping paper and sat down next to Roa.

“But do we really have to wrap it? It’s not like we’re giving it as a gift.”

Roa took out purple wrapping paper, placed a book on it, and answered Reno’s question.

“A book without a title makes anyone suspicious. And imagine if Brother Levin suddenly barges in.”

“He’s not coming home now because it’s training period.”

“Don’t be so sure. You got caught last time because of that.”

Roa glared at Reno with fierce eyes.

Having nothing to say about that, she quietly placed her book on the pale yellow wrapping paper.

She knew not to argue with Roa at times like this. Reno, who had learned through repeated experiences, carefully wrapped the book.

Roa looked at the obedient Reno and turned her head to continue preparing Yvel’s gift. Tranquility circled the room.

“Hey, Roa.”

Of course, that tranquility didn’t last long. Roa turned her head, pausing her gift wrapping, at the sound of her name.

“What now?”

“I don’t have enough wrapping paper.”

Reno held up a book that couldn’t be fully wrapped due to the short wrapping paper. Roa frowned at the state of the wrapping paper, which shouldn’t have been insufficient.

“I prepared just enough. What did you do?”

“I’ve only been wrapping. You always think I’ve done something wrong whenever I do anything.”

Reno, who didn’t realize how many precedents she had set, pouted at Roa’s scolding. Roa was speechless looking at her.

She guessed that she had unnecessarily cut the wrapping paper too large. Roa looked down at her purple wrapping paper.

‘Ah, I’m worried.’

The only wrapping paper left was purple. She had deliberately prepared different colors so they wouldn’t get mixed up, but life doesn’t always go as planned.

Reno carefully asked, seeing Roa’s evident concern.

“Should I just take it as is?”

Roa shook her head at Reno’s words. Taking it unwrapped was unacceptable.

Roa had no choice but to give her remaining wrapping paper to Reno.

“You need to wrap it and keep it separate. It would be a disaster if they get mixed up.”

“I understand.”

Roa felt ominous as Reno happily took the wrapping paper. She strongly felt that she needed to stay alert and take care of the books herself.

‘I should tell the servants to be careful too.’

Roa warned Reno to be extremely careful not to mix up the books until the end.

* * *

Fortunately, the special training was effective. Reno opened the conversation with a gentle voice.

“I like this novel, Your Highness.”

Reno pointed to one of the books they had given as a bribe. It was a book whose content she had practically memorized based on Roa’s recommendation from a week ago.

It was a book that began with a knight rescuing a princess who was in danger of being sacrificed.

Yvel picked up the book with an excited expression at Reno’s recommendation.

“I especially like how the gruff male lead turns into a puppy only in front of the princess. Do you like it too, Your Highness?”

Reno shuddered as she spoke, getting goosebumps. Yvel, too excited to notice, didn’t catch this.

Roa nodded to Reno with an expression saying she was doing well. So far, she hadn’t found any problems in her conversation.

“The duke’s daughter and I have something in common.”

“Is that so? It’s an honor to share tastes with Your Highness.”

Since Roa had accurately identified Yvel’s preferences and informed Reno, it was bound to be pleasing.

Yvel didn’t realize what efforts they had made.

She was just happy to have one more friend with whom she could discuss her tastes. Reno asked Yvel,

“What kind of novels does Your Highness like? If you recommend something, I’ll definitely read it.”

‘Roa will read it.’

Roa immediately understood Reno’s true intention. She held her forehead, looking at her who was openly pushing work onto her.

While she could read anything recommended, it meant more work as she would have to inject that content into Reno.

Just thinking about it was exhausting.

“I’ll bring some next time. Right now, I’m enjoying this moment so much that I don’t want to leave.”

Fortunately, Yvel didn’t recommend anything on the spot, as if acknowledging Roa’s hard work. Roa let out a sigh of relief.

Yvel was distracted by the new books. Roa smiled faintly seeing Yvel looking happy.

“I tried to bring books that aren’t too well-known, but I’m worried they might overlap with what you already have.”

“So what if they overlap? What matters is that they make me happy. By the way, Roa, which ones here did you write?”

At Yvel’s question, Roa and Reno made eye contact simultaneously.

Though she hadn’t planned to give them now, since Yvel asked, Roa had no choice but to take out the prepared books.

Yvel’s expression brightened when Roa took out items from her bag that were identical to what she had received before, except for the wrapping paper color.

“I was going to surprise you, but it’s all ruined now.”

“Ruined? Can’t you see how happy I am right now?”

Yvel exaggeratedly expressed her emotions. If Reno hadn’t been present, she would have been ready to express herself even more intensely.

Yvel’s words were filled with sincerity. Genuinely delighted at her words, Roa paused as she was taking out the fifth and final book.

Roa discovered a strange error.

‘Huh? Were there five books?’

Though she had wrapped them with her own hands, Roa suddenly became confused about how many books she had wrapped for Yvel.

The fact that she couldn’t bring all the books prepared as gifts due to insufficient wrapping paper in the middle caused confusion in Roa’s memory.

Roa alternately looked at the 4 books in Yvel’s hands and the 1 book in her own. Even though she had wrapped them herself, they seemed somehow unfamiliar.

What was it? Roa felt an anxiety that made her hair stand on end.

“Did you bring something wrong?”

Yvel asked Roa. With an uneasy feeling still lingering, Roa placed the last book on the table.

An inexplicable sense of déjà vu kept gnawing at her.

An anxiety that grated on her nerves crept up her spine and made her entire body shiver.

“No. That’s not it.”

Even as she answered, Roa’s expression showed no signs of relaxing. Reno also turned to look at her unusual reaction.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

‘Well, it’s probably nothing.’

Roa shook off the damp sense of déjà vu and rejoined the conversation. However, she would only discover the cause of her anxiety the next day.

* * *

“Your Highness. Shall I put this away too?”

“What is it?”

Yvel opened her eyes, which she had closed from fatigue, at the maid’s question. In the maid’s hand was a book that Roa and Reno had given her that morning.

To the maid’s eyes, it was just purple trash to be thrown away, but she couldn’t touch Yvel’s belongings carelessly.

The maid answered Yvel’s question.

“It looks like a book. If you command, I’ll place it in the library.”

Seeing the gift that hadn’t even been unwrapped yet, Yvel felt her fatigue fly away.

She had been so busy all day that she had forgotten about Roa’s new work.

‘To think I forgot something so important.’

Yvel lamented, reproaching herself. No matter how busy, there were things she shouldn’t forget.

“Ah, it’s fine. I’ll take care of it. You may leave.”

Yvel told the maid and got up from her seat to walk toward her. The maid bowed at Yvel’s command and left the room.

Excitement settled on Yvel’s face.

“Well, let’s see what kind of book it is.”

Yvel carefully removed the wrapping paper to ensure the book inside wouldn’t be damaged.

Though it was normally time to end the day, Yvel read the book with an interested expression.

She showed determination to read all 5 books she had received today. However, the problem occurred with the second book Yvel read.

‘Huh?’

Yvel tilted her head at the familiar name of a character in the book.

Even if Roa had struggled with creating names and used those of people around her, this was strange.

The Roa she knew wasn’t someone who would boldly use the crown prince’s name in a book.

Yvel couldn’t take her eyes off the book that gave her a thrilling sensation. It was different from the books she had read so far.

‘Interesting.’

However, Yvel noticed something important. A premonition that she was about to open her eyes to a new world passed through her.

‘Well, well.’

The more she read, the more Yvel realized that Roa hadn’t quoted the crown prince’s name out of creative agony.

The book clearly revealed how Roa thought about the crown prince.

Yvel was satisfied with the suffering of the siblings in the book.

‘So this is Roa’s ideal type? A man who cries prettily.’

Yvel laughed as she saw a book where her siblings crying prettily seemed quite fitting.

It seemed that Roa’s strange expression earlier had stemmed from this book.

No one knew what kind of misunderstanding Yvel was having.

From the beginning, a book filled with Roa’s sincere desire to torment the crown prince couldn’t be her ideal type.

Yvel’s mood improved just thinking about how Roa would notice the book’s absence and make a sad face.

Yvel had no time to read the other books.

She gathered all the books and put them in the safe in her room to prevent others from seeing them.

Then she pulled the bell cord to call back the maid who had left the room earlier.

Ding-ding, the sound of the bell at the end of the cord was especially clear today.

“You called, Your Highness.”

“Contact Lady Roa Helena and Lady Reno Enora to come to the imperial palace tomorrow. And tell the history professor not to come to the palace tomorrow.”

“Yes, understood.”

Yvel thought about what would happen tomorrow as she postponed her lessons. Just thinking about it made her legs swing with joy.

Tomorrow seemed like it would be quite a pleasant day.

* * *

“Did you do something wrong?”

In the carriage heading to the imperial palace, Roa, who was visibly anxious, asked Reno. Yvel’s summons was quite unexpected.

Roa made a belated regret that she shouldn’t have casually dismissed yesterday’s anxiety.

Unable to mess up her hair that the maids had done, Roa bent her waist and buried her face in her knees.

‘Ah, this stupid Roa Helena.’

Roa hated herself.

“What could I have done wrong? You were there with me yesterday too.”

Reno denied Roa’s words. Roa didn’t argue with Reno’s statement either. Yesterday’s Reno certainly hadn’t made any mistakes.

They had shared their tastes in novels and given impressions about tea she didn’t even like. There were hurdles, but they had overcome them well.

Roa stamped her feet.

“Then what is it? Why is she summoning us!”

She couldn’t figure it out even after racking her brain. That drove Roa crazy. The relatively calm Reno stared blankly at the scenery outside the carriage.

Reno was confident because she believed she hadn’t done anything wrong. Only Roa, whose anxiety wouldn’t subside, clutched her head.

Reno, looking at Roa like that, suddenly remembered something and opened her mouth.

“Ah, come to think of it…… never mind.”

Reno didn’t finish her sentence and closed her mouth.

She didn’t want to confuse Roa in a situation where she wasn’t certain that her thought would be the answer to this problem.

Roa raised her head and stared intently at Reno, who seemed to know something.

“What? You did do something wrong, didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t. I just thought one of the books we took yesterday seemed to be missing.”

“What?!”

Roa was startled by Reno’s words and opened her eyes wide. Roa’s reaction was different from what she had expected.

Reno felt strongly that something was amiss. She made excuses to Roa.

“The book wrapped in purple that I wrapped last was missing. Well, we might have left it at your house.”

“……”

“Don’t trust me too much, I might be mistaken.”

Reno wanted to avoid Roa’s gaze. Looking into Roa’s eyes made her feel like she was the bad person.

Roa looked at Reno and asked seriously.

“What color is the cover?”

“Red.”

‘Why! Why did it have to be red!’

Roa banged her head against the window at Reno’s answer. If it was red, it was the book she had made pairing the crown prince Yvaine with Roan.

Though the other books were problematic too, the red book was more than enough to create issues.

‘It’s over. There’s only one reason why the princess would call us.’

An unpleasant thought crossed Roa’s mind. Somehow, the déjà vu she felt yesterday wasn’t for nothing.

Roa shed tears and clasped her hands together. Thinking of her gloomy future made her feel empty inside.

‘Wouldn’t jumping out of the carriage be less painful?’

Roa thought as she looked outside the fast-moving carriage.

Choosing death here might be a better option than being arrested for insulting the imperial family by Yvel.

“You were a good friend, Reno.”

Roa murmured gloomily. She said to Roa, who looked like the world had ended.

“I might have forgotten one book.”

Reno comforted the silently crying Roa. She also vaguely realized where her missing book might be.

“Uneasy premonitions always come true.”

No matter what, she should have taken care of the books herself until the end. Even though she was busy preparing, she shouldn’t have let the maids handle it.

Roa was certain that Yvel’s summons was related to that red book.

Reno covered her mouth with her hand at Roa’s ominous reaction, which was close to the truth.

Her thought, which she had believed was wrong, was increasingly completing the unfinished puzzle perfectly.

“What should we do? The protagonists are His Highness the crown prince and your brother, right?”

“I’m ruined. My life is ruined.”

Reno patted the back of the despairing Roa. She knew what content was hidden in that book.

A new pleasure was contained in that one book.

* * *

Yvel looked at Roa, who was desperately turning her head away while sweating profusely.

Seeing her reaction, Yvel was convinced that Roa had written the book.

“I found one more book that I didn’t know about, Roa.”

“That…… doesn’t exist?”

“Really? Then what’s this?”

Yvel held up the fanfiction she had taken out in advance. Reno and Roa looked at the red book head-on and felt helpless.

Roa seriously contemplated what action she should take to avoid going to prison.

She thought there was no worse situation than having one’s life threatened. This was a critical moment where her future and fate hung in the balance.

Roa regretted that she didn’t choose to jump out of the carriage.

“The protagonist seemed to be someone I know very well. What a coincidence, it seems you know him too, Roa.”

Two extreme choices unfolded before Roa. Go to prison, or confess honestly to Yvel.

Even if she confessed honestly, going to prison wouldn’t change, so in a way, there was only one choice.

She couldn’t just honestly say, ‘It’s the crystallization of my desires. I made His Highness the crown prince and my brother do this and that.’

It was the first time she felt that the hand that had been venting her desires was cursed. Roa knelt down in tears.

It was an action faithful to instinct. She needed to beg until her palms were worn out.

“Please forgive me, Your Highness.”

Her brain, which should have calmly navigated the crisis, exceeded its capacity and made her sob without preamble.

Not knowing why, Roa inwardly shouted at her own tears.

‘Ah, I’m going crazy!!! Why are you crying, you fool!’

They say trials come without warning, but this was too much. The trick of making her eat crow clearly asserted its color.

The inner Roa clutched her head. She wanted to curse herself for not even keeping track of the number of books.

It was too late for regrets. Perhaps her fate had been decided from the moment she started writing fanfiction.

Roa, who had a beast inside her, shivered.

“Oh my, Roa. What fault could you have?”

“Well……”

“Even if you toyed with the crown prince, no one would punish you.”

‘Liar.’

Roa wanted to shout that at Yvel. The idea that no one would punish her was absurd.

Yvel was just whispering with an angelic voice.

One method of making someone confess all their sins was to melt their heart gently rather than threaten them.

The unthreatening voice threatened Roa. Her intimidation skills were exactly like Yvaine’s.

‘Her pressuring skills are just like His Highness the crown prince’s, of course they would be.’

Roa discovered a small Yvaine inside Yvel. She lowered her head and stared only at the floor.

“Our Roa’s taste is quite unique.”

“That’s not it! What do you mean taste!”

“Roan Helena used his hand to cover Yvaine’s lips……”

“Aaack!!”

Roa jumped up and rushed at Yvel as the lines from her fanfic came out of Yvel’s mouth. Yvel easily avoided her.

“Your Highness, today you won’t cry……”

“Yes, Your Highness the princess is right! That must be my taste!”

It was shameful. Roa covered her face and collapsed on the spot.

It hadn’t felt like anything when she was writing it, but hearing it from Yvel’s mouth was embarrassing.

Roa’s legs trembled and she was short of breath. She severely cursed her past self.

The future of being executed was approaching right before her eyes.

‘Why did I have to write the crown prince as the bottom.’

Yvel looked at Reno with a pleasant smile. She flinched when Yvel’s gaze turned to her.