“Huh?”

Fwud, fwudud. The black bird she had tucked in her chest for lack of a pocket suddenly shook violently and escaped. Then with a pororok– sound, it flew away.

“Oh no! Bird, come back!”

Why had the bird, which had been as still as an inanimate object until now, suddenly emerged and left?

‘Constantine told me to take it with me…’

For it to fly away like that… What should she do?

Flustered, Saena forgot what she had been about to do just moments ago. As she stared endlessly in the direction where the bird had flown behind her, she let out a shallow sigh and turned back around.

“……?!”

Only to be surprised again.

‘…Where did it go?’

The Erenhorn that had been right in front of her had vanished.

“……”

Could it be that it wasn’t a sculpture after all?

‘I… wait…’

Well, there could be no other explanation. How could a sculpture move and disappear?

‘Did I just… meet Erenhorn? Is that what happened?!’

Though she had been looking forward to such a moment, she felt dazed rather than happy, as if she had been in a trance.

“Huh… Um…”

And then another thought occurred to her.

Wouldn’t there be no reason for Erenhorn to be here? It should be in Aberdeen territory, so why would it be at the Princess’s palace? Besides, isn’t this a men-restricted area? Well, maybe it’s fine since Erenhorn isn’t human? But then why pretend to be a sculpture…

‘Was it just a hallucination?’

She couldn’t make sense of it. Saena tilted her head and turned around again.

“Eek!”

But as soon as she turned, she was startled.

Her body jerked backward at the sudden huge shadow that appeared before her eyes.

With her feet fixed in place while her body tilted back, she was about to fall when something firmly supported her waist.

“Oh, Miss?”

The owner of the shadow…

When she regained her senses and looked up, it was a familiar face.

“Wow. We meet again?”

Pink hair. A tear mole. A seductive smile.

It was that man from the Bellua bookstore.

“Wow. This is the third time, right? The third. Finally met you. Do you know how much I’ve been looking forward to this moment?”

“……”

“It must be fate…”

The man’s eyes became dreamy.

Saena, somehow more startled, quickly stepped back while freeing her waist from his grip.

“Hm? Where are you going?”

“This is the Princess’s palace sculpture garden… how are you even here?”

A man, no less. Did Her Highness know about this?

“That guy likes it here.”

“That guy?”

“Yes.”

What was he talking about?

“Someone I’d rather not discuss. Anyway, let’s set that aside.”

“…Yes?”

“We need to talk about us.”

What… There wasn’t even an ‘us’ to speak of.

‘This man is definitely strange…’

The man must have read her uncomfortable expression, as he made an extremely wronged face.

“You clearly said you’d allow a date when we met again. Where should we meet?”

“What are you talking about? I only said we should introduce ourselves properly.”

“Ah. Your memory is amazing?”

“……”

The man smiled broadly.

“Well then, now it seems it’s time to tell you my name.”

The man suddenly took a step back.

“I request to hear your beautiful name.”

Then he smiled gently while taking the pose of a knight greeting a lady.

This man. He clearly knew very well what effect his face had on women.

“…Shouldn’t a gentleman introduce himself first?”

But the etiquette was still wrong. Though the form might have been perfect, the content was wrong.

“Ah, sorry. To be honest, I’m not a gentleman. That’s why I’m like this…”

The man was casually criticizing himself when he suddenly opened his eyes wide and asked.

“Wait, Miss. You don’t know who I am?”

“Of course I don’t know since you haven’t introduced yourself?”

“Huh… My goodness. Wow, there’s actually someone who doesn’t know me. This is really fascinating.”

The man muttered to himself. His eyes were genuinely intrigued as they looked at Saena.

“How can you not know?”

He even said this.

‘What… Is he someone really famous….’

Pink hair. Fame. Good looks. Combining these pieces of information for someone famous who she should know…

“……”

No, could it be.

Saena looked at the man with a dumbfounded expression and asked.

“Perhaps… um… are you Duke Aberdeen?”

The man asked back, seemingly truly surprised.

“You just figured it out? Did you really not know until now?”

“……”

Well. So that’s it.

Actually, given such distinct physical characteristics, why hadn’t she known?

It felt stranger to her now. Perhaps it was because their first meeting was in that dimly lit bookstore.

His clothes had been plain then, and his manner of speaking…

‘There probably isn’t anyone who knows as much about Erenhorn as I do?’

Of course. That makes sense.

‘Then that Erenhorn I saw earlier was really Erenhorn!’

But remembering their first meeting and his attitude, which had lacked any gravity, it seemed natural that she hadn’t thought of him as Duke Aberdeen.

With his awkward pickup lines and somewhat roguish attitude.

“……”

By this point, she felt slightly indignant.

“I could not have known. Does being famous mean you don’t need to introduce yourself? If Your Grace had introduced yourself first, I would have known, wouldn’t I?”

“……”

“Do you live without introducing yourself just because you have a high status?”

“…Ah, that’s not what I…”

Duke Aberdeen was slightly flustered by Saena’s sharp response.

“Everyone else knew without being told…”

“Then it’s my fault. I’m just ignorant and don’t know much about these things.”

“……”

“I apologize.”

“Ah, no… I wasn’t asking for an apology…”

“It seems I’ll continue to be rude if I stay any longer, so I’ll take my leave now.”

“Ah, Miss!”

Saena bowed deeply.

“Your Grace Aberdeen, master of the noble covenant.”

While displaying the finest etiquette ingrained in her body through both words and gestures, Saena spoke.

“It was an honor to meet you. I’ll take my leave now.”

She turned away without waiting for his response.

Without even realizing that she too hadn’t introduced herself, just like Duke Aberdeen whom she couldn’t blame, Saena quickly left the sculpture garden.

“Date…”

The remaining Aberdeen muttered with a dejected expression.

“It was fate… where are you going…”

He couldn’t understand at all why the situation had ended this way.

* * *

“Miss. A servant came by to say they’ll come to escort you to the banquet hall in an hour.”

Smila said when Saena returned to her room.

“Oh, really? Alright.”

“You’ll change your dress, right?”

“Yes.”

The dress she was wearing now was for outings and wasn’t suitable for a banquet.

“I’ll wear the blue dress from the ones we brought.”

“Yes. I’ll prepare it right away.”

It was one of the dresses Madame Charlize had made for her in a slightly toned-down blue, not too bright, which suited her well.

While Smila went to the adjacent room to get the dress, Saena untied the ribbon on her back to remove the dress she was wearing. She could undo the ribbon herself, but she couldn’t reach the buttons densely lined on her back.

‘Hmm. Would these accessories look better with that dress? Or these?’

After undoing just a few buttons she could reach, Saena looked into her jewelry box to choose accessories that would match the dress she was about to wear.

Click.

When she heard the door open, Saena said,

“Could you undo the rest of the buttons in the back?”

Naturally thinking it was Smila, Saena continued looking through her jewelry box without turning her head.

Usually, she would have responded with ‘Yes, Miss’ and approached, but there was no reply.

Before she could think that was strange, as she was preoccupied with sorting through necklaces and earrings, she was startled by an unexpected voice when the hands undoing her buttons stopped.

“If I undo any more, something serious might happen… Would that be alright?”

“Eek-mmph!”

As she was about to scream in surprise, the intruder lightly covered her mouth and whispered.

“Shh, you’ll be heard, Saya.”

“……”

Rolling her wide-open eyes to the side, he removed his hand from her mouth.

Constantine. How…

“How are you here? If you’re caught, it’ll be terrible!”

It would be troublesome even for Duke Constantine if he were caught in the Princess’s palace, not even the Prince’s palace.

Knock knock.

“Miss, I’ve brought the dress.”

“Eek.”

Of all times, Smila had returned.

Saena looked around and spotted a partition on one side of the wall.

Just as she grabbed Constantine’s wrist and pushed him behind it, Smila entered.

“…Miss?”

“Ah, yes. Smila. Put the dress over there.”

“What? Aren’t you changing now?”

“…My feet hurt a bit, so I was going to rest for 30 minutes before changing.”

“Should I prepare a foot bath?”

“Huh? No. Just resting a bit will do. Could you come back in 30 minutes?”

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yes. I can’t lie down once I change into the dress. That’s why.”

“I understand.”

Phew. That was close.

But Smila, who was about to leave, suddenly changed direction and started approaching Saena.

“Uh, huh? Why?”

“Your clothes must be uncomfortable. Let me help you take them off. It’s better to be comfortable even for a short while.”

“…Ah, right.”

Though very conscious of Constantine who must be nearby, Saena quietly accepted her maid’s help as it would seem stranger to tell Smila to leave.

Saena ended up being quickly stripped down to her underdress.

“I’ll return in 30 minutes.”

“Okay. You take a break too.”

“Yes. Thank you.”