His still-smiling lips emphasized the man’s radiant appearance.

The man with soft pink hair was Duke Lucas Aberdeen.

For a Crown Prince who wasn’t the successor to find out an Oathkeeper’s identity, the only method was to cooperate with someone who was already a successor.

The Crown Prince seemed to have chosen Duke Aberdeen for this.

“Isn’t it obvious? To monopolize power.”

The Crown Prince wore a resolute expression indicating he would absolutely not allow this.

“Kramer? Monopolize?”

Lucas tilted his head, unable to imagine at all why that bastard who was sick of the power he already had would want to monopolize more.

“He has always been insufferably arrogant! So of course he would try to monopolize power!”

But the Crown Prince was indignant as if stating the obvious.

“He has repeatedly challenged imperial authority, hmph. Who knows. Now that his house has two Oathkeepers, he might harbor impure ambitions of becoming king himself!”

Though it was truly incomprehensible how the direct descendant of an Oathkeeper could have such a low understanding of Oathkeepers, even the seemingly gentle Duke Aberdeen was no different from Constantine in showing no involvement in areas he wasn’t interested in.

No, this was probably similar for all four dukes.

The only difference was whether they were openly coldly indifferent, or appeared kind but were indifferent.

And Lucas was the latter.

Though the Crown Prince seemed completely unaware.

‘His understanding is really quite low. This isn’t easy to achieve.’

He hadn’t even grown up in an external family, but had been raised prominently as the next successor candidate and was openly the Borrower of the Four Spirits, yet it must be difficult to have such low understanding.

But anyway, the imperial family’s Guardian Spirit was the type that just needed to ‘exist.’ Though there must be hidden attributes of course, Lucas had no particular interest beyond the attribute of protecting the empire.

He had even less desire to spend time and effort teaching or associating with the Crown Prince.

“So let me know as soon as you find the Oathkeeper.”

“Yes, alright.”

“You must tell me right away, understand?”

Lucas nodded halfheartedly while fixing his gaze back toward the entrance. He too was curious about the identity of the new Oathkeeper after 500 years.

Especially since Constantine was hiding them so thoroughly, it made him even more curious.

* * *

After returning to the Imperial Capital, Saena spent quite a few busy days.

She had many things to do before attending the banquet.

Among those tasks was getting new attire fitted within a tight schedule.

Besides Saena and her husband, those attending the banquet included Rupert and Wesley, along with two women who would act as the Oathkeeper. One of them was Darielle.

Actually, it wasn’t so much acting as it was meant to disperse attention. They chose both women because the Crown Prince had acted certain when seeing Darielle, so they judged this would be better for creating confusion.

Though she worried the time until the banquet was too short, Saena used the same method as before.

That is, tenfold power. As expected, it made the impossible possible.

It was fortunate that she didn’t need new dresses since she already received new ones monthly from Madame Charlize.

Thus the day of the banquet arrived and they headed to the palace.

At the banquet hall entrance, Saena felt slightly tense.

It felt like entering a battlefield.

‘If nothing else, I’m certain something will happen.’

Though she couldn’t predict exactly what would happen, it was clear some incident would occur. So she couldn’t let her guard down.

But being too stiff could raise suspicion.

Saena took deep breaths and tried to maintain a state neither too tense nor too relaxed.

“Are you nervous?”

Constantine seemed to notice her state and patted her hand that he held.

“A little.”

“No need to worry. Those blinded by greed are surprisingly easy to handle.”

“I hope so.”

Though it was simple conversation, even this brief encouragement helped.

Saena’s expression settled into the distant noble face she wore when not smiling.

Looking at her face, Constantine realized anew how fortunate his position was to practically monopolize her smiles.

He gripped Saena’s small hand that was resting on his palm a bit tighter as he looked ahead.

As expected, it was time to enter.

Before their entrance, Constantine stopped the herald from announcing their names.

He wanted to enter as quietly as possible.

Nevertheless, intense gazes fixed on them as soon as they entered the inner hall. As if everyone had been staring at just the door.

“……”

Breaking through the heavy silence, Constantine and Saena entered first, followed by Darielle and another woman, then Commander Wesley and Sir Rupert in order.

People were initially puzzled since except for Saena and Constantine, these were faces unknown to Imperial Capital society.

But they soon realized.

The meaning of the group entering with Duke Kramer.

Immediately, tremendous searching gazes began to stick to them. Everyone realized that among them was the new Oathkeeper.

‘Wow, this is more nerve-wracking than my debut.’

Darielle thought under the terribly persistent and observant gazes.

Even she, usually unfazed by such things, felt breathless. The woman beside her also looked pale, seeming to struggle despite receiving sufficient prior training.

Saena also felt tension rising from the piercing gazes, but simultaneously felt relieved.

She could sense that more gazes fixed beyond her to those behind than on herself, indicating they had succeeded in dispersing attention.

‘Though we’ll need to actually fool the Crown Prince…’

However, since she heard Constantine had already taken some measures for that part, Saena didn’t worry too much.

The most important thing was safely protecting the women acting as her substitutes until this banquet ended.

The group walked inside, leaving the entrance.

Saena took a position at one side of the banquet hall and briefly signaled to Rupert and Wesley. They seemed to understand, giving small nods before turning their gazes away.

Whatever the purpose, a banquet was still a banquet.

The beginning flowed similarly to other banquets.

Several pieces of music played like formulas for imperial banquets, and while waiting for the imperial family’s entrance, the nobles were busy sharing social connections.

Nevertheless, no one approached Saena’s side. They were all busy stealing glances and observing, while simultaneously gathering in groups to whisper and make speculations. The reason they only whispered from afar was actually that it was difficult to approach.

Saena’s face, deliberately stripped of warmth, appeared not just cold but severe, while Constantine’s aura exuded a palpable chill that spread through the surroundings.

The atmosphere was so frigid that even people on the same side slightly shivered, so no one dared to approach first to speak. The banquet attendees eagerly waited for someone to appear and break this sharp air while revealing the Oathkeeper’s identity.

In that sense, they earnestly awaited the imperial family’s final entrance.

Bam-bam!

Just then, familiar trumpet sounds rang out.

It was the sound announcing the imperial family’s entrance.

“Her Majesty Empress Charlotte Macfeyden, the moon supporting the empire’s night!”

“His Highness Crown Prince Gillian Macfeyden and Lady Hebeta Elizabeth Valdez!”

“Her Highness Princess Madielle Macfeyden!”

Finally, the banquet’s hosts appeared.

Including the Crown Prince.

Saena maintained her expressionless face as she watched the imperial family’s movements.

While the Empress’s opening remarks for the banquet flowed, she observed what followed.

The Crown Prince. As expected, Gillian was searching below from behind the Empress.

As soon as Saena turned her view toward the Crown Prince, she met his sharp gaze directly. His cold eyes lingered briefly on Saena showing signs of anger, then quickly moved behind her.

He was undoubtedly searching and speculating about who the Oathkeeper was.

His gaze that had been wandering their way for quite a while detached. Then she saw the Crown Prince’s gaze fall to the opposite side of Saena’s group.

‘I wonder who he’s looking for, if not the Oathkeeper.’

Saena followed the Crown Prince’s gaze with slight puzzlement.

And her eyes met directly with Floria who smiled at her.

Saena reflexively smiled back. Because Floria waving her hand slightly and greeting with her eyes looked too cute.

Meanwhile, Saena felt an intense gaze. When she reflexively turned her view, she was somewhat surprised.

Right beside Floria was nother pink-haired person. Duke Aberdeen was staring openly at Saena.

Kiing–

Like when she first met Constantine, a similar resonating sound rang out and Saena slightly furrowed her brows.

‘Ah…’

And Saena could finally understand the identity of the sensation she felt with her whole body. That saying about how Oathkeepers cannot deceive each other when they meet.

She felt the other’s energy naturally, just as described.

Constantine’s energy had perhaps been too close from the start, or was already mixed due to physical proximity, so she hadn’t really felt it.

Perhaps the resonance was stronger at first meetings with unfamiliar energy, as she could feel Aberdeen’s energy surging violently like a powder keg about to explode.

Finding the sensation of feeling another Oathkeeper’s energy unfamiliar, Saena stared at Duke Aberdeen as if entranced.

Just then, someone’s movement caught in her line of sight cutting straight across.

Someone was approaching Duke Aberdeen.

‘…The Crown Prince?’