Fortunately, she thought they had fled down below the terrace as intended.

“Yuri.”

—Hm?

“You disappear for a moment.”

—Why?

“I’m going to switch clothes with Floria.”

—What? You’re planning to be the bait?

“To catch a lion, you must enter the lion’s den.”

—It’s dangerous. I’m against it.

The nightmare of the masquerade ball didn’t remain with just Saena. This incident was psychologically difficult for Yuri too.

“I’m different now from back then. Yuri, I have you. And if needed, Constantine is here too.”

—Ha, still…

“This is the most effective way. Am I wrong?”

If they missed this chance, who knew when they’d get another opportunity.

‘I don’t know much about what happens after this.’

That was another reason.

She wasn’t particularly well-versed in social information and trends to begin with, but after ‘that incident,’ Saena had been practically isolated from the world, half by choice and half by circumstance.

“Now, close your eyes over there. Or just disappear for a bit.”

— ……

While he hid in the corner, Saena removed her clothes and undressed Floria. Then she put her dress on Floria and wore Floria’s dress herself.

Since Floria was shorter than Saena, her dress was a bit long on Floria.

She had worried more about it being too short, but when she tried it on, it was fine. Perhaps because it was a unicorn concept, the hem split into strands like a horse’s tail, and brown boots were meant to show up to the calves.

‘Are the boots supposed to be like hooves?’

Though she wasn’t sure, it seemed that way.

When Saena wore it, the hem came up slightly higher than when Floria wore it, but unless someone had a particularly keen eye, they wouldn’t notice.

Fortunately, their shoe sizes seemed similar enough that it wasn’t too uncomfortable.

‘I brought this just in case, but didn’t think I’d actually use it.’

Saena pulled out a pouch from inside her hood. Inside was a pink wig. Looking in the mirror, Saena put on the wig and styled it as close as possible to Floria’s hair before putting on the mask.

She had decided to try this earlier when she saw it was almost a full face mask.

‘Hmm. Most people won’t be able to tell the difference.’

After putting on all of Floria’s accessories, Saena nodded at her reflection in the mirror.

This should fool most people.

Except those who could distinguish her energy.

“Now I need to get her to Kayan.”

—Kayan?

“Yes. We agreed to meet earlier anyway, and Kayan will safely take her home.”

In the current situation, that seemed more certain than trying to find Duke Aberdeen.

Saena put her hood on Floria and carefully tucked away her pink hair with a ribbon so it wouldn’t show. With the hood pulled deep, Floria’s identity was completely concealed.

—Right. That guy seems trustworthy.

Watching Yuri come back to pick up Floria, Saena suddenly asked.

“…Don’t you miss him?”

Kayan was originally Yuri’s friend.

She hadn’t been able to ask earlier due to the urgency.

He just smiled.

—How could I have maintained contact with that guy while I was in the Western Tower?

Childhood memories weren’t just from a dozen years ago.

His emotions had been worn down over time until almost nothing remained except his persistent goal toward Saena. So even the feeling of missing someone was now closer to a conceptual knowledge than a real emotion.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the only human-like emotions he had left were those related to Saena.

Though it seemed he was slowly recovering bit by bit through continued conversations with Saena.

“I…”

What should she say?

How could he have done that?

Even now, Saena didn’t fully understand what kind of determination he had made and how much difficult time he had gone through.

He adjusted his grip on Floria and placed one hand on Saena’s head.

Thump.

Though no warmth transferred through the contact, she could feel its weight.

—This isn’t the time for this.

“……”

—And you have nothing to feel sorry about. It was my choice. You didn’t even ask for it.

Though she understood this logically, getting her heart to truly accept it was another matter.

—There’s no one outside right now.

But as he said, this wasn’t the time to be caught up in emotions.

The two who had peeked out and carefully opened the door quickly headed toward the stairs. They had come to the end terrace because they knew there was an exit to the outside at the end of the corridor.

Successfully getting outside without being spotted by anyone, Saena and Yuri headed in the opposite direction from where Elizabeth’s underlings had gone.

They were delayed quite a bit having to take detours through areas without people. There were quite a few couples hidden here and there in the garden, presumably for trysts.

When they were almost at the fountain where they were supposed to meet Kayan, Saena hid nearby instead of going straight there.

“No one around?”

—No.

Saena picked up a few small stones from the ground and threw them toward Kayan. The stones rolled to his feet with a clatter, making him turn around.

“…Flor…!”

“Shh.”

Saena put her finger to her lips to silence him.

Thanks to the change of clothes, Kayan seemed to think she was Floria.

Saena beckoned with her other hand for him to come this way. Though confused, Kayan looked around unnecessarily before slowly approaching.

She led him to a blind spot in the bushes. Better safe than sorry.

“……?!”

There, Yuri was holding Floria. Kayan stopped short at the sight.

“What’s going on?”

Saena removed her mask.

“…Saena?”

Seeing the confusion clearly written on his face, Saena spoke.

“That’s Floria. She seems to have consumed something nasty at the party.”

She pointed to the silhouette in Yuri’s arms.

Kayan approached Yuri and slightly lifted the hood to check her face, then sighed in relief.

“Ah, good that we found her.”

His forehead was slightly damp, as if he had been searching hard.

“Could you safely take her home?”

“…That’s not a problem, but.”

Kayan asked with a suspicious expression.

“Why did you switch clothes?”

It was a natural question.

And Saena had prepared an answer for it.

“It seems someone deliberately gave her something bad to eat.”

“What?! Then you too…”

“I’ll be fine.”

Kayan grabbed her arm as if this was nonsense.

“Don’t take unnecessary risks.”

“I’m not being reckless. I have an escort, see.”

Saena pointed to Yuri.

“Still…”

“I’m not planning to catch them no matter what. I’m just being cautious, so don’t worry. I won’t drink anything.”

Kayan still looked uncomfortable with the idea.

“Floria is more important. If she wakes up, she might go wild, insisting on catching the culprit.”

Given Floria’s personality, that was quite possible. Then there would be no results, the real culprit would escape, and it would all end pointlessly.

“Hah, alright.”

“Explain the situation to her well. Take her home safely. And don’t let her come back even if she wakes up.”

“……”

Kayan looked at Saena with hesitant eyes.

His expression still showed he was uneasy about leaving her.

“You’re not just wanting to enjoy the party more, are you? Like having an appointment with someone?”

So Saena spoke teasingly.

“N-no!”

The excessive denial made it even more suspicious, but…

“I said no!”

Saena chuckled and nodded.

“Alright. Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Following Yuri’s guidance, they walked along paths without people toward the carriage waiting area.

When they were almost there, Yuri said,

—There are watching eyes.

Watching eyes?

“…Already?”

Saena asked in surprise.

“Hm?”

Kayan thought she was talking to him and responded.

Only then realizing her mistake, Saena hurriedly covered it up.

“Ah, um. Already, I can see something over there. Looks like we’re almost there.”

“Yeah.”

This is quite awkward.

How do other Oathkeepers talk with their Guardian Spirits?

She suddenly wondered.

—Not just one or two? Seems like more than when we came down earlier.

She kept wanting to respond unconsciously.

Saena bit her lips hard to try to control her words.

‘Multiple watchers…’

Elizabeth must have thought Floria who escaped through the terrace would likely head toward the carriage waiting area.

So she quickly sent people to deal with it.

Though it was certainly an accurate judgment, there was no need to back down just from fear.

“Kayan. Please use your family’s carriage in a way that doesn’t show it’s Floria.”

They had already changed clothes, and he would pretend to be escorting someone else.

Looking at it this way, meeting Kayan was quite fortunate.

“Understood.”

He took Floria from Yuri and carried her. Then he emerged from the bushes onto the well-paved imperial pathway.

A servant greeted Kayan who had slowly walked to the carriage waiting area.

“Please call the Ackroyd family’s carriage.”

“The Ackroyds! Please wait a moment.”

While waiting for the carriage, Saena and Yuri hid far away and observed the situation.

They could see the servant glancing furtively at Floria in his arms. His sneaking glances were quite persistent.