Chapter 8 – Part 6

“I don’t know. He just gave it to me.”

My sister looked at me as if I were the most foolish person in the world.

Feeling guilty, I added, “But I did agree to dance the first dance with him!”

She stared at me for a moment, then sighed deeply before launching into a long lecture.

“As the heir to the Marnel Count family, I want you to do well with His Highness the Crown Prince. If you become the Crown Princess and eventually the Empress, producing imperial heirs, I would become the Emperor’s only aunt in the near future. My successor would be the Emperor’s cousin, and our parents would be the Emperor’s grandparents. Do you understand what that means?”

“Uh…”

The sudden seriousness threw me off.

My sister sighed deeply.

“Erica, I know you don’t care about such things, so my words might not mean much to you.”

Yes, my sister knew me well.

She set her utensils down neatly and continued.

“To me, such things are incredibly significant. There are countless people who would gladly give a fortune to secure a position as the Emperor’s maternal relative. I can’t say I’m any different. Even so…”

She sipped her flavored water and continued.

“I just want you to be happy. Mother and Father feel the same way.”

I was shocked by her words, so much so that I flinched.

“Are you serious, Sis?”

“Of course, I’m serious.”

“Honestly, I’m really surprised. I thought you’d be pushing me to date His Highness right away.”

“I am your sister before I’m the heir to the Marnel family.”

Her tender words made goosebumps rise in my arms.

As I rubbed my arms, my sister’s eyes narrowed.

“Erica, if you want to refuse His Highness’s courtship, tell me now. I’ll prepare another dress for you to wear to the ball. The dress we fitted today looks like it was made to match His Highness’s outfit.”

* * *

At that moment, Crown Prince Adrian was fiddling with a scrap of paper.

It was from the day Erica had tried to make a mixed drink in the Rose Palace and had passed out drunk.

He had covered the sleeping Erica with his jacket and tasted the mixed drink in her place when she woke up.

The scrap of paper on which Erica had scribbled some notes about the drink was now in Adrian’s hand.

He had felt too guilty to let the attendant throw it away while tidying the table, so he had slipped it into his pocket.

He hadn’t looked at it for a while out of guilt.

After all, technically, the paper and pencil were palace property, and Erica, being part of the palace staff, had written it while preparing for the palace’s spring ball, making it an official record.

“Is it okay for me to take this…?”

Probably not.

As he agonized over this, he traced Erica’s hastily written words with his fingers and then paused. The handwriting looked oddly familiar.

He had definitely seen similar handwriting somewhere before.

“It looks a lot like the writing in the diary.”

Adrian opened the diary he kept close by.

As he had suspected, the two handwritings were very similar.

They weren’t identical, but that could be because the diary was written neatly with a pen, while the paper was scribbled with a pencil.

The angles and slants of the strokes were strikingly similar, making it hard for Adrian to dismiss it.

As he carefully compared the recent pages of the diary, Adrian imagined what if his anonymous friend was Erica.

[Me too! I’m going with my parents and sister.]

According to Adrian’s knowledge, the Marnel Count family had two daughters, and Erica was the younger one.

[I’ve made a new drink.]

This made sense too. Erica had been busy developing several mixed drinks to present at the ball.

[Serenading might still be a bit much. And what if she reject you? You should have a backup plan, right?]

His friend’s aversion to drawing attention to themselves resembled Erica’s temperament.

In hindsight, bringing an orchestra to serenade her by her window might have been too much.

[I’ll cheer for you! A guy like you can win love without relying on wealth or status.]

The way his friend drew exclamation marks was similar to Erica’s.

[That person doesn’t know what they’re missing! If a guy like you confessed to me, I’d accept right away.]

How happy he would be if Erica had said this to him.

[Kind, considerate, gentle, warm, and fun to talk to.]

How wonderful it would be if Erica saw him this way.

[Actually, I come from another world.]

What if his mysterious friend, who confessed to being from another world, was Erica? If Erica was from another world…

Records of people from another world had been passed down to the direct imperial family. Adrian had read those records.

However, the people described in those records were nothing like Erica.

They were all described as powerful and violent, viewing the people of this world as inferior.

One record, left by an emperor several generations ago, mentioned an outsider who, not caring if the world was destroyed, used powerful magic that distorted space and time to return to their original world.

Thus, the Emperor of the Empire, who also served as the head of the Holy Knights, secretly hunted down and dealt with these outsiders.

“But…”

Erica knew how to treat people like people.

She freely gave her affection and made friends easily.

When he was with Erica, it didn’t matter whether he was wearing a golden epaulette cape or a simple white shirt.

Erica was always just Erica, and when he was by her side, even the Crown Prince could simply be Adrian.

And when he conversed with his anonymous friend through the diary, he felt as if he could momentarily set aside the Crown Prince’s crown and feel lighter.

His friend enjoyed tea, was sociable, and was kind—just like Erica.

So Adrian, knowing that this friend was an outsider, did not report it to his mother, the Empress.

In the end, he even impulsively revealed the secret passage from the fountain square in the capital to the palace to his friend.

It was an impulse unworthy of a Crown Prince.

An impulse he had never shown to anyone other than that friend and Erica.

Adrian compared the two in his mind, then took out the handkerchief he had stored with the diary in his drawer.

The olive-colored embroidery on the handkerchief gleamed in the candlelight.

It was remarkably similar to the color of Erica’s eyes.

* * *

The day before the ball arrived.

I had eaten and slept well yesterday. Too well, in fact, as my face was swollen from it.

I had eaten dinner with my sister and then had another late-night snack with my father, which probably didn’t help.

When I woke up, I saw that my father’s face was just as swollen.

So my sister instructed the kitchen to remove all the salt from our food.

“Oh, sis!”

“Dilenia, my dear daughter, please, not that…”

My father and I pleaded, but my sister was relentless.

My mother silently sided with my sister.

“…”

After finishing a bland, saltless breakfast, I tried on the dress.

The dress, which had been tailored with special care last night, was already completed with tight hand-stitching.

“Wow, they managed this in one night.”

I was amazed.

The head maid, who had dark circles from staying up all night, said, “Everyone did their best.”

“Here, the promised special bonus. Share it fairly. And you can rest a bit today.”

My sister handed a heavy pouch to the head maid.

The dress, completed in a timely fashion by our household staff, fit me perfectly.

The bright ivory top and skirt were refreshing. Pearls were embedded in the ivory lace decorations.

The closer you looked, the more luxurious the dress appeared.

My sister, who was watching from the side, remarked,

“They used expensive fabric and then covered it with lace and pearls that are even more expensive than the fabric.”

When I added a green gown over it, my olive-colored eyes stood out even more.

As Natalie had said, the fabric of the gown had an excellent sheen. The sleeves and hem were lavishly embroidered with gold thread and gems, making it extremely luxurious.

My sister sighed, “Oh dear, if I enter with you wearing this, I’ll look like a neglected child.”

Standing next to my sister in her dress and looking in the mirror, I had to admit it was true. I felt a bit awkward.

“Should I remove some of the decorations?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll wear something else.”

We bickered in front of the mirror, then carefully took off our ball dresses and put them away.

Then the whole family gathered for lunch. Once again, there was no seasoning in my father’s or my food.

“Sis, pass the salt.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Dilenia, my beloved daughter, please give me some salt.”

“No.”

My sister was firm.

My mother silently sided with her again.

Meanwhile, the bird, which had escaped from its cage again, chirped at us mockingly.

“Tweet tweet! Chirp chirp!”

After that chaotic lunch, we put the bird back in its cage and all laid down together.

We applied oatmeal mixed with honey to our faces.

“Slurp…”

“Father, you’re not supposed to eat it.”

My sister corrected.

We lay there for a while, then washed our faces and applied lemon juice-soaked cucumber slices.

“Crunch crunch…”

“Mother, please stop eating.”

Don’t eat.

Give it to your skin.