She followed Father to his office.

Father handed her two documents.

One was something like an invitation stamped with the imperial palace seal, and one was a document envelope stamped with the crest of the academy she had attended in her previous life.

She tilted her head while receiving the two documents with a clueless expression.

“His Highness the Crown Prince is looking for you. You haven’t offended His Highness without my knowledge, have you?”

She nodded at his words.

“One is the academy enrollment documents. Both you and Leila are old enough to enter the academy next year.”

“……Isn’t Leila younger than me? She’s been calling me sister.”

“You were born 10 months before Leila, so she can call you sister. I plan to enroll both of you in this academy together.”

She nodded at his words.

“Are you really not going to tell me where you’ve been?”

“I told you already. I went for a walk and got lost. If I had really planned to leave, would I have left the mansion in my nightgown?”

Hearing her words, the Marquis continued to look at her with suspicious eyes before telling her to go, as he sat in his office chair and began looking at documents.

“Ah, and that document from the imperial palace — they said you must open it yourself, so I haven’t opened it yet. Won’t you let me know what it says after you read it?”

With that, she gave him a bow and left Father’s office to return to her room.

As soon as she arrived in her room, Mylene took her to the bathroom to clean her thoroughly and called a healer to carefully check if there were any problems with her body.

Only after being fussed over by Mylene for a long while could she finally have time to herself.

After changing into new nightclothes and having the warm tea and snacks Mylene brought, she took out the imperial invitation hidden in a corner of the room.

Not only did she not know what would be written in it, but since they emphasized to the Marquis that “Lady Rowenloa must read it herself”……

Rather than being curious, she was scared.

With trembling hands, she opened the letter.

Meanwhile, she marveled at the luxury of the imperial palace, with gold leaf even on the letter paper.

[Dear Rowenloa Masipacius.

Your brilliance has reached the imperial palace. I heard your wisdom was of great help during the fire incident on the mountain behind the Masipacius mansion. I would like to express my gratitude and have a conversation with you.

Detrian Crescent.]

……That hooded bastard.

He said he wouldn’t tell the Crown Prince, but what did he say to make the Crown Prince summon me to the palace!

She held her throbbing head.

What should I do……

So she shoved the unwanted imperial invitation into a drawer corner and prepared to go to sleep.

Mylene worried about her suddenly darkened complexion, but she forced a smile at her and went to bed.

That’s when it happened.

Someone knocked on her door knock-knock.

“Mylene…?”

Startled, she called toward the door, but there was no answer.

Knock-knock—

Instead, another knock was heard.

She carefully approached the door.

Of course, she thought opening the door here would be a very foolish thing to do, but her room door didn’t have any locking function anyway.

If she didn’t open it, they would open it from outside and come in.

So she carefully turned the doorknob. 

 Then she saw the silhouette of the person standing behind the door.

And…… only the silhouette was visible.

Because they were wearing a hooded cloak.

Wow, creepy.

How did he even know which room was hers.

“May I come in?”

So the hooded man very boldly entered her room.

“How did you even know my room…? You know it’s rude to visit without any notice this late at night, right?”

“Despite the rudeness, I thought I should let you know what His Highness the Crown Prince will say to you. I’ll leave if you don’t want to hear it.”

She let out a sigh and sat facing him in the dark room.

She considered turning on the light, but if her room light was on at this hour, Mylene would surely knock on her door with unreasonable worries.

Sitting face to face with this hooded person in a dark room made her wonder if this was what underworld dealings felt like.

Come to think of it, why isn’t he taking off that hood?

“I couldn’t hide your involvement. So I roughly explained that you made great contributions in suppressing the fire.”

“So what exactly were these great contributions……”

“I roughly said I called someone who could use water’s blessing. I said that person didn’t want their identity revealed, so that explanation should be enough.”

……And the Crown Prince believed that?

“You received help from His Highness’s direct knight before, remember? I had to make up some story to ask His Highness for help.”

Hearing his words, she sighed at the rising worry, but nodded in agreement that it was probably the best option.

“But, can I ask you one thing?”

The man nodded at her words.

“I’m not sure if I should ask this, but why do you keep wearing the hood?”

As if she had asked something he shouldn’t hear, the man flinched guiltily and then started coughing.

She began to feel uneasy.

……Could this person actually not be from the imperial palace?

What had she been thinking, telling this person all sorts of things?

No, but seeing how that person called Erian who assists the Crown Prince helped her before, he must at least know the Crown Prince….

As she anxiously rolled her eyes looking at him, he also seemed somewhat nervous, tapping his fingers on the table.

“To…… protect my identity?”

She let out a hollow laugh at his words.

“Protect your identity? For someone working at the imperial palace? You can just escape into the palace if it seems dangerous. It would be more believable if you said you were hiding your identity as a member of the imperial family.”

Hearing her words, the man burst out “haha—” but quickly shut his mouth with a “hup—” when he saw her gesture to be quiet.

He made silly laughing sounds for a while before finally containing his laughter and continued speaking.

“The palace is also a battlefield. Sometimes the war for power is scarier than the war for money in business.”

She nodded at his story.

It made sense since even in her previous life, newspapers occasionally covered stories about political fights within the palace.

“Still, you know my name, my house, and even my room…… but I don’t even know your name.”

Hearing that, he turned his head away embarrassedly and looked at the moon visible through the window for a while before getting up from his seat. Just as he approached the door saying it was getting late and he should go, there was a knock at the door.

“Miss, are you sleeping?”

Why is Mylene coming to her room at this hour?

“Strange…… I thought I heard voices from inside…… Miss, I brought some oil that’s good for the bronchial tubes. Since you seemed to be coughing earlier……”

Mylene lingered in front of her room for a while.

She quickly pulled the man, who had been standing blankly in front of the door, back into the room.

The closet…… was too small to hide him given his large build, and there was a possibility Mylene might open it to check something, so that was out.

As for the curtains…… the moonlight was too strong so his silhouette would show through and look even more suspicious, so that was out too.

She turned to look at the bed.

If she lay down…… and put this person under the blanket……

“Miss, may I come in?”

So Mylene entered the room, and she barely managed to hide him and lie down on the bed.

She got up from the bed rubbing her eyes as if she had just woken up.

Mylene then made an “oh no” expression.

“Oh my, did I wake you? I’m sorry, Miss……”

“It’s okay. I couldn’t sleep properly because of the cough anyway.”

“Oh my, then what I heard from outside must have been coughing, not voices…… The physician said it’s good for the bronchial tubes if you put a towel soaked in oil-infused water next to the bed……”

She nodded at Mylene who was bustling around beside her.

Mylene then let out a “whew—” and opened the closet door to look for a towel to put the aromatherapy oil on.

……Good thing I didn’t hide him in the closet.

So Mylene sat beside her bed for a long while checking on her condition.

Ha, how to get Mylene to leave……

She tried to think of ways to drive Mylene out while thinking of him squirming in the cramped space with his large body.

As she alternated between looking at Mylene and where he was, she accidentally spilled tea and got it on the blanket, which made Mylene jump up from her seat in surprise.

“Oh my, Miss. Are you not burned?”

Mylene quickly pulled back her blanket.

It was a heart-stopping moment.