I quickly racked my brain amid the continuous questions from people.

A device that stores sound… Mafi had said it melts iron and puts communication stones inside to store sounds…

A device that melts iron to store voices, a recorder?

“It’s a recorder!”

In my confusion, my mouth blurted out the word my brain had thought of.

The nobles seemed bewildered by this unfamiliar term and began discussing among themselves whether they had seen such an object before.

“Re…corder?”

“I’ve never heard of such an item… Do you know about this object?”

“Hmm… Perhaps the young lady imported it from another empire, not the Gellions Empire? I’ve never heard of such an item.”

After whispering among themselves for a while, people began to shower me with questions again.

“Young lady, could you tell us where you purchased this item?”

“Or at least who invented it……”

I shook my head as if troubled by their questions.

“I’m sorry. The inventor of this device wishes to remain anonymous.”

The nobles sighed with disappointment upon hearing my words.

“I’ll ask if they would be interested in selling this device anonymously.”

Immediately, the eyes of several business-savvy individuals began to sparkle.

“Young lady, if you don’t mind, could you tell that person about me……”

“Perhaps we could have a meal together sometime……”

As I was forcing a smile in this uncomfortable situation, the duchess of Posilia and Grace re-entered the ballroom.

Seeing the people surrounding me, they ran over in surprise and blocked the way to me.

“What are you all doing to someone who’s injured!”

At the duchess’s words, everyone bowed their heads, having nothing to say.

Grace placed cold wet towels on my neck, which had reddened from hitting the table, and on Heris’s reddened cheek.

The nobles who had been trying to get information about the recorder from me reluctantly left my side, unable to resist the duchess’s insistence, though they couldn’t take their eyes off me.

After spending some time with the Brel family, the duchess, and Grace in the ballroom hall, people with golden epaulets on their shoulders entered the hall.

From their appearance, they seemed to be knights from the palace.

“Lady Rowenloa Masipacius. Lady Heris Brel. We are here to escort you to the imperial palace.”

No sooner had they finished speaking than the imperial knights surrounded me and Heris.

Heris quietly grabbed my hand, seemingly frightened by the suddenly tense atmosphere.

…All this just because she got slapped once by a girl her age?

So we boarded the carriage under the escort of the imperial knights.

And just as other people were about to board the carriage with us, the knights stopped them.

“We have orders to safely escort them to the imperial palace.”

“Ah… I’m Heris’s father sitting over there.”

“I apologize. We have orders not to allow anyone else to accompany the two young ladies for their safety. Once the treatment and investigation are complete, we will safely escort them to the Brel residence, so please return home first.”

As soon as the knight commander finished speaking, the carriage door closed with a loud ‘thud.’

“…Treatment is one thing, but investigation?!”

“What kind of nonsensical situation is this! Parents can’t even accompany their daughter!”

The bewildered voices of the Brel couple leaked through the door gap, but as the carriage began to rattle, even those voices gradually faded away until they could no longer be heard.

“What kind of investigation will we undergo? Could it be that Her Majesty the Empress is angry with us because of this incident……”

Heris’s voice trembled.

I smiled gently at her and said,

“It’s alright. For minor incidents like this, not serious crimes like murder, a document called an imperial investigation agreement is sent to the family. The empress seems to be interested in this incident… but there won’t be the kind of investigation you’re thinking of. At most, we’ll just be asked a few questions to understand the situation.”

Only then did Heris breathe a sigh of relief.

“Thank you so much for today. It couldn’t have been easy to show that side of yourself in front of people.”

“No, I’m the one who should be thanking you, Lady Rowenloa.”

I tilted my head at Heris’s words.

“If it weren’t for you, I would have spent my entire life being dragged around and ignored by those children.”

Umm…

In her previous life, she had overcome everything on her own and grown into a family head recognized by others, but let’s just go with that.

“And the Brel family that I inherited would have been ignored by people until they were forgotten.”

…Though it actually grew into one of the strongest families, but let’s go with that.

Well, there’s no need to ruin the mood here.

So I looked at Heris, who was confessing in front of me, while barely hiding my pricking conscience.

“…You would have done well without me, Heris. You’re much stronger than you think.”

It was a voice full of sincerity.

Hearing those words, Heris stared blankly at me for a while before nodding.

After the confession time passed and we were having various trivial conversations, the carriage seemed to slow down gradually before coming to a complete stop.

“Wow……”

Heris let out an exclamation when she saw the imperial palace.

The palace seen at night looked much more splendid and magnificent than during the day.

I also felt somewhat intimidated by its appearance.

“Thank you for coming all this way. I’ve had a physician waiting, so shall we go in together?”

The empress appeared suddenly among the knights as if she had been waiting for us, and then took us inside.

When we entered the room guided by the empress, several physicians bowed to us.

“Here, please attend to Lady Rowenloa first.”

At those words, the physicians quickly approached me and seemed to examine my physical condition, then began to emit strange flames from their hands among themselves.

I felt not only the pain from my injuries at the ballroom but also all the fatigue that had accumulated until now being completely released.

“Wow……”

Hearing my exclamation, the empress and the imperial palace staff let out a small laugh.

“Then… now that your treatment is complete, shall we have a little chat?”

With that, the empress left Heris in the care of the physicians and led me to the room right next door.

She sat comfortably on the sofa and looked me up and down.

As I stood awkwardly, conscious of her gaze, the empress pointed to the sofa with her chin, indicating that I should sit.

I slowly sat down on the sofa, unable to adapt to the empress’s suddenly changed attitude.

“Rowenloa Masipacius……”

After muttering my name several times, the empress placed her fan on the table with a loud sound and fixed her gaze on me.

“It seems you’ve been getting close with our crown prince lately.”

At the empress’s unexpected words, I stared blankly at her for a while.

“Detrian Crescent. Surely you’re not going to say you didn’t know he was the crown prince?”

Hearing the empress’s words, I shook my head.

“His Highness the Crown Prince has merely been supporting me with books and such because he sees my talent favorably, but to say we’re close……”

“Well, that’s true. You wouldn’t speak honestly in front of me.”

The empress tapped the tip of her shoe repeatedly as if she had no intention of listening to my words, making it clear that she was displeased about something.

I was busy avoiding her gaze, unable to understand what was on her mind.

Her gaze was very fierce.

“What a shame. I have no intention of marrying off the crown prince yet.”

“Ah……”

What am I supposed to do with that?

The empress and I stared at each other for a long time, blinking our eyes.

“I thought you were aiming for the position of the crown prince’s fiancée.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I have no intention of getting married.”

The empress’s eyes shook greatly at each of my firm statements, then gradually stabilized.

Am I not interested in the crown prince?

No, I am very interested.

There’s no way any woman wouldn’t be interested in that face…..

But I had never once thought about becoming the crown prince’s lover or wanting to marry him.

It was just like looking at a finely carved statue.

Therefore, the empress’s question was extremely bewildering and absurd to me.

“I’m sorry, but I already have someone in mind as a match for the crown prince.”

I frowned upon hearing those words.

The empress seemed to have had no intention of listening to my words from the beginning and continued with her own speech.

“Instead… I could introduce you to another member of the imperial family who could satisfy your desires. For example, Veltune? Veltune Crescent, you know him?”

So this must be why they called me and Heris to the imperial palace for such a minor incident.

I sighed once and stood up from my seat, bowing to the empress.

“I apologize. But I have no interest in romantic relationships. I will pretend I didn’t hear today’s conversation.”

One should not end a conversation with the empress first.

This was a basic courtesy that was implicitly observed when talking with the imperial family.

And I had just acted contrary to that courtesy.

That’s how absurd this situation was to me.

“That’s a pity. I thought you were smarter than that child and wanted you to walk the same path.”

…That child?

The empress seemed displeased by my behavior and muttered something toward me, then frowned and waved her hand as if telling me to leave.

I bowed to the empress once more and left the room.

Thud—.

As I was walking toward the room where Heris was after closing the door, someone grabbed my wrist.

When I turned around, the crown prince was looking at me, breathing heavily as if he had run urgently.

“…Did the empress say anything strange?”

Normally, I would have responded to the crown prince’s words.

But concerned about the empress’s behavior earlier, I quietly looked around and brushed off the hand that was holding my wrist.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, I apologize, but it would be better to avoid meeting for a while.”

“What… does that……”

So I left the dumbfounded crown prince behind and returned to the residence with Heris, who had received treatment, in a carriage prepared by the imperial palace.

* * *

Contrary to my expectation that the residence would be in turmoil, the Masipacius residence, which I arrived at late, was much quieter than usual.

When I quietly returned to my room, Brother Rubert was waiting for me.

“Something’s strange.”

As soon as he saw me, my brother urgently opened his mouth.

“Father tried to completely ignore Leila and Bershua. As if they didn’t exist in this mansion. He only told them not to wander outside for a while. But… Leila received a letter.”

…A letter?

“As soon as Leila received the letter, she ran to Father’s study, and then Bershua was also summoned. And… the two of them came out of Father’s study with very bright faces?”

As I heard those words, the faces of Veltune Crescent and the empress flashed through my mind.

There was a reason why I had encountered characters that I had never met in my previous life.

Something is changing significantly.