“Tell me honestly. What happened with Rachel?”

Viola whispered to Tervan in a small voice as she let her body follow his lead.

The reason Viola insisted on dancing with Tervan was to observe Rachel’s reaction while creating an opportunity to talk with him.

Viola knew very well that Rachel liked Tervan.

That’s why she had avoided dancing with Tervan as much as possible, but today was an exception.

And seeing Rachel’s indifferent reaction, she could be certain.

That something had gone wrong between Tervan and Rachel.

Otherwise, Rachel wouldn’t have responded so plainly when Viola and Tervan said they were going to dance.

“It’s nothing like that. We didn’t fight.”

Tervan answered Viola with a troubled expression. However, Viola didn’t believe him.

“If nothing happened, why is Rachel acting like that? You must have done something wrong. Think about it. What did you do wrong?”

“…Well. I don’t think there’s anything.”

Tervan, already perplexed by Rachel’s change, began to retrace his memories to see if he had really done something wrong to Rachel.

But no matter how far back he searched his memories, nothing came to mind.

“I can’t think of anything.”

Tervan frowned and bit his lower lip as he spoke.

“But I think it is my fault.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Tervan remembered how Rachel kept looking at him with complicated expressions during their time in the subjugation team.

He thought there must have been a reason why she looked at him that way.

As Viola suggested, he might have unknowingly done something wrong to Rachel.

“By the way, what’s going on with Rachel’s magic? I heard she can store up to three magic spells.”

“I didn’t know about that either.”

Viola frowned at Tervan’s response.

“What do you actually know about Rachel? You’re so clueless.”

Viola glared at Tervan with a sidelong glance. Tervan awkwardly smiled back at her.

Viola let out a small sigh and checked where Rachel was. Rachel quietly sipped wine.

She saw someone approaching Rachel. Though she could only see the back, the golden hair was very familiar to Viola.

“Tervan, look over there.”

Viola whispered to Tervan. Tervan turned his head to look at Rachel.

“It seems His Highness the Crown Prince has business with Rachel.”

“I guess so.”

Viola narrowed her eyes and glared at Tervan’s flat response. Then she deliberately stepped on Tervan’s foot, pretending to misstep.

“Ouch!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. My mistake.”

Viola offered an apology to Tervan with a prim smile. Tervan realized that Viola had stepped on his foot on purpose and smiled bitterly.

* * *

“Lady Pluret?”

At the sudden voice, Rachel, who had been watching Viola and Tervan, turned her head to see who was speaking.

Deep golden hair like melted gold and amethyst-like transparent purple eyes. A beautiful man with fine features entered her field of vision.

Rachel put down her empty wine glass and bowed politely to the man.

“I’m honored to meet you, Your Highness.”

“I’m pleased to meet you too.”

At the rather friendly greeting, Rachel raised her head to look at Ryan. Crown Prince Ryan Van Carwen smiled gently at her.

Ryan was also one of the male protagonists of this world. He was the main male lead who devoted himself to Viola when she was immersed in depression.

He was truly a prince on a white horse who appeared by Viola’s side after Tervan died and even her close friend blamed her.

“This is our first time having a direct conversation.”

Ryan took two wine glasses from a tray held by a servant and handed one to Rachel.

Rachel accepted the glass he offered, somewhat bewildered.

Ryan naturally stood beside Rachel and looked toward the banquet hall.

“This is wine from Valean. It’s famous for its clean taste with low sweetness but high acidity. Please try it.”

Ryan, who had taken a sip of wine, urged Rachel. Rachel looked at Ryan for a moment and then carefully lifted the glass to take a sip of wine. There was no need to doubt the taste as Valean wine was famous.

“Is it good?”

However, Ryan asked her as if to confirm.

Rachel looked at Ryan for a moment and then nodded.

“Yes, it’s delicious. But may I ask why you’ve come to see me?”

Rachel asked Ryan in a formal tone. Although she pretended not to know while asking about his business, Rachel guessed that Ryan was also curious about her performance in the subjugation team.

She had no choice but to do her best to save Tervan.

But she knew well how noticeable her actions had been.

She, who had never stood out before as a low-level mage, suddenly displayed excellent magical abilities and made great contributions to the Witch’s Forest subjugation, so it was inevitable that everyone would be surprised and show interest.

Duke Bermund, who had first sought her out at the ballroom, was a prime example.

Rachel expected that Ryan, standing before her, had also come to see her out of curiosity about her remarkable growth.

“I came because I was curious about you.”

“About me?”

Rachel watched Ryan, thinking her assumption was correct.

Ryan shrugged once and met Rachel’s eyes.

“His Majesty the Emperor hosted this banquet for those who returned from the monster subjugation team. And the one who made the greatest contribution in that team is you, Lady Pluret.”

Ryan began to explain with a gentle smile.

“It’s fair to say that you, Lady Pluret, are essentially the main character of this banquet.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. If you asked anyone else, they would say the same.”

Rachel nodded and looked at the other people in the banquet hall. She could frequently hear her name mentioned in their conversations.

“So that’s why you came to see me.”

“Ah, rather than that…”

Ryan vaguely trailed off. Rachel quietly waited for Ryan to speak. Then Ryan smiled awkwardly.

“I came over out of curiosity because such a person had an expression resembling someone attending a funeral. If I remember correctly, there were injuries but no deaths in this subjugation team. Is there something I haven’t been informed about?”

Rachel hesitated for a moment under his gaze before carefully opening her mouth.

“Do I really look like that?”

“Ah… I was joking, but did something really happen?”

Despite Ryan mentioning it was a joke, Rachel stared at him for a while.

“Lady Pluret?”

Only when the gaze became uncomfortable did Ryan call out to Rachel.

Rachel finally withdrew her gaze from him.

Ryan looked at her with a troubled expression.

“I don’t know what it is, but something must have happened. However, I won’t ask any further.”

“Thank you.”

Rachel answered plainly. With the conversation cut off, all Ryan could do was drink his wine.

Rachel was aware of him quietly drinking wine beside her, but soon turned her head away.

From a distance, she caught sight of Duke Bermund watching the two of them. However, Duke Bermund soon blended into the crowd seemingly unnoticed.

Rachel watched Duke Bermund laughing and talking with people before glancing at Ryan.

“What do you think of Duke Bermund, Your Highness?”

It wasn’t a topic suitable for people who had just properly greeted each other, but Rachel still asked him to hear his thoughts.

Ryan hesitated for a moment before looking toward Duke Bermund.

“Duke Bermund… he’s a good person. Despite being around my age, he has excellent abilities in running a trading company and has good character. People are always gathered around him, aren’t they? That shows he has the charm to attract people.”

Ryan’s assessment of Duke Bermund was positive.

Rachel slowly nodded.

It wasn’t unreasonable for Ryan to think that way.

From the beginning, Duke Bermund had put considerable effort into maintaining his reputation.

He worked hard to appear as a faithful servant to the Emperor and broadly expanded his connections among the nobles.

In social circles, people only thought of him as simply a good person with good business acumen.

That’s why no one knew that Duke Bermund was plotting treason.

Not until Viola accidentally discovered Duke Bermund’s true intentions in the original story.

But by the time Viola found out, Duke Bermund’s plan was already more than 80% complete. Ryan and the imperial family had to shed a lot of blood to stop Duke Bermund, and they were only able to end the incident by ultimately killing him.

The problem was that due to her uncertain memories, she couldn’t be sure about the process through which it was revealed.

Rachel wished for peace around her.

She didn’t want to experience anyone’s death anymore, nor did she want to travel back in time.

However, if she wanted continued peace, she couldn’t leave Duke Bermund unchecked.