The memory of Marian’s heart pounding wildly over something so trivial surfaced with startling clarity, and Ella’s eyes grew colder.

“Thank you.”

With a movement as natural as flowing water, Ella placed her hand on Zikhart’s arm.

Walking alongside him, she turned her gaze on impulse. Someone’s uncomfortable stare had reached her.

‘That flower-faced piece of trash……’

Murmuring her own nickname for the woman inwardly, Ella stopped walking.

Golden eyes and richly waved red hair.

Dienne.

She was standing at the entrance to the central garden where the banquet was being held, watching them. Her self-assured expression was visible even from a distance.

Dienne was apparently expecting Zikhart to come to her. To abandon the saintess in front of everyone and choose her instead.

Just as he had in Marian’s memories.

‘I’m afraid that won’t be happening today.’

Ella tightened her grip on Zikhart’s arm. At the same moment, she let out a small sound. “Ah!”

“Miss Mariella?”

“Oh, Your Highness…… I think something got into my eye for a moment.”

“Dear me, allow me to look.”

Zikhart’s face tilted and came close to hers.

He paused briefly. The delicate eyes blinking slowly reminded him of a gentle animal.

His lips parted as he met the moist, pale blue eyes looking up at him.

“……”

“Your Highness……?”

Even the voice calling his name sounded small and fragile.

The bare white skin of her exposed shoulders, the soft curve gathered at her chest. They caught his eye one after another.

Zikhart swallowed and blew a short breath toward her eye.

“……Better now?”

“Yes, thanks to you. Thank you.”

At her thanks, Zikhart smiled pleasantly and lightly brushed her chin.

“Think nothing of it.”

Goosebumps rose across her entire body, but she smiled back without flinching.

Ella read the thick desire in his gaze.

She had made only a small change, and the reaction was this blatant and this fast. It was almost absurd.

‘I’m glad you’re even more of a piece of trash than I thought, Zikhart.’

He and Dienne had toyed with Marian’s sincerity, so she intended to return it to them twice over……

Sensing her approaching, Ella cheered inwardly.

‘Dienne’s reaction is just as quick.’

This was going to be easier than expected.

“My, you’ve arrived.”

Dienne appeared at their side and greeted them with a welcoming air.

“I’ve been waiting for you both.”

“Ah…… Dienne.”

At the sound of Dienne’s voice, Zikhart startled and turned.

“It does my heart good to see the two of you standing side by side like this.”

Despite having rushed over at what had looked very much like a kiss, Dienne kept her characteristic smile firmly in place.

“Thank you for granting my request, Your Highness.”

She extended her hand, and Zikhart laughed awkwardly and pressed his lips to the back of it.

After the greeting, Zikhart tried to step back, but Dienne deliberately held his hand and refused to let go.

Left with no graceful way out, Zikhart ended up standing at her side.

Dienne curved her eyes with satisfaction and took his arm. Then she addressed Ella pointedly.

“Thank you as well, Miss Mariella. For accepting my gesture.”

“Not at all. If anything, I’m the one who should be grateful. You even sent a dress for me.”

“The dress suits you wonderfully.”

Her words said one thing, but her eyes were full of displeasure.

By some coincidence, Ella and Dienne’s dresses were nearly identical in both design and color. It was believable that she had sent this particular dress with exactly that in mind.

No, in truth, that was precisely what had happened.

‘Caught in her own trap.’

Standing side by side, the comparison would be obvious to anyone at a glance.

The winner today, by any objective measure, was Ella.

“That is entirely thanks to your excellent eye. I’m grateful for your thoughtfulness.”

“……”

“I heard you also asked His Highness to escort me. If I had come here alone, I would have been terribly out of place……”

Ella shifted her gaze toward Zikhart.

“His Highness made it much less daunting.”

“……”

“I know it was all thanks to your careful consideration, of course. This is my first time at a banquet like this…… I was a little nervous.”

Ella glanced down at the arm Dienne was holding so tightly and smiled.

The two people at the top of this social hierarchy were more than capable of reading the veiled language of nobility. At this point, even Dienne couldn’t simply leave Ella behind.

“I hope to continue counting on your kindness going forward.”

Dienne was the only daughter of the Orpen duchy, the host family of this banquet, and the crown prince’s consort.

She had personally invited the saintess, and there were too many eyes watching for her to ignore her now.

With the crown prince present, even more so.

Dienne lowered her hand from his arm. The smile at her lips trembled faintly.

“Your Highness…… I’ll leave Miss Mariella in your care until we’re inside.”

The precision of her response drew a quiet laugh from Ella.

On the surface, of course, she was the picture of an innocent saintess.

“I’m glad you’re here, my lady.”

Ella calmly took Zikhart’s arm and walked forward at an unhurried pace.

The sharp gaze drilling into her back and the faint unease from Zikhart, she ignored them both.

***

Lavender lace tablecloths rippled in the breeze as the Duke of Orpen delivered a brief welcoming address.

But none of the nobles were listening.

Every eye in the room had turned to Ella, seated across from the crown prince and his consort.

The whispers were relentless.

“Is that truly Saintess Mariella? Her appearance, her bearing, everything looks different.”

“No, surely not. She looks like an entirely different person. So refined and lovely……”

“Did you hear her speaking with me earlier? Heavens…… I thought I was talking to someone else entirely.”

“Her poise, her etiquette, not a single thing to fault. I can hardly believe it. That this woman is the saintess of common birth……”

Their conversation reached Ella, as well as Dienne and Zikhart.

Dienne smiled and reached for her napkin. Her fingertips crumpled it sharply.

Ella caught every bit of her double-faced behavior.

‘She’s holding herself together, barely.’

A quiet laugh escaped her, which she hid behind the napkin as she dabbed her lips with composure.

Ella’s seat was directly across from the consort.

After some deliberation, Zikhart had taken the seat beside Dienne.

Of course. He couldn’t very well stay at the saintess‘s side for the entire banquet hosted by the consort‘s family.

Ella had expected it.

Right on cue, the young noble seated beside her spoke up.

“Um…… Miss Mariella……”

It was a young marquis who had been itching to speak to her for some time.

What was his family name again? Harsen, was it?

While Ella was thinking, the young count whose eyes had met hers flushed red.

“W, would you consider attending a banquet at our estate sometime?”

“A banquet at the Harsen Marquisate?”

“You even know our family name. I’m honored.”

The unmarried marquis’s green eyes lit up with what appeared to be genuine delight.

How transparent he was.

He was openly showing his interest in Ella. Whether he had heard the rumors that the crown prince kept his distance from his intended bride, he didn’t spare Zikhart a single glance.

He was simply eager to win the favor of the beautiful woman in front of him.

“You’ll be entering the palace soon and attending social gatherings, and it could be quite useful to you. Our family runs a number of salons, so there are frequent gatherings of ladies. I believe we could be of help in that regard.”

“A salon run by the Harsen Marquisate sounds delightful. Thank you.”

At Ella’s smile, the marquis flushed all the way to his neck.

Her pure appearance belied the captivating quality of her gaze, and it drove him to distraction.

The sense of transgression in feeling this way toward a saintess. All of it compounded and stoked his desire further.

And it seemed Zikhart was no different.

“Your Highness, are you listening to me?”

“Ah, I’m sorry, Dienne. What did you say?”

“……”

He couldn’t concentrate on Dienne’s conversation. The sight of Ella and the young marquis was grating on him in a way he couldn’t ignore.

Whatever they were talking about, Ella occasionally broke into small laughter.

The saintess absorbed in conversation in a way he had never seen before was not something Zikhart found agreeable.

It had been something he’d had no interest in until very recently……

The more often Zikhart’s gaze lingered, the deeper Ella’s smile grew.

Unable to hold back any longer, he spoke.

“Marquis Harsen.”

At the crown prince’s call, both the marquis and Ella turned their heads at the same time.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Right, the Teharoat mining venture is proceeding without issue, I’m told?”

The sudden turn to business left the marquis looking bewildered.

“Ah…… yes. That is correct, Your Highness. Did you not see the report submitted on that matter?”

“Did I?”

“Yes, as stated in the report, the mana stone extraction work is ongoing without pause, so we should be able to meet the volume targets shortly.”

Zikhart said “is that so” with perfect composure and reached for the wine glass in front of him.