Chapter 10

No matter how I looked at it, her eyes seemed to be asking why I was here.

Should I not have greeted her?

Come to think of it, after slapping her, I had never properly apologized. I had only hugged her out of nowhere.

‘I suppose she has every right to look at me with contempt and wonder why I’m here…….’

Anastasia met my eyes for a while, then dropped everything she was holding in a clatter.

What fell to the floor were invitations. Very luxurious-looking invitations, their borders stamped with gold leaf.

Ah, so Anastasia is checking the invitations here.

‘But why is Anastasia doing this kind of work?’

“Please show your invitation.”

The guard said with a rigid expression.

Feeling that the moment had finally come, I gave a small cough and smiled gently.

“Oh my, how strange. Did Reuden not arrive first?”

“Pardon?”

“Reuden accidentally took my invitation with him, you see. Did he not mention me before he went in?”

I vividly felt Catherine’s arm beneath my palm stiffen.

She seemed startled that I had lied so shamelessly.

Unbothered, I smiled while meeting the guard’s eyes, and the guard immediately looked at Anastasia.

At that gaze, Anastasia, who had been staring blankly at me, flinched in surprise. Then she quickly bent down, avoiding my eyes.

“J-just a moment…… I’ll check…….”

Her voice was full of panic, and the sight of her fumbling and failing to pick up the invitations right away was both pitiful and bitter.

‘She gets that nervous just because she saw me. It really is still a long road to getting close to Anastasia.’

Feeling that fact keenly in my bones, I also bent my knees to pick up the invitations.

Beside me, Catherine called my name in a startled voice, but I ignored her.

As I picked up the invitations one by one, Anastasia abruptly raised her lowered head.

Our eyes met again. Those golden eyes.

I had felt it last time too, but her eyes were so beautiful they seemed almost unfamiliar.

If there were a god, I would think he had spent special time crafting Anastasia’s eyes alone.

She really does seem like the heroine.

I don’t know how long I stared, but Anastasia shyly blushed.

“……Th-thank you, Rene.”

……Ah! Ahhh! What am I supposed to do with this angel!

To think she would thank me just for picking up some invitations.

Anastasia was definitely an angel, as expected.

“It was nothing.”

After mentally smashing a wall several times, I barely calmed myself and handed her the invitations with an amiable smile.

Anastasia hesitated, then thankfully accepted them. Only then did I come to my senses, realizing that this was not the time to leisurely admire Anastasia’s angelic qualities.

This really is a problem. It’s fine that I lied, but…… will I be able to enter the banquet hall safely without getting caught?

I was rolling my eyes toward the banquet hall doors when Anastasia, who had been slowly checking the invitations, spoke in a cautious tone.

“Re-Rene. Lord Reuden didn’t say anything before he went in…… and there isn’t an invitation for you either, Rene. Could there have been some mistake?”

Of course there was. Because I lied.

Anastasia, who had no way of knowing that, smiled as if trying to gauge my reaction.

When I glanced at her, her cheek was trembling slightly. It was an unmistakable sign of tension.

“Mm, but there’s no way the invitation I left behind could vanish without a trace, is there? Goodness, if Reuden didn’t take it, then do we have a thieving cat living in our mansion……?”

I was spouting whatever came to mind without thinking.

“If you do not have an invitation, you cannot enter. I regret to say this, but please return.”

The guard, who had been standing beside us like a block of wood, cut in with his characteristic stiff voice.

So it won’t work after all?

But I couldn’t give up here either. I only needed to get one step inside.

“Then will you call Reuden over? So we can confirm it.”

“I cannot leave my post.”

“How can you be so inflexible? Then, Anastasia, will you go?”

“My lady,” Catherine called me from behind. It sounded like she meant for me to stop there, but I was desperate in my own way.

Anastasia stared at me with trembling eyes. Looking into those eyes, a small question bloomed in my mind.

It was true that Anastasia was nervous because of me.

But this was not tension because she was afraid of me…….

Those eyes that, just a moment ago, had seemed to ask why I was here.

As if I shouldn’t be here.

As if…… she was hiding something…….

‘Am I overthinking it?’

Just then, Anastasia’s gaze turned to the right.

Had someone arrived? Before I could even wonder, an unfamiliar voice rang out.

“Is something the matter?”

“Good evening, sir!”

Unlike when he had dealt with me, the guard snapped into a precise salute and shouted in a booming voice.

What? Who is it?

Just as I was about to turn around at that perfectly natural question, a hand caught my shoulder. Quite startled by the sudden contact, I looked at the black-gloved hand resting on my shoulder, then lifted my gaze.

Behind me, someone had approached so closely he seemed almost familiar.

The man, dressed as formally and splendidly as Reuden, had disheveled-looking black hair and purple eyes.

I was certain I had never seen him before, and I could not even guess who he was.

Yet strangely, he looked familiar.

‘What is with this person? Is he a character from the original?’

The man was smiling. But his languid yet sharp eyes held no trace of amusement. Under that man’s gaze, the guards exchanged glances before finally speaking.

“Her invitation could not be verified, so we were speaking with her for a moment.”

“Aha.”

The man responded carelessly, then finally looked down at me.

He was much taller than me even though I was wearing high heels.

What is this, seriously? Does he even know me, putting his arm around my shoulders like that?

I stared at him as if I were seeing a complete lunatic and was about to knock his hand away when the man removed it first.

He smiled brightly at me. The upward curve of his lips looked refreshingly clear.

“Rene Blair.”

Then he called my name.

“……Do you know me?”

“Is there anyone in this country who doesn’t know you?”

“Then why are you speaking so casually to me?”

“Oh, right. Why did I speak casually?”

“Ha?”

“Weren’t we on casual terms? No, that’s not right. This is the first time we’ve spoken…….”

The man lowered his eyes, then raised them again and met my gaze.

“Well. Since it’s come to this, why don’t we just speak casually to each other?”

When I crumpled my expression without answering his incomprehensible logic, the man laughed quietly. Then he turned his gaze back to the guard.

“If you can’t let her in because she doesn’t have an invitation, let’s say she’s my partner. I happened not to have one.”

“What?”

Anastasia was the first to react to the man’s words. Her eyes had widened more than usual.

The man looked down at Anastasia with a face that seemed to ask if there was a problem.

It was merely a stare, and I wasn’t even the one receiving it, yet I felt a heavy pressure.

Only then was I certain.

This man was no ordinary person.

“Partner? What do you mean by that?”

“…….”

“Excuse me, partner……?”

“My lady.”

Neither the man nor the guard, not even Anastasia, answered my question. Frustrated, I was about to ask again when Catherine quietly whispered in my ear.

“He’s from the Hugo Knights. Members of the Hugo Knights are allowed to enter with a partner, so he’s offering to take you as his partner.”

“Is that how it works?”

“That’s how it works.”

I had asked Catherine, but the answer came from the man.

That was as good as admitting he had overheard our quiet conversation, so I looked up at him in displeasure.

He didn’t seem to care and merely smiled.

What is with him, seriously…….

“You wanted to go to the banquet, didn’t you? If you become my partner, you can get in.”

“…….”

“In exchange, you’ll have to stay with me for the entire banquet.”

A sly, relaxed man whose thoughts were impossible to read. I wasn’t even sure whether he had appeared in the original story or not. That was why I had no choice but to be wary, and yet his offer—not quite an offer—was honestly tempting.

If I wanted to complete the mission, I had to get in somehow, and the inflexible guard hadn’t been flexible enough to fall for my lie.

The part about having to stay with him bothered me, but I was going to leave as soon as I got in anyway, so it didn’t really matter.

“If you don’t want to, then forget it.”

While I was still thinking it over, the man tilted his head to the side, then turned away without a shred of lingering attachment.

At that dismissal, I grew anxious and, without realizing it, grabbed his arm. Thanks to that, the man staggered backward and ended up leaning toward me.

The man’s sly expression vanished, and he looked at me with wide eyes.

What the heck? For a knight, he has no strength at all.

“Who just leaves like that before I even answer?”

“……Strange?”

“What is? Anyway, that partner thing……. I’ll do it.”

When I let go, he straightened up and narrowed his eyes. It felt as though he was observing me, which made me feel slightly unpleasant.

Before long, as if he had never narrowed his eyes at all, he smiled with his eyes and once again draped an arm around my shoulders.

“Well, fine by me?”

“Stop putting your hand on my shoulder.”

“Of course, if you don’t like it.”

Wow. I was more than a little impressed by his smooth answer.

There’s no way a character like this didn’t appear in the story! Is he one of those, too? A male lead candidate? Is that why he feels familiar even though this is my first time seeing him?

After looking up at the player-like man, I turned my head toward Catherine. The moment Catherine’s eyes met mine, she said,

“I will be waiting in the carriage.”

“I’ll be out soon, so just wait a little. I’m sorry…….”

“……Not at all. Please go ahead.”

Her expression turned strange. Only for a moment, though. Catherine returned to where the carriage was parked, and as I watched her go, I realized the area around us had suddenly been wrapped in a chilling silence.

“What’s with this atmosphere?”

“Yeah, something about the mood has changed.”

The man muttered with his gaze fixed on me, then pointed toward the banquet hall doors. Between his curved eyes, his violet pupils sparkled.

“Well, who cares? Let’s go in.”

Then he took my hand. It was different from an escort.

It was playful, like a young boy gripping someone’s hand with all his might. For some reason, that made me feel odd.

More importantly, just who is that man? Would I know if I heard his name……?

“Sir Daiwen Fergus!”

Anastasia’s urgent voice suddenly stopped the man in his tracks. The man turned around, and I stared blankly at his face.

Daiwen Fergus?

Moderately pale skin, messy black hair.

Eyes that seemed drooping, but were in truth sharp.

And above all, the vivid violet pupils gleaming within them.

‘I didn’t like you from the very beginning.’

A biting, low voice flashed through my mind.

Ah, this person. In other words, this man was…….

The captain of the Hugo Knights, and one of only two Dragon Slayers in this country.

And.

The person who killed Renee Blair.

Daiwen Fergus himself.