CH 50

A small but neat and stylish bedroom came out. It was a neat and elegant room with white wooden walls, smooth tiled floors, and soft wooden furniture. The room assigned to her had a bedroom, a small drawing room, and even a room for the maid to stay. Perhaps it was because it was a room used by the ladies of the royal family or aristocratic families to stay in the temple, but it was decorated in a splendid way.

“Thank you for taking great care of me.”

She thanked her for her kindness and asked quietly.

“I… By the way, if I want to go to the fetish god’s chapel, which way should I go?”

“Yes. If you go around the corridor there is a garden, and if you go north along that road, you will come to a chapel with an indigo blue roof.”

The Great Temple was the largest temple in the empire. So, in addition to the main building in the center of the temple, there were small chapels and small temples here and there. She remembered the location of the chapel given by the priestess. She had to go to the fetish god’s chapel tonight.

Nell and Chloe left their things in order and went outside for a while. There was an open garden in front of the accommodation. Unlike the lodging where she could feel the warmth, there was a refreshing air in the garden. Outside the garden, soldiers from the imperial palace could already be seen. They must have been soldiers sent to protect her while she was here. She walked slowly along the garden path, looking around. At that moment, a sharp spark flew like a flash of light from the purple necklace hanging around her neck.

‘What, what?’

A tingling pain was felt on the skin where the jewel touched. She pulled the necklace with her hand and freed it. However, there was no change in the brilliant purple jewel.

‘Was it like static electricity?’

It was possible that it was outside in the middle of winter. As she was thinking about that, she suddenly saw a familiar silver-haired man in the distance. It was Mikhail. He found her and came over here.

“Your Highness the Princess.”

Why was this person still here?

“Sir Sheldon, I meet you in places like this.”

When she asked why he was here, he calmly lowered his head and replied.

“I volunteered to serve the princess.”

“You volunteered?”

“Yes, we will keep the princess safe while you are here.”

Arentine said he would send his knights.

“I heard that His Highness’s knights are coming.”

“Yes, but our knights have decided to stay with them.”

Would both of them be together? Well, since the imperial family was out, it’s correct to send a little bit of the Imperial Knights as a form of formality.

“You didn’t hate the captain because of what happened yesterday, did you?”

Since the knight commander was the closest aide to the Emperor, it must have something to do with what the Empress did. According to the information Terence gave her, the knight commander had gone to meet the Empress with news from the Emperor. Maybe he was actively involved in it. However, since Mikhail took the ladies-in-waiting at her request, she wondered if the headmaster was angry with Mikhail and sent him here.

In the original story, the head of the imperial knights, Guyen, was a nobleman and disapproved of Mikhail, who had become a knight from a commoner. That grumpy human. He didn’t like it in the original either.

Sir Guyen was an obedient and shady human being who was only faithful to the Emperor’s orders. However, Mikhail shook his head with a calm face.

“Not like that. I really volunteered.”

Seeing you deny it like that, it seemed that he really supported it. She thought so and nodded, but after a while he added again.

“Even if it is.”

“Huh?”

“As a member of the Imperial Knights, it is my duty to keep the princess safe, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Did it mean that it didn’t matter if you were hated because you just did your duty? He was an extremely sincere person. Standing in front of the temple chapel, Mikhail’s distinctive silver hair shone like pure silver in the afternoon sun. Perhaps because he looked like a young priest, he seemed to fit well with the temple.

“Ok, thanks.”

Mikhail looked at her and cautiously brought up a new topic.

“Did you hear the news?”

“What news?”

In case something happened in the imperial palace during that short period of time, Mikhail said something completely unexpected.

“Princess Sorel and Prince Vilos are said to be returning.”

“What?”

Who’s coming back? Was Sorel back already?

“Why suddenly? Didn’t he say he was coming with His Majesty the Emperor?”

In the original work, neither Sorel nor the second prince return until Eve’s wedding was over.

“It is said that His Majesty the Emperor is guarding the front, so he sent the two of you to Jedo first. It should arrive in two or three days, four days at the most.”

No matter how quickly the Empress delivered the news, yesterday’s affair would not have reached the Emperor’s ears yet. But why were Sorel and the second prince already sent?

‘Did he hear the news about the Grand Duke and me and send the 2nd Prince to do something?’

The Emperor disapproved of the crown prince Arentine, but kept the second prince Vilos by his side and cherished him dearly. Thanks to that, the second prince knew all about Eve’s death in detail. Rather, he was overjoyed when he saw Eve die.

On the outside, Vilos looked like a nice guy, but in reality he was violent and selfish. It was very embarrassing that such a second prince would come to the island first.

‘I should prepare in advance for what will happen.’

Now that she’s out of the imperial palace, she’s a little relieved. On the other hand, it would be nice to have Sorel on her side. Sorel was the heroine of the original work, and later both Mikhail and Terence loved Sorel. It would be good for her to improve the relationship in advance.

‘I don’t know if that’s possible…’

Because Eve had done so many things. However, Sorel tried to take care of Eve, saying that she was always her older sister even when she suffered so badly. She was a saint type heroine who was just kind enough to be ridiculed by Sorel saying she was stupid. Thanks to that, there were a lot of people who got off the train saying that she was a stuffy… Maybe she could improve her relationship with Sorel at least a little. First of all, if she apologized formally and tried to make up for what happened… 

It’s unfair that she had to apologize when she didn’t do anything. While she was thinking about that, she asked Mikhail.

“While I’m here, I’m completely free to invite people or go out, right?”

Mikhail replied as if it were natural.

“Of course. There was an instruction from His Highness the Crown Prince to let Her Highness do whatever she wants.”

It’s free and nice too.

“Are you going to invite someone else?”

“Huh.”

She added, answering Mikhail’s question.

“I need to send an invitation.”

She quickly signed dozens of invitations. The mailing address was different, but the contents written in it were all the same. Because something unpleasant happened at the imperial palace, she had to stay at the temple until her wedding. As long as she was out of the imperial palace, probation was lifted, so she could invite people.

It was a short invitation to visit when they had time because she was too lonely by herself. In this way, if she sent an invitation without setting a specific date, the recipient would find time to come whenever it was convenient for them. However, within hours of the invitation being sent out, five noble ladies came to the temple.

“I was planning to stop by the temple after a long time, but when I heard that the princess was here…”

She made this excuse and asked her for an interview. It’s been three or four hours since she sent out the invitation… How did she come all the way here wearing a dress in that short amount of time?

She expected it, but it was a surprisingly quick response. In the original story, it wasn’t like this when Eve invited the ladies. The ladies didn’t want to meet Eve. Even if they met, they would often be humiliated by Eve’s depravity.

They said that if Eve had a tea party, she would attend it with the feeling that everyone was going to die.

‘Curiosity overcomes fear.’

Well, it wasn’t just curiosity. The fact that the Grand Duke and Eve became lovers was nothing more than an interesting gossip, but this was not a story that could end in a simple scandal. The Empress was caught putting medicine in the princess’s teacup. It was a major incident that could change the power landscape of the imperial palace if it went wrong.

If she was the hostess of an aristocratic family living in the island, she couldn’t help but keep an eye on how things were going.

‘I’m sure there aren’t many people who have a proper understanding of the case yet.’

It had just happened yesterday that the crown prince had ordered the investigation of the Empress’s maids of honor. Everyone would have heard the general outline of the incident, but it would not have been known in detail how it happened.

“Thank you for coming. I was alone in the temple.”

She didn’t even know who they were, but she welcomed them like old friends. The wives looked at her and sat down. Come to think of it, she had seen some of them at the Empress’s tea party, so she was familiar with them. Whenever they were watching her from the side of the Empress, they came running to hear news of the imperial palace.

She didn’t know their names, but they were like migratory birds.

“You must be busy ahead of your wedding, but thank you for inviting me.”