CH 9

It wasn’t until the line of carriages disappeared that my family could enter the palace. We waited for a very long while. But after we entered, I realized that it was worth the wait.

Led by a palace attendant, we were now on the way to the banquet hall, and there were pastel-colored flowers blooming spectacularly in their vases all over.

The rich and colorful adornments that could be seen every step of the way made me feel dazed.

After crossing the corridor, which made me feel as if we were entering a different world, there were huge double doors at the end.

Engraved into them were a star, a moon and a sun.

It was the insignia of the Stern Imperial Family.

As the doors opened, it truly seemed as if there was a different world at the other side of that threshold.

The great hall was filled with nobles dressed in garments more colorful than the flowers I saw on our way here.

Each of them were gathered in twos and threes, laughing happily as they drank their champagne and flapped their folding fans.

They were people who were living a completely different life compared to mine.

As I entered the hall together with my family, it came across my mind that we were aristocrats all the same, but they were so much more different.

Even Mom, Dad and David were looking around as if they were entirely awestruck and enraptured.

“Rin, come this way. Gosh, it looks like all the nobles in the entire Empire are here. Isn’t that right, Honey?”

“Hoho, since the Saintess is also said to be attending, it seems like they didn’t hold anything back with this year’s coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Certainly enough, it’s not going to be easy to see the Saintess…”

“Rin, take my hand. Here.”

There was barely any space to pass through inside this crowded hall, but I managed to move while holding my older brother’s hand tightly.

The palace attendants were moving seamlessly through the crowd even with their hands occupied with trays of champagne, and as my brother and I passed through, I couldn’t help but gaze upon them in wonder.

There were so many people here who were around my age. Young ladies around me were wearing pastel-colored dresses, and young lords were wearing ivory or cream suits.

Rather than a fad or a style that was in vogue, it was a custom in the Stern Empire that people below the age of adulthood would wear pastel-toned attire, but never after they had come of age.

So, today was the last day for the attendees of today’s ball to wear pastel clothes.

Of course, I was also wearing a pale pink dress, as recommended by Mom. Compared to the other young ladies’ outfits, my dress was less eye-catching, but I rather like this more because it was simple.

There weren’t any jewels adorning the fabric, but there were plenty of lace that Mom herself had made.

I was also wearing long gloves similarly made from lace to cover the burn marks on my right arm and hand.

My long hair, as it cascaded down to my waist, was simply tied and decorated with white roses.

The only jewelry I was wearing was a peridot necklace that Mom had inherited from Grandmother, and I liked it because it had the same shade as my eyes.

We got glasses for ourselves, then we went towards one corner of the hall.

Although, it’s rather that we were naturally pushed to the side. Our territory was so far at the edge of the empire that there were only a few nobles who recognized our surname.

A large chandelier was hanging down at the center of the hall, while there were smaller chandeliers interspersing other parts of the hall—like stars around the moon.

As I sipped on my glass of sweet apricot juice, I stared at the ceiling, at the brilliant lights above, then down below at the people and their fluttering colorful clothes. Calm as I was, I enjoyed watching them dance.

It was so hot while we were inside the carriage earlier, but when we arrived at this place, the evening breeze thankfully felt cool.

More than I thought, it was nice to have the coming-of-age ceremony here.

Besides that, I know I only started reading the original novel depicting this world because of my husband from my previous life, but I was still definitely more excited than usual.

After all, I would be seeing the characters I had gotten attached to while reading—the female lead and the male leads surrounding her.

“The Star of the Stern Empire, His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince, and His Grace the Duke of Leopardt are now entering! Everyone, stand attention!”

At the doorkeeper’s cry, the bustling hall fell silent at once.

Everyone turned towards the closed double doors, their eyes shining. I was no different than them either.

I didn’t think that I’d be able to see the main male lead and the sub male lead here at the same time.

My heart was pounding. Would they truly look like how they had been described in the novel?

I was curious about the crown prince, but I was all the more curious about the duke—the sub male lead.

The only reason I had read this novel in my previous life was because of my husband.

I first discovered the novel when an S-Class Guide had introduced it to me. She was the same person who told me to stay away from my husband, but then she gave me the novel as a gift. I couldn’t understand why she did that.

Nevertheless, I found myself immediately immersed in the novel because the name ‘Ciel’ had been mentioned.

Even the descriptions of this character reminded me of the Ciel I knew, and so it soon became a habit of mine to take out the novel and read it during the nights I spent alone.

I did think that the reason I had transmigrated into such a novel was perhaps because of the lingering feelings I had before I died, and so it happened in this way.

But right now, all I felt was simple curiosity.