CH 134

Two days later… It was a night when the darkness had taken a bite of about a third of the full moon.

– Squeeeeee

“Sorry, Rhea. You must be sleepy. Let’s quickly head back in and go to sleep.”

I hugged the whining red panda and whispered.

This was not my first time going to the back door of Romero Palace, but it felt unfamiliar and awkward, potentially because it was late at night when nobody was walking around.

It was completely quiet because Vice Captain Élisabeth had gotten rid of the guards on this side for about thirty minutes.

I raised my head and counted the windows. ‘One, two, three……’

“Found it. Okay friends, some vines toward that window over there please.”

– Squeeeee.

Demy and Perry quickly started growing vines at my request.

I had Rhea around my shoulder, the present on my side, and two red pandas dangling on my back and leg as I stepped onto the vines one step at a time.

I remember having a similar experience to rescue Demy, but I kept questioning myself, potentially because the goal was completely different.

‘Do I really need to do this?’

“……But still… It’s better for me to put it there.”

– Cruuu.

Perry cried as if to respond.

I somehow learned the basics of sewing from the head tailor and somehow managed to complete the Imperial Crown Prince bastard’s birthday present, but delivery was the issue.

I didn’t think that the attendants would open the box in the middle, but who knew?

Even if the entire Empire has heard the stories of my being the crown prince’s friend, I was still the prince of a hostile kingdom and a Diplomatic hostage.

I wouldn’t be able to handle the embarrassment if David or Geoffrey or any other person at Romero Palace checked to see what it was.

“It’s hard being in a world without gifticon.” (TL: Gifticon is a new gift service that sends a gift message that can be exchanged for a real product to the other party’s mobile phone.)

I quietly mumbled.

Just five months ago, I lived in a world where even if a friend didn’t tell you what they wanted, I could search for and easily send a decent present I found.

I wasn’t the type to obsess with my phone, but I missed it every so often like this.

Of course, anything that could be bought on the internet probably didn’t have any value for the crown prince bastard.

“Puuush.”

– Tap!

I gently landed on the balcony. Although I was bad with directions, I had definitely counted the numbers.

This was the room where the crown prince had sent me the code.

The balcony door was slightly opened as I had seen in the distance, and there was a gentle light lighting up the inside.

‘I feel like I’m filming a spy thriller whenever I come to Romero Palace.’

– Screeeech……

I clenched my teeth and pulled open the door. The curtains gently shook from the late summer breeze.

First I peeked in to look around the room and then Demy, Rhea, and Perry all took turns as well.

Thankfully, nobody was there. ‘Thank you very much, author-nim!’

“This is good. This is already half a success.”

I cheered myself up, picked up my heels, and headed toward a nearby table.

The divine beasts trotted over and surrounded me as well.

The area seemed not to be a bedroom but the room next to a bedroom or a resting room.

It was, as expected, much more luxurious and larger than Juliette Palace, but I didn’t have time to look around.

I opened the box one last time and checked inside before leaving the present and running away.

– Shaaaaaaaaaaaa……

A bright light flashed out. I squinted and picked up the necklace.

This Holy stone that was luxuriously crafted to look like a diamond was the work of Frank, the Imperial Blacksmith.

The ether I spent two days putting into the empty holy stone so that there was no unfilled space inside was glowing white gold.

I thoroughly made sure there were no gaps in the ether before inspecting the rope.

‘Damn it.’

“Should I take it off?”

I pulled the threads out of the decorative rope of the Confessional that that punk Sadie had cut off and sewed it into a necklace so he could wear this stone, but……

Everybody could clearly see how shoddy it looked. Even Percy had flapped his wings earlier in the day as if to sneer at me.

I looked at the threads that were slowly unraveling and sighed. ‘This isn’t kids playing around or something.

I should have pulled one of the necklaces the nobles gifted me and put the stones on that instead.’

– Pruuuu!

Demy, who climbed up my arm, licked my finger.

To be more accurate, it was the part that Ganael had wrapped with white cloth.

I smiled bitterly and rubbed the divine beast’s back.

‘Is he telling me to just give it to the crown prince since I even shed blood doing the needle work?’

– Click.

“Son of a.”

The door opened at that moment.

I instantly closed the box, grabbed the kiddos, and jumped out onto the balcony.

I didn’t even remember my mindset as I jumped over the ledge.

This was one of the extremely few times I had moved so quickly since transmigrating into this world.

– Step step

I heard someone stepping on the carpet. I quietly caught my breath and lowered my head beneath the vines.

The three red panda musketeers were being good and only looking at me.

“……”

The footsteps stopped once they got near the balcony.

My heart was beating wildly as if I had done something extremely wrong.

It would be the worst if the crown prince himself found me, but it would also be bad if David or any of the other attendants found me.

I didn’t want to cause a ruckus when Vice Captain Élisabeth had helped me out.

My eyes clenched shut.

– Screeeech, click.

Flash. I opened my eyes and released the breath that I had subconsciously been holding.

I didn’t know who it was, but they must have approached the balcony to lock the door.

I peeked my head to see that the now locked door was covered by the curtains.

I couldn’t help but smile in relief.

“I managed it.”

– Screeeech!

“Shh, shh.”

I quieted the entertained red pandas and quickly returned to the ground.

I also didn’t forget to have them dry the vines into dust in order to get rid of our traces.

This was the method that the crown prince had come up with during ‘Operation Verona.’

He had wondered if they could make plants wither as well since they could grow plants with their earth attribute powers.

As expected, the male lead knew how to use his head.

“……I didn’t write him a card. It should be okay, right?”

– Pruu?

I whispered while quickly walking toward Juliette Palace and Demy opened his mouth wide.

I chuckled and nodded my head. ‘Yeah, it is too embarrassing to exchange cards as well.’

*

The week after that was extremely peaceful. I once again enjoyed the relaxing schedule of the Imperial Palace.

I dutifully went to all of my lessons with Cardinal Boutier and my Archbishop’s Holy Land was inspected every time.

Although we had already confirmed last month that my Holy Land was much larger than average, my teacher seemed extremely happy whenever she saw my circle.

Getting praised made me feel like I had returned to my student days and it was nice.

‘You’ll be a great Cardinal, my little prince.’

‘Mm……’

I also didn’t forget to go to Christelle’s Holy Knight training with Sir Johann.

The crown prince had been unable to attend any lessons since his succession confirmation ceremony, but she seemed quite happy about that.

I had only seen him from a distance about two times but he didn’t seem to be lacking ether or tired.

He just seemed extremely busy. ‘I wonder if he got the necklace?’

“While he’s not interested in his lessons, I hope that he just goes and gets married as well. Then wouldn’t he have no reason to see us at all?”

The MC said something extremely scary.

‘We can’t have the setting break down! What else did I do? Oh right. I went with Sand and Gerrit to see Marquis François Duhem’s polo match.’

I asked Vice Captain Élisabeth last month and she was able to get us some tickets again.

Both of them said that it was their first time watching polo, but they seemed completely obsessed by the end of the match.

Gerrit’s face was flushed when he managed to get the Marquis’ signature. ‘This might be a little dangerous.’

‘Ah ah, you have fallen for François Duhem, the symbol of victory. That is to be expected!’

The handsome man’s light pink eyes sparkled with joy. ‘I’m glad you have a new number one fan.’

Returning back to the present… I was wearing a luxurious Imperial outfit as I awkwardly walked down the hallway of the Empress Palace.

Today was the day to wear this new outfit that the boutique had prepared for me to receive my Marquis title.

I was planning on heading out to my territory immediately after the ceremony.

Venetiaan outfits had lots of curves and the outer layer went almost all the way down to the ground while the Riester nobles dressed like typical fantasy novel characters.

Although I had borrowed the attendant Pierre’s clothes to infiltrate Romero Palace and had worn the commoner clothes at Aightz Village……

I was feeling embarrassed because I had not dressed properly like this before.

“Your highness, I bet 500 Francs on Angelique.”

“Ganael, I think you are gambling too much.”

I calmly scolded the young boy.

My family at Juliette Palace had a pot going for what the Imperial family would designate as my territory name.

The people in the Imperial Palace usually worked silently and seemed pretty chill, but whenever something like this came up, it always led to gambling.

The Imperial family seemed to close their eyes to this as just sport.

Ganael’s gold eyes sparkled as he responded.

“But Lord Benjamin has participated as well, your highness!”

“Hmm?”

“I bet 1000 Francs on Lunaire, your highness. I heard that her Eminence suggested that one.”

‘You’re supposed to be the Head Attendant of Juliette Palace, mister, Why do you sound so proud about that?’

My mouth opened and closed without saying anything in disbelief.

Internally, I was trying to do my best to figure out what Lunaire meant.

‘Since Roman mythologies call the moon goddess Luna, it probably means moon.’

It was a hundred thousand times better than Angel, but I didn’t really know……

“I will be helping with your entry, your highness.”

An attendant of the Empress Palace, who was stationed outside the audience room bowed toward me at that moment.

I was extremely stiff as I silently bowed back.

This was not my first time in the audience room nor seeing Empress Frédérique, however, everything felt new thinking about how I was going to become a noble of the Empire.

I clenched my hand into a fist before opening it back.

“We will be waiting outside, your highness.”

“See you later as a Marquis, your highness!”

“First Prince of the Venetiaan Holy Kingdom, Jesse Venetiaan, now entering!”

There was a loud noise as the tall door opened.

The sight I had seen on the day Elise arrived was visible once again.

I could see the Empress and the Cardinal at the other end, at the highest spot of the steps.

It was okay for me to step on the red carpet today.

I gulped before starting to walk.

I could hear the Pair de Riester and knights to the right and left whispering while looking at me.

“Yes, his Royal Highness personally……”

“Duke Sarnez? My goodness.”

Most of the whispers seemed to be about the crown prince and the House of Sarnez.

I didn’t get disturbed and arrived at the spot closest to the Imperial family.

I only realized that the crown prince was to the Empress’s left after kneeling down on one knee at the bottom of the steps.

I could feel his orange eyes looking at my face. ‘Do I have some bread crumbs or something?’

“I greet the sun that has descended to the ground and your noble Eminence, who has received the blessing of the Almighty God.”

“Welcome. Today is a special day for you.”

The empress, who looked dignified sitting on the throne, responded. I then heard attendants quickly coming and going.

I peeked to see someone with a dark red cushion and a golden scroll coming in through the side door.

Someone with a large and thick flag followed behind him. ‘They seem to have some sort of cloth as well. Is it a cape?’

“The sound of your eyeballs moving around is deafening. Be patient as they will all be yours.”

Flinch. The nobles quietly chuckled as the Empress picked on me. My ears became as hot as hot cakes.

I lowered my head even more and closed my mouth.

– Clang!

I heard the clear sound of a blade. This time, I had to look up in shock.

The silver-haired swordswoman, who had gotten up from her seat, had pulled out her holy sword, Durandal, and was looking down at me.

It was only for a moment, but it felt as if the tip of her sword had the aura of a sword master.

I knew that this was an essential ritual, but I still got scared.

The Cardinal tried to console me as I was frozen stiff.

“It’s okay, my little prince. Just close your eyes.”

‘It’s not okay at all!’ Her speaking like that made me feel like I had to leave my last words or something.

I thought about the menu for lunch with the divine beasts and barely managed to maintain my poker face.

For all those who receive a title in the Empire to have to offer their necks under the blade of a sword master… wasn’t this trial too cruel?

“Prince Jesse Venetiaan. You have supported the Imperial Crown Prince of the Great Riester to successfully complete the Great Clearance of Demonic Beasts and have received the praises of the people after waking the divine item of the Empire that has been asleep for a long time.”

The Empress started speaking in a stiff tone.

Images flew through my mind about those times.

“Furthermore, you played a big role in calming the souls of the Crown Prince and young lady Christelle de Sarnez, the only Holy Knights in the history of the Empire. You played a significant role in defeating a demonic beast that appeared at the center of the Imperial Capital and rescuing a lot of people in the process as well. Finally, you helped Holy Knight Johann Geens seek asylum and significantly increase the military strength of the Empire. That should be looked upon highly as well.”

My instincts were telling me something. They were saying that the last statement was something impromptu.

I blinked and slowly looked up.

The Empress was smiling elegantly at me. My cheeks flushed.

“For all of your merits, this Empress rightfully bestows upon you a title of nobility in the Empire and promise you my eternal blessing.”

She tapped both of my shoulders with the flat part of her blade.

I smiled brightly as emotions filled inside me when I made eye contact with the crown prince’s fiery gaze.

The Empress’s next words pierced through my ears.

“You are now one of this Empress’s people. Marquis of Sérénité.

—

Translator’s Comments

Sérénité. How peaceful.