Was this a chance to break everything? Would I take this?
The Queen's offer hung in the air, tempting and dangerous. If I accepted her offer and broke the betrothal, what was the point of being here? What was the point of the Royal Decree? What was the point of the Royal Family inviting me to become a Courtier?
If I broke it, the story of mine in the book would end prematurely. I would not die in the future. Neither would my father. My family would be saved.
I looked at the Queen, my heart pounding.
"YE–"
But suddenly, I stopped. The word died in my throat.
When I looked at the Queen's triumphant smile, I felt something fishy. Was it truly worth it for me to break the betrothal? The agreement was created to prevent the Royals from intervening in my family's territory and business. If I broke it… the agreement would be void.
Did the Queen expect me to break the betrothal so they could finally intervene in Aurelius territory?
"What is the matter, Aurelia? Are you going to accept my offer or not?" The Queen asked, leaning forward with predatory grace.
I was silent for five seconds, looking down at the polished floor.
Then, I lifted my face to her.
"No, Your Majesty," I said firmly. "This betrothal shall be continued."
The Queen's smile faltered for a fraction of a second before returning, tighter than before.
"If that is your answer, surely the Royal Family will accommodate the best for you in the Court and support your relationship."
"I am thankful, Your Majesty."
I turned and left the Throne Room.
Outside, Adel, Cassius, and Valerie were waiting for me. We were escorted by the guards out of the palace.
My carriage was waiting in the courtyard. The massive trunk on the roof was gone—my belongings had already been delivered. I immediately moved to enter the carriage, but the guard who had escorted me stopped me with a hand on the door.
"The surveillance of you starts tomorrow," he reminded me.
"I remember," I replied coolly.
I climbed inside the carriage. Adel, Cassius, and Valerie hopped up to the coachman's bench. We left the palace grounds.
In the carriage, alone with my thoughts, I questioned my decision. Was it right to maintain the betrothal?
…
The carriage stopped. The door opened.
We were in front of a large, elegant townhouse in the noble district.
When I stepped down onto the cobblestones, Adel bowed slightly.
"Welcome home, My Lady."
"Is this my residence while I am here?"
"Yes. Shall we go inside?"
I walked toward the front door, climbing the short flight of stairs. While I was walking up, I heard footsteps behind me moving away.
Crunch. Crunch.
I looked back. It was Cassius and Valerie. They were walking away down the street, their backs to me.
I realized they were leaving for good.
I spun around, hiking up my skirt, and ran back down the stairs toward them.
"WAIT!!" I shouted.
They stopped and turned around, looking surprised.
I ran up to them, breathless. "Where are you going?"
Cassius shrugged. "The job is done. So we will leave from here, try to find another job."
"I will rehire you," I said quickly. "Not as my escort, but as my guards. How about that?"
Valerie laughed, a sharp, bitter sound. "Listen here!! You have a capable person—or I can say a monster—behind you…" Her voice dropped to a whisper as she glanced at Adel. "Or inside of you." Her voice returned to normal. "So why do you still need us to be around you? You are an Aurelius. The people around you are far more capable than us."
I clenched my hands. I didn't want them to leave me. I still needed them to survive.
"Surely people around me are capable and strong, but they are hired by my parents, not me. Or trained by my parents," I argued. "You two are the first people that I hired, not my parents. I need you two to stay with me."
I stepped closer. "And you two are the only outsiders that I know. Maybe you two have more common sense, knowledge, and hear rumors better than the sheltered people around me. So I need you. You can live inside the house—"
"My Lady—" Adel started to interrupt from the stairs, clearly unhappy about them living in the house.
I turned to her sharply. "It is alright. They can live inside the house."
I turned back to the mercenaries. "Not just that you two can live inside the house; you two get monthly wages too. And you two set the wages. Do you accept my offer?"
They looked at each other for a few seconds, communicating silently.
Finally, Cassius stretched out his right hand toward me.
"Deal," he grinned.
Seeing that, I was so happy. They were not leaving me. I immediately shook his rough hand with both of mine.
"About the wages," I added, beaming, "you can talk it out with Adel. She will arrange it for you."
Adel sighed loudly in the background.
.
We walked back to the front door. I pushed it open.
Inside, I was greeted by a line of servants. One of them, a dignified older man, stepped forward and introduced himself as the Butler in charge of the house.
I counted the staff. Eight servants in total.
I introduced Cassius and Valerie to the Butler. "They will live inside the house as my personal guards. Please arrange rooms for them."
The Butler bowed. "As you wish, My Lady."
He led us on a tour. He showed us the parlors, the dining hall, the kitchen. The last room he showed was my bedroom on the second floor.
It was almost identical to my room back home—the bed, the furniture layout—except for a large glass window beside the bed overlooking the city. All my belongings were already unpacked and arranged perfectly. That explained why the trunk was gone from the carriage.
After the tour, I turned to Adel. "I want to get some rest. Knock on the door when it is lunchtime."
Everyone left the room, leaving me alone.
I walked to the bedside table. The reddish book was sitting there.
I took the book to the desk and sat down. I opened it to check the dates.
The first event of the book was set in the year 761 NE. The month was the Seventh Month. That was this month. But the day was still two weeks away.
Today's date was 761 NE-07-12. The book's plot started on 761 NE-07-26.
I started to read the entry for that date.
There would be a party in the Grand Ballroom. The Main Character of the book would start trying to get closer to the Crown Prince because her status was low. She would first try to befriend a Royal Guard named Milo.
Her action in the book was to be hapless and clumsy to get attention from the Royal Guard. This would eventually make the Crown Prince notice her "hapless" nature and want to take care of her.
In the book, there was no mention of the Main Character's name. It was just written as "I," never a proper name. Every time her name was mentioned by others in dialogue, the text blurred in my hallucination, making it unreadable. Later in the story, people called her "Paragon", not her own name.
So I needed to know who this Main Character was.
I kept reading. What else happens that day?
Time passed. I finished reading the entry.
Now, I needed to make a choice: let the book's events happen, or prevent them.
If I chose to prevent it, I needed to find Milo, the Royal Guard. And, of course, I needed to discover the identity of the Main Character.
It raised more questions. If I unraveled her identity… if I knew her name… I would know the person who would kill me and my family in the future. Was it necessary to bring them eye-to-eye for this?
I took a deep breath. "Sigh. I don't want to take that path just because she tried to get closer to my betrothed, even though the Crown Prince is closer with..."
I paused.
"Wait a second. Is her name or her family mentioned in the book?"
I frantically flipped through the pages. I checked page after page.
There was not a single page that mentioned Justina.
The position of Regent was kept vacant in the book until the King appointed my father as Regent later in the story.
So where did this Justina family name come from?
Even Lady Octavi never told me about the Regent position in her tutoring over the past seven years. Did the Royals purposely keep the Regent's position secret?
And the book didn't mention the Goddesses or Transmutation. Why was there such a difference between the book and the real world? Was it because of my actions? Or because of my consciousness of the book?
When I found the book, the Goddesses disappeared.
The most important question remained: "Who is Ainur Nala? And what the hell is the world she is living in?"
Her existence was so important to Delia and Gena. They didn't provide me with any information about her, except for showing me her appearance. They just wanted me to follow what the book wrote. But when I finally read the ending, they vanished without a word.
Ainur Nala. The realm she lived in was so strange to me. Did she live in a magical realm? A place where chandeliers and candles were brighter than suns? Where words in a book perfectly aligned with each other? Where dead objects could emit bright light?
Knock-knock.
Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door.
I snapped the book shut. I got up from the desk and opened the door.
It was Adel.
"My Lady, it is lunchtime," she informed me.
I looked around the hallway. "Where is the meal?"
Adel looked confused. "Does My Lady want to have lunch in your room? Or will you come down to the dining hall?"
"Ah!! Yes." I shook my head, laughing slightly. "This is not home anymore, and I don't need to eat my meal in my room again."
For seven years, I had eaten every meal in my bedroom. It had become a habit.
"Let's go down and have lunch."
I left the room, and Adel followed me to the dining hall.
When I arrived, the room felt vast and empty. The long, polished table had only one chair set at the head. It was just for me.
It felt the same as the isolation of my room.
Before I took a seat, I got an idea to fill the emptiness. I turned to Adel.
"Where are Cassius and Valerie?"
"I think they are in the backyard," Adel answered stiffly. "Is there anything you need from them?"
"I just want to invite them to have lunch with me here."
"Why do you want to invite them?" Adel asked, distaste evident in her voice.
"It is empty here. It is just me eating here. Will you bring them here? So we can have lunch together."
"But—"
"There is neither Father nor Mother in here," I said firmly. "Surely you will obey my words, right, Adel?"
Adel pressed her lips together. "As you wish."
She left the room to search for them.
..
A few minutes passed. Adel returned with Cassius and Valerie in tow. They wore plain white clothes, and their faces were confused.
"Do you need something from us?" Valerie asked, crossing her arms.
I immediately looked at Adel. She avoided my gaze. She didn't tell them.
"I don't need anything from you," I said, smiling. "I just want to have lunch with you two."
Their jaws dropped.
"Have lunch with us?" Cassius asked, pointing to himself.
"Yes. As you can see, there is only me besides the servants in this house. Surely having a meal alone will be empty and lonely. Now you are staying in this house with me as my guards. I want to have lunch with you to fill the emptiness of this house. All of you can take a seat." I paused, looking at Adel. "Including you, Adel."
Adel pointed to herself in shock. "Me too, My Lady??"
"Yes."
Suddenly, I realized a practical issue. "I invited all of you to have lunch with me all of a sudden. Will there be enough food for everyone?"
"You don't need to worry about that," Adel said quickly, regaining her composure. "The kitchen will have enough food, no matter what the situation is."
"Great then."
I sat down at the head of the table. Adel hesitated for a moment, then pulled out the chair to my right and sat down.
Cassius and Valerie, however, remained standing.
"What is the matter with you two? Why do you not take a seat?" I asked.
"About… that…" Valerie stammered, looking nervous for the first time. "Is this… really… okay?? For us to sit with you and... have lunch with you..."
"It is alright. Don't be nervous with me."
Valerie still hesitated, shifting her weight.
In contrast, Cassius shrugged and pulled out a chair on my left. He sat down comfortably.
This irritated Valerie instantly.
"What are you doing??" she hissed at him.
"What am I doing?" Cassius looked up innocently. "She ordered us to take a seat and have lunch with her. Surely I am obligated to obey."
"Are you a fool or what??" Valerie snapped. "Your status and our status are different from hers. Why do you casually just sit like that?"
"Because she asked for it," Cassius retorted. "You are the fool here. The Lady of the house asked you to take a seat, pleased to have a meal with her, and here you are standing and rejecting her hospitality. You are surely a fool."
"YOU—"
"Can you two please stop?" I interrupted, raising my voice slightly. "And don't argue at the table."
They fell silent.
I looked at Valerie one last time. "Valerie, this is the last time I will ask you. Do you want to take a seat and have a meal with me or not? If not, you can excuse yourself from here."
Valerie gritted her teeth, pulled out the chair next to Cassius, and sat down stiffly.
"The fool finally realized the merit," Cassius muttered under his breath.
"YOU—"
I cleared my throat loudly.
Once they were quiet, I did what my father did every time we had a meal at home.
Clap!
At once, the servants emerged from the kitchen doors, carrying trays of food.
We began to enjoy our meal together.