The feast continued, but I couldn't stop thinking about the maid and Lady Anna.
"Fabian," I whispered, leaning slightly toward him. "I need to go. I want to check on them."
"You wish to check on the woman who tried to use a clumsy maid to captivate the Court?" he asked, his voice low and knowing, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
"She wasn't trying to captivate anyone," I said firmly. "She was just trying to help the maid. I just want to make sure she is okay."
He let out a small breath, shaking his head with a mixture of disbelief and admiration.
"You truly do not see the stage, do you?" he murmured. "However, you may excuse yourself. Adel is with you, right? Return soon."
I slipped away from the High Table. Lady Octavi immediately fell in behind me.
Adel met me at the edge of the pavilion. She guided me out into the cool night air, away from the noise and the prying eyes, toward the smaller Aurelius Guest Tent.
Adel held the flap open for me.
Inside, the maid was sitting on a stool, sobbing quietly. Lady Anna was pacing back and forth. She had removed the wine-soaked outer layer of her dress, leaving her in her white underdress.
She didn't look scared when I entered. She looked furious.
When she saw me, she stopped pacing. Her eyes narrowed. She crossed her arms over her chest defensively.
"Are you here to brag?" she snapped, her voice trembling with humiliation.
I blinked, confused by her hostility. "Brag? Why would I do that?"
"Do not play the fool, Lady Aurelia," Lady Anna hissed. "You won. You stole the moment. I tried to show them mercy, I tried to show them grace, and you… You just sat there and let me look like a fool before swooping in to save the day."
"I came because the floor was cold," I said simply.
I ignored her glare and walked past her to the maid. I crouched down and looked at the girl's scraped knees.
"Does it hurt?" I asked softly.
The maid stared at me, too scared to speak. She just nodded, tears streaming down her face.
I looked at Adel. "Hand me the salve."
Adel produced a small jar from her pocket. I took it and applied the cooling cream gently to the maid's scrapes.
"This will stop the stinging," I promised.
I stood up and turned back to Lady Anna. She was watching me with a look of utter confusion, her anger faltering.
"And you, Lady Anna," I said. "You are shivering."
"I don't need your charity," Lady Anna spat, wrapping her arms tighter around herself. "I know what you are doing. You are trying to show everyone that you are the 'better' person."
"I am not trying to show anyone anything," I said honestly. "There is no one here but us."
I turned to Adel. "A cloak."
Adel handed me a warm, white woolen cloak bearing the Aurelius crest. I stepped forward. Lady Anna flinched, as if she expected me to strike her.
I simply wrapped the cloak around her shoulders.
"There," I said, tying the strings securely. "It is cold tonight."
Lady Anna touched the soft wool. She looked at me, searching my face for the malice, the scheme, the hidden insult. She found none.
"I don't understand you," she whispered, her voice losing its edge. "You should hate me. I… I tried to take the spotlight."
"The spotlight?" I tilted my head. "The lanterns outside are plenty bright enough for everyone… You should go back to your tent and rest."
I turned to leave.
"Lady Aurelia."
I looked back.
She wasn't glaring anymore. She looked small, wrapped in my family's cloak.
"Thank you," she said stiffly.
"You're welcome." I smiled.
I slipped back out into the night.
Adel and Lady Octavi walked beside me as we headed back to the forest path leading to the Main Pavilion.
"My Lady," Adel said after a moment of silence. "What was that?"
"What?"
"You seem like a dull person, My Lady," Lady Octavi interjected bluntly.
"A dull person?"
"Yes. What was going on at the feast may be a crucial point from the Book," Lady Octavi explained. "And you just saw it as a mere show. What happens if Lady Anna and the maid are actually friends and they have been plotting it all along?"
Adel added, "As you said, My Lady… 'A Crown Prince to give a stranger the Royal Prize… He has to fall for her before he catches the Stag.' What happens if that scene Lady Anna and the maid performed was an attempt to make the Crown Prince fall for them?"
"Planned it?" I asked, stopping on the path. "Why would they plan to fall and ruin a dress? It was humiliating."
Adel sighed, exchanging a look with Lady Octavi.
"To gain sympathy, My Lady. To make the Prince look at them with pity. To make you look cruel by contrast. It is a common gambit in the Court."
"I see…" I continued to walk, my mind racing. "However, let's discuss this after the feast. I also want to ask both of you about a quite interesting thought of mine after watching all of that."
I saw both of their faces, quietly curious. They exchanged a glance but nodded.
"As you wish, My Lady," Adel said.
We returned to the feast.
The atmosphere had relaxed since the scene and Duchess Valerie's dramatic arrival. Laughter floated from the East table—House Aemilia—and polite conversation hummed from the South. When I took my seat beside Fabian, he smiled with a genuine, warm expression that made my heart beat faster.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur of courses and polite nods. I played my role as the perfect betrothed, the embodiment of Unity. Eventually, the Herald signaled the end of the feast. Fabian kissed my hand one last time, his eyes promising a conversation for another day, and I was finally able to retreat to the safety of my family's Pavilion.
…
Later that night.
Inside my private chamber within the pavilion, the air was thick with the scent of pine and burning wax.
I sat on the edge of my bed, still dressed in my white gown. Adel was busy hanging up my shawl, while Lady Octavi stood near the entrance flap, her armor removed but her sword still at her hip.
"So," Lady Octavi said, breaking the silence. "This 'interesting thought'. Is it a dangerous thought of My Lady's, or just a passing curiosity?"
"It can be dangerous. Or maybe it can be just a passing curiosity," I replied, staring at the floor.
"So what is it, My Lady?" Adel asked, turning to face me.
"Okay. First, about the Main Character," I began slowly. "In the Book, the Main Character's appearance has never been described. However, if we connect it to my dream—the dream of my own death—the one who stole Fabian is a red-haired woman."
"Is it Lady Anna, then?" Lady Octavi interjected, stepping forward.
"However…" I paused and took a deep breath. "What was the hair color of the maid in the scene back then?"
I looked between them.
Lady Octavi paused, her eyes narrowing as she accessed her memory. "It was hard to tell in the shadow of the dais, but in the Guest Tent…"
"It was red," I finished for her.
I stood up and walked to the vanity mirror. I looked at my own reflection, but my mind replayed the image of the two girls in the tent.
"Lady Anna has hair of deep crimson, like a rose," I whispered. "But the maid… Her hair was red, too. A different shade. Lighter. But still red."
I turned back to them.
"The Book didn't give a name. My dream didn't give a name. My dream only showed a woman with red hair stealing the Prince and standing aside at my death."
A chill went through the room.
"So," Lady Octavi said gravely. "We do not have one suspect, My Lady. Instead, we have two."
"If Lady Anna is just the distraction…" Adel whispered, her voice dropping to a dangerous low. "Then the maid could be the true danger."
"Or they are both innocent," I said, rubbing my temples. "Or they are working together. Or we are just being paranoid. I don't know anymore."
I realized something.
"Wait…"
I paced back and forth.
"Paragons… Nona has these Paragons to bring back the timeline of Fate. I don't know how many of them exist… As the Paragons are trying to maintain the Fate…"
"They could be manipulating Lady Anna and the maid for their own purposes," Adel suggested.
"No, not like that, Adel…" I shook my head, a sense of unease creeping over me. "The Book is being driven by one person—the Main Character. If this Main Character is actually in this area or in this world right now, the Paragons should protect her, shouldn't they?"
"But they aren't protecting them," Lady Octavi pointed out. "If Lady Anna or the maid were the Main Character, they shouldn't be humiliated in front of the entire Court. Surely Fate—or these Paragons—would have shielded them from such disgrace."
"Exactly," I whispered. "Fate didn't protect them. Even the enforcers of Fate didn't intervene. Fate used them."
My mind raced back to the text of the Red Book.
"The Book… it never gave her a name. It was always written as 'I'. 'I walked into the room.' 'I felt the Prince's gaze.' 'I cried.'"
I looked up at them, my eyes wide with a dawning horror.
"It is like this 'I' is the reader."
"But sometimes… sometimes it shifted," I continued, my voice trembling. "It would say, 'She is the one.' or 'She will save him.' It never used a name. Just pronouns. 'I' and 'She'. Placeholders."
"My Lady?" Adel asked, confused.
"What if there is no Main Character?"
Adel and Lady Octavi exchanged a look.
"Think about it," I said. "The placeholders that the Book used—'I' and 'She'—never reveal a name. When you read a book like that, who are the placeholders? It is the reader. It is anyone. It is just a hollow space."
"That is why the description was so vague," I realized. "That is why my dream only showed red hair. Because that is the only trait the world decided on. But underneath the hair… It is just a hollow. It is just a Role."
"Do you mean Lady Anna and the maid are trying to fulfill the role of the Main Character?" Lady Octavi asked.
"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "The Main Character's role isn't to be fulfilled by a single soul. It is just a role to act."
I looked at them, the realization chilling me to the bone.
"Gena told me about the Paragons. She said they exist to ensure the flow of fate. To make sure the Book happens. So these Paragons just need to act as the Main Character."
I paused.
"What if these Paragons act as the Main Character, exchanging the role every time?"
"If that is the case," Lady Octavi said slowly, "you mean this time, Lady Anna and the maid tried to act as the Main Character. Yet the next time, it will be a different Paragon? If we assume Lady Anna and the maid are Paragons?"
"Precisely…" I said in a low tone.
"That is… actually… disturbing to think," Adel said with a shiver. "My Lady, your fight is against a ghost that can be anyone."
"If that is the case, My Lady needs to completely understand the surroundings," Lady Octavi said, her face grim. "We thought we could just stop a single person who drives the Book. But if what you say is true… we cannot simply stop 'Her'. Because 'She' is everywhere."
I stood there, realizing the gravity of the situation.
However, I realized there was something strange that had happened in the Opening Feast.
"In the Opening Feast, the Fate had changed…" I said with a cold tone.
"The scene of the maid and Lady Anna should have happened from the beginning to the end. The humiliation should have played out, creating sympathy. However, they had been interrupted…"
I took a deep breath.
"By Duchess Valerie. How?"