In the place where lemon blossoms faded, deep green foliage spread.

In the blink of an eye, the Holy Festival arrived, and Paradel was bustling with unprecedented vigor.

People hung yellow star-shaped decorations at their doors, signifying God’s blessings and grace.

The poor picked up yellow stones from the street to draw star shapes on their shabby wooden doors.

Bright yellow stars beautifully sparkled on every house.

As the restored temple doors opened, people washed their hands and feet in the waterways flowing around the temple.

The temple distributed porridge and bread to the poor.

“How about it? Do you still regret holding the festival?”

Giselle asked, watching people dancing around the fountain.

Smiles bloomed on the faces of those worn out by harsh reality.

Sched did not answer Giselle’s question.

Giselle took his silence as affirmation.

If he hadn’t liked it, he would have already pointed out the problems.

Perhaps his mind was still preoccupied with tomorrow’s heretic hunt.

“I’ll go in first.”

Sched, who had been quietly overlooking Paradel’s cityscape, turned around.

After the main events ended, Sched finally relaxed his tense mind.

He had feared last night’s heat.

He had repeatedly fumbled with his jacket containing medicine, as if checking it.

Fortunately, the heat did not come.

Even as women brushed past him, even as Giselle’s perfume tempted him from nearby, his lust remained quiet.

The new medicine Eclas had procured seemed to be working effectively.

“Come to the evening banquet later without that serious expression.”

Giselle said to his retreating back.

Tonight, there was to be a banquet for the priests, vassals, and knights who had worked hard for Paradel’s reconstruction.

It wouldn’t be an extravagant affair with the hunt coming soon, but it would be enough to boost morale before leaving.

“…I’ll see you later.”

Sched glanced at Giselle once before heading toward the mansion.

“Can’t you move faster? The guests are starting to arrive.”

A sharp voice urged Riana.

On the Holy Festival day, the servants of House Lester were busy preparing for Paradel’s first banquet.

Among them, Riana was especially so.

“Having rested well with the excuse of being sick, I’m sure you don’t feel like working. You must want to slack off.”

“Yes, don’t say too much. What if you go tattling to the master again?”

Janette jokingly warned the other maids, laughing.

“But lately, it seems the master doesn’t particularly care either?”

Riana heard the maids’ laughter as she crouched by the well, washing fruit.

They probably hoped Riana would burst into tears upon hearing such words.

But unfortunately, Riana couldn’t pay attention to their words.

She was too busy to mind each bit of gossip.

Janette and the other maids were piling work on Riana.

So they had the energy to giggle like that in the midst of such busyness.

Riana considered snapping back at them but decided against it.

They wouldn’t listen anyway, and she didn’t want to waste energy mixing words with them.

She had more important matters at hand, and their unproductive chatter didn’t affect her much.

As she focused diligently on her work without responding to their provocative talk, it seemed to irritate them more, and they grumbled discontentedly.

“Look at her pretending not to hear us when she can hear everything.”

“Acting so haughty.”

Ignoring the murmuring voices behind her, Riana was placing the washed fruit in baskets when:

“If you have time to chatter there, hurry and carry the plates! The guests are almost all here, and there aren’t enough plates in the hall!”

Head butler Werner scolded the gossiping maids, urging them on.

Seeing them huddled and chattering during such a busy time, his voice was louder than usual, quite angered.

“Riana. You too, quickly bring the fruit. How can we face the guests if the banquet table is empty when they arrive?”

The scolding directed at the maids spilled over to Riana, but Werner’s voice was a bit softer.

“Yes, Head Butler.”

Riana headed to the banquet hall carrying the fruit basket.

As Werner said, guests were already gathering in the hall.

The half, no, quarter-sized city of Paradel didn’t have many nobles.

It was mostly vassals who followed Sched, knights with titles, personnel from Bitel Trading Company supporting the reconstruction financially, and priests.

But even though Paradel was small, there were still dozens of guests.

‘The banquet hall is starting to look quite proper now.’

The chandelier on the ceiling, stripped of dust and cobwebs, now sparkled brightly.

The marble floor, repaired without cracks and neatly maintained.

The expensive carpet brought from afar thanks to Eclas.

Long wooden tables and new chairs with leather cushions.

Though still humble compared to the Emperor’s or other Grand Dukes’ banquet halls, it was presentable enough not to be embarrassing for hosting a banquet.

Was it strange to feel somewhat glad that the mansion no longer looked haunted and gloomy?

Riana carefully navigated between the early-arriving guests, placing fruit on the tables.

Adding colorful fruit to tables that only had vases made the previously monotonous and empty banquet tables feel a bit more filled.

Riana made several more trips between the hall and the back kitchen with trays, filling the hall tables.

Then:

“His Grace Duke Sched Lester and Grand Priest Giselle Marlhein have arrived.”

As if it was time, the large doors leading to the upper part of the banquet hall opened with the chamberlain’s announcement.

Everyone’s gaze turned to the banquet hall doors.

Riana, holding fruit, was no exception.

Sched and Giselle entered together through the opened doors.

Riana saw Sched, the focus of everyone’s attention, from her higher vantage point.

Dressed more formally than usual for the banquet, he wore a black formal suit with almost no decorations.

Unlike other nobles’ clothes adorned with elaborate jewels and embroidery, his vest and jacket only had gold thread lining the edges and a few gold buttons stamped with the Lester family crest.

The silk cravat tied over his white shirt was neat without being excessive.

Neatly combed hair. Straight eyebrows and the usual indifferent expression.

There was nothing special or flashy about his appearance.

Yet Sched Lester stood out enough to be recognizable at a glance among the ornately dressed people.

The same was true for Giselle beside him.

She was wearing civilian clothes instead of her priest robes for the first time in a very long time.

The hem of her sleek mermaid dress flared out softly and elegantly like an upturned flower bud.

Her hair, partially braided and tied back with a silver hair vine, swayed beautifully like waves.

Sched in black and Giselle in pure white contrasted and stood out even more.

Riana unconsciously smoothed her maid uniform, pulling at the hem.

A plain outfit blending into the background of the banquet hall.

A place separated like a foreigner among the nobles in their splendid clothes.

Riana looked at him, who had naturally become the protagonist of this gathering.

She thought it fortunate that she could at least pretend to be ordinary.

If she could blend in inconspicuously, perhaps no one would notice even if she disappeared someday.

Just then, a cold purple gaze turned toward her.

Riana, startled by the direct eye contact as if she had committed a crime, averted her eyes.

There’s no way he could have recognized me right away in this large, crowded banquet hall…

Riana hurriedly gathered the empty basket and headed for the back kitchen, as if escaping.

As Sched and Giselle descended to the center of the banquet hall, people rushed to greet them.

“With the Grand Priest here, even heretics must be trembling outside.”

“It’s not thanks to me, but to the grace bestowed by God.”

Giselle skillfully led the conversations with people.

Sched watched silently as Giselle commanded the banquet hall.

She had the ability to naturally focus the conversation on herself.

Even with Sched and Dietrich present, Giselle was clearly the center of the banquet.

“It’s a bit disappointing that Viscount Eclas isn’t here.”

“While our Grand Priest ensured our safety from heretics, Viscount Eclas was responsible for the city’s reconstruction, wasn’t he? He even brought in famous artisans and architects.”

“He could have stayed a day or two longer, why did he leave in such a hurry…”

“He’s a busy person, isn’t he? He stayed in Paradel for quite a long time already.”

People also expressed regret about Eclas’s absence.

Mostly it stemmed from their desire to network with him and disappointment that his money wasn’t involved in this banquet.

People thought that if Eclas had attended the banquet, the variety of food would have been greater, and the size of the orchestra in the corner would have been doubled.

Sched listened to people’s chatter while standing beside Giselle.

He wasn’t particularly adept at such social conversations.

As he slowly circled the banquet hall, a thick, sweet scent brushed his nose.

Sched turned his head with widened pupils toward the source of the fragrance.

‘Riana?’

Her face flashed in his mind, but no one was there.

Only a fruit basket sat alone on a round table.

His heart, which had been pounding roughly for a moment, gradually calmed.

Sched clutched his chest tightly at the unfamiliar sensation.

‘Unnecessary anxiety…?’

Perhaps he was overreacting momentarily due to having too much on his mind with the festival and heretic hunt.

“Duke Lester, are you alright?”

“…I’m fine, continue with what you were saying.”

Sched said, lowering the hand that had been clutching his chest as if nothing had happened.