The man in the painting was Hypnetes, a human so beautiful he could make the gods jealous. I moved my gaze along the fresco painted based on his narrative.

Scenes followed of Hypnetes meeting a goddess and falling in love, and the fire god becoming enraged with jealousy over Hypnetes.

The painting, expressed using unique materials and subtle shading in a transparent color space, made him feel like a living person.

In Lesothia too, Hypnetes was a major inspiration for artists. The principality had many sculptures of him remaining, but they didn’t make him feel as vividly alive as the paintings.

Finally, when that narrative came to an end, I was standing opposite the first painting I had seen.

In the end, his love did not meet a happy ending.

But it was a beautiful story of how Hypnetes, a human punished for the sin of having a beauty that could make even gods jealous, eventually became the god of time through the love of another deity who loved his beauty.

In front of it, lavishly adorned people were gathered here and there, laughing and chatting. I had never seen such a large hall before, nor so many people gathered in a place that wasn’t a market.

Yet somehow I thought these beautiful paintings and people didn’t go well together.

Among them, the one that fit in least was undoubtedly me.

Realizing this, I also gave up hope of finding Ricardo quickly. It would be fortunate enough not to get lost in this grand hall.

“Hah……”

I let out a long sigh and composed myself. Then I started looking for a suitable person to ask about Ricardo’s whereabouts. It seemed someone of higher rank than the servants would be more likely to know where Ricardo was, so I looked around.

Perhaps because I looked around too carelessly? I carelessly bumped shoulders with someone.

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

I reflexively apologized, but the woman I bumped into didn’t leave me an apology. Instead, a yellow rose fell from her.

“Oh, my lady!”

I quickly picked up the flower and called out to the woman. But the young woman was already at the exit, led by the hand of a man who looked old enough to be her father.

Afraid of crossing paths with Countess Corhena if I followed her, I called a passing servant.

“Excuse me.”

He looked alternately at me and the flower I was holding, then came closer to me.

“Would you like a glass of wine?”

“No, that’s not it… The lady who just bumped into me dropped this flower…”

I mumbled a bit at the end, unable to use honorifics or informal speech. He looked me up and down. It wasn’t a particularly careful gaze.

“Are you perhaps a lady from a count’s family?”

“No.”

“Then just put that flower here.”

He tapped his chest area with the hand not holding a tray.

“Me?”

“Yes, you should have been wearing it, of course. Not carrying it around.”

“But this isn’t mine…”

“Then perhaps… are you a lady from a duke’s family?”

“I’m not.”

“Then you must wear that flower. If you’re not going to wear it, you’ll have to leave this ballroom.”

After finishing those words, he gave a slight nod and passed by me.

I wanted to tear my hair out at this utterly incomprehensible situation. Why were there so many things to know about the social circles of the Dermaier Empire?

The duchess had said I could do whatever I wanted, but that was merely theory.

Perhaps this yellow rose was a rule of the evening party, like the handkerchief I was supposed to deliver to Ricardo.

I looked around carefully.

As the servant had said, most of the women were wearing yellow roses, but there were also some who weren’t.

Then it seems the servant’s words were correct, but… somehow I didn’t want to wear it.

The yellow rose, whose flower language is jealousy and envy.

Thinking it wouldn’t be so bad to be kicked out for not wearing this flower, I turned around.

There I saw Ricardo.

“Ah…”

He was standing in front of the human Hypnetes, looking at me.

In perfect formal attire with his forehead clearly exposed, Ricardo exuded a much cooler atmosphere than usual.

He looked so perfect that if beauty were a sin deserving divine punishment, I thought he should receive a greater punishment than Hypnetes.

And soon I realized.

That ever since I started wearing dresses that everyone calls beautiful but feel violently flashy to me, I had been wanting to see him all along.

Ricardo often tells me he dislikes things, but wouldn’t it be alright for me to at least say that seeing him puts me at ease? To him who might have come running from afar upon seeing me.

“Rica.”

It was when I called out to him softly. Was it because I had been focusing only on him? Once again, someone bumped into me forcefully.

“Ack!”

This time it hurt much more than before. I clutched my shoulder and bent over slightly, while the man who bumped into me widened his eyes in surprise. His eyes were blue-green. Eyes so beautiful they could be called turquoise, enough to be captivated by them instantly even in this chaotic situation.

So these distinctly blue-green eyes must belong to the Chaplin ducal family…

“I apologize, lady.”

He looked rushed, as if being chased by something, but didn’t forget the habitual manners ingrained in him. After apologizing, he immediately picked up the yellow rose that I didn’t even realize I had dropped.

The moment he held out the flower, a woman’s voice with a somewhat high pitch called out “Your Grace!” from behind. At the same time, I reached for the rose the man had pushed in front of me.

“Stay right there, don’t move!”

I thought I heard Ricardo’s voice shouting loudly, but before I could turn around, everything around me turned to darkness.

As it brightened around me, the surrounding objects came into view.

The first thing that caught my eye was a bed large enough to easily fill a small room and then some.

So I was in what appeared to be his bedroom, clutching a yellow rose with a strange man I had never seen before in my life.

Since the flower was meant to be worn on the chest, its stem was short, so I had no choice but to hold his hand tightly. To avoid being pushed by an irresistible force.

“Who…?”

The head of the man, clearly from the Chaplin family, tilted in confusion.

Judging by how some woman had shouted ‘Your Grace!’ at the last moment, he must be Walter Shaw Chaplin.

Then the reason I was in his bedroom must be due to the Chaplin family’s power.

The three great ducal families and the imperial family of the Empire all possessed different powers, and those powers always came with a price.

Among them, the heirs of the Chaplin family could freely move through space. But in exchange, their memories were erased.

So the man holding my hand tightly with a completely bewildered look meant he had no memory of this situation at all. To be precise, his memories from waking up in the morning would be gone.

“If you could… let go of this hand.”

Only then did he startle and hurriedly move away from me. As a result, he stared at the yellow rose that had fallen to the floor with troubled eyes. I slowly bent down to pick up the rose rolling on the carpet.

“This wasn’t in my plans…”

He paced around the room, rubbing his chin. Then he pulled a bell cord next to the bed to call a servant.

A young servant appeared promptly, but Walter sent him away and called for someone else. It seemed he had called for someone who knew the Chaplin family’s secret.

As I had guessed, he wasn’t particularly surprised to see his master who had suddenly appeared. He was only startled to see me standing awkwardly behind him.

“I’ll send a message to the Parquin family.”

“Yes, ah, no!”

Walter quickly stopped the servant who was about to leave and took a moment to catch his breath.

“Today is the day of the Eneharz count family’s party, isn’t it. Then the Parquin young master will be there, so send someone there. And also find out if anyone saw anything at the Eneharz count’s residence.”

“Yes, I understand.”

The servant, bowing his head, glanced briefly at me and the yellow rose before hurrying out to carry out the order.

Fear arose the moment we were left alone in the room. But even though I had personally experienced the family’s secret, I was certain he wouldn’t try to kill me right away.

The fact that he had called for Parquin was the very reason.

Parquin was one of the empire’s three great ducal families, and their power was the ability to erase others’ memories.

Walter, who had been watching the door the servant had left through, slowly turned towards me. With a smile spread across his face.

“Please, have a seat over here. Lady…?”

He very politely asked for my name.

“Lienne, I am Lienne.”

I knew what he was really asking for was not my name but my family name, but I couldn’t say Pennel.

“Li…enne?”

Walter tilted his head as he mulled over my name, but soon hid his expression and just smiled as if amused. Very politely even in this situation.

Walter gave an overall neat impression. Quite excessive for showing to a woman who would soon lose her memory.

“Well then, Miss Lienne. It doesn’t seem like I forcibly invited you here…”