The eyes of Marquis Brisa wavered.

Floyd stared straight at Marquis Brisa and pushed the invitation card placed on the table with his index finger.

“I will hold parties for several days. Many nobles will come. I won’t send separate invitations to the Marquis from now on.”

Marquis Brisa stared blankly at the invitation card that had been pushed in front of him.

“I’m not forcing you, so think about it carefully.”

Floyd got up and walked towards the reception room door, then said before opening it.

“Oh, regardless of the Marquis’s choice, I will continue to help with the search for Miss Engis, so don’t worry about that part.”

Even after Floyd left, Marquis Brisa continued to glare at the invitation card without picking it up. When her husband did not return for a long time after the guest had left, Marchioness Brisa came to the reception room.

She looked at her husband, who seemed to be in deep thought, and the invitation card placed in front of him, then asked.

“Darling, what’s the matter?”

“Grand Duke Ratean is helping to search for our daughter.”

“Oh my, how grateful. The Grand Duke’s knights are excellent, so there should be good news, right? But… why do you look so serious?”

“It seems the Grand Duke…”

Marquis Brisa picked up the invitation card.

“Is trying to swallow Gania.”

+++

The nobles, who had to engage in unwanted self-restraint and give up the social season due to the Crown Prince’s actions against Kanta, were stirred by the news that the Grand Duke of Torukan was hosting a party. Especially families who had planned their daughter’s debutante this year noisily resumed their halted debutante preparations.

Of course, not all nobles were willing to accept Grand Duke Ratean’s invitation. Some nobles who had to be mindful of the King and Queen’s reactions suppressed their regretful feelings, but when rumors spread that the Crown Prince would attend the party, they quietly prepared to follow along to the party under the pretext of accompanying the Crown Prince.

The fact that Floyd had taken Roxiana around and bought up jewels, dresses, hats, and shoes as if sweeping them all up was widely known. The nobles eagerly counted down the days until the party, anticipating how lavish the party hosted by the Grand Duke of Torukan would be.

Around the time the party was to be held, among Arsen, Cain, and Adrian who had gone far away, Adrian was the first to return after achieving his goal. Adrian, who came back without even resting, pushing his knights hard saying he couldn’t miss the party, headed straight to the kitchen after finishing his report to Floyd.

“Juice. I need juice, lots of it.”

Seeing his dull silver hair stuck to his forehead with sweat, the maids quickly made juice with the fruit blessed by Roxiana. Adrian smiled prettily at the maid who brought the fruit juice first and sat down in a corner of the kitchen, watching the cooks move busily.

“Is the party tomorrow?”

“Yes! All the food for this party will be made with ingredients blessed by the Princess.”

Jackie said with a grin. Jackie, an apprentice cook at Lily Palace, was very excited to have come along on this trip to Gania. For a commoner like him, such a long journey was a very rare experience.

“The Ganian noble bastards will be shocked when they taste our Torukan cuisine.”

“I’m worried they’ll come every day asking us to make it for them.”

Although they were sweating profusely preparing food for tomorrow, the cooks looked very happy.

Roxiana magic, Adrian thought.

After Roxiana joined, the number of employees who looked happy increased. The cooks came to enjoy cooking with fresh ingredients all the time, and the gardeners enjoyed tending to lush plants. The maids who had to do laundry in cold water during winter were happy that the water became warm after Roxiana passed by once.

Roxiana, who would be busy enough with her own work, always went around carefully taking care of the employees as well.

Adrian emptied one glass of juice and received another to sip on, then headed to where Roxiana was likely to be. As expected, Roxiana was in the quiet garden behind the building, but she wasn’t alone.

‘What is this scene?’

The huge gray wolf Lion lying prone, and Roxiana lying down using Lion as a pillow. The white otter Nis lying on her shoulder.

‘What’s with that eagle?’

A large black eagle standing straight in front of Roxiana. Moreover, for some reason today even Red, Floyd’s warhorse, had left the stable and was standing next to Roxiana.

The four beasts quietly watched Roxiana, then simultaneously turned their gaze to look at Adrian.

Adrian, who had lived without fear of anything in the world, couldn’t help but feel a chill down his spine at that moment when the gazes of the four beasts were directed at him at the same time.

The next moment, the eagle took flight, Red nibbled on grass as if nothing had happened, Nis fell asleep limply, and Lion also lay down resting its chin on its front paws.

But Adrian still couldn’t move.

‘What was that just now?’

No matter how big they were, they were just beasts. No matter how bizarre a scene they created, they were just beasts after all.

But the moment they all looked at Adrian at the same time, Adrian couldn’t move an inch as if under a powerful spell. Like facing an unstoppable powerful attack, like prey facing a huge predator, he couldn’t budge at all.

Adrian hesitated, then walked cautiously towards Roxiana while watching the beasts. Sensing his presence, Roxiana woke up and turned around.

Roxiana smiled innocently as if she knew nothing.

“Adrian. You’re back.”

Aside from the eagle that had flown away, the wolf, otter, and red horse were looking at Adrian with innocent eyes like ordinary beasts, showing none of the bizarre aura from earlier.

‘Did I feel it wrong?’

That couldn’t be. The feeling of helplessness he felt when he met their eyes, that he couldn’t do anything against them, was still vivid.

Realizing that Adrian was watching Lion warily, Roxiana lightly patted Lion’s bottom.

“Lion, Adrian seems scared, so why don’t you go somewhere else?”

At that moment, Adrian saw it clearly. The wolf snorting in derision.

Adrian pointed at the wolf with his index finger to show this, but Roxiana didn’t seem to notice at all as she removed the otter from her shoulder and placed it on the wolf’s back.

“All of you go somewhere else.”

The wolf, otter, and red horse left the garden, glancing at Adrian as if mocking him. Adrian blankly watched them leave, then startled at the slight touch on his arm.

Roxiana had lightly placed her hand on Adrian’s forearm.

“Adrian? Why do you look so frightened? You used to get along well with them.”

“Ah, of course… I’m not frightened, Princess.”

Adrian said while pulling up the corners of his mouth as much as possible, but Roxiana didn’t seem to believe him. To change the subject, Adrian quickly took Roxiana’s hand and kissed the back of it.

“I’m back.”

“You worked hard. Did the work go well?”

“Of course.”

The two walked side by side in the garden and sat on a bench under a large tree.

“The nobles in western Gania, being close to Kanta, seemed to be more anxious.”

“I suppose so. Since Kasar, who went to Kanta as regent, has almost completely withdrawn from official duties, they must be more anxious.”

“Well, they never know when Kantan citizens might turn into rebels and invade. Anyway, although they can’t actively participate in the plan, I got a promise that they would quietly wait if we move according to plan and show results on our side.”

“The certificate?”

“Of course I got it. I was on my way to give it to our lord. How was it here?”

“The capital is quiet, but… several influential figures from Kingteren disappeared on the same day, simultaneously.”

Roxiana had also heard this news yesterday.

Several influential figures from Kingteren left only a letter on their desks saying ‘I have somewhere to go for a while’ and disappeared. Their families, who found the letters, were unaware of what was going on until they realized there were others in the same situation and fell into anxiety.

It didn’t seem like a normal occurrence for nearly ten people to vanish at once saying ‘I have somewhere to go for a while’, let alone one or two.

Their families reported to the guards, and the authorities also thought it was suspicious and were running around trying to find the missing people.

“Could it be Elise Hailis?”

“Probably. With rumors of Elise’s corruption rampant, she must have become impatient. To the point of not realizing that handling multiple people at once would make things bigger.”

“By the way, it’s really strange. How amazing must the person by Elise Hailis’s side be to be able to handle them all at once? If they’re influential figures, they would have several guards protecting them.”

“That’s right. Maybe it’s a black magician much more powerful than we think.”

“Has that person ever targeted you, Princess?”

“Not yet.”

Roxiana looked down at her hands with worried eyes.

She had thought Elise would send a black magician after her first. After all, all of Roxiana’s actions must be a thorn in Elise’s side.

But even after several days, there was no one following or attacking Roxiana.

“The black magician must be quite smart. They know not to mess with our lord carelessly.”

“That’s what worries me. If the person Elise trusts enough to follow their words is also intelligent, it could lead to a lot of troublesome situations.”

“Well, we’ll find a way to solve it when it comes. Until you safely become the Grand Duchess, we will protect you firmly, so don’t worry and just focus on the party starting tomorrow.”

Adrian chatted with Roxiana for a while longer before parting ways and heading straight to the stable. Floyd’s red horse Red was obediently keeping its place in the stable as always.

Adrian approached Red with long strides and stared at it intently before asking.

“You, what are you?”