As usual, Cassian hardened his expression and gulped down the tea, while Veronica maintained her smile and went along with Magnolia’s nonsense.

The chilled atmosphere rather brought peace.

When the scheduled time ended, Cassian left the reception room without delay.

Lake and other guards and servants followed behind him. Magnolia, who was watching Cassian disappear into the distance, muttered.

“I never noticed from afar, but His Highness Theron has this kind of atmosphere.”

With an uneasy feeling, Veronica’s voice came out strongly.

“Don’t fall for him.”

At those words, Magnolia was startled.

“Of course not! Absolutely not. His Highness Theron is not my type anyway.”

The mention of type was out of the blue, but Magnolia emphasized repeatedly with a very serious face that such a thing would never happen.

Her reaction was so exaggerated that Veronica had to calm her down instead.

“But type? Isn’t he quite handsome in terms of appearance?”

“O-Of course, His Highness Theron is handsome. But I prefer a softer impression, you could say…”

A softer impression? Veronica recalled the man who had been her fiancé until recently.

Though his core was like a rotten rag, his outer appearance was the kind that would make strangers feel favorable.

Though it was a political engagement, she seemed to have given her heart quite a bit. Could it be that she was captivated by his looks?

“And I absolutely never touch someone who has a… partner. So there’s no need for Veronica to worry!”

“I understand, so look forward while you walk.”

Veronica calmly pointed out to her, who had been walking while looking at her since earlier.

But handsome yet not a soft impression. Magnolia saw it accurately.

Although appearance is somewhat subjective, Cassian was certainly far from having a soft impression.

With sharply slanted eyes and stubbornly closed lips, always wearing a grumpy and irritated expression. If only he smiled a little, he would look good.

Then she recalled the face that had laughed heartily last time.

It was absurd that he enjoyed seeing her fiancé in pain, but it was definitely not a bad face.

If Magnolia had seen that face, her evaluation might have been different. Veronica unconsciously smoothed the ends of her hair.

“Veronica. I’ve decided. I’m going to find a new love!”

One day, Magnolia shouted energetically.

It was a bit fast, but not a bad resolution, so Veronica gave her encouragement for now.

Then Magnolia, who was thanking her, suddenly suggested going out. Veronica readily accepted.

And this is where it led.

“Didn’t you say you were going to find a new love?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then why did we come here?”

The place Magnolia had brought her to was a restaurant. And a shabby restaurant in a sparsely populated area at that.

This was the kind of place commoners might frequent, but nobles like herself wouldn’t even glance at.

“I heard this place is famous these days. They say they don’t accept just anyone and don’t open at any time.”

“It looks like they accept anyone and open anytime to me?”

The restaurant’s door was wide open, and the inside was bustling.

There was no one stopping people in the middle. No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t seem famous.

“Let’s go in quickly!”

With a somewhat excited face, Magnolia entered the restaurant.

Veronica hurriedly followed her, glancing at the guards they had brought along.

One guard followed Magnolia.

The restaurant was crowded. There were quite a few people stumbling drunk even in the daytime. Surely she’s not planning to find a new partner here?

Magnolia, who was fearlessly leading the way through the noisy and dirty restaurant, suddenly grabbed a passing man.

She seemed to ask him something, then the man looked at Magnolia and Veronica in turn and pointed to the stairs leading up.

Magnolia headed in that direction.

The upper floor had many rooms, perhaps lodgings.

They stood in front of the door at the very end of the upstairs corridor. Just then, people came out from there.

They were young women with flushed faces.

Their attire was quite luxurious too. Watching the women pass by whispering to each other, Veronica finally realized why Magnolia had come here.

“Magnolia. I understand how you feel, but relying on things like this isn’t good.”

Veronica rubbed her forehead.

Wasn’t there something about getting love fortunes told that noble women admired?

What she had said was famous wasn’t simply referring to the restaurant.

“Besides, I don’t believe in things like fortune-telling.”

Veronica originally doesn’t believe in superstitions. She considered fortune-telling, spells, magic, alchemy, and such all nonsense.

If one could predict their fate in advance, who would quietly suffer misfortune?

Some people rely on spells, but Veronica didn’t believe even for fun, and tended to avoid such topics.

Of course, there was a time when Veronica had turned her attention to such things.

When she repeatedly experienced unbelievable phenomena, even she had to change her thinking.

She looked into magic books with strange spells written in them, ancient books written by unknown authors, history books about countries not on any map, books of dubious origin, and met people who claimed to be fortune-tellers, alchemists, gypsies who saw the future in dreams, but they were all frauds.

After realizing that, she completely lost interest.

“B-But I thought we could try going once.”

Magnolia stammered. As her small face clouded over, Veronica sighed.

Can’t be helped. She unlinked her arm and knocked on the door, and Magnolia smiled brightly.

The door opened and a large man came out. The man saw them and asked if they had made an appointment.

Seems they require appointments to be seen. Magnolia shook her head.

The man pondered for a moment, then went back inside, and came out again shortly after.

“You may enter.”

Magnolia and Veronica went into the room, while the others were prevented from entering.

“Only the two of you may enter.”

The guards who came with them tried to object, but Veronica stopped them.

In the end, the guards had to wait outside with the man.

The room was dark with sunlight blocked out.

Candles were placed here and there, but not so few that one couldn’t walk. Overall, it was a gloomy space.

Strange pictures woven with thread hung all around, and unfamiliar objects added to the mysterious atmosphere.

The acrid smell also contributed to the ambiance.

The fortune-teller sat at a round table placed in the center of the room. It seemed to be a woman, but her attire was exotic.

Dark red lips contrasting with black skin, a cloth with peculiar patterns draped over her head covering even her eyes.

The first impression was that she had dressed up deliberately.

“Please sit over here.”

The woman gracefully gestured to the chairs opposite her. The two sat down there.

On the table were a water bowl, cups, a teapot, a large crystal ball in the center, cloth with strange patterns underneath, withered flowers that looked ready to crumble, some unknown bones, and other objects, but Veronica just glanced over them.

The man they first saw came in and filled the water bowl, then left again.

Before leaving, he also turned over an hourglass once.

The fortune-teller looked into the bowl, then gazed at Magnolia.

“Um, I recently broke up, can I find a new love?”

“You broke off an engagement.”

“Oh, how did you know?”

The fortune-teller smiled gently while rubbing the crystal ball.

“The cleaner the flower, the more bugs are attracted. Your heartbreak must have been great.”

“Yes! It was so hard.”

“Hmm, your love fortune is at its worst.”

Magnolia let out a despairing sigh.

“I see hardships and adversity in your future. But don’t worry. Fate is already by your side. These objects will help your blocked love fortune.”

Saying this, the fortune-teller brought over a box from the side and held out a necklace of an unusual shape.

Apart from its unique form, the necklace didn’t seem special, but small jewels were embedded here and there.

The jewels sparkled with a purple hue.

Magnolia’s eyes lit up.

Beside her, Veronica secretly sighed. As expected.

These things usually follow a similar process.

First, they bring up something bad. That makes it easier to be taken in.

Then they comfort you a bit while insisting you need help from sacred powers to overcome fate, and try to push merchandise or demand you perform spells.

“With just this, your love life will go very well.”

“Ah, then.”

“Wait. Magnolia, calm down.”

Veronica grabbed Magnolia, who was about to reach for the fraudster’s trap.

Fortunately, when she soothed her not to make hasty decisions and think it over, Magnolia said okay and withdrew her hand.

A sharp gaze was felt from the front, but Veronica pretended not to notice.

“Veronica should get a reading too.”

“No, I.”

She tried to refuse, saying there was no need, but a bell rang and the man came back in.

He poured the water into a container under the table, then poured new water and left.

The fortune-teller, composing her expression, now looked at Veronica.

She shook her head saying she wouldn’t look, but the fortune-teller ignored it and checked the water bowl before rubbing the crystal ball.

“It’s pitch black. Your soul is full of poison. It’s tangled beyond untangling. So tangled that the end of the thread can’t even be found. Despair is there too. I see hardships and adversity in your future as well, miss.”

“Ah, is that so.”

Veronica responded indifferently to the fortune-teller’s words.

This was the problem with fortune-tellers. They spout unnecessary words as if they’re profound.

As if they have great meaning. Beside her, Magnolia lamented, ‘Oh no~ Veronica’s love fortune is terrible too!’

She really was an easy type to deceive.

“But there is a way. Just because a sprout is stepped on doesn’t mean a flower can’t bloom. Even if the stem is cut, scarred, and dirtied, flowers can still bloom and sometimes become even stronger flowers. You need to go to where the thread first started tangling. Then it will naturally untangle.”

“How do I go there?”

“That’s for you to figure out, miss. If you’re curious, go west. You’ll learn a little. And this will help your difficult future.”

Saying this, the fortune-teller held out some unknown bone fragment.

She praised it as a very mystical object, saying everyone who possessed it had all their worries and concerns disappear.

The price she quoted for the mere fingernail-sized bone was quite substantial.

Veronica seriously considered running out right now.

“But Veronica has a much better fiancé than me, so there’s no need to worry!”

Just then, Magnolia shouted from beside her. The corner of the fortune-teller’s mouth twitched for a moment.

She seemed displeased that the opposite of what she said came out.

Unaware of such inner thoughts, Magnolia kept praising Veronica’s fiancé.

“That’s right, I have a perfect fiancé.”

Veronica also smiled and agreed.

“That’s not enough. There are too many hardships.”

“You said everyone has hardships. If you overcome them one by one, they’ll be solved.”

“No, it’s too rough. I can see it in my eyes. So.”

“Veronica is different from me, she’s strong so she’ll overcome everything. I know it.”

Magnolia countered each of the fortune-teller’s words. It was an unintended defense.

She even pushed back the items the fortune-teller had laid out, saying Veronica didn’t need such things.

I don’t know what she believes in, but Veronica barely held back from bursting into laughter.

She covered her mouth and took deep breaths.

The fortune-teller kept her mouth shut for a moment. She looked visibly displeased.

“Still, you need to receive help.”

The fortune-teller said firmly, but Magnolia’s defense was considerable.

“It’s okay! Even if Veronica’s future is dark, I’ll be the light for her. She has the Duke, and also her reliable fiancé.”

The fortune-teller didn’t back down.

“I’m telling you the future is too dark! I can’t see anything.”

Magnolia didn’t back down either.

“If you take off what you’re wearing over your eyes, the world will look brighter. Why are you wearing that anyway? You don’t seem to actually be blind.”

And Veronica, who had been listening from the side, finally burst out laughing.