“Can I… go there as well?”

“Of course. You are my subordinate after all.”

The Grand Duke replied in a gentle voice.

The Imperial Palace… I’m going there?

A strange flutter that could be neither joy nor fear. A strange… anticipation.

“Why, do you not want to go?”

“No. I will go.”

“Officially, you will go as Arcadia’s deputy. Although that’s not actually the case.”

The Grand Duke glanced at Arcadia.

As if hearing this for the first time, Arcadia’s eyes widened again. But soon, as if resigned, his elongated green eyes that had stretched to the side returned to their original state.

It seems like he heard something. If not, Arcadia wouldn’t just stay still like that.

Could there be a reason why I’m needed?

Is it something like being used?

Anyway, my heart began to race at the fact that I was going to the Imperial Palace.

The Grand Duke’s attendant and the deputy of Earl Nugent.

“Thank you, Your Highness the Grand Duke. I will be careful not to make any mistakes.”

I bowed deeply to the Grand Duke and Arcadia, then turned around. But the Grand Duke got up from his seat and followed me.

“Do you happen to know the etiquette of the Imperial Palace?”

“Pardon? No… I don’t. Will I possibly have to meet some very high-ranking individuals?”

“Hmm. That shouldn’t be the case… But you never know.”

As I opened the door and came out, the Grand Duke followed me out the door.

“Esther, the departure tomorrow will be at a reasonable time.”

Then the Grand Duke stopped. Hans was standing right outside the door. I almost bumped into the elderly butler.

“Ah, I apologize, Lady Esther.”

“What is it, Hans?”

“I came to see if there was anything I could help with. I was also worried since Your Highness hasn’t had dinner yet.”

Hans politely glanced back and forth between me and the Grand Duke.

“It seems like it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Your Highness follow someone out like this.”

Suddenly, he blurted out something out of the blue.

“Hmm, that’s not it. I came out to tell her some precautions since we all have to stop by the Imperial Palace together tomorrow.”

The Grand Duke’s voice suddenly rose, like a child caught playing a prank by an adult.

“The Imperial Palace? Together? Then is Lady Esther going with you as well?”

“That’s right. Why do you ask?”

“In what capacity is she going?”

“As Earl Nugent’s deputy.”

“Then she will need to wear a uniform. But there is no uniform that fits Lady Esther.”

“Ah…!”

The Grand Duke let out a short exclamation as if he hadn’t thought of it.

“I forgot that proper attire is required to enter the palace.”

The Grand Duke’s expression darkened.

At that moment, the elderly butler Hans’ eyes began to shine with a strange excitement.

“It’s understandable since it’s been so long since you’ve been to the Imperial Palace. Don’t worry. Don’t you have me, Hans? I, Hans, who has served Your Highness since you were eight years old, have experienced far worse things than this.”

“Hans, why are you being so dramatic? Not having the proper attire can’t be compared to the many things we’ve been through.”

“No, Your Highness!”

“?”

“It’s been three years since you’ve set foot in the Imperial Palace after being on the battlefield. You must look more magnificent and dignified than anyone else!”

Hans was exuding more spirit than necessary.

“For that to happen, Lord Nugent’s deputy who will be by your side must also be dressed in a manner befitting the dignity of the North. We must show that even a low-ranking deputy in the North is of this caliber. I, Hans! Although I cannot prepare a uniform right away, I will prepare the finest formal attire that no one can criticize!”

I could even feel his passionate loyalty.

The elderly butler politely whispered to me.

“It may be a bit difficult, but please help out.”

‘?’

The next day, what appeared in front of my room was a mobile dressing room with dozens of beautiful dresses hanging.

“Wh-what is all this, Mr. Butler?”

“Young lady, you must be dressed to this extent to accompany His Highness the Grand Duke. To the point where no one can look down on the North!”

Did he spend all night thinking about just that?

As if he hadn’t slept, Hans’ eyes were red and bloodshot.

But the dresses weren’t the end of it.

As he stretched out one hand to the side, maids holding dazzlingly beautiful jeweled accessories lined up next to him. As he stretched out his other hand, male servants holding dozens of gorgeous pairs of shoes also lined up.

“M-Mr. Butler. I’ve never done this before, nor have I ever worn clothes like these.”

My voice trembled involuntarily.

“I’ll look really strange or ugly.”

Then Hans shouted with bulging eyes.

“What are you saying! Young lady, you are truly beautiful. The lords of the North have had discerning eyes for women for generations. Aren’t you someone His Highness specially found? Even without seeing inside, there is no doubt that you are beautiful both on the outside and inside. Strange, you say.”

Praise I’ve never heard before in my life.

And an unbelievably strong trust in the Grand Duke.

The resulting conviction towards me, without any basis.

To say it’s not strange, when I’ve lived my whole life with a disfigured half-face. To say my inside is beautiful as well, to someone like me who was an assassin.

I couldn’t give any response.

“I, Hans, will make His Highness the Grand Duke, Lord Nugent, and the young lady who will stand by their side the best they can be. Of course, our Highness is already someone everyone must bow their heads to without doing anything extra. You are the only descendant of the Belfast family, His Highness’ attendant and Lord Nugent’s deputy for the day. So all the more, please adorn yourself with the proper decorum.”

I see.

This butler is right.

I can’t stand next to His Highness the Grand Duke in rags.

At that time, as if hearing the commotion, the Grand Duke came down from upstairs.

“Hans?”

“Your Highness the Grand Duke. Lady Esther will become a knight, but she is also a woman. A uniform is good, but today I prepared the most decorous uniform.”

The most decorous uniform, a dress.

The Grand Duke briefly faltered at the top of the stairs like someone who missed a step. Following him, Arcadia also came down from the same floor as the Grand Duke.

The pristine Arcadia alternated his gaze between the dress and me, unable to close his mouth.

“What do you think? Will you give it a try? For the sake of honor.”

Hans asked.

I made up my mind.

“I will try it.”

I didn’t want to be an embarrassment to the Grand Duke of the North.

Last night, Hans said he ordered the entire “New Spring Collection” from the Empire’s top designer, Madame Lumiere.

Apparently it was thirty of Madame’s hand-picked, career-defining pieces.

“This is a dress that has both elegance and luxury, worthy of becoming a future classic. The title is ‘Blue Moon’.”

The male staff member from the dressing room who brought the dress bowed to me and explained the dress.

It was truly a beautiful dress. Even to my untrained eyes.

However, the chest area was cut so low that I had no confidence in wearing it.

“I’m sorry, but do you perhaps have any others…”

As I hesitated, Hans shouted with determination.

“Next!”

Another female staff member held up a sophisticated pink chiffon dress.

“This piece is called ‘Spring’s Dream’, young lady. The point is the countless small pearls studded on the hem of the dress, resembling fluttering flower petals.”

“Ah… it’s so beautiful.”

It was beautiful enough to elicit admiration. But I didn’t have the confidence to pull off something so fancy and vibrant.

At that moment, the Grand Duke who had been waiting approached the dressing room. As I hesitated in surprise, he spoke.

“It’s almost time to depart. May I take a look?”

“Of course, Your Highness. I apologize.”

The Grand Duke slowly examined the hanging dresses. I also followed his gaze and scanned the dresses he was looking at.

And then.

His and my gaze simultaneously stopped on one dress.

The staff member quickly took out that dress and showed it.

I let out a small gasp without realizing it. The Grand Duke looked at me doing so. Forgetting that his blue eyes were examining me, I ended up blushing.

“It’s beautiful. Would it suit me?”

I didn’t have confidence, but I wanted to try it on. For the first time.

The dress the staff took out was a silver dress with a soft sheen.

The color was not at all excessive, as if the faint moonlight had been brought out under the sun of day.

The silhouette hugged the arms and upper body tightly, falling softly along the lines of the body. The neckline was cut below the collarbones without exposing the chest.

On top of that, white and dark blue gemstone powder was faintly sprinkled like a thin Milky Way from the chest area to the thin hem of the dress. I liked it even more because it had no special exposure or excessive decoration.

“Ah, your mask is silver and your hair is also silver, so I think it will suit you well. Why didn’t I show you this earlier? Hoho.”

The staff spoke in a flurry.

“Your skin is fair and your eyes are sky blue, so it will be incomparably beautiful. This is Madame’s most pure and elegant piece that she approved of this spring, ‘Butterfly of the Night’.”

Butterfly.

For a moment, the word butterfly pressed down on my heart.

‘Butterfly of the Night… A dress that suits a white butterfly wandering in the darkness.’

Such a thought suddenly came to me. I ended up smiling a lonely smile without realizing it.

That’s when it happened.

“…You don’t like it?”

The Grand Duke called out to me in a low voice.

As I raised my head, I saw the face of the Grand Duke examining me.

‘Why do you have such a sad face, Grand Duke.’

I tried to smile brightly on purpose.

“No. I think this dress really suits me. Thank you so much, Your Highness the Grand Duke. Mr. Butler.”

The butler looked at me and the Grand Duke alternately with a pleased face.

“Let’s hurry. You can have some warm tea and a light breakfast and still arrive at the Imperial Palace quite early. The decision was made faster than I thought.”

“Yes.”

I drank the tea Hans prepared for me in my room, then put on the ‘Butterfly of the Night’ with the help of the staff.

“Oh my, this is really… amazing. I want to film it and show it to Madame.”

The staff covered her mouth with her hand without realizing it.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

It’s so unfamiliar. But.

‘I can be beautiful too.’

I thought for the first time.

For the first time, I thought that perhaps I too could have beauty.

The fair skin visible outside the silver mask, the flushed cheeks. Sky blue eyes.

Long silver eyelashes. Thick silver hair swept to one shoulder, hanging below the collarbones. A body of a woman who just turned twenty, trained by the sword with no extra fat, giving off a youthful scent.

All of that was in the mirror.

‘Why? Why do I feel so embarrassed.’

Thinking that, I quickly pulled myself together.

‘Everyone is waiting. I’m not going in alone. Together, we’re going to the Imperial Palace.’

I opened the door and carefully stepped out.

There, the Grand Duke, already dressed in formal attire, was present.

A navy blue top and pants that clung to his body. A black cloak. The white epaulettes on his shoulders and the symbol of the Belfast family embroidered with sapphire and silver on his chest, the shield of the Empire, could be seen.

I faced him as he looked at me.

The Grand Duke’s blue eyes, bluer than the Empire’s deepest and bluest lake. Those blue eyes were wavering like waves stirred by a fierce wind.

“Grand Duke… Your Highness?”

“Truly, truly beautiful! I, Hans, am moved to tears!”

Hans rejoiced.

Arcadia, who had been standing behind Hans, straightened his body from the bannister he had been leaning on. He opened his mouth… and said something, then closed his mouth again. Then he turned his head and wiped his face.

‘Is he trying to say something bad again.’

The Grand Duke spoke.

“Esther, are you ready to go to the Imperial Palace?”

For some reason, the Grand Duke’s voice cracked.

“Yes. Your Highness the Grand Duke.”

I lifted both sides of the dress with my hands, then slightly bent my knees and bowed at the waist.

“This is how I should greet at the Imperial Palace, right, Your Highness?”

I confirmed the etiquette one more time.

“Yes. That’s enough.”

His voice cracked a little more.