As the music ended, the entrance of the imperial members, including the emperor, was announced and all those in the audience stood up.

The emperor appeared waving his hand and sat in the highest seat, then all the spectators sat down.

Alicia glanced up at the imperial seats.

‘Prince Harry isn’t here?’

He had clearly said he would be involved in the joint training last time, but only Prince William was visible.

At that moment, as the military band’s performance resounded grandly, applause and cheers erupted simultaneously.

Turning her gaze back to the square, she saw Lord Edinburgh and Eric leading their respective knight orders into the square.

The sight of cavalry and infantry marching together was truly spectacular.

The 1st Knight Order, known as the Red Wolf Unit, and the 2nd Knight Order, known as the Black Lion Unit, blended together, creating a striking color contrast.

“Wow, elder sister. Look at that! It’s really amazing.”

“……”

“Ah, elder sister, there’s brother-in-law!”

She had been watching even before Edward spoke.

She was so focused that she couldn’t respond to Edward.

She couldn’t help but concentrate on Eric, who was leading the knight order wearing an all-black uniform and riding a large black horse, looking completely different.

It was a far cry from his usual teasing, joking, and occasional sly behavior.

‘When he’s working this hard.’

Alicia smiled quietly, remembering Eric’s grumbling about not understanding why he was doing this.

[This is the timeline separator]

“I’ll go take a look around for a moment. Edward. Can you stay alone?”

“I’m not a child. Have a good time, elder sister. I’ll stay here.”

Edward declined, thinking he could eat plenty of delicious things in the cool shade without needing to walk around outside.

The duchess laughed and said,

“We’ll look after Edward.”

“Then I’ll leave him in your care for a moment.”

Alicia stood up and went outside.

The sun was still blazing, and she unconsciously created a hand shade as she looked up at the sky.

“Alicia?”

Hearing someone call her name, Alicia turned around to see a cheerful-looking young lady with brown bobbed hair approaching with a bright smile.

“?”

“It’s me. Don’t you remember? Jena Hailey, we attended the royal school together.”

“Jena? Jena. It’s been so long.”

Jena grinned at Alicia, who was welcoming her.

Alicia was even more pleased to see Jena, as she remembered her cheerful smile.

“Indeed. It’s been really long, hasn’t it? But I’ve heard quite a bit about you recently.”

“Ah, I see.”

Alicia laughed, seemingly embarrassed.

“How have you been, Jena?”

“Well, I quit my bride training and now I’m helping my father with his work.”

Jena shrugged and grinned.

“As a result, my father’s blood pressure is steadily rising.”

“Ah, I see.”

After graduating from the royal school, they hadn’t seen each other for a while, so Alicia wasn’t sure how Jena was now, but back then, she had been a calm and reserved girl.

Perhaps because of that, Alicia laughed awkwardly, finding Jena’s current way of speaking unfamiliar.

“My life is at its peak of boredom right now, so let’s forget about that and talk about you.”

“Huh?”

“Your engagement story. I want to hear it directly from the person who turned the whole empire upside down.”

“There’s nothing particularly special about it.”

“Ah, are you too shy to talk about it? If that’s the case, I understand. We can talk about that separately later. Then-”

Jena lowered her voice and whispered.

“Does Count Russell really give off that feeling of being a destroyer from the demon realm?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Hmm. When I saw him earlier, he seemed like he could beat up demons or whatever.”

“I thought he looked good.”

“Of course you would think so.”

As Jena snickered, Alicia was about to change the subject out of embarrassment.

“My, we meet again here.”

Alicia turned her head at the familiar but not particularly welcome voice.

The still glamorous and beautiful Kate O’Brien was smiling, holding a parasol.

Alicia smiled and returned her greeting.

“It’s been a while, young lady Kate O’Brien.”

“Seeing you here, I assume your engagement is still ongoing?”

“I suppose so.”

Alicia and Kate smiled as they faced each other.

Sensing that the atmosphere was not quite right, Jena intervened.

“Ah, I’m Jena Hailey.”

“…Isn’t it rude to suddenly interrupt like this?”

Kate looked Jena up and down with an arrogant expression, seemingly displeased.

Jena smiled and spoke in a sarcastic tone.

“Aren’t we both equally guilty of interrupting? I was talking first.”

“What did you say?”

“She’s the talk of the town these days, so it’s not easy to talk to her. So, please respect the order? You said so yourself, so you shouldn’t have any complaints, right?”

“Are you telling me to wait?”

“Yes. Until I finish talking. Or you can leave.”

As Kate stared with an incredulous expression, wondering if she had heard wrong, Jena grinned.

“Jena. It’s okay. Young lady O’Brien just came to check on me out of concern.”

“Check? What kind of check?”

“She was very worried about my engagement. For the same reasons you asked about.”

“What?”

Jena glanced at Kate and then smirked.

“This is different from what I’ve heard. I didn’t know you were such a kind person.”

“Yes. It was truly helpful advice.”

“……”

Kate looked back and forth between Alicia and Jena, seemingly dumbfounded.

For her, who played the role of ‘queen’ among the socialite ladies, these two were truly unfamiliar types of beings.

As the three young ladies stood in silence for a moment, a strange man called out to Alicia.

“Alicia Lancaster.”

“?”

Alicia turned her head towards the voice.

The person who spoke was a handsome man with androgynous features and fine lines, but his expression was cool, perhaps due to his emotionless face.

“Yes. Who are you?”

“Hello. I am Ross, Prince William’s attendant. I was asked to deliver this to you. Please, your hand for a moment.”

“?”

As Alicia held out her hand, Ross, Prince William’s attendant, placed something on it.

“What’s this?”

“It’s an entry pass. For rear access.”

“Ah.”

It seems Eric had asked Prince William for a favor, as he said he would try to arrange something.

As Alicia grasped the entry pass, Ross politely continued.

“His Highness asked me to guide you to the waiting room, but-”

“Please do. Ah, can you wait for a moment?”

“Certainly.”

Alicia smiled apologetically and turned to Jena.

“Well then, Jena. Let’s meet again later.”

“Sure. I’ll contact you separately.”

“Young lady O’Brien. See you later.”

“……”

Perhaps concerned about the messenger sent by the prince, she merely nodded reluctantly and turned to leave.

“She really doesn’t like me, I guess. I don’t think I’ve done anything to deserve such treatment.”

“It can’t be helped, I suppose.”

“?”

But Jena didn’t answer and just smiled as she pushed Alicia’s back.

“Never mind that, he’s waiting. Hurry and go. I need to leave too.”

“Ah, right. Then, later.”

“Yes. Let’s talk about what we couldn’t today next time. Well then.”

As Jena waved her hand while walking back to her parents, Alicia waved back, when suddenly she felt a gaze.

It was clearly the same gaze she had felt in the imperial palace.

‘What is it?’

In that moment, goosebumps rose all over Alicia’s body, just like before.

She hurriedly looked around, but there was no one watching her.

“Is something wrong?”

“Huh? No, it’s nothing. I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. Shall we go now?”

“This way.”

As Ross started walking, Alicia began to follow.

Just in case, Alicia looked around again, but there was still no suspicious person or anyone watching her.

[This is the timeline separator]

The place Alicia arrived at was the knight order’s waiting area and preparation place.

It was crowded and chaotic with people moving busily and knights wearing either black or red uniforms mixed together.

Alicia asked Ross, who was walking half a step ahead with a worried expression,

“It looks very busy, is it really okay for me to go in?”

“I believe it will be fine. Moreover, I heard that the count himself requested it.”

“Ah.”

Ross, who answered politely but still expressionless, pointed further inside.

“If you go a bit further that way, you’ll be fine.”

“Thank you.”

“Then, I’ll take my leave now.”

After giving a courteous greeting, Ross quickly slipped out the back after confirming that Alicia was walking in.

[This is the timeline separator]

The inner area Ross had mentioned was apparently the 2nd Knight Order’s waiting area, as it was filled with people in black uniforms.

And among the many men in identical black uniforms, just one person caught Alicia’s eye.

Suddenly, her heart started beating fast, causing her to stop in her tracks out of surprise.

“Oh, Commander. There’s a woman over there.”

“A woman?”

“Yes. A pretty woman.”

“What?”

Eric raised his head at his subordinate’s words.

A bright person like a single ray of light amidst the dark men.

Eric smiled broadly.

Beside him, his subordinates chattered excitedly.

“Oh, a beauty.”

“Wow, I thought I was going blind seeing only black and red, but now my eyes have opened up.”

“Be quiet. Don’t act foolishly, be knightly. Understood?”

“All of a sudden, sir?”

“Just until recently, you told us to relax and not keep up appearances during break time, sir.”

“Then just keep your mouths shut.”

Embarrassed by his frivolous subordinates, Eric threw a few words of rebuke before walking towards Alicia.

“You came?”

“Woooah.”

Even though he just spoke simply, chaos erupted, causing Alicia to hesitate, not knowing what to do.

Eric turned his head with an annoyed expression, and it immediately became quiet.

After glaring for a moment, he turned back to Alicia.

“You found your way here well?”

“His Highness the Prince even assigned an attendant to guide me. But it looks busy, so I was worried if I might be disturbing.”

“That’s not the case. If anything, those guys are the disturbance.”

Eric slightly pointed his thumb behind him towards the still noisy subordinates.

Blocked by Eric’s body, the subordinates behind weren’t visible, but their voices could be heard, so Alicia tilted her head slightly to the side to look.

The noisy sounds grew louder.

“I never thought the day would come when I’d be embarrassed by my subordinates.”

Eric clicked his tongue and glared at his subordinates behind him once more.

The subordinates quickly quieted down, but as soon as he turned his head, they started snickering and whispering among themselves again.

Although the voices were too low to hear clearly, words like ‘loving it’, ‘rumored fiancée’, ‘grinning’, ‘out of their minds’ and so on caught Eric’s ears.

‘Those guys.’

If Alicia wasn’t here, a loud voice might have already gone out.

Thinking it might be better to quickly get out of here, he felt something soft touch his forehead.

“Aren’t you hot? You seem to be sweating.”

“Huh?”

Alicia brushed up Eric’s bangs.

The subordinates’ cheers grew louder, causing her to hesitate, but she still didn’t lower her hand.

“What’s this? You’re being unusually kind today.”

“It’s because you’re working hard on such a hot day. I thought it was a moment that called for the image of a considerate fiancée.”

She deliberately fixed her gaze on Eric, feeling too embarrassed to look at the subordinates anymore.

At that moment, Eric took Alicia’s hand and lowered it, smiling apologetically.

“?”

“It’ll get on your hand.”

“…It’s fine though.”

“Instead.”

“Yes?”

Eric lightly interlocked their fingers. As Alicia’s slender fingers touched between his fingers, the feeling was strangely new.

He had held her hand several times before.

As fiancés, he had held it naturally and without thinking.

But today, it felt quite awkward.

Suddenly, the formal uniform he was wearing felt hot and stuffy.

“Are you hot? Shall we go inside somewhere?”

“You look hotter than me, though.”

“Ah. It’s because it’s black.”

Eric began walking towards the waiting room barracks, taking Alicia with him.

He just wanted to be alone with her comfortably as soon as possible.

Without any thoughts. Comfortably. Like before.