What could I possibly do other than patting your head? Instead of answering him, I reached out my hand and my fingers brushed through his black hair. His hair is soft and feels good to touch. While I was stroking his head, Captain Jullius just stayed still and fully entrusted his head and leaned on me. Looking at his current state, suddenly I recalled Clauen claimed that Captain Jullius is a sensitive person. It doesn't look so though? Perhaps he refrained himself out of courtesy?
"Captain Jullius."
"Hm?"
"If you don't like it when I'm doing this, you can always tell me."
Captain Jullius turned his head to look at me and said, "I don't hate it."
"Is that so?"
Then it's alright for me to touch him more. When I was about leaning my upper body towards Captain Jullius again, I sensed someone else came closer. Then…
Flutter!
"Oh my! Sorry!"
A couple of young man and woman who flipped the curtains, quickly returned back while apologizing. Ah, I forgot to put the sign to indicated that this place was occupied. I had to remove the decoration on the curtain cord or hung it in reverse. I caressed his hair for one last time and jumped down from the railings.
"Shall we go now, Sir Rizar?"
Captain Jullius replied by extended his arm in a very natural manner.
"Let's go, Miss Epheria."
We walked together towards the banquet hall in a good mood.
Perhaps because there would be some Imperial family members attended this banquet, there was another inspection at the entrance of the banquet hall. When we're in the middle of verifying our identities, a noble lady in her mid-twenties who's wearing a red gown, was approaching us.
"I've been wainting for you, Sir Rizar and Miss Epheria."
Who is she? This is the first time I meet her. When I took a glance at Captain Jullius, from the looks of his eyes, seems like he also didn't know either. The noble lady gave a sweet smile when she saw our confused looks, then she introduced herself.
"I'm Countess Canaly. I was asked by Sir Versena to look after both of you during this banquet."
Versena… ah, so it was assistant Ortzen. No matter how much we had learned, Ortzen still worried to just let us attended the banquet without any proper guidance. I understand. Countess Canaly walked ahead of us while started her nagging in a low voice.
"First of all, both of you have to greet Her Highness the First Princess Aranea, the host of this banquet."
I already know that.
"After that, I'll introduce you to some reputable nobles to build some connections. It will come handy in the future for knowing them."
… can we just skip that part?
"When you're done socializing with them for quite a while, both of you will dance for one to two songs. This is the first banquet where you announce to the public that both of you are in a relationship, so stay close with each other whenever possible."
That's easy. After we danced a bit, we would enjoy the food. After passing through the checkpoint and passed one more door, finally we arrived at the banquet hall. The large banquet hall which ceilings as tall as two-story building, was already crowded with many guests. Placed on the long table covered with white laces, were various finger foods served beautifully with elaborate decorations and there's also the Imperial's orchestra at one side. I noticed there're unique statues, colorful furnitures, beautiful decorations on the wall and so on inside the banquet hall, but the most important thing was the food. Although today's purpose for coming to the banquet was different, but in the past, I always attended many banquets in my free time to eat sweet desserts. It's free.
This was an informal banquet so they didn't call every guest's name when the guest entered the hall. It's just, there're some people who sneaked a glance on us. In the past, many young noble ladies would immediately surrounded me as soon as I step inside the banquet hall. Sigh… I feel somewhat relieved and sad at the same time.
"Her Highness Princess Aranea is over here."
Countess Canaly used the pointed end of her fan to push us to walk faster.
My relationship with the Princess isn't that good… hmm, but that's not important anymore because she won't recognize me now, will she? After we followed the Countess arrangement, I saw the lady whose face was familiar to me. A beautiful lady in her mid-twenties with red hair, tall slim body, and a pair of bright golden eyes. She's none other than Her Highness the First Princess Aranea, who is famous for her intelegence, wise insights, as well as the eldest princess of the reign Emperor. Moreover, she was always freeting that she was going to catch and eat me alive in the past… ah, I'm afraid of her. I felt like running away from here.
(T/N: actually I wanted to write 'she was looking at me as if she was looking at her prey/ as if she was going to torture me'. But in the end I chose put literal translation of 잡아 먹어 (catch eat) in my translation)
Unconsciously I tightened my grip on Captain Jullius' arm and he turned his head looking at me with puzzled face.
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing. I… just feel a bit nervous."
After being scolded for good in total of three times, I always had the urged to ran away whenever I saw that red hair of hers, but I never imagined to meet her again now. Actually, the Princess isn't a rude person or someone who has bad temperament. To be honest, she's an easy going person and a capable princess, but… I didn't know why she always picked on me. I remembered that I've never done anything wrong to her though. Hmm, why was it?
Then suddenly someone shouted my name.
"Older sister Silla!"
Older sister? I turned my head to the direction where the sounds came from and I saw someone I've never met before. Without needed to ask her identity, I could completely guess who she is. A blonde hair girl with a pair of purple eyes that strikingly similar to the Countess was definitely Roanne Epheria, my half-sister. She's indeed beautiful like her mother. With a slightly pale face, she came closer to me and asked in a sharp tone.
"I heard older sister wouldn't come."
"You must have heard it wrong. I never said that."
She must be surprised. It's impossible for an ordinary noble lady to escape from being kidnapped in a horse-carriage, and destroyed the carriage door as well. She would never imagined that I was able to escape and came to the banquet when she already knew that her mother had succeeded in kidnapping me. Roanne tried to suppressed her anxiousness and relaxed her expression, then she was about to say something again, but Countess Canaly beat her to it and stood in front of her.
"Young lady, how could you hinder other people from giving their greetings to Her Highness?! It is a very rude behavior. Having this kind of attitude, do you see yourself as someone in higher position than Princess Aranea?"
The Countess' words frightened Roanne and she quickly stepped back.
"N-no, it's not. Absolutely not. I'm sorry."
After she said that, she glared at me. What? What did I do? The one who scolded you is Countess Canaly, why are you glaring at me like that? The Countess retracted her cold gaze then returned to her calm demeanor and looked back at us again.
"Now, let's greet Her Highness the Princess."
I let go of Captain Jullius' arm and we proceed to walk towards Princess Aranea who has been noticing us for a while now. Based on someone's status, Captain Jullius was to greet her first by respectfully bowed to the Princess.
"The leader of Special Task Squad, Captain Jullius Rizar, at your service. Thank you for giving me the honor to attend this banquet."
That greetings was exactly what's written in the textbook without any changes in the slightest or even additional flattery words. Well, Princess Aranea herself didn't like a bootlicker either. The Princess replied with a graceful smile and nodded.
"It should be me to be thankful that Captain Jullius is willing to accept my invitation. His Majesty also wishes for Sir Rizar to socialize more. It would be awesome if we could meet more often in the future."
Instead of giving a reply, Captain Jullius stole a glance at me, asking for help. Oh my, Your Highness… Captain Jullius hasn't learned how to reply to that sentence. But at least he didn't directly refuse like he usually did. That's already a great accomplishment. I was about to intervene when Countess Canaly beat me to it.
"Your Highness, this is Miss Silla Epheria, the soon-to-be fiancee of Sir Rizar."
As Countess Canaly was introducing me, the Princess shifted her gaze to me. It has been a long time since the last time I met her gaze, and it made me really nervous that I subconsciously swallowed my saliva. People said Captain Jullius' eyes are scary, but for me, the Princess' eyes are much more frightening. Well, she didn't know that Silla is me. She was even being friendly with Captain Jullius just now! I tried to calm down my trembling heart and lifted up the dress hem a bit and respecfully bowed my head to pay my respect to Princess Aranea.
"The eldest daughter of Count Epheria, Silla Epheria, greets Your Highness Princess Aranea. I sincerely thank you for inviting me to this banquet."
"Raise your head."
As soon as I raised my head, the Princess' beautiful face came into my sight. She looked straight down at me and said, "Obviously, the one who I invited was Miss Silla Epheria, but how could the one who brought the invitation card was Miss Roanne Epheria? I want to hear your explainations."
Oh my… why did she always pick on me?! Even after I changed my body, she's still that fierce! When I was hesitating on how to answer it, Roanne who was still hovering around, suddenly appeared and answering in my place.
"My apologies Your Highness, this girl's sister said that she was reluctant to attend the banquet hosted by Your Highness the Princess. And thus, this girl attended the banquet on behalf of my sister."
The people around us started to murmur after hearing Roanne's loud answer. The Princess' cold eyes shifted from Roanne to me.
"Miss Silla Epheria, let me hear your explaination."
… suddenly my first encounter with the Princess came into my mind and I feel like I just want to run away now.
"So–"