A few hours later...
Ding!
〔•System• First Event: Royal Ball Hunt
Main Mission Cleared: You must have a card until the end of the event.
Sub Mission Cleared: Those who have the most number of cards will gain absolute power.
You have 14 additional bonus cards. Bonus cards would be contributed as skill points.
Price: 10 gold coins will be distributed now.
Additional Rewards: None 〕
[Congratulations!]
[You have successfully cleared the first main event! Royal Ball Hunt!]
[Fairy Tale Shop is now available to all players.]
[10 golds has been deducted to you. Remaining gold for your perusal is zero.]
[All players' status is now accessible.]
I woke up to the system's sounds that popped out. I didn't even realise that I had fallen asleep. Hmm… This… There was a coat above me. That guy... He must have put it to me when I fell asleep.
"Princess, you're awake." I looked up to see Nicholas who was on the other side of the bed.
"Can you see the boxes as well?"
Boxes. Well in this world, they can be called that. "Yes."
I stood up.
"Then does it mean that we are able to leave this place now?"
"For the meantime…" I walked towards him and handed the coat back which he accepted right away. "Thank you for the coat."
His eyes widened. Hah. It seemed that I became too much of a bitch to see such a reaction. By simply saying something nice once.
I turned around, completely ignoring him.
I walked to the door and started removing the things that I used to block it.
"Let me help you princess!" Nicholas came to my aid. He had this stupid huge smile on his face as if he was a child who received a compliment.
Someone like him… truly. If I didn't heard how his tone of deep hatred last night, I could mistake him as an innocent person.
When the last obstacle, a table was gone… Another translucent blue screen popped out.
[Grace Time Begins!
All players have a Grace Time of 30 minutes to gather at the chosen designated place.
Designated Place: Imperial Palace Ballroom
Time: 00:30:00
Warning:
Any player who killed or caused another player's death would be penalized.
Players who were not able to reach the designated place on time would be penalized.
Penalty: Death]
So it was the same. In events, the failure consequences were unknown while the grace time was strictly death. How absurd.
I opened the last lock of the door now.
"I will leave now."
"Princess, wait…"
"What is it?"
"You said last night that I can do what I want as long as I don't push myself too much."
Hmmm… Ah right. I did say those words.
"I told you before that I love painting."
"Yes."
"I won't push myself to become close to you. But when we get to leave here, can I paint you and deliver it to your kingdom myself?"
"I won't have time to be your model."
"It's alright!" He raised and shook both his hands along with his head. "I will paint you based on my memory alone."
"Then suit yourself."
"Thank you, Princess!" A huge grin formed on his lips, which brightened his gorgeous features. I was stunned for a moment, but I immediately snapped out of it and turned away.
I opened the door and walked away.
"Princess, one more thing, are you going to the ballroom hall now? Can we go there together?"
Sigh. "I need to go somewhere first. You can go there first."
Then I walked on my way. However, in each step that I took, I could feel the strong sense of someone following behind me.
I stopped once.
Then the footsteps behind me also stopped.
I walked once again, and the footsteps could be heard again.
Then stop.
Then I walked… and stopped again. This is giving me a headache.
He is following me, isn't he?
Even stopping in time when I stopped walking as well.
Before I could turn around…
"Will it be alright if I accompany you there as well, princess?"
Hmm… I quite understand now a little about this guy. Aside from painting, this guy has another talent.
Excellent talent for annoying people. If he was this good, why was he even bothered and conflicted by other nobles when I first saw him? He could have used this skill to annoy them to death.
Sigh.
I turned around and was going to reprimand him, however, he looked at me with sparkling eyes that were full of expectations.
Damn. I even imagined that he had some white cat ears that were drooping down. "Can't I?"
"Suit yourself." I turned around and massaged my temples. This might be due to being too tired and at the same time hungry. I was seeing strange things.
Now that I remembered, I haven't eaten a single meal since I arrived here. I should grab something to eat when I reach there.
We walked in silence but with fast footsteps. He matched my pace as well already and walked side by side. In every corner, there were dead bodies of people everywhere.
And some of it had their heads or other parts that were decapitated from their bodies. How gruesome.
Nobles, knights, maids, or butlers, didn't discriminate against anyone. And this just all happened in the first event. What more in the coming events?
I couldn't even imagine all the horrors that we would face in the future.
I could see Nicholas flinching from time to time. But he clenched his fist, stealing himself.
I am also doing the same thing. After going down some stairs and turning in different corners. I could finally see my destination.
I stopped right in front of it and held the door knob. It was opened. I slowly twisted and pushed it.
The palace's kitchen…
As soon as I opened the door, I saw a face that I felt like I haven't seen for years. She was sitting next to the table along with Melissa.
"Veronica… lady Melissa" I muttered which earned the two ladies' attention.
"Yvette!" Veronica stood up, her beautiful ruby eyes filled with relief, and locked me with a hug. "I know you will come here! Thank the god of light that you're safe!"
"Thank you for waiting all this time, Veronica, and Melissa. I'm glad both of you are safe… Ouch!"
I winced when she hit me with a fan. This girl really loved to hit someone with her fan. I sighed inwardly.
But seeing her relieved face... I faintly smile. "You are really reckless. I know your capabilities but don't put yourself in that danger too much!" She said and hit me one more time on my shoulders.
"I'll keep that in mind. Hahaha."
"What are you laughing for? I'm serious."
"Ah right," I walked past her, "Is there any food here, I'm starving."
"Hey, Vety. Don't just ignore me."
"Lady Melissa, do you have any food here?"
"Ah. There are some fruits in there!" Lady Melissa pointed behind her. There were some apples and pears there.
I immediately grabbed some and turned around. "Sir Nicholas, here! You haven't eaten anything yet, right?"
I threw an apple toward Nicholas, he panicked a bit, but still managed to catch it.
"For me?" He seemed surprised.
"Yeah."
"And who might you be?" Veronica asked as he eyed the poor man up and down.
"I am Nicholas Castellion, your highness." Nicholas managed to bow politely.
"He helped me survive. But I already returned the favor. Enough about him, are there only two of you here?"
"There are others. But they already went ahead to the ballroom. We remained here to wait for you, Yvette."
"And what if I never come here?"
"Of course, you won't do that." Veronica sharply said.
I paused on taking a bite to one of the battles. "Yeah, I won't indeed." Then continued eating.
"Princess Yvette. Princess Veronica is amazing. She helped someone who was on the verge of dying become better."
In Melissa's words, this time I eyed Veronica sharply. While Veronica avoided my gaze like she did something wrong.
I sighed. I would talk about this later to her.
"You all received ten golds right?"
"Yes. That was what the magic box said." Veronica answered.
I touched the basket of apples and pears and it all disappeared. Having food supplies won't hurt.
They seemed startled. "I'll explain this later since we don't have much time. Right now, we have to prepare for the next event."