Having defeated the Chalandrians in the war and successfully reclaimed all the lands that had once belonged to them but was lost due to the invading country, the whole infernal monarch military was asked by the king to return to the capital in order to celebrate their triumphant victory. It was such a blast. There were banners of different bright colors hung above the streets and buildings to welcome the valiant heroes that fended off the invaders. The streets were packed and crowded as they all wanted to witness the grand parade.
Alisa felt funny. She had worked her entire life as an assassin in the shadows in her previous life. Her hard work was never praised nor known by everyone. She could be considered a hero, but since her work was mostly involved with the underworld, she didn't hear anyone praising her. The job had to be done no matter what, or she would be the one who'll end up dead in the hands of her own organization and superiors. Life was quite dark and bleak. Her only choice was to get stronger and survive so that she would still have use and won't be discarded.
However, it was different today in her current life. The people recognized her efforts. They shed tears upon seeing them, the soldiers who fought for their country, returned with glory. It was warm and comforting. For the first time in her life, tears fell from her eyes. Her fellow comrade, Grunt, saw it and suddenly nudged her with his elbow.
"What are you crying for? It is such a happy occasion for us so you should smile." A goofy grin plastered in his face as he talked to her.
"Sh-Shut up. Leave me alone..." She coldly replied, but deep down, she felt elated. She wiped her tears and displayed a faint smile. It wasn't like she was petty or anything, but she just didn't know how to properly display her emotions after having killed most of it during her intense training in her previous life.
"You should stand tall and proud. I heard that the marshal intends to speak to the king about your reward for capturing the marshal of the enemy and ending the war." He smilingly said.
"What?!" Alisa was shocked.
She hadn't seen Raphkiel for a few days now. It was like he had been distancing himself from her, not that she cared though. But it won't do good if he backed off from his promise and she ended up receiving nothing. Fortunately, he had enough integrity to uphold the deal. But why approach the king? He was also a prince and definitely had the means to reward her on her own. She also didn't want to be exposed too much to the crowd. She wanted to confront him, but being just a lowly soldier, she couldn't just casually meet him.
"I should have asked Timothy about this matter." She mumbled softly while slightly biting her nail as she thought about it.
"What was that?" Grunt raised an eyebrow.
"It's none of your business!" She was back to her cold demeanor and ignored him. He wasn't a bad person, but she didn't want to associate herself with people as much as possible. Once she received her reward, she would quit the military and live a peaceful life somewhere.
After the long and grand ceremony, all of them were invited to the palace for a large banquet. There were lots of exquisite and delicious food being served on a very long table and it was unlike any other food Alisa had seen in the military camp. Although the food in the camp was edible, it was garbage compared to the ones being laid out on the table.
She drooled as she stared at the gigantic lobsters and A5 beef dishes. The food was screaming of proteins and energy nourishment like it was calling for her.
"There's so much food! Can I really eat here?" She excitingly asked Grunt who looked at her with amusement.
He let out a laugh and replied. "You bet. This is a treat by the king for our hard work. Don't hold back."
As the banquet started, Alisa immediately filled her plates with all kinds of food such as the giant lobsters, roasted venison boar, premium quality beef steak, as well as a few desserts and fruits. She came back to the table in the corner of the room and sat quietly. Grunt paled upon seeing the mountain of food she had taken.
"Holy... Are you sure you can finish all of that?"
"Of course. I should take advantage of this event and eat as much as I could." She replied with a smile.
She happily took a slice of meat and munched it, savoring the juicy and tender feeling of the meat's texture melting in her mouth. It was so delicious that she almost cried out of happiness. She had never eaten such good food before. Alisa was glad that she lived long enough.
Grunt forgot his own plate of food and just watched the happy Alisa with contentment. "I never knew you could smile like that."
She blushed slightly. "I-is that so?"
He nodded. Then he added: "If only you could smile like that all the time, I bet you are the prettiest out of all the woman in this country."
"What are you saying? I'm just plainly average. There's nothing worth mentioning about it." She frowned, her attention still sticking to her mountain of food.
Grunt chuckled and didn't say anything else. Yet, his eyes were emitting a faint trace of admiration. Alisa was, of course, oblivious to this and was too busy eating her food to notice that he had been staring at her all this time. The young soldier had already fallen for her charms.
At some time later, Alisa had finished the enormous amount of food on her place and even took seconds until she couldn't eat anymore. She suddenly felt a slight discomfort and excused herself to go to the bathroom. She wandered around the palace and eventually ended up getting lost since the area was too big and she didn't know where the bathroom was. Does the palace even have a specific bathroom area like public places? Also, Alisa thought it was weird that a country ruled by monarchy still existed in the modern era. She had asked Timothy earlier before they went back to the capital about this world and the countries around under the pretext of being a poor and uneducated woman to hide the fact that she was not actually from this timeline. The memories of the Alisa from this world were way too insufficient for her.
According to Timothy, Sylpharia was one of the countries in a hidden continent in the world and could only be accessed by outsiders through a special route. Outside of the continent lies the world of normal humans who weren't all about martial arts and instead leaned towards the business and corporate world; the world she was familiar with. Among the countries of the outside region was Eidelweiss, a familiar country that was the source of all the darkness in her heart. She never would have thought that she had reincarnated in the same world, but her situation had changed slightly.
She continued looking around and eventually encountered a maid, who was carrying a bunch of newly washed bedsheets. She approached her and asked.
"Um, do you know where the bathroom is?"
The palace maid looked at her in confusion. She only realized that she wasn't from here and probably one of the soldiers who were invited in the banquet. She respectfully bowed to Alisa and pointed at the rooms.
"You can use the bathroom in any of these rooms, ma'am. All of the rooms here have its own bathroom."
"Thank you." She nodded and entered the nearest room.
It was a bedroom; a magnificent one at that. Her eyes wandered around as she looked with admiration at the beautiful interior designs before stopping. She reminded herself that she was here to find a bathroom instead of sightseeing. She entered another door on the corner and found what she was looking for. Initially, she only wanted to relieve herself, but also decided to take a bath after smelling the stench of sweat and dirt in her clothes. There was also a set of clothes prepared on the wardrobe from earlier so maybe, she could borrow a dress and apologize to the owner later.
The water of the shower felt cool and refreshing as it trickled down to her body. Alisa sighed in relief.
"Haaah... it feels so good to be alive." She said happily and hummed a tune.
She turned off the shower after she was done and changed into the simple white dress with light purple floral designs embedded on its hem. She dolled herself up for a bit and looked at the nearby mirror. She was stunned by her own appearance.
"Have I always been this beautiful?" She unconsciously blurted out while staring in her ethereal beauty in the mirror.
But upon realizing that it was such a narcissistic remark, she wanted to puke. Still, her image felt so different now that she was out of the battlefield and was now dressing herself up properly. It wasn't so bad to feel pretty once in a while. Satisfied by her appearance, she was about to head out of the bathroom when she heard footsteps and a voice of a woman echoing outside. She immediately stopped in her tracks, afraid that she might disturb them.
"Prince Raphkiel, it wasn't like what you are thinking at all! Please believe me." The woman said anxiously.
"There's nothing left to explain, Meryl. I've seen it with my own two eyes. Do you take me for a fool?"
The man's cold voice was dripping with venom and dread that Alisa found it familiar.
'Prince Raphkiel Leonis? What's he doing here?' She cautiously opened the the door slightly to see what was happening. Two people stood near the bed and were arguing. Alisa was quite surprised. She almost didn't recognize the handsome young man who was arguing with a beautiful woman with chestnut hair named Meryl due to the drastic change in his appearance. He no longer had the unkempt beard in him and his hair was also neatly trimmed short.
"You're the only one I love. That thing you saw back there was—."
"We're done."
"No! I won't let this end. We are still engaged. Just one word from your mother and you won't be able to refuse it. I know you still love me." She was getting desperate and clung to his waist.
Raphkiel's expression darkened at the mention of his mother. The thing he hated the most was being threatened. He was repulsed by her touch and wanted no more than to throw her out, but he couldn't use force on her. After all, she was still a woman of high status and it won't do him good if he antagonized her whole family just because he was a prince. In the end, he was no more than just a bastard child from his father whom he had cast out along with his controlling mother and he didn't want to have anything to do with the throne. He never would have thought that one day, he would loath the very same existence that he had loved for so long. However, no matter how hard he tried to shake her off, she didn't stop clinging onto him. He was visibly annoyed by her pretentious cries.
He was trying to remove her hand off of him without exerting too much force when he caught a glimpse of someone hiding in the bathroom. He channeled his inner force and forcefully flung the door open. Alisa didn't saw it coming and she yelped in pain after the door crashed into her forehead.
"Ow! What was that for?" She irritatingly rubbed the spot where the door's hinge hit her. It was a little bit swollen. Then she nervously laughed. "Fancy meeting you here, Prince Raphkiel. I'll excuse myself for now and give you two room to talk."
She began to slip away from the two, but his cold voice cut off her movements.
"Hold on." She flinched on the spot. She slowly turned towards him and met his terrifying gaze. "How about we honor our deal here right now?"
"Huh?" She was a little bit slow on the uptake and just tilted her head. He didn't say anything else. After a little bit of pondering, she realized that he was talking about the reward. "Oh, the reward. Are you serious? Here now?"
"Who is she, Raphkiel? What is she to you?" Meryl felt threatened by Alisa's presence as she eyed her suspiciously from head to toe. She was dressed well like a noble's daughter, but the dress she wore right now was awfully familiar.
Raphkiel ignored her and went straight to Alisa instead. She had a bad feeling about it, but was also excited in receiving her long-awaited gold coins which she would use to start a new life somewhere far away. However, to her shock, Raphkiel took her hand and faced Meryl with a resolved look.
"This is Alisa Hayworth, the woman I want to marry." He coldly said.
Everything went still and silence brewed that even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard as Raphkiel suddenly dropped a shocking news on them.