Chapter 119
#119. Saintess, the Grand Duchess-to-be's Undercover Mission
It was morning, as dawn broke.
"Ta-da!"
Bethany raised her hand triumphantly, as if to signal the end. Olivia, reflected in the mirror, smiled brightly and smoothed the skirt of her dress.
A shimmering silver-white dress, as if sprinkled with pearl powder; hair adorned with Obsidian and ruby hairpins, the ends curled; platinum earrings that shimmered, emphasizing her elegant jawline; and a Magic stone necklace around her slender, deer-like neck.
Bethany was filled with pride. It finally felt like her lady had returned. A little choked up, Bethany playfully teased.
"What's gotten into you, anyway? You're usually not one to put so much effort into dressing up, my lady."
"It's a special day, isn't it? The day of my official return."
"That's right. We're finally here. In the Territory of Vikander."
Olivia smiled at Bethany's affirmation.
Vikander was just around the corner. The thought alone made her heart flutter. Meanwhile, Bethany joked.
"As you said, my lady, the formal banquet will be held when His Grace returns. Oh, no. The problem is whether we can even enter the Ducal Palace today, with the welcoming procession waiting for you."
Olivia's lips curved upward.
"What's the first thing you want to do when you arrive in the Territory of Vikander?"
"If I return to the Territory... Hmm..."
She had so much to talk about with the people of the Ducal Palace, she had to go to Yeniv Street, she wanted to meet the green-eyed children, and she had to compare the handwriting of the nameless Knight and Edwin, but.
Only one thing came to mind first.
"...Bethany. Do you know anything about the Valley of Senua...?"
Bethany was a mage, so it would be good to go together. Olivia, who had been cautiously broaching the subject while looking at Bethany, closed her mouth.
It had disappeared in the blink of an eye, but Bethany's expression just now was unusual.
Oops.
She had made a mistake. But it was too late when she realized it. Bethany said in her usual gentle voice.
"How do you know about that place, my lady?"
"Ah..."
"How did you know about that dangerous and rugged valley? No, who told you about it?"
Bethany's smile deepened. There was a strange power in her coaxing, low voice. She had to get past this quickly.
"Just, um... at the last banquet..."
And fortunately, she thought of a good excuse.
"I suddenly remembered the Knights who had returned from a subjugation mission at the banquet saying it was dangerous."
"Was that so? Anyway, it's as the Knights say. Unlike the mines, that place is really like a steep cliff. I was so surprised."
Bethany tilted her head and chuckled. Olivia felt a pang of conscience at the sight of her believing her words so implicitly, but she obediently nodded.
Her plan to go with Bethany was completely canceled. She was sorry to Bethany, but going to the Valley of Senua was a secret she could never reveal.
Bethany, who had no idea what Olivia was thinking, cheerfully clapped her hands and walked towards the door.
"Well, shall we go then? By the way, Dian was supposed to come when dinner was ready. Where is she..."
Bethany, who was opening the door, chuckled.
"Good timing. Dian, good... What's wrong with your face? Is something wrong?"
Olivia, wondering what was wrong, was also surprised.
Dian, standing in front of the door, was unusually pale. She was even sweating, as if she had received a huge shock. Olivia hurriedly approached the door and asked.
"Sir Dian, is something wrong?"
"Ah, my lady... were you the Saintess?"
Saintess? What was that...?
After belatedly understanding Dian's stammering voice, Olivia blinked.
Could it be that she found out that I'm Liv Green?
If it was Dian, who always poured out praises of 'Liv Green' whenever she ate turkey, she would have enough reason to call 'Liv Green' a Saintess. It would be a shame to reveal a fact that even Edwin didn't know yet...
"It's all in the newspaper."
"Newspaper?"
There shouldn't be anything about Liv Green that would make it into the newspaper? At the voice asking back as if she found it strange, Dian took out the hand hidden behind her and brought it forward.
Olivia slowly reached out to the newspaper.
A short time to receive the newspaper. The fluttering newspaper, and Olivia's name was clearly in the headline printed largely on it.
Her heart was beating so fast that she couldn't control it. As Olivia quickly read the newspaper, Dian muttered in a rough voice as if scratching her throat.
"I heard that my lady restored the Retail Territory that had fallen into the spring famine."
"Really?"
Olivia could feel Bethany looking at her with surprised eyes.
But she couldn't even pay attention to that. The hand holding the newspaper tightened. How could this have been revealed?
The Princess revealed it herself at the Summer Ball. Even so, Olivia knew better than anyone that when everything that happened in the Imperial Palace was published in the newspaper, some of it was filtered out.
Could it be that Edwin did this too...?
"My lady did the Summer Ball, and my lady led the bumper crop in the Tristan Granary District. My lady also gave the opinion on the relief system."
"No, but why are you so upset? It's a good thing that what my lady did has been revealed!"
Only at Bethany's words did Olivia raise her head. Dian's voice was trembling, and her eyes were really red.
"My lady..."
Olivia was startled by the muffled voice as if she was barely holding back her tears, and Dian hurriedly added.
"The things I said in the past, they weren't all my true feelings. Actually, I believed that my lady was a good person, and I tore up all the articles filled with nonsense before I made my oath..."
Bethany blinked at the rambling excuses. Even with the look that asked what she was doing now, Dian couldn't stop talking.
This newspaper, which she saw after going out for an early walk, made Dian want to sew up her mouth in the past.
She should have kept her mouth shut if she didn't know.
The past days when she had judged and hated the Saintess-like lady who had done such great things just by looking at the newspaper flashed through her mind. Dian's eyes became dizzy.
"Why did you covet other people's things and cause a ruckus at the Tea Party? Why...!"
At the same time, Olivia also vaguely recalled Dian's angry voice and muttered.
"Ah, could it be that time. That thing about why I was coveting other people's things?"
"Huh? Did Dian say that?"
At Olivia's words that came out in an instant, Bethany looked at Dian with a dumbfounded face and shook her head. Dian, who was pouting like a child holding back tears without even having time to scold her, eventually turned her head.
After a sniffling sound, there was a sound that made her Adam's apple vibrate.
The embarrassment of suddenly becoming a Saintess disappeared in an instant. Olivia couldn't help but burst out laughing.
.
.
.
As the carriage departed, Olivia fell into a small worry.
"Could it be that the rumors have spread in the Territory of Vikander? That I'm, this..."
"Ah, that you're a Saintess?"
Her cheeks quickly flushed. Olivia coughed and looked at Bethany. Bethany, who was staring at Olivia, smiled.
"What are you worried about? Nothing's changed."
"Huh?"
"Whether you restored the spring famine in the Retail Territory, or not. Whether you did something in the Tristan Granary District. Or what was it again? Anyway, whether you've done a lot of good deeds."
Her light blue eyes were more gentle than ever.
"Even before knowing that, you were already more than a Saintess to everyone, including the green-eyed children."
The sincere voice touched Olivia's heart. Having nothing to say, Olivia only moved her lips and smiled.
"...Bethany. How can you say such warm things?"
"Well, if you live long enough?"
Bethany shrugged playfully.
.
.
.
And at midday, when the sunlight was sparkling.
Olivia, looking beyond the gate that had been opened in advance, was speechless for a moment. She thought the shouts that had been pouring out from afar had become even louder.
"My lady! I'm glad you returned safely!"
"The Grand Duchess-to-be has returned!"
"Look, it's the Knights of Vikander!"
The line of people standing on both sides of the wide road was endless. People threw bright flowers along with cheers.
She knew there would be a welcoming procession, but just because she had experienced it once didn't mean that the overwhelming emotions subsided.
In a situation where her head was blank because she didn't know what to do first, Olivia looked at the faces of the people of the Territory of Vikander who were welcoming her, as if engraving them in her eyes one by one.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you waving your hand outside?"
The day of her first entry suddenly came to mind.
Edwin's mischievous voice from that day came to mind clearly, and Olivia waved her hand with all her might.
Wow!
The cheers grew even louder.
Pop-.
The beautifully sparkling fireworks were writing a welcoming message for her.
"My lady!"
The green-eyed children were smiling in this street, more suited than anyone else.
It was all a scene from a certain day that she had dreamed of. Olivia's clear green eyes, brightly curved, sparkled in the sunlight.
* * *
"As you said, my lady, the formal banquet will be held when His Grace returns."
This time too, Bethany's words were false.
"Wow. I heard Bethany opened a Fruit Wine barrel?"
"My lady is back, we're having a banquet, and even Fruit Wine? What day is it today?"
"Didn't you know? Actually, my lady was a Saintess! Until now, the Princess made my lady do all the work and took all the credit!"
The boisterous voices of the Knights could be heard from outside the window.
Olivia chuckled at the excited voices coming from her room, which she had returned to after a long time. For a moment, she wondered what had happened to the Princess. She was thinking about whether she should have come first, when.
Knock knock-.
"I have received the honor of escorting my lady, and I have come to pick you up."
Dian smiled brightly and paid her respects. She was wearing a uniform and had neatly swept back her hair.
Looking at her excited face, Olivia said mischievously.
"The crying face has disappeared in the meantime, Sir Dian."
"My lady!"
Dian's face flushed as much as her bright red hair. Amused by her innocent reaction, Olivia burst out laughing.
"By the way, did you hear, my lady? Bethany put the Fruit Wine barrel in the banquet hall first today!"
On the way to the banquet hall.
Dian chattered without being able to hide her excited face. It was the result of the tension of escorting my lady for the first time, the excitement about the Fruit Wine, and the joy of returning to Vikander after a long time.
Ah, there was one more thing.
"And maybe, my lady."
There were no other signs besides the maids coming and going in the hallway. There were few opportunities to be alone with my lady. Dian lowered her voice and asked.
"If you have any secrets that you haven't told me yet, please tell me anytime. I'm really unconditionally on your side!"
It was only a few months ago that she thought she knew Dian herself best in the entire Territory of Vikander when it came to my lady. She had even scrapped all the Knights of the Imperial Capital when it came to the green-eyed Princess.
"There are many secrets."
Dian's mood was a little more elevated at the subtle voice.
Even if Sir Winsten Carter made the oath of the Knight for the second time, my lady's guard was strictly herself.
"We have secrets that only we know."
There was also a sense of kinship that they shared the same Lowell bloodline. Dian nodded proudly.
It was at that moment. My lady's eyes narrowed as if she had seized an opportunity.
"The Valley of Senua. You haven't forgotten that we were going, have you?"
In an instant, Dian's excited mood subsided. She felt the blood in her body turn cold. Oh my god. She had forgotten.
As if noticing that fact, my lady said kindly and firmly.
"So, unfortunately, it's abstinence today. Dian."
"...Did I hear you wrong?"
Dian truly doubted her ears.
Olivia, who was smiling, whispered something small enough for only Dian to hear, and then entered the banquet hall first.
Soon, amidst the light of the glittering chandelier, a loud applause erupted that made the banquet hall she was stepping on resonate.
"I thank everyone for brilliantly illuminating their positions despite His Grace's absence."
A soft but dignified voice echoed through the banquet hall. The speech that captivated the attention was short but intense.
As my lady's speech, which was small but looked bigger than anyone else, ended, thunderous applause erupted.
Dian, who would have normally looked at her with reverence from the front, couldn't concentrate at all.
"Late at night, two hours past midnight. See you outside the first floor hallway, under my bedroom balcony."
The words that my lady had left behind as she passed by kept swirling in Dian's head.
Could it be... Could it really be that she's thinking of going to that dangerous Valley of Senua?
No, that's a problem too, but how can my lady get down to the first floor hallway, breaking through the strict security of the Vikander Ducal Palace?
Dian shook her head in an effort to shake off her worries.
That can't be. She won't be able to come out of her bedroom, let alone come down under her bedroom. The Knights of Vikander were famous for their ironclad security.
She tore off a large turkey leg and ate a bite to shake off her worries.
A wonderful flavor filled her mouth.
After all, turkey meat was always right, no matter what happened.
.
.
.
But late at night.
Dian, who had gone down under Olivia's bedroom with the thought that it couldn't be, was shocked.
"No, my lady. How did you get out here?"
Breaking through that strict security, my lady was waiting for Dian under the bedroom.
