Olivia, who had been watching the terrace where Olivia had disappeared, checked Olivia's expression as soon as she appeared.
Fortunately, Olivia's expression was calm.
As Mrs. Lehman quickly led her to the Queen Consort's table, Duchess Coleman, who was next to Beatrix, rose from her seat with a friendly expression.
Beatrix beckoned Olivia to her side and asked kindly.
"I saw you going to the terrace with Seymour Young Lady. Was the conversation enjoyable?"
Duchess Coleman watched the Princess consort's lips with a trembling heart. If the Princess consort showed any displeasure and even the Queen Consort was displeased, she would definitely thwart this marriage.
But fortunately, the Princess consort replied with a laughing voice.
"Yes, we had a pleasant conversation."
Duchess Coleman glanced at the Queen Consort.
It seemed Isabel had apologized properly. The Princess consort didn't seem too upset.
At that moment, the Princess consort looked at the Queen Consort's glass and said.
"May I have a glass too?"
Beatrix widened her eyes and quickly nodded.
"Oh, of course. Of course. It's not for nothing that this is a vineyard. My father, Noah's maternal grandfather, only drinks wine produced here because it has such an excellent flavor."
As a servant standing by quickly poured wine for the Princess consort, she slyly lifted the glass and took a sip.
She narrowed her eyes slightly as if it was a little bitter, but soon smiled brightly.
"How is it?"
"It's delicious, Mother."
Duchess Coleman, who had been watching, quickly picked up her glass and interjected.
"Try eating cheese with it. It enhances the flavor even more."
"Oh, really?"
"Of course."
Olivia ate cheese and slowly drank wine. As a glass or two of dark wine went down, Olivia's face turned red, and the ladies who had been watching from the side gathered one by one at the Queen Consort's table.
Soon, the Queen Consort's table became noisy with the chatter of noble ladies. Olivia, caught among them, burst into laughter repeatedly.
As if she had forgotten all the worries that had been weighing her down.
Late at night, the Queen Consort's charity party ended. The Queen Consort told her to stay overnight at the villa and then return, but Olivia politely declined her offer and got into the carriage. It was because she wanted to return to the mansion that had now become her home.
Leaning her back against the wall of the swaying carriage and closing her eyes, it felt like the sky was spinning. Her head was hot from the one or two glasses of wine she had drunk.
But the feeling wasn't bad. It was as if everything had been smoothed over like a paperweight, and the things that had been weighing on her heart until now felt like nothing.
Yeah. What's the big deal about those things? It's not like I'm going to die because of them.
Olivia chuckled and let the rising intoxication take over. She roughly took off her shoes. Her feet, which had been hurting all day from getting used to the new shoes, finally felt comfortable.
Olivia, who was languidly enjoying the intoxication, muttered without realizing it.
"So that's why it wasn't in the mansion."
The words she had blankly recited pierced her heart.
As the laughter receded like the ebb tide, Olivia's heart became as parched as sand where water stains had dried. Olivia, staring blankly at the parched feeling inside her, said as if spitting it out.
"What does it matter? Whether he gave it or not. What's so special about it? He probably wouldn't have even remembered my existence until His Majesty ordered him to marry me, anyway."
The words she tried to steel her heart with only scratched her heart.
Olivia hugged her knees and buried her face.
She curled up in the dark darkness and worked hard to push away the thoughts that flooded in. But the more she did, the clearer something became.
Shining blonde hair, eyes as pretty as autumn leaves, a sharp nose, and red lips that only went up on one side when he smiled.
He appeared like a comet one day and became a tsunami that swept over her life...
"Noah."
The emotions she held in the hushed word were finely shattered and permeated.
Is this magic?
"Noah."
She called him because she wanted to see him, and calling him made her miss him.
Olivia threw open the thickly drawn curtains and the door.
"Jonan!"
The surprised Jonan quickly approached.
"Is His Highness at the naval headquarters?"
As Jonan was flustered by the sudden question, Olivia seized the momentum and ordered.
"Go to where His Highness is now."
"..."
"Please, Jonan."
Jonan, who had been feeling sorry for Olivia, who had been withering away these past few days, finally nodded.
"Yes. I understand, Princess consort."
At the next intersection, the carriage deviated from its original course and sped towards Herrington Bay, where the Magic Dome stood tall.
Usher, who came to see Noah late in the evening, looked very tired.
"While I was covering things up, it seems you've had a hard time too."
As Noah personally poured tea for him, Usher roughly rubbed his eyelids and nodded. He had talked so much all day that he didn't even want to open his mouth.
Soon, Usher, who had finished his tea, leaned back against the sofa as if collapsing and opened his mouth.
"Ansen Wilhelm has applied for an entry permit. Father has granted it."
"..."
"That was around noon today, so he'll be entering the capital soon."
"Does Father intend to meet him?"
Usher sighed deeply and clicked his tongue.
"We're the ones in a hurry now. Warships are just a smokescreen. If the waters off Herrington are devastated, the businesses located in the bay will go bankrupt. The companies attached to them will also go bankrupt one after another, and the establishment of a trading post will be thwarted."
So no matter how much he was the King of Herot, how could he not meet him?
The result of entrusting the nation's security to a foreign private company has returned so tragically.
The air between the brothers sank coldly like the Arctic cold.
Usher glanced at his brother's expressionless face and asked casually.
"Ship-based Magic Dome, how did you fix it?"
Noah crossed his arms and said nothing.
All day today, no, the face of the woman who was always stirring up his head at will flickered like a hallucination.
While Usher was struggling all day, he sat here and only drew that face. She said she went to a charity party with her mother today. She left early in the morning, so would she have returned home by now? Or is she still there?
"Noah."
Noah, who had been looking down, finally raised his eyes.
"I'm asking how you fixed the Magic Dome."
The name, which was so unsophisticated and didn't suit its owner, flashed through Noah's head.
Oliver.
When he called that name, her face also came to mind. Even the tears that leaked from her sunset-colored eyes were pretty.
If he revealed to Usher that Olivia was the designer of the Magic Dome now, the situation would change drastically.
But how could Ansen not know that? He might even be preparing for the moment Olivia comes to the fore. Since it's a matter of life and death, he'll cling to it in a dirty and reckless way.
The moment she comes to the fore, Noah will not be able to protect her. His wife will have to stand on the ground with her slender legs and endure all kinds of storms with her bare body without a screen.
Noah didn't have the confidence to watch that happen, and he didn't want to.
He said lightly but firmly to Usher, who was waiting for an answer.
"Just. It worked when I did this and that."
"..."
Usher tried to say something but got up from his seat.
Noah seemed to be a person whose body was here but whose mind was not.
"I'll go."
As Usher left the office, a navy officer who had been waiting outside entered the office as if he had been waiting. Then, he delivered news that would instantly pull Noah, who had been walking in another world alone until now, back to reality.
"Your Highness, Princess consort Olivia has just passed through the main gate of the residence!"
Olivia's carriage passed through the gate of the residence. Olivia, who was curious about the outside scenery, slightly opened the curtains, and Jonan quickly said.
"Princess consort, you can open the curtains now."
At that, Olivia opened the curtains as if she had been waiting for it. The night sea, where darkness had fallen, was the first thing she saw, and soon the white pillar-shaped Magic Dome revealed its majesty.
Olivia, who was watching the passing Magic Dome, quickly stopped the carriage.
"Jonan, wait a minute!"
"Is something wrong?"
"I want to see the Magic Dome."
While the carriage was stopping, Olivia put on the shoes she had taken off. She didn't know it when she was wearing them, but when she tried to put them back on, her heels were very sore. Still, she somehow pushed her feet into the shoes and got out of the carriage.
"Wow."
The rushing sea breeze was extremely refreshing.
The cold air mixed in the wind swept over her flushed cheeks, but it only felt cool. Olivia smiled brightly and moved towards the dark sea.
Pierre, who was finishing his night shift and coming out of the Magic Dome, discovered the Princess consort with his colleagues and approached her. But Pierre was not in the eyes of Jonan and the guards.
They were just anxious that the Princess consort might stagger.
What if she falls and gets hurt? I'll die at the hands of the enraged Prince.
Unaware of the guards' desperate hearts, Olivia looked at the Magic Dome one by one with joy-filled eyes and pointed to the two that were malfunctioning.
"Those seem to be broken."
Then Pierre, who had been subtly approaching her, widened his eyes and alternately glanced at Olivia's fingertips and the Magic Dome.
"How do you know?"
Olivia blinked her eyes and said casually.
"The lights on the top are blue by themselves."
"Ah..."
"But if that's broken..."
Olivia watched the warship anchored in the distant sea and muttered.
"It's too far."
