Chapter 3
Chapter 3: A Royal Invitation
“Get out!!! What are you doing here? Get out right now!”
The servants waiting outside flinched at the roaring voice that echoed through the hallway.
“One, two, three.”
As Noah walked leisurely down the sunlit hallway, counting, the door burst open as if on cue, and a man was thrown out.
His hair a mess, his uncle Duke Walter of Lightwing stamped his feet and desperately shouted at the closed door.
“Your Majesty!!”
“Get that crazy idiot who’s no help at all out of the Royal Palace right now, immediately!!”
Walter squeezed his eyes shut as the King’s angry voice boomed through the heavy door.
Noah walked slowly towards the Royal Family’s great disaster, stopped at a suitable distance, and quickly nodded his head.
“Good day, Uncle.”
Then, he immediately resumed his walk.
Walter stared blankly after his nephew, unsure if it was a greeting or not.
“Noah!”
Just as Noah was about to enter the door, Walter urgently called out to him. Noah, whose resentment towards his uncle had piled up, only turned his head to look at him.
If he had any conscience, he would apologize.
“Put in a good word for me with His Majesty, will you? Huh?”
Noah’s jaw tightened as he felt a burst of laughter threatening to escape. Conscience? From Walter, the Royal Family’s disaster?
“Yes, Uncle.”
Noah turned away sharply and stepped through the open door.
The King’s study was filled with thick cigarette smoke, enough to make even Noah frown.
The first person he made eye contact with was Crown Prince Usher. Usher greeted him with a small nod, and Noah returned the gesture.
Just then, Leonard II threw a newspaper against the wall, erupting in anger.
“Why is this crazy bastard drinking and not paying his tab? Huh?! Why is he bringing up royalty in a bar?!”
A few days prior, Walter had been drinking heavily at a bar after receiving a letter of disownment from his only daughter.
Despite his aides’ attempts to stop him, Walter, drunk, had caused a scene, shouting, ‘Why should I pay when I’m drinking in my own country!’ and ‘The people of this country exist for the sake of the Royal Family!’ Unfortunately, reporters were present.
Walter’s statement that ‘the people exist for the sake of the Royal Family’ immediately made the front page, causing public sentiment to stir. The problem was that this wasn’t Walter’s first offense.
“That idiot… To think I’m getting caught up in such trivial matters.”
As Leonard clutched his head and groaned, Noah threw open the windows. The King immediately shouted.
“Close them!!”
Everyone else was enduring the smoke, but Noah was relentless.
“I think some ventilation is needed, Your Majesty.”
Usher nodded in agreement and opened another door himself.
“Please calm down.”
At the urging of his grown sons, the King’s temper subsided slightly.
Usher spoke.
“First, issue an official statement. Silence will not solve anything. Impose appropriate punishment on the Duke of Lightwing, and state directly that the Royal Family does not agree with his views.”
“……”
Noah looked at his father’s face, a sneer playing on his lips. It wasn’t that he didn’t know that. He just didn’t want to do it.
Noah crossed his arms and leaned against the windowsill, saying,
“I attended seven events yesterday, and my picture wasn’t in any of the newspapers. Since it doesn’t seem like that will smooth things over, I think it would be best to do as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince says.”
The King’s secretaries nodded in agreement, looking at Leonard.
Leonard slumped onto the sofa like a defeated soldier and lit another cigarette. He finally finished the cigarette, rinsed his mouth with water, and muttered.
“Then how am I supposed to rebuild the shattered image of the Royal Family? We’re planning to raise taxes early next year, but with Walter ruining our image like this, will it even pass!”
Then, he looked directly at Noah.
What did he want him to do? Take off his clothes to divert attention?
Noah felt a surge of annoyance at his gaze, but then he suddenly remembered a small photograph.
Lowering his gaze and lost in thought for a moment, Noah approached the secretary who had picked up the newspaper the King had thrown away and held out his hand.
“The newspaper, please.”
Taking the newspaper from the secretary, he opened it to the page featuring Olivia Liberty. A woman with a neat image was smiling at him.
After looking at Olivia in the photo for a moment, Noah placed the newspaper in front of Leonard.
As he looked at the newspaper with a puzzled expression, Noah calmly offered his opinion.
“I think it’s time to invite Herot’s youngest and most outstanding female college student from commoner background, to congratulate her.”
The King seemed to consider his suggestion for a moment, then nodded.
“Yes, that’s a good idea.”
He jumped up and went to his desk, urging his secretaries.
“Bring me stationery and an envelope quickly! You said there’s a ship leaving for Fulder today, right? Contact them immediately and tell them to take my letter too!”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Two weeks later, Olivia walked down a quiet hallway, reading a letter with a heavy heart.
[…Hoping to meet you again in the future with a good connection, but unfortunately….]
She had been going to job interviews for months, even before Ansen offered her a full-time position. Yet, she kept failing at every interview.
Even the desperate hope that this time might be different shattered like white sea foam.
Olivia lowered her hand with a hollow expression. She had even submitted Professor Marguerite’s recommendation letter this time, so her expectations had been high.
“…Not again.”
With each successive failure, her heart felt like it was shrinking. Her grandmother would be curious about the results, but how could she tell her?
Olivia folded the letter with a heavy hand and put it in her bag. As she did so, she reached a grand black door.
Marguerite Astrid.
The younger sister of Leonard II, the current Monarch of Herot, she was the president and honorary professor of Herollington University in the Republic of Fulder, not Herot.
Marguerite, or Margo for short, who seemed to personify the word cynicism, scanned the main newspaper of Herot with a critical eye, then clicked her tongue at her younger brother, the Duke of Lightwing’s misdeeds.
“That idiot is still doing this kind of thing even at his age.”
At that moment, a steady knock was heard.
“Come in.”
As she took off the glasses she was wearing, the door opened and the person she had been waiting for appeared.
“Welcome, Olivia. Sit down.”
“Hello, Professor.”
Margo walked around the desk and took the seat of honor on the reception sofa. Looking at Olivia, who carefully sat down in a nearby seat, she suddenly frowned.
“Is something wrong?”
At the sharp question, Olivia quickly smiled and shook her head.
“What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong.”
“……”
Margo stared at Olivia’s face with cool, clear blue eyes, then crossed her arms as if displeased.
She must have failed another job interview. Those stupid companies with no eye for talent.
“If it’s a company of idiots who have eyes but can’t see, it’s better not to go. Don’t worry too much about it.”
At her cynical consolation, Olivia smiled slightly and fidgeted with her skirt.
“I’m sorry, even though you wrote me a recommendation letter.”
“Don’t say you’re sorry in situations like this. Those insolent people. I wrote a recommendation letter, and they rejected you? Just you wait.”
Margo unfolded her arms and handed Olivia a heavy, luxurious envelope that had been placed on the side table.
The reason she had called Olivia today was because of this envelope.
Olivia took the envelope with both hands, tilting her head at the ornate Herot Royal Family crest engraved on the sealing wax.
“Why are you giving this to me?”
“It’s addressed to you. Open it.”
At the top of the stiff card inside the envelope, Olivia’s name was written in beautiful calligraphy like a painting.
As Olivia’s eyes widened and she quickly scanned the card, Margo coldly explained the situation.
“The Herot Royal Family is in trouble because of the Duke of Lightwing’s misdeeds. The King of Herot seems to want to use you to divert the difficult atmosphere. The invitation has a plausible reason for the invitation, but that’s the reality.”
Olivia was still looking down at the card.
She felt flustered by the unexpected invitation, but something seemed to have been touched, and her heart fluttered.
Herot was a place of fond and poignant memories, the homeland of precious things for Olivia. Whenever she was shaken by the harsh storms of life, she always thought of the cozy and comfortable Herot.
Today was no different.
At her grandmother’s suggestion that she go on an outing, Olivia had inevitably thought of Herot.
“Why? Do you want to go?”
At Margo’s question, Olivia looked up. She had been thinking of asking her grandmother if she could go back to Herot now that she was an adult. Of course, her grandmother would hate it.
But now, an invitation from the Herot Royal Family.
However…
Olivia barely managed to open her mouth, enduring her embarrassment.
“But Professor, I don’t have the financial means to travel to Herot right now. And if I did, my grandmother would have to be alone…”
Margo scoffed.
“Olivia, what you’re holding is an invitation from the Royal Family. And your grandmother was your guardian until last year. You were the one who needed protection.”
“Still.”
Margo, who didn’t like Susanna Liberty, burdened with gloom and heavily weighing on the young girl’s shoulders, clicked her tongue briefly and added.
“If you want to go, I’ll send someone to Mrs. Liberty. They’ll check on her morning and evening to make sure she’s okay. So put those worries aside.”
Olivia’s heart fluttered even more at her words. But the worries of a poor commoner didn’t end there.
“If I accept this invitation and go to Herot, will something difficult happen? Because it’s an invitation from the Royal Family.”
“It’ll be a bit annoying.”
“Are you saying that nothing difficult will happen, Professor?”
“Do you think they’ll eat you alive?”
After saying that, Margo suddenly frowned. Then, she hurriedly snatched the invitation from Olivia and read it.
“Autumn Ball?”
She had thought they would just invite her and take some pictures, but the event they were inviting her to was the Autumn Ball, Herot’s debut stage for high society?!
That selfish Leonard was making a big deal out of it.
