Chapter 6
Chapter 6. A Man Like the Incarnation of Royalty
A woman abruptly appeared, cutting through the strangely focused gazes of the nobles.
“She’s still the same.”
Leonard muttered, looking at Margo’s face, and Beatrix nudged his side.
Noah agreed with his father for the first time in a while.
Marguerite was still the same. Princess Marguerite, with her blonde hair perfectly coiffed, entered with a flash of her icy blue eyes.
And behind her, a small silhouette suddenly appeared in Noah’s view.
His gaze, which had been sliding off Margo, landed on the unfamiliar woman. The white blouse buttoned up to her neck stood out among the deeply cut dresses of the noble ladies.
Raising his gaze a little higher, past her slender neck, he saw a small face that seemed even whiter than her blouse.
A green headband, placed to keep stray hairs off her round, protruding forehead, contrasted with her black hair and caught his eye.
Even though she kept her eyes lowered, her large eyes and well-defined features looked harmonious even from a distance.
The reason she gave the impression of being somehow cheerful, even though she was carefully following behind Margo, was probably because of her gait.
Noah chuckled to himself as he watched her small shoes moving busily beneath the hem of her ankle-length skirt.
Meanwhile, Olivia was overwhelmed by the attention she was receiving. She thought she had become somewhat accustomed to being stared at while attending school among male students, but she was beginning to think that was nothing compared to this.
In the historic and splendid Herot Royal Palace, beautiful nobles adorned with jewels were looking at her.
When she had passed through the golden gates of the Royal Palace, she had been excited, but now that she was in this situation, she realized that was only possible because of her ignorance.
She belatedly wondered if responding to the royal invitation to come to Herot had been the right choice.
She even had the disgruntled thought that she should have worn the dress that the royal staff had brought, instead of the clothes she had been wearing while strolling around the university campus.
The black shoes that repeatedly appeared and disappeared beneath the hem of her skirt felt particularly bothersome today.
With each inhale and exhale, her breath trembled, so Olivia consciously breathed slowly. Then, looking at Margo’s skirt, she desperately matched her steps to hers.
She couldn’t believe that the Royal Family was at the end of this road.
Just as she was having the ridiculous thought that she wished this road would never end, Margo stopped walking, much to her dismay.
Olivia carefully raised her eyes as she had practiced, trying to calm her trembling breath.
And at the same time, she froze.
Before her stood a man who seemed like the incarnation of the word royalty, looking at her.
If someone were to ask her to pick out a member of the Royal Family from a crowd of hundreds of people just by looking at their face, Olivia would choose this man without hesitation.
Despite his outstanding height and physique, he had a delicate air about him, and he was handsome even without scrutinizing his features.
His dark blonde hair was neatly combed back, revealing a smooth forehead.
The moment her eyes met his deep-set green eyes, Olivia was startled and quickly lowered her gaze.
“Olivia.”
If it hadn’t been for Margo’s quiet voice, she would have missed the timing to greet them and committed a discourtesy.
Olivia quickly followed Margo in greeting the Royal Family. Thanks to practicing the Herot noblewoman’s greeting, which involved crossing her left leg behind her right and bending her knees, all the way here, she was able to greet them without making a mistake.
Margo glanced at Olivia’s condition before turning to Leonard.
“It’s been a while, Your Majesty.”
Leonard stepped forward and responded.
“Thank you for coming such a long way, Princess Marguerite.”
Now it was Olivia’s turn. Olivia raised her eyes to look at the King and Queen Consort in turn, then tilted her head and said,
“Thank you for inviting me to this banquet. My name is Olivia Liberty.”
Noah’s gaze, which had been on Margo, turned back to Olivia at her unexpectedly low, deep voice.
Beatrix spoke to Olivia, who looked visibly nervous, in an intentionally warmer voice.
“Welcome, Miss Liberty. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve been wanting to meet the Herot woman who was selected as the top graduate of Herollington.”
Olivia tilted her head with an awkward expression, and Margo placed her hand on her back, signaling her to raise her head.
Olivia suddenly felt unbearably awkward and wanted to run away. She didn’t know how long the banquet would last, which made it feel daunting.
At that moment, Leonard cleared his throat softly and turned his body, saying,
“Well, then, we should go and meet the reporters who are waiting for us for a while. I hope everyone enjoys the banquet.”
At Leonard’s words, Margo followed Leonard with a sneer, and the Queen Consort led Olivia away.
“Miss Liberty, come with me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
As Olivia followed Beatrix, Usher and Noah also began to walk.
Olivia felt a strange tingling in her ears at the presence she felt behind her.
“We’re going to take some pictures now. Just think of it as a memento.”
“Yes.”
As she didn’t know what else to say and answered briefly, Usher, who was standing to the Queen Consort’s right, smiled slightly and said,
“I heard that your major is engineering, is that correct?”
Olivia finally looked at Usher.
If this weren’t the Royal Palace, she would have turned her head immediately to compare him to Noah, as they looked so alike, but his eyes were blue.
Margo’s explanation suddenly came to mind.
"The two princes look very similar, but you won't get confused. Usher is the Crown Prince with blue eyes, and Noah is the Prince with green eyes."
So this must be Crown Prince Usher. And the huge presence standing to her left is Prince Noah.
Olivia nodded in response to Usher’s question.
“Yes. I am researching technology that converts Magical Power into energy.”
“Oh, really?”
As Usher and the Queen Consort spoke to her gently in turn, Olivia felt a little relieved.
Noah glanced down at Olivia, who was walking with her back turned to him, looking at the Queen Consort and Usher.
Standing close, she was so short that the top of her head barely reached his chest, and her shoulders were so narrow and slender that he wondered if they were even two spans of his palm wide.
Her neatly braided, voluminous black hair and green headband kept catching his eye.
Her shoulders, which swayed slightly in time with her light, squirrel-like steps, were so cheerful that Noah leisurely moved his feet as he looked down at her.
How grateful he was to her.
From the day the news of her arrival was announced, the number of events he had to attend had decreased dramatically, and even in the past few days, there had been almost none.
From Noah’s perspective, who had been struggling in event hell, this small woman was nothing short of salvation.
At that moment, a very intense gaze was felt from the front.
When he turned his head, Margo, whom all the scoundrels of Herot feared, was looking at him with a stern look.
Noah shrugged and smiled brightly at his aunt. Why was everyone giving him that look when he was living such a wholesome life?
As Leonard stood in the photo zone set up in a corner of the garden where autumn was ripening, the Queen Consort stood to his left.
Just as Olivia was wondering about her position, a servant approached and kindly guided her to her place.
“You can stand next to Prince Noah.”
“Ah, thank you.”
The King and Queen Consort stood in the center, with Usher and Margo standing to the King’s right. Noah was standing right next to the Queen Consort, and Olivia’s place was next to him.
Noah’s silhouette looked even larger in the brightly lit lamps.
Olivia moved behind Noah, who was already in place, and stood a few steps away from him.
She stubbornly looked ahead, but then she heard a very low, deep, resonant, and cool voice from her right.
“Come a little closer.”
Surprised, she turned her head and saw the Prince looking at her. Seeing her round, widened black eyes, Noah spoke again.
“You need to come a little closer to balance it out.”
“Ah, yes!”
Olivia quickly took a step closer to him. But since it was still too far, Noah pointed to the spot right next to him with his finger.
“Up to here.”
There seemed to be an inexplicable power in his voice.
The spot Noah pointed to was so close that their bodies would touch if they weren’t careful. Olivia carefully moved, being careful not to touch him, and looked straight ahead.
However, Olivia soon realized that feeling a presence wasn’t just about sight, hearing, and touch.
The wind that had swept through the dried vegetation passed Noah and brushed past Olivia’s nose. There was a cologne scent at the end of the rustling autumn smell.
She was looking at the scene of the reporters busily handling their cameras, but it was just meaninglessly imprinted on her retina.
All of Olivia’s senses were tilting to one side against her will.
The reason she kept feeling like she wanted to run away seemed to be because of Noah, who was like the incarnation of royalty.
“Relax, look straight at the camera, and smile.”
“Pardon?”
When Olivia turned her head to Noah at the sudden voice, the reporter who had just taken a picture shook his head slightly and clicked his tongue.
“Miss Liberty, you need to look ahead.”
“I’m sorry.”
Noah glanced at Olivia. Her face was flushed as if she was embarrassed, and her ears were even redder.
He thought that if he told her to come closer again, since she had already moved a little further away, her face might turn even redder. Noah leaned his body slightly towards her to balance it out.
The reporter and photographer watched the perfect symmetry of the Royal Family and Olivia with satisfaction before shouting loudly.
“Okay, taking it now!”
At the same time, the light flashed.
And so, the photo of Noah’s savior Olivia and the Royal Family was completed.
