What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 57

#057 Frederick Liester (2)

“When is the victory celebration?”

“It will begin at 7 p.m. the day after tomorrow. We will arrange for Your Highness to arrive at the Imperial Palace by 6 p.m.”

The day after tomorrow.

It wasn’t today, and since the Emperor herself had sent the chamberlain to invite me, there was no way to refuse.

Feigning illness was something you had to do carefully, and it would only earn you a bad reputation if you tried it on someone who held your life and livelihood in their hands.

Not attending a casual team dinner once a month was completely different from skipping an annual company dinner with the CEO.

I calmly composed myself.

I just had to go, eat quietly, and leave.

They might say they wanted to congratulate me, but the star of the show would naturally be the Imperial Prince.

If I just closed my eyes and endured a few awkward moments, I could quickly return to the Juliette Palace.

“I understand.”

I replied.

The chamberlain, Laura Mendy, looked relieved, as if she had received a satisfactory answer.

I almost let her leave, but thankfully, I didn’t forget to ask the most important question.

“Will those people be coming again?”

“Those people, you mean…?”

“The ones who do the clothes and makeup. If they’re coming in the morning, I need to prepare myself.”

Benjamin and Ganael nodded, looking as if I had asked just the right question.

If the Emperor was planning to send the two directors and their team from the morning, I needed to be mentally prepared.

I absolutely refused to be washed again or have my short hair braided.

“They will not be visiting. It is a small banquet for those close to Her Majesty, so please come in comfortable attire and with a relaxed mind.”

Laura said with a slight smile. I nodded awkwardly.

The Emperor’s unexpected invitation made my head spin, banishing sleep and fatigue.

What should I wear?

“No, seriously, what should I wear?”

Unfortunately, that was the question I agonized over until the day of the celebration.

Benjamin and Ganael, as well as the other servants who usually helped me, gathered in the drawing room for an in-depth discussion.

On the large sofa, several final candidates were neatly arranged with shoes, waiting to be chosen.

It was two hours before departure.

I wanted to throw on anything and go, but I couldn’t possibly do that when it was a party hosted by the Emperor, not just the Imperial Prince.

It was like how ‘business casual’ seemed simple for a job interview, but when it came to an executive interview, you had to look up the definition and types of business casual all over again.

I never dreamed I would feel the same way I did when I jumped into the job market right after graduation, now that I was possessed in a romance fantasy novel.

“Your Highness, shouldn’t you go with purple? Like, ‘I am the Prince of Fenetian. I am the moon of the Divine Kingdom,’” one of the servants who often brewed my tea confidently suggested, pointing to the purple formal attire.

Then the other servants gasped and murmured in alarm.

“Pierre, Your Highness doesn’t like to stand out.”

“That’s right, you’re already beautiful enough… And it might look too political.”

At the word ‘political,’ Benjamin nodded with a worried expression.

Then a servant lifted up the golden formal attire next to it.

It was a familiar face who often changed my bed sheets and curtains.

“How about gold? It’s a calm gold, so it won’t attract too much attention.”

Then he carefully held it up to my upper body.

I stood still and received the servants’ gazes. It looked pretty good?

“Oh, no, this isn’t it.”

“No, no.”

Groans poured out.

I felt awkward and looked at Ganael, who had a troubled expression.

“It matches Your Highness’s hair and eye color too well… You look like the main character.”

Wow, that wouldn’t do. I quickly stepped away.

As if waiting for it, another servant held up a black formal attire.

It was decorated with gold and red here and there.

“Isn’t black the go-to for formal attire? It’s a basic color that works anywhere, Your Highness. It’s the epitome of plain.”

“That’s right, Your Highness. Some nobles will be wearing it too, so it’ll be easy to blend in.”

The servant next to him added.

Everyone looked like they didn’t see any problems with the black formal attire.

I said with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“This looks like the Imperial Prince’s taste.”

“Ah…”

Only then did the servants exclaim as if they had a great realization.

Wearing black to a banquet attended by the Imperial Prince was like a wedding guest wearing white [a major faux pas].

At least, that’s how it seemed to me. Some servants rubbed their faces wearily.

Was ‘comfortable attire’ this difficult and daunting?

My only point of contact with Emperor Frederick was when I saw her from afar on the balcony of the Stroda Palace during the ‘Spring Ball’ last month.

She had never called me personally since I entered the palace, and she had never even sent a simple greeting.

It was the first time the chamberlain had come to the Juliette Palace the other day, so that said it all.

There were quite a few anecdotes I had heard, but I had no idea what kind of person the Emperor was, what she disliked, or what she liked.

All the comments about the Emperor that Jeong Eun-seo had squeezed out of her memory over the past two days were ‘Sister, take me!’ and ‘Cool! Handsome!’

It wasn’t helpful at all.

…So, it was difficult and daunting.

To survive, I couldn’t be disliked by her, but I couldn’t stand out too much either.

I should have just called the directors [of the fashion team].

“Bring back the white and red ones.”

“But Your Highness, if you wear white, you’ll look too saintly!”

“Red formal attire with blonde hair? You look like the third prince destined to become king, pushing aside the crown prince of some kingdom.”

Why do you have such specific storytelling?

-Knock knock

At that moment, someone knocked on the drawing room door.

I thought it was the servant who had gone to get the blue formal attire.

“Come in.”

“Hello, our prince.”

A very familiar, and therefore welcome, woman’s voice was heard.

I turned around in surprise.

“Your beautiful face has become half its size.”

“Your Eminence.”

It was Cardinal Aurelia Boutier.

When she appeared, all the servants fell silent and stepped back in unison, bowing deeply.

It had been almost half a month since I had seen the Cardinal, and hearing her kind voice made my heart ache a little.

She came forward, leading several servants, and gently grabbed my cheek.

Then, making kissing sounds, she took turns pressing her cheeks against mine.

I was a little dazed by the French greeting [a bise], which I had only seen in movies, but I was happy to see her too.

“You must have been through a lot. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Has Your Eminence been well?”

“I missed you all.”

Her beige eyes curved softly.

“Until yesterday, I was busy with official announcements and preparing for the banquet, so I couldn’t come to see you. But…”

She looked around at me, the servants, and the clothes scattered on the sofa in the drawing room.

“I think I came at the right time.”

I glossed over it with a smile.

I had to go to the Imperial Palace by 6 p.m., but I hadn’t been able to choose an outfit until after 4 p.m., so it must have seemed hopeless.

“Today, I am the prince’s chaperone, so I must help you.”

The Cardinal said, gesturing slightly to her servants.

Chaperone… Excuse me?

“Are you sure this outfit is okay?”

“Frederick doesn’t lie. She said ‘comfortable attire,’ so just wear something comfortable.”

The Cardinal smiled kindly and stood in front of the Juliette Palace.

I was standing there in the pale vermeil casual wear that she had chosen instead of formal attire, wearing more extravagant cufflinks than usual and new boots.

Over the clothes, I wore a necklace that the Cardinal had picked out, which was a thin silver string with an amber diamond.

Only a few accessories were luxurious, and the outfit was relatively plain.

Was this the ‘dressed-up but not dressed-up’ look? Was it?

“Demi, play with your friends here. I’ll be back early after dinner.”

-Squeak

Shinsoo cried out as if in response and escaped from my arms.

Then the other lesser pandas who were playing in the garden came running and surrounded Demi.

After waving to the three pandas who had become a clump, I joined the Cardinal in her carriage.

Benjamin, Ganael, and the other servants rode in the carriage right behind us.

Soon the wheels began to move slowly.

“I brought those guys back, but… shouldn’t I send them to a better place?”

I asked, watching the Demi family disappear out the window.

The two lesser pandas in the Marquis of Dium territory had lost their home when the sacred object ‘Mars’s Comet Sword’ found its owner.

I didn’t feel comfortable leaving them wandering in the plains, so I ended up taking them with me.

What I realized from this subjugation was that sacred beasts and demonic beasts were completely different beings.

Demonic beasts sensed the aether [a magical energy] no matter what form the sacred object took and showed aggression.

But sacred beasts seemed to lose their calling and wander when the sacred object chose its owner or disappeared.

That’s why they didn’t sense the ‘Blessing of the Azure Sea’ absorbed into Christel’s body, and they quickly lost interest when the Comet Sword fell into the Imperial Prince’s hands.

They were called ‘messengers of the Main God,’ and indeed, they seemed more like spirits than beasts.

“There are sacred objects in the northern and eastern parts of the Empire. It would be good to send them there if you have the chance.”

The Cardinal said soothingly.

“Elizabeth goes to her northern territory for summer vacation every June, so it would be appropriate to have them accompany her.”

I had heard about the summer vacation at the night market in Ryuka Village.

I escorted the Cardinal, thinking that I should take good care of them until they left.

By the time I got out of the carriage and climbed the stairs of the Imperial Palace, I was rattling off all the things that had been bothering me in front of her.

“I don’t understand. The Sanctuary nullifies all powers, so why can’t it block the mist that shows hallucinations?”

“Because the Main God is capricious?”

“Your Eminence.”

When I retorted sullenly, the Cardinal laughed and led me to the first-floor banquet hall.

The Imperial Palace servants, dressed more elaborately than usual, greeted us wherever we went.

A long red carpet, which had been laid out from the outside, stretched across the marble floor.

The cleanly polished chandeliers were more colorful than usual today.

“Maybe it’s because the mist didn’t intend to kill you.”

“What do you mean…?”

“If the mist had been poisonous, the Sanctuary would have blocked it, of course. Poison is for ‘killing.’ But hallucinations only cause confusion, and they can even bring joy to someone. So there’s no reason to block it. The Sanctuary’s judgment is that arbitrary.”

“……”

“Even if a big hail falls from the sky, the Sanctuary doesn’t block it. It’s not meant to kill the priest, it’s just bad weather.”

I walked slowly down the hallway where the sunset was scattered like paint.

It was hard to understand, but at the same time, I felt like I could understand it.

For example, the day I first met ‘Saydi,’ even though I was deploying the Sanctuary, the little girl’s dagger could have grazed me because…

She was aiming for the decorative string behind me, not me.

The shockwave from the Imperial Prince’s Comet Sword that covered me a week ago was also because it wasn’t an intentional ‘attack.’

Hmm.

“It’s confusing. I think it will take time to get a feel for it.”

“That’s what it means that the Main God is capricious.”

She said as if singing. We were already turning the last corner.

More than a dozen servants followed silently.