Winter (9)

“Hello, Your Highness.”

Judith greeted Alicia, who was staring intently at her made-up face.

“Judith.”

Alicia said her name in place of a greeting.

“The banquet hall is so pretty!”

Judith whispered, lowering her voice so the Royal Orchestra members wouldn’t hear.

Her eyes, enlarged by makeup, widened even more as her pupils spun dramatically.

Only then did Alicia realize Judith’s eyes looked about three times bigger than usual.

“Your eyes… what did you do?”

Alicia whispered even though she knew it wasn’t polite.

“I fixed them in place and did my makeup. It turned out well, didn’t it?”

Judith smiled with her eyes lifted.

It wasn’t just her eyes—her makeup emphasized her nose and lips too.

Her bold features seized attention with force.

“It turned out incredibly well.”

“It took five hours.”

Judith said seriously that the eye makeup alone had taken an hour.

Seeing that, Alicia realized Judith really was a girl her age.

It felt painful that she had spent so long hiding her appearance and identity.

“They are coming.”

Alicia whispered as she watched Josephina following behind Henrik.

“She is Josephina, the young lady of Lirin. Just greet her like, ‘Lady Josephina, it’s a pleasure.’ ……Judith?”

“S-She is a person? I thought she was a fairy.”

“Tell her that. She pretends not to, but she likes hearing it.”

Alicia’s whispers rang out quickly.

Josephina approached Alicia and Judith.

“Alicia.”

“Josephina.”

Josephina and Alicia called each other’s names, showing familiarity.

Just as Alicia was about to introduce Judith beside her—

“My lady, you look like a fairy!”

Judith shouted.

Through the intense makeup, the awed expression of a young girl broke through.

“Thank you. This kind of welcome felt like a first in a long while. I’d heard so much about you, Judith. Would you introduce your work to me?”

“It was an honor!”

Judith beamed and hurried into the hall with quick little steps.

After looking around, Josephina pointed with her hand at the vine-pattern embroidery in front of her.

“From here to there—I’ll buy all of it.”

Josephina’s hand swept the path she had walked so far.

“……!”

Judith looked moved like a girl falling in love.

Her expression could be read as: The fairy liked my embroidery!

“No, Josephina.”

Alicia burst out laughing and stopped her.

“Why!”

Josephina answered like a scream.

“No one else had seen it yet—how could you claim it all alone? And it’s three per person.”

“Why did you invite other people besides me, Alicia? You should have invited only me! Why could I buy only three!”

Josephina shouted in anguish.

Judith nodded beside her.

But her face said she couldn’t break the rule she’d set with Alicia beforehand.

“I was the one who set it that way.”

Alicia said quietly to Josephina, who looked ready to wail, and headed toward the entrance.

Following Alicia, Judith gently whispered that Josephina should choose while excluding the angel with spread wings, the triple-twisted line, and the rose garden.

Those three were the largest and most splendid.

Still devastated, Josephina hurried after them to argue.

“They are the ones the Empress chose.”

Alicia said softly with a smile, facing the direction the next guests were coming from.

“……Those are exactly my taste!”

Josephina grumbled in a lowered voice.

Judith, who had been sneaking glances at the “fairy” timidly, replied in a subtle tone.

“They said the Empress said the same thing.”

“Exactly my taste.”

Alicia turned her head slightly and echoed Eleanor’s words.

Josephina scrunched her face, expressing fierce fury.

“People in power.”

Alicia and Judith only cast silent looks at Josephina’s resentful complaint—Josephina, who had been born at the pinnacle of power.

“…….”

“…….”

Just then, Henrik entered with the next guests.

Warm greetings and smiles passed back and forth.

The cheerful banquet began.

Judith introduced her work among the new friends she had made.

The way she wrinkled her nose and smiled at Pauline and Anne’s praise was adorable.

After greeting the guests, Alicia withdrew to one side with Reichardt.

Reichardt looked at Alicia, who watched Judith being praised with a satisfied expression.

His purple eyes scanned not only Judith, but the whole hall.

“Rey, you might lose your adjutant.”

Alicia whispered while leaning on Reichardt’s arm.

“It didn’t matter. There were plenty of adjutant candidates. More importantly, Alicia might be the one losing a friend.”

Reichardt’s gaze swept past the place Alicia was looking.

Roderick, standing beside Reina with a serious face, chattered while driving away people who approached.

“The Countess wasn’t bad, but isn’t there something wrong with Roderick’s personality?”

Alicia recalled how, in the first timeline, Roderick had scattered scandals with every unfortunate noblewoman in society.

He spread scandals, but he never married those pitiable countesses and ladies.

Roderick’s most famous scandal partner was the wife of Count Albus, who had become half-paralyzed.

Count Albus not only couldn’t move—he was barely conscious, practically as good as dead.

Roderick stayed with Countess Albus for years.

But he never married her to the end.

Whenever a new tragic woman appeared, he offered kindness again, and similar scandals continued endlessly.

Roderick said he liked bold personalities, but the women he met always carried armfuls of misery.

Alicia felt uneasy about that.

Reina looked delicate, but her disposition was strong.

She held no shame about her own misfortune.

“Roderick’s personality has been consistently bad.”

Reichardt said calmly something that Roderick would absolutely protest as unfair if he heard it.

“Right? I told her to learn writing because she wanted to exchange letters directly with Reina. It felt like Roderick was getting in the way. He said there was no suitable teacher.”

“If a skilled female teacher didn’t appear, it might stay that way.”

“Yes. The priests at the forest Prayer House would all be excellent teachers, but he interfered, saying she couldn’t learn writing from a religious figure because it would create prejudice.”

“He’d be looking for a skilled female teacher unrelated to religion. Or… he might want to keep delivering the letters, reading them aloud, and writing the replies for her.”

Alicia agreed with Reichardt.

She had been suspecting the same thing, given how subtly Roderick kept interfering.

“What if it crossed into a dangerous level of obsession?”

At Alicia’s worried words, Reichardt let out a laugh.

“He might already be obsessed. It seemed like the escort knight sent to the Prayer House changed every day. You could feel the intention—he didn’t want her to get used to anyone’s face.”

Alicia looked startled at Reichardt’s words.

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“It is fine. He wouldn’t do anything bad. It was probably because it was the first time he’d ever gotten close to someone.”

Alicia was genuinely shocked.

“First…?”

“Probably. I almost forgot—I barely managed to stop the Empress from coming.”

Reichardt kept delivering shocking statements in a tone that suggested it wasn’t surprising at all.

“Her Majesty? How did you stop her?”

There weren’t many ways to stop Eleanor.

“His Majesty was going to come.”

At Reichardt’s words, Alicia was dumbfounded—then understood.

It was already enormous for the Empress to come to the grand ducal residence alone, but for both the Emperor and Empress to appear was truly enormous.

When the Emperor went a step further, it seemed Eleanor had retreated.

“Thank goodness….”

Even with only the guests here, it was overwhelming—if the Emperor and Empress had come, Judith might have collapsed.

For someone who had wailed upon hearing the attendee list, she was adapting well.

The banquet was pleasant and warm.

The happiest people in Adelheid House’s hall weren’t Alicia, Reichardt, or Judith.

Henrik and Connie, standing on the hall’s ornate railing, looked on with satisfaction at Alicia and Reichardt as they surveyed everyone with warm eyes.

The party Henrik had longed for ever since he began following Reichardt had finally happened.

It was a party with deep meaning for him.

A party for the first time in seventeen years.

Henrik gazed at the hall with a face that looked like he had gained the whole world.

It was a happy night.

On the night the banquet ended,

Judith, leaving the hall, offered Alicia special thanks.

“Alicia, thank you so much today. Thanks to you, I made many friends. I’ll work hard from now on, too. As Your Highness said, there might be times when it wasn’t good, but the joy that good moments gave felt beyond words.”

Judith looked at Alicia with sparkling eyes.

“Judith will do well.”

Alicia greeted her, thinking she should introduce her to a good boutique next time.

“I’ll take my leave.”

“Get home safely.”

They exchanged warm farewells and promised the next time.

That night, stars poured down from the sky like rain.

Reichardt slowly opened his eyes.

It was dawn.

It wasn’t a time to receive visitors.

An unpermitted visitor stepped into the grand ducal residence.

The visitor vaulted the front gate in an instant and entered the mansion.

It was a bold movement and speed.

When the visitor’s presence drew near the bedroom, Reichardt found the opponent’s arrogance absurd.

Ssshk.

The door opened carefully, and muffled footsteps crept closer.

“Master Pelmen.”

At Reichardt’s call, Judith flinched, her shoulders trembling.

“……!”

Alicia had hoped she would notice and wake up, but the one who met Judith was the wrong person.

“Mm, Rei…?”

Alicia, still asleep, shifted and murmured.

Cutting through the predawn dimness, Reichardt’s icy, blade-like gaze shot at Judith.

“Your Highness.”

Judith was afraid of the Grand Duke’s eyes that looked like they would kill her, but she suppressed her fear and whispered.

“……Uh, Judith?”

Hearing the sound in her sleep, Alicia defenselessly called Judith’s name.

Of course, the Grand Duke had already grasped Judith’s identity.

But there was no need to confirm-kill it for him.

Alicia seemed to realize her mistake too, and she froze.

“I beg your pardon, Your Grace. Your Highness, I came because I had something urgent to report.”

Judith, standing there, urgently signaled Alicia with her eyes—please get up and let me avoid that murderous stare.

Just awakened, Alicia couldn’t collect herself at once.

Reichardt watched Alicia, smiling as if she were shaking off sleep, then looked back at Judith coldly.

“…….”

Without meaning to, Judith took a small step back.

“It seemed like something happened… I’ll be right back.”

Alicia said to Reichardt in a voice still heavy with sleep.

Reichardt’s sharp gaze stabbed Judith once—then melted away at once as he looked at Alicia.

“Go on.”

At that tender voice that made one’s ears feel embarrassed, Judith cleared her throat. Ahem!

He would glare again, but she would leave the room soon, so there was nothing to fear.

“What is it?”

Alicia approached Judith with a face not fully awake.

Judith grabbed Alicia’s arm and headed for the dressing room.

“The other side.”

A low voice rang out from the bed.

“……I beg your pardon.”

Judith realized the room she had been trying to take Alicia into was the Grand Duke’s dressing room.

She hurriedly changed direction.

Only after escaping that merciless field of view could she breathe again.

“Judith, are you okay? Why are you sweating so much?”

Alicia said something blankly, like an oblivious child.

“Why would I be? No—what mattered now wasn’t that. Alicia, last night, meteors poured down from the sky.”

“Meteors…?”

As she listened to Judith, Alicia slowly began to wake up.