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EPISODE 185 – FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY BALL (2)
Saluzia stood and blankly stared at the royal capital.
The sun was setting.
The red sunset covered the sky, and beyond that red and yellow light, a dark purple gradually spread.
The night was coming.
The darkness was coming.
As she gazed at the sky, day and night changed at some point.
The moon and stars shone in the dark blue sky, and below it, the royal capital seemed to forget the night as it shined beautifully.
“City of Light.”
“Huh?”
Koros reacted to Saluzia’s words.
He was in his demonic human form because he couldn’t maintain his human form due to the royal capital’s barrier.
He was almost 3 meters tall, and two horns stood tall on his head.
In terms of size, he was several times taller than Saluzia.
Saluzia’s deer antlers grew on her head and she looked back at Koros.
It had been 30 years since then.
Saluzia spoke about the past in front of her childhood friend who knew everything she wanted to hide because he had been with her from the very beginning as far as she could remember.
“Do you remember? On what happened in the royal capital when we were children?”
“You mean when the director sold us as slaves? When we were loaded into a slave wagon that rattled?”
“Yes, that time.”
Saluzia was eight years old and Koros was nine years old then.
The skinny boy and girl with large shackles on their ankles sat in a wagon covered with dirty straw and suffered from hunger.
“I thought it was pretty.”
The big and colorful city they saw in the distance.
What kind of people live in such a pretty city?
Everyone must have a mother and father, right?
They can wear pretty clothes and eat delicious food.
They don’t get beaten or hurt every day.
“Someday
 when I become an adult. I promised myself that I would go there once.”
A vague hope.
That something would change when she becomes an adult.
That this painful life would end when she grows up. That she would be happy.
“But I couldn’t go there even when I became an adult.”
Because the royal capital had a barrier.
Saluzia herself had become a demonic human by selling her soul to the devil.
“Konny.”
“Yes, Sannie.”
“The place is different from what I imagined, right?”
“Places like that exist wherever people live. So if you go in a little deeper, it will be the same hellhole.”
At Koros’ words, Saluzia unknowingly laughed.
No, she completely laughed out loud.
“Sannie?”
“Just, it’s just funny.”
The city she envied when she was a child.
She really wanted to go there once, but she couldn’t.
‘But I’m going to burn that city now.’
Her heart no longer ached for it.
Saluzia herself was a demonic human now, and all of this was for her beloved leader.
“Let’s go, Konny.”
“Yes, Sannie.”
To destroy that city full of colorful lights that seemed to have forgotten the night.
Saluzia closed her eyes and stepped forward.
She hummed as she breathed in the cold night air.
***
A singing voice.
Jude stood by the window and watched the sunset for a while before he turned his gaze back to the front.
The grand banquet hall where the founding anniversary ball was held was full of light.
The chandeliers under the magnificent ceiling shone beautifully, and magical lights on the walls drove out the darkness.
The floor that was shiny enough to reflect the face, and the chattering voices of the people.
And the bright and cheerful song of the lively minstrel from afar.
Jude took a step back to widen his view, but it was impossible to capture the banquet hall at a glance.
In the very spacious banquet hall, around 300-400 people were gathered.
Nobles from all over the country and guests from other countries.
On top of that, dozens of royal court attendants were active at work for the smooth progress of the banquet, so it was natural that it was crowded.
‘Henry II.’
Jude’s gaze turned to the end of the upper seats.
The not competent but not that incompetent Henry II was certainly a good king, and he was chatting and laughing with his First Queen while the Second and Third Queens were sitting next to him.
‘There really are a lot.’
In addition to Princess Daphne and Prince Dion sitting next to the queens, there were more than fifteen children of the king.
Excluding the first three children, all of them were children of the concubines, so they were far from inheriting the throne, but they were still royalty who possessed the blood of the founder king in their veins.
Jude looked at all the royal children except for Princess Darianne, who was currently not present due to some circumstances, and he turned to the wall again.
‘Duke Antarius, the Lord Protector.’
He stood near the royal family and was chatting with his disciples.
They didn’t have any swords since they were at a ball, but they were all swordsmen with excellent skills.
‘It’s fortunate that the commander of the Royal Guard Knights isn’t on the side of the Lord Protector.’
Jude turned his gaze away from the Lord Protector so as not to be suspicious, and he glanced around the banquet hall again.
From time to time, familiar faces caught his eyes.
‘Emma Ficus.’
She came with her well-mannered fiancé, but she looked rather down than usual.
She would be like that because this place was the royal capital and not the north.
She was a young noble lady who was only popular in the north because of Count Ficus, but in the royal capital, she was just an average noble.
‘Of course, the 12 northern families are not average nobles.’
It was just how they were normally treated here.
Most of the nobles from the royal capital had the notion that they were somehow above the local nobles.
‘There’s Rachel too.’
Was her name Rachel Bloom?
He had met her at the Banquet of Swords, and she together with Lucas’ friends were gathered together as they laughed and chatted.
‘Sylvia’s here too.’
Sylvia was one of the most beautiful women in the north, though she was a bit less than Cordelia. So even among the noble children of the royal capital, she exhibited a clear presence.
She was chatting with Cordelia’s brother, Edward, and it seemed to Jude that they were talking about something business-related.
‘My brother should have been there too.’
As the next Count Bayer, he should have been talking with the next Count Chase and the next Countess Crossbell.
However, Gaël did not even attend the founding anniversary ball.
Since Adelia chased Cordelia in the north and the wild lands, she had taken so many vacation days that she couldn’t even take a leave for the succeeding years. Thus, Adelia was on duty tonight, and GaĂ«l had gone to the guard post in order to spend time with her.
‘Since when did he become such a romantic?’
A thief who had learned stealing later than others would not even realize that the day breaks while committing a theft, and that was the case for Gaël.
Maja would have said that the two brothers were exactly the same if she had heard Jude’s thoughts, but in any case, Jude did not stop GaĂ«l from leaving.
‘It would be reassuring if we even had one stronger ally but
 I’m worried about Adelia too.’
It was unknown how the Lord Protector and the Devil’s Hand would act.
Adelia was a capable person who could take care of herself in any situation, but there was still a possibility.
So he was relieved that Adelia and Gaël would be together.
‘My father and her father are over there though.’
Jude had asked them to stay close to the royal family as much as possible, but since the two couldn’t help but meet people, they were moving farther away.
‘Seryu is not here.’
Seven-Killings Sword, Trickle.
But Jude thought that rather than attending the ball wearing a dress, she would look better smiling while lifting a wine glass alone as she leant on the wall.
‘And Lucas.’
The boy stood alone on the wall as his shoulders drooped like a crestfallen golden retriever.
Jude couldn’t help but talk to Lucas when he saw that face.
“Lord Lucas.”
“Oh, Mr. Jude. I mean, Baron Bayer.”
“You can just say Lord Jude. It’s just between us.”
At Jude’s words, Lucas nodded with a very happy expression.
“Thank you for saying that.”
“Don’t mention it. By the way
 you look down?”
When Jude asked openly, Lucas replied as his shoulders fell again.
“The truth is
 I invited Miss Scarlet to attend the ball with me. But I was rejected.”
After he finished talking, Lucas’ head lowered a bit, and Jude glanced at Lucas’ butt unconsciously. It somehow seemed to Jude that Lucas had a drooping tail.
‘No, more than that.’
You invited Scarlet to be your partner?
‘Isn’t what Cordelia saying true then?’
As Jude looked at him in surprise, Lucas opened his mouth again.
“After the conferment ceremony
 we met on the street by chance.”
“By chance?”
“Yes, just like how Biltwein met Elena accidentally in Biltwein the Hero.”
Lucas’ gaze and voice were filled with warmth, and Jude was convinced.
‘He’s in love.’
Well, Scarlet is a beauty.
In addition to being confident, she’s also secretly nice.
‘If Cordelia knew this, she’d love it.’
Whether there was a chance or not, Cordelia was enthusiastic with shipping couples.
“Lord Lucas.”
“Yes, Lord Jude.”
“Scarlet loves roses.”
“Excuse me? Ah, yes!”
Jude could do nothing else but root for Lucas.
If it really went well with Lucas, it seemed like Lucas would unshakably be on ‘their side.’
“I-is there
 anything else?”
Lucas timidly asked, and Jude quietly recalled Scarlet’s setting.
And it was at that moment.
“Hey~ You were here.”
The owner of the voice he heard from behind him was First Sword.
Greeting both Jude and Lucas, he approached with a smile and tapped Jude on the shoulder before raising his hand.
“Nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.”
It was nice if the man he wanted to stick close to came to him on their own.
Jude smiled while Lucas followed his greeting. First Sword looked around then and asked.
“But where is your pretty fiancĂ©e?”
“If it’s Cordelia, she’s preparing with Princess Darianne right now.”
“With the princess? Why?”
“It’s
we prepared a bit of a special dress.”
The Fairy Dress and Fairy Shoes.
Princess Darianne had heard that something mysterious would happen in the process of wearing it, and was so eager to see it so Cordelia had no choice but to change her clothes at the main palace.
‘I want to see it too.’
It was no exaggeration to say that the Fairy Dress was a kind of polymorph item that turned its wearer into a fairy.
There were so many things to see, such as the mysterious light that would appear in the process of wearing it, the wings of light that would appear and disappear for a short moment, and so on.
‘Of course, even if Princess Darianne wasn’t there, I wouldn’t be able to see it.’
If I said that I wanted to see it, she would have hit me.
“Hey, look at that smile. You’re smiling because you’re thinking of your fiancĂ©e, right?”
“Perhaps
?”
“Ah, you seriously look so happy. It makes me want to stab you.”
“F-first Sword-nim?”
“It’s a figure of speech, a figure of speech. It’s not real.”
At the words of First Sword, Lucas exhaled as if he was truly relieved, and First Sword was interested in Lucas’ innocent appearance. Because he thought that it would be fun to tease Lucas.
Anyway, it was the moment when Jude’s imagination and First Sword’s grumbling were about to continue.
A small sound.
The sound of the one of the doors in the grand banquet hall slowly opening.
It was such a small sound.
It was just a small sound that could be buried by the sound of the music and the people’s chattering.
But at that very moment.
When the girl who came to the ball late took a step.
Those standing near the door turned their gazes inadvertently.
Then they saw the royal court attendant who had opened the door to have frozen in place, as the attendant stared at one place with an enchanted face.
What’s going on?
Why is he like that?
Their questions did not last long.
The moment their eyes followed the gaze of the attendant, they knew the reason.
There were no exclamations.
There were no words of wonder.
There was only silence.
They forgot what they were saying the moment they saw her.
They were mesmerized the moment they gazed at her.
The girl walked in steps.
The sound of her footsteps were weak and small, but the sound gradually began to be noticeable.
Her footsteps didn’t get louder.
It was because her surroundings had become quiet.
The silence spread.
The stillness spread out.
The sound of her footsteps became more and more clear.
The silence quickly spread like a flame wherever the girl walked.
The chattering stopped.
And Jude could finally hear it.
Her footsteps.
Even though his back were facing them, Jude could tell the changes that occurred to the countless people.
The sounds that had filled the banquet hall diminished.
The court musicians’ hands seemed to be slowing down, but they stopped before anyone noticed it, and the minstrel who was singing forgot the lyrics.
Henry II and First Queen Justina who were having a conversation also sensed the change in the banquet hall. They raised their heads to know what was going on, and their faces became like the others.
And one step.
The sound of her last step before the total silence.
Except for Jude, hundreds of people looked at the same place.
They couldn’t help but gaze at that place.
It was so compelling.
An overwhelming and intense beauty.
In that absolute silence, Jude gulped in nervousness.
And he finally turned around to face her.
“Corde-
”
He opened his mouth and stopped.
He couldn’t even properly call her name.
The moment he saw her, he was spellbound. Because he fell in love again.
A star.
A girl who shone alone among the countless people.
The Fairy Dress wasn’t that fancy.
She didn’t tighten her waist, nor was it filled with heavy and dull decorations.
The fluttering white cloth flowed down along Cordelia’s smooth shoulder line, and her skirt naturally  drew a soft line.
And a faint heavenly aura surrounded the girl.
The girl stood shyly and seemed to pout before she smiled with her fangs visible. She took a step again and drew closer to Jude, whispering.
“How long
are you going to keep me waiting?”
Perhaps because of everyone’s gaze, she spoke with a red face, and Jude finally came to his senses. No, he took Cordelia’s hand while still captivated.
‘Correction
effect.’
The Fairy Dress and Fairy Shoes had effects that greatly increased one’s beauty and charm respectively.
In addition, there was a correction effect because of her Angel Mode, so it was natural that a truly transcendental beauty was born.
Therefore.
Thus.
In the end, Jude admitted it.
He gave up explaining it through its game effects.
No matter how much he tried to understand it by replacing it with numbers, he still couldn’t understand it.
“Cordelia, let’s dance.”
“Eh?”
Cordelia unconsciously asked. She would act like that because the place was really silent now.
There wasn’t even a small sound of music, let alone a song, and everyone present was even looking her way.
But he wants to dance now?
That’s too much.
That’s completely too much.
But Cordelia nodded her head without realizing it.
She did that the moment she met eyes with Jude.
And after that, everything went naturally.
Jude hugged Cordelia’s waist, and she gently leaned against him.
And one step.
The dance of the two began.