Chapter 05

 There Was No Way I Couldn’t Know

As I looked around at the unfamiliar sights and chatted with my family, the waiting time didn’t feel boring.

It wasn’t until the line had almost completely disappeared that my family was finally able to enter the Imperial Palace.

We had waited for a very long time.

But once we entered, I realized that it had been worth it.

On our way to the banquet hall under the guidance of a palace attendant, vases filled with pastel-colored, fully bloomed flowers decorated the corridors.

The abundant and splendid decorations made me feel dazed as we walked along.

At the end of a corridor that felt as though it were leading into another world, we came upon enormous doors engraved with stars, the moon, and the sun.

When the doors symbolizing the Stern Empire opened, it felt as though another world lay beyond them.

The hall was filled with nobles wearing dresses far more colorful and extravagant than the flowers I had seen along the way.

Groups of people were gathered here and there, laughing happily, drinking champagne, and waving folding fans.

They looked like people living completely different lives from mine.

Once again, I realized just how different people could be even if they belonged to the same nobility, and I entered together with my family.

Mom, Dad, and David also looked around in wonder, apparently amazed and fascinated by the sight before them.

“Rin, come this way. Goodness, it looks like every noble in the empire has gathered here. Doesn’t it, dear?”

“Hehe. I suppose even those who don’t have children participating in the coming-of-age ceremony attended because the Saintess is coming.”

“I suppose so. The Saintess is someone we’re rarely able to see……”

“Rin, hold my hand. Here.”

In the hall, where there was barely enough room to pass through, I managed to move while holding my brother’s hand.

I was fascinated by how easily the palace attendants carrying champagne managed to weave through the crowd, and I stared at them in wonder as David led me along.

There were so many people around my age.

The young ladies wore pastel-colored dresses, while the young men were mostly dressed in ivory or cream-colored suits.

In the Stern Empire, people often wore pastel-toned clothing before reaching adulthood, but after becoming adults, they never wore such colors.

It was closer to a tradition than a fashion trend.

That meant today was the last day I would be able to wear a pastel-colored dress.

Of course, following Mom’s wishes, I had also come wearing a pink dress.

It was less extravagant than the dresses worn by the other young ladies, but I actually liked the simple style more.

There were no jewels, but it was decorated with an abundance of lace that Mom had woven herself.

I also wore long lace gloves to cover the burn scars on my right arm and the back of my hand.

My long hair, which fell past my waist, was simply pinned up and decorated with pure white roses.

The only piece of jewelry I wore was a peridot necklace that Mom had inherited from my maternal grandmother.

But I liked it because its color was exactly the same as my eyes.

We barely managed to get something to drink before moving to a corner of the hall.

Since our territory was so far out on the edge of the empire, we barely knew any other nobles, so it was only natural that we had been pushed aside.

A huge chandelier hung in the center of the hall’s ceiling, while smaller chandeliers were scattered around it like stars surrounding the moon.

I sipped sweet apricot juice while looking at the ceiling, the lights, and the people below dressed in colorful clothes, all while listening to the gentle music playing in the background.

It had been so hot inside the carriage, but once I entered this place, even the night breeze felt cool.

I was happy that I could hold my coming-of-age ceremony in such a magnificent place, far more impressive than I had expected.

On top of that, although I had started reading the novel because of my husband in my previous life, the thought of actually seeing the heroine and male leads I had grown fond of through the novel made me more excited than usual.

“His Highness the Crown Prince, the Star of the Stern Empire, and His Grace the Duke of Leophart are entering! Everyone, show proper respect!”

At the doorkeeper’s announcement, the noisy hall fell silent all at once.

Everyone looked toward the closed doors with shining eyes.

I was no different.

I hadn’t expected to suddenly be able to see both the main male lead and the sub-male lead at the same time.

My heart pounded.

Would they really look exactly as they had been described in the novel?

I was curious about the Crown Prince as well, but I was even more curious about the Duke, the sub-male lead.

The only reason I had read this novel in my previous life was because of my husband.

The person who had first given me the novel was an S-rank Guide.

I never understood why the woman who had told me to leave my husband had given me that book as a gift, but the moment I saw the name Ciel, I immediately became absorbed in the novel.

Even his described appearance reminded me of Ciel, so whenever I spent a night alone, I would habitually take the book out and read it.

Sometimes I wondered if possessing the body of a character in that very book was somehow connected to the lingering attachment I had finally cast aside before my death.

But right now, it was simply curiosity.

Now that I recognized this place as the world of the novel, I found myself wondering once again:

Was the sub-male lead really that similar to my husband from my previous life?

It wasn’t because I still had feelings for my husband.

If I had to express my love for my husband in my previous life as a color, it would be black.

Perhaps at first it had been a soft pink emotion, like the dress I was wearing.

But as time passed, red, the color of jealousy, pale blue, and gray, which was neither one thing nor another, all became mixed together.

Eventually, it must have turned into a dull, dark black.

I thought black was the same as nothingness.

Completely empty……

With nothing left behind.

I was quietly recalling the past when the enormous doors slowly began opening in both directions.

Unable to see clearly, I slightly raised my heels.

“Rin, are you that curious about His Highness the Crown Prince?”

My brother chuckled softly beside me.

My cheeks grew slightly warm.

“No, it’s not that……”

I tried to deny it, but David’s expression had already turned mischievous.

“My heart aches so much. I raised you while telling you how pretty you were all the time, and now that you’ve grown up, you don’t even look at your brother anymore……”

I knew he was deliberately teasing me, but whenever David said things like this, my heart inexplicably sank.

“No…… I like you the most in the world, Brother.”

I wasn’t saying it just to comfort him.

I meant it sincerely.

Right now, the people most precious to me were none other than my family.

“Rin, be careful. Come here.”

It seemed that the Crown Prince and Duke had entered.

As people made way for them, we were naturally pushed farther toward the corner where our family stood.

David shielded me with his body so that my dress wouldn’t get wrinkled.

Because of that, I couldn’t see the Crown Prince and Duke passing by, but I smiled and looked up at my brother.

My brother, who also worked with the territory’s guards, was quite skilled with a sword, and his trained body was solid and strong.

His broad shoulders were sturdy enough to completely shield me, and the women in our territory often found his appearance reassuring.

“Thank you, Brother.”

“There really are a lot of people. I’ve never seen this many people gathered in one place before.”

“Me neither.”

I belatedly stuck my head out to look, but the Crown Prince and Duke were already nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps they had moved to a private area.

I assumed we’d only be able to see them from the upper seats once the Emperor or the Saintess arrived.

And that opportunity came immediately.

“Her Holiness, the Saintess, daughter of Lord Asteras, is entering! Everyone, be silent!”

The warning was stricter than it had been when the Crown Prince or Duke entered.

Judging by the change in the doorkeeper’s voice, it seemed that the person making the announcement was not a palace attendant, but someone from the temple.

Just as before, the doors opened and the people made way.

David shielded me again, but by chance, a gap opened in the crowd where my gaze happened to fall.

Through that gap, I was able to catch a brief glimpse of the Saintess as she passed by.

“……Seoyoon?”

Even that brief glimpse was enough for me to recognize the Saintess.

How could I possibly fail to recognize her?

She was the S-rank Guide who had come to my home whenever Ciel wasn’t there in my previous life and harassed me.

She was the woman who had told me that a man like him was not someone a B-rank Guide like me could handle, and that if I had any shame, I should step aside on my own.

Why was she here……?

My pupils trembled in confusion.

This was supposed to be the world of a novel.

So how could someone I had known in my previous life appear here?

Was this really a novel?

Immediately afterward, an announcement that the Emperor was entering rang through the hall, but I couldn’t hear it anymore.

I turned my head toward the upper seats, wondering if the person I had just seen really was Seoyoon.

I couldn’t see because of the crowd, which frustrated me, but soon the Emperor ascended to the upper seats.

The Saintess followed him.

And then the Crown Prince followed behind her.

In an empire that worshipped the stars, the Saintess, as the daughter of the God of Stars, held a position higher than even the Crown Prince.

Once she reached the upper seats, I could clearly see the familiar appearance I knew.

Her glossy black hair, pitch-black eyes, and pale ivory skin were unmistakably different from the appearance of the people here.

Everyone around her let out exclamations of admiration, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

It was definitely Seoyoon.

I hadn’t been mistaken.

A forgotten emotion suddenly surged to the surface.

The feelings I had harbored toward her—the feelings that had eaten away at me and tormented me—had apparently not disappeared like my lingering attachment to my husband.

My breath caught from the hatred that bubbled violently inside me.

Then, someone appeared behind them, ascending to the upper seats a little later.

A man responsible for escorting the Empress ascended the upper seats with slow but elegant steps.

I could see only his back, yet there was no way I could mistake him.

He wasn’t the sub-male lead, Ciel.

He was my former husband, Ciel.

It felt exactly like the first time I had met him.

The people around me seemed to move hurriedly, but his every movement appeared to be in slow motion, so vivid and clear.

For a moment, I stopped breathing and stared at him as though I were spellbound.

He looked younger than the man I remembered, but it was undoubtedly him.

Only after he slowly turned his body toward the hall below and I saw his face clearly was I finally able to release the breath that had caught in my throat.

His height of more than 190 centimeters, broad shoulders, long, straight limbs, and small face with perfectly sculpted features—

Everything matched the man I remembered.

The description of the sub-male lead’s appearance resembling my husband hadn’t been a coincidence.

It wasn’t that he merely looked similar.

The character had been described based on him.

There was no way I could have read that description without thinking of him.