“As your Archdukeship is obstructing the moonlight, it has left me quite in the dark.”

“Even when you are telling me to get out of your way, it seems so fresh.”

As the chuckling Prime minister stepped aside, he tilted his head inquisitively.

“It’s quite amazing.”

“What is?”

“You have become a completely different person after only a few months.”

A sudden breeze fluttered the disheveled fringe of hair that had drooped down to the Prime Minister’s nose.

“No, should I say that it feels like there is a different soul possessing your body?”

Evanessa, who had just shoved her foot into the high heel, suddenly froze. As a hairpin suddenly slid out of place, a strand of her hair that had been carefully set into her updo fell forward.

A smooth, silk glove grazed the immobilized Evanessa’s earlobe as it brushed the strand of hair to the side.

“Well then, please take good care of yourself. Saintess Evanessa.”

A strong scent of lemons brushed past her as he left. The sound of music and people’s voices rose for a moment before it dropped again.

Click.

Left alone in the silence, Evanessa turned her stiff head to stare at the door that the Prime Minister had left through.

‘Just now, he definitely…’

“No, should I say that it feels like there is a different soul possessing your body?”

She was certain that it was just a random guess thrown out after seeing a difference in her appearance.

Her head started throbbing and her heart was racing at full speed. It felt like she was a child who had just got caught stealing.

Although Evanessa was still off-balance, she rose from her chair. By now, the Crown Prince and Lady Beatrice’s dance should have ended and, at this time, they would be surrounded by nobles.

‘I don’t want to go back through the door.’

Evanessa approached the balustrade and gauged the distance to the ground by eye. Because the grand hall that was hosting the banquet was on the Imperial Palace’s second floor, the drop seemed possible, if a bit reckless. It would be a better option than causing a scandal by exiting from the terrace that the Prime Minister had just left.

‘He isn’t even a capture target, there’s no reason to get caught up in a scandal.’

As the main storyline had now begun, she needed to manage her actions carefully in order to enter the route towards the happy ending.

Evanessa took off the shoe that the Prime Minister had put on for her, and its pair, and grabbed hold of the balustrade. Luckily, below the terrace laid a garden with a soft bed of grass. Tossing down the shoes that were in her hands first, Evanessa jumped over the balustrade without a second thought. Just then, the closed terrace door swung open.

Fortunately, the person who entered the terrace didn’t witness Evanessa’s strange behavior.

Beneath the railing, Evanessa held her breath and leaned against the wall. The light reflected onto the garden, casting a long shadow over the lawn.

“Saintess Evanessa?”

The garden, immersed in darkness, was so quiet that not even the sound of insects could be heard. Therefore, the voice of the man looking for her could be heard clearly.

“That’s odd. I was definitely told that she’d be here.”

The shadow that was snooping above her head left. Something, likely her plate, flashed and then disappeared.

Evanessa only moved after the doors closed and the music had completely disappeared. Her whole body was stiff due to nerves.

For Evanessa, this day seemed to be full of incomprehensible matters.

‘It seems like they were just a servant.’

For now, Evanessa quickly set off towards her room. The words that the prime minister had said on the terrace wouldn’t leave her mind.

That was why Evanessa didn’t notice a pair of curious, young eyes watching her.

After she faded into the distance, a black shadow fell down from the large Elm tree in the garden.

“She is very different from the rumors.”

The shadow let out a low whistle as it watched Evanessa’s figure shrink into a dot and disappear. In what seemed to be a habit for when something pleasant occurred, he hummed a tune that was carried away by the wind.