"I'm sorry, Miss." Mise released her hand and bowed slightly, apologizing earnestly.
"I'm all right... Thank you..." the girl said. Then she hesitated for a moment, and Mise could see the nervousness in her eyes.
Perhaps because of his upbringing, or because her nervousness had rubbed off on him, Mise couldn't help asking, "Do you need help... Miss Wisdom?"
"How did you... Oh, forgive me." Miss Wisdom first looked surprised, then realized she'd let her emotions show and hurriedly corrected herself. "Hello... I... I'm Fatenai Wisdom."
Mise's suspicions were confirmed. His smile deepened as he looked at Fatenai. "Hello, I'm Mise Rudells. Do you need help, Miss Wisdom?"
"Me? Ah, um... I... I want to go..." Fatenai looked like a startled fawn, though she seemed to be trying hard to hide her alarm.
"Are you trying to get to the Banquet Hall? Who came with you? I can take you there." Mise was very patient. Seeing that Fatenai looked about the same age as his younger sister, he spoke to her as he would to his sister.
The girl's eyes lit up, and she nodded. "Mm, I'm going to the Banquet Hall!"
Mise smiled and led the way, though a trace of suspicion had crept into his mind.
Fatenai of the Wisdom Family was the only daughter of Duke Wisdom. Though she had never formally entered high society, everyone who had met her considered her calm and mature for her age. That was nothing like this girl... Mise mulled over their conversation as they walked.
She didn't even seem to know proper noble etiquette...
The Banquet Hall was already packed. Ladies from all over the kingdom and their guardians held glasses of wine and chatted with one another, filling the room with the bustle unique to the social season. After bringing Fatenai there, Mise turned and saw the girl staring in astonishment, as if the scene had taken her completely by surprise.
"Miss Wisdom," Mise said.
"Huh? Wh-what is it?" Fatenai jumped.
Mise took two glasses of wine from a footman and offered her one. "I've heard the duchess is an excellent rider, but my younger sister knows nothing about riding. I wonder if the duchess might write her a letter with some advice?"
"Of course!" Fatenai said. She hesitated, then noticed Mise's firm gesture and took the glass.
"Well, I hope you enjoy yourself." Mise smiled and held out his glass, as if he meant to clink it against hers.
Fatenai nodded, clinked glasses with him, and walked straight into the hall. As she passed, Mise thought he heard her let out a breath.
Mise's expression didn't change. As he left the Banquet Hall, he beckoned to the butler in a tailcoat.
"Find out who came with Miss Wisdom, and have the servants keep an eye on her. Something's wrong," Mise said.
"Of course, Your Highness." The butler answered without asking questions.
Mise turned back, gazing meaningfully at the Banquet Hall. The Duchess of Wisdom was frail and often ill. How could she possibly be good at riding?
And clinking glasses was the wrong way to do it...
The girl in the white dress walked through the Banquet Hall. She was so young that she quickly became the focus of everyone's attention. The nobles glanced her way and mentioned her to the people beside them.
"Who's that little girl...?"
"She's Miss Wisdom... the girl who's supposed to marry into the Arrenieu Family."
"Isn't he that nouveau riche? Poor girl. Has Duke Wisdom lost his mind?"
"But at her awakening ceremony, they announced she couldn't use Mana... That's the really strange part..."
Fatenai didn't seem able to bear the whispers and stares. Her movements grew increasingly awkward, making her look like a child who hadn't grown up in the eyes of the nobles. At last, as if she couldn't take it anymore, she gulped down some wine and immediately choked on it.
"Cough, cough, cough..." So many people were watching her that the coughing drew everyone's attention. The nobles looked at her with disdain.
"Look at the way she moves... Simply vulgar..." The voice was light, but it fell right into Fatenai's ears, draining the color from her face.
A footman beside her noticed and stepped forward to offer her a handkerchief. Just then, she lifted her head.
"Are Miss Wisdom's eyes... brown?"
"Lady Gabrielle." At the Royal Palace, Lelia held a glass of wine. Around her stood noblewomen dressed in white gowns like hers. She appeared both dignified and aloof amid the crowd. When she looked up, she saw that the person speaking to her was a middle-aged man in a suit—the Royal Palace's butler, whom she recognized.
"Is something the matter?" Lelia asked.
Even as she asked, she was thinking of Fatenai. Fatenai had been acting strangely these past few days...
"Miss Fatenai is in the Banquet Hall by herself and seems rather frightened. Earlier, she even spilled her wine while clinking glasses with His Highness Mise," the butler said.
"What did you say?" Lelia thought she must have misheard. But when she saw the butler's serious expression, a bad feeling immediately stirred within her.
No matter how nervous Fatenai was, she would never behave so discourteously.
Then she suddenly remembered that since that day, Fatenai had knocked over her glass several times and apologized to the maids...
They hadn't spent long together on that journey, but Lelia knew Fatenai was more capable of enduring hardship than most nobles. Besides, having matured early, she understood noble rules all too well. Why would she apologize to servants like a commoner?
"Liden, ask my guards to come in," Lelia said to the footman beside her. Then she headed for the Banquet Hall without looking back.
"Are Miss Wisdom's eyes... brown?"
The noblewoman's question was followed by a loud bang as the doors burst open, shattering the silence and doubt among the others. Everyone turned to look at the newcomer. The atmosphere, like a glass falling onto a marble floor, broke into a sharp, ringing crash.
"Who are you?" The woman who had burst in had purple-blue eyes, sharp as an eagle's. She glared at the girl cowering in the corner. Guards with swords stood behind her, their bearing fierce.
"I don't know... I don't know... Don't kill me, I don't know..." Fatenai was terrified. She hurriedly curled up in the corner, trembling all over. Her unremarkable brown eyes were full of fear, as if these people might frighten her unconscious at any moment.
What had happened?
The nobles backed away one after another. The intruders carrying swords seemed dangerous, and those who didn't understand what was happening instinctively wanted to avoid them.
"Lady Gabrielle, please calm down." An elegant voice broke through the standoff. Lelia Wisdom turned to look at the young man who had entered. Though he still wore a smile, his eyes were full of authority. "This is the Royal Palace."
Mise's arrival made the situation even more chaotic. The nobles still wore their usual masks, but there was no longer any sign of their earlier delight in their eyes. They all watched the scene warily.
More eyes fixed on Fatenai, as if trying to figure out who she really was.
"Your Highness... Your Highness! Save me... I don't know... I don't know anything... When I woke up, I was brought here. That person said he'd kill me if I didn't play this role properly!" The stares made the girl, who had been cowering in the corner, even more uneasy. Perhaps the kindness he'd shown her earlier had made her trust him completely. She hurried over to Mise and spoke in a rush.
"Who is he?" Lelia narrowed her eyes and advanced on Fatenai.
The matter seemed to have truly ignited Lelia's fury. As she walked, the glasses on the nearby tables began to shake, wine sloshing out of them.
"Lady Gabrielle, have your guards leave the Royal Palace first," Mise said, frowning as he put out a hand to stop Lelia. "Or do you think you're already in a position to challenge the authority of the royal family?"
His words were grave, and the nobles couldn't help whispering among themselves. Lelia had no choice but to restrain her anger. She looked at the prince of the Kingdom of Luther, her tone distinctly hostile. "Your Highness Mise! You can see for yourself that she's a commoner. A commoner impersonating a noble is a capital offense!"
"No, no... Your Highness, save me! I don't know... I really don't know anything..." Tears streamed down Fatenai's face, making her look utterly pitiful. "I didn't mean to... I just don't want to die..."
The scene was in complete chaos.
"Enough! Who are you? Who put you up to this? Where is the real Fatenai Wisdom?" Lelia demanded sternly. She tried to get around Mise and seize Fatenai, cutting off her pleas. "I won't kill you in the Royal Palace, but if you don't explain yourself, I can't promise how many days you'll live!"
"I don't know... I don't know..." Fatenai sobbed like a shivering cat.
Mise's voice grew sterner too. "Lady Gabrielle, are you going to use force in the Royal Palace?"
"I think you should move aside, Prince Mise. I brought that child from the Wisdom Family here, and I owe my brother a proper explanation," Lelia said, meeting his gaze without yielding. "But you're stopping me, keeping me from learning the truth! Or do you, as a member of the commoner faction, intend to let the Wisdom Family's enemies make a big fuss over this?"
Mise wasn't very old, but he understood the threat in Lelia's words all too well. His frown deepened. "Lady Gabrielle, do you really think this girl would tell you anything if I moved aside?"
"Let her come here!" Lelia said.
"No... No... They'll kill me!" Fatenai struggled with all her might.
The girl seemed terribly fragile, barely able to speak coherently, but she was stubborn in this one respect. In the end, she clung tightly to Mise's clothes and refused to meet Lelia's eyes.
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