After accepting everyone's congratulations, Roland went backstage at the evening gala.
The staff were already preparing to close up. When they saw the newly promoted High Mage enter, they hurriedly stepped aside and bowed.
"Where is Miss Polina?"
Roland picked someone at random and asked.
"Your Excellency, she's removing her makeup backstage."
Hearing that, Roland prepared to wait a while.
Just then, however, Sophia came out.
Tall and slender, she wore an overcoat and looked both fashionable and beautiful. In a place where most regions were still as backward as the late Middle Ages, she naturally stood out from the crowd.
The staff tactfully bowed and left.
Sophia said to Roland, "I heard your voice from inside, but I didn't expect it really was you. Thank you so much for what you did tonight."
"It was nothing," Roland said. "After all, I promised Senior Froya I would look after you."
"Was it only because of Froya?" Sophia asked, sounding rather aggrieved.
"All right," Roland said. "We do know each other. Even without her special request, I would still look after you."
Sophia smiled. "That's more like it."
Then she added, "Since you were thoughtful enough to visit us backstage, come in."
With that, she led Roland inside.
The first thing Roland saw was Polina sitting in a chair, leaning sideways as she peeled the stockings off her feet.
As thin as cicada wings, those stockings surpassed any manufactured product he had seen in either of his lives. They seemed to possess a texture suffused with holy light, lending her long, pale legs a sacred air.
As she gently peeled them away, there was a hazy beauty to it, like a goddess lowering her veil.
She was still wearing her light dance dress. Her figure was graceful and beautiful, and her