Until The Real One Shows Up

[Rosenia’s necklace repelled your curse. No wonder, no matter how real she is, I thought it was weird for the curse to be repelled.]

“Rosenia’s necklace? What’s that?”

[It protects the wearer from harm.]

Only then did Avelin squint and stare at Anastasia who was surrounded by people.

At first glance, she saw a red necklace on the collarbone of a black see-through dress.

If she was wearing her usual dress, it was natural that she couldn’t see it.

‘Is that why I struggled until now?’

Ha, Avelin sighed.

[Do you see the red necklace on her neck? Just take that away. Then your curse will work again.]

“Okay, I understand.”

Still staring at Anastasia’s neck, Avelin replied confidently.

“Now that I know the cause of the problem, there’s a solution. It’s a piece of cake.”

~~~~

… But in reality it was not easy at all.

Undoubtedly, Anastasia was the Empress, and she was always protected among the chaos of her maids.

No matter how much she bribed the Empress’ Palace’s maids, she could never reach the Empress’ close quarters.

‘After all, I have to move.’

It was the conclusion she came to after much deliberation over her failures. Avelin immediately went to see Anastasia.

~~~~

At that time, Anastasia was receiving a report from Mrs. Rochester.

“It is true that those who were the biological parents of Lady Hazel in the family register died in a carriage accident while living in Vaudar.”

“Then you mean there is nothing strange about the birth?”

“If we only look at the family register, however, there is something strange.”

“If it’s a problem…”

“The daughter of the deceased couple is now three years old.”

At that, Anastasia looked at Mrs. Rochester with a puzzled expression.

“Yes. They don’t match her age at all.”

“That means…”

“It is true that Count Hazel adopted a distant relative, but that is not the present Lady Hazel. It seems to have changed.”

Meanwhile, Mrs. Rochester handed Anastasia one of the birth certificates issued in Vaudar.

“… Really.”

It was written 3 years ago. Anastasia smiled in surprise.

“How dare you try to deceive us with something so obvious.”

“Anyway, it is true that among her distant relatives, those known as Lady Hazel’s biological parents did exist.”

Mrs. Rochester replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

“No one would have thought of doubting it. I wouldn’t have thought about going all the way to Vaudar to check it out. It’s a country very far from here.”

“… Yes. There was a reason why she dared to set her birth parents’ origins as being in Vaudar.”

“Yes. It took us quite some time to investigate this.”

Mrs. Rochester, who was nodding her head, said to Anastasia as if she had almost forgot.

“Yes, His Majesty sent a message earlier to join him for lunch today.”

“His Majesty?”

“Yes. What will you do?”

“Of course I have to go.”

The answer was obvious. Anastasia, in an orange dress that lightly covered her neck, headed straight for the Central Palace.

“The weather has suddenly turned cold.”

It was the beginning of autumn. A cool breeze blew not excessively, but Selene, who was following her, asked loudly.

“Your Majesty, aren’t you cold? You wore thin clothes and it’s very cold because of the wind. I feel like my head is throbbing for no reason…”

“Well. It’s just tolerable.”

“Oh my God, you can’t do that. You catch a cold. I’ll go to the Empress’ Palace and bring a shawl!”

“No, Selene. It’s not that bad…”

But before she could stop her, Selene had already sprinted towards the Empress’ Palace.

Anastasia smiled and shook her head as if she couldn’t stop her, which had just moved away.

“Selene… You must have been very cold.”

“Your Majesty the Empress?”

At that time, a gentle voice passed through Anastasia’s ear.

As Anastasia turned around, Avelin was approaching this way with a bright smile.

Why did she look so happy?

Anastasia swallowed her embarrassment and opened her mouth.

“Lady Hazel.”

“I see the empire’s moon.”

Avelin, who bowed her head gracefully, spoke in a voice as welcoming as her expression.

“I was going to see Your Majesty, but I ran into you like this.”

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

“I heard that the ladies will gather and have a tea party soon.”

As Avelin said, a tea party was scheduled for next week. Anastasia stared at Avelin at her unintentional question.

“I was wondering if you could invite me there.”

“… The Lady?”

“Yes. Will it be difficult?”

“It’s not like that.”

Since each of the supporters were still at odds over the position of the Empress, she did not intend to give any excuse by refusing.

However, as only friendly forces gathered, it would be a difficult position for Avelin.

Why would she go somewhere like that?

“You’re rather welcome. Feel free to come… What?”

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It was that moment. Anastasia turned around with a startled look on her face, with a cozy feeling behind her.

“… Will?”

When he appeared, Wilhelm was carefully arranging the shawl he put on behind Anastasia.

“It’s so cold. What if you catch a cold?”

“Ah… I don’t think it’s that cold.”

“The daily temperature range is big. It takes only a moment for you to catch a cold.”

In the meantime, Wilhelm, who was meticulously dressed in a shawl, smiled with a satisfied look.

“That’s good.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Anastasia, who was fiddling with Wilhelm’s shawl, smiled and asked as if she had remembered.

“Oh, but what brings you here…”

“I was going to escort you.”

In response, Wilhelm suddenly hugged Anastasia’s waist.

In an instant, Anastasia’s heart started beating faster, and her cheeks naturally turned red.

This kind of physical contact was… she still wasn’t used to it even after repeating it several times.

“We’re supposed to have a luncheon today.”

Anastasia opened her lips with difficulty at the low tone of the voice that crossed her ears.

“Then… I should have invited you to the Empress’ Palace. I made you escort me twice.”

“There’s nothing wrong with it. The first of them will be on my way to see you, and the last will be with you.”

“Will…”

“… There.”

There are still people here… 

Avelin, who had been watching the nice atmosphere of the two of them silently, intervened between the two, hiding her twisted expression.

Anastasia was quick to react to the call, but Wilhelm was much slower. Like someone who intentionally responded late.

“Oh, there was also Lady Hazel.”

Then, at the natural words, Avelin clenched her teeth involuntarily.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I was on my way to see the Empress…”

“I’m sorry, but can you put it off until later. I’m too hungry right now. Can I go first with the Empress?”

“… Yes?”

“Let’s go this way, Asha.”

Even before Avelin could answer, Wilhelm turned as if he had already heard the answer.

Watching his back fade away, with his arm still wrapped around Anastasia’s waist, Avelin gave a startled expression.

[They really are like a couple of cockroaches. When the bodies are close together, there is no room to intervene.]

“…”

[So, at this point, just give up and give yourself to me…]

“Be quiet.”

Avelin broke the demon’s whispers in a small, sharp voice.

“If they look like that, they will fall when she dies. I’m going to take that necklace away at the meeting next week.”

~~~

“Oh, did you do that on purpose?”

In the dining room, Anastasia, who sat facing Wilhelm at a huge table, asked. Wilhelm looked at Anastasia.

“Because of Lady Hazel, you purposely…”

“Not at all?”

Wilhelm answered with his eyes wide open.

“Even if we don’t show it like that, everyone in the Imperial Palace knows how we are.”

“That… Yes.”

“Rather, because of Lady Hazel, I was more patient.”

Anastasia narrowed her eyes at the strange addition. Then Wilhelm looked at Anastasia with an innocent smile.

As she watched, Anastasia finally burst into laughter. Anyway, she couldn’t help it.

“Well, more than that.”

At that time, Wilhelm changed the topic by wiping his lips with a napkin.

“I have news to tell you. About the dead High Priest.”

“Ah yes.”

“Now, I interrogated the elder priests who are scattered all over the province. To investigate the relationship between the High Priest and the High Priest 20 years ago. But…”

Wilhelm, who was fiddling with the glass of water in front of him, spoke.

“I heard that there was a priestess of the Great Temple who he had a close relationship with. It was a fact everyone had known for a long time. It’s been a while.”

“Priestess? Oh my God.”

Naturally, relationships between priests were against the doctrine. Even if it ended up happening, there was an implicit rule to hide it for the sake of the image of the temple.

“How did you find that out?”

“Well, it wasn’t that hard.”

“Yes…?”

Wilhelm smiled silently as he looked at Anastasia tilting his head as if it were strange.

The interrogation was on paper, but the content was so moderate that he didn’t have to show her.

“Anyway, 21 years ago, she suddenly disappeared, but I guess he didn’t chase her before. He probably noticed that she ran away because of something unsavory.”

“Ah…”

“Anyway, she was living quite far from the capital and had a daughter, and it gets worse.”

“If it’s a daughter…”

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“Yes, she said her name was ‘Avelin’. Everyone in the village knew.”

“Well, really…”

“But there’s one strange thing.”

Wilhelm continued, tilting his head as if it were a mystery no matter how much he thought about it.

“About last year, there was a sudden fire in the house where the mother and daughter lived, and the house collapsed without a chance to escape.”