Things to Do During the Day

Chapter 3: Suspicious Envoy

As early evening came, when orange and purple were layered in the sky and darkness crept in, the royal banquet hall became crowded with guests.

It was no exaggeration to say that royal banquets were held almost every month. With the exception of the big festivals held four times a year, the rest were not so grand. Rather, it was more of a social dinner party, where most aristocrats would attend with ease.

Gazing at the people coming in, the crown princess looked around for the person she requested to join her on the balcony.

‘You’re not here yet.’

Ariel was the one the crown princess was looking for. She was also the most important of the few guests the crown princess cared to personally write the invitation letter to.

“I’ve been pretty tired lately…….”

The crown princess raised her hand and shifted her shoulders while she rubbed her slightly glazed eyes. She let out a groan without realizing it. It couldn’t be helped. She didn’t sleep until late last night. That was why the crown princess needed Ariel even more so than ever.

‘The touch of Ariel’s hand will blow away all this fatigue.’

The crown princess recalled the day she first touched Ariel’s hand. Ariel, the little girl who came holding Arsion’s hand. When she saw the shining wings behind the girl’s embarrassed figure of not knowing how to treat a member of the royal family she met for the first time, the crown princess reached out without realizing it and grabbed Ariel’s hand.

At that moment, the crown princess thought she had entered a deep forest valley. A cool, indescribable freshness enveloped the body. Would it be like this if one had washed all the unclean things with the purest water in the world?

When the crown princess came to her senses, she found that all the fatigue from the class she had attended the previous day had disappeared. Not only that, her tangled mind also became clean.

At that time, the crown princess made a pledge. She wanted to have Ariel next to her. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason to call Ariel.

‘There’s something else besides the ability to recover.’

Of course, she didn’t invite Ariel just to reap the benefits. The time to meet Ariel, drink a few, and talk to her in the midst of snake-like people was one of the few pleasant times for the crown princess.

‘Still…’

Since marrying Arsion, she could count with her fingers how many times Ariel visited. At least, she never managed to talk leisurely with her anymore. She could only greet Ariel when she attended the banquet.

Of course, it was because of Arsion. He did not stray far from Ariel’s side throughout the entire banquet, and as soon as the banquet was over, he hurried back to their home. She understood, but still…

‘There’s a certain degree!’

How he didn’t think of letting Ariel go for more than three months. Of course, she knew their time as newlyweds would soon burn down, but Arsion’s obsession was at a serious level.

‘You must be resting for now.’

A week ago, Arsion contacted her. He informed her that it would take about a month because there were more things to look at than they had anticipated after inspecting everything at the end of the week.

Nevertheless, she thought this week was too short. Ariel would be more relaxed after two more weeks. In the meantime, she watched Ariel for a little while.

The crown princess took light steps down the hall, thinking that Ariel was arriving soon. People approached her as she walked down. The crown princess, who was replying to everyone’s greeting, saw some young ladies unusually excited.

“You look very happy. Is there something interesting going on?”

When the crown princess approached and asked, the young ladies who were chattering hurriedly bowed their heads.

“It’s not a big deal. However, there was a rumor that the envoy of Credos, who was supposed to attend the banquet today, is very handsome…”

The crown princess smiled bitterly at the words.

It was Arsion who was always talked about among young nobles. This was still the case when he was away from the capital. However, after he married Ariel and showed his love for her at the occasional banquets, the young ladies had no choice but to give up all their hopes and dreams of Arsion.

The problem was that there was no man of interest to replace Arsion. A person who possessed the appearance, status, and ability to replace Arsion was rare.

‘The envoy of Credos.’

Credos was a neighboring country bordering the kingdom across the mountains. A neighboring country that could not be said to be a friend, but also not an enemy – the relationship was literally just so-so. Still, exchanges with Credos increased a little recently.

‘The devil keeps showing up…….’

In the mountain range, bordering Credos, monsters continued to appear. The marquis’s territory, where Arsion went down this time, also shared a border with Credos.

She recalled a document that mentioned an envoy related to the subjugation of monsters would come from Credos. She met some nobles before inviting this envoy to a royal banquet. The rumor was that his appearance was very outstanding.

‘In addition, it means that not only his face but also his physique and skills are really quite good enough to be on the same level as Arison…’

Then, did the knight of Credos come? If so, then she would have to greet him with more courtesy.

‘Either way, I hope Ariel gets here soon.’

As the crown princess was looking at the entrance, turning her stiff neck around, a servant approached her.

“I just got a call from the duchess. Marchioness Ariel will not be able to attend, and she is very sorry to only contact you now.”

“Why isn’t she here?”

“She went to the marquisate to see her husband, Marquis Arsion.”

“Oh, my…”

The words made the crown princess touch her forehead.

‘I was wrong.’

This couple did not have a one-sided love. If you wanted to measure who loved who more, Ariel would probably be second to Arsion. So Ariel would have thought of going along, just like Arsion.

What would Arsion have done if Ariel’s return date from a travel trip had been pushed to a later time? Naturally, he would have been impatient and rushed straight to Ariel. The same was true of Ariel.

“Okay, go back.”

When the crown princess waved her hands with a look of boredom, the chief of staff immediately stepped down. It had been a while since she had seen Ariel. Her expression of anticipation disappeared like a bubble. The crown princess somehow called the servant to prepare a drink she enjoyed. Now that it was like this, she had no choice but to hold on with the power of alcohol.

Those who noticed the crown princess’s sudden change of expression avoided their seats at the table. They felt like they should find another location to have more fun talking about the envoy of Credos.

Then, a familiar person appeared at the entrance. Aiden, her brother, who was now the head of the holy knight’s order of their kingdom. He came to her side after quickly responding to greetings from several nobles.

“What’s going on? You’ve attended all the royal banquets.”

As a prince and the head of the knights of the holy order, Aiden always had the authority to enter and leave the palace freely. But he rarely entered the palace unless it was necessary. Aiden replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“I’m here to see the envoy of Credos. I think we need to talk about it because I heard he had defeated numerous powerful demons.”

“That is amazing.”

“If there is no lie in the record…… Credos’ envoy is nothing short of Arsion.”

“To that extent?”

There was surprise in the voice of the crown princess. Arsion was not formally appointed during that time, but if he had become a holy knight, he would have overtaken Aiden and become the knight commander.

It was to be expected. How could humans beat an angel? Anyone would lag behind Arsion.

At that moment, the entrance soon became noisy. It seemed that the main character of the rumor had appeared. The crown princess and Aiden saw a man walking through the crowd with curious expressions.

“……!”

The envoy of Credos, who walked out of the crowd, was a very beautiful man. He had long hair that was hard to see for a knight. Black eyes with black hair that seemed to capture the darkness of the sky.

The beautiful face was smiling, but there was a coolness that could not be approached recklessly. The faces of the crown princess and Aiden, who saw him walking in a knightly disciplined manner, became more and more stiff.

Then, the man who found the two turned around, walked forward and bowed slightly.

“Thank you for inviting me. I’m Carmion, who came on the behalf of the King of Credos.”

At the man’s greeting, the crown princess quickly changed her expression and smiled, extending her hand.

“Thank you for coming all the way.”

Carmion leaned over the back of her hand, kissed it, and took a step back.

“There’s no need to thank me. I just walked along my path.”

Aiden replied to his words.

“That’s too modest. It wouldn’t have been an easy path to access because of the recent flood of rubble.”

Carmion then bowed slightly to Aiden as well and said,

“Nice to meet you, Lord Aiden. What do you mean by modest? The grand reputation of the holy knights led by you has been heard far and wide since the day I became a knight. It’s an honor to meet you like this.”

Even without introduction, Carmion seemed to have already noticed who Aiden was, thanks to the robes of knights of the holy order and the sword’s crest on his chest.

After a short greeting, Carmion turned away and scanned around the room at the people standing behind him. But soon, there was an indisputable glimmer of disappointment on his face. The crown princess asked, noticing his expression.

“Is there anyone you’re looking for?”

“Yes, I wanted to meet Marquis Arsion, but I don’t think he is here.”

When Carmion spoke of Arsion, the crown princess’ face trembled a little.

“Marquis Arsion is now on an inspection tour of his territory.”

“Is that so? Then…….”

Carmion’s eyes glimmered brightly.

“Didn’t the marchioness attend?”

When asked by Carmion, the crown princess smiled.

“She informed me she will be a little bit late because she has work today. If you wait, you’ll be able to meet her.”

The crown princess calmly lied without twitching even an eyebrow. Carmion also laughed back at the crown princess’s comments.

“I see. Thank you for letting me know.”

“Yes, and there are many who want to talk to you, so I must let you go. You’re welcome to go.”

“Thank you.”

Carmion turned away at the crown princess’ words. Then, before the ministers in charge of diplomacy could address him, flocks of young ladies soon swarmed in front of him to greet him. A smile was still maintained on the face of the crown princess who watched it all.

To prevent others from noticing, the crown princess turned around and headed for the hallway inside. Aiden followed next to her. As soon as she entered the depths of the hallway and confirmed that she could not be seen in the view of others, the crown princess and Aiden spoke at the same time.

“What was that?”

The crown princess recalled the image of Carmion she saw a while ago. Giant black wings, seen exactly behind his back.

“Black wings…….”

“……Angels who sinned and fell into the land of humans.”

That alone should have been the case. But there was a bigger problem.

“I’ve never seen five before. The records have never shown five wings in the human world before, have they?”

Thanks to Ariel and Arsion, seeing wings was familiar. Of course, the color was very different, but it would have been better if there were only two wings. However, there were five wings visible behind Carmion. The crown princess still couldn’t believe her eyes at the size and number of huge wings she had never seen before.

“Is heaven small these days? The record shows that angels appear in the human world once every hundred years, right? How come three people show up? And they’re all different colors!”

The crown princess felt like tearing her hair out with her hands.

Carmion wanted to find Arsion as soon as he arrived. Obviously, Carmion’s goal was Arsion. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if Arsion was the only one.

Knowing Arsion wasn’t there, he wanted to find Ariel. The eyes of that time…… somehow resembled that of Arsion’s. In short, it meant he was obsessed, too.

“I’ll have to get in touch with the marquis right away.”