Chapter 14

“Brother, let’s hold a masked ball too!”

“…What are you talking about, Amelia?”

“Masked balls are held by the imperial family! So we should hold one!”

The empire’s third star, the youngest princess, had finally made her way to Crown Prince Leian’s office and clenched her small fists adorably.

Nine years old this year.

A young child who received all the affection from every adult in the imperial family.

If it had been a chance encounter while passing by, that would be one thing, but coming to Leian’s office, which she had never visited before, was beyond Amelia’s usual range of thinking.

“Princess Selena?”

“I want to wear a yellow mask like Rose!”

“Then it must be Rosabel.”

Flinch.

Since Amelia had grown up receiving abundant love from childhood, she wasn’t accustomed to deceiving anyone.

Leian easily identified that among the two suspects, it was the doing of the third princess, one year younger than himself, and gestured to his aide nearby.

Get her out.

Perhaps realizing she was about to be kicked out—

“Sister Selena said it was okay too! Mother said it was okay too… and Father said to go to Brother!”

Amelia shrieked and made a final desperate struggle.

‘They’ve passed the buck to me.’

With more backing than expected, Leian’s gaze lingered on Amelia for about 3 more seconds.

“I believe you have etiquette lessons today.”

“Hiccup—”

“If you quietly return now, I won’t report what happened here.”

“Bye-bye, Brother! Keep it up!”

Without hesitation, she waved her hand and hurriedly left the office without looking back, showing only her small retreating figure.

When quiet silence settled over the room, Leian’s slightly raised eyebrows also returned to their original position. Anyone who came without notice was close to being an unwelcome visitor.

Anyway, through Amelia, he had been informed that the imperial family would host a masked ball.

A matter that most of the imperial women wanted and the emperor had tacitly approved.

Having notified Crown Prince Leian through the youngest princess, it would certainly proceed as planned unless he actively opposed it.

“Your Highness, Knight Commander Deberick and his subordinate knights wish to be assigned to defend the southern border.”

While simultaneously examining documents he needed to check and listening to his aide’s report—

“Rejected.”

Leian delivered his conclusion in a dry voice.

“The sixth magic tower has submitted a request to the imperial family for permission to enter Lacknoa Forest on a large scale to confirm the presence of demons.”

Why were there so many people who couldn’t distinguish between imagination and reality?

The pen that had been moving smoothly stopped, and Leian stared at his aide before speaking in a sunken voice.

“Tell the imperial officials to stop requesting activities related to Karma.”

“Understood!”

Leian had already read both of Karma’s novels as well.

As the empire’s crown prince, to become emperor, he needed to know more about the empire than anyone else.

Despite knowing the identity of the author that people were so curious about, he felt no great interest.

Masked Ball was merely watching other people’s encounters, and Knights of the Sky was just the growth process of some mediocre person.

If Leian were to name an impressive character, it would be ‘Rocky’ from Knights of the Sky, but his presence was minimal.

Already the imperial family and a very small number of high-ranking nobles would know Karma—Katarina’s identity through their direct intelligence services, but everyone was leaving her alone for entertainment.

However, if they held a masked ball this time, there was an extremely high probability that a princess or imperial consort would directly summon Karma.

‘It has nothing to do with me.’

Since Leian already knew all information about her, the circumstances of her writing books, and related matters—

Unless Katarina attacked the Enodra Empire with her pen, the two would never meet privately.

---

“Our Highness has two books in his third drawer.”

“Karma? Doesn’t Leian dislike it?”

“For someone who dislikes it, he bought a lot of books. Just the errands alone involved three people.”

The shadows who had exclusively marked the crown prince from the moment he was born gathered to have trivial conversations.

“This is the first time His Highness has shown interest in a woman.”

“I’m not sure if we should view this as that kind of interest…”

“Still, it’s more likely than being matched with Princess Creon. It’s interesting too—I’m betting on a young lady from our empire.”

One spoke playfully and shrugged.

Princess Creon of the Crane Kingdom, often mentioned as a potential fiancée, was someone Leian detested.

Despite reaching adulthood this year, the crown prince still had no fiancée.

While they had packaged and announced the reasons for this fairly well, there wasn’t a single imperial official who didn’t know he was a perfectionist.

The shadows serving the boring crown prince found joy even in such small things.

The perfect fiancée that Leian wanted—would such a person ever appear?

---

Just after returning from lunch, when drowsiness was beginning to set in due to post-meal lethargy—

“A letter has arrived for you, Miss.”

The publishing house usually came in person or contacted via communication device when something happened, so it wasn’t them.

“Who sent it?”

“Well… they couldn’t reveal that, but they said it’s written in the letter’s contents, and I heard it’s from someone very high-ranking.”

Bringing a letter from someone who wouldn’t even reveal their identity made me realize anew how lax the baron’s security was.

Among the things that had come to me so far, I had never received particularly good content.

With an ominous feeling, I sat on the sofa and received the letter from Chloe.

“It seems like you should check it quickly, so I brought it right away.”

At least they’re definitely nobility.

The pale yellow envelope with gold-leafed edges was extraordinary at first glance.

With a stiff expression, I checked the contents, and from the first sentence, elegant cursive handwriting caught my eye.

To the beloved Baron Blaine’s household, Lady Katarina

Having a habit of reading quickly, it took about one minute to read the entire contents filling one sheet of paper.

…Therefore, I would like to hear your opinion about the masked ball hosted by the imperial family.

“Chloe, there’s no possibility that an imperial princess would send spam mail, right?”

“What’s spam mail?”

Chloe, who had been tilting her head with a puzzled expression, seemed to realize something and opened her mouth wide.

“Don’t tell me the letter you’re reading now was sent by Her Highness the Princess?”

“Probably.”

In a class-based society, there wouldn’t be anyone bold enough to impersonate a princess.

At the very end was written the full name of Selena, the empire’s first princess.

That meant the contents of this letter were also true.

It said that three days later at noon, an ordinary carriage would visit Baron Blaine’s household. It seemed they would keep my identity hidden.

‘Now even a princess knows about me.’

Though it had a different meaning than with my family, it felt strangely convincing yet strange. After all, since the author’s name was Karma, no one had recognized me until now.

“I’ve been invited to a lunch gathering.”

“How does Her Highness the Princess know you…”

“She knows I’m Karma. It seems she called me regarding the masked ball, so I have to go out at noon three days from now.”

I didn’t feel it was real yet, but I quickly accepted reality.

The option of refusal hadn’t existed since birth.

Here, status was everything—one wrong move could cost you your head overnight, so I had to go somehow.

Well, my only current schedule was writing anyway.

Just thinking about having to go eat made me feel like I’d get indigestion already.

“You mean you’re going to the imperial palace three days from now?”

“Yeah, they’re sending a carriage so I can go secretly.”

“…Will you keep it secret from the Baroness too?”

Ah, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.

Chloe, who had initially been unable to contain her shock, seemed to have calmed down and was rolling her eyes with a serious expression. After thinking for a moment, I answered.

“Mother knows about it too, so I think I should… roughly inform her.”

I had planned to go quietly by myself if possible, but I was afraid of dealing with the aftermath if this fact was discovered later.

It was a very well-known fact among the family that Marcella held grudges for a long time.

I decided to tell her myself rather than having Chloe do it. That evening at dinner, I cautiously brought it up.

“I’m planning to go out briefly at noon three days from now.”

“How unusual—were you invited to a dinner gathering or something?”

Since I rarely left the mansion, Marcella immediately caught on as soon as I mentioned noon.

“Yes. I just found out today… I’m planning to go quietly.”

“It’s certainly not a male, so which family’s young lady invited you? Perhaps Lady Olivia?”

Usually, noble ladies sent invitations through Marcella.

Watching her excitedly deduce who had invited me made my back feel cold.

I tried not to react and move on naturally, but I could feel her staring at me intently, even setting down her utensils completely.

“So who is it?”

“Selena…”

I deliberately spoke quietly and trailed off, making Marcella tilt her head.

‘I have no choice.’

It already seemed too late to hide it, and in a state of desperation, I dropped the bomb.

“Princess Selena.”

At that moment, all noise that had existed at the dinner table was blocked, and silence descended.