Chapter 66

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 66

Chapter Title: A Hall Bursting with Western Nobles

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Evangeline had lost count of how many times she'd doubted her eyesight today.

"What is this? Am I dreaming right now?"

The hall, which should have been completely empty, was packed with people.

They were dressed in exotic, flamboyant formal attire and gowns, chatting and laughing gaily, while a fine orchestra played delightful melodies.

The tables in the corner of the banquet hall overflowed with mouthwatering dishes.

A servant passing by her side teasingly offered her a drink.

"We have Xyrang rosé wine and Mushe champagne. Shall I pour you some?"

"……."

Evangeline glared at him with a terrifying look, then realized one key fact.

Both drinks were famous from the western regions.

And she finally understood the odd feeling she'd had upon entering the banquet hall.

"I barely recognize any faces!"

Evangeline was the belle of the capital's social scene.

Naturally, she was familiar with all the nobles who frequented the capital's circles.

If they seemed unfamiliar to her, it meant they weren't from the capital.

And then Evangeline spotted a woman standing beside Hilia, far across the room.

"Lady Solenu of the Marquisate!"

She was the one who'd failed to be swayed just recently and had been humiliated instead. She'd vanished after that…

Her presence here meant only one thing.

"Don't tell me all these people gathered here are western nobles?"

That would explain why their faces were unfamiliar and why their attire felt so strange.

The western and central social circles had been severed for over ten years, operating separately.

It was only natural that fashions differed between them.

Confirming her judgment was a figure deeper inside the hall.

A lady with graying hair neatly pinned up, wearing a blue diamond tiara, her eyes a striking cobalt blue.

She exuded dignity that marked her as no ordinary person.

Kesling Marchioness, the oldest and highest-ranking among Evangeline's retainers, gasped in shock upon seeing the woman.

"L-Lady Evangeline! That's her! That's the one!"

"Her?"

"Grand Duchess Axion!"

"…!"

I took a sip of Mushe champagne and smiled contentedly.

Though she was quite a distance away, I could clearly see Evangeline charging into the banquet hall with such momentum, only to freeze in horror.

Shock.

Then bewilderment and dismay. Followed by tension.

I savored the thrill as I read the emotions shifting across her face moment by moment.

The bubbles bursting on my tongue were refreshingly delightful.

Evangeline's expression seemed to scream:

"How did she bring this many people from the west without anyone knowing?!"

And that was precisely the part I'd poured the most effort into for this banquet.

"Transporting the barley and turnips was the hardest and took the most time."

Those were the words written on the note I'd received from the mercenary band right before the banquet—'barley' and 'turnips'.

They were code for a specific group.

The western nobles.

Isephin or Grand Duchess Axion alone could slip past Empress Isabel and Evangeline's watchful eyes.

But hiding an entire crowd large enough to fill the banquet hall from their spies was no easy feat.

First, transporting them from the west to the imperial palace was a problem in itself.

I'd solved that by disguising them as cargo—supplies purchased for the banquet—and loading them onto transport ships.

Barley and turnips were western specialties, after all, making it plausible.

Proud nobles as they were, being packed onto ships like luggage and then shuttled in covered wagons must have been quite the ordeal.

But their resentment toward the empress and Evangeline outweighed their pride and discomfort.

"People can endure their own inconvenience to spite someone they already despise."

The western nobles shared that one goal with me, aligning our interests perfectly.

That secured their cooperation.

Bringing them into the capital was one issue.

Getting them into the palace and then into Artanus Hall was an even bigger one.

Of course, I'd prepared thoroughly for that.

The Crown Prince's Palace had a passage leading outside.

And from a month ago until just before the banquet, crowds of people had been coming and going between the palace and Artanus Hall.

Banquet preparations made it all seem natural.

Under the pretext of making it easier for workers to pass, I'd ordered some construction.

I planted tall garden trees to block prying eyes and hung curtains to shield from sunlight.

Those curtains were enchanted with magic tools.

Ones I'd acquired through the 'Crafter' I'd secured a few weeks prior.

"They make anyone viewing from a distance see only what the caster wants them to see."

From outside, it looked like servants and maids bustling about for the banquet.

But in reality, western nobles had poured in under those camouflaging curtains.

The perimeter was guarded by trustworthy knights from the Crown Prince's Palace and the Black Mercenary Band.

The result was the bustling scene in Artanus Hall right now.

Grand Duchess Axion's influence and powers of persuasion had played a role, of course.

But that alone couldn't have rallied such a large group to our side.

I'd accomplished it by stoking regional sentiments.

"The central nobles would never dream the western nobles would strike like this."

"Doesn't it excite you to see the empress and Evangeline's faces twist when they see you all here on banquet day?"

Thanks to that, not just me—Grand Duchess Axion, the Solenu Marquis family, and all the prominent western nobles—were eagerly observing Evangeline with keen interest.

How shocked would she be?

How furious and frustrated would she get?

And Evangeline lived up to all our expectations.

Her face drained of color, and she couldn't compose her expression for quite a while.

It was a sight I'd never seen in any of my previous three regressions.

A heavy stone lifted from my chest, leaving a refreshing lightness.

Those standing behind Evangeline were just as dismayed.

They recognized the western nobles assembled in Artanus Hall and gasped in shock.

"Grand Duchess Axion herself…!"

"That's the Solenu Marquis and his wife."

"Over there—surely the Muter Marquis family!"

Practically every major western house was present.

I gazed softly at Evangeline and smiled.

"How does the bitter pill I prepared for you taste?"

Her face was predictably contorted in rage.

But Evangeline wasn't one to crumple so easily.

Soon, she began glaring at me with hostility several times fiercer than her shock and dismay.

"Well, if she folded this easily, she wouldn't be Evangeline."

Of course, I'd already prepared plans A through Z for whatever attacks she might try.

Hilia, smiling radiantly amid the great western nobles, was undoubtedly beautiful.

Not the green dress tailored to match Evangeline's—ill-suited to her—but a light blue-purple gown of a shade I'd never seen before, which bloomed vibrantly on her.

Her pale pink hair and mysterious purple eyes.

And it was a color that perfectly highlighted her translucent skin, thin enough to seem see-through.

A unique and exquisite tiara adorned Hilia's head.

At its center sat a large rainbow moonstone intricately carved in a crescent moon shape, surrounded by hundreds of tiny, star-cut diamonds densely embedded around it.

Evangeline knew it well.

"The Tiara of Moon and Stars!"

It was one of the tiaras worn by Estrid Princess, mother of the founding emperor.

She had passed her tiaras down to her daughter-in-law, the first empress.

All of them were treasured imperial heirlooms.

Among them, the one Estrid had worn when Artanus abducted her in a bride abduction marriage was this very tiara.

As such, it could only be worn by the empress or crown princess at weddings or banquets.

Its last owner had been Arpad's mother, the late Empress Roxelin.

After her death, Grand Duchess Axion had smuggled it out from the empress's palace among Roxelin's belongings.

Arpad had never yielded it to his stepmother.

It was one of the imperial symbols the empress coveted with particular bitterness.

And now… it gleamed atop Hilia's head.

"No… No way!"

Evangeline's green eyes blazed with fury and jealousy.

Just then, the maid in the target green dress was right beside Hilia.

She rushed over in a flash and shouted, recycling her earlier logic verbatim.

"How could you steal my dress design on purpose and have your maid wear the exact same one?!"

Eeeeeek!

A pitiful wail suddenly echoed through the hall.