Chapter 9

Originally, the people of this world believed that Creatures were unintelligent monsters that acted purely on instinct.

In fact, there had never been any sign of intelligence among the Creatures that had crossed over through the Rifts.

But the incident that would occur that day would completely change people’s perception.

‘Creatures aren’t actually the real threat. They’re merely following orders.’

In other words, the Creatures themselves weren’t the true source of the invasion.

There were higher beings controlling them.

Unlike the Creatures, they possessed high intelligence and were capable of employing strategies.

They even resembled humans in appearance, allowing them to disguise themselves as humans using supernatural abilities, infiltrate human society, and secretly scheme.

Thus, humanity would eventually come to call them the Demi-Humans.

‘That banquet is the day the Demi-Humans reveal their true identities for the first time.’

In the original novel, all the male leads, who happened to be high-ranking nobles, were gathered there.

They fought a major battle against the Demi-Humans, and during the process, they discovered that Sylvia was a Purifier.

In other words, it was the moment the obsession switch for the male leads was turned on.

The problem was…

‘This complicated incident was barely described before the story just moved on, so there’s hardly any information about it.’

That’s right.

This damn original novel faithfully followed its premise and minimized everything unrelated to the relationships between the heroine and the male leads.

Even Lydia, who remembered every detail of the original story thanks to the memories she had retained from her previous life, could barely find anything useful!

‘So I need to gather as much information as possible first. I need to reduce the damage, even if only a little.’

Naturally, Lydia had no intention of sending Sylvia into such a dangerous place.

It was a dilemma.

If she sent Sylvia, Sylvia’s future would become bleak.

If she didn’t send Sylvia, humanity might be destroyed if something went wrong.

There was only one way to solve this tragic dilemma!

‘I have to step in…!’

She didn’t want to act like some typical protagonist who had been reincarnated into a novel, but she had no choice.

She couldn’t sacrifice her younger sister!

“Wow, you must’ve really been looking forward to it.”

Of course, to Ricardo, who knew nothing about this tragic situation, Lydia merely looked like a woman obsessed with attending a banquet.

“I didn’t know you were waiting for an Imperial Palace banquet this badly… Anyway, here.”

Lydia eagerly accepted the invitation Ricardo handed her.

The date.

The location.

Everything matched the place Lydia remembered from the original story.

But then…

‘Huh?’

“Ricardo.”

“Hmm? What?”

“Don’t tell me… only people with invitations can enter?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

Lydia screamed internally.

‘Then how the hell did Sylvia get in during the original story?!’

Lydia and Sylvia’s family, the Prestine family, was a fallen noble house.

They had originally been a humble baronial family, but when Lydia was ten years old, both of her parents passed away, leaving the family without anyone to guide it and causing it to rapidly decline.

Fortunately, Lydia had recovered her memories from her previous life and managed to keep the family going somehow…

But it was safe to say that they received almost none of the treatment afforded to nobles anymore.

Naturally, there was absolutely no chance that they would be invited to an event attended by all the high-ranking noble male leads.

“…Do you really want to go that badly?”

Ricardo glanced at Lydia, who was screaming internally, and asked.

“It’s not that I want to go. I have to go.”

“Isn’t that basically the same thing?”

“It’s different.”

What was she supposed to do?

There was still time before the banquet, so she could probably find a way somehow.

But Lydia already had plenty to do.

She had to make money, work with Pipi on developing the purification agent, and continue the businesses she had started to recover her family’s former assets.

She even had to spend time playing with Sylvia occasionally!

The prospect of adding another huge hassle to her already overwhelming list of problems was enough to drive her insane.

‘Life is already hard enough! Why does everything have to make it even harder?!’

“Want me to help?”

At that moment, a voice like an angelic harmony reached her ears.

“…How?”

“Simple.”

Ricardo casually flicked the invitation with his finger.

“Attend as my partner.”

What?

Lydia’s face twisted.

“…What’s with that expression? I’m kind of hurt.”

But Lydia’s crumpled expression refused to relax.

‘Am I crazy? I’m trying to avoid troublesome things, and now I’m going to create an even bigger problem for myself.’

Ricardo was an absolute womanizer.

And not merely an ordinary womanizer.

His specialty was scandals.

“If I stand next to you at the banquet, your girlfriends will try to tear me into five pieces.”

Lydia had already experienced this several times during their days at the military academy.

That damn Ricardo had followed Lydia around without properly explaining anything to the women in his life.

As a result, Lydia’s ordeal continued until she openly yelled at Ricardo to get lost and proved that she wasn’t his woman.

‘Who does he want to put through that again?’

However, at Lydia’s honest reaction, Ricardo raised an eyebrow as though he were displeased.

“Girlfriends?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t have any girlfriends.”

What a liar.

“Oh? You don’t believe me?”

Ricardo grabbed Lydia’s soft cheek with his fingers and pulled it sideways.

“Reflect on your actions. How could you doubt your friend like that?”

“Ow!”

“I did it because I wanted it to hurt.”

Only after quite some time was Lydia finally released.

She clutched her stinging cheek and grumbled.

‘And this guy is officially a womanizer in the original novel.’

Moreover, Lydia had personally witnessed several times just how frequently Ricardo changed women.

This was simply a case of Ricardo having no conscience.

“I’m hurt, you know.”

Despite being the one at fault, he was actually making a dejected face, leaving Lydia utterly dumbfounded.

“Anyway, there’s still time, so think about it. You won’t find a more convenient partner than me.”

In a way, he wasn’t wrong.

It would certainly be much easier than Lydia trying to obtain a new invitation from scratch.

It was just that dealing with the aftermath would obviously become a huge hassle.

Having said his piece, Ricardo stood up.

After casually stretching, he gave Lydia one last comment before leaving the laboratory.

“And I really don’t have a girlfriend. It’s been several years since I last had one.”

Lydia nodded indifferently.

Sure you don’t.

In the end, Lydia didn’t return to the Grand Ducal House until after sunset.

‘…Am I too late?’

In her defense, it had already been afternoon when she returned home after taking Sylvia there.

And since she had also stopped by the laboratory, there was no way she could have returned early.

‘It’s only because the sun has already set. It’s actually not that late! Besides, it hasn’t been long since sunset!’

As Lydia defended herself internally, she suddenly thought about it.

But why am I even making excuses for this…?

“Welcome back.”

Lydia was quietly walking after getting out of the carriage when she was startled.

A gray-haired butler bowed politely.

“Master is waiting for you. Please come inside.”

“What?”

Why on earth was that man waiting for her?!

But Lydia had no choice but to obediently follow the butler.

If she could simply rebel against him, she wouldn’t have decided to stay here in the first place!

“Master.”

At last, Lydia followed the butler to the Grand Duke’s study.

“Our guest has returned.”

Ludwig, who had been reading a book, raised his head at those words.

“Welcome back.”

His eyes curved as he smiled.

Of course, Lydia still felt an inexplicable sense of fear every time she looked at him.

After the butler left, Lydia obediently sat down across from Ludwig.

“You’re late.”

His voice was gentle, but somehow it sounded like a reproach.

Lydia quickly began pouring out excuses.

“I’m sorry. But technically speaking, I don’t think I can really be considered late, because if you calculate it from the time I left here, not that much time has actually passed. Of course, I realize how shameless it is of me to stay at someone else’s house and act like this, but I do feel somewhat unfairly treated in this particular matter, so I think you should reconsider—”

“Hm… I see.”

Ludwig interrupted Lydia’s lengthy excuse, which sounded as though it might continue until dawn, and asked:

“Did you take your medicine?”