Chapter 8
“Lady, a letter has arrived.”
Emma handed me two letters. Both of them were from Daimon.
I opened the letters and slowly read through the contents.
[Dear. Unknown Lady.
Because your affection does not seem to know how to stop, I will send a reply to the address written on the envelope.
I will gratefully accept your feelings of admiration for me.
However, I would like you to stop sending dozens of letters every day.
Please also refrain from sending dozens of the same items. Please.
From. D.]
After reading the contents of the letter, I twitched the corners of my mouth and tried to hold back my laughter.
I opened the other letter.
[Dear. Lady Diana Pomerne.
Did we not say we would meet again soon?
Why have you not replied?
Please reply and tell me when you plan to enter the palace.
From. D.]
Just by reading the letter, someone would think I was the one who asked to meet him first.
“Emma, today…… please bring me twenty sheets of letter paper.”
“Lady, the servant who delivers your letters has become exhausted after only three days……. I feel sorry for him.”
“Really? Then he should take a rest.”
“Right?”
“Yes. I should send them through another servant instead of him.”
Emma left the room with a look of disbelief, as if she had already given up halfway.
After having tea time at the marquis’s residence, I officially began making Daimon experience what I had suffered.
From that evening after tea time ended, I had continuously sent large amounts of letters to Daimon.
I wrote a different address instead of the duke’s residence and acted like a lady who had gone crazy from one-sided love.
I made them arrive one by one every few minutes or every hour.
Twenty to fifty letters a day, along with food and various items.
The contents were extremely diverse.
From simple messages like “You are handsome” and “I miss you,” to things so inappropriate that I could not even say them out loud.
“Lady, I brought twenty sheets of letter paper.”
“Yes, thank you.”
I wrote another short message on the letter paper and handed it to Emma.
“Here, send this together as well.”
“It’s a drawing?”
“Yes.”
“But this is……”
Emma looked at the face drawn in the picture and hurriedly placed it inside the envelope.
“Make sure the drawing does not get damaged and send it carefully.”
“Is it really okay to send something like this?”
“It’s fine.”
The picture that would reach him had Daimon’s own face drawn on it.
A smiling expression, a sad expression, a painful expression, and many other different expressions.
It was a drawing created as a hobby by ladies who admired Daimon.
On the back of the picture, there was a lipstick mark made with red lipstick, along with the strong perfume scent that they always sprayed whenever they sent letters.
While spraying the perfume, I had once thought about it.
If the prince walked down the street and smelled a similar scent, then saw his pale and horrified expression, how satisfying would that be?
“Wait a moment, Emma.”
“Yes.”
I stopped her as she was about to leave to deliver the letter to the servant.
“When will that letter arrive?”
“If we send it now, it should arrive around three in the afternoon.”
“Really? Then help me prepare to go out.”
“Yes. I’ll deliver it quickly and come back!”
Suddenly, I became curious about Daimon’s expression after seeing the drawing.
So I decided to enter the palace at the exact time.
“He begged me to come to the palace, so maybe I should go once.”
Just imagining Daimon’s disgusted expression when he saw me made me look forward to it.
“Ah, I want to see it soon.”
“You finally came?”
“I greet His Highness the Prince.”
“Are you perhaps busier than the Crown Prince?”
“Haha, I just have many things to do.”
Daimon welcomed me while sitting in his office chair.
But his eyes looked exhausted, as if he had not slept properly for days.
“Fine. Then sit down.”
Knock. Knock.
Just as I was about to sit down, someone knocked on the door and entered.
“Your Highness, a letter has arrived.”
“Is it that again?”
“……Yes.”
“Leave it there.”
Daimon irritably grabbed the letter the butler placed down and threw it aside.
“Oh my, why are you throwing the letter?”
“Ha……”
“Your complexion does not look good. Is something wrong?”
Seeing his annoyed expression, I felt like laughter was about to escape.
“You will…… understand once you see it.”
Daimon casually threw the letter in front of me.
I opened the letter with a rustling sound.
The drawing that came with it fell onto the table.
“Oh my, what is this drawing?”
The man who had only been sighing earlier looked at the drawing on the table and became horrified.
“Ha……”
With a disgusted expression, Daimon took the drawing and crumpled it.
“I really hate this.”
“Isn’t this a drawing of Your Highness’s face?”
“It is. It is, but……”
“It seems like it even has a nice scent.”
“It is not nice at all!”
He shouted while throwing the crumpled paper toward the letters piled on the table.
“Ah!”
The paper bounced off the table and hit my forehead before rolling onto the floor.
“Are you…… okay?”
“……”
“L-Lady?”
Looking flustered, Daimon approached me.
“I’m fine.”
I smiled brightly at Daimon and looked up at him.
“That is a relief.”
As if relieved by my answer, Daimon walked past me.
But he suddenly stopped and turned around.
With a deeply furrowed expression, he approached me and looked down at me.
“Why are you doing that?”
“This scent……”
“Yes?”
“……No, it can’t be.”
“What do you mean?”
“The scent coming from you right now. It is exactly the same as this.”
He pointed at the crumpled letter with a pale expression.
“That cannot be. Perhaps the scent from the letters filled the office?”
“……Ha…… Is that so?”
“It would be better to open the window and let some air in.”
Daimon stared at me for a moment before walking to the window and opening it.
Seeing him react so sensitively was extremely satisfying.
He was the one who used to say my beauty should be preserved in paintings.
Whether I was happy or sad, he painted every single moment of me.
He was also the one who always sprayed that perfume, saying he wanted me to smell the same as him.
Whenever he smelled a different scent on me, he would constantly suspect and torment me.
Yes.
Compared to what I suffered, this was nothing.
Daimon leaned against the window and cooled himself with the wind.
After calming down a little, he looked back at me.
“Lady…… I do not think today is the right day.”
“Pardon?”
“Let us contact each other again next time.”
“I understand.”
Leaving behind his troubled expression, I left the palace with a satisfied feeling.
“May the peace of the Empire dwell through the blessing of the God Poare.”
When I opened the door to the prayer room, I saw a statue shaped like a god.
In front of it was the back of the High Priest, who was praying.
Daimon had come to receive the blessing of the High Priest who had recently returned after completing a prayer tour in the northern region.
Perhaps the previous incident had shocked him quite a lot, because he had gone to the temple he normally ignored.
I saw Daimon sitting quietly with his face covered so people would not recognize him.
I quietly approached and sat beside him.
“Lady, what is this?”
Daimon looked at me with an exhausted expression.
“What is?”
“Lady Diana, this is not a coincidence, right?”
“Shh. It is prayer time.”
“Ha…… Never mind.”
This time, I followed Daimon wherever he went for several days.
I pretended to meet him by coincidence and spoke to him.
Several times a day, until he became completely tired of it.
Judging by his reaction, it seemed like it was slowly working.
“God Poare.”
When I heard Daimon focusing on his prayer, I slowly opened my closed eyes.
I do not believe in gods.
If a god existed, I would never have come to this world.
Because of Daimon, I had only recently entered a temple that I had never visited before.
‘It is clean, bright, and shining.’
If gods truly existed and there was a world where they lived, perhaps it would look like this pure white world.
At that moment, the High Priest, who had only shown his back before, turned around.
His eyes met mine.
“Wow……”
When I saw his gentle smile, an exclamation escaped without me realizing.
If angels existed, they would look like the person standing before me.
“Lady, close your mouth.”
Beside me, Daimon stood up and approached the High Priest.
“May the blessing of God Poare be with you.”
The High Priest kissed Daimon’s hand and gave him his blessing.
Looking around, I saw people leaving the prayer room.
I must have stared at the High Priest for quite a long time, because the prayer had already ended.
I saw Daimon leaving the prayer room after receiving his blessing.
I was about to leave and follow his next destination when a gentle voice stopped me.
“You are someone I have never seen before.”
I turned around and saw the High Priest standing there.
“I greet High Priest Julius.”
“May the grace of God be with you.”
Feeling uncomfortable under his steady gaze, I turned my head away.
At some point, only the two of us remained in the prayer room.
In this quiet place, a ding sound rang out.
Above the High Priest’s head appeared a sparkling purple circle like a jewel.
It felt extremely unnatural, like someone had dropped paint onto a completely white canvas.
“What is your name?”
“Diana…… Pomerne.”
“You are the daughter of Duke Pomerne.”
“Yes.”
“Is this your first time visiting the temple?”
“Yes.”
“Then you must have many questions. Would you like to talk with me for a moment?”
“Ah…… I need to leave soon.”
Julius smiled calmly as if trying to stop me from leaving.
“My, then please excuse me for a moment.”
Julius slowly approached me.
Then he gently kissed my forehead.
“May the blessing of God Poare be with you.”
My body froze from surprise because it happened so suddenly.
When he blessed Daimon, did he not kiss the back of his hand……?
“Then…… I will take my leave.”
After regaining my senses, I greeted Julius and looked at him.
Without saying anything, Julius simply stood there and smiled at me.
Feeling burdened by his gaze, I quickly left the prayer room.
Duke Lisian and High Priest Julius.
What exactly were they?
I thought I only needed to capture Lisian.
But was that not the case?
Why were all the characters’ favorability levels purple?
It was not even shown as numbers.
I could not understand what the colors of the favorability levels meant.
Countless thoughts filled my mind, making me feel confused.
In the end, instead of following Daimon’s next destination, I returned to the duke’s residence to organize my thoughts.
