15.
His golden eyes shimmered enchantingly under the moonlight.
Thump, thump.
My heart made its presence known, pounding violently against my ribs.
‘This is just a trick of the brain caused by visual stimulation.’
I struggled to resist the allure of the moonlight.
‘Pull yourself together, Carolina Diaz.’
Fortunately, my heart gradually returned to its normal rhythm. To hide the fact that I had momentarily been fluttered by Everett, I asked him with feigned indifference.
“By the way, what brings you all the way here, Sir Rohas?”
Today was the day of the Emperor’s birthday banquet. There was no reason for Everett to be here at this hour.
“That is…”
Everett struggled to choose his words.
“I didn’t want to stay at the banquet…”
Just as Everett was about to explain, the sound of commotion began to echo from afar.
“Yes? What was that?”
Everett glanced in the direction of the noise, bit his lip in anxiety, and roughly tousled his hair. He muttered a curse under his breath and turned to me.
“Miss Diaz, I have a favor to ask.”
Edwin cursed, sensing the search party closing in on him by the second.
‘What an absolute disgrace if I get caught.’
He would bet the Imperial crown that being a clown at the banquet would have been a hundred times better than this. Edwin sent a desperate look toward Ri-Na before he could stop himself.
“Miss Diaz, I have a favor to ask.”
A faint wariness flickered in Ri-Na’s purple eyes.
“It’s nothing difficult.”
Edwin added hastily. It really wasn’t a difficult task. All he needed was a little help to slip past the guards.
“Let me hear it first.”
Though the wariness in Ri-Na’s eyes didn’t fade in the slightest, she at least granted him permission to speak. Edwin put on his most earnest face and explained the situation.
“You know there’s a masquerade ball at the Detached Palace today, right?”
“I’ve heard.”
Ri-Na responded, staring at him with a strict expression, as if scolding a troublemaking younger sibling. Edwin avoided her gaze and continued.
“Well, I was supposed to attend that.”
‘Since it’s my birthday.’
“But I’m not really the type of person who enjoys banquets like that.”
Whenever he appeared at a banquet, young ladies dressed to the nines would drop handkerchiefs or fans in his path. The more aggressive ones would even pretend to faint and collapse toward him. And the most aggressive of them all…
Edwin sighed, remembering the wine that had been splashed all over his dress shirt.
Fortunately, Edwin’s weary demeanor seemed to succeed in gaining Ri-Na’s sympathy.
“There are people like that, I suppose.”
Interpreting his troubles in a different light, Ri-Na nodded with a look of pity, as if he had it quite rough. She seemed to take him for a shy, socially awkward knight, but that suited Edwin just fine.
“So, I made an appearance and slipped out, but then some trouble arose…”
Edwin explained the situation to Ri-Na while glossing over the crucial details.
About 30 minutes ago, Edwin had headed to the lounge, claiming he couldn’t stay in wine-stained clothes, trying to escape a young lady who was using an apology as an excuse to keep the conversation going. He had hoped they would give up and leave while he killed time, but the presence of people outside the lounge only seemed to grow.
‘Next time, I’m going to get hit with champagne.’
He felt like a soldier surrounded by a superior enemy force—and a difficult enemy to attack at that. Even if Edwin was the Emperor, he couldn’t treat young ladies harshly just because they were making passes at him. Especially not those who had just come of age, five or six years his junior.
In the end, Edwin decided to leave early to avoid the women stationed outside the lounge. He changed into a servant’s uniform and wore a temporary mask. He handed his own mask to his adjutant, the “real” Everett Rohas, who had a similar build to him. The adjutant, who had suddenly become the Emperor’s body double in the capital, tried to stop him, warning that “trouble might arise if you do this,” but Edwin dismissed it as nothing.
“But as I was sneaking out of the banquet hall, the guards caught me.”
‘Was the adjutant’s warning a premonition?’
Edwin sighed and continued.
“The guards mistook me for an intruder, and now I’m being chased.”
Thinking back, he should have just gone back into the banquet hall, claiming he had stepped out for a moment the second the guard first spotted him.
‘I didn’t want to do that, so I fled, and this is what happened.’
Since he knew the Imperial Palace’s security inside and out, it was easy to evade the guards. However, what he had overlooked was what would happen if an “intruder” managed to breach the palace’s strict security. A top-level security alert was immediately issued, and the majority of the Imperial Palace guards were now searching for the intruder.
‘I trained them too well.’
If the intruder had been a truly skilled individual instead of him, the Imperial Guard’s response would have been worthy of praise.
“You could just reveal that it was a misunderstanding, couldn’t you?”
Ri-Na, who had been listening quietly, pointed out the obvious.
“If I reveal that it’s me, the situation will become far too big.”
Edwin clutched his head with both hands. It seemed as though the words he couldn’t bring himself to say had reached Ri-Na.
“Oh dear.”
Ri-Na’s wariness finally faded a little.
“So, what do you need me to help with?”
Ri-Na’s response was quite favorable.
“I need to get out of the Imperial Palace.”
Edwin explained the solution he had devised while dodging the soldiers. First, he intended to head outside to the information guild of Kailus. Then, through Kailus, he would send an order to the Imperial Palace to call off the security alert.
‘That an agent from the information unit was carrying out a mission and was not an intruder.’
The identities of the information unit members were all classified. It was the best possible plan, as he could claim he fled when he saw the guards because his identity could not be revealed. Kailus would surely tease him about it, pretending he didn’t care.
“I understand. But it seems you don’t have an exit pass?”
Ri-Na quickly deduced Edwin’s main point.
“Yes.”
Edwin replied in a small voice. He felt his earlobes flush with heat. It had been fortunate, in a way, that Edwin remembered the existence of the exit pass while heading toward the outskirts of the palace to get to Kailus’s cafe.
‘If I had recklessly tried to leave and hit the barrier at the Imperial Palace entrance… that would have been the worst-case scenario.’
A chill ran down his spine. Another stroke of luck was that he happened to be near the outer castle where the Ministry Of Finance was located, and Ri-Na, whom he knew, happened to be out for a stroll. Since Ri-Na was an administrator of the Imperial Palace, she would definitely have an exit pass.
Ri-Na crossed her arms and stared at him. Meanwhile, the sound of the guards searching for Edwin grew closer.
“Miss Diaz?”
Edwin called her name, urging her on. Fortunately, Ri-Na’s hesitation was brief.
“Fine. But wait a moment. I came out while I was working, so I need to go back into the office first.”
*･☪D✶༄ ‧₊˚a⋰˚☆m✶༄ ‧₊˚
As soon as I offered to help, Everett’s expression brightened.
‘In a broad sense, we’re fellow coworkers, so we should help each other out.’
I left Everett behind and returned to my office.
‘I still have work to finish, though.’
I had to accompany Everett since he didn’t have an exit pass.
‘I really don’t want to come back here after I leave.’
In the end, I put off the work for my future self and cleared my desk. Then, I quickly packed my things and headed to the garden where Everett would be waiting. Everett stepped forward a few paces as if to greet me.
“Miss Diaz.”
As he offered his hand as if requesting an escort, I, too, placed my hand over his like a haughty noble lady.
“Shall we go?”
We headed toward one of the least-frequented gates of the Imperial Palace.
“May I see your exit pass?”
The guard watching the gate held out his hand with tired eyes. I intervened at the right moment.
“This is my colleague, and he left his exit pass at home.”
It was a rare occurrence, but it happened even among Imperial Palace administrators.
“I brought him in as my companion when we arrived, too.”
“Is that so?”
The guard moved to check the access logs.
“You didn’t come through this gate this morning…”
I feigned trouble.
“Are you unaware that if you enter with a companion who doesn’t have an exit pass, you must leave through the same gate?”
The guard pursued with a sharp tone.
“Well, it’s the festival today. I wanted to go to the night market, but if I have to leave through the gate I came in this morning, I’d have to take a long detour.”
I lowered my eyes and played the part of the pitiful one. I mumbled about how I had been working overtime for days just to find the time to go to the festival.
“Don’t ever do this again. I’m only letting this slide this one time.”
Fortunately, the guard was a reasonable person. Although he lectured us plenty, he allowed Everett and me to pass. We walked quickly until the gate was no larger than a fingernail. Only then did we sigh in unison.
“I am in your debt once again.”
Everett thanked me with a smile.
“But, is it true that you were working overtime to go to the festival?”
“Yes.”
I answered Everett’s playful question, fueling the resentment I would feel for my future self on the morning after tomorrow.