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“Who’s going to take that ugly thing away?”

“The Imperial family must be cursed to have given birth to such an ugly thing. How terrible…”

Who were they? Why were they talking about me like some kind of monster again and again? I had two hands and two feet. And I knew I had my ears and eyes.

I could never forget the moment I had been buried under the covers. I was at an age where I could not take such insults sitting by but my scar had grown more obvious as time passed. Still, I was just a child who had not realised I had reincarnated into another world.

‘Am I the ugly thing?’

Only after I grew up and realised I had reincarnated into this world did I free myself from the agony.

When I found out I had been living in a world of a novel, I recognised that there were more important things at stake here. Instead of wondering about something that was not healing, I objectively decided that escaping from this place as fast as possible was more important.

That did not mean I did not try to heal this scar. I had already attempted everything I could think of with Dane and Fleon.

And now that the unpredictable diary was wielding my future as it pleased, my scar had no longer mattered.

“In fact, it doesn’t even hurt so I often forget about it. But… I think it’d be better if I cover this up. Right?”

Rebecca did not reply. She looked down at me with her gaze intertwined with pity, compassion and a trace of guilt I had never seen in her.

“Well, it doesn’t hurt anymore, Rebecca.”

“… That’s not why I brought it up.”

She seemed to be regretting bringing this topic up. I smiled widely. Was she pitying me?

If that was the case, I would be relieved.

Only if I had to choose between hatred and sympathy.

The reactions of those who noticed my scar would always be the one of the two.

It did not matter.

Life would have been better without it but even if I did have the scar, it did not make living any more uncomfortable. It was just the different reactions.

Just like how Anna reacted when she first saw it back when I tried to use her. I usually expected this reaction considering my scar was considered the ‘Curse of God’. And I could guess why she pitied me.

The Emperor.

The Imperial family was loved by Jupiter. God blessed anyone who was named ‘Kaltanias’.

The offsprings of God must be perfect.

That was the first line encrypted in the Holy Code. Many interpret it to mean that they have impeccable appearance. In the history of countless empires that rose and fell, there may have been princes or princesses like me who had large scars and disabilities.

But that was not mentioned in the history I learnt.

Was it not possible for such people to have existed since the beginning?

‘What if those who did were all erased?’

To get to the Duke’s mansion, I would have to use the main gate located in the east. Since it was located quite a distance away, we decided to ride a wagon there.

“How long will it take to get to the gates?”

“It’ll be a 15 minute ride approximately.”

Since we were heading to the east gates, we would be using the exit closest to my palace.

‘I had only been there once a long time ago, back when I was stuck in the time loop.’

And the moment I walked out of the gates, I was killed by Castor.

‘That was the 23th.’

I rubbed my empty palms together. I brought my diary with me. Filled with anxiety, my stomach twisted.

‘I should hide it somehow…’

Unlike the traditional clothing I was used to wearing, the dress was hugging my body tightly. I was thinking about hiding it in my inflated skirt but I could not wear such a dress alone.

I gave up since I thought it would be weird to hide the diary in front of all the maids but now I was regretting it.

It was the diary I brought with me anytime, anywhere. I would get anxious if I did not see the diary in the same spot I placed it the night before. It was unusual but I had no choice.

Because if I missed something once, who knew if it would come back again.

I let out a long sigh.

‘… Yeah. What can happen?’

It was my fault for not considering I might be dragged out of bed early in the morning because I needed to do my make-up.

‘Even if someone around me is to die or a fire is to start, I can just die and regress to the day before so everything will be alright.’

This was a really damned mindset, was it not?

I tilted my head and smiled. Then, I felt a hand patting me.

“There’s nothing for you to worry about.”

For some reason, she offered me consolation that was uncharacteristic of her. She seemed to have caught onto my slight gasp.

“Everything has been arranged under the auspices of the duchess and I can guarantee it so it’ll be fine. Stop trembling.”

“Are you comforting me?”

“Because if you get there all nervous, what will happen to my dignity?”

She replied coyly.

“Tea parties from Walter are different from symposiums (banquets). They are places of consistent, calm and restrained elegance. All the ladies there will be very gentle. So they will not be rude to you, mistress. More importantly, my mother will never let them.”

“Well, are tea parties completely different from banquets?”

“Of course they are. Compared to the extravagant and hedonic feasts that are the ‘symposiums’, ‘tea parties’ are completely different. I’m sure you must know. The way people act in those symposiums are extremely hedonic. They would lie down on couches like a beast and drink wine as if it was water. They would constantly carry food wherever they went and gamble for scraps of ripe grapes.

“Hm, will it be fun?”

Then, Rebecca’s expression eased when they faced me.

“It’ll definitely be more fun because of the desire-soaked atmospheres they have there.”

The ice around her melted in an instant. She spoke after wetting her lips. At first glance, the voice of a woman in love with the colour of shyness tinting her cheeks shook my world.

“That’s too early for you to know.”

Her cold hands fell over my face before she removed them. Rebecca, who had been acting seductively till a while ago, had cooled down, mimicking the winter wind yet again.

“Today will just be some kind of practice. My mother must have liked you very much because she gave you some time to adjust.”

Staring blankly, she curled her lips up and smiled coldly at me.

“I also think she’s a good person.”

“That’s something my mother will love to hear. My mother wants to be seen as a good person to everyone. Always.”

So she wanted to be a good person to everyone. Was that not everybody’s wish?

“… Till the point, she doesn’t know that her daughter is having a hard time sometimes.”

Rebecca smiled coolly before turning her head and exclaiming, “I don’t sound like myself today!”

She looked nervous. Why was she?

‘Maybe she was trying to give me advice.’

Watching her red hair bounce with the shaking of the wagon, I felt the need to correct her.

The wagon that was as white as snow halted. We then moved to the carriage prepared for us. I was then preoccupied with admiring the luxurious carriage I had never seen before.

“How dashing, mistress.”

I then grabbed her hands and sat down. After we took off, the carriage suddenly stopped with a huge jerk.

“W-what?”

Rebecca was faster than I was in noticing the strange situation.

“Miss Rebecca!”

Someone opened the carriage door urgently.

“Lord Ionubens?”

“Forgive my rudeness. They’ve sent the fastest-footed templar to send you an urgent message.”

The templar handed a white envelope to rebecca.

I alternated my gazes between the templar, the white envelope and Rebecca.

“T-That’s ridiculous!”

Rebecca turned pale. Anxiety struck me. Rebecca slowly turned towards me with an expression I had never seen before.

“Princess… the Empress has invited you.”

“What?”

“You clothes. I think you will need to change your clothes.”

As I briefly sifted through the letter she handed me, I was left confused.

‘An invitation? Why me?’

Like a butterfly stuck in a thin web, goosebumps appeared all over my body as if I was being encroached on.

Soon after, a knight from the Empress’ palace donning a black uniform appeared.

It became clear as to what the words in this letter were referring to.

[… My dearest 8th, I request your appearance in my simple banquet.]

This was the first time the Empress had ever invited me to anything.

“… In two hours?”

It was an invitation to the symposium that was happening soon.

“Turn back around! Hurry!”

In such a short amount of time, my dressing room was bustling with tension.

I had no choice but to go. Because I did not want to go up against the Empress and her forces and I could not afford to turn the 2nd Prince into an enemy. Rebecca strongly insisted on my participation.

“You have to go.”

I sighed. A part of my brain was left in a mess. Let me think about this calmly.

The Empress.

She was the mother of the 2nd Prince, Julian and attained her position after succeeding the late 1st Empress. Sadly, that was all I knew.

As I was changing, I had no time to open my diary after removing my make-up and putting on my headdress. I wanted to check what had changed again. Seeing Hannah’s serious expression in front of me, I was sure something had changed.

Instead the information of all the books I had read flooded my brain.

Back in the carriage, neither Rebecca nor I spoke a word. Rebecca looked troubled and I kept my mouth shut because I had nothing to say about my current situation.

I quietly lowered my gaze and quickly reminded myself of the person who invited myself.

‘Who would be interested in the story of a supporting character’s mother?’

As usual, I was a reader who had merely been interested in the romance and did not read more about the Imperial mother in detail.

And it would not even have mattered if I knew all the lines in the <Light of Rusbella> word for word. The narrative had revolved around Castor because the story had been about how the men in the fishbowl fell for Rusbella.

Everything else was mentioned vaguely.

‘If it had nothing to do with the romance, the details were skipped over.’

However, if I thought more about what was written, I could roughly guess the current situation.

The current Empress was the daughter of a consul who had much power, second only to the Emperor. She was a woman hailing from a highly-ranked noble family.

There was one commonality amongst the high-class aristocratic ladies of current. Whether it be notoriety or her popularity, at the center of them all was Auresia.

Every aristocratic lady in the novel was either on Auresia’s side or not. It was possible the Empress was the latter.

‘Both politically and as a woman.’

The Empress had long estranged from the Emperor and the Emperor’s favorite concubine as of now was irrefutably Auresia. Obviously, there was no reason for the Empress to like Auresia.

So I knew for a fact she disliked her. So why did she invite me?

T/N:

Thanks for your patience guys! I might be able to have a double update on friday but we’ll see how it goes!