The queen’s laughter echoed through the hall for a long while before gradually subsiding.
For someone of her status, such wild laughter was truly undignified.
Even the two guards disguised as attendants stared at her in shock.
“Y-Your Majesty?”
The director beside her was also bewildered by this turn… He stood frozen, uncertain what to do.
‘This is truly the worst situation…!’
This was Lian’s only thought. If she were to rank the people she least wanted to meet in this world, the queen before her… Senia would definitely rank in the top five.
It wasn’t because she was some evil tyrant who abused her power… Lian didn’t want to encounter her simply because she had once been one of her engagement candidates.
Moreover, unlike Vera, who had actively rejected the engagement, Senia had been willing to marry Lian—and she had believed that Lian would marry her as well.
But after the war ended, Lian, who already had someone else in her heart, still refused the engagement and returned to Northern Elancia to marry Meliya.
Lian had declined the engagement through a formal letter.
She never received any reply, so she didn’t know how Senia felt about it.
But judging from the fact that she had issued an urgent decree summoning Iyue and other elf guests, who were attending Lian’s wedding, to return home immediately, she was probably quite displeased—
Considering that just writing a letter might have been rude, Lian had originally planned to take time after the wedding to personally go to the Sea of Trees and explain… But before she could do that, she was sent back to her original world on the night of the wedding.
However, past thoughts and plans were clearly of no use now.
After laughing, Senia let out a long sigh, as if releasing the pent-up emotions of many years all at once.
“Ah… I’m truly surprised.” She adjusted her veil, which had almost fallen off, but her golden eyes shone with unprecedented brightness beneath it.
“I want you to come with me.”
She walked past Lian and lightly patted her shoulder.
“I, I won’t! And I’m not some illegitimate child you imagine!”
Struck by that pat, Lian felt the binding force that had been restricting her dissipate.
She turned around and spoke to Senia with righteous indignation.
“Oh? Then who are you?”
“I am—”
Just as she opened her mouth, the company’s director interjected:
“Your Majesty… This Miss Lian is a friend of the Duchess. She is an important guest of the company…”
He looked at the queen with a troubled expression, hoping she would reconsider.
“A friend of the Duchess? That Duchess actually considers this child her friend?”
The queen turned around as if she had heard something extremely ridiculous.
She glanced at Lian again, then faced the director:
“Then I have even more reason to invite her to my place as a guest. Hmm.”
The director was dumbfounded… He completely didn’t expect his words to have the exact opposite effect.
He looked at Lian with some embarrassment and apology.
‘Mentioning Meliya at a time like this would naturally turn out like this…!’
Lian knew the director had seen her resistance and thus brought up that connection to help her out…
The idea itself wasn’t wrong, but it was absolutely impossible in front of this person!
“I can’t go with you! I still have things to take care of here—”
“Whatever it is, I’ll complete it for you. Or within my power, I will grant any wish you have… as long as you tell me about that person.”
“Senia…! I told you I’m not—”
Seeing that she was still as stubborn as in her memories, Lian unconsciously called out her familiar nickname like in the past.
“What did you call me…?”
The queen’s body stiffened… Her trembling voice lost its earlier calm and composure.
“…Miss Lian?”
“…Your Majesty.”
The director gasped, and the two tall elf guards warily stepped in front of the queen, staring at Lian.
“Leave.” But the queen dismissed the guards. She walked straight up to Lian. “What did you call me just now? Say it again.”
The distance between them was extremely close.
At this distance, Lian could even smell her unique fragrant scent, a mixture of flowers and forest leaves.
It was the same scent she had smelled when she carried Senia on her back through the woods to avoid demon pursuers back then.
And unlike the clear fragrance of that time, this scent was now more like a rich floral aroma… as intoxicating as her voice infused with magic power.
Lian felt her mind waver, and even felt a strange impulse to tear off her veil.
But fortunately, her willpower overcame that urge. She avoided the queen and stepped back.
“Why do you step back?”
“You, you’re too close! Stay away from me.”
Faced with such a refusal, almost expressing disgust, the queen did not get angry.
She didn’t approach further, but stopped and raised her own arm to sniff it.
“Do I have some strange smell on me?”
“No! Rather, it’s because it’s too fragrant so—”
Lian suddenly recalled that two years ago, in a forest in the western High Wind Forest Region, an almost identical conversation had taken place:
‘Lord Hero, why do you keep me at such a distance? Do I have some smell on me?’
“Even the reaction… is exactly the same as that person’s.”Senia stopped, murmuring softly.
Because she was wearing a veil, Lian couldn’t see her expression. But her voice sounded wistful, making one’s heart ache.
“That name… did he tell you? In this world, only that person called me that.”
“…I know what you’re thinking, but this is a huge misunderstanding.”
Her appearance reminded Lian of Vera at the Crown Festival.
Lian felt she couldn’t hide it from her… she had to explain clearly.
But with so many people around, she really couldn’t reveal her identity here.
“…I’ll go with you.”
“You’re willing to go?”
The queen lifted her head slightly.
“Miss Lian… Are you really going?”
The director wanted to step forward, but the two guards blocked his way.
“Then let’s go… right now!”
At this moment, the queen didn’t care about anyone else besides Lian.
She excitedly took Lian’s arm and was about to walk out the door—
Just then, someone dressed exactly like the two guards pushed open the door and entered the hall… But this one was a woman.
She looked somewhat surprised to see the disguised queen affectionately holding a human girl’s arm, but quickly composed herself and walked to the queen’s side.
“Wait a moment.”
The queen smiled at Lian, then nodded at the female guard.
“Your Majesty. I have determined the cause of the commotion on the street. It’s Iyue Nairfu… no, it’s Lord Yi Yue who has returned. Citizens in the Lower District heard the rumor from somewhere and are searching all over the streets for her.”
“Furthermore,”the female guard glanced at Lian behind the queen and lowered her voice further: “The Captain General of the Ranger Corps led people to welcome her, but she didn’t accept it. Before leaving, she seemed to say she was going to find her traveling companion… a human girl.”
“I’ve seen the portrait; it seems to be the girl behind you. And the Ranger Corps has dispatched many people to search for her.”
“…I see.”
The queen pondered for a moment, then laughed again.
“This is getting more and more interesting— Director.”
“…Yes, yes. What are Your Majesty’s orders?”
The director hadn’t expected the queen to suddenly call him. He pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
“Director.”The queen said to him, “Please take a message to your Duchess: We will entertain her daughter with the treatment of a state guest. And this Miss Lian, who can be her friend… I will also take good care of her.”
“Please tell her not to worry.”
“…Understood.”
“Then let’s go.”The queen once again took Lian’s arm and led her out onto the street. The three guards followed closely behind.
“My mistress thanks you all for your hospitality.”
Finally, the female guard bowed her head to everyone in the hall before pulling the door shut.
“Director?!”
Seeing the director leaning against the wall, sweating profusely as if with a stomachache, the surrounding staff hurriedly came to support him.
“Quickly.”He stood up with their help and gave a low order to the staff beside him. “Pick the best and fastest carrier pigeon… I need to write a letter to the Duchess who is currently at the Nolan border.”
Realizing the gravity of the matter, the staff member turned pale and nodded, then ran toward the courtyard where the company kept carrier pigeons.
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