Chapter 87

“How can you not recognize me?” Freya uttered a shrill voice.

“Oh, my God,” Archer scratched his head, and the two facing each other burst into laughter. Freya, clutching her stomach, spoke as she looked at his unfamiliar face.

“How old are you, Archer? I thought you were over forty!”

Archer, who had a shaggy beard and was not well-decorated, looked old. “You little rascal! Stop messing with a gentleman who is not even thirty!” Archer, who was very angry at her words, shouted.

“Why have you been such a mess so far, Archer?”

Hero also examined Archer’s appearance, wondering if his change was strange.

“That’s because I’m too lazy to trim my beard,” Archer answered.

When Freya uttered a disgruntled voice, Archer glanced at her and spoke.

“Who would recognize you now?”

“That’s…!”

Freya was angry, but she couldn’t say anything because it was true. As she puffed up her cheeks, Archer spoke to her with a happy face.

“Look at that. Don’t you look good in a dress?”

“What do you mean all of a sudden?”

Flushed with sudden praise, Freya turned her head sharply.

“By the way, Freya, what do you do in the palace? I’m sure you are not a maid in that  dress.”

“Oh, that’s…”

It was a natural question for Archer, who knew nothing yet. When asked by him, Freya carefully opened her mouth as she grabbed the front hem of the dress.

“That’s why I’m His Highness Lucius-”

But Freya couldn’t finish her words.

It’s not true, but I’m ashamed to say it.

Hero, who was picking up the tea, spoke for her.

“Miss De Bua will soon be engaged to his Highness.”

“What do you mean by getting engaged to your Highness?” said Archer with his wide-eyed.

He seemed skeptical when he heard it.

“It’s not that surprising, for this is all to help his Highness.”

Freya added a very brief explanation.

“Oh, my God! Freya!”

Archer, who had heard what she had to say, looked at her profoundly moving eyes.

“You have at last pledged your allegiance to your Highness!”

“What do you mean by oath? That’s just what happened.”

It reminded Freya of the moment she had wanted to jump out of the palace window for the past month but gave up thinking about her debt.

“By the way, do something about the way you said.”

Freya went mad with the awkwardness of Archer, who had a young man’s face. Gemini, watching their conversation, looked through the papers silently, and Hero grinned.

***

“Your chin is always raised, and your eyelashes fall, but your eyes should never look down –”

These were a few of a series of boring etiquette lessons. Freya lowered her eyelashes, but her eyes were full of sarcasm. She began to think about something else in her head.

After class, should I go to Archer and eat chicken legs?

At the end of the lesson, she was dancing with joy, and suddenly Mrs. Francesca’s words awoke her mind.

“Today, the Empress invited you to the tea-time.”

Freya could have escaped from here in a little while, but….

“Yes…?”

Freya shuddered as she remembered the Empress, who had a frightening face in her dream.

What if I go and make a mistake?

“I shouldn’t refuse her invitation, should I?”

“Of course. Isn’t it an honor for the Empress to call you personally?”

“Oh, yes. It’s an honor.”

Freya, who was smiling awkwardly, secretly broke into a cold sweat.

“In this case, let’s go to the Queen and try not to speak as much as possible.” Francesca reminded her.

The Empress Palace had exceptional boundaries from the entrance. The guard who stood in the corridor to the door stood a tight guard as if a war had just broken out. A soldier with an unnamed weapon with a round iron on both sides was wearing a black mask, starting with a spear that seemed to kill him instantly.

I can’t even pick a bone if I try to break into the Imperial Palace.

Freya’s throat was cold as she was swallowing her saliva with tension.