“Episode 30”
No, still, Daphne is someone. She’s the king’s niece, and also a distant cousin of Romeo Rodriguez, not to mention the prince’s favorite…
“On the surface, she was a match made in heaven. Right.”
Daphne brought her fist to her chin and pondered. Had her name been omitted from the list she had checked just the other day? She hadn’t paid meticulous attention to that part, assuming it was only natural for her to participate.
“Daph.”
“Yeah?”
“Your attire looks cheap.”
Daphne was wearing a shoulder-baring chiffon two-piece outfit. It looked out of season compared to Amber, who was wearing a green dress that covered her arms down to her elbows.
“Oh, really? It’s hot, you know.”
Indeed, it was. With the short monsoon ending, the hot summer had begun in Secradión, and the clothes covering the skin only made it hotter.
“It makes someone as precious as you look cheap.”
Ignoring her mother’s nagging, Daphne took a sip of her earl grey tea.
If she went out like this, the royal girls would set it as a capital trend, and then Amber wouldn’t be able to say anything.
“Mom, can you give me some money?”
Asking for money? Daphne, who used to live without any financial worries, now found it regrettable to ask her mother for money.
“It’s at home.”
“Can you buy me clothes for the wedding?”
“I told you not to go.”
“Mom, I saw the list. A few members of the Agenar nobility are coming.”
Daphne wasn’t lying. About three members of the Banque House nobility were coming, thanks to her friendship with Romeo, and she had sweated for months to tailor the guest rooms to their tastes.
“Rakteya Hae is as beautiful as a galaxy~ Meeting on a romantic passenger ship~ Wouldn’t even silver hair look blonde when it reflects the moonlight~”
Daphne made a flower ornament with her hands and made a face like a girl falling in love. Amber’s golden eyes began to waver.
“Dancing with anyone on a nighttime sea would be perfect for falling in love. And if you catch the bouquet at the wedding, they say you’ll be cursed to marry within three months~”
Daphne paused for a moment. This superstition was a memory from a past life. Although it was a story she had never heard here, fortunately, Amber didn’t ask for the source.
“Really, not going?”
Daphne shook her hair behind her ears and pouted. Her daughter’s pouting was clear in its goal, but as she listened, it felt quite reasonable.
Although Amber had laid down an ultimatum not to go, the guests invited were either royals, nobles, or symbols. It was absurd that not a single member of the Green’s lineage, which had been a prominent royal family for generations, would attend.
Moreover, the troublesome rebel who had been bothering her was now gone, and Daphne didn’t act like a child. She handled her affairs well as an adult, and in fact, there had never been a time when her daughter had been wrong.
Amber put down the poetry and picked up the bell. Ding-ding, the clear sound of the glass bell echoed in the garden.
“Just this time.”
“Yes!”
Still, well, a mother’s chance was always enjoyable.
—
“Crazy.”
“Please show me your invitation.”
“Isn’t it here?”
Daphne’s indignant voice was drowned out by the sound of the boat swaying.
“Because I’m Daphne Viewcater, the owner of the Saturn Merrial Hotel, and Romeo Rodriguez’s distant cousin…”
Already sweltering, the heat was now concentrated on her face from embarrassment. And to stumble over her words on top of that!
“Is that so.”
Human barriers blocking Daphne’s path were rare. Daphne personally waited in line at six entrances and shouted, “I’m Daphne, the daughter of Viewcater and Green,” several times with her own mouth.
“There seem to be about twenty Viewcater people behind Miss.”
“No, it’s me!”
“Please give me the invitation.”
However, the inflexible soldiers dared to cut her off at the entrance.
According to the soldiers, there were ladies with red hair and golden pearl eyeshadow wandering around this harbor.
The news of Daphne Viewcater’s missing invitation had spread. Everyone was claiming to be Daphne!
“She seems too frivolous to be the owner of Saturn Merrial.”
“Did you just criticize my attire…?”
Daphne looked down at her clothes. The formal reception wouldn’t start until the evening, and Daphne had planned to take a quick nap as soon as she entered, so she dressed simply.
The airy dress was a “masterpiece” from a designer that Amber invested an enormous amount in every year. And to say that such clothes had a “frivolous demeanor”?
“Do you know that this outfit costs more than the price of that whole brigade over there?”
Daphne said in astonishment. Then she tapped her chest a few times. The sore area stung sharply.
“Oh.”
“The invitation.”
Although Daphne grimaced momentarily in pain, the soldier only lowered his voice.
“No. Don’t you really recognize me? How can you not recognize me?”
“Many use the term ‘frivolous,’ but it doesn’t seem to apply to you.”
The conditions for boarding were first an invitation with the royal seal. Then, the second step involved comparing passports, photos, and lists. Since Daphne didn’t even have an invitation, she couldn’t proceed to the second step.
“They called me ‘frivolous’? That’s what the newspaper reporters say, what am I supposed to do about my face!”
Daphne descended the iron stairs with a thud. Her face was almost the same color as her dark hair.
“It’s a self-inflicted disaster.”
Daphne laughed and touched her forehead with gloved hands. All of this was the conditions she set herself.
“Oh, really? Have you lost it? Darn it… Give me back my clothes at least!”
Yesterday, her luggage, like her father’s clothes, was safely stowed away in her cabin on that huge passenger ship. Thinking about it made her burn with anger. Daphne clenched her fists and approached Nareed, who was standing far away.
“Miss, why have you come back?”
Nareed, who came out to see her off, looked surprised at Daphne’s return. With her dark hair tucked behind her ears, Nareed looked like a symbol lady.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, those bastards…!”
Daphne was about to explain the situation but stopped herself. What good would it do to create worries for someone about to go on vacation? Daphne shook her head and changed her words.
“I can go in a little later. You go first.”
“Why? But you’re, you’re…”
Nareed looked puzzled.
“Yeah. The departure time is five hours from now. There seems to be an order. You should go now too. It’ll be late.”
“Then, will you stay here for five hours?”
Daphne quickly pushed Nareed towards the car. Although Nareed kept looking back, Daphne quickly blended back into the crowd.
“Is this Romeo’s doing? Is he trying to make fun of me?”
But her well-established cousin wouldn’t eat Daphne up over such trivial matters now. Daphne frowned at the arrogance of the crowd. After the wind filled with firecracker sounds, paper danced from the sky.
“What on earth is going on?”
When things went wrong, Daphne blamed herself. Cutting off thoughts after thinking “Everything is my responsibility” was much better for her mental health than blaming others.
But there was surely a reason for the misfortune she had faced in recent weeks.
“Sleurste.”
Perhaps due to clenching her teeth tightly, Daphne’s pronunciation was completely muddled.
The damn prince with eyes almost the same color as dazzling emeralds!
“Darn…”
Until a few days ago, she had spent her time imagining the face of the prince who would collapse miserably while watching Psyche getting married. It was because “the fall of the fallen prince” was a sentence that Daphne really liked.
As she thought of him, a pang of pain shot through and left behind a trail of immense resentment. Everything was Celestian’s fault. The injuries to her precious body, her enormous fortune being tied up in a trust, her mother pressuring her to marry, and Psyche, who always used to smile when she saw him, now making a sour face! That useless prince who did nothing to help in life. Not only did he rescue her and then run away, but he also pushed her into such a dire situation. Daphne had never seen a handsome man running away in any romance novel before. Unless the woman was the criminal, and it was a thriller genre!
“But I’m not a criminal. I’m the romance maker who personally ensures the success of weddings.”
Daphne began to mess up the carefully arranged curls that Nareed had tied up. Tears welled up as the decorations tangled in her hair, thanks to her rummaging.
“Teriosa. You, I…”
Onlookers who had been watching her actions commented sympathetically, “Looks like she really wants to board the ship,” as Daphne’s red hair seemed to glow under the spotlight.
“Seriously, get a grip.”
As a piece of paper fluttered by, it stuck to Daphne’s face.
“Ah, stop it!”
Annoyed, Daphne ripped the paper off and was about to crumple it up when she noticed what it said.
“<Page-Rene’s historic first voyage, a golden opportunity to secure a boarding pass! Unnamed Hotel B1…>”
“Gamble?”
Daphne glanced at the wallet in her hand. A smirk began to creep up on her lips. Lady Luck was undoubtedly on Daphne’s side.
