I Start with a Bad Hand!

“Essentially impossible,” Agnes concluded in a cold voice. Yuri, looking uncertain, raised her hand as if to protest.

“But… what if you wear a fancy dress?”

“Who at the Ducal House ball won’t be dressed elegantly?”

“But if you’re adorned with jewels and such…”

Agnes shook her head, dismissing Yuri’s continued protests.

“It’s not about appearance. It’s about demeanor. Look at her. She has no intention of drawing attention.”

Look at those eyes that wish to be treated like a roadside pebble. Agnes pointed at me, and their gazes returned to me before they awkwardly looked away. An unspoken agreement seemed to have been reached between them. They avoided my eyes.

“You guys are too much…”

“See, even the way she speaks is so deflated. Ah, it’s exhausting.”

Unless you ride in on an elephant, or better yet, a dozen of them. That remark sparked a debate on how to attract attention.

“Maybe entering in a human-drawn carriage… could work…”

“Or bringing an actual cheetah… that would draw the guards’ attention too…”

Their concerns weren’t entirely off the mark. Drawing everyone’s eyes and attention to me? I had never done that voluntarily in my life. My personality combined with Dietrich’s social standing created a perfect storm. Apologies to Baron and Baroness Degoph, but who would care about a baron’s heir from a rural estate?

‘She’s the princess of Elexion.’

That would catch people’s interest.

‘She’s the Empire’s Crown Princess.’

That would astonish them.

Dietrich from Heylem? If I went there… ‘Who?’ wouldn’t be an unlikely response. Maybe Cedric would care, wondering why someone uninvited showed up.

“Try putting some intensity in your eyes.”

“I am.”

“Ah, this is frustrating.”

After a brief lull, Agnes introduced a new topic.

“We’ll think about that later. If worst comes to worst, we’ll really bring an elephant.”

“That’s not a solution at all.”

Ignoring my objection, Agnes pulled something out of her bag. It was a small glass vial filled with a clear liquid.

“Yuri, before you leave, there are a few things we need you to do. Get us some servant uniforms and figure out the key’s grooves. And can you apply this to the west storage door handle?”

“What is it?” Yuri asked, taking the small bottle from Agnes.

“It’s a luminescent substance that only glows in complete darkness. In any light, it remains transparent, and when it solidifies, it becomes a powder you can touch.”

“If the Young Duke visits the west storage often… he wouldn’t just go in there and look around. He’d probably touch something.”

The three of us continued our conversation under the blanket, creating complete darkness, and gazed at the faint glow of the substance. Agnes was right; the material glowed softly in total darkness.

“It’s a long shot, but better than searching the entire storage blindly. You’ll have to do your part, too.”

Agnes, her hair staticky from crawling out from under the blanket, looked at me and said, “You need to provoke him.”

“Provoke… Cedric? The Young Duke?”

“Your aunt has already made contact with him, right? So, he knows of her existence. And given your past with ‘that’ Ducal House… they’ll be highly aware of you. You need to make him think of his mother, the former Duchess.”

“Make him think of her?”

“Yes, provoke him in a way that makes him think of her.”

Provoke a man who has always reacted violently to just seeing my face? What if he has a meltdown and collapses from the stress? This was another tough mission, but there were no alternatives. Everyone was pushing themselves, and I had to do my part.

“So, is that everything?”

“Well… except for a suitable dress for you, Lady Dietrich. We need to attract enough attention.”

At that moment, Agnes and Yuri looked at me and exchanged knowing glances.

“…You can’t go as you usually do.”

“…That’s true.”

The two of them approached me slowly. What were they up to?

“What are you doing?”

“We need to take your measurements.”

“…Why?”

The two grabbed my arms and whispered in my ears as if they were abducting me.

“Even if it’s just a party, you can’t go looking plain.”

“Lady Dietrich, this time I’ll show you my true fashion sense.”

Two weeks until Cedric’s birthday banquet. In that time, I had to figure out how to crash someone else’s party without making a scene.

***

‘I have no confidence…’

I wasn’t always confident in everything, but this was the first time I felt utterly out of my depth. Drawing attention from others wasn’t something I could achieve through effort alone. If effort alone could garner attention, the world wouldn’t be full of sensational self-promotion content.

Moreover, having spent my life trying to avoid attention, I now had to go against that instinct. Doing something so contrary to my values was more exhausting than I’d expected, even if those values were as simple as ‘don’t draw attention and avoid unnecessary trouble.’

‘And this isn’t just about feeling embarrassed if I fail. If something goes wrong, everyone involved could be in serious danger.’

I couldn’t deny that accepting Agnes’s proposal was partly driven by my own self-interest. Thinking about the black spots appearing on my body, the frequent nosebleeds, and even coughing up blood for the first time, I realized the full gravity of the priest’s words about my body collapsing.

This plan had to succeed. But what if I took on a task beyond my abilities?

‘…Maybe I need to gather about a hundred people. But I haven’t even met that many people since I arrived here. And how would I pay them?’

Or perhaps, as Agnes and Yuri suggested, entering with an elephant and smashing through the entrance…

I fiddled with my pen, unable to come up with a proper plan. If I needed help with something like this…

I looked at the blond head across from me. Icarus was sitting upright, working on an assignment for regional studies. An assignment. It was the first time I had seen him doing something like that.

Noticing my stare, he shifted his gaze from his book to me, mouthing, “What?”

“Do you think there are any spare elephants or… cheetahs in the palace?”

“…Cheetahs and elephants in the palace?”

“If not, never mind.”

I turned away to avoid his incredulous gaze. He let out a chuckle and set his pen down.

“Such insolence. The palace isn’t a circus. Spare elephants?”

Fortunately, he didn’t seem offended. If this were the Joseon era, I might have lost my head….

“But why do you need those animals all of a sudden?”

As he spoke, I felt my face stiffen. Explaining this absurd plan was going to be difficult.

“I need to attract some attention.”

“Attention that requires an elephant?”

“No, well, attracting attention is one thing, but getting in is another. I wasn’t invited. How am I supposed to get in?”

“…What’s going on?”

After explaining the situation briefly, Icarus was silent for a moment.

“This is recklessly foolish.”

“I know. That’s why I was asking about spare cheetahs…”

“Come with me.”

“…What?”

“I have an invitation. You can come with me as my partner.”

That would solve the issue of getting in, and what better way to draw attention than arriving with a prince? Icarus closed his book and leaned towards me.

“…Is it alright if I go with you? Like you said, you’re a prince.”

“Exactly. Who would dare say anything?”

His lips curved into a smile. Seeing that I still couldn’t shake my worried expression, he straightened up and spoke in a slightly more measured tone.

“I understand why you’re concerned, but—”

“What if this causes trouble for you? If people criticize you for being inappropriate?”

“…What?”

“If people say things about you because of this, what then?”

As for me, I was already a lost cause. With less than nine months left to escape this world, I had no intention of keeping up appearances. However, I didn’t want anyone else to get into trouble for helping me. Icarus, rubbing the back of his neck, replied softly.

“I told you, I’m a prince. The royal family loves it when I act out. And besides, that’s not a reason for me not to help you.”

So let’s go together. When he lowered his hand, the back of his neck was flushed. His face was composed, so I hadn’t noticed it before.

“If you don’t want to go with me, then… we’ll just have to release an elephant in the Ducal House.”

“…Let’s go together. Don’t release an elephant.”

“I thought you’d say that.”

“What kind of person do you think I am? And you say ‘steal’ too easily… Well, I guess I’m no better.”

Anyway, thank you. I added quietly, hearing a low chuckle in response. He turned back to his assignment, then paused.

“But if it’s the Young Duke’s birthday, the head of Lucero would certainly be invited. Why are you worried about attracting attention when you look so much like him?”

Oh….

Icarus’s casual remark felt like a blow to the back of my head. Right, there was Godwin. Despite the animosity, Elexion was still a ducal house. Leaving aside personal grudges, someone of Godwin’s rank wouldn’t miss a chance to interact with the Ducal House.

And with Icarus’s comment, the direction for the dress that I had only measured for but couldn’t decide on became clear.

***

“…You’re really going with that?”

Agnes looked skeptical when I told her about the dress concept I had decided on.

“Is the prince okay with that? You dressing like that?”

“It was based on his suggestion. He’s even arranging for the dress to match. Do you have the measurements we took?”

“The dress too? That’s a relief. I was wondering how we’d manage to choose and alter a dress with only a little over a week left.”

So the preparations were complete. The dress, the partner, and… a bottle of alcohol to help me get through this ordeal.