An Invitation from the Royal Palace
The royal family might try to pressure Portmus Publishing through House Holpert over this, but with their daughter proving her incompetence in real time, the king—who seems intent on stripping Holpert of all authority—will surely block any such move. In that case, all I have to do is sit back and watch. Is this what people mean by “enjoy the show and the snacks”?
“My lady, you weren’t aiming for this all along, were you?”
After Tiana left, Marie asked me in a slightly agitated voice. She probably thought I was plotting some kind of revenge. Well, I suppose that makes sense.
“Hmm. I didn’t really plan anything. I just thought it was good material.”
“But is this really okay?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
No matter how things turned out, the story would still follow the original plot. What happened to House Holpert didn’t matter to me anymore. After all, this world no longer had any connection to Milene.
Still, it might be worth stopping by the royal palace at least once. I needed to see how that woman Sophia would react.
“Now that I think about it, another letter arrived.”
“A letter?”
Could something have finally happened? Like an anti-fan sending death threats? It was about time. I was magnanimous enough to forgive even a letter that said they’d kill me. After all, I’m only human. Writing a novel that everyone loves is impossible, so of course some people would be unhappy.
But the letter Marie showed me was different. Something on the stationery was glittering in gold.
Author Kay is cordially invited to visit the royal palace at your earliest convenience.
— Their Majesties, the King and Queen of Glacia —
“It bears the royal seal, so I didn’t open it,” Marie said.
“The royal palace… It must be from the king and queen.”
“Yes.”
I took the letter from her. The contents were simple. They wanted me to visit the palace whenever I was free. It was probably because of the novel. Since the royal couple had never considered that idiot Schwald as a proper heir, they wouldn’t ask me to stop publishing. Hmm. The royal palace, huh. What perfect timing.
I had been thinking I should go at least once anyway. I wanted to see that woman Sophia’s reaction.
The royal palace I arrived at after so long felt a little different this time. Last time I had visited as Milene, but not today. Today I was author Kay. The letter had specifically invited “Author Kay” to the palace.
“Welcome, Milene. No, no—that’s not right. Should I call you Kay now?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“But your hair… Is that a wig?”
I was wearing a wig again. Even so, most people didn’t recognize me. The last time I’d left the prison and entered the palace, the servants who realized I was Milene had looked at me with pity, while those connected to Sophia had glared with contempt. Today, everyone looked at me like I was a stranger. Of course they did. Who would imagine that Milene would walk around dressed like a commoner? And an author, no less.
To Schwald and Sophia’s close associates, Milene had only ever been the villainess who relied on her family’s prestige. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Yes. After all, the young lady of House Holpert is here, isn’t she?”
“Ahahaha. Right, right.”
I didn’t want to be noticed by that Sophia woman. If she realized who I was, she would probably mobilize House Holpert to stop me from writing. At that point I’d have to seriously consider killing her or settling things once and for all. But she was the original protagonist, after all. So I wanted to watch from the shadows and see just how spectacularly she would troll and ruin everything. That was why I had come.
“Really, that girl only ever comes here claiming she’s receiving queen training, but all she does is play around. You would have made a far better daughter-in-law.”
“Even if Prince Schwald begged me on his knees, it would be impossible now.”
“I suppose so. Honestly, if we hadn’t read your novel, we might have tried to marry you to one of the other princes.”
They were saying some seriously dangerous things. I had endured and acted meek all this time to survive, but if something like that actually happened, I had my own thoughts on the matter.
“Ah, that would be rather troublesome.”
“It was a joke. Don’t make such a serious face. We don’t want to burden Author Kay, who takes her writing so seriously.”
That was a relief. Still, I had been worried. In worlds like this, noble daughters were usually forced into marriage. Even though I was formerly a noble, one word from the king could see me married off to another prince. That was why, at least in front of the king, I had to remain purely an author devoted only to her craft.
“Hahaha, thank you.”
“By the way…”
“Yes?”
“If you write that villainess story, won’t the hero novel be delayed?”
“It might end up that way.”
Logically speaking, yes. Still, I planned to write both romance and the other work in a balanced way. The advantage of this body called Milene was that I could serialize two stories at once and still have time to enjoy my leisure.
But then the king’s face suddenly twisted horribly, as if he had eaten something bad at lunch.
“That won’t do! How could that happen! It’s too tragic!”
“It’s not tragic at all. The writing is just being postponed. The publication schedule will still be met.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yes.”
Even if the king threw a tantrum, there was nothing I could do. I needed to earn some money too.
“Ah, I almost forgot. About your novel—this new romance work.”
“Yes. Is there something you’d like to say?”
“It seems the story has stirred up quite a bit of talk between the prince and Sophia.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a rumor going around the capital. People are saying that perhaps the villainess Milene was actually unjustly accused. Of course, in the story the Sophia role is a commoner.”
Hmm. So the king and queen already knew.
“It’s true that I used myself as a motif, but I only wrote it as a simple romance without any deeper thought. I never expected rumors like this.”
“Rumors can grow quite large.”
How big had it gotten? Bigger than I expected?
“Just how far has it spread?”
“Since you’re Author Kay, would you like to take a look around the palace while you’re here? No one will recognize you as Milene.”
“Indeed. Who would see you as Milene?”
That was true. Honestly, I wanted to see it for myself. But there was a problem. I was no longer a noble. If a commoner wanted to wander around the palace, the only way was to rise through the ranks, but I wasn’t a high official either. That was what worried me.
“Would I have the right to do that?”
“We can just say we’re holding a fan signing event in the palace. Don’t you think?”
“Oh. That’s actually a great idea.”
A fan signing event at the royal palace. Perfect. It would naturally grant me the privilege to walk around the palace, and I could appeal to the palace staff at the same time. Your king is my fan! Something like that. Since the king was taking good care of me, this seemed like a solid plan. This way, I would be touring the palace under the king’s grace.
Yes. Up until that point, everything was fine.
But then—
Why were there so many fans? I asked myself that question several times. Why exactly was I here? Hadn’t I come under the pretext of a fan signing event to observe Schwald and Sophia? Yet the palace staff really were my fans. How was this possible?
It was noisy. I ended up signing autographs anyway. At the royal palace, no less. Who could have predicted that a fan signing event would turn out like this? Usually they weren’t like this, right? It was just a signing session. Even for a famous author, did people really swarm like this? And inside the royal palace?
No. Come to think of it, the king himself had openly declared he was my fan and invited me. The palace staff had no reason to hold back. I realized it anew—my novels really held this much value.
At the same time, I was curious how Schwald and Sophia would react to all this. Maybe I didn’t even need to go see them in person. What if they came to me and complained directly? That would be interesting too. In that case, I’d give them a little tip. After all, that plagiarist author was just a lowlife who only knew how to pull cheap tricks for his own benefit. I wondered what kind of reaction they would have to words coming from someone who wasn’t even Milene.
“Thank you!”
I signed for each person one by one while waiting for them to appear.
Around that same time, Schwald and Sophia were in the palace courtyard. The two of them had been staying almost exclusively in the inner garden, to the point it almost felt like they were under self-imposed house arrest. Actually, the signs had been there for several days. Rumors had begun spreading through the capital that Milene might have actually been unjustly accused.
They just hadn’t expected the rumors to reach the palace itself.
That morning, Prince Schwald had asked the whispering palace maids:
“Why are you whispering while looking at me? Should I charge you with lèse-majesté?”
The maid’s answer had been absurd. It was about that newly popular novel, The Villainess Has Her Reasons. It was the new work by the author of The Hero’s Party, which had been spreading through the capital recently. They had projected Milene onto the protagonist of that new book.
He had confiscated the novels the palace staff were carrying, but he couldn’t stop the rumors from spreading. The result was the current situation. Schwald and Sophia had fled to the courtyard because the stares from the palace staff made them uncomfortable.
Of course, they felt no pangs of conscience. To Schwald, Milene really had been a villainess. The reason they had run from the innocent staff was because Sophia felt uneasy.
“Damn it! Milene had circumstances? What the hell does that mean?! That villainess couldn’t possibly have any ‘circumstances’! This is why commoners are the worst!”
“Y-Your Highness, please calm down. It’s just commoners talking, right?”
“Yes. That’s right. They’re just commoners. But still… Sophia, you’re not even a commoner. The villainess is Milene, so why should you have to receive such looks?”
“It’s because they’re all idiots!”
Sophia tried her best to soothe Schwald. After all, she knew the whole truth. It wouldn’t do any good for the prince to stir up trouble now. It was just a novel, after all. The stupid commoners were comparing Milene and Sophia to it.
Honestly, Sophia felt even worse than Schwald did.
That publishing house rejected my manuscript and then published trash like this?
First, they had thrown away her manuscript but immediately published the boring hero novel author’s romance instead. It was blatant discrimination. Were they not afraid of the Holpert name? And why publish something like that and cause unnecessary misunderstandings? In the novel, the character playing Sophia’s role—Vilia—was a commoner.
Treating me like a commoner? How ridiculous!
Though she was furious, Sophia carefully observed her surroundings. Before she had been adopted into House Holpert, she had lived by reading the room. She understood how the current situation was unfolding. She had barely managed to get rid of Milene. If things blew up like this, it would become troublesome. If she got angry at the commoners and tried to confront or resolve the issue, she would only invite suspicion. That was how people were.
Even those idiot young ladies at the academy had compared the prince and Sophia’s love story to a novel.
If only that Kay person didn’t exist!
It was all that Kay’s fault. Why on earth had that person written such a novel and dragged someone destined to become crown princess into this annoying mess? If she ever met that author, she would smash her face right there. She would make sure the person who dared touch the young lady of House Holpert paid dearly.
Yes. For now, she would endure.
That was what she had been thinking when she heard the palace staff chattering in the distance.
“Author Kay has arrived!”
What?