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“Hehe.” Emilia was feeling very happy today.

Today was the day in which she was going to visit the palace that she only heard about in fairy tale stories herself. She had endlessly boasted to her friends in school when she learned from her dad that they were invited to Buckingham Palace.

Being in her final year of middle school at 16 years old¹, her mind was still filled with dreams and young girl’s fancies.

“Since there will be only high-class people there, be careful with your actions.”
“Yes, dad!”

It was difficult to say anything to his daughter who was feeling extremely happy about the event, so he carefully warned her to be mindful of her manners. Though Emilia answered him right away properly, the truth was that he was still worried.

Originally, Emilia and her father weren’t from a family that had such high renown to be invited to Buckingham Palace. However, their small business had recently become very successful and grown, and the investment which her father had put into Blue Sky since he played it as a hobby became massively successful, leading to their family becoming rich in a short amount of time.

Perhaps heavens were being kind to him for the fact that he had been loyal only to his daughter after he lost his wife?

“Goodness, does it make you that happy?”

Patting Emilia’s head as she smiled happily², her father Daniel gave a happy smile in return.

“Yeah. Dad, what’s your wish?” Hearing Emilia’s sudden question when she was just happily answering him earlier, Daniel had to wonder about it for a moment.

“I wish for Emilia to live happy and healthy.”
“Aw come on. That’s too boring.”
“Haha…”

Though anyone would start to become greedy if they were to suddenly strike it rich like their family did, his wish was just as he said and nothing more. Perhaps the biggest reason why he didn’t marry even after having a very comfortable amount of wealth was because of Emilia.

“So for me, my wish was to go to the palace that the queen lives in one day!³”
“Oho. So my little Emilia has gotten her wish come true, huh?”
“Hehe, yeah. Thanks, dad.”

And so Daniel realized the reason why Emilia was so happy, and that he made a great decision by not declining the invitation to the Buckingham Palace he received a few days ago due to busy schedule and agreed to go together.

Screech.

The Mercedes Benz arrived at Buckingham Palace and Daniel got off the car along with Emilia. The temporary car parking area set up to the side of the palace grounds were already filled with expensive vehicles that other high-class people drove to get here.

A royal guard that had been placed as a temporary guide was letting esteemed guests from outside to be let into the palace grounds.

“Could you show me your invitation?”

When Daniel and Emilia’s turn came, one of the royal guards stepped up and asked for the invitation paper. Though he must have been tired and annoyed by this point due to the immense amount of people they needed to serve today, he still kept up his work mentality and maintained a friendly face.

“Here it is.”

Daniel pulled out the invitation paper from his pocket, to which the guard took it and studied it carefully from top to bottom, checking the royal symbols here and there before nodding.

“Yes, it has been verified. Please do come in. The royal guards will guide your way.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, Mr. Guard~”

Hearing Emilia’s bright and cheery greeting, the guard smiled back at her. He realized just how important an innocent girl’s smile was in relieving the stress he had built up by his work.

Murmur murmur.

Stepping inside of the palace together with Emilia, he expected this to happen somewhat but he was still overwhelmed with the grandeur of the palace interior as well as the number of high-class people inside the hall.

“Woow!”

If it wasn’t for the fact that he was an adult man, he may have actually shouted in amazement just like his daughter did and looked around in interest.

“But dad, why did we not go through the front doors and had to come in through the back?” As Emilia asked the question while pointing at the red carpet laid out in the front of the gate, Daniel spoke with a bitter smile on his face.

“Well, only the nobles that have prestigious titles can come in from there. We’re just simple peasants⁴, which is why we came in through the back.”

Though it was a little silly to say that they’re really peasants, when strictly considering only the title, Daniel was right.

“So you have no power at all, huh dad?”
“Ugh…”

Daniel felt as if he was a completely powerless father after being stabbed deeply from her truthful yet painful words, blaming himself for this position he was in.

“Sir Poplin of Baron Frontier is now entering.”

Finally, the nobles started to come in through the central doors and Emilia turned her eyes towards them with great interest. She was excited by the fact that she was now looking at a huge number of nobles in front of her eyes who she had only heard of in rumors.

There was no bias with gender or age as a variety of nobles stepped in, to which Emilia started to lose interest after a while and turned to see that her dad was too busy talking to the numerous people around him.

They were having some boring adult talk and it was too difficult for her to understand. Pouting her lips, Emilia glanced around and saw that there was a group of girls at the same age as her grouped up at the tables on the sides of the hall.

Her eyes gleamed with excitement as she walked towards there. Though she had some repulsion against meeting with complete strangers, she couldn’t stand being ostracized more, so just standing in the corner quietly for the whole time was something too difficult for her.

“Hello!”

Emilia attempted the most classic way to make new friends in school towards the group of girls⁵. As it had always worked every time she attempted it, she assumed that the chance of failure would be way too low which put a confident smile on her face.

“…”

However, her assumptions were completely wrong. None of the six or seven girls that were around the table replied to her. They simply glared at her with cold eyes, enough to look as if they were thinking of her as a nuisance.

First of all, the girls were all wearing dresses while Emilia was wearing casual two-piece clothing that was more common for girls of her age. Of course, it wasn’t a cheap brand but rather a famous and expensive one, but it still was a huge difference between that and the dress. On top of that, none of the girls that were around the table were thinking of talking to this peasant who never introduced herself first, showing that she had terrible manners.

They were daughters of families that had the titles such as Dukes and Viscounts with a deep history behind them so their pride was sky high, and was showing the expected behavior of people with a deep consciousness of authority and class.

“How dare a peasant like you…⁶”

The most beautiful girl among them seemed to have just grown out of her adolescence and was in possession of a seemingly foul personality. She gave Emilia a cold smile while sending a sharp glare at her.

“Ahh…”

Realizing that the mood was getting worse and not as she expected, Emilia felt as if she was going to cry.

Did she do something wrong? She had only tried to talk to her in an effort to be friendly with them. She felt sad and thought it was unfair. If enough time had just passed on like this, Emilia would have ended up bursting into tears⁷.

“Big sis, aren’t you being way too mean?”

The kind warm words that she had so desperately wanted at this moment enveloped her in an embrace as it stepped in between her and the woman who glared at her.

“Esther, are you rebuking me right now to protect a peasant?”
“Why are you pushing that peasant narrative when there’s no such thing as peasants and nobles in this age? If you truly are a noble, you should act like a true nobility and show generosity towards people like this and not be narrow-minded.⁸”
“You…”

Emilia watched anxiously as the two had an argument. The girl who had helped her out was definitely a noble as well with her beautiful ornate dress. She was happy that a stranger of noble birth spoke up for her, but the two seemed to be friends judging from their conversations. If the argument got worse from here and the girl who was protecting her lost the argument and excused herself, Emilia would end up taking all of the snappy noble girl’s wrath.

“Lady Esther. Are you honestly willing to sour your relationship with her just because of a peasant?”
“You’re being way too rude to people of a higher class, you know.”

On top of that, the girls around Stella weren’t being helpful as well. They were taken by surprise by Esther’s reprimand but gradually regained their confidence.

It was at that moment.

“Elizabeth Kent, the Duchess-To-Be is now entering.”

The loudest fanfare yet rang out to signify the arrival of the guest of honor. Naturally, the girls that were all arguing stopped their conversation and turned their gaze towards the central doors.

A mesmerizingly beautiful young woman wearing a pure white slim dress stepped inside. Though she certainly looked as if she had just grown out of her teenage years, her light steps and her indifferent gazes towards others looked very charismatic.

The description ‘has an aura of light around her’ would be apt for her. Even though she was simply walking down the hall, it felt as if there was a bright spotlight constantly following wherever she went.

The woman with the confident expression on her face quickly grew pale as her face became stiff. The girls that were chattering away had closed their mouths and didn’t open as well. Only the girl named Esther among them talked normally without any difference.

“Are you okay now?”
“Yes.”

After checking up on Emilia’s situation, Esther then went towards the woman who had just stepped inside that no one was daring to go near towards. The woman with the pale face turned herself around and blended back into the crowd along with her group of girls. Well, more like they went into hiding.

Though it was Esther who helped her directly, the one who had actually solved the situation was the woman who had just stepped inside.

“Y… Yeah. I’m sure that woman is different than others.”

With a young girl’s fantasies in her mind, Emilia made a decision. She then…⁹

1. Robinxen: I don’t know about you guys but rather than 16 she sounds more like 8…
2. Robinxen: Definitely not 16…
3. Robinxen: Easy, hop on a train and then go for a bit of a walk and it’s right in front of you…
4. Robinxen: Insert the usual stuff
5. Robinxen: Are we certain she’s 16? I mean the worst thing to do is try to make contact with an insular group of girls.
6. Robinxen: Parents educate your children properly seriously…this day and age?
7. Robinxen: At this age? At an event?
8. Robinxen: Is this? A voice of reason?
9. Robinxen: Decided to repeat the exact same thing and hope for the best.