When My Enemies Began to Regret

A few hours later, in the banquet hall.

A large crowd gathered there. Of course, the royal family of this Kingdom had a magnificent palace, so they could easily accommodate such a large number of people. And only when all the nobles had gathered did the king, the main character of this party, appear proudly. As the king sat on the splendid throne, Hanar and his son, who were nearby, said,

“Your Majesty is a wonderful person whenever I see him.”

“If Your Majesty listens to your sincerity, he will be happy. You will take over the Celsius family in the future, so you will have a chance to talk with him one day.”

The person who was at the top of the Kasius Kingdom had the charisma of a monarch.

The king’s face was dignified, and many of his servants regarded him as an idol. However, that didn’t mean that Fanora was also positively looking at the king.

These days, the reign of the Balmong dynasty has entered a stable period. However, unaware of the preciousness of the peace that his grandfather and his father had achieved through the blood on their hands, Balmong IV began to have a vain dream as the inside of the Kingdom stabilized.  

It was his vain dream of establishing a great empire by conquering all the neighboring kingdoms. He was a war fanatic. Every now and then, he was eager to attack another kingdom even though they were allies. Each time he did that, this kingdom territory expanded. 

How many lives have been sacrificed in war because of the king’s ambition? What about the slaves who were looted because they lived near the border? Even a few nobles gathered here would die in the future conquest war.

Then she saw a nobleman introducing his daughter to the King. The person with red hair next to her was probably…

“As expected, that family also came to this banquet.”

Fanora glanced around the venue when she saw the nobleman who had climbed the podium so far away that she had to squint her eyes. The person she needed to find had the same red hair as that one. 

Within a few seconds, she found a man who stood out with his red hair and maroon garment. When she moved slowly and approached, she could see the brooch he was wearing was the seal of the family she was looking for. Unfortunately, the person was different from what Fanora was looking for.  

Fanora thought for a moment when she found the brother of the person she was looking for. If she told him, ‘I’m looking for your younger brother,’ would she get an answer? However, that method didn’t seem good. 

Today’s banquet would last for a long time. The nobles who danced in the center of the hall had only just taken their first dance, so Fanora proceeded to search carefully.

But about two hours later. with a tired face, Fanora fled to the resting room.

Harsh words popped into her mind. If she had known this would happen, she would have just spoken to his brother and asked where to find him. Her search for him cautiously brought nothing. 

Fanora had already wandered around enough to make eye contact with everyone at the banquet. Eventually, she failed to find the person she was searching for.

It made her frustrated enough to shout out his name.

She really wondered if he was shutting himself in the resting room, but he wasn’t here either. There were nobles who fixed their makeup here. Some men were combing their eyebrows in a more beautiful shape, and some women dyed their cheeks with a rosy powder.

Fanora eventually decided to move to another place. Then, suddenly, there was a crying sound from one side of this large room.

“…”

It was pretty noisy because there were so many people here. So that little sobbing was quickly drowned out by the surrounding voice, but Fanora turned her head at that sound. Why did she pay so much attention when someone expresses negative emotions? 

“It is the king’s banquet, so I never wanted to cry, but when I saw that person, I got scared and couldn’t hold back my tears. Huhu…”

“Cry to your heart’s content here. The royal family won’t come here because they use other places.”

“By the way, is that really true? Did he break up the engagement for that reason?”

At the end of her gaze, there were about three young girls that were somewhat younger than her.

Fanora couldn’t get past the words from their conversation, so she approached, pretending to look in the mirror. Then the faint sound of the conversation gradually became clear.

“I didn’t believe the rumors at first either, but… he really hit me. How can a gentleman slap a lady?”

“Oh my god…”

“It’s violent! His manner is not better than an animal! He’s really terrible. I will never be engaged to a man like that again. Huhu…”

“He’s so barbaric! How dare he talk to you at this banquet when he already did such a thing!”

Her effort from going around here and there wasn’t in vain. 

* * *

Leaving the noisy banquet hall behind, Fanora went down to the side road and saw a new landscape. Then she stopped in front of the stairs in the corner of the venue. 

That was the path used by the court musicians performing on the second floor. Therefore, it was customary for no one to pass here now when the banquet was in full swing. 

However, she saw a boy sitting on the stairway in front of her. His figure, dressed modestly in a coat embroidered with his family’s emblem.

When Fanora found the boy she had been looking for, she approached him without hesitation. Perhaps bored, he took of his necklace, held it with both hands, and swing it around. 

“…”

That person must be the third son of that notorious family. However, seeing him when he was still a boy was completely different from the rumors she had heard so far.

The society gossiped about their red eyes and red-haired family. Everyone said their bodies were all huge like beasts, and their faces were scary enough to make you cry as soon as you saw them, even just looking at their picture. However, the third son of the family Fanora met was far from looking like a beast.

Although he wasn’t as handsome as the esteemed son of Duke Jalier, whom Fanora met last time, he had a warm impression that made you want to praise him. Soon, the boy raised his face and looked at her. There seemed to be a hint of kindness in his expression, which had a faint smile on his face.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, I was swinging my necklace.”

“Why?”

“Uh… I have nothing to do. Some people say they get angry when they see me, so I decided to stay here for today’s banquet.” 

The boy responded nicely even when a stranger suddenly spoke to him. He even offered a bright greeting with a voice full of kindness. “Anyway, hello!” Still, he seemed like a person who lacked manners because he was still spinning his necklace.

“Hello.”

Fanora didn’t mind it and responded with a polite greeting before continuing the conversation.

“Are you referring to the daughter of Count Jade when you said someone gets angry when they see you?”

“Yes!”

“You recently broke up with her… for a disgraceful reason.”

“Ah… that’s right. My engagement broke up because of my fault.”

He was an acquaintance Fanora  knew in the future.

Judging from the current conversation, this boy has the same personality and values as the one she met in the past. Now that she has confirmed the person she was looking for, how should she get to the main point? It made her ponder for a moment.

“But what brings you here?” 

The red-haired boy sitting on the stairs spoke first. At the same time, his innocent gaze touched Fanora. Fanora finally called his name.

“I’m looking for a dog, Carl Andras.”

“Dog?”

The boy, called Carl Andras, looked around, put the necklace he was playing in his pocket, and stood up.

“You brought your dog to the banquet too, didn’t you? Have you lost your dog? I will find it with you.”

Although he lacked some of the manners of the noble, he had enough quality to make up for his lack.

Fanora recalled for a moment, then shook her head and replied, “It’s not that I lost it. I’m trying to get a new one. It should be obedient to me and very good at hunting.”

“Hunting? That’s good. It should be a dog with a big body, sharp ears, and strong biting power for that purpose. What was the name of that breed again?”

The conversation that followed was really useless.

As she watched Carl Andras’s bright reaction, she opened her mouth again. “The dog I’m looking for is you.”

“…me?”

“If you don’t like being called a dog, how about a servant?”

“Pardon?”

Carl Andras only blinked his eyes at the sudden remark. After a few seconds, he began to mutter, “Hey, I’m not a dog. Is this a metaphor? I’m sure I’ve learned it, but I’m not good at studying, so I don’t remember.”

“…”

“Or is it about a game of tossing a ball? My role is to fetch the ball like a dog.”

“Europa.”

Fanora, who had not seen it, spoke one word to begin the main point, and his mutter ceased. She didn’t stop there and began to come up with sentences that could change the way he looked at her.

“I have Europa.”

“…”

“And I can give it to you if I want to.”

The next thing Carl Andras did was obvious. He changed his complexion in an instant.

* * *

Carl Andras. To explain her first encounter with this boy, she had to go back to the spring three years ago. That was when Haures was still alive, and she was being framed. 

At that time, rumors about Fanora were not good, so she couldn’t actively engage in social activities, but she could attend the places where nobles had to show their faces, such as the birthday of the royal family and the New Year’s Evel.

But what could she do when she attended a party? Her fiancé won’t even dance with her. The conversation with her family was absurd, and the nobles who gathered there pointed their fingers at her as they looked at her curly black long hair and said it was dirty. In the end, Fanora attended the banquet but hid in the garden.

Fanora liked insects. This would contradict with what Naverius wanted, but she couldn’t change her natural preferences from birth. So Fanora  would use her time to adore the little life as she sat on the grass in the garden.

“Huh?!”

But one day, once again, Fanora who had been dragged out to the party she didn’t want to come, fled to the garden that was open to the guests. There was something that attracted her attention at the pavilion built there.

“W-Wait… a minute…!”

Someone sprinted past Fanora like a bullet.  At the same time, she recognized that the sprinting red-haired man had dropped something. But by the time she spoke timidly, the man had already gone too far.