Chapter 8: Seven

“Please excuse me…je suis désoléeSorry...…” Lady Ivania quietly slipped into the bustling main hall and hurriedly closed the side doors behind her. The ceremony was about to begin, and hundreds of guests were streaming through the entrance doors in their magnificent ball gowns and dignified top hats. Under the glittering crystal chandeliers hanging from the vaulted ceiling, an orchestra began to play a lilting symphony. 

Realising it was well nigh impossible to find Theo in the massive crowd, she let out a defeated sigh and went to get a drink from the nearby refreshment table instead.

“Enchanté, Mademoiselle.Nice to meet you, Miss (in fancy speech)” 

A sudden tap on her shoulder made her turn around in surprise, causing the sparkling wine in her glass to nearly slosh over the edge. 

“Ah! Je m’excuseExcuse me, however this phrase is seen as rude and insincere in French, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” The man brought down his top hat and held it upon his chest. “I just couldn’t help but notice your exceptional beauty from across the ballroom, Mademoiselle.” 

“...” Lady Ivania was so stunned she struggled to come up with a reply immediately. “J-j-j-je vous demande pardon…?Pardon me?” 

“Alphand is my name, Mademoiselle.” He reached his hand out towards her. “May I have the honour of knowing yours?” 

Quickly recovering from her initial shock, Lady Ivania shot a cold glare at him. “Firstly, it’s Madame, not Mademoiselle,” she said matter-of-factly, not making a move to take his hand. “Secondly, I’m not looking for you, so get out of my sight or I’ll crush you.” 

“Ah, so cold, Madame…Madame?” 

“I-Ivania.” 

“So cold, Madame Ivania. So cold…hehehe.” Alphand was smiling brightly while he withdrew his hand reluctantly. 

She felt a chill running down her back and narrowed her eyes. “That’s a threat, you know…”

“It’s a shame, a true shame indeed.” He casually placed his goofy top hat on his head and bowed before leaving. “May we meet again under the moonlight, my fair lady.” 

“...” Lady Ivania, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, simply drank her wine and asked for a second serving. The creepy feeling she got did not subside, so she asked for another glass again.

Who knows how long she stood there drinking herself silly before a familiar voice reached her ears. 

“So you were here all along, my beautiful wife!” Lord Ivania cried out as he rushed towards his Lady, who immediately stopped him with a firm push away. 

“My dear husband, I’ve been searching all over the palace grounds for you!” She glanced around at their surroundings, and seeing that no one was paying them any particular attention anymore, lowered her voice to a dangerous whisper. “Where have you been, you traitor?”

“You don’t understand, I had to go through so many hoops just to meet up with you again,” he hissed furiously. “My pants were torn to shreds by the shrubs planted under the terrace, you know? I had to not only explain how I suddenly appeared in the gardens to the butler, but also how I got my ass impaled by a damn plant!” 

Her anger waned somewhat upon hearing his incredible tale. “You changed your pants before coming here, right?”

“Thank the Lord the butler was proficient at sewing,” he muttered. “What about you? Why do you suddenly have a silver floral hairpin in your wig?”  

“I—huh, what hairpin?” She moved her hand up her forehead and felt a foreign object neatly placed among the faux blonde locks of hair. “Did she put that in…?” 

“Wait, who’s ‘she’?” 

“Oh, I haven’t told you yet, right.” Lady Ivania casually took a sip from her wine glass and smiled wryly. “What if I told you I had an impromptu audience with Her Highness just now?” 

“Her High…you—” he exclaimed loudly, drawing several stares from the other guests. Quickly uttering apologies to them, he turned his attention back to her and screamed softly, “what in Lord’s name did you do to Her Highness?!” 

“I didn’t do anything to the princess,” she rejoined tersely. “It was simply a series of unfortunate coincidences that I ended up in the same room as Her Highness after you escaped.” 

“Don’t tell me she found out about your true identity…” 

“It wasn’t like I was intending to, my wig fell out while I was in hiding.” Lady Ivania paused as a waiter came to refill her drink. “One glass of jubilee red wine for the gentleman, thank you very much.” 

The waiter nodded his head and briskly left with his tray. 

Lord Ivania remained disgruntled. “Now what, do we call off the plan? Since, you know, the very recipient of the coronation regalia tonight fully knows your identity now??” 

She pressed her glass to her scarlet-red lips. “Fifteen seconds.” 

“Huh?” He stopped as the waiter returned with his drink and thanked him. “Fifteen seconds to do what, exactly?” 

“Steal the coronation regalia from the dumbwaiter lift outside the main hall.” She nodded her head at the small door—no larger than the size of a five-year-old child—tucked in a corner of the wall opposite the entrance. “That guard stationed there, he must be the messenger who would pass on the instruction to move the coronation regalia out of the royal safe to the guards upstairs. Two of them will come down to this floor to receive the jewels, and we have about fifteen seconds to grab them first and run the heck out of here.” 

You are reading story This crossdressing fake Saintess must cure Her Highness! at novel35.com

He stared at her in disbelief. “How do you know all this?” 

“Her Highness herself told me so…” Lady Ivania shrugged her shoulders and pointed at his glass. “Don’t you want to taste it?” 

“But it has a ten percent alcohol concentration which isn’t…whatever.” He swirled the glass a few times, airing the red liquor to bring out its full range of rich fragrances, before slowly drinking the wine. 

“My, aren’t you one hell of a wine connoisseur…” she remarked snarkily. 

Lord Ivania stayed silent until every last drop of the wine had been thoroughly relished and savoured to its fullest. “This is the definition of pure bliss, I’m telling you.” 

“It’s just wine, you know. I can buy the wine they sell at the drugstore for two silvers apiece and you probably can’t tell the difference.” 

“...” He only glared back, finding it a waste of his saliva to argue with the woman any further. 

Their conversation ended there, as the lights dimmed and the orchestra ceased playing soft classical music. Everyone’s gaze was instantly drawn to the dais at the head of the hall, where a magnificent figure stood in the limelight. 

“That’s His Majesty, King Cetheri,” Lord Ivania breathed. “Looks like it’s time for the announcement.”  

Lady Ivania only offered a silent nod of acknowledgement as King Cetheri began addressing the audience. 

“By grace of o mighty Lord in the heavens and the Church, I would like to thank all of our distinguished guests for gathering here on this fine night in honour of my daughter, Anastasia.” His Majesty paused to gesture towards Grand Duke Arthur and his son, Prince Arthur. “I’m sure most of you will have recognised the Grand Duke already, but allow me to formally introduce to you the national hero who successfully repelled the Ottoski’sThe Ottoskis are also known as the separatists in the Aetherium Empire (see Xavier's earlier reference) most recent advance to our northern borders, Sir Arthur de Ignatius!” 

A round of applause swept the hall. The old King patiently waited for it to end before continuing his speech. 

“Arthur has been staying with us in the palace since returning from the battlefield to treat his injuries, and he has adamantly insisted on joining us in spite of the royal physician’s concerns.” King Cetheri laughed, and some in the crowd also chuckled in response. “I am also honoured to have the Archbishop of the Church of Aetherie the Pope and the Lord High Chancellor of JusticeThat dude talking to Prince Arthur from earlier; Lord High Chancellor of Justice is his full title. with us in this very hall. In addition, joining tonight’s ceremony with us is Prime Minister Sir Averi de Grigori, who will be arriving together with my daughter soon.” 

Hushed voices rose among the crowd instantly. 

“Why is the Prime Minister accompanying Her Highness?” 

“Could it be that…”

“So, the rumours were really…” 

The King only smiled as he waited for everyone to settle down. Clearing his throat, he said, “indeed, I plan to step down as King. The Prime Minister is here to witness my abdication and the subsequent coronation of my daughter, Anastasia.” 

Lady Ivania eyed the guard by the dumbwaiter lift making his way to the gallery and nudged Lord Ivania to get his attention. “Let’s go.” 

The pair began to quietly weave through the crowd to the entrance while the King continued to make the coronation announcement. 

“Et maintenant sans plus de cérémonieAnd now without further ado, my beloved daughter shall now make her entrance. Please stand to attention and welcome Her Royal Highness, Princess Anastasia de Cetheri!”

Amid the deafening applause, a set of doors at the back of the hall was pulled open by two maids and the limelight illuminated the two figures standing in the doorway.

The orchestra started again in the background, playing a variant of Symphony No. 40 while Her Highness entered the main hall gracefully.

Under the dazzling light, the princess seemed to have an angelic halo surrounding her lustrous hair as she slowly made her way towards the dais, followed by the smartly-dressed Prime Minister. Her figure was as small as an ant from Lady Ivania’s perspective due to the distance, but she still felt compelled to look in her direction; her presence was simply that captivating in person.

Lord Ivania couldn’t help but heave a quiet sigh. “To be able to meet her face-to-face, you must be one lucky son of a…”

His scathing remark was cut short by a dull thud, followed by loud, panicked gasps. The orchestra paused abruptly, and everyone around them grew restless.

“What happened?”

“Hey, did you see that?!”

“No way, H-H-Her Highness just collapsed!”

Someone at the front of the dais screamed in horror and scrambled for the exit. “R-run! It’s an assassination!”

 

You can find story with these keywords: This crossdressing fake Saintess must cure Her Highness!, Read This crossdressing fake Saintess must cure Her Highness!, This crossdressing fake Saintess must cure Her Highness! novel, This crossdressing fake Saintess must cure Her Highness! book, This crossdressing fake Saintess must cure Her Highness! story, This crossdressing fake Saintess must cure Her Highness! full, This crossdressing fake Saintess must cure Her Highness! Latest Chapter