Chapter 95: To the Imperial Capital (8)

"What the, these two... Weren't they sent to the universe to guard me? For some reason, it feels more like they're studying abroad…"

Of course, to be exact, it wasn't studying abroad as in studying overseas but studying "overgalaxies." Anyways, it didn't matter.

While I was grumbling, Celestia turned her head back and said, "Remy, guide the two of them to their accommodations."

"Yes, Imperial Princess-nim."

One of the five women waiting at the landing dock politely bowed her head and disappeared, bringing Bo-ram and Dong-min with her.

"Long time no see, Imperial Princess-nim."

"Long time no see."

"It's been a long time!"

"Ughh, could you please stop serving in the military? Whenever I hear news that you're jumping into a battlefield, my heart feels like it's about to explode and die!"

When Bo-ram and Dong-min disappeared, the four women who had maintained a calm demeanor rushed to Celestia, shouting,

'Uwaahhh!'

. Celestia smiled broadly and hugged them one by one, saying, "Hahaha, how's everyone doing?"

"Obviously, we have no intention of going out of Starlight's territory. So what can anyone do?"

"Most of all, without Imperial Princess-nim around, they don't even think about messing with the likes of us. It was probably a sensitive period, so no one wanted to be out of the sight of His Majesty the Emperor."

There was a welcoming atmosphere as they seemed to be pretty close. Celestia said to those girls, "This is him. His name is Kwan Dae-ha."

At the very brief introduction, four pairs of eyes, no, including Remy who already came back from guiding Bo-ram and Dong-min, five pairs of eyes looked me up and down.

For a moment, everyone interacted wordlessly with their eyes. Among them, the most tall and attractive-looking woman dressed in a black suit stepped forward.

She looked to be around her mid-20s, no, perhaps it was about late-20s? She was of course not as dazzling when compared to Celestia, but even so, she was a woman who looked amazingly elegant. However, her clothes were so simple that the term

"neat"

fit her to a tee perfectly.

"It's a great pleasure to meet you, Kwan Dae-ha-nim. My name is Diana and from the left is Remy, Delly, Royna, and Sepi. The five of us here are the staff who'll be in charge of you from now on."

"Staff?"

"They were originally my manager-cum-coordinator."

Diana nodded upon hearing Celestia's explanation.

"Of course we are still your manager-cum-coordinator, but at the same time, our main job would be to coordinate your attire and appearance to make you look presentable next to the Imperial Princess-nim from now on. Since we're on the topic, that roughly cut hair is inexcusable," said Diana.

Diana turned her head and the yellow-haired girl nodded and approached me. She basically looked like an idol full of cuteness, but she was wearing a work suit with dozens of pockets. There were all kinds of scissors, combs, and medicine boxes of various colors that contained medicines, all neatly organized.

"My name is Remy. I'm in charge of hairstyles. There are some things that I need to fix for a bit, so could you please stay still?"

"Ahh, okay."

"Thank you~!"

She smiled brightly and moved both her hands. As she did that…

Click click click!

Weird-looking tools, including the scissors that were hanging on her work suit, sprang up like a swarm of bees and began to swirl around, trimming and washing my hair in an instant.

"My name is Delly. I'll be taking care of your wardrobe."

"I'm Royna. Let me apply some makeup for you."

"I'm Sepi. I'll be putting some accessories on you for a while, so please stay put."

Something was put all over my face and the clothes that covered my body wriggled as if they were alive. Before I knew it, my shoes came off and all kinds of watches and necklaces were put on me and then stripped off before disappearing again. It was on repeat like no tomorrow.

"Wha-, what's this?"

"Hoho, give it up. Every time I go on stage, I have to go through the same thing you are going through now."

"No, even so, this is…"

Surprisingly, the women in front of me seem to have their superpowers specialized in beauty treatments. Furthermore, their powers were considerably bizarre. Even though superpowers were a daily occurrence in the Great Universe, wasn't this a little over the top?

'By the way.'

Though I was being sarcastic, I left my body in their good hands as they were moving with perfect control. So, I was able to observe them without any sort of issues. Recently, the ability to see titles had developed and would naturally show their emotional condition.

"Hmm, it might be a little weird to say something like this here."

Then, I asked those women, "Why are you all so angry?"

Kigik!

In an instant, the trajectory of the scissors that were whirling around in the air shook so much that a vortex was almost formed. However, the psychokinesis that was activated again protected my body like a shield.

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean literally what I just said. You're all extremely pissed off."

"What are you... We're not angry."

"It's true though."

"We are not. Why would you think that?"

I shrugged at their unconvincing reactions. Then, I turned my head and I could see Celestia smiling like a little devil.

"Are these guys really that angry?"

"Yeah. It's so intense that it feels like they're about to completely tear me to pieces."

Annoyance, anger, fury, resentment, full of bloodlust... I could see such titles. In particular, the intense looking title

'Full of bloodlust'

belonged to Diana.

However, even so, it was amazing that they all could hide their emotions completely. If it wasn't for my ability to see the titles, I wouldn't have ever imagined their condition.

"Hmmm, is it because I brought a husband back without discussing it with them?"

"I feel a little wronged. Then, shouldn't that obviously make you the target for their resentment?"

Diana sighed upon hearing the playful conversation that I was having with Celestia.

"…I'm really sorry if you feel that way."

"No, well, it's not as if I don't understand. No matter how I think about it, I don't think I look very good next to Celestia, do I?"

"That’s not the issue. There's no such man in the world who can match up to the Imperial Princess-nim anyways."

"Ouuhh."

I lightly whistled because I knew she was sincere about what she just said.

'But still, I can't believe they would have such unwavering affection for others.'

I was a little flustered, but considering the charm and beauty of Celestia, I nodded because it was something that was totally understandable. However, Celestia grumbled at Diana as if she wasn't pleased with Diana's reaction.

"Gosh, you… Stop talking nonsense, would you?"

"I'm sorry."

"Hmm?"

I tilt my head for an instant. Instead of saying

'Don't kiss up to me'

, she said

'Stop talking nonsense'

. Did she perhaps also think that there wasn't a single man in the world who could match her?

"We’re done."

While these distracting thoughts were running through my mind, they had finished fixing me up. Diana moved her hand in mid air as if she was rubbing her hands, and the air wavered for a while before reflecting my appearance.

"…Ouhh."

I was struck dumb. There was a surprisingly well-groomed figure of me. If this was some sort of beauty programme, I would have reacted in an astonishing manner.

'Is this me…?'

My skin tone was brightened as if it had been altered by a photoshop program. There wasn't a single blemish on my face, and my mid length hair was now neatly styled and gave off a gentle feeling. The slightly awkward formal attire on my body became a suit, and created a splendid vibe. The watch on my wrist was by no means ordinary even at first glance. In addition, I was wearing shoes with a comfortable fit that made it impossible to realize that I had already worn them.

However, the women who coordinated my appearance didn't seem to have very bright expressions.

"I tried my best, but…"

"As expected…"

"As expected what?"

I asked back because the mood was somewhat strange, but Celestia answered with a smile.

"Well, it's just that you're not handsome even after being groomed."

"That's a pretty harsh thing to say…"

Nonetheless, no matter how upset I felt, that was the reality. My appearance had become quite decent with the four women's coordination. However, no matter how decent I may appear, it was impossible to look compatible with Celestia. Just like a firefly or streetlight next to the sun, it was all the same as they couldn't be seen. Hence, there would be a limit no matter how well-groomed I was.

Be that as it may, Celestia had an expression that seemed to say

'Don't worry.'

.

Celestia then said, "You're tall and physically fit enough, so it doesn't matter. If we were meeting the nobles or royalties, then I'm not too sure. But, I don't intend to reveal the original version during the shoot anyways."

"You have no intention of revealing the original version?"

I was puzzled by her remarks as I couldn't understand it, but Celestia quickly gave me a pathetic gaze before turning her head.

"Now then, will you all go out and do what you have to do? Diana, you follow us."

"Yes, Imperial Princess-nim."

The four women greeted deferentially at the same time and left the room. Celestia slowly walked further down the corridor and said,"You said you wanted to live a normal life, right? You idiot. Do you think that would be possible if your face was sold all over the universe?"

"That's… That's certainly true."

I nodded. The marriage between us was a kind of contract marriage, and we had already filled in our divorce papers. After three months of marriage, our divorce would be set in stone. Then, I would return to Earth and live a life that was unrelated to the Great Universe.

However... Earth was not a place that had nothing to do with outer space. In fact, didn't Celestia meet me on Earth when she came to play on a tour package? If a random alien that was passing by recognized me and approached me, it would create various problems for me.

"I know it's too late to ask, but… What do you plan to do by grooming me up like this?"

"As I just said, you're groomed because of the shoot. The marriage of a member of the Leonhardt Imperial family is by no means a light matter. You would have to go through an interview and also meet other Imperial family members."

"Would they be against this and try to make a mess out of things?" I was worried because Celestia didn't seem to have a good relationship with the Imperial court. Celestia replied, "Of course, that might happen too, but you can just ignore it. Honestly, I was a little worried, but... from the moment Father gave his approval, it was no different from everything being set in stones. In some way or another, the Leonhardt Empire is an absolute monarchy, so as long as we follow the procedures, no one would be able to say otherwise."

As we slowly walked through the artificially decorated garden, I organized my thoughts.

The details of the

'contract'

that I had with her was very clear-cut.

I would marry her. We would live together for 3 months, then we would get divorced after that.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

This process was necessary because the Imperial family of the Leonhardt Empire was under the authority of the Imperial court from birth. They had a certain amount of freedom, but ultimately, there was a form of restriction that prevented them from violating the imperial order.

The Imperial family must move under the discretion of the Imperial court from the moment they were born, throughout life and finally marriage, and even until death.

Thus, Celestia, who escaped from the jurisdiction of the Imperial court and lived a military life under the influence of being an idol

--

the Queen of Starlight -- was completely regarded as a revolutionary being. This was also the reason why the royalties generally didn't like her very much.

It reminded me of the conversation we had when she proposed to me.

'But there are only two ways to get out of there.'

'Two ways?'

'That's right. One of them is to climb to the realm of transcendence, and the other one is.'

'...It's marriage huh.'

'That's correct. Needless to say, we can't do it with just anyone.'

In other words, she proposed to me because she realized the existence of the Divine Spirit that was in me. But then again, I found it weird that she didn't notice it. Let alone the realm of transcendence, I didn't even acquire any special abilities. However, I was able to ride on Ares and was able to display an absolute Status of God.

It was obviously an

authority

of a godly being.

'You won't have to take any responsibility. We just need to get married for a while and then divorce to make me a free woman. And then you can return back home in glory with the spaceship bestowed to you by the Imperial Palace along with a vast fortune! Isn't this a win-win situation?'

She was certainly right. It was a profitable deal. Most of all, I was indebted to her, so I agreed with her.

"Then I need to go through an interview throughout the course of two days, meet the nobles, and then just have a wedding ceremony in three days?"

"That's correct. And then after that, we just need to stay married for three months. Then, it will all be over. You can just leave without saying anything after three months."

"…Wait, wait a minute, Imperial Princess-nim. What are you talking about right now? What do you mean leave?" Just then, Diana butt into our conversation.

I stared at Celestia, "Will this be alright?"

"Ahh, of course. She's trustworthy."

"Well, it's a little hard to get things going while hiding from the people right below you..."

Booooom!

Just then, the ground shook but it didn’t sound like something had collided into the building we were in…

"What's this? It feels pretty far away?"

"Please wait for a while."

Diana closed her eyes with a serious expression at the unknown phenomenon. Celestia looked at her with calm eyes perhaps because Diana possessed a mental-type ability.

"…Oh my God." Diana opened her eyes after a while and groaned.

Upon seeing that, Celestia asked,"What's going on?"

"Th-, the Emperor… The Emperor His Majesty."

She was shaking and looked as if something unbelievable had happened. Celestia's expression hardened.

"What happened to Father?" Celestia asked.

"The Emperor His Majesty..."

'Huuup'.

Diana stopped and took a deep breath. Then, with a devastated expression, she continued, "…has passed away."