The Heroines Are After My Fortune

34 – Eternal Moonlight – 1

Invitations had been sent out to various figures in the Imperial cultural world.

“An experience unlike any other, exclusively at the Roen Theater! ‘Miracle Cinema’ grand opening! We invite you, our esteemed VIPs, to a premiere screening of the film ‘Eternal Moonlight.'”

The invitees were a collection of the influential: high-ranking nobles who loved film, the wealthy, critics, and journalists. Depending on the impression left at this premiere, the future evaluation of the film would surely shift.

“Miracle Cinema…? A theater’s a theater. What kind of ‘different experience’ can they possibly offer?”

“Still, I’m somewhat inclined to go. I unfortunately missed the play that the young duchess starred in.”

Among those who accepted the invitation, the name ‘Renee Este’ was a considerable factor in their decision. A blood relative of their own high-born class, one felt a pull towards her, one could say. They had neither interest nor expectation regarding this ‘Miracle’ thing.

Watching the arriving guests, Aiden felt a twinge of disappointment at the absence of Duke Raphael himself. Had he come, there might have been a more entertaining reaction.

‘…Well, he’s only thinking about offering up his daughter as a sacrifice after this is over. I doubt he’d be bothered to come to such a thing.’

Before long, the premiere was at full capacity.

The audience, arriving without much anticipation, could feel that this special theater was certainly different.

‘The interior is quite grand…?’

‘The screen’s much larger too.’

‘And the audio amplifiers… they seem to be double the usual amount…?’

Just as their expectations began to grow ever so slightly,

the film ‘Eternal Moonlight’ began.

####

Amidst the daily extravagance of lavish parties,

Luna Roslin, the countess’s daughter, would capture everyone’s attention with her unique, dazzling beauty.

“Oh my, Miss Luna…! You are absolutely stunning today!”

“You are always the most radiant one at any ball, Miss Luna…!”

“Thank you, Jessica and Marie. You both are beautiful as well.”

Women nobles, all a flutter, praising her looks,

but the moment Luna vanished, they’d be tearing her down like ghosts.

“Did you see how tight she wore that bodice? Tch, I bet she’s out hunting for a man today.”

“Can’t change her nature, can she? Someone saw her going into a room with a bunch of men last time.”

“Oh my! What a sight, really…!”

Luna was aware of the vile gossip swirling behind her back, the kind you couldn’t even stomach to say.

But despite it all, she couldn’t utter a single word of complaint.

She couldn’t afford to be disliked even more, so she just smiled, pretending not to hear.

“Miss Luna, you are exceptionally beautiful today…!”

“Oh, even the moon is not as beautiful as Miss Luna!”

Men at the party, tongues wagging lavishly, showering her with compliments.

But their words behind her back were all the same:

“She’s playing so damn expensive. I was going to get her to fall into my bed before she’s sold off to a Baron…”

“Roslyn’s family? What is it now. They’ve been cast out for ages.”

To the men at the banquet who approached her, Luna was nothing more than a ‘one-night pleasure partner’. In this place beyond her control, she was slowly transforming into a ‘cheap woman with a bad personality who chases men,’ and she had no power to correct it.

“Hah, I just need to endure it, if I just endure a little more, everything will be alright.”

Hide the truth with nice-sounding lies, and you can get by.

At some point, acting like this had become as natural as breathing.

But it was unavoidable that while everyone else was enjoying the banquet, she alone felt empty. And lately, what was making her already complicated feelings even more uneasy was one particular person.

“Baron Fletcher, that damned man…”

Among those recently throwing eyes at Luna,

stood a man in his late fifties, one who’d cemented his place with powerful spirit magic, racking up war merits.

He leveraged wealth, vast beyond imagining how he’d amassed it, and an immense imperial network, pressuring the Count’s house. Pressure to give him Luna, his daughter.

The signboard of a Count’s daughter had lost its meaning under the family’s broken influence; her position was that of someone who could be sold off to a Baron’s house at any time.

“Suffocating…”

As she wrestled her heart alone on the terrace,

a trumpeter’s booming voice sliced through the air.

“The Knight Investiture Ceremony will begin shortly…!”

The Knight Investiture, where promising swordsmen were taken in as knights. Her father, Count Roslyn, said that choosing one wouldn’t hurt, but Luna hadn’t ever felt the need for a knight, so she was indifferent to the whole affair.

‘Still, might as well watch.’

With her suffocated spirit, maybe watching something would ease her mind; so she joined the Investiture.

The reality there was practically a rigged game.

“I hereby invest Sir Owen as my knight…!”

“I will invest Sir Wilson as my knight!”

Most of those appointed as knights at the ceremony were of noble lineage.

A handful were the sons of wealthy families, but they were rare indeed.

Everyone, eager to flaunt their worth, wore glittering armor and expensive jewelry, and thus, a man dressed plainly stood out.

Brown hair, blue eyes, the man had an earnest gaze as if he trusted without doubt someone would name him knight.

“That commoner, Daniel was it? His sword work is said to be not bad at all.”

“So what, just using a commoner knight is damaging to one’s prestige, who would take that one on?”

To rise as a knight, a commoner wielding steel, that was a tale for the ‘Age of Savagery,’ when war raged. In this era of peace, for a commoner to even *become* a knight was akin to plucking a star from the sky—a mere dream-spun yarn.

Thus, it seemed no one would take him as knight.

“…I shall knight him, that man there.”

Save for Luna.

“She must’ve rotted her brains with all that debauchery.”

“The Roslynn House has truly hit rock bottom, now they’re cavorting with commoners.”

She gave no mind to the whispers of the few.

‘You’re in the same boat as me.’

Unable to have anything as she wills,

forced to sit silent, no matter what they say about her,

destined to live by the whims of another.

If she was to be sold off anyway, indulging in a small rebellion wouldn’t hurt.

“What’s your name?”

“It is Daniel, Miss Luna.”

“…Daniel, is it.”

After the knighting, their eyes met thus,

though she’d declared him a knight, the man’s upright gaze felt unduly heavy, and Luna looked away.

“What would you have me do?”

“Just do as a knight should. I expect nothing more of you.”

And so, ended their conversation.

The film, barely into its opening reels, already had the audience split down the middle.

“Oho, a noble lady and a common knight, eh? A fresh take, that is. Got my interest, I do!”

“Hmph, betcha that Daniel fella ends up dying for her, squeezing out a few forced tears at the end. So predictable, it’s a yawn fest.”

A clash of opinions – the novel dynamic sparking some excitement, while others sniffed out a tired trope on the horizon.

How it’d all unfold was anyone’s guess, so the crowd settled, focused on the screen.

“Ah, Lady Luna…! There you are!”

“…………!”

The one soul Luna’d least wished to meet, especially here –

Lord Fletcher appeared.

Her face faltered, a sour grimace she couldn’t quite mask. Undeterred, the Lord advanced.

“You look ravishing today, all dolled up – was it for me? Haha…!!”

He reached to touch her hair, but—

“Halt.”

Daniel stepped in, blocking his hand.

Lord Fletcher’s face twisted, as if he’d bitten into something foul.

“And who are you, then?”

“I am Daniel, Lady Luna’s knight.”

Luna was taken aback.

She hadn’t instructed him to do this.

She had simply ordered him to fulfill his duties as a knight…

“Hmph, it was that commoner scoundrel from earlier. What right do you have to block my way?”

“My Lady is not feeling well today. Please refrain from excessive contact.”

“Luna, is this knight’s words true?”

Lord Fletcher stared at Luna with wide, bulging eyes.

His gaze seemed to demand she quickly deny it.

“Yes, I am not feeling well today.”

“…So that’s how you’ll play it.”

Muttering quietly, the Lord stepped back,

then spoke with a smile.

“I shall see you again soon, Lady Luna Roslin. Until then! I wish you good health. Sincerely.”

Lord Fletcher spun around and left.

Luna, with a somewhat angered tone, questioned Daniel.

“What was that all about? When did I ever say it was okay to interfere…!?”

“I was only doing what a knight should do. It seemed as if you disliked it, My Lady…”

“Oh, you’re quite amusing. Since when were you ever *my* knight to go acting up like this?”

“…………”

“If you had just waited a little, if I had simply given him a smile, this whole thing could’ve been avoided…!”

“…I apologize.”

Turning away from Daniel, who was kneeling on one knee in apology, Luna uttered a single phrase.

“Huuuh, this is why you shouldn’t hire commoners as knights…”

That single sentence sent the audience into a boiling rage.

“Whoa, look at the sass on that one…?”

“Sure, she made a mistake, but was there any need to talk like that…!”

Even a fellow noble would bristle at Luna’s harsh words, fueling the male audience’s fury. It was the first time the audience, who’d had trouble empathizing with Daniel’s commoner status, began to see things from his perspective.

“If she was gonna act like *that,* why did she agree when Daniel stepped in?”

“There’s no smoke without fire, maybe those bad rumors were true after all?”

In the end, the audience started to unite—on the side of dislike.

Just as Luna’s nasty behavior was about to cement not only her but the whole movie’s image as deeply unfavorable…

“Huuuh…!?“

“H-how on earth did they get a scene like *that*–!!”

The audience’s eyes widened to saucers.

They had seen it.

Something they never thought they’d see in a place like this.