Chapter 94: My Dear Follower

“Great Noctis, could we take a picture together?”

Yukie was smiling as she spoke.

Meanwhile, it took me several seconds to remember what I had been about to do. One hand was still pointing toward the empty space beside me. The raven on my shoulder was facing the crowd, but I had forgotten to move its head.

‘Did she recognize me?’

My eyes searched her face. She didn’t look surprised. She wasn’t narrowing her eyes to study me or trying to make sense of the wedding dress I was wearing.

Instead of reassuring me, that only made me more nervous.

“Um… Do you know me?”

I kept my voice as calm as possible. There was a small smile on Evelyn’s face. I didn’t want to think about what my own face looked like underneath it.

Yukie nodded.

“Of course I do. You’re the Great Noctis. I’m one of your followers.”

After a brief pause, her eyes lit up.

“Oh! Maybe this will help you remember. My username is Caramel. You played against me on stream, remember—”

Caramel.

A completely different image suddenly appeared in my mind.

The Ice King. The defeat message in the corner of the screen.

“Okay, okay, okay!”

Yukie stopped.

She tilted her head slightly. For a few seconds, I couldn’t connect the face in front of me with the game screen in my mind.

“Do you remember now?”

Hearing her cheerful voice, I pressed my lips together.

Was my angel Caramel?

Had they been the same person all this time?!

That sweet girl who hugged me at the park, whose eyes lit up whenever she talked about something…

The person who had beaten me six times in a row and made me end my stream in anger…

I looked at her face again.

No. There had to be a mistake.

Caramel was a toxic troublemaker addicted to games. Yukie was a sweet, innocent angel who only acted a little strange from time to time.

Then I remembered the phone call with her father.

She had been grounded for not cleaning her room.

After that came the questions about my character, rank, and win rate when she tried to turn on my computer. The moment she learned which character I had chosen as a new player, she had started explaining how to use him.

I guess it really is her…

“Great Noctis?”

Yukie’s voice brought me back to my senses.

I cleared my throat. Not wanting any of my thoughts to show on my face, I composed myself again.

“How did my dear follower recognize me?” I asked. “I don’t really remember mentioning the contest on stream.”

Yukie smiled.

“I was browsing the contest page and saw your name among the participants. Your streaming profile was there too.”

“…”

Was it that simple?

I had changed even my face, thought about every detail of the wedding dress, and been almost certain that no one would recognize me.

Meanwhile, the contest page had put my name and account right beside each other.

“You look beautiful in real life too,” Yukie added.

Those words raised another question in my mind.

In real life too?

Hadn’t she connected me with the person she saw at the park? Or was she only talking about Noctis the streamer?

I wanted to ask, but I suspected I would only make things more confusing if I opened my mouth.

She raised her phone slightly.

“Could we take a picture?”

A picture.

We were just going to take one picture.

Then maybe I could have a few seconds to think.

“Of course.”

Yukie stepped beside me. As she moved closer to my shoulder, she looked down to avoid stepping on the skirt of my wedding dress. Blond hair slipped past her cheek, and she smiled again while tucking it behind her ear.

I had seen that same smile countless times during our morning runs.

Now the Ice King was behind it too.

Eris took the phone.

“Look at the camera.”

I turned my head.

At the last second, I remembered to turn the raven too.

After the photo was taken, Yukie checked the screen. She smiled in satisfaction and thanked Eris before turning to me.

“I’ll keep supporting you.”

“That’s… very kind of you.”

“Let’s have another match sometime!”

I struggled to keep the smile on my face.

“Sometime.”

Yukie raised her hand and cheerfully waved goodbye. I watched until she disappeared into the crowd.

Even after I closed my eyes and opened them again, I was still thinking the same thing.

My angel was Caramel.

Caramel was my angel.

That brief conversation had forced me to rethink the two people I had always considered completely separate.

Eris stepped closer.

“Is that her?”

“What? Who?”

“I mean your angel, you pervert.”

I turned toward her.

“How did you know?”

I felt my cheeks warm. Fortunately, the face Umbrella had formed didn’t reveal that unnecessary reaction.

Eris looked into my eyes.

“You make it too obvious.”

“I was just talking to a follower.”

“You’re still looking where she went.”

I stopped myself just as my eyes were about to turn toward the crowd again.

Eris also looked in the direction Yukie had gone.

“Besides…”

She didn’t finish immediately. After adjusting the strap of the bag in her hand, she continued more quietly.

“She does look like one.”

Her teasing attitude was gone. A small smile remained on her lips, but when she looked at me, her eyes didn’t match it.

I wanted to say something.

I could explain that her appearance wasn’t the only reason I called Yukie an angel. But I still had enough sense to realize that was one of the worst explanations I could give Eris right now.

Before I could speak, someone holding a microphone approached us.

Then the questions about my costume began.

How long had it taken to prepare? Was this my first time entering the contest? How was I moving the raven on my shoulder?

At the first question, I looked at Eris.

I thought about the costume we had spent several days working on. Then about the time I had spent in front of the mirror that morning.

“It took less time than I expected,” I said.

The interviewer looked at my wedding dress again.

“For a costume with this much detail?”

I formed a small smile.

“Yes. Things like this are easy for the Great Noctis.”

Eris looked at my face. It wasn’t difficult to guess what she was thinking.

I avoided the question about the raven by moving it instead. When the microphone approached, it tilted its black head. The interviewer gave a short laugh and told their camera operator to get a closer shot.

During the next brief interview, I answered several of the same questions again.

Then other cosplayers began coming over for photos.

While standing beside someone in a costume with long horns, I tried not to bump my crown against them. When someone in silver armor approached, I opened the raven’s wing. As they extended their sword toward the camera, we both changed our poses.

I tried several different poses with someone who wanted a new photo instead of sending the one we had taken.

At first, I had needed to think about what expression to make. Now, as people approached, I slipped into Evelyn’s expression more easily.

I waited for the phones to rise, moved the skirt at the right moment, and watched people’s reactions when they saw their photos.

Whenever someone’s eyes widened in surprise, I wanted to try something different with the raven for the next picture.

Eris gradually relaxed too.

After a while, she looked at the cosplayers beyond the crowd. When one of them gestured to the empty space beside them and invited her over for a photo, she turned to me.

“I’m going to look around a bit.”

“You’re leaving the Great Noctis alone?”

“You have your fans.”

She raised her phone.

“Call me if anything happens.”

I nodded.

I watched Eris as she walked away. When she stood beside another cosplayer and faced the camera, there was finally a relaxed smile on her face.

Seeing her like that made me smile too.

Then I turned to the next person.

After a while, I stopped counting how many photos we had taken.

The camera approaching through the crowd didn’t catch my attention at first. I had already done several interviews. But when I saw the woman beside it, my posture changed.

Mira Solis.

I remembered the profile Eris had shown me. She was the winner of the first NovaCon contest and today’s host.

As she walked with a microphone in her hand, she smiled and greeted someone passing by. After briefly complimenting another contestant’s costume, she headed straight toward me. Everyone she spoke to responded as though they already knew her.

Up close, she looked more attractive than in her photos.

Her smile spread across her whole face, and she kept her eyes on whoever she was talking to. She had so much energy that she had already closed the distance between us while I was still wondering what to say.

“Hmm, hmm. Looks like we have someone quite interesting here!”

She pointed the microphone toward me.

Just as I was about to answer, I noticed the small red light on the camera.

My eyes shifted to a screen a little farther away.

Mira was on it.

And I was beside her.

When I turned my head, the Evelyn on the screen turned hers too.

We were live.

My gaze moved between the camera and the screen. Suddenly, I didn’t even know where to look.

My throat went dry.

When I was in my own room in front of my computer, I could end the stream whenever I wanted. Here, a camera was pointed at my face, and Mira was waiting for an answer.

“Who are you cosplaying?”

For a second, I thought I had forgotten even Evelyn’s name.

Then I raised my chin slightly.

“Evelyn.”

My voice came out calmer than I expected.

Mira looked at my wedding dress before raising her eyes to my face.

“A white wedding dress, a black crown, and a very realistic raven… Could you tell us a little more about her?”

The microphone moved closer to my lips.

Trying to stay in character, I formed a small smile.

“Why should I introduce myself to a few mortals?”

An amused look appeared in Mira’s eyes.

“Should we take that as a warning?”

The raven on my shoulder turned its head toward the microphone.

“No. With these seven curses on me, I can’t harm anyone right now.”

Mira laughed. Someone standing behind the camera smiled too.

From the outside, I looked cold and confident.

Inside, I was questioning what I had just said.

This is an interview. You don’t need to threaten people, idiot.

Mira continued just as comfortably.

“You’ve already settled into your character. So, what can we expect onstage?”

“If I told you, there would be no point in waiting.”

As I spoke, I gently moved the lower folds of the skirt. Mira’s gaze shifted toward them.

The raven slowly opened its wing too.

“It looks like you’ve prepared a few surprises.”

The biggest surprise was that I hadn’t actually thought through what I was going to do onstage yet.

I chose not to say that.

Just as Mira was about to ask another question, a voice came through the hall’s speakers.

“All participants in the NovaCon Grand Cosplay Contest are requested to proceed to their assigned preparation rooms. The stage program will begin in thirty minutes.”

The conversations around me briefly slowed.

Several cosplayers lowered their phones. A staff member began pointing toward the corridor the contestants would use.

Mira brought the microphone back toward herself.

“Let’s leave our contestants to their preparations. We’ll see Evelyn onstage shortly.”

When she turned to me, she was still smiling.

“Good luck.”

I bowed my head gracefully.

“Thank you.”

I held my pose until the camera moved away.

Then I released the breath I had been holding.

With my good hand, I reached for my phone and messaged Eris that I was heading to the preparation room. When I turned off the screen, the announcement ran through my mind again.

Half an hour.

Taking photos, answering a few questions, and moving the raven had been a pleasant distraction.

Now it was almost time to actually step onto the stage.

I gathered the skirt of my wedding dress to keep it clear of my feet and headed toward the corridor the staff member had indicated. Leaving the cameras, phones, and conversations behind, I began looking for the number of my assigned waiting room.