That bard is such a charmer!

Chapter 131 Entering the Palace

After a few seconds, Richard nodded.

He felt that even if it was just to broaden his horizons, the palace was worth a visit.

However, Grace shook her head and gave Isabella a knowing look.

Isabella immediately understood.

The imperial palace of the empire is not a place you can sneak into with mere transformation magic.

If a giant dragon insists on entering, there are just too many things to explain inside and out; just thinking about it gives me a headache.

So let's just forget about it.

In the end, only Richard joined the procession to the palace the following day.

Another ten minutes or so passed.

Isabella led everyone to her residence in the capital. According to Isabella, this place was called Artori Palace. It was originally the mansion of a marquis, but after the marquis's family fell into ruin and moved out of the capital, it was bestowed upon her by the emperor.

Richard gazed at the unassuming exterior (compared to the surrounding buildings), yet its area far surpassed that of the Phoenix City's Temple of Radiance, and muttered unconsciously to himself, "How many gold coins is this worth—"

"Believe me, you don't want to know the land prices in the capital."

Isabella joked with Richard, "And you don't need to know, because my house is big enough that you can live here as long as you want~"

As she spoke, she led everyone into her home and arranged their respective rooms.

Richard entered the room, looked at the comfortable and spacious bed, and, recalling the long journey he had taken that morning, couldn't help but lie down on it.

Unfortunately, he hadn't even been lying down for half an hour when the servant knocked on the door again, saying that the princess wanted to see him.

Richard scratched his head, puzzled, as he was led into the living room, only to find that not only him, but also Elsa and Mary had been called over.

A moment later, Isabella appeared, now dressed in casual clothes and carrying a ruler. She explained, "I'm going to teach you some etiquette that you must follow when entering the palace. Although I personally dislike these tedious rules, the palace is a very special place after all."

Oh, I understand.

The classic etiquette lesson after being transported to another world, right?

Richard pursed his lips, sensing that the time ahead would be exceptionally boring, and felt a little envious of Grace who didn't have to go to the palace.

However, he soon realized that he was wrong.

Firstly, the court etiquette of the Holy Roland Empire was not as complicated as he had stereotyped.

There was neither the three kneelings and nine prostrations, nor the strange procedure of Louis XIV having his courtiers watch him get up.

Overall, it is more similar to the style of the early Renaissance in my previous life. It is no longer as crude as the Middle Ages, but it is not particularly refined either.

Secondly—

During the teaching process, Isabella would genuinely adjust Richard's movements step by step, which inevitably led to some close contact.

Although he couldn't be sure of the princess's feelings, how could Richard, as a normal poet, not like the smooth golden hair that floated past his eyes and the warm touch that occasionally came from her skin?

If I were to get hit twice with a ruler by a serious-looking girl for not performing the movements correctly—ugh, damn it, something strange is getting into my head!

However, while Richard was happy, Elsa couldn't help but smirk and then made a series of mistakes, forcing Isabella to spend more time on the little girl.

cough.

In any case, after several hours, the etiquette lesson came to a successful conclusion.

The next morning.

Except for Grace, who was left at home, everyone else followed Isabella into an eight-horse carriage and arrived at the palace located on the hilltop north of the city.

Richard stood outside the door, looking up at the magnificent palace.

Originally, he was in a relatively calm mood, after all, he had already looked down at this place from the sky yesterday.

Until he subconsciously activated his Eye of Insight, his mouth involuntarily opened slightly—

【Name: The Imperial Palace of the Holy Roland Empire (Can be charmed)】

Level: Divine Artifact Description: The residence of the imperial emperor, the power center of the human kingdom, magnificent and heavily guarded. Except for gods descending to earth, almost no one can trespass inside (if one is willing to replace the throne with a golden toilet, even gods would retreat in its presence)

Holy crap! This thing can actually bewitch!

This is a whole palace complex!

Richard blinked, then without saying a word, tried to cast a charm spell.

Unfortunately, after several attempts, the magic within him did not react at all.

Only then did he remember that Isabella had mentioned last night that there was a massive magic-blocking array within the palace, and with a few exceptions, no one could cast spells nearby.

Sigh, fine.

With the charm spell banned, even though the palace is a place where charm can be used, he can only stand there helplessly.

We'll have to figure out a solution for this later.

"Richard? What are you thinking about?"

"Cough, it's nothing, let's go."

Just then, Isabella called out, and Richard looked up and caught up with the group.

They entered through the gates and were inspected by the Imperial Guards in their golden armor. Led by palace servants, they walked through corridors and staircases to the heart of the palace—the famous Royal Hall.

This is the largest hall Richard has ever seen since he traveled through time.

It is constructed of white marble and adorned with countless crystals, and is spacious and magnificent, capable of accommodating nearly a thousand people for a banquet at the same time.

The entrance is a heavy bronze door, followed by a magnificent carpet that will never get dirty, stretching from the entrance to a high platform at the end.

On the high platform stands the emperor's throne, inlaid with numerous jewels.

A huge dragon skull hangs atop the throne—well, thankfully Grace didn't come in.

Richard looked around and, seeing that there was no one on the platform for the time being, turned his attention to the people already in the hall.

Those people also noticed Isabella and her group's arrival and came forward to greet them.

The greetings were clearly focused on Isabella and her daughter Cinderella, so Richard was happy to have some peace and quiet. He stayed in the back and, with Isabella introducing the mother and daughter, got to know the ministers of the empire.

Aside from the second prince Jonas, whom he had met before, and some nobles without specific positions, Richard was impressed by four main people.

First was the Prime Minister of the Empire, the Emperor's left-hand man, a long-bearded old man named Ned Cliff, who looked very gentle and always had a smile on his face.

Then there's the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Owen Ford, a fat man with a monocle. His attitude towards Isabella was a bit too deliberate, noticeably less natural and enthusiastic than when he was talking to Jonas.

Then there was a bald man dressed so plainly that his trousers were patched up, named Leo Carson, the Empire's Minister of Intelligence, with a serious expression and rather cold attitude towards everyone.

Finally, there was the commander of the Imperial Guards—

To Richard's surprise, it turned out to be a female dark elf with pointed ears and dark purple skin!