There should be a waiter nearby, I'll go ask him, Ravis thought as he left to find a servant. There had been a shift change, so it was hard to find the servants.

My stomach growled. I couldn't believe I was hungry again. It was the corset's fault, since it only allowed me to eat a little bit at a time. I hummed as I approached the food table and picked up a plate. I set a few sandwiches and fruit skewers on my plate and was about to return to my seat, so that Ravis could find me when he came back, when the cooks brought out a delicious looking strawberry cake with a topping of nuts. I was lifting a slice onto the plate when someone addressed me from behind.

"Miss Iona," the voice called. My hand stopped in mid-air as. I didn't dare turn around. Cold sweat flowed down my spine, as I was overcome with an unpleasant and grim feeling. I bit down on my lip.

'This feeling... its familiar.'

"Oh, my bad. It is rude of me to talk behind your back." The voice gave me goosebumps as the man who spoke came around to the front of me. I was petrified. The tall, thin man wore luxurious dress pants and shoes, and bore an elegant white, crow mask. He was thin, but defiantly didn't look scrawny. If anything, he looked intimidating and dangerous. In his hand he held a black cane with a golden crow's head adorning the top.

'Is it only an ornamental cane?' I wondered.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Iona. I'm Labore Piette. I'm not worthy, but I'm the Marquis of Ivant."

'Piette?" I was startled by the sudden appearance of the last supporting character of the novel.

The sub male character, Piette,wasn't like this in the original. He was sly but polite and did everything he could do keep main female character happy as he was a man of one love. There was no mention of him loving the female character even though he appeared as a sub male character, but he was always around the female character and did everything Aries wanted.

So the readers all cheered at his innocence and cunning as they considered him to be a character that didn't even realize how he felt. But I felt something odd and wasn't quite convinced that Piette should be considered as the sub character. I always said that Raven actually should be considered the sub male character.

Also, Piette didn't meet the emperor most of the time as a high noble of Ivant. He didn't have duty in the palace and even though he had a big business, there wasn't much fuss about it, so he was a noble that didn't have much name to himself.

'But even so, he stayed and helped Eris. People said that he did it because he loved her. But why would a man like him be like this....'

"Oh, my. Are you sick?" He put a hand on my shoulder. I felt like the blood was rushing from my body and I began to feel faint. I'm sure my face had gone pale, which is what concerned Piett.

Ravis' warning screamed in my mind. If you encounter anyone who makes you feel that way, run. Don't look back, just run away! Piett had to be the person that Ravis was looking for, but he already had me cornered and there was no way that I could run. I clenched my teeth and looked into his eyes.

He brought his face close to mine and whispered, "I have always wanted to meet you, Chosen One."

I felt I had been trapped in a pit with a viper. "Who are you?" I asked, as my body shuddered.

The man's eyes lit up with an evil glint and he gave me a bizarre smile. "Even if I don't say it, you can sense who I am."

"It feels like you are a terrible human being. Are you even human?" I knew what I said was insulting, but I could feel nothing but unpleasantness and terror from this figure before me.

Instead of being offended, he smiled even wider. Taking his hand off my shoulder, he stepped back. The icy grip of fear released its hold on me, and I began to feel my body again. Yet, there was still a wave of evil emanating from this man.

"Your Majesty has been with you so much; it has been tough to greet you. It's nice to finally meet you. You emit a fragrant smell of goodness." His purple, predatory eyes bore right into me. "It's tempting enough to make me want to crush it."

I almost screamed, but I needed to find out what this man wanted with me. "Do you know me?" I asked. It seemed like so many people were suddenly recognizing me today. What the hell happened to cause that?

Piett fiddled with the tip of the mask's beak. "Of course. I know you very well. I've been watching you, ever since you entered the palace."

Surprised by those words, I suddenly lost strength in my legs and stumbled. The plate I had been holding in my hand fell and shattered.

"Oh, my," Piett exclaimed as shards of glass flew through the air. He quickly swung his cane, causing black smoke to flow out of it. It acted as a shield, preventing the sharp pieces of plate from striking me. It seemed like he was actually trying to protect me, yet it felt dangerous and evil. I took a step back. The black smoke that Piett had released seemed to surround his entire body in darkness, as if the night had folded around him.