My Engagement was Cancelled so I will stop Pretending to be a Fool

After taking an hour via horse-drawn carriage from Beymar, the White Rose Palace Excavation Site finally became visible.

The dome-shaped museum is located a little away from the excavation site itself and most of the tourists have gathered there.

The excavation site itself is basically off-limits to anyone other than those involved so there are rope barriers and people standing guard outside to prevent the entry of unauthorized personnel.

Olivia and the others were allowed to enter the site so they headed to the nearby building which is the base for the overseer and soldiers here. There is another building in the back for the prisoners’ use.

The excavation work here is being taken care of by the prisoners who committed mild to moderate crimes.

The reason they forbid the normal tourists from approaching is to prevent the prisoners from escaping.

When Olivia’s group headed to the overseer building, Dr. Wybal, who’s in charge of the site, came out to welcome them. Dr. Wybal was a thin middle-aged man wearing small round glasses. His skin is tanned probably from doing the excavation work outdoors for a long time.

Guided by Dr. Wybal, Olivia and the others enter the building. In addition to the living space of the researchers and the soldiers, the building seems to also have storage to temporarily house the excavated artifacts. After being guided to the reception room, the doctor showed Olivia something that seems to be a hand-drawn sketch.

“This is a sketch of the White Rose Palace that we managed to speculate from the knowledge we currently have.”

The sketch seems to be made by Dr. Wybal himself. It appears that it only describes the known parts of the palace since there are many blank areas but it is still more detailed than what Olivia has seen in a book.

According to Dr. Wybal’s sketch, the White Rose Palace only has one floor above ground with several more underneath. It is said that it is because of this reason that most of its ruins are buried underground.

(Rather than a rose, it looks more like a snail huh.)

Looking at the floor plan, the place looks more like layers upon layers of circular structures with dead ends here and there. It would be really difficult to reach the central area where the royal family lived. After all, it almost looked like a maze to her.

As Olivia was engrossed by the floor plan of the ground floor, a low voice suddenly rang out.

“Is this an underground passage?”

Looking up, she saw Legion who’s standing next to Princess Florencia examining the floor plan of the basement level.

“Yes, that’s correct. This is an underground passage that extended from under the royal quarter to the area around Lake Akkai which I believe is now a part of Karzol. However, during the skirmish with Karzol, it was sealed at the border so you can not reach that place anymore.”

“I see.”

Legion seriously listened to the doctor’s explanation. Perhaps he’s interested in the ruins. Although Princess Florencia expressed the wish to visit this place, it seems that her escort knight is much more interested in it than her.

After they were finished with the sketch, this time they were guided to the museum by the doctor. It seems that they will be guided inside the ruin once the prisoners leave after their shift.

The air inside of the museum was cool. There are many tourists but the museum itself is so large that the place doesn’t feel crowded at all.

After passing through the exhibition space where the excavated artifacts from the ruins were put on display, they headed to the place where a miniature model of the ruin is being exhibited.

Since they have seen the sketch beforehand, it’s very easy for them to understand the structure of the 3-dimensional miniature model.

“When looking at a three-dimensional model like this, it really sets in that this palace is truly a maze isn’t it.”

Cyrus said as he observed the model. Olivia was also impressed at the fact that people managed to live in such a place without getting lost. After all, the place is so complicated and filled with mysteries.

“There’s a lot of dead ends even in the basement huh.”

“It seems so. Besides, it looks like you can’t access the royal quarter from underground too.”

“It’s true. The basement of the royal quarter was completely sealed from the outside.”

“When looking at this, it really makes you think that King Adrian was truly paranoid isn’t it.”

In the model, the underground passages were all cut off before they reached the basement of the royal quarter. In the unlikely event, the invaders would not be able to easily reach the royal quarter. On the other hand, it also indicates that the royal family doesn’t care even if they alone manage to escape. Tales about royal families using their vassals as decoys to escape in an emergency are quite common but for a palace to be built with that very idea from the beginning is something else.

After looking at the model, Olivia and the others took a look at the exhibit showing the restored costumes and day-to-day items of the ancient dynasty before returning to the overseer building near the ruins. It seems that it’s almost time for the prisoners to take a break.

They were guided around the ruins except for the dangerous places that might collapse on them and today’s tour finally came to an end. Tomorrow, they will be guided around to see the actual excavation work. The place that the doctor will guide them to tomorrow is the place where the researchers work instead of the prisoners but Olivia was told that they will get to see the excavation process as well.

After thanking the researchers, Olivia was about to board her carriage but she suddenly felt a gaze on her.

(…….?)

However, when she looked back, there was no one there.

“What’s wrong, Olivia.”

“It’s nothing ……..”

It must’ve been her imagination. Thinking so, Olivia boarded the carriage.

TLN: Ruins tourism and a Sus knight……