BTVF 06

Chapter 06

Lariel felt deeply wronged.

Strictly speaking, the one who tormented you was another Lariel. I’m a completely different person!

If only she could say that out loud.

Forcing down the words that nearly slipped from her lips, Lariel struggled to keep the conversation going.

“I was only worried about Your Highness’s safety—as your fiancée.”

“That’s understandable. If the other party were to die before the wedding, it would put you in a difficult position as well.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

“Then what is?”

“……”

“You’re not asking me to believe the nonsense that you care about other people, are you?”

She reached her limit quickly. Ferrik allowed Lariel no room at all.

In fact, even this stiff, formal exchange seemed to irritate him; he looked ready to cut the conversation short and leave her behind at any moment.

“Is that all you had to say?”

After gauging his mood, Lariel had no choice but to carry out the plan she had prepared—earlier than intended.

She wanted to make the request more naturally, but if things went on like this, it felt like Ferrik would refuse to deal with her for the rest of the night.

Now then… how did Lariel say it in the novel?

“By the way… isn’t there something you’ve forgotten?”

“What?”

“There’s something you need to ask me.”

The abrupt, out-of-the-blue remark made Ferrik knit his brows in confusion.

“Ask you? Me?”

“Yes. At the royal banquet.”

“What are you talking about…?”

Up to this point, everything matched the original story exactly.

So Lariel could easily predict what he would say next.

‘You’re not talking about that rule, are you?’

After a moment of thought, something seemed to click in his mind, and Ferrik shot Lariel a sharp glare, his eyes blazing with indignation.

“Don’t tell me you’re talking about that rule. How dare you?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s absurd. We’re only engaged. We’re not even married yet! You have no right to demand something like that from me!”

His raised voice echoed off the ceiling.

If she hadn’t known beforehand that Ferrik would react like this, she might have been intimidated at this point.

That was how deep and long-standing his anger was.

“No. I do have that right. There are records showing that two or three generations ago, the crown prince danced with his fiancée.”

“…You even looked up something like that?”

“Of course. For today.”

Even so, Lariel did not back down in the slightest.

Faced with her flawless rebuttal, Ferrik couldn’t find a way to argue back.

She was right. There was a long-standing tradition at royal banquets.

It was a rule that required a member of the royal family to dance in the center of the ballroom with their beloved.

Though it supposedly began as a way to pray for harmony and unity among all who attended—mirroring the love shared by the couple—there was only one reason Lariel would bring up that rule now, when the royal family had already become the butt of ridicule.

“Now then, please ask me to dance.”

There was no doubt she intended to humiliate everyone.

Ferrik looked down at Lariel with eyes that seemed to ask whether she truly meant to go this far.

But he knew better than anyone that there was no escape. Breaking the rule would only give her another weakness to exploit.

After grinding his teeth for a long moment, Ferrik lowered himself onto one knee. He placed his right hand over his chest and supported Lariel’s hand with the other.

Like a knight swearing loyalty, he looked up at her.

With eyes that seemed to want to strangle her to death, Ferrik spoke.

“…Will you dance with me, Lariel Tenebris?”

Though his gaze was fixed solely on Lariel, Ferrik could clearly feel the countless eyes around them bearing down on him.

Sneers, pity, mockery—and even a sense of wicked satisfaction at seeing a royal kneel before a noble.

They were all different, yet the same in one regard: every one of them looked down on Ferrik. And the final blow would be Lariel’s answer.

She stared silently at the hand Ferrik had extended.

‘I refuse.’

In the original story, Lariel said exactly that and slapped his hand away.

Forcing him to ask her to dance, only to turn her back on him and leave so conspicuously—it was a cruelty befitting the title of villainess, sadistic and brazen beyond excuse.

And in that moment, the nobles who could no longer hold it in burst into laughter, while Ferrik was reduced to a public spectacle.

Wounded in pride, he would leave the banquet hall, wander through the garden, and there meet Anilla, the original story’s heroine.

Why was Anilla, the saintess, in the palace garden?

Naturally, because she had a nighttime rendezvous with a noble attending the banquet.

But upon meeting the handsome Ferrik, she immediately changed her target.

Noticing his wounded heart, she gently coaxed him into opening up with her soft-spoken words and innate grace, pretending to console him.

And Ferrik, helplessly, wavered before her.

As they talked, the two would end up dancing together by a pond bathed in pale moonlight—a scene so beautifully described that it earned widespread praise from readers.

Hankyung also remembered that part vividly.

What she’d thought was just a trashy, cathartic novel occasionally surprised her with moments of romantic development and delicate prose, adding an unexpected charm that captivated its audience.

But now, things were different. She had no leisure to care about the readers.

Lariel wanted to live.

And to do that, she had to prove she was no longer the villainess she used to be.

“All right. Let’s dance together.”

“…Wait. What did you just say?”

“I said I’ll dance with you. For everyone attending this hall.”

And so Lariel gave an answer completely opposite to the original story. She accepted his invitation.

Apparently expecting her to refuse, Ferrik couldn’t hide his shock, his eyes widening.

The nobles around them were just as stunned. Once again, murmurs began to ripple through the hall.

“Come on. The music is about to change.”

Ignoring it all, she firmly took both of Ferrik’s hands and pulled him up. With a dazed expression, he let himself be led to his feet.

Lariel was smiling now—but this time, the smile looked quite natural.

Rather than cruel, it carried a freshness and brightness befitting someone newly turned twenty.

In any case, it was an expression he had never seen before.

Before he could respond, the music changed. Lariel quickly took her stance.

Of course, Hankyung herself had never danced before, but Lariel—the original owner of this body—was a noble among nobles, trained in every refinement from a young age.

As she moved her feet, letting her body remember what to do, Ferrik soon regained his composure and began to lead her in time with the music.

A large hand settled at her lower back, supporting her. Naturally, the distance between them closed even more. Meeting his eyes from so close made her feel strangely shy.

Lariel averted her gaze slightly and focused on dancing in silence. There was nothing she could do about the heat rising to her cheeks.

Just endure it a little. It looks like it’s working.

And it was more than worth the embarrassment.

She could tell just by looking at the faces of the onlookers over Ferrik’s shoulder.

“My goodness…”

Every one of them stared at the dancing couple, mouths agape.

It was common knowledge throughout the Kingdom of Trian that Lariel held Ferrik in contempt. Now that this unshakable “truth” was being openly contradicted, the nobles fell into utter confusion.

By now, a single sentence they had dismissed as baseless rumor was surely circulating through their minds.

Lariel Tenebris has become kind.

“…What on earth are you plotting?”

Ferrik, dancing with her at the center of it all, was thinking the same thing.

He tightened his grip around her waist, pulling her a little closer, and asked.

The brush of his breath near her ear felt unfamiliar. Her mind went briefly blank, but Lariel didn’t stay silent for long. She answered honestly.

There was nothing worth hiding.

“I’m not plotting anything. I just decided to become a better person. Didn’t you hear the rumors?”

“You expect me to believe that nonsense?”

“Whether you believe it or not is up to you.”

After all, we’ll be parting ways soon.

Swallowing the words she couldn’t say, Lariel spun lightly once. As a result, she didn’t see the faint crease forming between Ferrik’s brows.

“Stop the act, Lariel Tenebris.”