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Chapter 19…………………………………………………….
Rubelia quickly withdrew her gaze from Aria and Hasedian, afraid she might accidentally meet their eyes, and hurriedly took a seat in the most secluded corner she could find.
She had no desire to become the crown princess, and since she had only been forced to attend this ball, she planned to stay quietly for a while and slip out as soon as possible.
If Jerden had been here, she might have stayed longer just to spend time with him, but unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be attending this ball.
Then again, he rarely attended balls in the first place.
Contrary to her wish to remain so quietly that no one would even notice her presence, the nobles’ gazes kept drifting toward Rubelia.
It was partly because of her appearance, but also because Rubelia herself had an unusually strong presence.
Rubelia flinched at the approach of someone coming toward her. But she quickly relaxed when she realized it wasn’t Aria or Hasedian.
Even if their intentions toward her seemed questionable, it was still better than being subjected to Aria and Hasedian’s mental assault.
“You’re attending as well, Lady.”
A noble lady spoke with a friendly smile. However, it was well known that she deeply disliked Rubelia.
Among the noble ladies who followed Aria, she was the one who admired and respected Aria the most. To her, Rubelia—who constantly harassed Aria whenever she could—was a lifelong enemy.
“So that’s why you’re here?”
Rubelia replied with a small shrug.
“Come to think of it, with the Duke in attendance, was that a rather obvious question?”
The noble lady looked at her with thinly veiled disdain. Rubelia simply let the words pass through one ear and out the other. It wasn’t worth responding to.
She was surely aware that this ball wasn’t optional but a compulsory attendance by imperial decree, and yet she still said such things.
At Rubelia’s attitude, the noble lady’s expression stiffened. Still, as if unwilling to back down, she spoke again.
“You really are something. It can’t be easy to follow around someone who doesn’t like you at all.”
Rubelia, who had been planning to ignore the continued provocation, changed her mind. It didn’t seem like staying quiet would make the woman leave on her own.
As the saying went, one should never avoid a fight that came knocking.
“Hey, you know… are you perhaps sick somewhere?”
Rubelia looked at her with an innocent expression, as if she truly didn’t understand anything.
“What do you mean by that?”
For a moment, the noble lady smirked, pleased that Rubelia had finally reacted—but soon her expression turned puzzled.
“Or maybe you have memory problems? You look quite young, but to already have such severe forgetfulness at your age…”
Rubelia looked at her with pity, as though she were truly unfortunate.
“What did you just say to me?”
“Oh dear, your hearing must be bad too.”
Rubelia gave her an even more sympathetic look, as if this were truly unfortunate.
At that, the noble lady’s face twisted in anger.
Being looked down upon like that by Rubelia was deeply humiliating.
However, before she could retort, Rubelia spoke first.
“To make things clear for you, since you seem to have both poor hearing and memory issues, the imperial decree for this ball stated that all unmarried noble ladies must attend.”
“……”
The noble lady was momentarily speechless. But she still didn’t seem ready to back down.
She did not want to lose like this to Rubelia, who was always causing trouble and never behaved like a proper noble lady.
“You must have it easy, Lady.”
Carefully choosing her words, the noble lady smiled again.
“Me?”
Rubelia looked at her in disbelief.
I’m probably the most uncomfortable person here right now.
“The whole capital knows that you have feelings for the Duke. So of course, you wouldn’t want to become crown princess.”
“Well, I suppose that’s true.”
Rubelia nodded reluctantly.
She didn’t particularly like Hasedian, and she also had no desire to become crown princess.
But the noble lady wasn’t finished.
“Even if you wanted to become crown princess, what could you do? Everyone knows His Highness and Duke Karsiel are like inseparable, very close friends.”
The noble lady spoke as if saying: there’s no way someone like you could ever become crown princess.
Yet Rubelia wasn’t affected in the slightest.
“Right.”
At her indifferent response, the noble lady bit her lip, displeased.
Normally, such provocation would have made Rubelia scream in anger or lose control. But today, her reaction was different.
“Good luck, Lady.”
As if trying harder to provoke her, the noble lady continued.
“Huh?”
What is this?
Rubelia tilted her head, genuinely confused.
“Duke Karsiel will never accept your feelings, but I’m sure there’s someone better out there for you. Even if he won’t be as wonderful as the Duke.”
The noble lady finished speaking and looked satisfied at Rubelia’s stiffened expression.
Now she’ll explode in anger like before. Her reputation will hit rock bottom.
If possible, it would be even better if she caused such a scene that she was banned from balls altogether. Then she wouldn’t be able to harass Aria anymore.
But contrary to her expectations, Rubelia’s expression stiffened not because she was upset—but because she noticed Aria and Hasedian approaching.
Rubelia quickly tried to leave her seat. What mattered now was avoiding them, not dealing with this noble lady.
But in response, the offended noble lady deliberately stepped on Rubelia’s flowing dress.
As a result, Rubelia lost her balance and fell. Unfortunately, there was a table right next to her, and the dishes on it crashed loudly onto the floor.
“Oh my… Lady, are you alright? Why were you so angry that you fell all on your own? You’re not trying to falsely accuse me, are you?”
Even though she clearly knew Rubelia had been tripped, the noble lady pretended otherwise, twisting the situation as if Rubelia had fallen in anger toward her.
Given Rubelia’s usual reputation, the others easily believed her words.
“Lady, are you alright?”
“Lady Rubelia, are you okay?”
Aria and Hasedian had already arrived in front of her, looking at her with concern.
“…I’m not okay.”
Not only did the fall hurt, but hearing Aria and Hasedian’s voices—and seeing them—was even more unbearable.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
At Rubelia’s answer, Hasedian’s cold gaze turned to the noble lady. She flinched in shock.
It was the first time she had seen Hasedian so furious.
“L-Lady Persinen…”
The noble lady looked toward Aria for help. In her mind, she had done this for Aria’s sake. Rubelia was always tormenting Aria, after all.
But Aria was not on her side.
“How dare you injure Lady Rubelia and still speak my name?”
Aria shot her a sharp glare. Then she turned to Rubelia, her expression softening with worry.
She might have broken a bone with such a fragile body after falling.
“I-I didn’t do it. I was just greeting Lady Stein because I was happy to see her, and then she suddenly got angry and fell on her own.”
The noble lady insisted on her innocence. The other nobles seemed inclined to believe her.
“What nonsense. I saw you step on Lady Stein’s dress on purpose.”
Hasedian spoke coldly.
The noble lady panicked—she hadn’t expected him to have seen it.
“And if Rubelia gets angry, you should just take it. You don’t even realize how fortunate that is.”
Aria clicked her tongue lightly. She did not believe Rubelia would ever get angry without reason. Someone as kind as her could not possibly do so.
“Th-That’s…”
Realizing Aria would not support her either, the noble lady grew flustered.
“I-I just… I was trying to stop her from falling and accidentally stepped on her dress…”
Desperate now, she even began to cry, trying to turn the situation in her favor. But neither Aria nor Hasedian was moved at all.
“Lady Rubelia, are you okay? It must hurt.”
Aria helped Rubelia up as though she herself were the one in pain. Rubelia quietly took her hand and stood.
Ha… I want to go home…
She was already exhausted.
Meeting Aria and Hasedian was tiring enough, and now she was hurt from falling because of that annoying noble lady.
“Don’t cry, Lady Rubelia.”
Aria misunderstood Rubelia’s slightly moist eyes as tears and looked at her sadly.
“How dare you make Lady Stein cry! I saw with my own eyes that you didn’t step on her dress by accident but on purpose to make her fall!”
“Th-That’s not true…”
Unable to defend herself any longer, the noble lady looked around helplessly.
“Apologize to Lady Stein immediately.”
“Apologize.”
At Hasedian’s words, Aria added firmly.
The noble lady felt both resentment and humiliation. She had expected Aria and Hasedian to support her actions—but instead, everything was turning against her.
In the end, she had no choice.
“I-I’m s-sorry, Lady Stein.”
“I accept your apology.”
Rubelia replied simply.
She didn’t want the situation to escalate further.
“As expected, Lady Stein is truly kind.”
“Lady…”
Hasedian and Aria looked at her with dreamy admiration again.
“I think I should go change my dress.”
There was no way she could stay like this.
“If I may escort you—”
“Why would the Duke accompany a lady changing her dress? That should be me—”
“Goodbye.”
Rubelia bowed politely and quickly slipped out of the ballroom before they could stop her.
By the time Aria and Hasedian realized the argument had stopped and tried to catch her, Rubelia had already left the ballroom.
