LTTCH 21

Chapter 21

“More importantly, mages are useful in battle as well.”

“So Kaysis really must be a dangerous dragon.”

“Yes, an extremely dangerous one. Three hundred years ago, it completely burned an entire kingdom to the ground.”

“An entire kingdom?”

“Yes. From what I’ve heard, it harbors immense hatred toward humans. Enough to wipe out every last one of them.”

That’s insane.

Thinking that, I watched the backs of the knights marching off to war.

This departure ceremony was called a departure ceremony, but in reality, it was just one of the many banquets held at the imperial palace.

In fact, once the knights left, the remaining nobles immediately began laughing, chatting, and enjoying the party.

In many ways, the knights were the only pitiable ones here.

Subjugating an evil dragon would never be easy, so there would probably be many casualties.

And meanwhile the nobles were using the ceremony as an excuse to feast and have fun.

Praying that the knights would all return safely, I began preparing to head home.

Whether one stayed to enjoy the banquet after the ceremony was entirely optional.

Personally, I had no desire to stay.

Besides, I needed to take Uncle home before she caused some kind of disaster.

While gathering my things with that thought in mind—

“Lady Lockwood. Would you grant me a dance?”

The Duke asked Uncle for a dance.

Is this a green light?

My eyes sparkled as I looked at Uncle, and I nodded frantically to tell her to accept already.

But Uncle…

“I don’t know how to dance, y’know?”

Right.

Uncle had never learned how to dance.

I’d been so busy teaching her the urgent things first that I completely forgot about dancing.

As I clutched my head in despair, the Duke slowly withdrew his hand with a strange expression.

“…Is that so?”

That is absolutely a “I don’t believe you” face!

What noble lady wouldn’t know how to dance?

The Duke looked at Uncle suspiciously.

Just as I was about to somehow smooth things over—

A shining head of blond hair approached from afar.

“Beatrice.”

Damn it. Why is the Crown Prince here too?

“Would you dance with me?”

To make matters worse, the Crown Prince asked Uncle for a dance too.

I shook my head wildly at Uncle, trying to tell her to refuse, and Uncle opened her mouth.

“I don’t know how to dan—”

“Beatrice!”

When I hurriedly called out to her, Uncle, the Duke, and the Crown Prince all turned to look at me.

“You said you weren’t feeling well before we left, remember? Right?”

I winked furiously, signaling for her to agree, and Uncle let out an “Ah” before starting an incredibly fake cough.

“Cough. Cough. That’s right.”

The Crown Prince looked slightly suspicious, but thankfully he simply let it pass with a, “I see.”

The Duke alternated glances between Uncle and me with a doubtful look, but escaping this situation came first.

“Then, Lady Sober.”

Suddenly turning toward me, the Crown Prince extended his hand.

“Would you dance with me?”

“…Pardon?”

Why is the collateral damage hitting me?

Why me of all people? There are plenty of other noble ladies here.

Go dance with the girls who actually like you.

“I can’t simply ignore a lady who claims to be my admirer. I shall specially grant you the honor of a dance with me.”

If I could’ve spoken my true feelings, I would’ve politely declined immediately.

But publicly, I was supposed to be the Crown Prince’s fan.

So in the end, I had no choice but to smile shyly and take his hand.

Life is hard.

I carefully followed the Crown Prince’s lead as we danced.

I could feel everyone’s eyes on me.

As the Crown Prince’s first dance partner, I was attracting enormous attention.

Especially from the noble ladies—it felt like laser beams were about to shoot out of their eyes.

Please save me.

Normally I was someone who quietly hid in the corners of banquet halls, so for a while people debated which noble family I belonged to before eventually realizing I was “the daughter of Count Sober’s family,” after which the whispering truly began.

Feeling like my back was about to catch fire, I desperately kept in rhythm.

“You dance quite well.”

“I’m honored, Your Highness.”

I slightly lifted my head to glance at the floating text above the Crown Prince.

[Affection Level 100%]

If only Uncle would genuinely fall for the Crown Prince, everything would end instantly.

But on top of him being another man, the Crown Prince was also self-absorbed and inconsiderate.

I couldn’t imagine Uncle ever liking someone like that.

Suppressing my disappointment, I “accidentally” stepped hard on the Crown Prince’s foot.

“Oh my, my apologies.”

I saw the Crown Prince’s brow twitch slightly.

Hah. That’s revenge for pointing a sword at me last time.

The moment the dance ended, I hurried off the dance floor as though fleeing for my life.

What if he suddenly decides to pull a sword again because he’s annoyed?

I need to run.

But my plan was thoroughly ruined by the Duke, who had apparently been waiting for me.

The Duke extended his hand toward me.

“Would you honor me with a dance as well?”

His expression was strange.

Like he suspected something.

Feeling guilty for no reason, I awkwardly smiled and prepared to refuse his invitation.

There was no harm in keeping my distance.

That was when—

“Lady Sober. Lady Lockwood.”

Someone called out to Uncle and me.

Turning around, I saw the person approaching us.

The woman dressed even more extravagantly than a peacock was none other than the First Princess.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes, it has been a long time, Your Highness.”

Pretending to remain calm, I greeted the First Princess, but after glancing briefly at me, she immediately turned her attention toward Uncle.

So Uncle was her real target too.

“At the last tea party, why did you leave so suddenly? I wanted to speak with you more, so I was quite disappointed.”

At the First Princess’s innocent and gentle voice, pretending as though she knew nothing, Uncle’s eyebrow twitched.

“I heard the Marquis household sent many knights for this subjugation campaign. I’m truly grateful for your family’s devotion to the empire.”

Uncle snorted loudly through her nose and gave a stiff nod.

“By the way, I heard you yielded my brother’s first dance to Lady Sober. Was there a reason for that?”

After finishing her pleasantries, the First Princess finally began getting to the point.

She probably wanted to gauge the relationship between Uncle and the Crown Prince.

Uncle rolled her eyes around before winking at me as though telling me not to worry.

And then—

“I wasn’t feeling well. Cough. Cough.”

She started that awful fake coughing again.

The First Princess wore a strange expression.

She probably thought Uncle was mocking her.

I quickly jabbed Uncle in the side, and thankfully she stopped coughing.

“I see. I hope you recover soon.”

Normally the First Princess would’ve already made several sarcastic remarks by now, but perhaps because the Duke was present, she behaved unusually well today.

The power of love.

“By the way, Duke.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“I haven’t danced yet tonight. If you don’t mind, would you become my dance partner?”

Normally in noble society, men asked women to dance first.

It was rare for a woman to step forward herself like this.

But then again, who was she?

She was the First Princess, the empire’s treasured jewel.

Holding her chin proudly high, the First Princess stared directly at the Duke.

Her expression practically declared that love wasn’t something you waited for—it was something you seized yourself.

My eyes sparkled secretly.

The Duke had just put me in an awkward situation by asking me to dance, so if the First Princess took him away, I welcomed it wholeheartedly.

Well, maybe not the Duke himself.

In the original story, the Duke was described as feeling extremely uncomfortable around the First Princess.

The reason being that, to him, the First Princess was practically like a younger sister he’d known since childhood.

Which made her openly expressing romantic interest in him feel burdensome.

Watching the two with fascinated eyes, I eventually saw the Duke take the First Princess’s hand and head toward the dance floor.

Farewell, Duke.

Now that we’d finally shaken off both the Duke and the Crown Prince, Uncle and I hurriedly escaped the banquet hall.

“Ugh… that was exhausting…”

We were on our way to the carriages to head home.

I planned to ride in Uncle’s carriage since I had to wait for Louis and Father before I could leave in mine.

After walking for a while, we finally arrived where Uncle’s carriage was waiting, and the exhausted Uncle climbed in first.

I was about to climb in after her when—

“Huh? What’s that?”

Completely out of nowhere, there was a fountain pen lying beside the carriage wheel.

Judging by its sparkling gold appearance, it seemed to belong to some noble.

Thinking it might be Uncle’s, I bent down to pick it up—

And suddenly, poof, I was teleported somewhere else.

What the heck? Where am I?!