Aidan seemed like someone who had been in the position of a prince from the beginning. He fit in even better than the ‘Aidan’ who had been born and lived in that position for over 20 years. She had to acknowledge this man’s natural ease, if nothing else. Along with his incredible memory. In fact, when she had thrown dozens of portraits at him, she had thought it would be fortunate if he memorized even half of them, and that she could help him appropriately from the side for those he couldn’t remember.

Watching Aidan receive greetings from all the nobles without a single mistake made her reconsider him anew. Even though he came from a strange world, he showed no signs of nervousness in this situation. He was calmly acting as Prince Aidan as if he had a steel plate for a face.

After the nobles’ greetings ended, the banquet properly began. Cheerful music flowed, and the number of men and women dancing in the spacious banquet hall increased one by one. Fortunately, there was no atmosphere suggesting that Aidan and Karina should dance first. She had been worried about what to do if the Empress created such an atmosphere, but the Empress was just staring straight ahead with a hardened expression, seemingly still displeased by the earlier incident.

“Wouldn’t Your Highness Aidan also dance with the Princess Consort? Everyone is looking forward to it.”

Karina stiffened her face and turned around at the familiar voice urging Aidan. As expected, it was Marquis Belmont. He was known as the Empress’s man. Not in a romantic sense, but he was someone who stood on the Empress’s side in all aspects and looked after her. She had heard that he had deep ties with the Empress since they were young, and sometimes they seemed overly intimate.

‘There’s even a rumor that Prince Lloyd is actually Marquis Belmont’s child.’

Bernice had said something like that once. At the time, Karina had warned her not to say such things, saying that if word got to the Empress’s side, she might not be able to keep her life. But now she could understand why Bernice had said that. Even to Karina, the distance between Marquis Belmont and the Empress seemed different from others. Many had seen Marquis Belmont coming out of the Empress’s palace late at night.

Although it seemed unlikely, people occasionally doubted the relationship between the Empress and Marquis Belmont whenever they were reminded of it. That’s how much Marquis Belmont would put aside everything and step forward as if it were his own business when it came to the Empress’s affairs.

Was it the Empress’s order to make Aidan dance? Or was it his personal judgment to try to embarrass Aidan? Either way, he was clearly the leader of the group trying to make Lloyd stand out by humiliating Aidan in front of everyone.

“Isn’t the Princess Consort waiting as well?”

Marquis Belmont gestured towards Karina with his eyes. ‘I wasn’t waiting for anything,’ she wanted to retort, but everyone’s attention was already focused on Aidan and Karina.

Karina turned to look at Aidan. Contrary to her concerns, Aidan was looking at Marquis Belmont with a relaxed expression. Since he had accurately remembered his name when they exchanged greetings earlier, he must know that he was the Empress’s man. Does he also realize that if he gets swayed by his instigation, he might end up being humiliated instead?

Her mind became complicated. For the past few days, she had danced in front of Aidan every day with Kai’s help. Throughout the dance, Aidan had stared intently at their movements. Did he really memorize everything just from that? More importantly, was his injury alright? He hadn’t shown any signs of pain on the way here, but in fact, Karina had seen him walk outside of bed for the first time today since the attack.

“Do you want to see my dance? Or do you want to see Karina’s dance?”

Aidan asked Marquis Belmont. His voice was soft and even had a hint of playfulness. He showed no signs of being flustered by the request to dance. Perhaps because of this, Marquis Belmont’s eyebrows twitched visibly.

“Of course, it would be the beautiful sight of the new imperial family member.”

It was Lloyd who answered instead of Marquis Belmont. Lloyd was standing in front of Karina, having somehow come to sit next to the Empress.

“Would you dance one song with me?”

Lloyd bowed slightly and extended his hand to Karina. His sudden action surprised the onlookers. Karina was Aidan’s Princess Consort, and therefore, she was supposed to dance her first dance with Aidan. Until she danced with Aidan, others couldn’t carelessly ask her to dance.

“Lloyd!”

The Empress called Lloyd’s name in a cold voice. The Emperor’s face had also hardened. That’s how much Lloyd’s current behavior was against etiquette.

“Why are you all so surprised?”

Although he must know what he was doing, Lloyd calmly looked around and smiled.

“As you all know, Aidan was injured enough to be bedridden for days due to the attack. Even now, he’s probably struggling just to sit, though he’s not showing it. Despite that, he’s here brightening up the Empress’s banquet. Since he’s making such an effort, I thought I should be a bit considerate of him.”

Considerate? Considerate, you say? Where exactly?

At Lloyd’s words, Karina stared at him with a perfectly expressionless face. Although her disgust must have been evident, Lloyd turned to her and smiled with his eyes.

“Isn’t it too much to ask Aidan to dance when it’s not easy for him to move?”

Hearing his words that seemed to be asking Marquis Belmont, the Marquis frowned. He also seemed not to understand why Lloyd was intervening like this.

“But if even his princess consort has to just sit and keep her place at a banquet held for him, wouldn’t that be pitiful? Since others can’t step forward, I merely wanted to dance the first dance with her in Aidan’s place.”

At Lloyd’s excuse, Karina barely managed to suppress a laugh that was about to burst out. The idea that he had asked her to dance out of consideration for Aidan and herself seemed less credible than saying a cat was thinking about a mouse. He was simply satisfying his own desires while blatantly disrespecting Aidan in front of everyone.

“I appreciate the thought, but I—”

“An unnecessary consideration.”

Aidan answered before her as she was about to refuse.

“Who says I can’t dance?”

Aidan stood up and approached Lloyd.

“Or do you hope that I can’t dance?”

He put one hand on Lloyd’s shoulder and whispered softly in his ear.

“Or are you certain that I won’t be able to dance?”

Lloyd flinched at the low voice. Aidan, who had been watching without missing this reaction, smirked and lightly patted Lloyd’s shoulder before stepping back.

“I’ll just gratefully accept your intentions.”

Leaving Lloyd behind, Aidan came in front of Karina and extended his right hand.

“I can’t give up the chance to dance with you to someone else.”

The corners of his eyes curved gently. At the sight of his handsome smile, low sighs could be heard from somewhere. Aidan really had to thank his birth mother. With features that seemed to resemble the Emperor while having the delicate and fine facial lines of the former Empress, and eyes like topaz jewels, he was enough to captivate women’s hearts with his face alone.

Except for Karina, who knew that the person inside was completely different.

Fraud.

Karina swallowed the word lingering on the tip of her tongue and took his outstretched hand.

Please let this man be able to dance properly.

Earnestly wishing and hoping, she headed to the center of the banquet hall with him.

*

In a dark alley, the man’s eyes shook as he looked back. His face was drenched in sweat. The sound of hooves was getting closer and closer. The more it did, the more desperately he tried to run, but his legs, already at their limit and heavy, wouldn’t obey his will.

“Over there!”

As soon as he came out of the alley, he heard someone shout. Then the sound of several horses’ hooves became even fiercer. If he gets caught, he’ll die. That thought alone filled the man’s mind. Last night, when his lover, who had been cleaning Prince Aidan’s bedroom, was found dead, he had sensed it. That his usefulness had ended.

He fled without looking back, but his pursuers were persistent. He planned to leave the Griffith Empire by boat tonight, but they had burst into the inn where he was hiding.

“Catch him!”

The voice from behind seemed to grab the back of his neck. His mouth became parched due to his rough breathing. Running as if being chased, he found himself on a bridge over a river. If he could cross this bridge and enter the forest on the other side, wouldn’t it be easier to hide? This faint hope disappeared the moment he saw the black-masked figures appearing on the opposite side of the bridge.

“Ah, how tiresome.”

The one who had been chasing the man frowned and drew his sword. His eyes glowed with killing intent, seemingly annoyed by the long chase.

The man’s eyes turned to the river below the bridge. He swallowed hard as he looked at the river water, whose bottom couldn’t be seen due to the night and its depth. Either way, he was going to die.

The moment the sword flew towards him, the man threw himself off the bridge without hesitation. Splash. At the sound of the man falling into the water, the black-masked pursuers looked down at the river in surprise.

“Ah, damn it.”

The one who had swung the sword cursed under his breath.

“What are you doing? All of you go down and search! Bring back even the corpse if you have to!”

At his shout, the others rushed down to the area below the bridge.

*