Duke Ivanstein stood there with his long, brilliantly shining silver hair gleaming lustrous, accompanied by an even more dazzling smile.

“You’ll surely grant me the honor of escorting you.”

He extended his hand toward Mel with an expression that didn’t even consider the possibility of refusal.

“……”

She felt the indigestion that had been weighing on her solar plexus returning.

“Oh my……”

Standing behind Mel, Lin quietly gasped at the Duke’s appearance, which is far more beautiful than usual. She unconsciously reached out, as if to take his offered hand, then quickly pulled back, startled, and hid her hand behind her back.

In contrast, Mel barely managed to take Genoa’s hand with her own stiff hand.

“You look good as well, Duke Ivanstein.”

“I put in quite some effort, yet that’s all you have to say about me?”

“I don’t think anything more is necessary.”

“Hmm.”

At the princess’s somewhat curt voice, Genoa narrowed his eyes. His deep purple eyes lightly scanned her face.

Her tight lips and green eyes that avoided meeting his gaze caught his attention first. He lightly assumed she must be nervous about her formal debut into society.

‘How odd, considering she must have had her fill of society in Reibritton.’

The momentary question disappeared as Mel spoke while moving her steps according to his lead.

“Thank you for the dress gift, Duke Ivanstein. I like it.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Though I’m a bit concerned that it’s the silver dress symbolizing House Ivanstein.”

At Mel’s words, Genoa shrugged and replied.

“Doesn’t it matter? It shows that I pity the princess who must make her debut in Imperial society without a chaperone.”

“If you truly pitied me, you would have chosen a different dress.”

Mel looked with slightly narrowed eyes at Genoa, who seemed to have no intention of hiding the dress’s implications while making plausible excuses. Their gazes intertwined as he stared at her with one corner of his mouth subtly curled up and his eyes darkened.

“I didn’t expect you would throw yourself into the rumors you wanted, Duke Ivanstein.”

At Mel’s words, Genoa’s gaze seemed to darken further. With that, Mel realized her interpretation of the silver dress’s meaning matched the Duke’s intentions, and she pouted her lips.

‘He’s really mean.’

Genoa clearly wanted to see how the First Prince would react to the scandal between himself and the princess of Reibritton—a scandal that had captured the attention of all the nobles.

While rumors should spread that the Reibritton princess chose the First Prince for survival, seeing her attend the party wearing the silver dress symbolizing Ivanstein, which she received as a direct gift from the Duke, the nobles would surely think this: that the princess was considering two paths.

‘I’m not afraid of scandals, but this person’s thoughts are frightening.’

All Mel had managed to figure out with her limited information was that the First Prince showed an extremely favorable attitude toward Ivanstein. Unlike the Second Prince, the likely heir to the throne, who disapproved of House Ivanstein.

What was his reason for deliberately creating a scandal to establish opposition with the princess and the First Prince who had such an attitude?

‘I guess among the things he wants to find out from the First Prince, there must be something about Ivanstein……’

She couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. Though Mel knew it was her role to find out, she couldn’t help feeling spiteful and resentful toward Genoa.

If he was going to trust her, he should trust her completely and let her move as he wanted. Of course, he wouldn’t fully trust a princess from an enemy country. But even though he must know well that she couldn’t possibly harm Duke Ivanstein, acting this way was purely bad taste. That man had truly terrible habits.

Seeing Mel quietly glaring at him, Genoa blinked as if he knew nothing and asked,

“I hope you’re not upset about me interfering with your romantic rumors with the First Prince, Princess.”

“Of course not. I just wanted to say it was unexpected.”

She had planned to put on the facade of a pitiful princess seeking help from the First Prince out of fear of Duke Ivanstein, but now even that had become difficult. No one would pity a princess who carefully preserved the flower from the First Prince while appearing in a dress color-coordinated with Duke Ivanstein.

Such an unexpected change of plans was unwelcome at this crucial moment of entering society. Mel sighed at her increasingly uncertain future and voiced her frustration.

“You know it will be harder to get what I want if I have to walk a tightrope between Duke Ivanstein and the First Prince. The First Prince surely won’t let me near him.”

“The sense of achievement is greater when accomplishing something difficult.”

“You’re not doing this to teach me about achievement. Do you plan to keep hiding your true intentions from me until the end?”

Genoa simply smiled without bothering to answer the question. Mel felt a pain in her solar plexus. While suppressing that pain, she tried to comfort herself.

To get what she wanted, she had to continuously prove her usefulness to Genoa. And in a very interesting way.

‘You still have that terrible habit of testing people.’

Just like she had felt when she was young, Genoa was truly a twisted person. If someone failed even one of these tests, he would quickly lose interest in them. Genoa had a temperament of ruthlessly disposing of subjects he lost interest in.

Mel had to constantly prove her worth to him. Still.

“I’ve been thinking about something since I first made the deal with you, Duke.”

“What is it?”

Genoa’s lips finally parted as he watched Mel with a quietly searching gaze. As they approached the mansion’s door through the corridor, Mel lowered her voice as she noticed the increasing number of servants.

“Why were you so eager to know the First Prince’s intentions, Duke Ivanstein?”

“Hmm.”

The corners of Genoa’s mouth curved up in a smooth line. Seeing this, Mel spoke with a crooked smile, just as Genoa had done before:

“I hope such thoughts aren’t presumptuous of me?”

“Not at all. It’s a natural question.”

During this conversation, the two passed through the mansion’s door and headed toward the carriage. The Duke’s knights who were waiting opened the carriage door. Genoa got in first, then extended his hand to Mel while continuing his words.

“Because there’s nothing a noble princess can’t be curious about.”

It meant that such a thought would have been presumptuous if she weren’t a princess. As Mel placed her hand in Genoa’s outstretched one, the pain in her solar plexus returned.

Genoa pulled her into the carriage with strong force. Losing her balance, she was drawn into his arms as if being sucked in. As Genoa naturally wrapped his arm around her waist, he seated her on his lap and said,

“I’m rather pleased, actually. That the princess has finally started thinking about me.”

“……You seem to enjoy making statements that invite misunderstandings, Duke Ivanstein.”

“Everyone else likes it when I do this, so I thought you would too.”

“Make me an exception since I don’t.”

“As you wish.”

Mel sat on the plush cushion prepared in the carriage as Genoa guided her. Just sitting a bit apart from him made breathing easier.

After catching her breath briefly, as soon as the carriage door closed, Mel spoke,

“At first, I thought you wanted to use me to support the First Prince as the next emperor. Though the Second Prince is the likely heir, it would be a shame to abandon the First Prince who’s favorable to House Ivanstein.”

“And then?”

“But seeing how strange your methods of using me became, I don’t think that’s your reason anymore.”

“Indeed, the princess never fails to meet my expectations.”

Genoa sat across from her with his arms crossed as he spoke.

“The Second Prince will become emperor.”

His arrogant voice declared the empire’s ruler. If anyone else had heard, they could have been executed for treason — he treated the emperor’s existence like a chess piece to be manipulated in his hands.

Those words flowing from Genoa’s lips gave Mel no sense of discomfort. He was a man who embodied arrogance to an excessive degree.

“……Do you want to know how the First Prince will react when he can’t become emperor?”

“Something like that.”

Though Genoa didn’t give a complete answer to Mel’s question, he seemed quite satisfied. While “something like that” meant it wasn’t the correct answer, Mel felt relieved to see some direction.

From Genoa’s words and reactions, she judged there was a high possibility that the information about the First Prince being favorable to Ivanstein was false. Probably because the First Prince was acting to appear that way publicly.

Then did he want her to expose that the First Prince’s public show of favor toward Ivanstein was false? But this simple task could be done without using her, a princess from an enemy country.