Chapter 31

Listening with a smile to uninteresting conversation made the corners of her mouth ache. But her heart was more at ease than at other times. At balls she had had to attend alone, she had always been forced to remain tense among people aiming for her weak points. So having only the corners of her mouth hurt was not all that difficult.

By the time a ball full of lively music, endlessly served alcohol and food, and a crowd of people reached its height, things always began to loosen a little. Some went upstairs to the lounge to rest, some remained in the hall, and some left the ball altogether.

“Come see me for a moment.”

At the very point when the mood was reaching its peak, Chris called Raon.

“I will be back in a moment.”

Though she had entered together with Raon, she could not stay attached to him the whole time. He too had people he needed to meet. Suppressing the urge to stop him as he said he would step away for a moment, Kina was left alone for the first time at today’s ball.

She saw Bersha soon leave as well, taking noblewomen and young ladies with her to talk. It should only be for a little while. Thinking that, Raon followed Chris.

*

“Isn’t it stifling? Sit down.”

A ball after so long was a schedule even more exhausting than a military campaign, so Raon sat down across from Chris.

“What is it?”

“You didn’t come to the Imperial Palace even once during your leave?”

There was spite in his tone.

“I need rest too.”

From Raon’s point of view, it was only natural. He had spent over three months in military tents because of the unplanned campaign.

“Bersha, you know. She waited all day.”

“……That is no longer any of my concern.”

Was he saying that while fully aware that his face was dripping with lingering attachment? Chris clicked his tongue. But at the same time, he felt reassured. Raon was only trying to act coldly; it gave him confidence that his feelings had not vanished.

“It is still valid.”

Chris looked at Raon with a deliberately arrogant face.

“What I said—that once I become Emperor, I would make it as though the marriage had never happened. Whether my marriage or yours.”

It was the proposal Chris had kept making ever since Bersha was decided as the Crown Princess. Afterward, the hectic pace of life had made him forget it for a while. At that, Kina naturally came to mind.

“I refuse.”

It was a firm answer, different from the one just before.

‘He still has lingering feelings, so why won’t he use the most effective method!’

Chris let out a loud sigh in frustration at Raon, who was taking the long road instead of the easiest one.

“Ha, you……!”

At that moment, the sound of knocking cut off the words Chris had been about to continue.

“If you say it to her yourself, she’ll give up.”

The door opened before Raon could even fully understand his words.

“To Bersha, that is.”

“Raon!”

Bersha, her face bright, stepped into the tense clash between Raon, who looked at Chris with a hardened expression, and Chris, who gave a shameless shrug as if to say, What will you do about it?

* * *

“May I ask you for a dance?”

Not long after Bersha too had stepped away for a while and Kina had been left alone, someone approached as if he had been waiting for just that.

“I have a headache. Please excuse me.”

People still remained here and there. Though music was clearly still playing, it felt as if everyone around her was looking at her. Under ordinary circumstances she would not have fled like this, but today was the first event she had attended with Raon. She did not want to show this side of herself.

It was not pride she considered particularly important, but as a woman, she did not want even that part of her pride to be pitied.

Everyone in the hall watched Kina’s retreating back as she left as though fleeing.

Beside her, today’s main figure, Raon, was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Bersha. As usual, some nobles looked at Kina standing alone with pity, some with satisfaction, and some with sly eyes.

And there was one man who followed after her. A man whose staggering steps and crooked grin were unpleasant.

“Duchess of Graize.”

Just as she was almost at the lounge on the second floor, he called out to Kina. His eyes unfocused, the man leaned slightly against the railing. He was clearly drunk. Kina reflexively stepped back about two paces away from him.

“Where are you going?”

As if amused by her reaction, the man strode toward her. Kina retreated as well, but compared to his unrestrained steps, it was far too little. Had Kina not stretched out her hand to stop his movement, he surely would have come close enough for their noses to touch.

“There is no reason for me to tell someone so drunk he has forgotten his manners. Go back.”

The man’s behavior was threatening enough. Kina’s heart was pounding violently in fear, but she hid it and acted composed. At times like this, she had to keep her wits about her.

“Ah, then I suppose I should go back.”

As if he were about to turn around, the man lifted both hands in a defensive gesture.

“Did you expect that?”

The man bared his teeth in a crooked grin, looking as if he had lost his mind. Fear prickled across Kina’s skin. It was a different kind of warning from before. Her eyes, fixed on the man before her, shook mercilessly.

“Aren’t you alone too, Duchess?”

The man suddenly grabbed Kina’s wrist, flung open the lounge door, and stepped inside. If only there were anyone at all inside. But to her dismay, there was no one.

“Let go of me.”

Unable to match the man’s strength, Kina had no choice but to stagger along after him, though she tried her utmost to resist. Her heart beat faster, and her hand trembled faintly in fear, but she could not give up. The man shoved Kina so hard that it was almost like throwing her onto the sofa.

But Kina got up faster than the man could approach the sofa. Though she had struck the sofa, leaving the hairstyle she had carefully arranged disheveled and her dress wrinkled, she had no time to care. To keep distance from him, she stood upright with the table between them and looked at the man.

“If you cross the line any further, it will be hard for you to handle.”

When she spoke in the low tone she used when scolding children at the poorhouse, the man hesitated for a moment. But it truly was only a moment.

“Let’s just enjoy ourselves, thinking of it as a substitute for the husband who won’t even stay by your side on a day like this.”

He snickered as he added that she must have been lonely until now.

“Enjoy ourselves? With you?”

Kina deliberately lifted one corner of her mouth in a mocking smile.

“At the very least, shouldn’t you resemble my husband even a little before calling yourself a substitute?”

“What?”

Perhaps that pricked the man’s pride, because his face instantly hardened. Kina could see the look in his eyes change in a flash. Just as he lifted his foot to step over the table—

“That’s far enough.”

A voice stopped the man’s action.

“If you go any further, it’ll be hard for me to keep my hands to myself.”

Seorin spun a short dagger in his hand. It was more effective than merely trying to stop him with words.

“So does being a Knight like the husband make it enough? Your tastes really are consistent!”

But the drunk man let out a short snort as he looked at the uniform with its medal pinned to it.

“If you go any further.”

At that instant, the dagger flew and grazed the back of the man’s head. When the man froze stiff and looked back at Seorin, the smile had already disappeared from Seorin’s lips.

“I said it would be difficult.”

At the stark contrast coming from that infinitely gentle face, the man flinched.