Terriard, who had been waiting for Ellen to come down, hurriedly approached her.

“Ellen.”

He leaned close to her ear and whispered softly.

“Marquis Avalanche just entered earlier. Seems like he wants to stay quietly and then leave.”

When she looked in the direction he indicated with a nod, she could see Marquis Avalanche sitting in a corner far away.

“I see. But he must have been shocked seeing the state I’m in.”

“He might just drop off his donation and run away. I would one hundred percent do that if I were him.”

“Let’s go see him anyway.”

They quickly attempted to approach the marquis before he could take any other action.

To make their approach look natural, they grabbed another drink along the way and casually moved closer until they reached an appropriate distance, then Ellen approached him.

“It’s been a while, Marquis Avalanche.”

The marquis, who had been quietly sipping his drink in the corner, looked at them with a blank expression when someone boldly addressed him.

“Sir Cheshire? It’s been a while. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I certainly wasn’t invited by the host. I’m attending as Ellen’s partner.”

As Terriard turned his head to introduce Ellen, she bowed politely.

“Hello. I’m Ellen of House Crient.”

“Ronald Avalanche. You and I… are practically meeting for the first time.”

“Oh, is that so? I’ve heard so much about your niece from my brother that I didn’t even think of this as a first meeting.”

“Niece?”

“I’m talking about Lady Sorbon.”

At the mention of May Sorbon, the marquis’s cold expression momentarily melted away.

“Ah, you know May?”

“Yes. They seem quite close, my brother mentioned they even exercise together in the mornings.”

“So the friend May recently mentioned becoming close with was the young Crient. Her name wasn’t written in the letter, so I didn’t know.”

The softened eyes, cheekbones, and slightly upturned corners of his mouth were completely different from when they first greeted him.

“These days she seems to have learned from your lady and has become quite mature, which is a relief. I was at a loss as her sister because she kept getting into trouble.”

When Ellen spoke with a smile, the marquis laughed heartily and said with a pleased expression:

“From what I hear from May, she seems like quite a good friend. I understand your concern, but it’s also important to trust children of that age to handle things themselves.”

Then Terriard, who had been listening beside them, chimed in:

“See, Ellen? It’s good to let them figure things out on their own sometimes.”

“And have them cause major incidents like Ted?”

“Oh, Ellen. That’s……”

As Terriard, who had been notorious for causing trouble during his academy days, broke into a sweat, the marquis who was watching them laughed heartily and said:

“That’s how they learn at that age. Isn’t it part of the process to experience trial and error and gain understanding?”

“I suppose so. Though I’d prefer if they could realize things before crashing into something.”

When Ellen spoke with a concerned tone, the marquis patted her shoulder.

“The children will manage well enough. We might meet again regarding the children’s affairs. Please give my regards to the young Crient as well.”

“Of course. I’ll also send your regards to Lady Sorbon.”

The marquis would likely severely reproach his way of thinking in the future.

The scale of accidents that could occur among children was far greater than he imagined.

He seemed to believe an adult’s role was to stand firmly behind children, allowing them to resolve issues themselves until they asked for help, but he hadn’t been given that time.

“So the two main figures of today are both here.”

Turning around at the sudden voice, she saw the familiar silver hair.

“Your Highness?”

“Why are the main characters hiding in a corner like this?”

‘Prince Crescent…!’

Ellen was slightly taken aback.

She had anticipated Tria’s approach, but she hadn’t expected the prince to appear so boldly.

‘Even the duchess deliberately mentioned the relief work. It seems the stimulation was too excessive……’

“It’s been a while, Your Highness. I didn’t know you would be attending.”

“I thought this would be a suitable place for the marquis to attend. So I promptly followed.”

“How could you say such things about someone like me?”

At Crescent’s nonchalant words, Avalanche shook his head as if it were absurd.

“It’s not like I came to a place I shouldn’t be. If you look at me as though you’ve seen a ghost, even I would feel hurt.”

Crescent maintained a relaxed smile as he responded to the marquis’s greeting.

“Well, truthfully, it would have been too far to come just to see the marquis.”

He subtly shifted his target and approached Ellen.

“I heard Lady Crient would be here.”

He took her hand and said:

“I’ve never met anyone like you before. This is the first time I’m greeting you like this, isn’t it?”

Touch.

His lips briefly touched the back of her hand.

Seeing this, Terriard tensed with wariness, but Ellen squeezed his hand that was holding her back.

“Yes. I’m honored to meet you, Your Highness. I am Ellen, the eldest daughter of House Crient. And this is—”

“I already know that. I came to see you, I said. I was curious about you.”

The prince cut her off midway, as if he didn’t need to hear about her partner.

“……The divorcée title is certainly rare.”

“Ellen.”

Terriard, who had stiffened at the prince’s blatant disregard, placed his hand on Ellen’s shoulder and gently reprimanded her.

“Haha, you know that’s not what I meant.”

He seemed well aware of his handsome appearance as he flashed a light smile.

Even to her eyes, it was quite seductive—the kind of expression one would learn and use as a social skill.

“I thought I had met many people, but my experience was still limited. This is the first time I’ve met a strong person like you.”

“You flatter me.”

“I like people like you. I value them highly.”

He lowered his eyes slightly and took another step closer to Ellen.

“So, for instance…… do you enjoy falconry?”

“I’ve never been hunting before.”

“If you’re curious, let’s go falconing together next time. I occasionally go with Claudius.”

“Claudius?”

“The eldest son of House Baroque.”

“Ah.”

When Ellen looked at him with a soft exclamation, Claudius Baroque bowed his head to her.

“You’ll likely meet him if we go falconing together, so it would be good to become acquainted now.”

“I am Claudius Baroque.”

Unlike Terriard, who was dressed in evening attire for the party, Claudius was wearing the uniform of the knights’ order as he had accompanied the prince as his knight.

He extended his hand with a restrained movement befitting his uniform.

“I am Ellen Crient.”

A light kiss landed on the back of her hand, and he moved away from her with an expression that was difficult to discern as either restrained or stiff.

“As you can see, this fellow is a knight, so he’s stubbornly formal and rigid. I heard the lady runs a business? I wish Sir Baroque would learn some of those skills.”

“……Your Highness.”

Claudius called out to the prince with an embarrassed expression.

“Your Highness. But I’m not experienced, so I might be a burden……”

As Ellen tried to hedge her response, Claudius spoke up:

“There’s no need to worry about that. If you’re concerned, I can assist you, so please feel free to say so if you’d like to join us.”

“Ah….. Yes. Thank you, Sir.”

Ellen, who had deliberately given an ambiguous answer to avoid a firm commitment, found herself blocked by Claudius, whether he did it knowingly or not, and forced a smile.

‘Oh, I think I’ve gotten myself into something awkward.’

In truth, going falconing together wouldn’t have been a big issue.

In fact, the deeper she went, the easier it would be to obtain more intimate information.

‘But I came today to scout other nobles. I didn’t expect to get entangled with the prince right away……’

But then:

“I knew this would happen.”

A very familiar voice came from behind.

“You need to stop coveting what belongs to others, Crescent.”

Black hair that contrasted with the Second Prince before her.

Yet clear sapphire eyes that proved their blood relation.

Kaiden Istazio, the First Prince and Crown Prince, had appeared.

* * *

Whirl. Whirl.

The pen in Kaiden’s hand spun restlessly like a top.

Morris, Sir Coenheim, who was looking at it intently, said:

“Your Highness. You must complete the signatures by today.”

But Kaiden, lost in thought, murmured:

“I wonder if they’re alright?”

As he gave a half-hearted response with an irrelevant question, Morris briefly pondered how to handle this before saying:

“They should be fine. They’re both children of a count’s family, after all.”

“Yes. I suppose so……”

But he was still dying of worry—what should he do?

Realizing that he wasn’t concentrating on his work at all after Morris’s comment, Kaiden closed the document he had been looking at, thinking, ‘How am I supposed to concentrate?’

“All the nobles will be favorable. So there won’t be any major threats…… Don’t you think so too, Sir?”

“Yes. After all, they’re currently the best prospects on the market.”

“Market?”

“Whether in politics or marriage, I mean.”

Kaiden bristled at this and said:

“I’ve already claimed both.”

“I know. But that’s how it appears externally, isn’t it?”

“Damn it.”

Is it not possible to simply declare that they have the Crown Prince’s favor?

Kaiden felt his insides twisting with irritation as he pressed the innocent pen hard against the paper.