Nate had a deep fear of dark spaces with no light at all, a trauma rooted in something from her childhood. So even when she slept, she always kept a candle burning. She knew the servants were going out of their way to manage that, but she simply could not get better.

In the marriage market, trauma could be a fatal weakness for a noble young lady, so she kept it hidden as best she could. But there was once a social party where a strong draft blew the hall doors open and snuffed out every candle in the banquet hall at once. In an instant, the room plunged into thick darkness.

‘Are you all right, Miss O’Hara?’

The one who found her in the middle of a panic attack and helped her, surrounded by all those nobles, was Damon.

Up until that day, Nate had not the slightest interest in Damon. She thought someone with his freewheeling nature was not suited for her at all. It was honestly a little surprising that he even knew her name, given how little presence she had. Up to that point, she and Damon were no more than acquaintances who exchanged greetings.

‘Shall we go somewhere less crowded? You can lean on me. Breathe out slowly.’

‘Don’t worry, Miss O’Hara. I won’t tell anyone what happened today. I think I’m the only one who saw.’

So… why did it have to be you?

Nate always wondered. The banquet hall was pitch dark that night, and there were plenty of other nobles around. No one noticed Nate sitting on the floor, struggling to breathe.

So how on earth did you find me?

That was what made Nate fall for Damon. If he never found her that day, if she never received his help… she thought she probably would not have gone on loving him for so long.

Though, would that really have been true? Nate was not so sure. Because she later learned that Damon was a victim of the same kidnapping she once experienced.

Her trauma came from being caught up in a noble child kidnapping carried out by a lower-class criminal organization when she was young.

When she found out that the boy taken alongside her was Damon, she began to carry a vague, formless fantasy that perhaps his readiness to help her without hesitation was something fated, something that could not have been otherwise.

“…Right. It was all a fantasy.”

Nate murmured softly as she looked out the carriage window.

Only after five stubborn years of one-sided love did she understand. Everything was a false fantasy she built inside her own head. Perhaps for Damon, the memory of that day was already so faded it barely came to mind anymore. Unlike Nate, who always wanted to meet again the boy who went through that ordeal with her.

“Miss O’Hara, I think we’ve arrived.”

The carriage slowed to a stop. Wendy looked out the window, confirmed the imperial palace building, and spoke. Nate gave a slow nod.

Shortly after, the carriage came to a full stop and the coachman opened the door. Wendy stepped out first, and Nate followed carefully.

“Miss O’Hara.”

Nate was looking up at the grand imperial palace building when Roderick Lovitz, who was nearby, greeted her and came over. Nate smiled gently.

“You’re already here, Young Lord Lovitz.”

“Yes. My sister went inside the banquet hall ahead of us.”

He added the mention of Lilia naturally, then extended his hand. Nate hesitated briefly, then carefully took Roderick’s hand. He led her inside the building without any awkwardness.

Walking alongside Roderick, Nate felt quietly nervous. This party was hosted by the imperial family, which meant most of the upper nobility would almost certainly be in attendance. That meant Damon would naturally be there too.

‘He was seen off by Miss McCoy yesterday. So will his partner tonight be Miss McCoy? Or someone else?’

The reason she was curious about his partner was that she herself was attending with one tonight.

Nate never once attended a party with a partner before. Not only that. Even when other young lords asked her to dance, she always declined on purpose. She worried Damon might get the wrong idea.

Looking back now, it seemed almost laughable. He never cared who she danced with or who she brought as a partner.

Nate pushed the thoughts of Damon that settled so naturally in her mind and forced them out.

Stepping into the banquet hall with Roderick, she saw that a great many nobles were already present. For this imperial-hosted party, parents entered first to showcase their children, and the children themselves were to arrive a little later.

Damon was not yet visible, either not arrived or not yet in sight. Lilia spotted Roderick and Nate and came over.

“You two look wonderful together.”

There was a hint of teasing aimed at her younger brother Roderick beneath her amused tone. He stole a glance at Nate and said to Lilia.

“Sister, please don’t tease me. It’s embarrassing.”

“You’re enjoying it on the inside.”

Lilia said that, then turned and met Nate’s eyes.

“Please enjoy yourself, Miss O’Hara. And if Roderick bores you, feel free to spend time with me instead.”

“Thank you. Young Lord Lovitz has been very kind.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

Lilia answered lightly, then made a suggestion to Nate.

“Since you two came as partners, why not call each other by name? You can do the same with me.”

Nate’s eyes went wide, clearly not expecting that. Roderick seized the opening and slipped in a word.

“I was actually going to ask you the same thing, Miss O’Hara. Since we came as partners, I thought perhaps we could use first names…… Of course, if it makes you uncomfortable, there’s no need.”

The tips of his ears were red. Watching Roderick like that, Nate was reminded of herself, loving Damon alone all that time.

“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable.”

So she accepted Roderick’s request. Using first names was not really such a difficult thing.

Roderick’s face, which carried a thread of tension, brightened at her answer.

“Then would you call me by name right now?”

“Oh……”

“Say my name, Nate.”

The shy expression was nowhere to be found as Roderick pressed her persistently. He was already calling her by name without any hesitation. Lilia glanced between the two of them and quietly stepped aside.

“Go ahead, say it.”

Roderick urged Nate once more.

Up until a moment ago, Nate felt nothing particular about using first names. But watching Roderick’s persistence, she felt a strange, inexplicable resistance rise in her.

While she hesitated, the atmosphere in the banquet hall stirred. She turned her head and saw Damon, who looked to have just walked in.

He was, as always, the center of everyone’s attention. The moment Damon entered the banquet hall, nobles naturally gravitated toward him and struck up conversation.

And tonight, too, Damon had a partner.

‘It isn’t Miss McCoy……’

The young lady he brought as his partner was not McCoy but someone from a different house.

Nate felt no hurt now. It was practically a given that there would be a woman at Damon’s side.

Damon swept an indifferent gaze over the nobles approaching him, then looked around the banquet hall as though searching for someone. His eyes moved across every corner of the wide hall, and the last place they stopped was none other than where Nate stood.