People pitied Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth was feeling for the first time in her life as if she herself had become the protagonist.

“……Su?”

“Good heavens…… Lasha……? You were…… Princess Elizabeth?”

Tan too wondered if this was a dream. From the moment he entered the hall, he’d searched for Lasha enough to be somewhat noticeable, but couldn’t find her. Though there were too many people, he’d been confident he could find Lasha. He couldn’t fail to recognize her, who seemed to have a halo shining behind her.

So the appearance of what seemed like a halo behind the princess, who should be meeting him for the first time, was bewildering. And as the princess approached, those features also came to resemble the woman he’d desperately sought.

‘Phivoigne Palace where the Empire’s Third Princess lives…… the Third Princess’s deceased mother’s name was definitely…… Marchioness Lasha Buffon……!’

He’d thought it was a name he’d heard somewhere. He’d thought he’d memorized the imperial family’s genealogy without gaps, but to miss that!

Elizabeth also visibly looked flustered. Tan, who’d regained his senses a bit earlier, approached Elizabeth standing as if nailed and extended his hand.

“Will you grant me the honor of sharing the first dance together, Your Highness Princess Elizabeth?”

“Ah……! Of…… course.”

The two drew close in an instant and pressed their bodies together. While everyone breathed sighs of relief, the imperial palace orchestra hurriedly began playing a splendid waltz tune, and Tan and Elizabeth entrusted their bodies to the melody while looking at each other.

“I can dream a beautiful dream forever now.”

“I can’t believe it. That you were that person……”

“Even me getting lost in the garden that night must have been a divine revelation. Perhaps Marchioness Lasha Buffon, who loved you so much, guided me.”

“Perhaps…… that’s what happened.”

Elizabeth ultimately couldn’t hold back her tears. Because the passion she’d felt for the first time in her life was now firmly supporting her body, she could lean on that chest and shed tears secretly from others. The brief transgression she’d thought she must bury forever had brought down miracle-like light on her life.

Making the initial awkward appearance meaningless, everyone in the hall felt relieved yet somewhat puzzled watching the two who quickly embraced each other and danced beautifully. Though it should definitely be their first meeting, the two smiled happily and didn’t separate at all after that.

Ultimately, Vivian could meet Elizabeth and hear the whole story only two hours later.

“Is that really true?”

“Yes…… so really, you don’t need to worry about me, Vivian.”

“Good heavens……! Do such things actually happen in this world?”

At Vivian’s surprised expression, Elizabeth smiled brightly.

“Stuffy noble ladies might click their tongues if they heard. But…… this is truly different. I’m not afraid of anything now.”

Vivian could tell those words were sincere. Until the last time they’d met, sadness and anxiety had lingered in Elizabeth’s golden eyes, but now only brilliant joy could be found. No shadow was cast over her.

“I’m somehow envious. Love…… you say.”

Watching Vivian mutter blankly, Elizabeth also quickly became playful and asked.

“Have you never liked anyone until now, Vivian?”

“No. You know, Your Highness. That I’ve only clung to exam grades until now.”

“Puhut. Then…… have you never felt inexplicable heart-fluttering from a man, or seen someone in a new light at an unexpected side?”

Vivian suddenly hesitated.

“Oh my! There was? When was it? With whom?”

“Uh…… uh…… th-that’s…… no! It wasn’t like that. I just, why is this guy acting like this? I’ve thought that.”

“……Sir Luciel Evanhart?”

Elizabeth, who’d immediately realized who the other party was from the designation ‘this guy,’ opened her eyes wide and looked at Vivian. Vivian just found it amazing how Elizabeth had known.

However, Elizabeth’s curiosity couldn’t be properly satisfied. Because a maid came to fetch Elizabeth as the break time had ended.

“You must tell me later. You must!”

“I-I said it’s not like that!”

Vivian’s protest just became a lonely echo reverberating through the empty lounge.

Vivian left the lounge with complicated feelings because of Elizabeth and headed to the sparsely populated terrace, not confident about immediately entering the hall and facing Luciel.

‘Why did I think of that guy at that moment?’

The moment she’d heard Elizabeth’s question, he who’d saved her when she’d almost suffocated because of her corset came to mind. Because she’d felt different emotions toward Luciel than before at that time.

And what about when they’d met at Count Rowin’s party? As time passed, he was showing sides different from her past life and surprising Vivian.

Moreover, it was also unexpected that Luciel had moved while accepting tremendous losses to pressure Kartran. Though she’d resolved to marry into Kartran in Elizabeth’s place if necessary, not going was the better path if possible, and ultimately it was no different from everything working out well thanks to Luciel. Though she knew he hadn’t moved for her, she somehow felt as if she’d incurred a great debt.

‘After regressing, I somehow feel like I keep incurring debts to that guy Luciel. Haah…… I resolved to live without minding him, so why do I keep minding that guy at every turn?’

She could take pride that she’d lived busier and more fully than her past life after returning from death. She was definitely much happier than her past life, and felt certain an ending like her past life wouldn’t come.

But one thing that hadn’t changed from her past life was that whatever she did, she came to think of Luciel. Whether it became comparison, restraint, or some other thing, anyway, she always minded Luciel.

At first, she’d thought it was because of past life grudges she couldn’t forget even after regressing. But now it didn’t really seem like that either. She’d even suspected whether she was self-hypnotizing herself about grudges against him.

Recalling her past life, her spine still went cold and she broke into cold sweat enough to feel dizzy. Back then, she’d truly wanted to kill Luciel.

The cause of all misfortune, a demon who hated her for no reason, a mortal enemy…… thinking even such words couldn’t fully explain the ill-fated relationship between them, she’d hated with all her might.

‘Rather, back then my head was less complicated.’

Because she just had to hate.

But now she knew her past life self had also been immature and foolish. Though she still couldn’t forgive him from her past life, she also thought if she’d known what she’d realized now back then too, she wouldn’t have fallen into the abyss so absurdly.

However, one thing still curious was why on earth Luciel had hated her so much. From the day they’d first faced each other at the Academy, he hadn’t felt like someone she was meeting for the first time. Something like eyes that seemed to know her well.

Back then, since the competitive structure between him and her had already formed, she’d just passed it off thinking that guy must have heard rumors about me, but thinking about it again now, there were some strange aspects.

And the strange feeling continued in this life too. From when she’d declared she’d give up being his rival, he rather seemed to cling to her more, or though he acted like he was provoking people, she somehow seemed to keep incurring debts to him……

‘Didn’t he hate me?’

She’d been thinking this quite several times since some point. It was a hypothesis she wanted to deny because it seemed like excessive self-consciousness, but she couldn’t help it. Seeing that surrounding situations were changing much better now that she’d changed, she wondered if it might have been her problem rather than his.

“Miss Raine? What are you doing here?”

Vivian’s thoughts were abruptly cut off by a voice suddenly heard from behind.

“Your Highness Cain! Why are you here yourself, Your Highness?”

“I escaped for a moment. You try forcing a smile for over three hours. My face gets cramps.”

“Puhup!”

Indeed, Cain looked quite tired. Though he wasn’t one to show a disheveled appearance, he entered the terrace where Vivian was, half-closed the door, then plopped down on a chair placed on the terrace and appealed his fatigue with his whole body.

“Can I rest here for a moment?”

“You’re already doing so.”

“Thanks for giving permission, Miss Raine.”

Vivian giggled at Cain’s brazen appearance. Come to think of it, despite his position as a prince, Cain treated people around him without reserve.

This personality too must be tremendously helpful to the Crown Prince. She too would have first been suspicious and worried if the Crown Prince had directly invited her to the salon rather than Cain.

“Did you hear something from Elizabeth? Just before the banquet started she looked like she’d collapse any moment, but after seeing Kartran’s heir, whether she fell in love at first sight or what, she suddenly became lively. Even now the two are trapped in their own world. I was dumbfounded and asked what happened, and she told me to ask you?”

“Haah. I was organizing it in my head too because it seems like a story from another world. Until now I thought romance novel-like love stories were no different from fantasy, but I never thought it would happen around me.”