Vivian made a firm, spirited smile and picked up another glass of champagne.

Seeing others dance happily somehow burned inside, so she seemed to have drunk quite a lot. She realized this because of a strange sensation she’d never experienced in her life.

Each time she turned her head, her vision seemed to follow late, and her waist kept swaying outward. She seemed out of it and her legs seemed to have lost strength.

‘Am I…… drunk?’

As soon as that thought occurred, Vivian slyly rolled her unfocused eyes to find her parents first. If Selena caught her in this state, she’d be in trouble for the next week.

‘I need to get some air and come to my senses, this won’t do.’

Vivian headed to the imperial palace garden while pretending to be as normal as possible and moving carefully. The garden was vast, but remembering getting lost in the northern garden during the Grand Fête, this time she didn’t leave where the banquet hall’s light reached.

However, with senses dulled by alcohol, the garden was just as dim either way, so Vivian plopped down on a bench that happened to catch her eye without thinking about her surroundings at all. Perhaps the drunkenness rose more from relief at keeping a safe distance from her parents—despite the cool night breeze, she felt hotter and more out of it than before.

But even in her dazed state, she began hearing unusual sounds.

“Ah, the nickname ‘White Jade Young Lady’ isn’t for nothing—such soft, white skin.”

“Oh my…… if you do this here……”

“Why do you think they don’t light the garden during such banquets? Many couples besides us are already whispering love in this garden. So don’t be too shy.”

At first she thought some young lady was suffering misfortune, but seeing them rustle and giggle together, it seemed to be a mutually agreed-upon misfortune. Flustered by their strange noises, Vivian had to stagger and wander looking for a place without people.

However, as that man had said, throughout the garden were sounds of whispering love, exchanging secret conversations, rustling sounds she didn’t want to know what they were, and even panting breaths, so it wasn’t easy for Vivian to find a place to rest comfortably.

‘I’m dizzy…… I just want to sit and rest a bit……’

Now even her eyes were closing intermittently. As she walked staggering with half-closed eyes like that, someone suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled. Though it wasn’t a strong force, Vivian, who’d already lost control of her limbs, ended up falling into the pulled direction.

At first it seemed like heaven and earth had flipped, but as the dizzy feeling subsided, Vivian became aware she hadn’t fallen to the ground but was held in something strangely solid and warm.

As she kept feeling with her fingertips what she was held in, wondering what this was, a small ‘Hff!’ breath sound came from above her head. Vivian slowly raised her head and looked up.

“Vivian! What are you doing here?”

“Who……?”

“Miss Raine? Are you all right?”

“Who is it……?”

“It’s Luciel Evanhart.”

“Luciel?”

“……Yes.”

Normally she would have been flustered that he’d caught her in such a shameful state again, but now she strangely felt glad.

“Woow…… Luciel! Nice to meet you! By the way, to meet here…… what a coincidence! Coincidences of meeting Luciel…… seem quite frequent.”

Luciel stared blankly at Vivian greeting him with a beaming smile.

He’d been catching his breath in the garden, avoiding his mother who kept trying to match him with a young lady named Angela, and Angela who actively cooperated with such a mother. But when someone walked unsteadily toward where he was, he tensed and held his breath, only to find that face revealed in moonlight was too familiar.

But Vivian was extremely strange right now. First, she would never give him such a warm greeting. She wouldn’t feel his chest like that, wouldn’t call him by name only, and wouldn’t smile at him like that.

Then he realized a sweet alcohol smell came from Vivian. Come to think of it, Vivian’s pronunciation, which always spoke clearly, seemed subtly loose, and her speaking speed seemed considerably slower.

“Did you…… drink?”

“Yes! My mood was a bit…… gloomy…… so I drank some!”

Then Vivian laughed ‘Hheung, hheung’ again. Just looking at her expression, she seemed endlessly happy, but since Vivian had never been like this even once throughout her past and current life, Luciel tensed a bit.

“You seem to have drunk too much. Moreover, to come all the way here in such a drunken state. What if something had happened……!”

“Ow, nag!”

“……Pardon?”

Vivian covered both ears with her hands as if she didn’t want to hear and shook her head, then seemed dizzy and tapped her head on Luciel’s chest again.

‘……Is it not Vivian but me who’s drunk?’

Luciel couldn’t believe this scene at all and suspected whether he, having drunk one glass of champagne, was drunk and seeing illusions. A cute and lovely Vivian, Vivian nestling into him—if this was a dream, he didn’t want to wake.

“Vivian.”

“Mm, Luciel.”

At Vivian’s answer making nasal sounds like a child, Luciel was certain his heart had just burst. He definitely seemed to have heard a ‘pop’ sound. Yet he couldn’t understand why his chest was beating frighteningly.

“Why…… were you gloomy?”

“Mmm…… I, I…… won’t be loved.”

“……That can’t be.”

“Piii…… I know too. I’m…… I’m not pretty…… my personality is rough…… there’s nothing…… lovable about me……”

Luciel couldn’t gauge how to correct this huge misconception of Vivian’s. Not pretty? Rough personality? Nothing lovable? Whose daughter was she talking about? This person shining so brilliantly even in such a dark place!

“You’re pretty, Vivian.”

“Lies! Where am I pretty? I just…… look like a pink pig……”

At those words, Luciel raised his hand and fiddled with her wavy, soft brown hair.

“When I first saw you, I wanted to stroke this brown hair once. I thought it was abundant and beautiful hair.”

Then he gently swept Vivian’s soft cheek with the back of his fingers.

“Vivian’s cheeks are truly lovely. They always have a peach color……”

He couldn’t dare say he sometimes wanted to bite or lick them. But fortunately, Vivian didn’t seem to notice that rude fantasy.

“Moreover, such a straight nose is hard to find. You have truly pretty nose.”

“Heh……”

Vivian made a dazed sound while feeling his fingertips that had landed on her nose.

“And……”

Luciel’s gaze lingered on Vivian’s small, plump lips. They were truly pretty lips, but nothing came to mind about what to say. Somehow only a gulp of saliva went down his throat.

“……And?”

Vivian still urged his answer with drowsy eyes. Just then, sounds of someone approaching nearby were heard. Luciel panicked and hid deep in the garden trees while embracing Vivian.

“And what?”

But Vivian, not considering his panic at all, grabbed and shook his sleeve as if sulking while asking.

“Is someone there?”

One approaching person seemed to whisper to the person beside them.

If rumors spread that Vivian had been in his arms in a garden corner, all sorts of scandals would definitely follow Vivian. Before, he would have aimed for exactly that and not cared about being caught, but now he didn’t want to. However, at this rate, not his face but Vivian’s face would be directly exposed to that side.

“Vivian. I’m sorry.”

Luciel briefly apologized to Vivian first, then grasped her nape and brought his face close to hers, pretending to kiss.

From behind, they’d look exactly like two men and women having a passionate kiss. Since things worse than this were happening throughout this garden anyway, he hoped the approaching people would tactfully turn back.

As expected, a ‘Huk!’ sound seemed to come from behind. His silver hair was so famous that the people approaching from behind must have noticed Luciel’s identity too. They whispered something together, then disappeared far away.

However, even though their footsteps had grown distant, Luciel couldn’t move. Because Vivian’s lips were touching his lips.

“……”

He couldn’t even breathe.

To hide Vivian’s face, he’d placed his nose against hers. But when his face approaching her stopped at that distance, Vivian slightly frowned, then grasped his coat collar, stood on tiptoe, and pressed her lips firmly to his.

After pressing like that for a while, when there was no response from Luciel, Vivian seemed to think something was wrong even to herself, so she released her strength and separated her lips again.

“Is it…… not good?”

At that small question, Luciel found Vivian’s lips again and bit them without time to think anything else. His mind seemed to have oxidized white.

But even in the midst of that, Vivian’s appearance with eyes and lips tightly closed, fists clenched, and body rigid was so lovely. He wanted to reach deeply into her.

He gently pressed between Vivian’s two lips with the back of his index finger. Then the startled Vivian opened her eyes wide and opened her mouth.

“This is…… a dream. By tomorrow morning, you won’t even remember……”

Luciel smiled slightly, then gently invaded between her parted lips. Vivian’s tongue tasted of sweet champagne.

Just then, fireworks burst above the imperial palace roof to decorate the banquet’s end. However, the two who’d been bursting countless fireworks in their heads since earlier didn’t hear that sound.