In an instant, he pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers.

His lingering kiss conveyed a deep possessiveness.

“Are you, haah, deliberately doing this?”

“Mmm.”

“You always provoke me on days like this.”

It wasn’t always intentional.

There were just a few moments when she couldn’t help but provoke him.

He looked like he wanted to turn the carriage around and return to the mansion right away, but barely held back. There was no choice, as this wasn’t the time or place.

“Three days won’t be nearly enough.”

“…What?”

“I think I’ll need at least a week.”

Only after leaving such a tremendous(?) promise did he finally stand up.

“Prepare yourself, Saya.”

“……”

They tidied their appearance and exited the carriage.

Before getting out, they put on masks and donned large hoods. These were full-body hoods they had brought to hide their outfits underneath.

‘…Hm?’

But what was this?

As soon as they stepped out of the carriage, they felt gazes sticking to them.

Actually, they had considered secretly entering through the regular carriage line because of this, but realized it would be the same since security checks were required at the main gate.

They couldn’t have avoided the watchers no matter how they came.

They decided it would be better to shake off the gazes inside after entering comfortably, and their prediction proved correct.

“In any situation, safety comes first. Don’t overdo it.”

“Yes. You too.”

Leaving words of caution to each other in quiet voices, Saena and Constantine separated.

Each for their own role.

* * *

“—Yuri.”

As soon as she separated from Constantine, Saena called Yuri’s name.

Not Yolly, but human-form Yuri.

— Saya.

As several groups who had disembarked from carriages formed a crowd, Saena called forth Yuri while pushing through them. Thanks to this, at a glance, it would look like someone from the crowd had attached themselves to Saena.

Yuri planned to act as her partner, blocking unnecessary men who might try to cling to her while also serving as her advisor.

Even in human form, if one looked carefully at Yuri they would notice something oddly peculiar about him, but given the venue, people would assume it was due to his costume. While masquerade balls were usually detestable, they had their advantages.

— So what do we do now?

“First…”

Saena looked around.

“We need to move.”

They needed to move to shake off the eyes that had attached themselves.

Pushing through several crowds and shaking off some watching eyes, Saena moved to the outskirts. Walking along the wall of the building where the banquet was being held, as soon as they turned a corner, she lifted into the air. Of course, it was Yuri’s power.

Entering through the second-floor terrace, all the eyes that had initially attached themselves fell away. They could sense the commotion below the terrace as people searched in confusion for her sudden disappearance.

“Well, we’re in. Now it’s time to meet the person we promised.”

Saena quietly moved, taking slow steps to avoid drawing attention.

* * *

Everything went smoothly.

Elizabeth smiled while gently swirling the champagne glass between her fingers. Seeing things progress according to plan made her want to drain this glass in celebration right away.

‘But not yet…’

No, not yet. The time hadn’t come.

Even without that consideration, only fools drink carelessly at night parties.

Elizabeth herself was already planning to tamper with drinks.

She smiled more deeply while glancing at the small vial in her other hand.

‘With this… Duke Aberdeen…’

Today would be the day the noble ducal siblings fall into the imperial family’s hands.

The thought was so thrilling that Elizabeth had to control her expression to avoid showing too much pleasure.

‘Oh, good.’

The protagonist appeared as reported.

Seeing the pink hair swaying in the distance made her feel even better.

Tonight, Elizabeth didn’t mind at all not being the protagonist herself.

That protagonist was merely a character on the stage she had designed.

‘Play your role well.’

The script for today’s stage went like this:

Floria attends the masquerade ball and enjoys herself until she becomes drunk. She looks for a restroom to take a break, but due to her dizziness, she finds the wrong room.

Of all places, she stumbles into the room where the Prince is resting!

Not only that, but perhaps due to the alcohol, she seduces the Prince, who has also had quite a bit to drink, and they end up doing the deed.

They were so caught up in the moment that they didn’t even think about protection.

She might end up pregnant as a result of their passionate night. Then the ducal lady would take on the noble role of carrying on the great empire’s lineage.

That was the ending.

‘I hope it’s a happy ending.’

Wouldn’t it be good for both the protagonists and the audience?

With such pleasant thoughts, Elizabeth surveyed the opposite side.

‘Now, let’s see how our protagonist is doing?’

At the scene she happened to witness, Elizabeth inwardly rejoiced.

‘—Oh? She drank it!’

She had received reports that Floria headed to the ladies’ room right after getting out of her carriage. It was common for ladies to visit the powder room first to check their appearance before entering the hall.

That must have been what Floria did too, as after some time she emerged and entered the banquet hall. She had already stepped onto Elizabeth’s stage.

After receiving the report and looking for Floria, Elizabeth was initially taken aback.

Instead of the common half-mask that only covered the eyes, she wore an unusual full mask that covered her entire face except for the mouth.

However, seeing the small horn attached to the forehead of the mask and her all-white attire, she realized it was a specially made mask to embody Erenhorn.

Even with her face covered, combined with her trademark pink hair, she was unmistakably the ducal lady of Aberdeen. Looking at the concept, Elizabeth thought she must have great pride in being from a Guardian Spirit family.

‘Even without seeing her face, that outfit makes it obvious who she is.’

After some time passed, she called over a server who had been serving on the opposite side to learn about Floria’s drink preferences.

‘She had champagne.’

‘Oh, champagne?’

The same as champagne.

As expected, was this a day worth toasting to?

Elizabeth smiled at the pleasant sign and sent the server with a somewhat special champagne.

Floria set down her empty glass and took the new one from the server who approached naturally. And finally, Elizabeth saw her drink it.

‘Done, it’s done.’

The successful finale of the stage felt much closer.

Elizabeth ordered her servants to keep track of Lady Aberdeen who would surely leave the hall soon, thinking she should inform the Prince.

‘Then Act 2 will begin.’

Act 2 wasn’t a comedy but a tragedy.

A tragedy where the pitiful Hebeta suffers a terrible deed from a man who isn’t the Prince.

At this wild night party, having consumed something, Duke Aberdeen wasn’t in a good state. The Duke, who had merely approached the Hebeta to greet her, forcefully pins her down and takes his fill of desire.

Though she tried hard to resist, unable to allow her body as Hebeta to be taken by a man other than the Prince, she couldn’t overcome the strength of an adult male (and a knight at that).

Hebeta wept sadly after spending a brutal night with the Duke who had lost his reason, even ending up with an unwanted pregnancy.

As a result, she was removed from the position of Hebeta, and due to the child in her womb, she had no choice but to marry the man who had forcibly violated her—such a sad story.

“…Lady Hebeta!”

Just as Elizabeth was absorbed in the aftermath of the tragedy about to unfold,

A servant approached with an urgent expression.

“What is it?”

The servant came close to her and whispered a report.

“What? Duke Aberdeen?”

Just when things seemed to be going smoothly, well.

It was unexpected news.

“The Duke with a certain lady…”

Of course, watching eyes had been placed on Duke Aberdeen’s side as well.

The urgent report came that the Duke had left the hall with some lady and was heading toward the second floor. Since the second floor was typically where couples who met at night parties went to spend the night, he had clearly already found a woman to spend the night with.

It was exasperating.

Act 2 had already begun before Act 1 even finished. All because of the willful actions of Duke Aberdeen, who was supposed to be a character in Act 2.

Although there had never been any actual agreement between Elizabeth and the Duke, perhaps because she had assigned the roles herself and become immersed in it, she felt betrayed all on her own.

‘They say he gets along well with women, but he sure moves fast.’

Duke Aberdeen seemed to have quite a way with women given how much he was talked about by many ladies, yet strangely had almost no women speaking ill of him.

Did he have many affairs, or didn’t he?

‘Ha… d*mn playboy.’

But once things turned out this way, she immediately labeled him a playboy.

She was already going to give him an unforgettable night, yet he couldn’t even wait and acted like this—it was infuriating.

“What should we do?”

“Wait…”

Let’s think.

While Lady Floria’s situation was important, Duke Aberdeen’s was important too. No, for Elizabeth’s own safety, the latter was far more important.

However, she couldn’t be careless with the ducal lady either.

Not only because of the Prince’s rage if things went wrong, but also because of the connection between the two incidents. The ducal lady had to be delivered to the Prince without fail.

‘What should I do? Which first…’

But perhaps because her mind was racing, she couldn’t think of a solution.

‘Floria will start showing reactions soon…’

There wasn’t much time.

Huff, there’s no choice.

Since there seemed to be no way to prevent the Duke from entering a bedroom, rather…

“There’s no other way. Guide Duke Aberdeen and that woman into ‘that room.'”

“Now?”

“Yes. I wasn’t planning to use it like this, but there’s no choice.”

‘That room’ was a room Elizabeth had set up in advance to use herself when things ripened appropriately.

Though she didn’t want to enter a room already used by others, given the situation, she would have to accept it.

The various items set up in the room would be used by them first, but that was better than losing the Duke. Thanks to her, Duke Aberdeen and the unknown lady would spend a completely insane night.

“The room next door? Everything alright?”

“Yes. All quiet and normal.”

Actually, ‘that room’ was one of a pair of twin rooms, and was the left room.

The two rooms had identical mirrored layouts with a connecting door between them.

And though the servants didn’t know, the right room was for the Princess.

She couldn’t do anything about the Princess’s side, so the Prince was supposed to handle it directly by summoning her. The Prince was supposed to put the Princess to sleep in the right room, but she wasn’t sure if that had been completed yet since the timing was earlier than planned.

The original plan was to lure Duke Aberdeen into the left room somewhat later (after dealing with the Princess first).

The setup was that the drunk Duke would enter the right room through the connecting door and, unable to control his rising desires, would do terrible things to the sleeping Princess.

But things were meant to unfold quite differently in reality.

Elizabeth planned to take the Princess’s place herself. That was her true purpose in suggesting this to the Prince in the first place.

Of course, she wouldn’t tell the Prince that when reporting.

‘I successfully lured in the Duke, but because the drug’s effects on Duke Aberdeen kicked in faster than expected, he assaulted me when I came to check the situation and couldn’t escape in time.’

That would probably be her report.

The Prince would be dumbfounded or perhaps enraged, but what could be done about events that had already unfolded this way?

The Prince would be guilty of assaulting the ducal lady, and the Duke would be guilty of assaulting the Hebeta, so neither side would have anything to say.

Therefore, she absolutely had to remain the victim. That was most important.

‘That’s how to stay safe.’

Moreover, if she happened to become pregnant with the Duke’s child through this night…

Elizabeth would be able to successfully escape the Prince and become a Duchess.

‘I’ll have to create a child even if there isn’t one. At this point.’

It was a three-birds-with-one-stone strategy.

She absolutely had to succeed.

Elizabeth steeled her resolve once again. But right now, there was a more urgent matter to handle.

“Which way did the ducal lady go?”

“She appeared to be heading toward the rest area.”

After all, Act 1 needed to finish first for Act 2 to proceed smoothly.

Hoping that unlike her brother, the ducal lady would play her role well without causing trouble, Elizabeth hurried her steps.