“Miss Sharofe, I’m sorry to say this, but your basics are really a complete mess. I didn’t know you couldn’t even match the simplest 3/4 time.”

Madam Madison, who had made me waltz to gauge my skill level, held her forehead.

I don’t want to be like this either, but what can I do when my body and legs don’t follow my heart…….

The madam who had been sighing deeply at me looked at Carl surprisingly gently.

“On the other hand, this knight here has surprisingly solid basics. You must have learned noble dancing at some point?”

I was shocked when Carl received praise contrary to my expectations. Am I really that bad at dancing……?

Carl glanced at me and shrugged his shoulders as he answered.

“Just roughly by eye.”

“You must naturally use your body well. That’s fortunate at least. At least one of you two has talent.”

Madam Madison looked at me with momentarily hopeless eyes, then spoke with determination.

“Let’s start again.”

After that, a Spartan-style teaching continued. The madam scolded me fiercely whenever I swayed even slightly.

“Miss Sharofe, you’re too stiff right now! It’s like a log is dancing!”

“You mustn’t miss the beat. It could mess up your partner’s steps too!”

“Left foot forward! Right foot to the side! And bring your left foot together!”

Thanks to that, I was completely exhausted by the end of the lesson.

Madam Madison packed her bag like a sword and spoke solemnly as she left.

“I’ll see you at this time tomorrow.”

“Yes, go safely.”

I barely saw her off and collapsed on the sofa.

Carl approached my bedside, crossed his arms and said.

“You dance terribly.”

“……Hearing that from you somehow hurts my pride.”

“Why.”

“It’s like I’ve become a miss who’s worse than a bondservant.”

He chuckled at my grumpy response, went to sit across from me and replied.

“It’s not like you’ve become one, you have become one.”

“……”

This annoying bondservant bastard.

“Tomorrow when we’re dancing, I’ll pretend to make a mistake and step on your foot.”

“Go ahead. The master is too light, so even if stepped on, it probably won’t hurt.”

“Hmph, I’ll eat a lot at lunch and get heavier.”

“Try it, let’s see how heavy you get.”

Ugh. It was a moment when I got more worked up by his completely unaffected reaction.

“Miss, you have a visitor.”

Paul knocked on the drawing room door and reported.

I quickly sat up and asked him who the visitor was.

“His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Gasp!”

The male lead came to see me?

“Carl, you can go back now.”

I hurriedly adjusted my clothes and freed the bondservant.

Then Carl frowned.

“The crown prince comes and you immediately dump me.”

“……If you say it like that, don’t I sound like a master who discriminates by status?”

“What else would you be.”

“More precisely, I discriminate between blond and non-blond people.”

More precisely, I discriminate between male leads and non-male leads.

Carl made a dissatisfied face but couldn’t retort, and eventually strode out of the drawing room.

The crown prince filled his empty spot.

He had recovered significantly from his injuries and had light bandages wrapped around his right arm.

“I greet Your Highness the Crown Prince. How is your arm these days?”

“Ah, it’s fine enough for daily life now. I’m scheduled to remove the bandages completely next week.”

“Oh my, that’s fortunate.”

The bandages that stimulated my guilt every time I saw them will finally disappear.

“By the way, what brings you here?”

“……”

The crown prince couldn’t answer immediately and played dumb while drinking tea.

Hmm, what’s this?

He surprisingly seemed to have no clear business, so I tilted my head with my hand on my cheek and probed.

“Did you perhaps miss me?”

“Pfft—”

The crown prince, who spat out half the tea he was drinking, quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

I offered him a handkerchief and opened my eyes as prettily as possible.

“Did you really come because you missed me?”

“……Rather than that, I came because I have a proposal for you, Miss.”

“Oh my, what is it?”

The crown prince, who took the handkerchief and cleaned his mouth, cleared his voice.

“I heard from Dain that you’re participating in the social queen selection.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Well… ahem. Since you helped me with my mother, I’d like to repay you by being your dance partner.”

I opened my eyes wide at the unexpected words.

This is crazy, the male lead just proposed to be my partner first?!

‘It would be a good opportunity to raise his favorability more……’

The problem was that my partner was already decided as the tower master.

This was determined by the mission, so I couldn’t change it.

“……I’m sorry, Your Highness. The tower master has already agreed to be my partner.”

I rejected the crown prince with difficulty, shedding tears of blood inwardly.

The crown prince, who seemed not to have expected this, narrowed his brow with a flustered face.

“The tower master……?”

“Yes.”

“……He’s someone who doesn’t attend parties well. His dancing skills would be lacking, would that be okay? The partner you need seems like someone like me.”

The crown prince subtly tried to persuade me. Actually, I agreed with his opinion too.

Thinking of when we danced together at Lady Celsior’s party, the experienced crown prince was perfect for the inexperienced me.

System window, please, can’t you change the mission conditions?

【No♥】

D*mn.

I bowed my head deeply to the crown prince with a dejected face.

“I’m sorry……”

“……If that’s Miss’s will, it can’t be helped. Then I’ll see you again later.”

The crown prince forced his stiff expression to relax, greeted me and left.

I watched his long retreating figure and cried out silently.

Waaaah, my blond male lead!

Of course, the tower master was also an excellent blond handsome man, but it was disappointing that he didn’t correspond to any of the three hints I’d received so far.

‘Since it’s come to this, I’ll run toward being queen like a crazy person.’

Wasn’t there an increase in male lead favorability in the mission success reward?

Plus it was a golden opportunity to learn a new male lead’s identity.

I burned my eyes fiercely and steeled my resolve.

***

A week passed.

Under Madam Madison’s education, I quickly mastered the waltz and built up my basics.

Though it was said to be next month, there were only about two weeks left until the queen selection.

“From now on, we’ll practice dancing to this year’s selection’s designated song ‘Dawn of Happiness.'”

“Yes.”

And Madam Madison, who had been pushing through the curriculum without breaks, got completely stuck at exactly this point.

After three days of practicing as the madam instructed, she raised both hands in surrender.

“Miss Sharofe……”

At the worry-filled call, I stammered for no reason, feeling guilty.

“Did, did I make another mistake?”

“It’s not that…… Miss seems to have no understanding of the song at all. You seem busy just following the dance moves.”

Madam Madison, who sighed deeply, grabbed my hands and said.

“Listen carefully. This song is a love song about lovers about to marry dancing joyfully in front of family and friends. You need to immerse yourself in this and dance for it to properly show its true value.”

“Ah……”

When I rolled my eyes with a difficult expression, the madam with a troubled look declared.

“I’ll suspend lessons until you understand the song.”

“What? Then what do I do?”

“If you dance thoughtlessly, the people watching will feel that too. So try to understand the song.”

Like the system window, Madam Madison left me with an incredibly difficult mission and departed heartlessly.

‘No, what am I supposed to do!’

Left behind, I suffered while pulling my hair.

Honestly, I’d never dated in my life, and I’d never dreamed of marriage.

I was busy just surviving.

How am I supposed to immerse myself in lovers about to marry?

‘Should I try to bring out my romantic cells as much as possible……?’

A large hand landed on my shoulder as I pondered seriously.

“Master, are you okay?”

I quickly raised my head and grabbed Carl’s arm.

“Bondservant, let’s go.”

“Where.”

“To awaken my romantic cells.”

“……?”

I dragged him along with his bewildered face.

The place I took Carl to was the capital’s largest bookstore.

There I bought every single romance book and returned.

“Here, we’re reading together.”

“Why me.”

“You’re my practice partner too, so you need to understand the song well.”

I ignored Carl’s handsome face rotting away and opened a book.

Cliché love stories of commoner girls and princes, tear-jerking tragic regret stories, giggling romantic comedies.

This world had quite diverse types of romance novels.

After reading them day and night for several days, my conclusion was—