“That Roso gets completely unhinged when he’s drunk. He’s also gay. Do not get close to him. Understood?”

The laugh that tickled her ear and the coaxing tone made Riley hunch her shoulders, but she nodded.

And just like that, Riley found herself swept into the ranks of the Daily Minerve almost without realizing it.

But the ways she was going to be put to use did not end there.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

“Where to?”

“A ball.”

A social gathering at Edwin’s family home, and apparently she was expected to attend tonight.

“Why do I need to go? Are you short on hands?”

Being made to work for a secret newspaper was one thing, but now she had to tag along to aristocratic social gatherings too?

Riley tilted her head in bewilderment, and Andrea smiled faintly at the sight.

Eyes still curved with amusement, he needled her again.

“Didn’t you say you’d spend your whole life making up for selling my n*de likeness? You spread the physical secrets of a man who hasn’t even been married yet to the entire capital.”

His offhand, matter-of-fact jab sent Riley scrambling for a rebuttal.

“S, still…… it probably didn’t reach the social circles. How many noble ladies and young misses would have gone out of their way to get hold of that kind of lowbrow serial……”

“I wonder. Lately, wherever I go, the young ladies who see me turn bright red. Why do you suppose that is? And the way the noble ladies look at me.”

This was not a joke.

Andrea had been experiencing it with increasing frequency, those sticky, suggestive gazes from noble ladies that would linger somewhere below his face before traveling upward.

His brow creased with distaste, and Riley, with nothing left to say, answered quickly.

“I’ll go.”

Andrea tapped her cheek twice as if to say good thinking, then gave a signal, and the chief chamberlain appeared promptly with a fine suit.

Not palace livery, but a gentleman’s evening wear. Andrea pressed it into Riley’s arms and curved his eyes with easy amusement.

“Go change and come back.”

In the end, with pomade worked through her hair and swept neatly back from her forehead, Riley arrived at the lively evening party on Andrea’s arm.

Edwin came out to receive them, playing the role of host.

“Oh, Raul. Looking sharp.”

He flicked the lavender bow tie she was wearing and slung a friendly arm around her shoulder, guiding Riley into the ballroom.

“Is this Raul’s social debut? Well, if you’re part of our Minerve now, you have to go through the initiation. By the way, how should I introduce you to the ladies? An artist? No, that might be a bit too on the nose. A debut writer might be a better cover.”

But the arm Edwin had draped around Riley was promptly seized by Andrea, cutting the cheerful welcome short.

“I didn’t bring him here for your entertainment.”

“Come on, it’s not like Raul is a child. Stop hovering. Right, Raul?”

Edwin had already noticed how protectively Andrea treated his attendant, but seeing it extend even to a place like this left him baffled.

Riley, for her own reasons, felt a different kind of unease.

‘If not for their entertainment, then what exactly is he planning to use me for?’

The moment she stepped into the wide ballroom, though, her mood lifted at once.

Chandeliers blazing with hundreds of prisms, nobles in brilliant dress, tables laden with beautiful desserts, an orchestra playing bright chamber music.

Riley’s eyes, always drawn to beautiful and elegant things, were in for a treat tonight.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Being with Andrea meant a constant stream of people approaching to pay their respects, passing by, and being replaced by new arrivals.

They seemed curious about the unfamiliar figure at the crown prince’s side, and they kept catching Riley’s eye, clearly hoping to be introduced.

Each time, Andrea gave the same unhurried introduction.

“This is a writer friend of mine.”

The offhand introduction seemed to spark more curiosity rather than less, and more eyes turned toward Riley as a result.

This was her first time attending a gathering like this as a guest rather than a servant, and she felt thoroughly disoriented. She stood holding a glass of chilled white wine, not knowing what to do with herself, and Andrea quietly took her hand and steered her toward a quieter corner.

“You’re already flushed from that one glass? Your cheeks are red. Get tipsy here and the ladies will whisk you away before you know it.”

Whether he was joking or not was unclear, but Andrea took the glass from her hand and replaced it with a dacquoise, pressing it to her lips.

“Sweets for you.”

The comment deflated the moment entirely, and Riley twitched an eyebrow even as she bit into the sweet thing now in her mouth.

“I am not a child. Who was it that insisted on throwing me a coming-of-age ceremony last year?”

Andrea smiled lazily at the retort and kept pressing small sweet things into her mouth, truffles and the like.

The crown prince had retreated to a quiet corner, not dancing, and was feeding something to a delicate-looking young literary man. The scattered gazes in the room began drifting back toward the two of them.

“Oh my, could it be that His Highness——”

“Goodness, I thought as much.”

“Thought as much? What do you mean?”

“The scandals surrounding the crown prince have never had any real substance to them.”

“True. They came and went quickly, none of them lasting. But to think the truth was this……”

No one was using explicit words, but watching how the crown prince behaved toward his companion, the looks he gave, the conclusion was singular.

The crown prince is in love with that pretty young man……!

Riley, alone in her embarrassment under all those staring, curious eyes, cleared her throat and brushed the cookie crumbs from around her mouth.

“Um…… you said there was something I needed to do here…… Could you tell me what it is now?”

Andrea, who had been pressed right up against her side feeding her green grapes without any regard for the watching crowd, leaned in and murmured into her ear.

“Something to do? Ah, here she comes.”

Following his gaze, Riley spotted a young woman in a silver dress making her way across the ballroom floor.

The lady had a presence that was both brilliant and delicate, and she seemed well aware of her own appeal, offering gracious smiles to the gentlemen who approached her.

But her eyes, when they returned forward, landed unmistakably on Andrea.

“Oh, she’s beautiful.”

The sight of what seemed like a fairy walking toward her made Riley murmur without thinking.

She was the most beautiful young lady Riley had ever seen.

Andrea caught Riley’s dazed expression and needled her.

“Beautiful?”

“Yes, I don’t know who she is, but she’s truly stunning.”

Andrea frowned slightly at Riley’s entranced look, then added,

“When she gets here, take a good look at her face. That’s your job.”

“Pardon? Her face?”

“That’s right.”

Before Riley could make sense of it, the young lady had arrived before them.

She spoke first.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Dipping into a graceful curtsy, she was even more breathtaking up close, like something descended from another world entirely.

Skin like white porcelain, shining blue eyes, hair tumbling in soft waves.

The way she lifted those lowered lashes carried a quality that was somehow sensual.

‘Wow……’

Unlike Riley, who had completely lost her composure, Andrea was as polished as ever.

“Lady Talbot. Only three days since we last met at Madame Cuisine’s salon.”

“I was surprised not to see you at last night’s masquerade, Your Highness. Have you been busy lately? I looked for you for quite some time. I was wearing a white heron flame mask, and I was sorry you didn’t get to see it. Everyone said it suited me beautifully.”

Riley was startled by the lady’s rather forward manner, but Andrea wore a faint, cool smile and answered with easy composure.

“I do have rather a lot to attend to, for someone who can’t afford to chase after parties every night.”

The reply carried the unmistakable implication of ‘do you think I have as much free time as you?’, and Riley’s eyes went wide as she looked between the two of them.

Lady Talbot, apparently, had not caught it, and was nodding along pleasantly.

A lady of such beauty showing just a hint of obliviousness, and His Highness needling her right up to the edge of what she could understand!

But she was supposed to be taking a good look at this lady. What on earth was he planning to have her do?

In the meantime, Andrea introduced Riley to Lady Talbot.

“This is Raul, an artist friend of mine.”

“Oh! Are you a painter? Or a court poet?”

Andrea glanced at the tilting-headed Lady Talbot and offered a deliberately courteous introduction.