No, the emperor should be busy working at the imperial palace, why would he suddenly attend a ball….

The news that the imperial family would attend the ball began to spread instantly.

The eyes of some who heard those words sparkled, while the eyes of others were filled with worry and concern.

And I was the latter.

I had planned to cause quite a commotion at this ball, but unexpectedly high-ranking people decided to attend.

I had various connections with the emperor and crown prince, so that was fine, but… the problem was the empress.

I had never met the empress even once in my previous life or this one.

The empress’s name was Perserite Crescent.

Originally the only daughter of the Meisen family, she caught the emperor’s eye a few years ago while working at the imperial palace and was soon recognized as empress.

In other words, the empress is not the crown prince’s birth mother.

And the empress was also a figure who rarely appeared in public after her enthronement ceremony.

For such an empress to appear in such a prominent place…

I walked with my father, carrying a heart full of anxiety.

Leila, who was standing next to me, looked around anxiously with an extremely tense expression.

She seemed to be looking for someone.

She seemed to be looking for that imperial family member who had taken her to the crown prince’s coming-of-age ceremony before.

After being rejected by the young duke of Posilia, Leila openly flirted with Veltune Crescent in front of the young duke.

The young duke was indifferent to them, but Leila seemed to interpret his behavior as jealousy of their relationship.

Veltune Crescent was quite a good catch in others’ eyes.

Although his father failed to claim the emperor’s position despite being the eldest son due to power struggles, the fact that he worked in a very high position at the imperial palace and that he married a woman from a well-known family, causing many nobles to try to impress him, made him not bad at all.

However, the fact that his father did not become emperor despite being the eldest son was always a topic in social circles, so Leila seemed to want to make Delian Posilia her ally rather than Veltune.

My father and other brothers went into the ballroom, and Leila and I were left outside.

Other children adjusted their clothes and hair with their mothers’ help, but since we couldn’t expect such care, we had to dust off our clothes and fix our hair ourselves.

It was then,

“Rowenloa!”

Looking toward the familiar voice, I saw Grace and the duchess of Posilia approaching us.

“Grace…?”

I stared blankly at them as they approached, surprised, and Grace handed me a bouquet of flowers.

Ah, Grace is one year older than me, so she already made her social debut last year.

I keep forgetting.

“You’re finally making your social debut! Congratulations!”

Grace seemed more nervous than when she made her own debut, stomping her feet anxiously.

The duchess of Posilia carefully fixed my crooked hair ornament and smoothed my dress to make it look neater.

It looked much better than when I had fixed it myself.

“Thank you, Duchess.”

“The marchioness of Masipacius and I are quite close friends. Taking care of you is simply what I should do as a friend, lady.”

Thanks to the duchess’s gentle touch, I felt my tension gradually easing.

After looking over my hair and clothes, the duchess glanced awkwardly at Leila standing beside me.

Then she sighed and began fixing Leila’s hair and dress as well.

“Mother!”

Grace complained with a dissatisfied voice, but the duchess merely glanced at her daughter before focusing again on fixing Leila’s hair.

“Grace, it’s not this child’s fault that she has no guardian.”

The duchess was right.

Even though Leila usually did bad things, her mother’s death wasn’t her fault.

Hearing the duchess’s words, Grace pouted her lips in displeasure but didn’t complain any further.

Soon, the ballroom doors opened, and family names began to be called.

Young ladies entered the ballroom one by one with tense expressions.

“Marquis Masipacius family, Rowenloa Masipacius and Leila Masipacius.”

And then, our names were called.

The duchess adjusted our attire one last time, then pushed us toward the ballroom.

After taking a deep breath, I entered the ballroom one step ahead of Leila.

Honestly, even I thought I looked pretty today.

And, although I hated to admit it, Leila had a pretty face too.

People let out admiring gasps as they watched us enter the ballroom.

Walking along the red carpet, we turned toward the people at the small circular area prepared for us, and bowed slightly to greet everyone.

I noticed the imperial family watching us from the front, but I deliberately averted my gaze and headed toward where my father and brothers were standing.

“Beautiful.”

As soon as I stood among my brothers, Brother Rubert whispered quietly to me.

I smiled at him brightly in appreciation.

The other brothers were also quickly moving their lips, praising Leila’s beauty.

After that, many more young ladies making their social debut had their names called.

As I was watching the young ladies entering the ballroom, I kept feeling an intense gaze from the imperial family’s direction.

It was the crown prince.

I thought things had become a bit awkward between us after the previous incident, so I desperately tried to avoid his gaze, but his persistent stare eventually led our eyes to meet.

His gaze seemed to bind my body.

After all the young ladies had entered the ballroom, the bell signaling the start of the ball rang, and the ballroom filled with music.

And the invisible competition to find good husbands and wives also began.

At the same time, many noble ladies began to be wary of me.

Though this wariness meant nothing to me since I had no intention of getting married.

Bershua, Rembro, and Father were watching out for men approaching Leila.

Because Leila had a cute face, there were quite a few men who couldn’t take their eyes off her and were slowly approaching.

And next to me… was Brother Rubert.

His face was extremely solemn.

As if he would block anyone who approached me.

How long had it been since the ball started? Murmurs began to be heard from inside the ballroom.

As I looked in that direction, I saw Leila.

“She’s the young lady brought by Marquis Masipacius, right?”

“I thought she would be nothing since she’s an orphan… but it seems she’s quite intelligent and well-mannered.”

“I can already see some ladies eagerly trying to match her with their sons.”

“Hmm… but a person’s background still plays quite an important role in rising to a high position in the imperial palace. No matter how wise she is, I wouldn’t want her to be involved with my son.”

The area around Leila was sparkling and shining.

As if saying Leila was the protagonist of today’s ball.

Well, that wasn’t wrong.

So I tapped Brother Rubert’s arm, signaling that we should go somewhere quiet.

Being surrounded by people for a whole hour wasn’t easy.

While people were distracted by Leila, Brother Rubert and I quietly slipped away from the crowd.

Leila was still smiling shyly at the center of people’s attention.

I could see Pelena and other children, who were suspected of pouring water on me, praising Leila beside her.

However they had been persuaded, Pelena and the other children’s eyes were sparkling as they looked at Leila.

It was one of the few things that hadn’t changed much from my previous life.

“Whew, I can breathe now.”

I plopped down on an empty chair.

Wearing high-heeled shoes made my legs tremble just from standing.

“Aren’t you going to dance with any men?”

Brother Rubert looked at me curiously.

I shrugged my shoulders at him.

“I’m not interested. I don’t plan to get married either.”

Hearing that, Brother Rubert looked at me with an expression that said, ‘That’s so like you.’

As I was sitting there under his guard-like yet not quite guard-like protection, resting my tired body with my eyes closed for a moment, I suddenly felt a shadow fall over me.

“Brother?”

I called out thinking it was Brother Rubert, but there was no answer.

When I carefully opened my eyes….

Why are you two here?

“Would the lady honor me with her glorious first dance?”

“Would the lady share her first dance with me?”

I saw Delian Posilia and Detrian Crescent extending their hands toward me.

I looked at Brother Rubert standing beside me with a bewildered gaze, but he merely avoided my eyes quietly as if this was beyond his jurisdiction.

For a moment, the ballroom seemed to grow quiet, and then people began to murmur even louder than before.

If the subject of the earlier murmurs had been Leila, the subject of the current murmurs was me, Rowenloa.

I barely suppressed my desire to stand up right now and kick both of them in the shins.

“Please make your choice.”

As I was staring at them with a blank face, the crown prince spoke.

I barely calmed my trembling fist that wanted to punch him in the mouth.

I had deliberately kept quiet to avoid drawing attention, but now they were focusing all eyes on me.

My plan could only succeed perfectly if Leila became the protagonist of this ball!

So all the people in the ballroom seemed to be waiting for my choice, looking at me with eyes full of expectation.

Even the emperor and empress stopped their conversation and turned their gaze toward me.

Finally, I steeled myself and stood up.