“Dong— Dong— Dong—”
The bells marking the official opening of the ball, carrying the unique weight and grandeur of the Royal Ballroom, reverberated heavily against the mahogany door of the Duke's private preparation room.
Oh no, I'm still not finished changing.
I stood in front of a giant full-length mirror, letting Misha use a sterling silver hair comb to secure the last strand of my light-gold hair deep within my updo.
My expression was a bit complicated.
Wait, I'm not about to miss anything, am I?
But considering the opening of a ball always requires some buildup—like waiters clearing the delicacies from the silver-clothed tables, or young noblemen dropping to one knee to invite their dance partners...
In short, I needed to stay calm.
Looking at my reflection in the mirror, I was wearing a shimmering, near-purple gown—an exquisite haute couture piece I had painstakingly selected from the dozen or so remaining backup dresses, flawless in both stitching and subtle patterns.
As for the dress that Klaus had physically exorcised with an entire bottle of specialized black ink, Shirune had already expressionlessly wrapped it in a large white cloth and stuffed it into a utility box in the furthest corner, to be dealt with later.
“Lady Loris, everything is ready...” Misha said, panting slightly with excitement.
“Then let's go, Misha.”
Smoothing out the layered tulle hem of my long skirt, I gave Shirune a simple nod, then pushed open the walnut wood door of the preparation room.
When I stepped back into the central corridor of the first-floor west wing leading to the main ballroom, the grand curtain had already risen.
The crowd, which had grown somewhat loose during the intermission, had now neatly lined up around the perimeter of the dance floor in strict accordance with their titles and ranks.
The royal orchestra on the second floor had transitioned to a court waltz led by violins and French horns, its rhythm slow yet grandly surreal.
Beneath the dome painted in gold leaf and ultramarine, countless shimmering lights danced along with the notes, reflecting dreamlike speckles across the marble floor.
“Look! It's the eldest daughter of the Aldheim family!”
“Heavens, why did she change her dress? Wasn't she wearing that dark-blue Midnight Gown when she entered earlier?”
“But this shimmering purple gown complements her skin tone so perfectly... She looks just like an empress stepping out of ice and snow...”
Upon my appearance, a hushed yet clearly audible commotion broke out among the crowd at the edge of the main ballroom.
I wouldn't have changed if I hadn't been splashed with wine.
And I wouldn't have run into so many... incidents.
Sighing internally, I pretended to hear nothing. Raising my chin slightly, I swept a casual gaze across the faces of the young ladies and gentlemen who were eager to curry favor with me.
Leonhart, the first-in-line heir to the Kingdom of Barton, also stepped forward, dropping to one knee to invite me.
Tonight, he wore a white suit jacket. His golden hair was immaculate, his ice-blue left eye was as calm as still water, and his lips still bore that impeccably warm smile.
In an instant, the royal orchestra on the second floor raised its volume. A melodious, grand, and complex violin concerto swept through the ballroom like a rising tide.
The ball had officially begun.
I don't know if any of you are familiar with the waltz. As a highly social dance, it isn't particularly difficult to perform.
But for me, it was still a bit of an ordeal.
With the first beat of the music, under the watchful gaze of countless onlookers, I spun flawlessly, merging into the sea of dancers.
Stepping to the beat, spinning, adjusting my breathing, maintaining a smile.
Leonhart and I synchronized seamlessly in the center of the dance floor. From a distance, we looked like a pair of perfect dolls rotating with mechanical precision on a music box.
However, during the transition to the second bar of music, when the surrounding crowd of dancers gradually enclosed us in a private pocket of space,
Leonhart leaned down slightly and spoke with a subtle note of apology that only the two of us could hear:
“Lady Loris, about what happened just now... I've heard.”
?
What happened just now?
Oh, heavens. My heart tightened. Did he mean catching the crossdressing pervert backstage, or the incident between Misha and Waldenburg?
“Secretary Meretskov...”
Ah, so it's about that.
Taking a step back in sync with his lead, I arched an eyebrow and remained silent.
As he guided me through a graceful turn, Leonhart continued in a helpless murmur, “Regarding Secretary Meretskov... His actions were a bit too rough, resulting in the red wine splashing back onto your gown. As the Student Council President, I offer you my most sincere apologies for Meretskov's irrational behavior.”
“He certainly did not mean to embarrass you in public. I hope you will not take it to heart, Lady Loris.”
Hearing the Crown Prince seriously apologize for Secretary Meretskov's actions,
my internal monologue immediately exploded:
【It's fine! It's completely fine, really!】
【If anything, the Secretary's move was a stroke of genius. Not only did it flawlessly execute the classic villainess wine-splashing plot, but it also heavily boosted Liliana's favorability!】
However, even though I didn't care at all in my heart, I still had to maintain my villainous daughter persona on the outside.
“Oh.”
I dragged out my words, responding in a cold, haughty voice that sounded like someone walking through a minefield,
“I don't care.”
Leonhart: “...”
He did not speak again, merely sighing to himself: “As expected...”
If this had been before, his estimation of Loris would have dropped even further, and he would have searched for a way to resolve it. After all, the villainous daughter could usually be reasoned with when he spoke to her.
But now, Leonhart did not dare harbor such thoughts.
Under the influence of this beautiful misunderstanding, he pulled his thoughts back together, continuing to spin in the center of the dance floor with flawless, highly hypocritical elegance amidst the melodious, grand, and intricate orchestral music.
The performance concluded.
...
Meanwhile, near a pillar in the coldest, dimmest corner of the main ballroom,
two equally tall, handsome boys stood side-by-side in the shadows.
They looked like two perfectly sculpted marble statues, forming a sharp and ironic contrast with the noisy, warm, and paired-up dance floor nearby.
Waldenburg Edmond had his hand resting on the hilt of his ceremonial sword, his short black hair looking sharp and neat.
Beside him, Secretary Meretskov, dressed in a meticulous Student Council uniform and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, held a glass of red wine.
The eyes behind his lenses were filled with exhaustion.
Both of them possessed handsome faces that could make any high-noble young lady in the venue scream, yet they were currently colder than each other, neither showing any intention of going out to dance.
Waldenburg claimed he wasn't interested.
Meretskov was feeling somewhat discouraged.
And at this very moment,
Waldenburg's gaze lingered on Loris for two seconds before he rarely took the initiative to turn his head, asking the Secretary beside him in a flat voice,
“Secretary, the waltz is already half over.”
“...” Hearing this, Meretskov's hand holding the glass stiffened for a brief second as he let out a heavy sigh.
“Are you blaming me?”
Waldenburg remained silent.
“Student Edmond, things aren't as simple as you think,” the Secretary said earnestly. “Liliana is an outstanding girl. I've only been interacting with her to nurture her potential.”
“Before the ball, that young lady of the Aldheim family had already launched an overwhelming campaign of social bans and bullying. You must have heard about it as well.”
Waldenburg was noncommittal. “So?”
“I simply couldn't stand by and watch her bully a commoner like that...” The Secretary took a sip and smiled bitterly. “So I wanted to remind her to know her limits.”
“If I'm not mistaken, she was preparing to splash wine onto Liliana's dress earlier. I saw through her aggressive intentions, so I couldn't bear it and wanted her to experience that feeling for herself.”
Secretary Meretskov was referring to the previous incident, where he had grabbed Loris's wrist and even jerked it slightly, causing the liquid in her own cup to spill onto herself.
And what happened afterward was also common knowledge.
The Secretary had been falsely accused, forced to apologize, and even rebuked by Liliana before he finally snapped out of it.
He really had been too impulsive; it would have been enough to simply stop her... but he truly had been standing up for Liliana.
Which led to his current state.
“Though we had no choice but to compromise due to the situation tonight, I must admit...” The Secretary let out a quiet, bitter laugh. “That young lady of the Aldheim family is indeed an absolute 'villain' in the social arena. Before attending this ball, I had already heard of her domineering attitude from various upperclassmen's records, and after interacting with her up close backstage tonight, it is even more so.”
“Spreading rumors and isolating peers.”
After saying this, he emptied his glass.
Behind his logical lenses, the feeling of powerlessness from being unable to personally protect that gentle commoner girl still manifested as a faint bitterness.
The Secretary's evaluation was extremely harsh, yet perfectly aligned with a rational bystander's deep-seated perception of the villainous daughter.
Yet, upon hearing this standard classification of “Loris is a bad woman,” Waldenburg, standing beside him,
fell into a rare silence that lasted for several seconds on his expressionless face.
He did not immediately echo the sentiment.
Instead, what played in his mind was the memory of that scene from two minutes ago, in the dim, cold corridor of the private preparation room that still carried the sweet scent of red wine—specifically, the flustered yet breathtakingly beautiful face of the Duke's daughter.
He recalled how, in order to save her lowly follower Misha, she had not hesitated to throw the dignity of a duke's daughter to the ground.
Even more so, he remembered the faint blush that crept onto her cheeks out of sheer embarrassment at such close proximity, and her slender, white-gloved finger gently lifting his friend up.
【As long as you let her go tonight... in the future, I can handle anything for you in the academy.】
【I swear it on the name of Loris von Aldheim!!】
“Is that really the case, Secretary Meretskov?”
Waldenburg slowly retracted his gaze, his voice devoid of any emotion, yet posing a rhetorical question that made the Secretary momentarily dazed:
“Perhaps... all of us have simply prejudged her amidst the flying rumors, branding her as that 'bad woman.'”
Secretary Meretskov turned his head in surprise, staring at the strongest freshman in the Swordsmanship Department beside him.
He said nothing.
In his rational mind, Waldenburg was never a man who would make excuses for a high-noble young lady. Yet tonight, this stoic, expressionless boy's tone held a subtle defensiveness for that villainous daughter—one that even Waldenburg himself likely hadn't noticed.
The atmosphere fell back into a dead silence.
What was supposed to be a mutual venting session between two like-minded boys had unexpectedly turned into a divergence of opinions.
Waldenburg slightly closed his dark-gray eyes, Loris's final promise of 【any request】 constantly echoing in his mind, along with her unique, warm scent—a pleasant mixture of high-grade pine and red wine.
【Any request...】
【If I were to use this promise in the future to help Liliana...】
The young man let out a soft sigh from the depths of his heart. Then, shaking his head with a trace of irritation, he completely banished these complicated and uncertain thoughts from his mind.
...
“Dong—”
The final grand chord of the second-floor orchestra came to a resounding close beneath the three-tiered marble dome of the Royal Ballroom as the conductor's baton descended.
The highly important and equally hypocritical opening first dance had finally come to an end.
At the absolute center of the dance floor, Leonhart and I stopped our spinning steps with perfect precision on the very last note.
Adopting a textbook posture that left no room for criticism, I elegantly performed a final curtsy to the Crown Prince.
“Thank you for your cooperation, Your Highness.”
“The pleasure is mine, Lady Loris.” Leonhart bowed slightly, the fatigue in his eyes expertly hidden.
Political tasks were officially declared complete.
However, before I could even straighten my back to head back to the lounge area for a glass of water to catch my breath,
the next segment of the evening began—a much more relaxed socializing session.
Hundreds of key figures in attendance and upperclassmen leaders could look around for someone they fancied, then step forward to invite them for a chat or a dance.
Except, I suddenly noticed my gaze falling
upon the pink-haired commoner girl who stood completely alone in a literal vacuum, wearing a layered, aqua-blue elf-themed gown, looking incredibly tense and at a complete loss.
It was Liliana.
The bells chimed faintly outside the window, and the prelude to the second dance was already springing to life from the royal orchestra.
Someone... will probably... invite her, right?
I thought to myself as I turned my head.
—But in reality, no one did.
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