Chapter 51

Yuria smiled brightly, flipping her shiny white-silver hair over her shoulder.

I couldn’t help but be a little surprised by the emotions I felt at that moment.

I didn’t like it. The idea of the two of them dancing. I could understand to some extent how Rixus felt earlier.

“You danced with me at my debutante, Your Highness. I want to dance together with you after a long time.”

‘Why do I hate it so much even though I don’t want to kiss him or anything?’

The two met after two years.

That alone would be enough reason to dance.

Usually the man would ask for a dance, but if a woman had the courage to do it, it was acceptable… 

My head understood, but my heart played separately.

‘I should’ve promised, that we wouldn’t dance with anyone else.’

That was what I was thinking.

‘What am I doing…? Childishly…’

I was a little confused by the sudden burst of a jealousy-like emotion.

But when I saw Rixus’ face, I suddenly realized it.

If such a handsome husband danced with other people, wouldn’t both Dolhareubang and Buddha be angry?(TL/N: it means even peaceful/serene people will get angry – ‘돌하르방’ is a stone statue unique to Jeju Island, it’s face has a smiley mouth, a bulging eye without a pupil, a large, flat nose, and a hand on the boat.)

Wasn’t possessiveness for beautiful things a universally valid human emotion?

I interpreted it as an emotion that one could have even if they didn’t necessarily like the other person.

“The main characters of today’s final dance will be Lady Mavis and His Highness the Crown Prince, right?”

As if setting a fire in my heart, I heard a whispering voice from the side.

Yuria was smiling shyly. She was pure and cute.

For a human, and even more so if the person listening to this request was a man. 

It was a smile that was hard to ignore.

Rixus was sitting in the chair at an angle, looking down at her.

Then he simply blew all our minds.

“I will decline.”

“!”

The surroundings were tumultuous, and it shook once like a wave.

Yuria’s face turned bright red like a ripe cherry in an instant.

Even I was a little surprised because it was an unexpectedly resolute refusal.

It was rare for a woman to request a dance first, but it was the rule of the social world that if she asked, she would not be refused.

Because that would be too insulting to the woman.

Yuria struggled to fix her expression and asked with a smile.

“…Can I ask why?”

Usually, when one declined a dance request, one had to give a justifiable reason.

Reasons that were valid and understandable, such as having a prior engagement, being too tired from the previous day’s vigorous activity, or hurting a leg.

It was so that it would act as a cushion so that the other person’s heart would be less hurt.

But Rixus just said with a bored and indifferent face.

“Because I don’t want to dance.”

Right next to him, Ires covered his ears and murmured in astonishment.

“I want to pretend I didn’t hear that heartless line… Oh my gosh.”

I was surprised inside too. Even to me, it was a disappointing response.

The nobles around me were also shocked to see the crown prince’s demeanor that was without blood or tears, and without compassion or sympathy.

I wondered if it was too much, but soon, a certain realization came.

Well, that was Rixus…

Cutting off entirely, without even giving the other party any string of hope.

A man who was terribly arrogant and cruel enough to be cold.

I almost forgot because I saw so many different sides of him.

Yuria bit her lower lip and seemed to be barely holding back her tears.

Maybe it was because she was the heroine, for she looked pitiful like a fragile bird in the rain, and that appearance seemed to stimulate the protective instincts of many men.

“Lady Mavis, would you like to dance with me?”

“I want to ask too.”

“If I have a chance, I’d like to ask for a dance.”

Everyone flocked to her and asked for a dance, as if to protect the lady who had been attacked by the villain.

Yuria’s pride, which had collapsed in such a way, seemed difficult to recover.

Still, she picked a suitable partner, and soon the final waltz of the ‘first night of the engagement’ was played.

While the music was playing, I talked with some nobles about state administration.

Significant stories came and went in this relatively short time.

And finally, when the last waltz was over, a noble came to announce the end of the celebration banquet.

The nobleman with a handsomely groomed mustache raised his magic tool (loudspeaker) and shouted.

“Everyone, go out to the balcony and look at the sky!”

It was fireworks.

“Ahh, I’m so excited! Come on, Your Majesty.”

“Yes. You can go ahead first.”

I sent Seryl and the maids off first.

All the nobles in the banquet hall were swept away to the balcony like the low tide. 

Except for two.

Rixus and I.

“…….”

“…….”

He and I looked at each other, motionless, as if we had made a promise.

Eventually, it was Rixus who moved first.

He slowly walked down from the high platform with his eyes fixed on me.

I also walked straight to him.

Again and again.

As our steps drew closer, and the distance between us narrowed, the faster and more impatient we became.

It was like a game. A chicken game where you bet who would fall off the cliff first.

The 100 steps that were so taboo were relentlessly narrowed… Just before we faintly passed each other–

Rixus grabbed my wrist with his heated hand.

No, I stopped first.

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For a moment, our sharp gazes were intertwined in diagonal lines.

I warned him.

“You have long sleeves.”

“Did you enjoy dancing? With a pretty handsome man.”

He spoke almost at the same time. Boom, boom, boom! Then there was the sound of fireworks exploding.

It happened in just one second.

At that moment, we walked past and started talking to each other as if we had arranged it earlier.

Still, a question mark popped up in my mind.

…Pretty handsome? Where did that come from?

Then, the words I had said on the day of the high priest’s visit flashed through my mind like lightning.

“You’re a pretty handsome man… It’s more than I imagined.”

Oh my god! I couldn’t believe he remembered that.

I was a little impressed by Rixus, who was so densely jealous with his meticulous memory.

Suddenly, I looked back at him.

Rixus was standing a few steps away from where we had passed earlier.

Perhaps he stopped walking.

The funny thing was…

The fact that he was looking down at his sleeve with the same questioning expression as I had before.

I had to admit that he looked a little cute.

Then he suddenly looked up and gazed at me. It was still an expression of incomprehension.

I made a calm face and gazed back at him.

Solve the riddle on your own.

Then, like Cinderella who disappeared after leaving behind a clue, I slowly escaped through the door.

* * *

The next morning.

Deborah met Yuria early at the ducal residence.

“You asked to see me, Madam Deborah.”

“I’ve always wanted to see you. Hasn’t it been a long time since we met?”

Hohoho, Deborah smiled and covered her mouth with a colorful peacock feather fan.

It had been two years since they had met, but they acted as friendly as if they had met yesterday.

Yuria, on the other hand, had a calm but emaciated face; she was not smiling at all.

“You don’t look good. I guess it’s because of Her Majesty the Queen, right?”

“Did you hear about the banquet?”

When the question flowed out of her pale lips, Deborah put on a sad expression on her face.

“Everything.”

The queen humiliated her.

‘That’s very good.’

“The Queen… she’s a terrible woman, as rumors say. She hurled difficult questions at me in front of everyone.”

“…Ah, oh my.”

“She is a person who treats the other person with malice, even if they don’t have any ill will.”

Yuria had a very bad impression of Berylia.

When she asked Berylia, ‘Do you love the prince?’, she had no malice.

However, though the question that came back was the same, she could clearly feel the intention to create trouble for her.

Deborah could smell it from the depressed Yuria.

“I feel sorry for the Crown Prince.”

The subtle stench of a potential scheme.

“He’s going to marry such a wicked woman and meet his doom in the future.”

“Doom…?”

When she said that the crown prince would be unhappy, Yuria reacted strongly.

“Tell me, do you think the Crown Prince wanted to marry such a devilish woman?”

Deborah quietly leaned towards Yuria and whispered.

“His Highness must also hate it terribly. But he had no choice but to sacrifice himself. Not long ago, he received an anonymous letter saying, ‘We’re preparing for war against Spinel.’”

“!”

“He must have thought that there was no way out of this situation except marriage.”

“How, like that…”

“But the Crown Prince misunderstood.”

Deborah quietly drank tea in front of Yuria, who was parched in shock.

“The Queen has nothing but the ambition to devour Aktoum.”

“…….”

“You saw it yourself. What a scary and evil woman she is.”

Yuria’s hand shook, and she grabbed the hem of her skirt.

Her eyes flashed with compassion for the crown prince and hatred for Berylia.

Deborah enjoyed the chaos.

‘I know how obsessed she is with the Crown Prince.’

Her heart must be in hell by now. That the man she loves was going down an unhappy road.

Moreover, while marrying another woman.

“I… can’t stand his unhappiness, Madam Deborah.”

Deborah swallowed a laugh inside and made eye contact with Yuria’s trembling eyes. And she acted with sympathetic eyes.

“I know, Lady Yuria. Women like us do anything for love.”

But truthfully, she thought such women were fools.

“Because I love Marquis Kalen, I even gave up the title of ‘duchess’!”

If Yuria knew the full story of the case, she would know how Deborah’s words were bullshit.

Unfortunately, she did not know. It had only been a while since she arrived in Aktoum.

So she was blinded by her trust in Deborah.

“Lady Yuria…”

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Deborah whispered while clasping the back of Yuria’s hand on the table.

“How far can you go for the Crown Prince?”

Like a crafty snake that whispered, ‘Eat the forbidden fruit.’

“Can you kill the Queen?”

“!”