CH 29

(Terrence’s POV)

The sudden change was so unexpected that I couldn’t adapt, but I kind of understood why it happened.

As everybody knows, Princess Eve grew up in a peaceful environment, protected like a flower in a greenhouse.

Still, no matter how strong a person is, they will be shocked to know that their biological father was planning on killing them by using another person as a cover.

‘Knowing such fact, might have woken her senses.’

‘And having a divorce would profit me more than her.’

And if she’s no longer my wife, there’s no reason for me to be accountable for her safety and share my property.

In return of monopolizing the Princess’s abilities, all that I had to do was protect her.

So, I should be grateful for Eve’s proposal for a divorce, right? But strangely, the moment I heard that she wanted a divorce, I felt unpleasant rather than relieved. 

Why?

When I thought that far ahead, the carriage finally stopped in front of the main gate of the Duke’s house.

“Ahm… Your Grace.”

Camion, who had been waiting for his answer all the way here, asked again.

“Then why are you taking so many knights?”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

I turned around to look at the Duchy’s knights outside of the carriage.

This time an answer came back.

“….I have been asked to.”

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Eve’s POV)

I looked around the mansion, checked, and prepared everything that was needed.

Thinking that I had nothing else to do before the Ball, but then again, I was wrong.

“Your Highness the Princess. The drawing room is now ready.”

“A drawing-room?”

It turns out that some of the guests who’ve arrived early spend their time in the drawing-room on the first floor before the Ball begins.

“Yes, Your Highness, this way please.”

The maid in charge of guiding me, opened the door of the drawing-room, trembling to the point of pity, for fear that she might upset me in some manner.

Am I the only one who’ll be using this room?

Of course, that wasn’t the case.

Five or six young ladies were staying in the drawing-room.

Seeing that they are all in gorgeous evening dresses, it seems that they are ladies that are personally invited to the Ball.

Ladies with different hair colors and eye colors focused their attention to me at once.

And all of them were equally shocked.

“Oh my, Your Highness, the Princess.”

These are the eyes as if they’re looking at the monster that suddenly popped out of the closet.

“Everyone was here.”

As I entered, the women belatedly got up from their seats and prepared their elegant manners.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

“We greet you, Your Highness, the Princess.”

“Yeah. It’s been a while since we’ve all seen each other.”

I have no idea who they are.

Fortunately, it’s okay to not know the name now.

Because Eve originally hated socializing, that’s why she didn’t meet them personally or even attempted to memorize their names properly.

The servants from the Princess’s palace used to gossip that Eve could not memorize the names and backgrounds of the other nobles.

I sat at the table after receiving their greetings.

There were teacups and snacks on the table.

I guess this means that we should eat some snacks while killing some time.

As I tasted the tea, I picked up the sweet cookies from the bowl and ate them.

Meanwhile, the ladies who stood up steadily from their seats continued to look at me.

The ladies poked each other at the speed of light while I was digging away at the refreshments.

They seemed to push each other to talk to me.

The platinum blonde lady, who had been pushed by others, approached me and spoke carefully.

“It is an infinite honor to meet and talk to Her Highness the Princess here at the Ball. Oh, please forgive me for not being able to go out and meet the Princess because I didn’t hear that you were coming….”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

“Oh. I didn’t plan to attend originally.”

I cut off her words right away since I felt pitiful.

“I had no plans at all to attend this social gathering because I was getting married. But I had no choice since it was the Grand Duke who asked me to come.”

“The Grand Duke?”

“It was from the last time that we saw each other at the Grand Hall, that he asked me to attend the Ball.”

It was not a lie.

When we met for the second time in the Grand Hall, we decided to meet at the Ball.

“Did His Grace ask you to come to the ball?”

One of the ladies was so surprised and couldn’t help but ask, so I answered back leisurely while holding the teacup with both hands.

“Yeah, he asked me to attend because he wanted to dance with me today. It’s a request from my fiancé, so I couldn’t refuse it.”

“His Grace, as in Grand Duke Lenz Terrence.”

The platinum blonde looked confused as to whether we were talking about the same person now.

“Were there any other Grand Dukes in our empire that I didn’t know of?”

When I showed a few unpleasantries, the platinum blonde woman hurriedly came to her senses and shook her head.

“It’s not like that, Your Highness. There is, of course, only one Grand Duke of the Empire, His Grace, Grand Duke Lenz Terrence.”

“Good, that’s all you need to know.”

While the platinum blonde shook her head due to shock and fear, confusion rose from the eyes of the other ladies.

Eve has finally gone insane.

After chasing the Grand Duke like that, she had finally lost it.

I couldn’t help but think that they thought of me that way.

No matter how much I think about it, that was the only common-sense answer.

Eve is crazy and delusional.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

Even though Eve was sane and did all sorts of things, how scary would it be if she finally lost her mind?

I sipped a warm tea while watching those troubled-looking ladies.

The reaction is a bit harsh, but not that bad.

‘Well, they’ll know it when they see it for themselves.’

Since the Ball is less than an hour away.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Terrence’s POV)

The Ball was originally set in a format from beginning to end.

There was a framework set by etiquette, including the method of inviting guests, how to organize a Ball, as well as the type and order of dance.

However, even in the same way, the atmosphere was very different depending on the personality of the organizer.

From the hard and boring court ball to the light and debauchery masked ball.

The beauty of the Ball was that it changed in a variety of ways even in the same form.

The Ball that was organized by the Duchess of Rohan was carried out in a noble and modest atmosphere, according to the taste of his aunt, the Duchess.

“It’s been a while since I last saw you. Your Grace.”

As soon as I entered the ballroom, several nobles greeted me first.

Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve attended a Ball.

Since I didn’t like social gatherings like this from the beginning.

The other nobles knew it well, so they did not dare approach me easily.

All I had to do was look into their eyes and barely say hello.

A few nobles, who could be said to be on the same side, greeted me and exchanged a few words.

“I heard that you will be dispatched soon. How are your preparations going?”

“I heard that His Majesty the Emperor, who is on the front lines, is in a state of a lull in the battle and is only confronting… ”

“The supplies are leaving to transport for military needs…..”

As if promised, there is no talk about the wedding.

Due to the timeline, marriage will come first before my departure, but they were all talking about war.

Come to think of it, whenever the topic of marriage came out, unpleasantries would flow out of me.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

Even in the middle of a conversation, when someone brought up about the upcoming wedding or anything related to Eve, I would immediately turn around and leave.

‘No wonder no one would talk about marriage in front of me.’

Then I heard someone’s voice next to me.

“What? The Princess is coming? Princess Eve?”

People were whispering a few steps away.

“The Grand Duke has come, but why did the Duchess think of inviting the Princess as well?”

“She isn’t the type of person who wouldn’t come just because the Princess didn’t receive an invitation?”

That was it.

“Isn’t Her Highness on probation?”

By the time the conversation reached that point, I immediately turned around and looked at them.

Those who were whispering hurriedly shut their mouths and looked at me.

“Terrence.”

A soft voice called me from the other side.

It was none other than my Aunt, the Duchess of Rohan.

“You’re finally here, Terrence.”

“Auntie.”

I bowed slightly to greet my Aunt.

I’ve always had a rough relationship with the Duke of Rohan, but I always maintained a good relationship with my aunt, the Duchess.

The smiling Duchess lowered her voice and whispered.

“I don’t know if you heard it, but the Princess is here.”

“I know.”

At my blunt reply, a look of uneasiness suddenly showed on my Aunt’s neat face.

The Duchess clasped both of my hands nervously and approached me closely.

“Can’t you hold it in for me today?”

The Duchess looked at me with an almost pleading expression.

I suddenly felt embarrassed at my Aunt’s earnest gaze.

I was aware that they thought that I’m not happy whenever Eve was present but did it have come to a point that she had to ask me for something like this?

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

The Duchess sighed in relief when she heard those words.

“Thank you.”

However, at the request of the Duchess, Eve did not appear even until the first and second dance passed.

I heard that the Princess had arrived earlier, but I don’t know where she is or what she is doing.

‘When is she planning to come?’