"Get lost!"
When Celine flipped him off and hurled a string of curses at him, I couldn't help feeling secretly pleased.
No wonder she was my little sister. She was the spitting image of me.
Thud!
"Ugh, my heart...!"
Damian clutched his chest and dropped to his knees.
I thought he'd be so shocked he'd back off by now.
Anyone with a normal thought process would have.
"Such a bold and uninhibited young lady! My heart is beating so hard I can barely stand it. The other young ladies were all too busy putting on fake smiles!"
It had the exact opposite effect, damn it.
"Lady Celine. My heart, my soul, they yearn for you! Please accept my feelings!"
"I said no, didn't I?"
"Young Master Astin! Older Brother Astin! Please, I beg you!"
Apparently shameless, Damian fell to his knees in the middle of the banquet hall.
And as if that weren't enough, he grabbed onto my pant leg.
At this point, he wasn't just an obsessive loser. He was a total lunatic.
I could feel the blatant stares from everyone around us, but this lunatic didn't seem to care.
And this guy was the Sirius Magic Tower's second-in-command, a man with power, intelligence, and dignity?
'If only all the romance fantasy male leads would drop dead. Except Julian.'
What was love that he had to crawl around on the floor like this?
Did the brains of romance fantasy male leads work differently from everyone else's?
"Quit clinging to her already. Can't you see she's disgusted?"
Damian, still stuck to the floor, looked up at Celine. Her expression was cold as ice.
"Ugh, even the way you scorn me is wonderful..."
Was this guy always like this?
Damian flinched, as if realizing he'd said the wrong thing.
He staggered to his feet. Then he let out a long cough, trying to salvage his crumpled dignity.
"Ahem. You seem quite shaken, young lady, so I'll take my leave for today. For today."
"Give up forever. Let's never see each other again."
"Until next time, Lady Celine. My love for you will never fade. And please, visit the Sirius Magic Tower whenever you wish. You'll always be welcome."
Damian spun around, his cape fluttering noisily.
Watching him walk away, I was sure of one thing.
That bastard hadn't given up at all. He kept glancing back at Celine, full of regret.
I lightly patted the top of Celine's head.
"I'm sorry I attracted such a weirdo. Just think of him as a poor guy with a head injury."
Celine quietly grabbed my sleeve. I felt her relying on me, and it made me oddly happy.
I barely held back the urge to pinch her cheeks.
After the commotion died down,
I finally noticed that the air around us had grown strangely excited.
Everyone stopped talking at once and turned their attention toward the central stage. The crowd murmured as if anticipating something.
I could feel the taut tension that came just before a grand event began.
Click—
Suddenly, the chandelier lights went out. Darkness swallowed the hall, and all sound around us stopped.
Just as the silence settled over the room,
Clack—
Soft lights began to shine here and there, like spotlights.
A string melody flowed gently from the stage.
It was the signal that the Founding Day Festival's finale, the debutante ball, was about to begin.
I looked around and saw nobles pairing off and heading into the central hall.
The nobles began stepping lightly to the music, as if they'd arranged their partners beforehand.
"Shall we go, too?"
"Y-yes..."
Celine looked unmistakably nervous.
As I recalled, she'd been to a few social events, but this was her first ball. It was only natural for her to be nervous.
I stepped into the center with Celine.
After a slight bow, I took her small hand in one of mine. I carefully placed my other hand on the small of her back.
We began to move to the string music.
Our steps were completely off beat. Our movements were stiff. We didn't know where to look.
"Ah! S-sorry, Older Brother."
"It's okay. I almost stepped on your foot just now, too."
I'd forgotten about one fatal problem. Neither Celine nor I had any talent for social dancing.
Even though this was my second life, I'd spent it crawling around on dirt roads and had never had anything to do with nobles' social gatherings.
Celine had no experience at balls either, so we kept stepping on each other's feet.
While the other couples danced with the grace of swans, we were the only ones clomping around like wooden dolls.
I even wondered if we should just go back to watching from the sidelines.
"Um, Older Brother."
Before the music had even ended, Celine gently let go of my hand.
"Could I go to the restroom for a moment?"
She must've been embarrassed, too.
"I'll go with you. It's a big place, so you might get lost."
"No, I can go by myself. You stay here, Older Brother."
Celine had started walking toward the main entrance when she stopped. She spun around to face me.
A mischievous smile, far removed from her usual innocence, played on Celine's lips.
"Older Brother."
"Yeah?"
"Have fun dancing with big sister!"
"...?"
Leaving me with those incomprehensible words, Celine disappeared into the crowd.
Left alone, I just stood there in a daze.
Have fun with big sister...
There was only one person Celine could mean by that.
"Selena? Why bring her up all of a sudden?"
My sister Selena should've been returning from her deployment to the Northern Front about now.
I hadn't heard anything about her attending the Founding Day Festival, and she wasn't the sort to make a surprise appearance somewhere like this.
She was a woman who cared only about martial arts, determined to break free of her reputation as the eldest daughter.
She was hopeless at socializing, and probably didn't care about it even a speck.
"......."
On a hunch, I looked around.
There was no woman who looked like Selena anywhere.
"What in the world?"
All I could do was mutter to myself in a daze.
***
Lucia stood still and looked around.
When young ladies with flushed faces held out their hands, the men gladly smiled and stepped into the center of the hall.
"Must be nice."
The young nobles' steps were clumsy, yet full of youthful charm.
Lucia was 19 and nearing her coming-of-age ceremony, but her own youthful innocence had become a memory.
The debutante ball wasn't just a bit of fun.
On the surface, it was an event where young ladies chose the men they fancied and danced with them.
But it also carried an unspoken implication: a dance partner could be a future spouse.
Even now, it was still a way for young ladies to express their romantic feelings.
There was no embrace around the waist, as there would be in a waltz. They stepped to the tune of a minuet.
The restrained distance, with only their fingertips touching, felt all the more wistful.
The faint curve of a smile, the flush rising in their cheeks, the shy lowering of their lashes whenever their eyes met.
A wistfulness settled over Lucia's vision as she watched them.
She couldn't help envying them for looking so truly in love.
Suddenly, three men stepped close and blocked her view.
"Lady Lucia."
"Lucia."
"Miss Sia."
The Petrian Merchant Guild Master, the second son of the Northern Grand Duke's family, and His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince.
The three men glanced sideways at one another, each subtly keeping the others in check.
In the end, all three stared at Lucia as if entranced.
"Miss Lucia, would you honor me with the first dance?"
"Choose me. Please, I want to dance with you."
"I'm the Crown Prince. You're the only partner worthy of me. Now, take my hand."
The Petrian Merchant Guild Master's sly, persistent gaze, like a snake. The second son of the Northern Grand Duke's imposing frame, filling her view. Crown Prince Zenon's relaxed, arrogant smile.
The three men extended their hands to Lucia with practiced courtesy.
Every gaze in the hall focused on them.
Even those who'd been dancing stopped to sneak a look.
To the people watching, it must have seemed like a romantic scene. They must have envied her, calling her the star of high society.
But for Lucia herself, it was just another day of burdens.
Lucia squeezed her eyes shut. When she forced them open again, the three men's hands filled her vision.
"I..."
Whenever she was given choices like this, she'd usually pick one at random.
Hundreds of pairs of eyes held their breath, hoping for romance. The atmosphere around her pushed her forward.
That wasn't a choice made freely.
Unable to refuse, she could only force herself to pick someone as a means of escape.
-People don't fall because they're pushed. They fall on their own. Then they get to say they're the victim.
Her own words from a little while ago on the terrace, spoken to Astin with bitter self-mockery. Lucia's voice echoed in her ears.
If something felt unfair, express it. If she disliked something, say so. If she liked something, say so.
Be honest with herself. Stop bottling things up and try living the way she wanted.
'I haven't done that until now.'
Who was the person I truly wanted to know?
Lucia asked herself quietly.
It wasn't immense wealth, brute force, or the power of the imperial family.
Even now, the men's overpowering cologne was assaulting her nose.
What kind of person was he again? Lucia found the answer easily.
A person with a pleasant scent.
A person who understood honor and chivalry.
A person her eyes and heart kept turning toward for some reason.
A person whose offhand remarks made her laugh.
A person who'd given a fortune to General Vermang, not to Lucia, his benefactor.
A pitiable man.
Her gaze passed over the three men's hands.
Her ruby eyes landed beyond the men's shoulders, on the center of the banquet hall.
"...Ah."
Lucia's pupils shrank with disappointment.
The man was already dancing with a partner.
She'd forgotten something important.
A relationship could only exist when both people's feelings met.
No matter how much she wanted to approach him, he might not feel the same way.
Human relationships were just that uncertain.
Lucia smiled bitterly and suppressed her feelings.
As always, she had to choose from the options she'd been given.
"That's a shame..."
I wanted to dance with him, if I could.
Resigned, she began to slowly reach out her hand.
At the edge of her careless glance, her eyes met those of a young girl.
The girl let go of the man's hand she'd been holding. Leaving him alone and bewildered, she walked away.
As Lucia blinked in confusion, Celine turned around.
She clenched both fists near her chest and struck an adorable pose.
'You·can·do·it!'
Lucia realized what the clearly mouthed words meant a beat later.
Lucia's deep red eyes trembled. A snicker escaped between her teeth before she could stop it.
The man left alone was looking around like an idiot.
He really didn't seem to have any idea what was going on.
'How can he be so easy to read?'
His confusion and awkwardness were plain in his every movement.
A fresh smile spread across Lucia's lips.
He really was an open book.
That made her feel like she could be honest, too.
Getting swept up in the mood, worrying about what others thought, making choices she didn't want...
She'd been a woman who wasn't honest with herself, killing her own desires whenever she faced a choice with no right answer.
At last, Lucia understood her own heart.
If there was no right answer among the choices, then she only had to find one herself.
Without hesitation, Lucia raised her hand. Her index finger pointed at one person.
Not the three men in front of her, but a man standing alone some distance away.
"Gasp...!"
"What is this—Not His Highness Zenon?"
"Who is she pointing at?!"
The nobles forgot all decorum and gaped.
The three men's faces stiffened, too. They followed the direction of Lucia's finger and turned their heads.
At that moment, every gaze in the hall converged on one person.
"?"
The man she'd pointed to blinked, unable to understand what was happening.
As he received the full force of everyone's stares, he whipped around to look behind him, as if it had nothing to do with him.
"Ahahaha!"
Lucia burst out laughing at his foolishly oblivious look. It wasn't a fake laugh, but a genuine one.
It had been the same on the terrace.
At that moment, Lucia hadn't been the star of high society. She'd just been a woman.
And no one but that man had made her feel that way.
"You! You! Don't look behind you. Look over here!"
Even from a distance, her gaze locked tightly with his.
Her heart swelled.
For the first time, Lucia felt her feelings clearly.
That man was my answer.
"Young Master Astin! Dance with me!"