Chapter 5
The Aftermath of the Debutante Ball
Thousands of curses flashed through Edelis’s mind.
“I have just found a partner. Thank you for your concern.”
“Who?”
“The Viscount Weiss who is here—”
And once again, tens of thousands of curses flashed through her mind.
The good-for-nothing Viscount Weiss who had been standing in front of her had already disappeared.
The moment the Emperor spoke to her, he had run away faster than light.
“If you do not have a partner, shall I be your partner?”
“I am worried that, due to my lack of skill, I might cause trouble for Your Majesty. I am grateful that you are concerned, but…”
“It is fine.”
The Emperor held out his hand to Edelis.
Refusing when the Emperor had gone this far would be like testing whether she could die without even becoming Empress.
…Damn it. I should have just said my feet hurt and I couldn’t dance. I won’t forget this, Weiss!
Edelis had no choice but place her hand on the Emperor’s. She got chills from the feeling of him taking her hand.
Holding the Emperor’s hand, she walked to the very center of the ballroom. The attention of countless people focused on them.
Edelis bowed her head in greeting, and after the Emperor returned the greeting, he wrapped an arm around her waist.
What is this? Is this dance normally this… intimate?
The imperial orchestra began to play. She was definitely dancing according to what she had learned, but the Emperor’s behavior was strange.
He kept stroking her waist for no reason, and it seemed as if he was pressing his body against hers more than necessary.
She could not exactly push the Emperor away, so she simply continued moving her steps carefully as she had been taught.
As they danced, the Emperor chuckled and blew his breath into her ear.
Every hair on her body stood on end. Goosebumps spread across her skin.
“I will give you some good news soon.”
When the song finally ended, the Emperor deliberately leaned toward Edelis’s ear and whispered before licking the edge of her ear with his tongue.
She felt her body stiffen at the sensation of his wet tongue touching her ear, but she desperately bowed, gave her greeting, and moved away from the Emperor.
When she secretly glanced at him, the Emperor was smiling as if he found her cute.
That made her feel even more horrified.
Is he crazy? Does he know that your daughter is older than me? My father is much younger than you!!! He had been touching me strangely so often. I should have realized it back then!
She quickly returned to the Count, who had been waiting for her.
His face was full of concern for her.
“Edelis, are you all right? I’m sorry, my daughter. I never expected the Duke to call for you today…”
The Count could not refuse the Duke’s summons.
That was simply how status worked.
Understanding this, Edelis shook her pale face.
Even if her father had been standing beside her, she probably could not have avoided dancing with the Emperor.
“May I go and rest first…?”
“Yes, yes. Let’s go together.”
“No, Father. I’m fine.”
Count Brill firmly escorted his reluctant daughter and hurried with her to the carriage as quickly as possible.
“Rehan!”
Edelis brightened when she saw Rehan standing in front of the carriage.
Worried that someone might follow her, she quickly climbed into the carriage.
“My lady, did something happen? Why is your complexion…”
Those were the first words Rehan said as soon as he closed the door.
Edelis had deliberately greeted him brightly, but up close, her face was as white as if she were no longer alive, without a trace of color.
“My first dance partner was the Emperor. I think I’m going to die.”
“The Emperor…?”
Rehan stiffly repeated the word, but Edelis simply nodded.
“Yes. To start my debut in high society with the Emperor. Why! Why did it have to be him…”
Even after she had gotten farther away from the Imperial Palace, Edelis continued to feel nauseous.
“I shouldn’t have come, no matter what Father said.”
Edelis spoke with her face still pale.
“Was dancing very difficult?”
“I practiced with you hundreds of times. How could dancing itself be difficult?”
“Then why…”
“The partner was the problem! Do you know what the Emperor did? I really thought he was crazy!”
Edelis cursed as she told him everything the Emperor had done, saying that if he had not been the Emperor, she would have called the guards on him. She told him about the ambiguous position of his hand between her waist and hips, the way he rubbed his body against hers more than necessary, the breath he deliberately blew against her, and even his tongue touching the edge of her ear.
While she had been in the Imperial Palace, Edelis had been so nervous and anxious that she thought she would go crazy.
But after leaving the palace and realizing that she was safe, the anger came rushing in late and would not settle down.
It was the same even after she got out of the carriage and returned to her room.
“Do you think I dressed up this beautifully just to be treated like that?!”
Edelis wanted to throw away every ornament attached to her hair just to release her anger, but this was the first time she had dressed up so beautifully since reading the contents of the book.
So she held herself back and simply huffed angrily.
Rehan, who had been escorting her with a complicated expression, knelt on one knee in front of Edelis.
Surprised by his sudden action, Edelis looked down at him curiously.
“…Rehan?”
“My lady, would you dance one song with me?”
Rehan held out his trembling hand to Edelis.
The tips of his ears were already red, so even though he had his head lowered, it was easy to tell that his entire face was bright red.
Seeing Rehan dressed incredibly handsomely unlike usual, Edelis gave a small laugh.
She had already felt reluctant to change out of these clothes, so she thought it was perfect and placed her hand on top of his.
Rehan looked at her in surprise.
“You asked me yourself, so why are you so surprised?”
“I thought you might refuse…”
“When such a handsome man kneels and asks me to dance, how could I refuse? People don’t usually kneel all the way down just to ask for a dance.”
“……”
Embarrassed, Rehan took Edelis’s hand and stood up.
Then, just as he had done when helping her practice for her debutante ball, he carefully took his position.
Edelis smiled lightly and wondered what song they should use. Then she began humming a familiar song they usually practiced.
Even though they were not in the magnificent Imperial Palace, dancing with a comfortable heart made her feel much better.
She had not completely forgotten the Emperor’s sticky hands, but it was still nice.
It was even better because she could dance comfortably without worrying about the Emperor, the Crown Prince, or the Prince.
Besides, her partner was Rehan, who had always practiced with her and matched his steps to hers. They flowed through the dance as naturally as water, and it could not have been better.
“Shall we dance one more song?”
“With pleasure.”
Rehan took Edelis’s hand again. His hand trembled slightly, perhaps because he was nervous.
Edelis remembered how Rehan had awkwardly taken his position and turned bright red when she first asked him to be her dance partner for practice, and she laughed.
But now, perhaps because of all the practice they had done every day, his posture was excellent, and even with Rehan leading, it no longer felt awkward.
Edelis smiled lightly and hummed another song.
She opened the door leading to the terrace wide, letting the cool night breeze rush inside. The shining moonlight quietly illuminated everything.
“You really dance well now?!”
“Thank you.”
“Then, what dance shall we do this time?”
Edelis hummed randomly while moving her body little by little.
Following her movements, Rehan cautiously suggested,
“How about the Reshuto?”
“Reshuto? Yes, yes. That’s good!”
Once they decided on the dance, Edelis hummed her favorite song among the songs suitable for it.
Then she and Rehan faced each other, smiled at one another, and danced.
Knock, knock.
While they were happily dancing, someone knocked on the door.
Edelis and Rehan reluctantly stepped one pace apart. Edelis spread her dress wide to both sides and bowed.
Rehan also placed one hand over his chest and bowed his head in return.
They giggled as they looked at each other, but when another knock came, Edelis hurriedly opened the door.
Her father’s face visible through the gap looked much worse than Edelis’s had when she had left the Imperial Palace earlier.
“Father?”
“…First, let’s go to the drawing room.”
“Did something happen?”
Seeing her father’s complexion, Edelis knew something was wrong.
Something had definitely happened.
She followed her father, who could not say a word, to the drawing room.
There, the Imperial Chamberlain was waiting.
“You are late.”
“…I apologize.”
Edelis had no idea what was happening.
The Chamberlain took out a letter bearing the Imperial seal from inside his robe.
“Ahem.”
At the Chamberlain’s signal, Edelis and her father knelt before him.
The Chamberlain opened the letter and read the contents aloud.
“By order of the Emperor of the Cronad Empire, Edelis, eldest daughter of Count Brill, has been designated as a candidate for Imperial Consort. She is to enter the Imperial Palace within seven days.”
Was this what it felt like when the sky came crashing down?
What happened…? Did the future change?
Edelis felt as if the ground beneath her feet had collapsed.
She had wanted the future to change, but she had never wished for it to change like this.
Her father, Count Brill, answered the Chamberlain with, “Understood,” but Edelis could not say anything.
When Count Brill could no longer bear to watch and patted Edelis’s back, she finally came back to her senses.
“I-I understand…”
Edelis’s eyes were trembling uncontrollably.
The Chamberlain left after saying that he would come to take her to the palace in a week, but Edelis remained kneeling and could not get up.
This can’t be. This can’t be. Imperial Consort? In the book I saw, I was always the Empress. I thought I was going to become the Empress… Could it be that I become the Empress after becoming the Emperor’s consort?
No.
The Emperor’s voice in her memory was much younger than the Emperor’s voice she had heard at her debutante ball.
Therefore, even if she became a consort, it should not be the Emperor’s consort. She should become the Crown Prince’s consort.
Her head became dizzy.
Unlike the future she knew, an unknown present had appeared.
First, I need to check the book.
She could not remain sitting there forever.
She had only one week.
Leaving her father behind as he told her not to worry because he would find a solution, Edelis immediately got up and ran to the study, where she pulled out the book.
She quickly found the pages where she had appeared and looked through them.
No matter how many times she checked, the book clearly called her the “Empress.”
Then is this book not true? But then, what was Rehan, who actually existed in the arena?
Unable to explain any of this, Edelis’s head began to ache.
“My lady.”
Rehan opened the door to the study and entered.
As he had done before, Rehan helped Edelis up from the floor and sat her down on a nearby couch.
“Rehan…”
“I also heard the exact details from the Count just a little while ago.”
“They said I’m going to become the Emperor’s consort… I-I don’t know the story where I become the Emperor’s consort. I don’t know such a story…”
Edelis muttered to herself in confusion.
Rehan thought her current state was serious, so he first tried to calm her down.
“Everything will be all right.”
“What should I do if I become the Emperor’s consort? What if I become the Empress later?”
“My lady, it will be all right.”
“How can you be sure of that?!”
Edelis did not even know exactly what she was saying. She rambled out the thoughts circling in her head, and eventually became angry at the man who was trying to comfort her.
It was the worst.
It really was the worst.
“I’m sorry…”
“It is all right.”
Seeing his bitter smile, Edelis finally began to regain some awareness of reality.
Right.
She was still only a candidate for Imperial Consort. She had not become one yet.
So she had to avoid becoming the Emperor’s consort.
“Rehan, let’s run away. Before, you said we should go together if I ever left home, right? I’ve prepared everything. We can leave now. We can secretly ride horses at night and…”
Ever since Edelis had thought of the option of running away, she had always been preparing for it.
So even if she ran away from home this time, she would not have to worry about running out of money for a while.
“My lady, it is not that I am saying I do not want to. It is just that you wanted to stay with the Count, did you not?”
But Rehan seemed to think differently and said this regretfully.
Rehan knew that Edelis wanted to continue living at home.
She looked the most comfortable when she was at home, and Edelis had often said so herself.
“I do! I want to! But I can’t do everything just because I want to…”
In the end, Edelis became so overwhelmed with emotion that tears burst from her eyes.
After crying for a long while, Edelis suddenly raised her head and grabbed Rehan’s shoulders.
She had thought of a way to stay at home without obeying the Emperor’s order.
“I have an idea.”
“What is it?”
“We just need to make the Emperor refuse to marry me.”
“Do you have a way?”
Edelis’s eyes turned toward the sword hanging from Rehan’s waist.
“I can get a scar on my face.”
“What?”
That method would certainly allow her to remain at the estate, and the Emperor would refuse to marry Edelis.
Edelis steeled herself and told Rehan, who still seemed unable to believe his own ears,
“If I do it myself, I don’t think I’ll be able to do it properly because it will hurt. So will you help me?”
“Absolutely not!”
“No. I think it will be fine if you just go slash once.”
Rehan, who had turned pale, desperately tried to stop her.
“I will help you so that we can stay together.”
“It has to be a little deep. If it’s too shallow, it won’t leave a scar.”
“…I will help you in another way.”
“There is another way?”
Edelis had actually been afraid because she thought it would hurt.
But when Rehan said there was another way, she was extremely relieved.
At the same time, she was worried that it might not be a certain method.
If they failed to act in time, she would have to go to the Imperial Palace.
“Would you be all right even if it is a dishonorable method?”
Edelis nodded.
No matter how dishonorable it was, she thought it was better than having her head cut off and being accused of treason.
She would rather die than become the consort of that Emperor.
But she did not actually want to die either.
So choosing dishonor would be better.
“If possible, use a method that doesn’t hurt.”
Rehan pressed his forehead against Edelis’s forehead as she wore a determined expression.
He gently stroked Edelis’s cheek and whispered softly.
She was flustered because she had never faced him from such a close distance before.
“I will come tonight, so please send the maid away so she does not come in.”
“Are we running away? Should I pack a bag?”
Rehan’s eyes widened for a moment, then he smiled with the corners of his eyes gently curving.
“No. I will prepare everything and come. Please wait for me.”
Even though it was deep into the night, Edelis could not sleep and paced around her room.
She had already told the maid that she was too tired and would go to bed early.
She had also said that she hoped there would not be much noise outside, so tonight there would be no one coming to her room except during the regular patrols.
After a while, she heard a quiet knock.
Unable to hold herself back, she ran over and quietly opened the door.
“Rehan!”
She could not call out loudly, but her voice clearly showed how happy she was to see him.
As soon as Rehan carefully entered the room, he immediately closed the door.
As soon as the door shut, Rehan spoke with a serious expression.
“My lady, are you really sure you are all right with this?”
“It won’t hurt, right?”
“It shouldn’t hurt.”
Even as he said this, Rehan wore a stiff expression as he pulled out a dagger with a blue-green handle from inside his clothes.
Edelis did not want to be stabbed with a knife like she had seen in the book.
It was already enough that she had witnessed “Edelis Cronad” being stabbed in the book.
Then why is he taking out a knife?
If fate followed the way she had seen in the book, she would eventually be killed by the Emperor’s knife anyway.
She certainly did not want to be stabbed before even becoming Empress.
Of course, who would want to be stabbed?
“My lady, are you really all right even if it is dishonorable?”
Edelis was bothered by the dagger in Rehan’s hand.
She had no doubt that Rehan would not stab her like the Emperor, but her eyes kept stealing glances at the hand holding the dagger.
“Are you really going to use that method in the end?”
Edelis quietly closed her eyes and held out her face.
She squeezed her eyes shut as she prepared herself to endure the pain that was about to come.
“You are not the one who will be in pain, my lady, so you can open your eyes.”
That sounded a little strange.
If I am not the one who will be in pain, then that means someone other than me will be.
Still frowning, Edelis managed to open one eye.
Without giving her a chance to say anything, Rehan strode toward the bed.
He placed one knee on the bed, climbed onto it, pulled back the blanket, and then cut his own palm with the dagger.
