Diana tightly closed her eyes and approached Trian.

“…What are you doing?”

“Would you like to dance with me?”

“…Are you serious?”

“…You have to keep an eye on me. I might stop dancing with someone else?”

Trian glared at Diana with suspicious eyes, but eventually took her hand.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

“…I don’t know either. Just dance.”

Although he probably never received proper education, he stepped perfectly.

“You’re quite skilled…?”

“Because I couldn’t survive otherwise.”

He said as he twirled Diana around once.

When he took her hand again, she could feel the hard calluses in his palm.

‘It’s a child’s hand but it’s rough… Even Raoul’s isn’t this bad…’

“Weren’t you angry?”

Trian asked, looking at her puffed cheeks.

“I was.”

“If you’re dancing even when you’re angry, I guess it really is a surveillance mission?”

“I told you it’s not like that.”

Diana glared at his irritating face and pouted her lips.

Honestly, she was still dumbfounded.

At least in this life, she wanted to kiss someone she loved. She never dreamed she would have her first kiss stolen like this.

The brazen lip thief looked down at her sullen face and thought.

‘If it’s not a surveillance mission, why did she ask me to dance?’

He could feel her glancing at him from time to time.

At first he thought she had a fierce appearance, but her expressions and actions were so innocent that his first impression was quickly erased.

‘…She said her father is Duke Carlyle. A founding family. I thought they were firmly on the Crown Prince’s side, but maybe the rumors that the imperial family has lost control are true.’

Diana had been closely examining Trian’s arms as they danced silently.

Between his wrist and sleeve, dark blue bruises were visible.

‘As I thought… Is he being beaten?’

Her mother was from a servant background, and even the servants in the palace envied Trian who was recognized as a prince.

With no maternal relatives to protect him, and the emperor bedridden and near death, Trian’s life was always precarious.

‘He seems a bit pitiful… too…’

Raoul who lost his homeland and became a slave, Ayla who was dragged away at a young age and put in a cage, and Trian who was abused despite being a prince – they were all pitiable.

‘Maybe because they’re main characters, they all have such tragic pasts…’

Diana gazed at the poor boy with sympathetic eyes, forgetting all about the kiss incident.

As the music changed, the dancing children exchanged final greetings.

Diana also curtsied to Trian, holding her skirt.

He watched Diana move away, then quietly shifted his position like a shadow.

‘Now, has he stopped monitoring?’

Just then, Peniche approached behind her and spoke warmly.

“Refreshments are prepared over there. Let’s go enjoy them together.”

‘She’s much friendlier than before. It seems the Hyperion family has firmly chosen Trian’s side.’

Diana went with Peniche to the chocolate fondue where Anya and Anthony were.

As Taylor Yeongsik was also there, they chatted for quite a while.

“Haha, you’ll be surprised when you see the paintings Taylor Yeongsik drew. It’s not a style that should be possible at this age. Even my mother praised them.”

“No, it’s an honor…”

Diana felt nervous being surrounded by so many people, so she drank several glasses of the prepared grape juice.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll be away for a moment…”

“Ah… Of course. Go out to the hallway and to the far left.”

The perceptive Peniche whispered in her ear.

By the time the ball was in full swing, Diana had just come out to the hallway after finishing some urgent business.

‘Huh…! Where am I!’

She momentarily forgot the fact that she had a terrible sense of direction.

‘Was it left from here? Or right?’

She was standing in front of numerous doors, hesitating, when:

“What are you doing there, Your Highness?”

“I’m royalty too. Is there any reason I can’t attend?”

“…Such insolent words again. A child who doesn’t know their place needs the rod.”

“Let go!”

“If discipline is needed, Her Highness the Princess ordered not to hesitate even with corporal punishment!”

Trian’s voice of resistance could be heard.

‘Where did he go!’

Diana hesitated.

‘What should I do…? Should I just go?’

She didn’t want to get involved with Trian anymore, but her eyes tightly shut at the sound of the whip.

Diana had a conscience. She wasn’t heartless enough to ignore an abused child.

Finally, Diana knocked on the guest room door.

The loud noise inside suddenly stopped at the sound of knocking.

Diana knocked on the door once more.

“…Who is it?”

“Ah… I’m sorry. I got lost, and I heard voices inside. Could I perhaps ask for directions?”

The door opened, revealing a woman hiding a whip and Trian.

He was disheveled and gritting his teeth like a wounded animal.

Their eyes met in the air.

“…Ah! Your Highness is here too? If it’s alright, would you like to return with me? Everyone was disappointed that you weren’t at the refreshment gathering… Let’s go together.”

Diana subtly pushed aside the woman who looked like a palace servant and reached out her hand.

Trian hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

“His Highness is not feeling well, so today…”

“…It’s fine. I’ll attend. If you have something to say, say it later.”

The woman’s eyes flashed sharply.

Diana grabbed his hand and headed to the banquet hall as if being chased by demons.

“Hurry… Hurry!”

“…”

“Are you alright?”

His sharply split eyes crumpled in anger.

“What are you doing?”

“What? I was trying to help…”

“Help? What if you got caught up in it too!”

Diana scratched her cheek for a moment and rolled her eyes.

‘…Even if he’s the protagonist, a child is still a child. No matter if they’re a palace servant, a mere underling couldn’t possibly hit a princess…’

He had been oppressed and brainwashed for so long that he couldn’t think rationally.

Diana sighed deeply and fixed his disheveled clothes.

“…Um… If it was something private you didn’t want exposed, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it out intentionally.”

“…It’s fine. Can’t undo what’s already been seen.”

“How long have you been enduring this?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’ll stop soon. I just have to endure until their anger subsides.”

“…Isn’t there anywhere you can ask for help?”

“Are you saying that sincerely?”

You think I’m saying it to make fun of you? Diana furrowed her brows in concern.

Trian brushed off Diana’s wrist with a sour expression.

“Enough, just go back. I don’t want to be comforted by an idiot who can’t even find their way.”

The two returned to the banquet hall.

The loud music, sharp gazes flying their way, and people avoiding getting involved – everything made them feel nauseous.

‘Why do we have to be treated like this? For me it’s just today, but Trian must have endured this every day.’

Diana was gesturing to Trian, about to join Peniche’s group, when:

Crash!

A sharp shattering sound instantly broke the warm atmosphere of the ballroom.

“Kyaaaa! Brother!”

The princess, who had been enjoying the ball arm-in-arm with the duke at the top of the central staircase, suddenly pushed through the crowd and ran to the center of the stage.

“Crown Prince!”

“Call the doctor immediately!”

Following the source of the voices, they turned to see Crown Prince Albert lying on the floor having a seizure.

‘What in the world is going on?’

Looking to the side, Trian’s pupils shook violently.

Diana stiffly turned her head, alternating her gaze between the princess and Trian.

A fleeting smile that no one noticed passed over the princess’s tearful face.

‘Anyone can see who the culprit is.’

Diana sensed it intuitively.

The princess had devised a plan to get rid of her brother Albert, who usually looked down on her, and Trian, who was a thorn in her side, all at once.

‘I thought the voice I heard on the terrace sounded familiar – it was the princess. Could it be that father was also involved in this scheme?’

Carlyle was securing Albert’s airway to prevent the Crown Prince from suffocating, and guarding the surroundings until the doctor arrived.

‘He’s genuinely shocked. He doesn’t know anything about this.’

The father Diana knew wasn’t a villain sly enough to put on a false act.

‘How was Trian caught in the original story? Was there no flashback scene?’

This novel was from Ayla’s first-person perspective, so it didn’t explain Trian’s past in detail.

Just then, the coroner dropped some of the wine Albert had drunk into a reagent.

“The color has changed…! It’s an attempted poisoning…!”

The noble ladies covered their mouths with fans they couldn’t fully open.

“My, my goodness, who on earth would do such a thing…!”

At that moment, the marquis appeared, reciting as if in a play with a resounding voice.

The princess’s maternal uncle.

He was a vile minion clinging to the princess, who was acting like a filial daughter to obtain mining rights from the emperor who was on his deathbed.

As the Crown Prince was urgently carried out on a stretcher, the marquis stepped forward to take control of the situation.

“To dare attempt to assassinate a member of the royal family, we must uncover this right here and now. Who knows if they might try to destroy evidence?”

He shouted, veins bulging in his neck and spittle flying.

“If there’s anyone who can testify, come forward now! Her Highness the Princess and His Highness the Crown Prince here will guarantee the witness’s safety!”

Just then, as if on cue, a servant who had been serving raised their hand.

“I-I will testify.”

“Come closer! Is there no one else who knows the glory?”

The nobles in the banquet hall were quiet, fearing they might be implicated.

Diana also bit her lips hard, not knowing what to do.

Trian, standing next to her, had a dark expression.