“Ed……”

My voice calling for Edwin was drowned out by the scream-like sound that followed.

“La-Lady Camilla!”

“Lady Camilla, are you alright?”

The two women guarding Camilla quickly helped her up.

Even in the original work, they always accompanied her. Are they Camilla’s guardians?

“Lady Camilla, your dress……”

“We need to go to the powder room.”

Camilla’s white dress was covered in all sorts of party food.

It seemed that as she fell, Camilla had desperately grabbed the tablecloth, having nothing else to hold onto.

This is what they call reaping what you sow.

“Lady Daisy, I won’t forget today’s incident.”

Daisy flinched and hunched her shoulders at Camilla’s voice full of malice.

“I saw Lady Daisy and was so excited that I pulled her arm, but both of you almost got seriously hurt.”

Daisy’s eyes widened as she glanced at me upon hearing my voice. She let out a low exclamation of “Ah,” then looked back at Camilla.

“If by today’s incident you mean Lady Camilla falling… Lady Camilla suddenly fell towards me, and I almost fell too. Shouldn’t you be apologizing to me instead?”

“Are you telling me to apologize?”

As Camilla raised her voice in anger, Edwin suddenly took off his outer coat.

“My lady. You must have been quite startled.”

“Well, not too……”

Just as Camilla was about to answer, thinking Edwin had asked her, his outer coat gently settled on Daisy’s shoulders.

“Are you alright, my lady.”

Watching this scene up close, Camilla ran her hand through her hair as if in disbelief.

She glared at Edwin with a look that said, “What is this?” Her gaze soon turned to me.

“Who are you?”

At Camilla’s question, I immediately removed my mask. Camilla and her guardians’ eyes widened simultaneously.

“Pardon my late introduction. I am Rosebelia Winters, the eldest daughter of the Winters family.”

“Oh my, that rumored greatest beauty in the empire……”

“Aren’t you that noble lady who joined the White Knight Order as a woman?”

Unlike Camilla, who was eyeing me with displeasure, Camilla’s guardians showed great interest in me.

“That’s correct.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen you up close, and you truly are beautiful.”

“I heard even skilled individuals find it difficult to pass the White Knight Order’s entrance exam, but there was quite a commotion a few years ago when a noble lady joined.”

Camilla, who had been quietly listening to the two, smiled sarcastically.

“I heard there are some female knights in the White Knight Order, but what’s so great about becoming a White Knight? For a noble lady, finding a good marriage partner is more important. No matter how beautiful, who would like a woman who swings a sword around?”

“Lady Camilla, you’re going too far. Lady Rosebelia is so amazing……”

I gently pulled back Daisy’s arm as she was about to rush towards Camilla, and showed a wide smile.

“Everyone has different values, so you might think that way. Lady Camilla, you seem like you would make a wonderful wife. I sincerely hope you find a good husband as well.”

“Who’s worrying about whom now? I’m promised to marry the Second Prince. There’s no better match in the empire, you know?”

“I see.”

Instead of adding more, I fixed my gaze on a man visible over Camilla’s shoulder. A man with floppy green hair was flirting with some woman.

That man seems to be the Second Prince.

I had seen him in Rosebelia’s memories. The Second Prince, whom Rosebelia briefly encountered at a banquet, was someone she detested for his arrogance and womanizing ways.

“Where are you looking while talking to me……”

Camilla’s face flickered with confusion as she realized where my gaze had stopped.

“Oh my, isn’t that the Second Prince over there?”

“Lady Camilla, the Second Prince is……”

“I must go to the powder room right away.”

Camilla glared at Daisy and me with burning eyes. She also glared at Edwin, who was still cleverly blocking our way, before turning around.

Well done, Edwin, for putting Camilla in her place and giving your coat to Daisy.

As I was sending a message of praise to Edwin with my eyes, a faint touch grasped the hem of my dress.

“Lady Rosebelia, you’ve saved me again.”

“Pardon?”

Huh? This isn’t the picture I wanted.

“If it weren’t for you, Lady Rosebelia, I would have surely fallen with Lady Camilla. Maybe I would have fallen alone.”

“Ah, that… Rather than saying I saved you, I just helped a little. Wouldn’t you say the one who saved us is this gentleman here? Our dresses were almost covered in wine.”

I gently pulled Edwin’s arm as he stood there motionless. Then, kneeling on one knee, Edwin kissed Daisy’s hand and said,

“I am Edwin Holton, my lady.”

“Ah, Lord Holton. Thank you for your help.”

“We’ve met once before at the Knight Order.”

As Edwin stood up and removed his mask, Daisy recognized him.

“Ah, you’re the knight who was beside Lady Rosebelia then.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Now it was time for the two of them to have a pleasant conversation. As I tried to quietly step back, I found I couldn’t move for some reason.

Glancing down, I saw Daisy’s hand still firmly holding the hem of my dress. Just as I was about to say I should leave, Daisy looked at me and suddenly said,

“Lady Rosebelia, you’re truly amazing.”

“Me? Why?”

“You didn’t cower in front of Lady Camilla and said everything you wanted to say.”

“But you did the same, Lady Daisy.”

Daisy touched her cheek, seemingly a bit embarrassed.

“This is the first time I’ve said what I wanted to say. I thought I wanted to be like you, Lady Rosebelia… You can subdue even men with your sword, so I felt I shouldn’t lose in a mere war of words.”

Did I hear that right?

To witness my favorite character’s awakening, which I hadn’t seen in the original work, right before my eyes.

And to think she decided to change because of me!

Daisy, who had always endured Camilla’s treatment without properly fighting back. Knowing the frustration Daisy must have felt in the original work made this moment even more touching.

“That was very admirable, my lady.”

At Edwin’s quiet words, who had been silently listening to our conversation, Daisy’s face reddened.

“Such words don’t suit me.”

“No, I thought it was admirable too.”

It wasn’t just empty words. Daisy, who had firmly spoken her mind to Camilla today, was completely different from what I had seen in the original work.

Perhaps a great wind of change was starting for Daisy as well…

“Then… would you teach me how to use a sword?”

What?

How did it come to this conclusion?

*

“Your Highness, you said you were going to the party, why are you back so soon?”

“I didn’t want to run into Enoch.”

“Pardon? If that’s the case, wouldn’t it have been better not to go in the first place……”

Nathan, noticing Ian’s somewhat stiff expression, quickly closed his mouth.

“Have you become close with Captain Gabriel?”

Nathan, trying to change the subject tactfully, suddenly covered his mouth in shock.

‘Oh no, will he be displeased if I ask so bluntly?’

“Captain Gabriel?”

“Yes? You said you were going to build a friendship, Your Highness.”

“That’s right.”

“Wasn’t it with Captain Gabriel?”

Ian, slightly furrowing one eyebrow, tilted his head and asked,

“Why would I need to build a friendship with the Captain?”

“Pardon?”

‘My chest has been feeling a bit heavy lately, as if something’s weighing on it.’

‘When someone is next to a certain person, it irritates me. It feels like my insides are turning.’

Recalling what Ian had said to him before, Nathan was shocked.

‘It wasn’t Captain Gabriel? Wasn’t he trying to get closer because he admired Captain Gabriel? Then who was His Highness talking about?’

It was a skilled person who had sparred with the Prince and even injured him. And if they were a White Knight…

His train of thought stopped there.

‘No way, our Prince! He never showed any interest in women, but in the end……’

Nathan suddenly rushed in front of Ian. He grabbed Ian’s arm as he was unbuttoning his formal wear.

“Your Highness, absolutely not!”

“What suddenly can’t be done?”

“Please abandon those feelings immediately. If His Majesty finds out about this……”

It was then that the First Prince’s office door burst open.

“What is it that I shouldn’t know about?”

The one who appeared was Callisto, the Emperor of the Ponnes Empire.