The man who had been trained as a knight moved her, and there was nothing Mercedes could do about it.

What Lucas did was a movement completely different from the waltz that should have continued.

She instinctively grabbed onto Lucas.

Lucas also pretended to hold her while offering his arm. Of course, she had no choice but to fall. It was only a ‘pretense’ of holding her.

‘Ah, this is…’

Mercedes realized everything the moment she fell.

Whether it was the Empress Dowager or someone else, they had set up a situation by attaching a man with a good reputation to create a scandal for her.

The troubled look on Lucas’s face immediately reminded her that she had to get through this situation well.

She was no longer so helpless, and her mind was filled with various schemes.

So, at the moment of falling, she showed her wit. With her right foot hidden beneath the voluminous hem of her dress, where no one could see, she deliberately bent it and then firmly stepped on it with her left foot.

“Ugh.”

A groan escaped, but she could endure it.

This should have properly sprained her ankle. The fall looked a bit worse, but it was tolerable.

Meanwhile, Lucas minimized contact with her and pretended to roughly support her as she fell, putting on a troubled expression.

Then he fidgeted in front of Mercedes, who had fallen to the floor. He had to reach out his hand to help her up, but it seemed disrespectful.

The maids who were watching were shocked and tried to rush over, but Lucas spoke first. His endlessly kind face was still crumpled.

As if he was very upset.

“Please understand that I cannot help you up. I am a knight who has sworn loyalty to the Emperor. Your Majesty the Empress is behaving in a troubling manner, so I cannot lay my hands on you.”

Then he said something strange.

Mercedes first assessed the atmosphere and deliberately did not get up with effort.

The atmosphere was cold and filled with murmurs.

She waited for people’s words to subside a little, then deliberately raised her voice and spoke loudly.

“Ah. I did something troubling, didn’t I? Sir Lucas. What did I do?”

At Mercedes’ attitude, which was much calmer than expected, a look of surprise passed over Lucas’s face for a moment. But soon he managed his expression and spoke with a sigh.

“Didn’t you try to throw yourself into my arms? I’m sorry for pushing you away, but I had no choice.”

Then he looked down at her with cold eyes.

“If you think His Majesty the Emperor is not enough and want to find someone else, go ahead. I cannot do that. I’ve seen many young ladies faint because of their corsets to gauge the other person’s interest, but you shouldn’t do that to me.”

At Lucas’s cold voice, the approaching maids froze.

They had to show loyalty to Mercedes, but somehow the atmosphere was flowing in a strange direction. There were too many eyes from high society for them to rush to the Empress’s side right away.

Mercedes did not bother to get up from the floor.

“I threw myself into Sir Lucas’s arms?”

“There’s no other way to interpret how you acted.”

“Ah…”

Mercedes looked at him, then bowed her head deeply. The sight was so pitiful yet… strangely impure, making people swallow their saliva and wait for the next reaction. It really seemed like there was something going on.

When Mercedes raised her head again, there were tears in her eyes.

“Ah, ugh.”

She groaned and moved her body a little.

“What are you doing? Are you putting on some kind of act?”

Lucas asked coldly.

She couldn’t shout or argue back here. Lucas had a very good reputation and was well-known. On the contrary, she was more famous than anyone else, but her reputation was still ambiguous.

If a fight broke out, people would really feel as if she had tried to throw herself into his arms.

“Ugh. I thought it was strange that you kept stepping oddly.”

Her voice was trembling. And her appearance was innocent, lovely, and pitiable.

It made people much more curious about what she would say next than Lucas’s trustworthy voice.

This. Isn’t it quite interesting?

Lucas’s claim that the Empress tried to throw herself into his arms, as if to say ‘the Empress is a wanton woman.’ And the Empress is trying to refute it.

What opinion will it be? What incident could it be? Whatever it is, it will surely be proper gossip. There definitely seemed to be something between the knight Lucas, who looked reliable, and the innocent-looking Empress.

The nobles approached the two as elegantly as possible, desperately leaning in to listen.

At that moment.

Another tear dropped from Mercedes’ pale and beautiful face. At that moment, Mercedes was surprised and flustered for a very brief moment.

Her eyes had gotten wet from the pain as a physical reaction.

But she thought that would be all. It had been over ten years since she had last shed tears. At some point, she had stopped shedding tears even when being hit with a leather belt.

So this time too, she thought her crying act would fail.

But tears were coming out.

Was it because she was thinking of Carlos lately, or had her acting skills improved while training with Bruno?

‘Anyway, it’s fortunate.’

She simply evaluated her own tears like that and slowly raised her head. Tears flowed from her beautiful green eyes.

Mercedes crying looked like a sorrowful masterpiece painted by the goddess of beauty.

It was so pitiful and… even sacred.

Everyone watching held their breath.

But that made the situation even more peculiar.

Sir Lucas had a very good reputation and was not one to lay his hands on a woman recklessly.

But as soon as such a knight acted coldly, the woman shed tears as if she was playing a trick.

A woman’s tears sometimes easily resolved situations. Especially if it was a beautiful woman like Mercedes.

So maybe she was trying to divert attention with tears to resolve the situation now that her impure intentions had been discovered.

The nobles in the banquet hall were lost in their own thoughts. However, everyone was convinced that this moment was an incident that must be witnessed.

An extremely reliable and handsome knight with a good status and overwhelming popularity, and a beautiful Empress! Of course, they had to keep their eyes peeled.

Reporters took out their notebooks and wrote something down like crazy. The newspaper artists next to them quickly made sketches of the scene.

“That’s right. It was strange. But I thought the missteps were… a mistake made by the gentleman. And I thought it was a lady’s virtue to cover up a gentleman’s mistake…. So I endured it….”

Mercedes, who was continuing her words, let out a whimper.

At that, Lucas’s eyebrows slanted even more. He couldn’t understand what she was talking about at all.

Except for the fact that the woman was crying beautifully.

Lucas knew how perfect his reputation was, so he believed he could handle this Empress, who had only recently shed the false charges of being a seductress and a murderer, with his words alone.

That’s why he accepted the Empress Dowager’s proposal. The Empress Dowager also trusted him.

Of course, she didn’t trust only Lucas. She thought the much more refined atmosphere of the banquet compared to before would be enough to allay the Emperor’s vigilance.

Unable to assess the situation, Lucas put his hand on his forehead. Then he shook his head from side to side. He only needed to corner her anyway.

“What are you talking about? If you’re trying to pull some strange trick-”

“Lifting a skirt is a woman’s shame. But, ugh. Rather than being wronged… it’s better to be ashamed.”

The grand banquet hall where even the music had stopped. At that moment when everyone’s tension reached its peak.

Mercedes closed her eyes and pulled up the hem of her dress. Since it was summer, she wasn’t wearing stockings, so everyone could see her bare calves.

“Gasp…!”

And they all held their breath.

Mercedes was wearing shoes that exposed the top of her feet. Thanks to that, the top of her foot that she had stepped on herself and the ankle above it were torn and bleeding profusely.

The injury couldn’t have happened long ago, but her ankle was already swollen. It was clear how swollen it would become as time passed.

It was a very gruesome injury. So gruesome that no one could think she had inflicted it on herself.

That was Mercedes’ ploy.

This much didn’t even hurt her. Maybe it was because of the long abuse.

But.

‘Oh no. The wound is too big….’

It seemed she had stepped on it too hard.

The wound made by the pointed heel of women’s shoes had a different shape than a wound made by men’s shoes.

She thought she should fix her skirt appropriately before people found it strange, but for now she revealed the injury.

“Oh my god.”

“What should we do? What is that?”

Sympathetic voices burst out from all around.

“Sir Lucas. I… I just thought your dancing was clumsy. Is that my sin? Is it a trick that I tried my best to match your dance?”

Mercedes looked at Lucas with a tearful voice, gripping the bloodstained lining of her skirt tightly and shaking her shoulders.

It seemed she was very ashamed to have to expose her leg because of this situation.

Soon, the gaze of all the nobles shifted to the thick, high-quality shoes Lucas was wearing. Sturdy shoes that could injure that woman’s foot and still have some left over.

“I endured it. Because that’s the courtesy I owe to the one who asked me to dance and showed me goodwill. But suddenly throwing me down and saying such things…. What did I do- ugh, wrong?”

Mercedes appealed with a groan.

And at the same time, the maids who had finished assessing the situation rushed to take care of Mercedes.

The timing was good.

The maids rushed over before people could question the shape of the wound while in shock, so they could quickly arrange the hem of her skirt to hide the injury again.

“Your Majesty. Are you alright?”

“What is going on?”

“What do we do….”

The maids fussed over her even more to make up for being late while mindful of the eyes of high society. Mercedes leaned on Reina and pretended to wipe her tears, bowing her head.

It was an act she put on because the tears had stopped when she wanted them to keep flowing a little more. With three maids shielding her, she thought she could roughly fake it by just rubbing her eyes.

And now… everyone was looking at Lucas. The murmurs grew louder and Lucas was looking at Mercedes with a bewildered expression.

“What the hell. What is this…. I did not do such a thing. How long have I been in high society, and you say my steps got tangled?”

‘If you raise your voice, it’s a losing battle.’

Mercedes had no choice but to inwardly sneer at him. He probably didn’t pick a fight without knowing it.

“Move aside.”

And at that moment.

Carlos walked over.