“Lorirolls Young-shik confessed that he fell for me at first sight, and I developed feelings for him too due to his boldness. When a man and woman who like each other are in a room together, how can they not start dating?”

Lorencia was smiling at Anne, but in her heart, she was ruminating on the dirty deeds Anne had tried to make her do through Lorirolls. A twisted emotion mixed with anger welled up inside her.

“As Lady Anne said, he has good manners and is a nice person. He’s too good for me.”

“No. Don’t date him.”

“Why not? Didn’t you lock us in a room together so we could become lovers?”

“No! You have Prince Ruans.”

“Prince Ruans is not my lover.”

“You ungrateful thing! Do you not know thanks to whom you became the young lady of the Pol Heredian Count family?”

“Thanks to Prince Ruans.”

“If you know that, then.”

Anne raised her hand mercilessly. There was a sharp slapping sound. Lorencia’s head whipped to the side from the impact of Anne’s palm.

“Don’t date Lorirolls Young-shik!”

“I don’t want to. I like Lorirolls Young-shik.”

Anne raised her hand again, took a breath, and then struck the exact same spot with even more force than before. Pain flared up on Lorencia’s skin as if it was on fire.

“When I say no, it means no!”

“I’m going to meet Lorirolls Young-shik. He’s my first lover.”

At Lorencia’s words, Anne swung her hand again. Lorencia’s weak body staggered and stumbled. But she gritted her teeth and straightened her upper body with effort.

“When I tell you not to meet him, don’t meet him!”

“Why are you doing this? I’m truly curious why you’re acting as if something troublesome would happen if I meet him, Lady Anne.”

At Lorencia’s words, Anne’s face turned pale blue.

“It seems it is troublesome indeed.”

Lorencia slowly raised her head, which had been lowered, and swept back her red hair that had fallen forward. Her violet eyes were slightly revealed beneath her long lashes.

“You should have prevented an irreparable accident beforehand.”

Lorencia warned Anne with a chillingly nonchalant face, as if all emotions had been washed away by a sudden shower. A chill ran down Anne’s spine. She could clearly feel that she was being provoked.

“As a member of the Pol Heredian family, there’s no such thing as an irreparable accident. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said. Listen carefully, Lorencia. If by any chance you don’t break up with Lorirolls Young-shik, I’ll kill that kitten.”

Anne threatened leisurely. If she was being provoked, she might as well provoke back.

And she judged that this threat would work effectively on Lorencia. And that judgment was correct.

“If you want to save the cat, you’d better behave properly.”

“I’m sorry, Lady Anne. When Lorirolls Young-shik visits tomorrow, I’ll break up with him. So please don’t touch Leo.”

Lorencia bowed her waist and head to Anne.

“Good. You should have acted like this from the start.”

“I’m sorry. Please don’t kill Leo. I’ll sort things out with him tomorrow.”

Returning to her room, Lorencia laughed softly. Then she looked at her face reflected in the mirror. Her cheek that had been hit repeatedly was swollen and red. After some time, a blue bruise would appear around her eye. It wasn’t a big deal as it wasn’t the first or second time she had been bruised.

Lorencia sat down on the bed absentmindedly. She sat still for a while, lost in thought. Before she knew it, it had become late at night. She rose from her seat at the sight of starlight pouring in through the terrace window.

And having finished her thoughts, Lorencia opened the terrace door wide, like someone who had made a decision. Lorencia walked to the edge of the terrace railing and looked up at the moon. She raised the corners of her mouth as she gazed at the soft moonlight.

Lorencia unfastened the amethyst necklace she was wearing. After examining the amethyst reflecting in the moonlight, Lorencia collapsed on the spot with a painful groan. Although her eyes were tightly shut, they were covered in tears and saliva. Her hair stuck to her forehead and cheeks with cold sweat from the burning pain. She endured for a long time, tightly clutching the amethyst necklace in her fist and covering her mouth.

Ruans visited the Pol Heredian Count’s residence. And he looked for Lorencia. He felt that Lorencia was different from usual today.

“Prince Ruans. I learned social dancing for the first time yesterday.”

“Social dancing? That’s right. Your debutante is coming up soon, Lorencia. Wasn’t the dance difficult?”

“The teacher who taught me was so nice. And……”

Lorencia’s voice gradually became quieter in response to Ruans’s question. She also seemed to be squirming, looking somewhat embarrassed.

“It’s good that the teacher taught you well.”

“Yes. The teacher has good manners, and is just good in every way.”

“It’s fortunate that Lady Anne prepared a good dance teacher.”

Lorencia’s face, which looked strangely excited, seemed very unfamiliar to Ruans. Ruans carefully examined her face. And as he was about to sweep her red hair back with a slow movement, he saw that Lorencia’s cheek was swollen and red. It seemed she had been hit by Brant or Anne.

“Were you hit again?”

“It’s fine.”

Ruans asked, suppressing the rising irritation. He hated the emotional expenditure of having to pretend to worry about the injured Lorencia. He had told them to hit where it wouldn’t be visible, but they ignored that and left marks on visible places.

Her face already looked hideous with no cheek fat, and now with her cheek swollen, it looked even more grotesque.

“Alright. If you say it’s fine, that’s good. Apply a compress later.”

Ruans said kindly while stroking Lorencia’s red hair.

“Yes.”

“By the way, Lorencia. Did you have any dreams?”

“As a matter of fact, I did have a dream.”

“Tell me what it was.”

“I dreamed that in the Polloid Empire, a beautiful princess and Prince Adrian were having their engagement ceremony.”

Ruans smiled with satisfaction. This confirmed it. That the power of the monster had definitely awakened.

“Lorencia, your dream is correct. Princess Charlotte of the Polloid Empire is in the imperial palace.”

“Could it be that my dream was true?”

“Yes. This confirms it. Lorencia, you indeed have prophetic dreams. Now listen carefully to what I say. There must be a rule to your prophetic dreams.”

“A rule?”

“For example, every time you sleep while thinking of me, you dream about something related to me.”

“Is that so? Isn’t Prince Adrian’s engagement unrelated to you, Prince Ruans?”

Lorencia bit her lip. She wore an expression that showed she didn’t quite understand what Ruans was saying. Whenever this happened, Ruans would get frustrated. Lorencia listened to his words intently, paying even more attention. Still, she slightly furrowed her brow as if she didn’t quite understand.

“You seem unable to concentrate on what I’m saying today.”

“I think it’s because I’m feeling unwell.”

“Unwell, you say?”

Ruans looked at Lorencia’s cheek once again. He thought it was an exaggeration for her to say she was in pain now, when she usually got hit to that extent.

“I think my body was shocked from dancing social dances for several hours yesterday. And my cheek hurts, and today I have a promise……”

“Lorencia. Do you think it makes sense to foolishly dance social dances for hours? You should dance in moderation. Why are you overexerting yourself? Did you enjoy learning social dance that much? Or did you enjoy being in a man’s arms?”

“……”

“Lorencia. Are you not answering my question? Answer quickly.”

“I’ll answer. I was just thinking for a moment.”

“Thinking?”

“Yes. I was thinking about your question, Prince Ruans.”

“Lorencia. I’ve told you before, don’t think about anything and just follow what I say. Why do you keep disobeying me? This is why you keep getting scolded.”

“You’re right, Your Highness. But I couldn’t help thinking about that person when you asked the question.”

Lorencia’s cheeks turned as red as the evening sunset. She even wore an indelible smile on her lips.

“I mean your question, Prince Ruans, about whether I enjoyed learning social dance or if I enjoyed being in a man’s arms.”

“Did that sound like a question to you, Lorencia?”

It was meant to be sarcastic. But something was a bit strange. If it were the usual Lorencia, she would have first said, ‘I’m sorry, Prince Ruans. Please don’t misunderstand.’

But Lorencia took his words as a question and said she was thinking about it. Ruans looked at Lorencia suspiciously, trying to understand the current situation.

“I think you’re right, Prince Ruans.”

“What’s right? Speak quickly, it’s frustrating!”

“Thinking about it, I think I did enjoy being in that man’s arms, as you said, Prince Ruans.”

“Lorencia. Are you telling me right now, in front of me, that you enjoyed being in another man’s arms?”

“I didn’t know I would feel this way either.”

“I’m flabbergasted.”

“Lady Anne introduced him as a good gentleman. She said he would be my debutante escort and first dance partner. Lady Anne was right. He really is a good gentleman.”

“No, wait….. Lorencia.”

Ruans listened calmly to Lorencia’s story.

“Yesterday, he told me he fell for me at first sight.”

Ruans did his best to think, trying to understand what Lorencia was saying.

“And after the dance lesson yesterday, before we parted, he confessed to me.”

“Confessed, you say?”

“I can’t believe it either, and I’m sure you can’t believe it too, Prince Ruans?”

Lorencia is 19 years old, but she is ugly and plain.

What man would fall for such a girl at first sight? Unless he’s mad, he wouldn’t confess. If not that, then Lorencia must be lying to him. That must be it. But there’s no reason for her to lie either.

“We decided to start dating from yesterday.”

“That’s impossible. What kind of lowlife…”

Ruans was flustered and pressed his lips, somehow suppressing the curses that were about to flow out. What kind of man did Anne assign as a dance teacher?

“He’s supposed to come to the Count’s residence today to pick me up. We’re going to have what’s called a date.”

“Wait, Lorencia. Did you say a date?”

“Yes.”

“What about me, who came to see you?”

“I’m planning to go on the date after you leave, Your Highness.”

“No, what am I to you, the one who comes to see you?”

“Huh? Why are you asking that?”

“Tell me straight.”

“We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Friends? You think of me as a friend, Lorencia?”

“Yes. You’re the one who asked to be friends, Prince Ruans.”

He had deliberately come to her room in the tower and became her friend. She was so happy. But she didn’t know. That the beginning of friendship would be the moment she received a poisoned cup.

– Knock knock

After the knock, a maid said, “Lorirolls Young-shik has arrived. He has been guided to the reception room.” Lorencia only told Ruans she would go see him and left the room. Ruans was left alone in the room.