William quickly returned to the ballroom. Larisa was still dancing with an unknown man.
He found Julianna sitting and resting, approached, and asked, “Which dance is this?”
“Oh, William oppa!”
“I asked, which dance?”
“It’s the twelfth.”
William sighed, “Aren’t you tired?”
“Even if I’m a knight trainee, would I get tired already? Training would be more challenging.”
It wasn’t about sending her to the knight academy. He should have torn apart the dance card. William looked at Larisa, who was chattering with her partner, and swallowed a sigh.
Julianna’s laughter, chuckling while sharing some amusing story, was infectious. Larisa rarely laughed so joyfully when conversing with him, especially nowadays, entering adolescence, she often responded with sharpness rather than laughter. But with an unknown man, she was laughing so happily.
“William oppa?”
William snapped out of his thoughts. Julianna was staring at him.
“If you’re willing to dance, would you like to dance with me? There’s an empty slot.”
“…Sure.”
“Really?”
Julianna thought she would be rejected, but William accepted and wrote his name on Julianna’s dance card.
“Thank you so much!”
“It’s just a dance, nothing special.”
Right, just a dance. It wouldn’t change anything by merely dancing. William composed himself.
“I thought you would reject, oppa.”
He wasn’t so heartless as to openly give her the cold shoulder, considering he was Larisa’s friend.
“I’ve never heard you say that until now.”
“My thoughts have changed.”
“Why? Are you thinking about marriage now?”
“Marriage?”
William dumbfoundedly responded to the unexpected topic.
“No, just thought maybe since oppa is getting older, you might be considering entering the marriage market.”
“No, I’m not thinking about marriage yet.”
Just as a song ended, Larisa spotted William and approached with a smile.
“William, are you here? How’s the princess doing?”
“I escorted her to the Star Palace.”
“Is everything going well?”
“What?”
Larisa playfully smiled and poked him.
“Isn’t it going well with the princess?”
“It’s not like that.”
Larisa smirked and wiped her forehead with the handkerchief William took out, the one given by the princess.
Surprised, Larisa sniffed the handkerchief.
“Is it the scent of lilacs? Did you spray perfume?”
“I didn’t spray it.”
“Then who did? Maybe the princess?”
“…”
“The flower language of lilacs…”
William said as he took back the handkerchief.
“It’s none of your concern.”
Larisa replied firmly. Unintentionally, she stepped back. Just then, the next dance partner approached.
“Larisa Yang, I’ve been waiting.”
“Oh, yes.”
As the next dance began, Larisa returned to the dance floor. William sighed.
“Should we dance too?”
William grabbed Julianna’s hand belatedly. Even while dancing, William’s gaze followed Larisa.
More precisely, he was fixated on Larisa’s dance partner.
“Hey, William, are you not staring too much?”
William asked Julianna.
“Who’s that?”
“Who?”
“The guy dancing with Larisa. Do you know him too?”
“No.”
William’s expression hardened. Julianna tried to justify for Larisa.
“Still, since you’re both in the knight department, you might know Larisa well, right?”
It seemed that way since they were laughing so heartily. The point that irked William was that the person was not in the same grade as Larisa.
“Isn’t he in the same graduation year?”
“I heard so.”
But how can someone older dare to get close to Larisa? William was about to get angry but then realized that he was the oldest here.
“But Larisa is still young.”
She still needed someone to protect her. And he felt obliged to take care of Larisa in place of her indifferent mother.
William vowed to talk to Larisa later.
Larisa danced tirelessly until the end of the ball. Thanks to her, William also stayed at the ballroom until the end.
Some couples left in the middle, so the ballroom became less crowded than in the beginning.
“Ah, I’m exhausted.”
“Are you tired?”
Larisa said as she collapsed onto the table.
“This uses different muscles from training, so it’s challenging again.”
“That’s true; you should have done it in moderation.”
“Willi, were you staying back to nag?”
William sat down next to Larisa.
“You weren’t dancing much, why did you stay back?”
“I was waiting for you.”
“For me? Why?”
“To go home together.”
Upon hearing this, Alexander, who was standing nearby, flinched.
“Isn’t it usually the duty of the cavalier of the day to escort you home?”
“No need for that. Alexander, you must be tired too. Go ahead.”
William said with a chilly gaze. Alexander hesitated for a moment, then bowed his head and stepped back.
Even as people left one by one, Larisa remained slumped on the table. It was an undignified sight, but no one criticized her.
William spoke to Julianna.
“You two take the Lohengrin carriage and go ahead. I’ll take Larisa.”
“Oh, sure.”
In an uneasy atmosphere, Julianna and Amy greeted and disappeared. Larisa, with a tired body, struggled to get up.
“Why? Were you going to nag me?”
“Yes.”
William said with a cold expression.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
