Chapter 63. The Worst Debutante Ball

2023.12.02.

The women chattering beside the Emperor suddenly fell silent and cautiously observed the Emperor’s expression.

The Emperor continued smiling, calmly nodding his head.

“Leave.”

For just a brief instant, Yuan caught a glimpse of Clade’s icy blue eyes—gleaming with sinister intent directed toward the Emperor.

No action that might displease the Emperor should ever be taken…! Yuan felt the urge to scold Clade for what he had just done.

But before that thought could fully form, an incident occurred.

Just as they had stepped aside from that difficult situation and stood side by side, waiting for the ball to begin.

A familiar flash of red hair rushed forward, bumped into them sharply—then collapsed dramatically onto the floor by herself.

“…Regina?”

“O-oh. S-sorry! I was in a hurry to get to the restroom!”

The murmuring crowd instantly fell silent.

Only then did Yuan notice Regina’s smoothly upturned lips and her malicious green eyes glittering with malice.

She saw how Regina swiftly snatched Clade’s mask the moment it came loose.

Regina had deliberately collided with Clade, nearly tumbling herself, just to expose his face.

Yuan gasped in shock and looked up at Clade.

Regina, meanwhile, raised her chin triumphantly, basking in the countless eyes now fixed upon her.

See?

‘How hideous the face beneath the mask truly is…’

Smirking at the girls standing dumbfounded, mouths agape in horror, Regina turned her gaze toward the Crown Prince, expecting to see him flustered.

“!”

“Did you take your eyes off the restroom and wander here?”

The man who irritably frowned and abruptly snatched back the mask was breathtakingly beautiful—like a vision that gripped one’s heart.

With a single sweep of his hand, he brushed back his slightly disheveled blond hair, revealing the Crown Prince’s flawless, immaculate complexion.

His noble, gorgeous purple eyes sparkled as if absorbing every glimmer from the chandeliers.

The Crown Prince, sculpted like a statue, tried to put the mask back on, but when it wouldn’t fit properly, he muttered something low and tossed it carelessly onto a servant’s tray carrying champagne glasses.

Every time Clade acted this way, time around him seemed to slow down unnaturally, as if someone had deliberately stretched it.

The heavy, suffocating silence, like being underwater, was finally broken by the musicians preparing for the first dance far across the hall.

As light tuning sounds echoed, signaling the start of the dance, groups of people began murmuring and moving toward their partners, starting the first dance from the farthest corners of the hall.

Regina stood frozen like a pillar of salt, her eyes fixed on the Crown Prince as he took Yuan’s hand and walked toward the center of the hall.

‘This can’t be real.’

She had clearly seen his grotesque face moments ago—one that even a mask couldn’t fully conceal.

She had seen his pitiful face, hunted by Emperor Igor, dragged away on a cart alongside beasts.

The monstrous, cursed face hidden beneath the half-removed mask—worse than any nightmare!

“Lady Regina. What is this commotion?”

Regina lifted her dazed face, following the force that had pulled her attention.

“You caused this scene, yet still expect Prince Bollonico to dance the first dance with you?”

Apparently aware of the stares drawn toward them, Bollonico sharply shook off Regina’s arm and clenched his teeth.

Yet Regina couldn’t shake the feeling that his furious glare wasn’t due to her causing a scene—but because all eyes were now on the Crown Prince.

That’s how it felt.

“G-get lost. Go dance your first dance with that horse-headed Dreykub, Lady Regina.”

It wasn’t until Bollonico finally flared his magnificent cloak and vanished from her sight that Regina snapped back to reality.

She instinctively raised her trembling hand, then flinched as mocking laughter pierced her ears, quickly turning away.

Girls standing opposite their partners in the hall openly sneered at Regina, their eyes dripping with ridicule.

‘No.’

No, this can’t be happening.

Panicking, Regina shook her head violently.

…There’s no way this worst possible debutante ball could be mine!

***

“Are you alright, Your Highness?”

“What about it?”

“Your face—”

“Why? Should I cover it?”

Yuan almost nodded.

After all, the intensity of stares fixed on Clade’s face as they walked into the center of the ballroom had been overwhelming.

He must have worn the mask precisely because he knew this would happen—even with a perfectly normal face.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why you?”

“It’s Regina. She probably bumped into you on purpose—because of me.”

“Regina?”

He instinctively straightened his posture, frowning slightly as if recalling the woman who had collided with him.

“That red-haired girl is Regina?”

“Yes. My cousin.”

“My wife has many enemies.”

“!”

Suddenly, music began. Before Yuan could even process the word “my” wife, she was swept into motion.

She barely heard the music.

Each time they spun, the ballgown crafted by the soul-sacrificing seamstress Mi-sse swelled and shrank like flower petals fluttering in the wind.

“So that’s your wife?”

As he mechanically took her waist and gently lifted her, Yuan quickly asked.

The warmth of his large hand seeped through the fabric, spreading across her waist and abdomen, touching her skin.

When his perfectly shaped lips remained tightly shut without answering, she prompted him.

“What?”

“…Then what is it?”

Not just someone forced into family ties by circumstance.

Not just a tiny figure reminiscent of his deceased younger sister.

But ‘my’ wife.

At that single word, a spring-blossom smile bloomed on Yuan’s lips.

The towering ceiling of the grand ballroom. The dazzling chandeliers hanging from above.

The sunlight streaming through the tall, narrow stained-glass windows, as high as four or five grown men.

The elegantly dressed people radiating perfume, their curious eyes fixed on her.

None of it registered.

Not even the mad Emperor who had been glaring unpleasantly, nor Bollonico who unsettled her.

Only Clade’s dry, emotionless face—his lips uttering the words “my wife”—filled her vision.

Clade, without even looking at her, acted as if he perfectly knew where her gaze was directed.

“Stop staring, madam.”

“!”

“Your eyes will bore right through me.”

Emotionlessly whispering, he suddenly lifted her and spun her around seven times in rapid succession.

***

Gerret Pelliese, the Count, who had been searching for Regina locked away in a guest room on the verge of tears, stopped in his tracks upon spotting the visibly annoyed First Prince Bollonico.

The First Prince Bollonico, who had danced with no one, clearly aware of the lingering glances seeking his attention, could not hide his agitation.

Under normal circumstances, Bollonico would have reveled in such attention.

The Count followed the direction of Bollonico’s anxious gaze.

“Yuan Pelliese—”

Bollonico was staring at the spot where the Crown Prince couple stood side by side, casually enjoying finger food.

Despite being a rather secluded area, even the people on the opposite side of where Count Gerret stood were murmuring and stealing glances.

In the hall, girls who had finished greeting the Emperor and the late-arriving Empress were busily dancing with different partners, while a line of girls still waited at the head table to greet the imperial couple. Yet every single one of them kept sneaking glances toward the rumored Crown Prince couple.

“Wasn’t his entire body burned?”

“How could he look exactly the same as when he was young? I feel like I might cry.”

“That cleaning solution sold by Leb Company—apparently it’s excellent for removing burn marks—”

“No way! You mean on the face?”

“The timing matches perfectly. That product just came out, and suddenly the Crown Prince appears with a perfectly normal face—”

“Maybe he was actually so beautiful he had to hide his identity all along? He claimed he stepped down because he disliked public chaos.”

“But those who attended the wedding celebration said that until then, the Crown Prince still—”

“Then it really must be the cleaning solution!”

“Our estate hasn’t tried that potion yet. Is it really that miraculous?”

“Oh yes. In my hometown recently—”

The moment the words “cleaning solution” were mentioned, Count Gerret Pelliese, who had been trembling like a fish impaled on a skewer, lifted his glare from Yuan and swept his eyes over the Crown Prince, whose graceful, captivating presence seemed to command the entire room.

The moment he saw that universally praised, flawlessly beautiful face—so alluring everyone whispered in awe—Count Gerret wrinkled his brow as if he had seen something filthy.

“Yuan… meddling in pointless affairs…!”

This must be Yuan’s doing too.

No—this is definitely Yuan’s doing.

Those vibrant, almost sensual purple eyes, and that translucent skin under the eyes without a single trace of shadow—clear signs that his niece had used her ability to erase fatigue.

And that half-monster’s face restored to normal? Clearly, Yuan had used some method.

‘Does the Crown Prince know about Yuan’s power?’

If he had recovered this completely, walking freely in public, it would be stranger not to know.

Count Gerret Pelliese remembered the moment young Yuan had said, “I wish my uncle weren’t sick,” and touched his sprained ankle—only for the pain to vanish completely.

At that instant, he understood.

The secret his brother Philip Pelliese, and his father Seonseondae Pelliese, had hidden so carefully.

The family’s hereditary secret—the power that only the head of the house had carried for generations.

If the Crown Prince had experienced this miraculous power up close multiple times, he would inevitably have realized it. He would know where the Pelliese family’s fame truly originated.

If that monster of a Crown Prince, like himself, understood Yuan’s value as a golden goose, and had ordered his maternal uncle to manufacture “cleaning solutions” to make money—

And with that money—

‘Wait. Then… that dowry…?’

Ah.

Now everything made sense.

The groom taking a bride with no dowry, no land.

A parentless girl brought in and recognized as a wife.

And the Crown Prince, insisting on paying the exorbitant bride price in full.

‘So it’s basically: take this and scram, right?’

Overcome with rage, Count Gerret Pelliese glared fiercely at the stunningly beautiful couple.

He continued glaring.

Then, glancing at Bollonico, who was also glaring at the couple with similar eyes, Count Gerret Pelliese silently vowed—he would absolutely not miss this chance to confront Yuan openly and speak with her today.

And not long after he made that vow—

a scream erupted from the direction of that beautiful couple everyone had been secretly watching.

For the golden-haired Crown Prince, who had captivated everyone’s attention, had suddenly vomited both champagne and blood.

***

Yuan was nearly out of her senses.

As the party reached its peak and the music intensified, she naturally reached for champagne, casually grabbing a glass and sipping it.

The moment Clade put the champagne to his lips, he frowned—then without a sound, blood surged upward and gushed out like a reverse tide.

Yuan froze, too shocked even to cover his mouth with both hands.

Amid the erupting screams, Emperor Igor, who had witnessed his nephew vomiting blood, stormed down from the head table in furious rage.