After meeting Yuan in person.

Boloniko’s mood continued to be poor.

He never thought that a woman living such a miserable life would dare to reject his proposal.

But Regina, unaware of the fact that he had gone there himself and that his heart was full of resentment because of it, looked at Boloniko focusing on the play with a face that had lost everything in the world.

“What do you mean by that-”

“Lady Regina. Do you know what’s worse than an uninteresting story?”

Boloniko’s gaze was still directed only downwards where the play was taking place.

But the direction of his cold voice was precisely towards Regina in the seat next to him.

“Insufficient and incorrect information. How stupid.”

-“How stupid- How stupid-”

The parrot Lorenzo’s repetition of Boloniko’s muttering hit Regina’s head very hard.

Regina’s fine eyebrows distorted sharply.

“Insufficient and incorrect information? Your Highness. I only relayed to you exactly what I heard.”

“The information about Yuan Peliesse was lacking. What kind of woman she is. What she likes and dislikes. What she’s fascinated by.”

“Didn’t I tell you she’s a very selfish girl who only thinks about herself? A girl who’s quick to calculate, willing to abandon and ignore her family just to live comfortably alone.”

“That’s insufficient and incorrect information.”

-“Insufficient- insufficient-”

“As you might have noticed, Boloniko has some use for Yuan Peliesse, Lady Regina’s cousin.”

When Regina’s eyes shook anxiously, Boloniko, who finally glanced at her, smiled smoothly and comforted her.

“Ah. It’s an experiment, an experiment. Like what your father does in the laboratory. Don’t worry, I don’t mean to take and possess her.”

Beyond Boloniko’s sharp and arrogant nose bridge, the yellow elephant that Regina had seen before in his palace was slowly playing with a ball.

The beast in that palace where all sorts of strange experiments and games were carried out, with its neck tightly chained, occasionally looked up at the box seat where Boloniko was with very resentful eyes.

As if it were a being capable of thought.

“I want to directly experiment to see if any of the numerous Peliesse legends I heard from Lady Regina apply. Even among Peliesses, Boloniko can’t hurt Lady Regina, right? Unless it’s the ‘former’ crown princess.”

Regina’s eyes, which had been full of resentment, softened a bit.

“Then why are you refusing to be my debutante partner?”

“People are more jealous than you think, Lady Regina. Why do you think the Grand Duchess of Ariesta didn’t end up with Boloniko?”

“!”

“Just by appearing at a few official events, you become the target of many. Especially a family like yours. It’s still premature. Boloniko doesn’t want to throw Lady Regina into an uncertain situation. You deserve to be protected. Instead, I’ll dance the first dance with you. How about that?”

Regina’s face, which had hesitated, brightened halfway.

But it was only for a moment.

‘Now who am I supposed to take there as a partner?’

The first person that came to mind was the most manageable Draikup Trelloni.

The Peliesse Count, who had been away from home for quite a while, was also firmly preparing for Regina’s debutante, and above all, it would be such a disgrace if the partner she brought was her brother Frederick or her chubby father after boasting that she would bring a great man – specifically, Crown Prince Boloniko – as her partner.

Although it was a big blow to her pride to change her attitude that had been unilaterally lukewarm, she had no choice.

The men with decent conditions she could choose from would already have partners matching their level and would be counting down the days to the debutante.

Regina quietly wrote down sentences that would cause a stir in Draikup Trelloni’s heart, saying, “I was going to go to the debutante holding my brother Frederick Peliesse’s hand, but I’m writing this letter because you, with whom I shared my heart in the past, are still on my mind.”

It was the opposite attitude from her lukewarm response to his passionate love letters.

Poor Draikup Trelloni didn’t believe at all when he heard rumors that Regina was Boloniko’s hidden lover.

Rather, he even boldly promised to silence those who spread such false rumors. He was completely in love.

And because Regina had been answering according to his misunderstanding all this time, she could now find a new partner like this.

‘I’m glad I didn’t completely give up on Draikup.’

The letter sent in the morning received a reply before lunch, and the result was, of course, long sentences filled with a passionate desire to go together.

‘But don’t other women even look at Draikup besides me?’

Although she had overcome the crisis of potentially being utterly disgraced to just the level of embarrassment, seeing Draikup’s response as if he still hadn’t found another partner for the event that was only two days away, Regina’s heart became a little sharp.

‘A man with all limbs intact. Belonging to such a family. To be this unpopular.’

The fact that such an unremarkable man would be Regina Peliesse’s partner, entering the debutante she had dreamed of since childhood.

Imagining herself next to the blockhead Draikup, she suddenly felt a surge of anger.

Even though it was she who needed Draikup, albeit reluctantly.

The news that made Regina even more sensitive was at the tea party gathering hastily called before the debutante ball.

“The former crown prince and his wife will attend this debutante ball?”

“Yes. Did you not hear, Lady Regina?”

How desperately Draikup Trelloni wanted Regina.

How Regina, with a weak heart, eventually allowed Draikup to escort her after he came to the mansion and persisted.

At the gathering to inform everyone of this, to avoid being laughed at by everyone on the day of the debutante, Regina had invited relatively close young ladies.

It was at this very gathering that Regina heard the news that Yuan would attend the debutante ball held at the imperial palace along with her monster husband.

How dare she.

No longer a Peliesse count’s daughter.

With no title, having become the wife of a monster. An imperial palace debutante?

Regina, who had sneered for the past 10 years that Yuan wouldn’t be able to attend the imperial debutante if she wore even slightly clean and decent clothes, felt very pissed off just by Yuan’s attendance.

“No. Of course I knew. I must have been momentarily confused.”

But she couldn’t show it.

Regina’s busy mind finally came up with a plausible story.

“Actually, I’ve been hiding something. I’m going to this debutante with Lord Draikup Trelloni.”

“What?!”

“What did you say?”

“It’s because of my cousin.”

Dozens of curious eyes poured onto Regina.

Regina’s downturned corners of her mouth suddenly turned up slightly.

The young ladies gathered here were daughters of minor families who stayed around the capital but hadn’t reached the ranks of the great nobles.

In the same situation, they were desperate to make connections, however slight, just because Regina had captured the heart of a prince.

To them, Regina’s excuse would soon become information that only insiders could hear and would spread little by little.

“Yuan… I mean, when I heard that my cousin was coming to the debutante with that ‘monster’ former crown prince, my heart ached so much. How shameful and humiliating must it be?”

Regina lowered her voice, furrowing her eyebrows virtuously.

She took special care to imbue her soft voice with genuinely sympathetic tones.

“If I ignore my cousin’s situation and go as a partner with the beautiful Crown Prince, how much will it be compared? How much will my cousin’s heart crumble?”

“My goodness- You thought about such details?”

“His Highness should rightfully know about Lady Regina’s thoughtfulness!”

“Just as Lord Draikup Trelloni was pleading to me in tears, I specially spoke to the Crown Prince so that my cousin’s misfortune wouldn’t be highlighted because of me.”

“Goodness. How disappointed must the Crown Prince have been?”

“The Crown Prince must have surely been looking forward to the day he would appear with Lady Regina.”

“But he understood completely. As I mentioned before, that former crown prince is in such a hideous state that he simply cannot go out at all-”

Regina moved her tongue, recalling the former crown prince who never took off the mask covering half his face.

To the girls who were curious and interested about someone else’s misfortune, Regina willingly poured out stories that allowed them to sympathize freely and feel a cheap sense of superiority.

How pitiful Yuan Peliesse was. What an unfortunate marriage she had. How hideous and disgusting her husband’s appearance was behind that mask.

At the same time, she comforted herself.

Thinking that her situation was much better than Yuan’s, who would have to endure the ball under gazes full of pity and contempt, alongside a monster with half a face.

And so, the debutante day that Regina and her mother, Priscilla, had been counting down to, rapidly approached.

On the day of the imperial palace debutante.

Regina, who boarded the carriage with her parents, suppressed her excitement and stared out the window.

The imperial palace’s main gate, crowded from the entrance, was filled with four-wheeled carriages that had come out in full force, gleaming enough to make one’s eyes spin.

“I’m glad you seem to have come to your senses, Regina.”

Regina, who had been recalling the exterior that was no less impressive than the carriages outside, thanks to Clard’s bride price and support from her maternal Pelt family, turned her ear to the voice that suddenly came as soon as they passed the entrance.

“I heard you decided on Draikup Trelloni as your partner? Well done.”

Well done, my ass. Regina, more upset by her father Gerret Peliesse’s rare praise, turned her gaze back to the window.

And she frowned at the face clearly visible even from afar.

Draikup Trelloni had started waving his hand high as soon as he saw the Peliesse carriage.