As the baton was waved in the air, the orchestra’s soft melody began to resonate throughout the banquet hall. It was an elegant, calm, yet majestic piece of music.

‘I thought he had no talent for dancing at all.’

Jieselgrante was inwardly surprised by this newly discovered side of Cabelased.

He had never danced with a woman at a ball before.

So she thought he must be terribly clumsy. That’s why he didn’t dance. But it seems her assumption was wrong.

“Let me guess what the young lady is thinking right now.”

Cabelased murmured softly as he twirled Jieselgrante around. She pretended not to know and nodded coolly.

“That I’m terribly clumsy. That’s why I don’t dance. Am I wrong?”

“Not at all. You dance as well as I expected.”

Jieselgrante deliberately twirled once to avoid Cabelased’s suspicious gaze.

Cabelased chuckled, finding her evasive answer cute.

As the Emperor and the Empress-to-be’s first dance ended, noble couples began to take their places in the banquet hall one by one.

Among them were the young lady of Marquis Howard and the young lady of Duke Blatnik. Just as Jieselgrante exchanged glances with the young lady of Marquis Howard and smiled,

The firm arm around her waist tightened slightly.

“…?”

At that moment, the orchestra began playing a new piece, and she let her body follow Cabelased’s lead.

Dancing to a slightly faster tempo than the first song left her breathless.

Unlike her, who was occasionally panting heavily, Cabelased’s breathing seemed as comfortable as ever.

‘How is it that this person doesn’t get tired?’

In the Faysis Empire, it was customary to have the first dance with one’s spouse or lover.

From the second dance onward, one could freely choose their dance partner, but Cabelased’s choice was Jieselgrante for both the first and second dances.

“The new imperial couple seems to get along so well.”

“Indeed. They’re so passionate…”

Jieselgrante glared at Cabelased. Then she whispered low enough so those around couldn’t hear.

“…You’re not going to ask me to dance again, are you?”

Just as Cabelased opened his mouth to say something, confidently curling up the corners of his lips,

Someone extended their hand in front of Jieselgrante.

“You’re quite greedy. Aren’t you trying to monopolize her too much?”

It was Lawrence, the third prince of Solzacai whom Jieselgrante had saved at the slave market.

Understanding it was an invitation to dance, Jieselgrante showed signs of fatigue.

But he didn’t withdraw his hand extended in front of Jieselgrante. He merely whispered something to a passing servant.

The servant nodded and approached the orchestra to relay the message, and soon a dance tune with a noticeably slower tempo than the previous ones began.

Lawrence was not just an acquaintance, but a royal from a neighboring country.

As the Empress-to-be, Jieselgrante had a duty to properly entertain distinguished guests.

The current Lawrence seemed to be using her position quite well.

“I guess… I have no choice.”

Jieselgrante said as she took Lawrence’s hand. Immediately, Cabelased’s eyes turned hostile.

However, Lawrence, unfazed by this, led Jieselgrante to the center of the banquet hall.

“My, who might that gentleman be from?”

“Indeed. It’s a face I’ve never seen before…”

The young ladies and noble ladies who were watching busily moved their lips.

As if unhearing such voices, Lawrence spoke while gazing only at Jieselgrante.

“Please do visit our kingdom in the future. The atmosphere is quite different from the Faysis Empire, and there will be many places to sightsee.”

“If we both have the leisure to do so.”

Lawrence slowly shook his head and said,

“As you know, people in our position can’t easily make time. We have to set aside time for a vacation trip, even forcibly if necessary.”

Jieselgrante agreed on that point.

Princess Trinity had never traveled.

Of course, she had gone far from the imperial capital, but it was for business trips, so she had never gone on a proper vacation.

And when she came to live in Jieselgrante’s body again, this was the part she regretted when reflecting on her past life.

Thinking, ‘I should have enjoyed life a little more…’

So Jieselgrante nodded to Lawrence’s proposal, which she would have normally refused.

“Then alright. If you’re inviting me.”

“Is that… really true?”

Did he firmly believe he would be rejected?

Lawrence’s already large eyes grew even wider.

“Of course. Certainly.”

As Jieselgrante smiled slightly and answered, Lawrence hastily opened his mouth.

“In that case…”

At that moment, someone firmly grasped Lawrence’s shoulder.

As the dance tune had just ended, a familiar voice interjected in that brief moment of silence.

“That’s enough.”

It was Cabelased.

While dancing with Lawrence, she had occasionally followed Cabelased’s movements with her eyes.

Each time, there was always a different noble by his side.

There were many nobles who wanted to build a relationship with Cabelased under the pretext of offering congratulations on his coronation.

And to greet the heads of families who had gathered from all over the empire one by one, he couldn’t spend much time with each individual.

The duration of a dance tune was about ten minutes. How did he manage to come here in that short time when he was busy dealing with the nobles…

Just as she was about to speak to him out of curiosity,

“The procedure isn’t over yet, is it?”

Lawrence glared at Cabelased with a quite displeased expression.

Naturally, Cabelased’s brow furrowed deeply as well.

“Procedure?”

At his question, Lawrence looked around at the other nobles nearby and said gruffly,

“Look.”

Indeed, the other nobles around were finishing the last of the dance tune by politely greeting each other.

Despite clearly seeing this, Cabelased replied as if it didn’t matter.

“Is that important? You’re picking a fight over such a trivial matter.”

“…Pardon?”

Suddenly, a vein bulged on Lawrence’s forehead.

If he had been grumbling somewhat cutely until now, he now seemed ready to confront Cabelased in earnest.

‘Ah, really…’

Jieselgrante shook her head slightly while lightly touching her forehead.

Mediating conflicts didn’t suit her personality, but she couldn’t just stand by and watch with her eyes wide open either.

Although pretending not to notice, the surrounding nobles had been glancing this way frequently, and Lawrence was an honored guest who had visited the Faysis Empire as a representative of the Solzacai Kingdom to celebrate the Emperor’s coronation.

In terms of national power, the Faysis Empire was far superior, but even so, there was no need to engage in unnecessary quarrels or mind games.

In the brief moment it took Jieselgrante to assess the situation, the tension between the two men continued.

Just as she stepped forward to mediate between the two,

“Beautiful lady, would you care to join me for the next dance?”

Lawrence turned his head sharply towards the direction of the third person’s voice, his eyes wide open. His expression was quite fierce.

However, as soon as he saw the face of the person who had invited Jieselgrante to dance, the corners of his eyes softened.

“…Young Duke Amaterasu?”

“Yes, I am the young Duke Amaterasu. I didn’t realize that asking a family member to dance was such a blameworthy act…”

Mikhail responded somewhat sarcastically.

Naturally, Lawrence’s pupils shook violently as he looked at him.

“Ah, well…”

Lawrence’s lips moved as if trying to make an excuse.

But Mikhail, without even glancing at Lawrence, grabbed Jieselgrante’s hand.

Just as Cabelased was suddenly surrounded by other nobles, conveniently, a new dance tune began to play.

Mikhail and Jieselgrante naturally moved away from the frozen Lawrence as they began to step.

Only after they had put some distance between themselves and Lawrence, reaching a corner of the banquet hall, did Mikhail carefully ask.

“What on earth happened?”

“How did you know to come running over?”

“Running over…?”

Mikhail pouted his lips with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Isn’t that too much?’

But soon his expression softened.

“…Elder brother?”

The magic word that could make even a crying Mikhail smile, Jieselgrante had used it.

“It seemed like there was some commotion, so when I looked, Cabel… no, His Majesty the Emperor was arguing with the royalty from Solzacai.”

“Was that so…”

Jieselgrante replied indifferently and slightly turned her gaze.

‘I wonder how that slave youth is doing.’

She intended to see if he was feeling down by now.

But just then, her eyes met directly with Lawrence, who happened to be looking this way.

He was staring at her with an expression like an abandoned puppy.

‘….’

Jieselgrante naturally passed over him and cast her gaze a bit further.

But as luck would have it, Cabelased was standing there, and he too was looking in her direction.

There was nowhere to rest her eyes.

In the end, Jieselgrante’s gaze circled around Cabelased and returned to its starting point.

“…Jiesel? Are you listening to me?”

“Of course.”

She nodded nonchalantly.

In fact, she couldn’t hear Mikhail’s voice well because she was too preoccupied with the two men, and because they had gotten too close to the orchestra.

Mikhail continued to chatter on about something afterwards, but it didn’t seem to be anything important.

Nevertheless, his brightly smiling face was pretty. He seemed to be enjoying spending time with her after a long while.

As the dance tune was coming to an end, Jieselgrante smiled at Mikhail.

“Thank you, elder brother.”

“…For what?”

“It was an awkward situation, but you appeared just in time and saved me. You also averted a dangerous situation where the royal families of two countries might have quarreled.”

“…Is, is that so?”

Mikhail scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly.

He also muttered softly, ‘Jiesel, I didn’t know you thought that way.’

Thinking that Mikhail’s greatest strength was how quickly he became happy even with small praise, Jieselgrante nodded her head deeply.