“I never dreamed you would be His Highness……!”

Alfonso was still angry. He suppressed the anger in his brow and asked.

“If I weren’t a prince, wouldn’t you have regretted behaving like that?”

“Huh? What?”

“Threatening an innocent lady, punching someone you’ve just met, if the recipient of your actions wasn’t a prince, would you not apologize?”

Janobi seemed to have lost his words. In fact, he had no other choice but to admit to the prince’s question. He apologized because he was a prince, and he would have swung something worse than a fist at a commoner.

Ariadne managed to suppress a laugh that was about to come out, but Prince Alfonso seemed uncomfortable.

“First apologize to Miss De Mare.”

Even though it was something ordered by the prince, Janobi seemed too proud to apologize to Ariadne. He rose from his crouching position and, with a twisted expression, spat out his apology to Ariadne.

“I’m sorry.”

He seemed to barely resist adding, ‘It’s not my fault, it’s because you’re tall.’

Ariadne smiled faintly and asked Janobi.

“What are you sorry for?”

Janobi once again became a mute bee. That was because he had nothing he was truly sorry for in his heart.

After pondering for a while, Janobi dug into his small brain and apologized again for what he thought he had done wrong.

“I’m sorry for speaking loudly and scaring you…….”

Ariadne corrected Janobi clearly.

“It seems like you have no idea right now, so memorize this. Whether someone wears high heels or not, it has nothing to do with you. Whether you like what someone else is wearing or not, just keep it in your head and don’t say it out loud.”

And she added, as if she had forgotten.

“And don’t be informal with someone you just met.”

Having said this, Ariadne kindly guided Janobi.

“Now, let’s apologize properly according to the six principles.”

Janobi, as if his brain had stopped, could not continue to speak while being rigid. When Janobi did not respond for almost 30 seconds, Alfonso gave Janobi a cold farewell.

“I hope you learned something from today’s event. Leave.”

It was truly a blessing for Janobi, but Alfonso didn’t particularly favor him, he just didn’t want to be in the same space with someone like Janobi anymore.

“Your Majesty, I apologize for my rudeness!!”

Janobi got up from his crouching position and fled to the outside of the waiting room.

Even after Janobi was driven out, Alfonso didn’t seem to feel very good. Ariadne, feeling refreshed after Janobi disappeared, teased Alfonso brightly.

“Why are you still upset? If anyone should be angry, it should be me!”

Alfonso silently stared at Ariadne, then his boyish face filled with dark expressions, and he made an unchildlike comment.

“Ariadne. You’re not being treated like that at home, are you?”

Alfonso, full of worry, swept Ariadne’s hair back behind her ear. His fingers lingered momentarily at the edge of Ariadne’s ear, then dropped, as if reluctantly.

“Don’t tolerate such treatment. You’re the ‘amazing Ariadne’, aren’t you? You deserve much more respect.”

Ariadne was surprised at Alfonso’s sudden words. She thought she had not been enduring anything lately, only receiving love and growing up. It was confusing in Alfonso’s eyes, which knew she was enduring something other than that.

After a while, Ariadne remained silent, and Prince Alfonso, thinking he had made a mistake, asked her a question.

“Ah… I mean, I deliberately left this out, but I didn’t skip it, did I?”

At Alfonso’s question, Ariadne looked at the mirror hanging on the wall. The hair Anna had skilfully pulled out from under her ear was tucked neatly behind her ear by Alfonso’s hand.

“Pfft!”

Seeing Alfonso not knowing what to do, Ariadne ruffled his hair as a prank. The prince’s hairstyle, which was sophisticated with perfumes from the palace, was naturally disheveled.

Alfonso, surprised, reached out to ruffle Ariadne’s hair in return, but Ariadne had already anticipated his move and dodged a beat ahead.

They faced each other and laughed heartily.

Meanwhile, a servant from the de Mare family came and said that time was almost up.

“His Eminence Cardinal de Mare is currently giving a speech to the guests inside. It’s almost over, so when I signal you, you can enter with the performance.”

Alfonso and Ariadne quickly tidied their messy hair and clothes and straightened their postures.

“Please welcome my second daughter who is making her debut today.”

Applause!

The Cardinal de Mare, who had been unaware that the prince was the partner of his daughter’s debutante ball, spoke only about his daughter without mentioning the prince in his greeting. The prince was unfazed and loyally played the role of escort to the debutante, the main character of the day.

“Shall we go, miss?”

Ariadne nodded, placing her left hand on Alfonso’s outstretched right arm and smiling brightly. The two, dressed in dazzling white clothes, took a step into the main hall to the accompaniment of the band.

“Looking at it this way, the second daughter is also very pretty, isn’t she?”

“That man next to her is really handsome too. Who is he?”

“Isn’t that Prince Alfonso?”

There was a bit of a commotion among the guests who recognized that the prince was the partner of the de Mare family’s second daughter’s debutante ball. There was a buzz about the de Mare family investing much more in their second daughter than the eldest, and speculations that it was not the Cardinal’s network but a personal friendship between Queen Marguerite and the second daughter filled the main hall in no time.

Among those who belatedly realized that Ariadne’s partner was Prince Alfonso was Isabella. Isabella nearly broke the fan she was holding.

‘How dare she!’

She had been quietly confined in the house, and it was an unexpected turn of events when she seduced the prince.

Camellia de Castilione, a young noblewoman standing next to Isabella, whispered in Isabella’s ear with a thin smile on her lips.

“Isabella, isn’t the title of ‘the most valued treasure of San Carlo’ now passing to my sister? Your parents must be very pleased to have two outstanding daughters.”

Despite the excuse appended to the end, it was clear that Camellia’s intent was to unsettle Isabella. However, it was such a wellaimed shot that she had nothing to say.

The ball continued smoothly despite Isabella’s shock.

The debutante and her partner ascended the stage at the far end of the main hall along the blue carpet set in the center, greeted the guests there, briefly listened to Cardinal de Mare’s introduction of the debutante, made a toast with fruit wine, and then danced the first waltz.

They were just arriving at the stage at the end of the main hall, and Alfonso was helping Ariadne ascend the stairs first.

“The King’s congratulatory message has arrived―!”

A manager sent by the palace announced the arrival of the King’s congratulatory message and emissary with a booming voice.

Ariadne and Alfonso, standing above and below the stairs respectively, exchanged startled glances. Ariadne had received everything she expected from the palace, ending with the morning hibiscus, the prince of the morning. Ariadne asked Alfonso with her lips.

“What’s going on?”

Alfonso shook his head.

“I don’t know either.”

The prince being here was something none of his parents knew. Alfonso, worried about where the word had leaked, looked at the delegation who brought the king’s message.

The delegation sent by the palace blew their horns, capturing the guests’ attention. At the sound of the horns, the guests hastily gave the same respect to the incoming emissary as they would to seeing His Majesty the King.

Ariadne quickly knelt down on one knee and bowed her head. Apart from the obeisance from Cardinal de Mare and Prince Alfonso, all the guests in the hall were on their knees.

The King’s envoy slowly entered the main hall. The King’s envoy was a handsome man with brown hair dressed in a bright creamcolored outfit, Count Cesare.