The path to becoming the Imperial Crown Princess was not as easy as she thought.

As the Crown Princess’s education began in earnest, Clea started receiving teachings from Empress Elaina.

Given the position, there was a tremendous amount to learn.

However, Clea only struggled a little on the first day, and from the third day onwards, she showed signs of perfectly adapting as if she had always been in that position.

Seeing this, Oberon couldn’t hide his surprise.

He had thought it would take at least a week to adapt.

This wasn’t just Oberon’s thought, as the people around also had the same reaction.

“Don’t overdo it before the wedding.”

“I don’t know who’s saying that to whom.”

The atmosphere inside the imperial palace was very bright.

It was joyful enough that the long-vacant position of the Crown Princess was finally filled, but the fact that the person filling that position was also competent made it a very welcome news.

Unlike Admund, who had been expected to have a promising future since his childhood, Clea had a somewhat tumultuous time at the academy.

Although Clea’s grades might have been slightly good, there was constant noise surrounding her.

So there were conscious and unconscious prejudices against her, but thanks to what she had shown in the past few days, those prejudices began to disappear.

Everyone in the imperial palace looked at her with satisfaction.

Except for one person, Admund.

Admund was looking at Clea with a mixture of dissatisfaction and concern.

“Unlike me, I’m very worried about you who might collapse at any moment.”

Unable to stand it, Admund took the documents on her desk into his arms as if snatching them away.

Admund honestly poured out his feelings.

Clea’s physical strength couldn’t be said to be good even as a courtesy.

Perhaps because of the curse, her health was not very good.

In such a situation, he didn’t want her to overdo it and take on all the work.

‘If I say his caring look is cute, will his expression freeze?’

Clea, who couldn’t possibly not know Admund’s heart, looked at him with a smile.

He often came to check on her like this when she was working, giving her worried looks.

Clea really liked that gaze of his that showed concern for her.

“Okay. I’ll only do this much for today.”

“Clea.”

Admund tried to bring up the topic again, very bothered by the words ‘for today’. But suddenly, Elaina appeared at the scene.

“Everyone, so this is where you were.”

Admund and Clea’s gazes turned towards her.

“Greetings to Her Majesty the Empress.”

“What brings you here?”

At Admund’s strange wariness, Elaina let out a chuckle.

If he really thought she would mistreat her daughter-in-law, it would be a truly ridiculous thing.

Elaina wanted to tease him right then and there.

But after seeing Admund’s face and then Clea’s, that desire faded away.

Clea had also noticed Admund’s strange atmosphere and was smiling.

Elaina felt that teasing them in this heartwarming state wouldn’t be very entertaining. So she went straight to the point.

“I came to ask something, just in case.”

Elaina said with a benevolent smile.

Relieved by that, Admund let his guard down.

Clea had been happy since the moment Elaina appeared, so there was no need for wariness.

The person who had helped Clea the most in adapting to the imperial palace was none other than Elaina.

Elaina had a different kind of power than Emperor Odin who ruled the entire empire.

It was thanks to the help of Elaina, who governed the interior of the imperial palace, that Clea was able to blend in well.

‘Moreover, she also helped in identifying those who slandered me and the faction supporting Aria.’

Thinking about that, Clea was only grateful to Elaina.

Elaina said there was no need to thank her, as Clea would have done it herself someday even if she hadn’t, downplaying it.

Clea really liked Elaina’s kind consideration.

“You two, you’re practicing dancing, right?”

Her words made Clea flustered.

“Dance practice?”

It seemed Clea wasn’t the only one flustered, as Admund asked with a puzzled face.

“Oh my, you haven’t heard?”

When even Admund seemed to be hearing it for the first time, Elaina turned her head to look at Oberon.

With her eyes, she asked if he hadn’t conveyed the news.

Then Oberon hesitated for a moment, and soon opened his mouth with an expression of inevitability.

“I apologize for informing you so late. His Majesty the Emperor wanted to keep it as a surprise for the wedding day, so it couldn’t be helped.”

At the mention of a surprise, Clea let out a hollow laugh.

Others seemed to be just as flustered.

Clea and Admund, who had only just heard the news, had dumbfounded faces, while Elaina was lost in reminiscence of old times.

‘Right, something like this happened to us too.’

The memory of the former empress telling them to dance right then and there on the wedding day, as if she couldn’t acknowledge it until the end, came to mind after a long time.

Back then, Elaina, who already lacked confidence, froze on the spot, unable to do this or that in the sudden situation.

But Odin rather began waltzing right there as if to show off.

Elaina, who was awkward at first, also loosened up at Odin’s gentle lead, and the former empress accepted the two’s appearance, changing the atmosphere to a friendly one.

‘Odin, I understand your desire to test these children, but as you know, they have been through too many things.’

She knew it wasn’t simply to torment them.

Elaina knew that Odin had secretly arranged it with the hope that even if a sudden storm blew in, the two would rely on each other and move forward well.

But the two of them already knew well what kind of hardships Clea and Admund had gone through.

Looking at the series of processes they had been through, she felt they had experienced tougher things than themselves.

“Now that you know, how about you two try matching a few times?”

At Elaina’s suggestion, Admund showed a tired look for a moment.

On the other hand, Clea judged that her words made sense.

If it was a dance they had to do anyway, they needed to try matching at least once.

Because she had never danced with anyone other than Lloyd until now.

“Sounds good. Don’t you think so, Admund?”

“…Yes, I suppose so.”

If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it.

Clea stood up from her seat with a smile on her lips.

Admund sent a resentful look to Elaina, but Elaina only smiled.

* * *

Inside the Crown Prince’s palace, there was a practice space prepared for dancing.

As it was Clea’s first time using it directly, she entered with a curious feeling.

Inside, there was a device that automatically played music even without separately playing instruments.

“Now, shall we try dancing?”

Clea reached out her hand towards Admund.

However, Admund only looked at the hand Clea had extended.

Clea didn’t urge him to quickly take her hand, but spoke in a gentle voice.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you dance in the center of the banquet hall.”

Admund was the crown prince, second only to the emperor.

A presence that brightened any place he went to.

Usually, if someone dances at a banquet or a special occasion, the highest-ranking person takes the lead, but Admund rarely stepped forward to dance.

He didn’t attend banquets often in the first place, and Odin and Elaina loved dancing together.

Because at least during that time, they could escape from their roles as emperor and empress and only look at each other.

Of course, he also didn’t dance under the pretext of not having a partner or to maintain political neutrality.

“If it’s not that you can’t dance, is it that you don’t want to dance with me?”

When Clea said that much, Admund immediately opened his mouth, lest she be hurt.

“It’s not that I don’t want to dance with you. I just don’t like dancing.”

Even for him, who seemed to do everything perfectly, there was one thing he was unskilled at, and that was dancing.

It wasn’t that he completely couldn’t dance, but he wasn’t good at it either.

So Admund avoided dancing.

On the other hand, Clea, who knew well how he felt, approached him with the corners of her mouth raised.

Clea soon took Admund’s hand and said,

“Then how about entrusting your body to me?”

For a moment, Admund, who didn’t properly understand Clea’s words, stared at her face.

As if she had no intention of saying it again, she just silently held Admund’s gaze.

And just then, music began to flow.

Clea started dancing to the music.

Admund moved his body to follow her without even having time to be flustered.

Although Clea had started it, he intended to do his best to lead so that she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.

But as time passed, the one getting more comfortable was Admund.

“Both at night and now, how does it feel to be led?”

Admund suddenly found it absurd and laughed.

It was the first bright expression he showed since entering here.

“I’m just amazed at how well you dance.”

“I had to dance well somehow all this time. To avoid being humiliated because of that rascal.”

Clea was reminded of the days when she suffered because of Lloyd.

Lloyd thought he danced well himself and often put her in difficult situations.

Clea always led him when he occasionally moved arbitrarily, so her dancing skills naturally improved.

So she thought Admund could sufficiently lead too and asked him to dance.

“There’s really not much time left now. Until our wedding.”

Being busy, the wedding was suddenly just around the corner.

Clea was very much looking forward to what would happen on the wedding day.