The ballroom fell silent as if someone had poured cold water.

It was Ileon who broke the quiet stillness where not even breathing could be heard.

“I’d like to know the reason for refusing my dance invitation.”

“……”

“I hope it’s an understandable reason. I’m a little, no, very disappointed to back down like this.”

Celiya watched Ileon, who didn’t look disappointed at all, with calm eyes.

Celiya knew that Ileon was interested in her.

What Ileon felt for her was something less than greed, but more intense than pure scholarly passion.

“The reason I refused is……”

Celiya deliberately trailed off and smiled faintly.

“There’s someone else who wants me.”

People clicked their tongues at Celiya’s bold words.

The noble ladies began to gossip about Celiya.

“Is she really crazy? Saying such things in front of His Majesty while being escorted by Duke Calypso?”

“Now that I look at her, Brillian’s angel is quite stupid. She’s forgotten her place since she’s loved just for breathing.”

“What’s the use of being beautiful? A woman shouldn’t be so aggressive regardless of the place.”

Celiya let the people’s whispers go in one ear and out the other.

She didn’t care how others saw her.

The biased gazes directed at her were so familiar now that they didn’t even tickle.

When at the Brillian viscount’s estate, Celiya had tried to behave as quietly as possible.

Lying flat on the ground, she tried to stay quiet while sharpening the blade of revenge.

But people wouldn’t leave her alone.

The people of the viscount’s estate tried to twist her spine to squeeze money out of people, and men endlessly craved and desired her.

So, for Celiya, it didn’t matter at all whether the person in front of her was an emperor or a beggar.

“His Majesty the Emperor will surely punish her, right? Our fair Emperor wouldn’t leave such an insolent one unpunished.”

“Of course he will.”

The noble ladies seemed to subtly hope that Celiya would be punished.

However, Ileon thoroughly betrayed such expectations of the noble ladies.

Far from being displeased at having his dance invitation rejected, Ileon burst into hearty laughter.

“If there’s someone else you want, it can’t be helped.”

Ileon did not impose any punishment on Celiya.

“The night is shorter than you think, so I hope you enjoy happy moments with that person.”

Ileon’s gaze shifted to Dietrich.

“Well then.”

With those final words, Ileon leisurely left the ballroom.

Celiya glared at Ileon’s retreating back.

Suddenly, a hand was thrust in front of Celiya.

Celiya looked up at the owner of the hand extended to her.

Tightly closed lips, a broad forehead, and gentle, soft eyes directed at her.

The one who extended his hand was none other than Dietrich.

“Would you like to dance with me?”

Celiya smiled, her eyes crinkling, at Dietrich who was speaking formally.

“Gladly.”

The band played soft orchestral music.

Dietrich’s large hand wrapped around Celiya’s waist.

Their hands touched, fingers intertwining.

Celiya began to dance with Dietrich in the center of the ballroom.

The two were in perfect harmony.

For this moment, they both let go of everything that hindered them and focused only on each other.

Celiya’s slender waist was embraced by Dietrich’s arms, then released.

As the two who were dancing intently in each other’s arms met eyes at a distance where their lips almost touched, they both burst into clear laughter.

People kept glancing at the beautiful couple.

The two, intoxicated with each other, didn’t even notice anyone else.

Reina was watching this entire scene from behind a marble pillar, wearing a red half-mask.

“……Crazy bitch.”

The man next to Reina flinched at her vicious curse.

Reina glanced sideways at the man.

He was a truly unsightly man with a scrawny body as if a dried anchovy, and a neck hunched like a turtle.

His bangs were so long that the navy blue hair completely covered his mask, making one wonder if he could even see.

Reina frowned and followed where the man’s head was turned.

The man’s head was fixed on Celiya, who was dancing with Dietrich.

“She’s mine….. Celiya is mine. She said she’d only look at me…..”

The man muttered gloomy words to himself.

His voice, which sounded like scraping metal, was filled with strong desire for Celiya.

Reina, who had been observing the man, came up with a good idea.

“What do you want?”

When Reina suddenly spoke to him, the man stopped his muttering.

“I’m a very important person. If you want that woman, I might be able to give her to you right away.”

At Reina’s words, the man’s head, which had been directed at Celiya, twisted oddly.

“Give her to me? Celiya?”

Reina felt a surge of displeasure at the man’s informal speech, but with the sole intention of putting Celiya in a difficult situation, she didn’t take issue with his manner of speaking.

“She was originally mine, Celiya was. She’s been mine since the moment she smiled at me at the mansion.”

Reina thought the man’s delusions were more serious than she had expected.

Thinking this was even better, Reina continued to encourage the man.

“Is that so? If she was originally yours, then you should take her back.”

“Take her back?”

“You’ve had what you want taken away, and you’re just going to watch? Of course you should take it back.”

“That’s right. Why, why was I just watching?”

The man who had been muttering clenched his fist tightly, then dropped his head weakly.

“But, I’m weak.”

Reina clicked her tongue inwardly and looked around.

Fortunately, there seemed to be no one around, perhaps because they were behind a pillar.

Reina personally placed a vial containing a red liquid into the man’s hand.

“It’s an aphrodisiac.”

“……An aphrodisiac?”

“Yes. It takes effect within 1 minute of drinking. It will make a person so excited that they lose their mind. If you make that woman drink this, she’ll want only you completely.”

“Is, is it okay to give me something so precious?”

Reina shrugged and replied.

“It’s really precious, so don’t tell anyone else I gave it to you.”

Reina was determined to flatly deny any involvement, even if the man in front of her caused trouble.

There’s nothing easier than disposing of others through the hands of others instead of dirtying one’s own hands.

This was also something she had learned from her elder brother Ileon.

Thinking that the man in front of her wouldn’t recognize her anyway since she was wearing a half-mask and it was dark, Reina quickly left the ballroom.

Celiya and Dietrich.

Today will be the last day those two dance together so amicably.

Reina gritted her teeth.

−It would be better to find someone else to warm your bed. I seem to have a bit of a cleanliness obsession.

He could speak so coldly to her, yet smile so kindly to that woman.

Feeling upset, she asked her elder brother Ileon for help, but the response was.

−Poor Reina. You’ve completely lost the fight against Lady Celiya. You’ll never have Dietrich.

Reina couldn’t accept those words.

Celiya, that wench had nothing but her looks.

She was an orphan from the streets, a wench with no real power.

To think that such a nobody would be Dietrich’s lover.

She couldn’t believe that Dietrich had chosen such an unremarkable woman over herself, who had incomparably excellent power and background.

Moreover, her elder brother knew that she had been treated like that by Dietrich, yet still asked that woman for the first dance.

Reina bit her lower lip until it bled.

She wished for Celiya to be ruined.

She felt that seeing Celiya struggling in the pit of despair might ease this stifling feeling a little.

The aphrodisiac she had given to the gloomy, unknown man was extremely potent.

Reina changed her original plan to make Dietrich drink it.

She wanted to see Celiya completely ruined by that aphrodisiac.

It was Reina who had spread the rumor that Celiya was a man-eating witch.

But that didn’t have much impact on Celiya.

A bigger, more decisive blow was needed.

As soon as Celiya and Dietrich’s dance ended, people approached as if they had been waiting.

“Duke Calypso.”

Despite the change in emperor, Dietrich’s power was still firm.

He still maintained his duke title and was the captain of the Imperial Knights.

People showered Dietrich with all sorts of flattery to get on his good side.

“I thought it was just a simple rumor. I didn’t know Duke Calypso was in a relationship with Brillian’s angel.”

The men said this while subtly eyeing Celiya.

Dietrich blocked their gaze with his large frame, as if to shield Celiya.

“I’d appreciate it if you stopped staring.”

At Dietrich’s words, the men who had their intentions exposed smiled sheepishly.

“We apologize. She’s just so beautiful.”

“We’ll take our leave now.”

Dietrich left the ballroom holding Celiya’s hand.

Celiya smiled gently as she looked at Dietrich’s sturdy back.

However, as Celiya exited the ballroom, her expression quickly cooled when she saw someone waving at her.