Esika’s lips moved.

“Get lost.”

“……Pardon?”

Gaben’s eyebrows twitched at the mocking voice that even common women wouldn’t use.

He must have heard wrong?

But her voice echoed in his head again.

“I said get lost? You pathetic and filthy wretch like sewage.”

Esika’s eyebrows were curved as if amused.

Most women did not refuse Gaben’s invitation to dance.

First of all, he was young, handsome, and wealthy.

And dancing together at a ball was a kind of greeting between men and women.

Even for married couples, what’s wrong with a waltz or two? He had even danced with the empress before.

Women who knew about his private life used prettier words of refusal when declining to dance.

Let’s dance next time, or I’m not feeling well today, that sort of answer.

“……Your Highness the Crown Princess?”

But Gaben thought Esika wouldn’t refuse his dance invitation.

Because for women to set foot in the underworld was… usually considered shameful even among commoners.

The only things for women to do in the underworld were dishonorable like the men, let alone a noblewoman setting foot there?

It was the kind of thing that could cause a huge scandal.

The fact that the duchess was in such a place when the Klaus duchy fell… would probably stimulate people’s imagination.

Now that she had become the crown princess, Gaben thought he knew one of her weaknesses.

If the crown prince found out about it, they probably couldn’t have a smooth married life.

“Did you just…”

That’s why Gaben had asked her to dance despite Esika’s cold gaze.

“…call me a filthy wretch?”

He had never been insulted like this by a woman in his life.

Gaben raised his voice a little with an unpleasant expression.

“No matter if you’re the crown princess, isn’t that language too much!”

Esika was beautiful. If that random guy hadn’t appeared then, it would have been nice to spend a night with her before she married the crown prince, to the point where he still regretted it.

This is a bit of an audacious thought.

Anyway, Gaben had planned to dance with Esika today, figure out what really happened last time, and find the guy who did this to his hand no matter what.

“Filthy and pathetic like sewage… You can’t treat me like this!”

But Esika just kept her mouth shut and looked at Gaben.

“Marquis, what’s wrong with you?”

People’s gazes turned towards them and a young nobleman standing nearby hurriedly came to stop Gaben.

“Didn’t you hear it from the side, just now the crown princess insulted me loudly.”

“……?”

Esika tilted her head as if puzzled.

And the young nobleman trying to stop Gaben also pressed him as if to ask what he meant.

“What are you talking about, Marquis? The crown princess didn’t say anything…!”

Everyone’s eyes were on them.

Gaben grabbed the collar of the young nobleman who spoke to him.

“Are you mocking me? You just heard it too. The crown princess yelled at me to get lost. Right, with that level of voice…”

Gaben spoke to the other young noblemen a few steps away from him as if seeking help.

“You must have heard it too. The crown princess’s voice.”

The young noblemen exchanged awkward glances with each other in bewilderment.

Meanwhile, the empress, who had been dancing with a distant relative, saw the commotion and had the music stopped as she approached Gaben.

“Damn it, why is everyone pretending not to know?!”

The empress glanced coldly at Esika and asked Gaben.

“Marquis Pellope, did something unpleasant happen?”

“Your Majesty the Empress. Just now, the crown princess refused my dance invitation and insulted me. I can understand the refusal, but isn’t calling me filthy like sewage going too far?”

Gaben reported without hesitation now that an ally had appeared.

Gaben’s ears were red from the insult.

“Is that true?”

The empress looked at Esika.

“I’m asking if you used language unbecoming of a royal to the crown princess.”

Having ruined the crown prince’s sacred play, and now insulting her guest, this would be grounds for reproach against Esika.

“Of course not.”

But Esika answered with a calm expression.

The empress’s eyebrows twitched.

Esika smiled and spoke to the young noblemen looking troubled behind Gaben.

“Did anyone hear me loudly insulting Marquis Pellope?”

Gaben looked at the young noblemen as if urging them to speak.

But they couldn’t open their mouths with troubled expressions.

“No, what are you all doing! You should tell what you heard!”

Esika had spoken so loudly earlier that it made his skull ring.

So there’s no way they couldn’t have heard.

But in the end, they didn’t open their mouths.

And one young man who had been fidgeting spoke with a regretful expression.

“Marquis, I think it would be better for you to go rest. You seem very tired.”

“……What?”

The empress’s eyebrows twitched.

Another young nobleman looked at the empress and shook his head.

As if to say Gaben was rambling nonsense alone.

Esika’s expression remained unchanged.

“……Ha!”

Gaben was dumbfounded by this ridiculous situation.

Esika Klaus, no, now Esika Lucein. She was trying to bribe even these young noblemen to make him look like a madman.

“You can’t do this. Your Highness the Crown Princess. I wasn’t going to mention that I met you in the underworld, but if you keep doing this I have no choice but to reveal…”

“A foul stench is coming from you, you insect.”

At Esika’s voice cutting in, Gaben jumped up and raised his voice.

“See? Just now, you all heard it, right? The crown princess called me a foul-smelling insect!”

Now no one would be able to deny it.

Gaben waited with the expectation that the empress would scold the crown princess.

He even revealed the fact that they met in the underworld, so she could question that too.

But after a moment of silence, the empress’s frowning face turned not to Esika, but to Gaben Pellope.

“It seems you injured your hand and suffered a severe head injury as well. How unfortunate.”

The empress’s lips moved, letting out a sigh.

A young nobleman nearby spoke as if regretful.

“The crown princess hasn’t said anything since earlier, what are you talking about?”

“Marquis, why on earth are you acting like this!”

Gaben couldn’t believe this situation.

And he looked at Esika with a dazed expression as if he had been hit by something.

Esika’s face was calm and a faint smile lingered at the corners of her mouth.

It was definitely… definitely her voice. Had he ever mistaken a woman’s voice even once!

It was unbelievable that no one heard Esika insulting him so loudly.

This was an absurd situation.

“You take the Marquis Pellope and have him examined by a physician.”

The empress said to the young noblemen with a distorted expression.

“W-wait a moment!”

“Please stay still, Marquis.”

As the young noblemen grabbed his arms, Gaben struggled.

It was an unfair and outrageous thing he had never experienced in his life.

As he was trying to resist and use force, a chilling voice was heard.

“The procedure was wrong.”

The feeling of a chill filling the ballroom drew everyone’s gaze.

The man who suddenly appeared at a slightly late hour was none other than Crown Prince Resban Deon Lucein.

The sound of his footsteps echoed in the silence, and he walked straight to where Gaben was held by the young men and Esika was, stopping in front of the empress.

Resban did not have a scabbard at his waist, but that didn’t make him seem any less threatening.

The pressure and killing intent, on a completely different level from the fake prince Brayton, weighed down on Gaben.

“……”

The empress clenched her fists and kept her mouth shut.

Because she knew what procedure the crown prince was referring to.

“Those who insult the royal family will be severely punished.”

Gaben’s shoulders flinched at the voice flowing softly between his lips.

As the merciless gaze turned towards him, his body seemed to shrink involuntarily.

“The situation I saw as soon as I entered was you unilaterally insulting my wife, the crown princess. Even muttering nonsense about seeing her in the underworld.”

“Ah, no!”

Gaben cried out hurriedly, but no one listened to his words.

“Your Highness the Crown Princess cursed at me so I!”

To everyone’s eyes, it looked like Gaben was ranting alone.

Since he was already talking nonsense, people wouldn’t believe his words about Esika being in the underworld either.

That’s right.

Who would guess that Esika had used telepathy to whisper words into Gaben’s ears?

“If anyone objects to the arrest of Gaben Pellope, speak now. But there must be just cause for the objection. If you defend him without reason, this too will be considered an insult to the royal family.”

The crown prince’s fierce eyes like those of a beast were directed at the empress.

The empress could not raise an objection.

It seemed clear to her eyes as well that Gaben had gone mad alone.

“Do as you see fit.”

“Y-Your Majesty the Empress!”

At the empress’s cold words as she turned away, Gaben wore a disappointed expression, but soon knights who came out of the opened door restrained Gaben so he couldn’t move.

Brayton’s birthday ball had gone quiet as if cold water had been poured on it.

Even Brayton, the birthday boy himself, was just watching the situation from a distance.

‘What’s going on, why did he suddenly go crazy? He was fine just earlier.’

Brayton could only wonder as he watched Gaben being dragged away.

“……You’re late.”

Meanwhile, after Gaben was dragged away, Resban looked at Esika.

She who had been attending the party alone and overcoming difficulties.

No, she who had been tormenting enemies as she pleased averted her gaze as if embarrassed.

The ballroom music began to play again.

It was time to dance. Resban, who had been exuding an icy aura as if frost was flowing from his entire body, held out his hand to Esika.