Cordelia walked towards Leonard with a slight bounce in her step. Leonard immediately approached her side and took her hand.

“Be careful. You might fall like that.”

“More importantly, Master, how do I look?”

She grasped her dress with both hands and twirled once in front of him. Leonard examined Cordelia up and down with a rather serious expression.

“I must reward the maids. They’ve recreated my disciple anew.”

“Recreated… I can’t even argue with that. I was shocked when I looked in the mirror too.”

She had expected to hear complaints about wasting time with no change, but this level of praise was the highest compliment.

Cordelia laughed like a young girl.

Leonard naturally extended his arm to allow her to link arms with him. Cordelia promptly accepted his escort.

“Who all is coming to Saracen’s party today?”

“Well. They’ll have heard that I’m coming, so everyone who received an invitation will probably be there. The head of the Atilei family, thought to be dead, has returned alive. What could be more entertaining to watch than that?”

He spoke indifferently, as if he were a third party.

Saracen’s townhouse was not far from Atilei’s. It had been barely twenty minutes since they boarded the carriage, but it had already come to a stop.

Cordelia took a deep breath.

She was already nervous before even getting out. Noticing her trembling, Leonard spoke in a low voice.

“You’re my disciple. Remember that. For that reason alone, no one here can ignore or look down on you.”

“Yes.”

The carriage door opened, and this time Leonard took her hand to help her out.

They had barely walked a few steps when she could already feel all sorts of whispers and gazes piercing from behind.

“My goodness, that rumor was true!”

“To think Atilei has returned alive.”

“But who’s that woman beside him? Did Atilei have a cousin?”

“Could he have brought a woman he’s going to marry?”

“That’s impossible. There’s Lydia Elfenbaum, after all.”

Of course, Cordelia, who was extremely nervous, couldn’t hear any of it. She simply walked forward slowly, relying on Leonard beside her.

They passed through the main entrance and reached the entrance to the banquet hall. Leonard showed the invitation first. After confirming it, the attendant announced in a loud voice.

“Archduke Leonard Atilei and Countess Cordelia Abrams!”

Everyone’s gaze focused on one spot.

She took a deep breath and slowly entered, one step at a time.

Perhaps because it was decorated as a banquet hall, but Saracen’s townhouse was the most splendid of all the places she had visited.

Every pillar and ceiling was so dazzling with gold that it hurt her eyes.

Cordelia couldn’t easily take her eyes off them. Just being at a party where only the renowned figures of high society were invited made her so happy it felt like a dream.

The first to welcome them was Diana Saracen, the owner of the mansion.

“I’m glad you came to the party. Countess Abrams. And Leonard.”

“Thank you for inviting us. This is the most beautiful ball I’ve ever seen.”

“Haha. I’m glad you like it. Leonard, I hope you’ll forget your complicated thoughts and enjoy yourself today.”

“Right. With all this gold plastered everywhere, it’s so distracting I doubt I could have any complex thoughts.”

“That’s my small consideration for you.”

Diana didn’t even blink at Leonard’s sarcasm. Cordelia inwardly admired her composure.

“Oh, I’ve also invited a guest that Countess Abrams will be pleased to see.”

“A guest I’ll be pleased to see?”

“Yes.”

The number of people Cordelia knew in the capital could be counted on one hand. Yet a person she would be pleased to see?

Could it be someone from her hometown? Cordelia suddenly felt uneasy.

She was about to ask who it could be, but Diana left first to attend to other guests.

As soon as Diana disappeared, others appeared before Cordelia and Leonard.

“Archduke Atilei! It’s truly fortunate to see you return in such good health. Have you been well all this time?”

“Viscount Litor.”

A middle-aged man of short stature with a half-bald head greeted them quite boisterously. Leonard’s expression was clearly annoyed, but he didn’t avoid the man.

“When news of your death spread, others may not have, but I absolutely didn’t believe it. I firmly believed and waited for your healthy return like this!”

“Yes. Thank you very much.”

Viscount Litor rambled on for quite a while, feigning tears, then soon looked at Cordelia with curious eyes.

“If it’s not too impertinent, may I know who this lady beside you is?”

“Ah, this is.”

Leonard, who had been looking bored, suddenly put on an exaggerated expression and placed his hand on Cordelia’s shoulder.

As people around them were sneaking glances, pretending not to look, curious about the relationship between the two, the whispers grew louder when he placed his hand on her shoulder.

“My disciple.”

“…Pardon?”

“My first disciple. Introduce yourself, Cordelia. This is Viscount Beck Litor.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Viscount Litor. I’m Cordelia Abrams.”

“Good heavens! Archduke Atilei has taken on a disciple?”

His voice was so loud that everyone within a ten-step radius focused their attention on Cordelia.

It’s a sound she hears everywhere since coming to the capital, but it’s truly consistent. Cordelia thought that even if Leonard had said she was the woman he was going to marry, they probably wouldn’t have been this surprised.

“Archduke Atilei has a disciple?”

As attention focused on her, Cordelia tensed up and stood with her neck straight.

“How surprising. From what I know, I heard the Archduke said he wouldn’t take on any disciples.”

“That’s right. But that was before I met Cordelia.”

She thought he would criticize her as usual, saying her head was like a stone or that she couldn’t even memorize formulas well, but maybe because they were in front of others, he boosted Cordelia’s confidence.

“I’ve heard that to become a magician’s disciple, one usually needs to be young… To become the Archduke’s disciple at this age, you must be an incredibly talented person.”

“Well.”

Leonard took an ambiguous stance, neither agreeing nor denying. That seemed to pique people’s curiosity even more.

Starting with Viscount Litor, others also approached them one by one, wishing to greet them.

“Pleased to meet you, Countess Abrams. I am…”

“There’s a ball at my mansion next week, would you like to attend?”

“So, will you be succeeding Archduke Atilei as the court magician?”

Cordelia, stiff as a board, exchanged greetings with each of them. She memorized the faces and names of the first few, but once it exceeded ten, she couldn’t distinguish who was who.

Later, so many people gathered that they almost formed a wall surrounding her. Leonard seemed used to it, but for Cordelia, having so much attention on her first ball was very burdensome.

“M-Master.”

“What?”

“Here, too many, people…”

She barely stammered out a few words, but he seemed to understand her meaning.

Leonard naturally escorted her, made a suitable excuse, and extricated them from the crowd.

“Whew, ha.”

“Why were you so nervous?”

“There were, there were too many people.”

“What’s with that country bumpkin talk?”

“I guess I’m more suited to the countryside. There are too many people here, I feel suffocated.”

Her heart had been pounding so hard since earlier that it felt like it might break her ribs. She thought she’d just have to greet people properly, but when complete strangers surrounded her and kept talking to her, honestly, it was a bit scary.

At that moment, a man and woman approached from afar. They seemed to be glowing even from a distance, so they must be the Elfenbaum siblings.

“Cordelia!”

Lydia approached with a bright smile. Cordelia had thought she looked quite pretty herself before coming to the party today, but seeing Lydia all dressed up, she immediately became humble.

“You look so beautiful today. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“Thank you, Lydia.”

“I saw earlier that people were gathered around you like clouds. Leo, it seems she’s even more popular than you.”

“So what? She’s trembling because there are so many people.”

“When did I tremble?”

Even though her legs had been shaking until just now, Cordelia pretended otherwise. Leonard snorted.

At that moment, the band began to play a tune for dancing. Leonard handed his champagne glass to an attendant and said,

“Did you practice dancing a bit?”

“Dancing? Well, that is. Dancing…”

Cordelia stammered and couldn’t continue. She could barely manage court etiquette, let alone dance well.

As she hesitated and fumbled for words, Leonard lifted his chin arrogantly and said,

“I see. You just…”

“Leo.”

Lydia interrupted Leonard mid-sentence. Then she smiled as brightly as a flower.

“It’s been a while, why don’t we dance together?”

“…Alright.”

It would be rude to refuse a dance when a lady asks first. Leonard glanced back at Cordelia for a moment before taking Lydia’s hand.

The two of them moved towards the center. Rosenblair glanced sideways at Cordelia.

“Are you alright?”

“Pardon? About what?”

“I thought you might have been expecting to dance with Leo.”

“Ah, I don’t know this tune well, so if I went out there, I’d just end up stepping on Master’s feet the whole time.”

Cordelia spoke casually. As her face showed no other emotion, Rosenblair’s lips only twitched slightly.

“Then which tune would you be comfortable with?”

“M-minuet?”

Cordelia lightly scratched the bridge of her nose, feeling a bit embarrassed. The minuet is the most basic of dance tunes, rarely danced these days.

“Then let’s make the next tune that one.”

“What?”

Instead of answering, Rosenblair simply called an attendant and briefly instructed, “Make the next dance tune a minuet.”

Cordelia watched this process and blinked her eyes wide open.

“You can decide the music as you like?”

“No. I’m abusing my power to decide it as I please. Because that seems to be the only way I can dance with you.”