Chapter 16: The Duke’s Daughter and the Marquis’ Daughter

The dance with Ghislan is over, and I’m starting to get a little thirsty, so I decide to go get a drink.

“Ghislan, I’m going to get a drink. I’m going to get a drink, so you can go ahead and dance with the others.”

“No, I don’t…”

“Cecilia, I brought you a drink.”

I was about to say no to Ghislan and leave, but then Kaiser held out a glass of juice in front of me.

I accepted the glass from Kaiser while being surprised by his very good timing.

“Thank you. I was just thinking of drinking something.”

“I thought so, and so I brought it to you. Now, I don’t want to disturb the dancing crowd here, so let’s go that way.”

Kaiser said and put his hands around my waist, urging me to walk.

“… I’m coming with you.”

“It’s not that Ghislan doesn’t need to come along, but why don’t you stay here with the other ladies to practice your socializing skills? Look, there’s a lady over there that’s staring at you, right?”

“…Those are the women looking at Prince Kaiser. And I’m not interested in anyone but Cecilia.”

“Ghislan…don’t you think it would be better if you stayed away from Cecilia here? Hey Cecilia?”

“Yes…But I don’t think it’s too good to force him suddenly, so let’s get Ghislan used to it gradually! In the meantime…if you don’t want to right now, will you come with me?

“I’ll go!”

Ghislan nodded loudly at my words and said it crisply, and Kaiser, who was next to me, gave a small cluck of his tongue.

“It’s a good idea to have a good time with them.”

”Please, please, just stop fighting in a place like this!”

“Of course I won’t ruin my long-awaited engagement announcement to Cecilia.”

“I would ruin it if I could, but I don’t want to because it would embarrass Cecilia.”

“Well…I hope you’re careful.”

With a sigh, I only warned them to be sure, and then I brought the glass to my mouth to drink the juice that Kaiser had given me.

“Prince Kaiser! I’d like to ask you a few questions, if you could give me a few minutes of your time?”

“Does it have to be now?”

“Yes, I’m sorry you’re here with your fiancée, but…”

“…Okay. Cecilia, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to leave you for a minute.”

“Yes, have a good time.”

“Hmm, go ahead and get going. And don’t come back for more.”

“I’ll be right back.”

This time, another man of nobility approached Ghislan.

“Are you…aren’t you…Count Risent’s son, Ghislan-sama?”

“Yes?”

“I knew it! I’ve heard all about your brilliance. You are indeed the son of Director Dimitria!”

“You are an acquaintance of my father if you call him the director, right?”

“Yes! I work at the Royal Palace Ministry of Science and Research with Director Dimitria. To tell you the truth, I joined the Ministry of Science and Research out of admiration for Director Dimitria.”

“Because of my father?”

“Yes! I think that Director Dimitria’s wealth of knowledge and inquisitiveness about academia is a wonderful thing! So I was hoping to meet his son, of whom the director, Dimitria, is so proud!”

Ghislan listened to the man’s forceful argument with a blank expression on his face, but when he looked closely at the man, he seemed to be very happy to have been praised by his favorite father.

…Hmmm…this seems to be an intrusion for me, so I’ll just step away from him for a bit.

With that in mind, I quietly moved away from Ghislan, who was listening intently to the man.

I finally moved calmly to a place where I could drink the juice, and this time I held the glass close to my mouth.

But at that moment, something suddenly hit me from behind and the glass I was holding overflowed with its contents.

The juice was soaking my dress from my belly to my skirt.

To make matters worse, it was grape juice, which made a dark purple stain on my pale light blue dress.

As I was staring at the stain, a girl called out to me from behind me,

“Oh Cecilia-sama, I’m so sorry! I just bumped into you, and it’s left such a big stain on the surface…”

At the loud voice, I turned around and saw Lateia-sama standing there with an apologetic look on her face, holding her hand over her mouth.

However, if I looked closely, I could see the edge of her mouth, which was visible through the gap between her hands, was raised.

I figured that she must have chosen to do it while I was alone. And since she’s deliberately shouting loudly and acting exaggeratedly…yes, everyone’s attention is coming to me. Probably if I get angry here, they will think I’m a small person, and if I cry with embarrassment, they will insult me and laugh at me.

Just as I was pondering how to deal with it, a large black body suddenly interrupted me and Lateia-sama in front of me.

“…Huh? Viktor!”

“Your Highness…I’m sorry it took me so long to save you. It’s just that I wasn’t able to get to you in time…and that’s why your dress is so dirty.”

“No, Viktor is not to be apologizing! More importantly, why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be guarding the hall?”

“Yes, of course, I was watching the princess closely while guarding her. But I was too far away from her, and it cost me…

Viktor looked at my stained dress in frustration as soon as he said that, he turned his sharp gaze towards Lady Lateia.

“…Young Lady, I saw you deliberately bump into the princess.”

“What are you talking about? I wouldn’t do that! We just bumped into each other by accident!”

“No, I have noticed you have been watching the princess for some time now and I was afraid that you might do something to her. But as I suspected, the princess was on her own, and then I saw with my own eyes that she was making a beeline for you.”

“Uh-huh. If it’s you who’s just a knight and I who’s a marquis’ daughter, I’m the one who’s going to be trusted!”

“…”

Lady Lateia-sama folded her arms and smiled triumphantly while looking up at the tall Viktor.

Viktor gazed at Lateia-sama in silence while keeping his eyes fixed on her.

“…Then, as a prince, I’ll trust his knightly words more.”

“What?”

Suddenly, we heard Kaiser’s voice from nearby, and Lady Lateia looked in the direction of Kaiser’s voice with a startled expression on her face.

Then I saw Kaiser walking towards us with his usual pseudo-smile on his face and a firm gait, but I felt that a black aura was drifting from his back.

“…This is why I don’t like stupid girls. Did you really think no one would be looking at you in a place full of people like this? If so, that would be too naive.”

Furthermore, while saying such stinging words, Ghislan walked over here from the opposite side of Kaiser with a very unhappy look on his face.

And so the two of them each stood on either side of Viktor to confront Lateia-sama.

Hey, this is getting awfully serious! And there are a lot of noblemen around me who are curious to see…and frankly, I want to get the hell out of here.

Although I was disgusted by this in my mind, I couldn’t leave, as expected of me, so I decided to just wait and see what happens.

“Prince Kaiser! I-I didn’t do it on purpose!”

“Are you still saying that…Miss Lateia, do you think I would overlook your attempt to humiliate my fiancée, Cecilia? We’ve already got some witnesses over here, too.”

“Aah!”

“I was watching you run with quite a look on your face, too.”

“Huh!”

“And…the dress that Miss Lateia deliberately stained, was one that I chose and gave to Cecilia, do you know what that means?”

“Hiii!”

Kaiser’s expression was gone and he stared at Lady Lateia with a cold gaze, while Ghislan’s eyes narrowed and his disgust was evident.

And Viktor was also applying silent pressure, which made Lady Lateia choke and look more and more pale with fear.

Say, this is indeed too much! I don’t think it’s fair for all three to accuse her of staining my dress because it’s just a little bit mean-spirited…hmmm…how is Lady Lateia’s father?

I wondered why Lady Lateia’s father, the Marquis of Daiharia, had not come to her rescue, and I looked around the hall and saw the blue-faced Marquis of Daiharia surrounded by my father and brother, who had scary faces, and my mother, whose smile was even scarier.

Apparently, the situation was very bad over there.

When I looked at Lateia-sama again, tears were already welling up in her eyes and I felt as if they were about to fall out.

But the three of them didn’t change their attitudes even though they saw Lateia-sama like that.

…Haha~ it can’t be helped. Shall I handle this situation?

I let out a sigh and moved through the space between Kaiser and Viktor to the front of Lady Lateia.

“Cecilia!”

“Princess! What!?”

“Hey, you stay back!”

I smiled at Lateia-sama, who was staring at me with a frightened expression while listening to the three of them later, and smiled at me.

“Lateia-sama, you don’t need to worry about these three. More importantly, you are beautifully made up and it would be ruined if you shed a tear or two.”

As I said this, I took a handkerchief out of my pocket and wiped the tears that were about to fall out with it.

“…Cecilia-sama.”

“Well…what you did was certainly not a good thing, but I’m not angry because I know what you wanted. It was frustrating, wasn’t it?”

“…Yes. When I saw Prince Kaiser when I first met him, I knew right away that I wanted to be his fiancée. But when I heard from your father the next day that his daughter had been chosen before me, I was so disappointed.”

“I’m sure you’re right. Especially since you’re the daughter of a marquis, the one most likely to be chosen after me for sure.”

“Seeing Cecilia’s lack of interest in Prince Kaiser on her debut day, I was completely caught off guard.”

“…I’m sorry. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting it either.”

“What?”

“Oh, I hope you don’t mind me saying that.”

I couldn’t help but let out my true feelings, and I hurriedly disguised them to Lateia-sama, who looked at me curiously.

“It’s a good thing that you’re really in love with him, but I think it’s better if you don’t do this to me and just express your feelings directly to him. If you do that…maybe he’ll choose you again as his fiancée rather than me.”

“That is absolutely—”

“Please don’t say a word Kaiser.”

Kaiser was about to say something unnecessary at my words, so I turned my sharp gaze to Kaiser with a snap and silenced him.

“Cecilia-sama…I’m so sorry…”

“Thank you for apologizing. So let’s just put it behind us, okay?”

So I smiled again and gently patted Lady Lateia’s head.

Then, Miss Lateia’s eyes widened in surprise and her cheeks began to flush.

Oh, as expected, this was embarrassing in front of the public.

I was going to pull back the hand on my head with an apologetic expression, but for some reason, Lady Lateia firmly grabbed that hand with both of hers.

I was puzzled as I looked at Lateia-sama, wondering what was wrong with her as she stared at me with moist eyes while holding my hand.

“Cecilia-sama! I’ve given up on Prince Kaiser once and for all. Instead, I’ve decided to support Cecilia-sama’s happiness!”

“…I’m sorry?”

“If I decide that he can’t make Lady Cecilia happy, I will fight to the bitter end, even if it’s Prince Kaiser.”

I just stared at Lateia-sama, who said that so forcefully and emphatically, stunned.

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