“Your Majesty, it was my honor to dance with you at my coming-of-age ceremony. Thank you so much.”

After bowing politely, I pulled away from him, or I was trying to.

“… Your Majesty?”

When I looked up in embarrassment, he was looking at me silently, with his navy blue eyes trembling.

I suddenly stiffened, so I twisted my body as carefully as possible with an awkward smile.

The moment I almost disengaged from him, he pulled me again by tightening his hand holding me.

Why is he doing this?

“Your Majesty?”

When I said with a trembling voice, he finally let go of my hand and said with a sigh, “… Oh, sorry. It was a good time. ”

Hiding my mixed feelings, I bowed to him who said he was going back to his seat.

I turned back in confusion when the man with honey-colored hair approached me and said, “It was a beautiful dance, Lady Monique.”

“… Well, I wonder if you can give me the honor of dancing with you.”

I was getting annoyed gradually. Why is this guy bugging me when I’m so complicated in my mind?

“…Sorry. As I danced for so long, I feel it’s too hot here.”

“Then would you like to get some fresh air for a moment? I will escort you. ”

“…No. I’m sorry, but I want to be alone for a while. Thanks for your consideration.”

I know it’s not courteous, but I thought I was done with him by now, so I refused his request and turned around. I had a lot on my mind because of the emperor’s sudden appearance, some of the noble faction’s feigned kindness, and the meaning of the Orgel.

After looking around quickly, I headed out of the banquet hall.

I walked through a well-decorated garden in the summer night, breathing in the cozy air peculiar to the summer. However, even after walking for a long time, I couldn’t think straight.

What the emperor told me a moment ago kept coming to my mind.

Why didn’t I ask him about the meaning of the Orgel, the music box?

As I thought about it more and more, I found there was only one answer to that question.

Right. I was afraid to hear his answer, so I couldn’t even ask him about its meaning. If he gave it to me in the same sense that he gave the tiara to me, I would certainly be at a loss about how to respond, which made me scared…

You’re crazy, Aristia. Why are you so scared that you can’t even ask him?

Suddenly, I got angry at myself. Don’t I look like the old me when I was longing for him in vain?

Biting his lips in frustration, I suddenly noticed three men talking in the corner of the garden.

Who are they? They looked like some of those who followed Carsein.

Passing by them nonchalantly, I stopped when I heard them talking to each other about something about me.

“Well, I don’t feel good about her and the Monique family.”

“You bet. She almost ended up with us because of that last time, but I don’t know why she is so close to the noble faction these days.”

‘What the heck are they talking about?’

As my thoughts were complicated at the moment, I could hardly understand exactly what they were talking about. I looked at the three men, trying to shake off the fog of my head.

“I didn’t like her invitation from the beginning because it seemed she was trying to test our loyalty. I think the Monique family is going too far. To be honest, how much did our faction suffer because of Lady Monique’s ambiguous attitude?’

“That’s right.”

As the gray-haired man nodded as if he agreed, another man who stood silently said, “Hmm, by the way, the Monique family seems to have gone whole hog. I just can’t believe the marquis’s only daughter is infertile. What about his noble title then?”

“Well, if she ever gets married to a man, he will inherit the title, I think. Are you going to challenge it?”

“Are you crazy? How can you say that when you saw the emperor attending this banquet today?”

“Ah, that doesn’t make any sense. Why does the emperor want to marry an infertile woman? So, why don’t you try to make her your woman? Even if the title you will inherit is for your lifetime only, you can still live as a marquis, right? I think some young guys of the noble faction are approaching her with that in mind.”

My head, which was in the clouds, cleared when I heard them ridiculing me openly. Watching the three giggling loudly, I took a deep breath, and I tightened my clenched fists.

What did they say?

Infertile woman?

‘Oh my, what should I do about them?’

Biting my lip, I was wondering when it was the right time to go and shout at them, when I heard a familiar voice at a distance.

“Hey, I’m quite a good candidate, too. How about me?”

Something red in the dark began to move, then a knight in a black uniform with his red hair hanging over my shoulders appeared. As I couldn’t believe my ears, I stared blankly at the young man’s face, stiffening on the spot as if I was nailed down.

What the heck are you doing here, Sein? Have you been sticking around me with that thinking in mind?

When I was shocked by Carsein’s joining their conversation, I heard another voice that seemed to be very pleasant.

“Oh, nice to see you, Sir Carsein. Please do as you wish. How dare I be your rival?”

“Really?”

“Yes, I’m serious.”

“Hmm.”

Nodding at him, Carsein pulled a small dagger out of his pocket. Then, with a bored look, he pulled the dagger out of the sheath and examined it in the moonlight.

“By the way, are you comfortable about her? Even if she is from a marquis family, she’s an infertile woman.”

“Well.”

“In a sense, I think it doesn’t matter that much because she’s the marquis’s daughter anyway…Sir Carsein?”

At that moment something flashed, and I heard someone’s embarrassed voice.

‘What was it a moment ago?’

I stared blankly, blinking. The dagger held in Carsein’s hand was already plunged in a tree as if he threw it. The handle of the dagger was still trembling, deeply stuck in the tree where the man was standing only a finger away from it.

Watching the three whose faces turned white casually, he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and said, “Oh, I think I am a little rusty as I haven’t practiced well enough these days. I threw it in the wrong place. ”

“Oops! Sir Carsein?”

“I was going to cut off your flippant tongue, but that’s too bad. How can you dare mention her name?”

“We just… ”

“Shut up! Do you want to see tongues cut off?”

The men who freaked out at his cold rebuke shook their heads hurriedly and said, “Oh, no.”

“I am really ashamed of the fact that we are in the same faction. If you mention her name once again, I’ll kick your butt by all means. Got it?”

“Yes, Sir Carsein!”

“Get out of here!”

The three men quickly disappeared, hurriedly saying goodbye to him who was staring at them coldly.

Even after they disappeared, Carsein was staring down there for a long time, then he pulled the dagger with a long sigh.

“I wish I had cut them all.”

He flinched while turning around, murmuring a bit. He looked at me, with his eyes wide open, and said, “… Did you see it? ”

“… Yes.”

“Really?”

When I slowly nodded, he approached me, hardening his face.

I let out a sigh, looking at his tightly closed lips. It looked like he was going to say something, but I was not in a mood to listen. My head was throbbing.

“Hey, how could you put up with them when you heard them ridiculing you?”

“… I didn’t .”

“What? Are you sure?”

Carsein, who was looking at me blankly, took a deep breath and opened his mouth, “Then explain to me. Why were you just listening to them silently? ”

“Well… I was just looking for the right time to interrupt.”

“Are you serious? When you see yourself being ridiculed like that, how can you stand blankly, doing nothing?”

After rebuking me calmly, he swept up his hair, then breathed in and out several times as if to catch his breath. Finally, he said in a calm voice after a long time, “… I just wanted to stand by and keep you because you don’t like me to intervene at all, but, Tia… ”

“… ”

“I can’t tolerate it anymore. I can’t just let you be insulted and treated like this.”