So it turned out, nothing had changed after all—nothing.

I recalled how he still had the nerve to embrace me before—after all this?

He just wanted to make a fool out of me. I had enough of that. I didn’t want to look at His Highness, and thus spoke to him.

“Your Highness, I’m going to fix my makeup.”

“Yes, be careful.”

“Yes.”

‘Be careful’, huh, how unnecessary.

But, when I glanced at His Highness, anxiety was pasted all over his face.

What’s with you, really…?

Was it really a split personality? Or rather, it would be strange if it wasn’t. The current Highness was too creepy for me to comprehend.

I quickly excused myself—yes, I wanted to escape. Despite so, I did everything gracefully.

When I went out of the hall, my surroundings calmed down. Even so, I could still hear the music leaking from the venue, but it really was much quieter.

Walking down the quiet hallway, I headed towards the powder room.

That was when I heard arguing voices.

A high-pitched voice and a low-pitched voice… they belonged to a male and a female—no way!

I had run away all the way here only to get caught in the middle of a love affair again—!? How utterly distasteful—!!

The voices came from the corner of the hallway, apparently. I had no choice but to find another powder room.

I had enough involvement with annoying things, already. I didn’t want to extend the list.

I turned my heels to try and find another powder room… was the plan.

But I stopped when I heard the voices.

“That’s why, you…”

“…In short, you’re…”

I was unfamiliar with the woman’s voice. But very familiar with the man’s voice.

It was a voice that I heard every day.

I reflexively turned around again and approached the voice. That way, I could listen to the voice more clearly.

“I can’t do that.”

There’s no doubt—!

My Sword Instructor. The first-class swordsman in this kingdom—Sir Vioris. No doubt, it was him! What, he was in some kind of a love argument—!? My feet stopped, curiosity got the better of me—

—but soon, I realized I was doing something I shouldn’t.

But, why not?

That woman-like Vioris! I thought he didn’t have any experience with women!

Because not only is he profound, he’s also sincere… I also suspect he’s prudent…

It’s really shocking that he’s with a woman…

…this kind of thing should be enlisted in, ‘The Most Impactful Things of the Year’, and should place above fifth rank at most—!

I really thought he had zero experience with woman… albeit I couldn’t say that directly to his face…

Well, it was good to have a woman who long for you. After all, he was already twenty-five this year. His age was such that he had to consider marriage seriously. I was glad that there was a woman who cared about him.

I was annoyed at myself, who couldn’t do anything for Vioris…

While thinking about such things, I turned around to head towards another powder room.

That was when the woman’s voice grew loud, and I could hear some footsteps… this is bad! I am going to be caught eavesdropping!

Unfortunately, this hallway was a straight road.

There was no place to hide. In the end, I couldn’t hide in time and locked gazes with the woman coming out of the corner of the hallway.

“…!?”

…Wow, a beautiful woman.

But, who did she resemble?

Her strawberry pink hair was tied up, and she had a slight magenta tinge. Her eyes were of the same color. She looked as adorable as puppy.

She really looked delicate and lovable. She was a pretty girl, even me, who was of the same gender as her, had to admit that.

…I see, no doubt Vioris would fall for such woman…

People often said that I was headstrong, and this girl was the opposite of me in everything. She looked gentle, warm, loving, beautiful…

“…you are?”

The beautiful girl looked wary—she probably suspected I was eavesdropping.

This is bad! Involuntarily, I got smitten by her appearance. I thought about how easily I’ve been getting swayed by the situation lately… no good, I had to be more firm! Thinking so, I greeted the girl.

I didn’t know whether or not she was a noble, but the fact that she was with Vioris earned her my respect.

“Pardon my rudeness. My name is Tiarize Merfan, the daughter of Duke Merfan.”

“The Duke of Merfan? I see, Lady Tiarize…”

The girl looked astonished, no, to be more accurate, shocked.

Then Vioris came out of the corner in a hurry.

“Lady Maria! I’ve told you to not move around as you please—Tiarize—!?”

“Sir Vioris, good day to you. Who would’ve thought that we would attend the same ball.”

“O, ooh, indeed. Lady Maria, come here, please. There’s something I want you to hear.”

“I decline, after all, I hate persistent men!”

“The persistent one is you, you do realize that, right?”

“Not only that, you’re also clingy.”

Violis glanced at me as they exchanged words, then—

“Tiarize, I’m sorry, but now isn’t the time, how about we chat later?”

“Y, yes, then, this is it, excuse me.”

I hurried to get away from them. The girl, Maria, eyed me, but soon returned to look at Vioris.

Then, suddenly, she embraced Vioris. I was surprised, but even more so, was Vioris himself.

So, they were indeed lovers.

I was envious… I would also like to have a relationship like theirs… More than that, next time I met Vioris, I would ask him for the wedding date!

What, too fast? Then, I wondered if they would get married within a year.

I thought of the upcoming wedding of those two people, and I involuntarily smiled.

After reapplying my makeup, I left the powder room and returned to the venue—

—only to find that it was in an uproar.

…did something happen?

As I entered the venue, a loud voice echoed throughout the entire venue.

“If you have any excuses, then let us all hear them, Baroness Schmia Bergner—!”

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***T/N: Guys… if at this point you asked me what Tiarize’s defining traits were my answer would be 1. She’s presumptious 2. She can magic 3. She’s PRESUMPTIOUS (with capslock) …like, like, that’s like me seeing my friends–boy and girl–coincidentally exiting a room at the same time and be like “GUYS OMG WHEN’S THE WEDDING DATE ZOOOMGGGGGGGGG”

Guys, guys please don’t repeatedly click the ads in this site, google-sama doesn’t appreciate that, and threatened to take away the ads!!! That would severe my lifeblood!!! Don’t spam it. Thank you!!!

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