#36
“To use someone as bait, so.”
“Pretending to be sick? Well, something like that. People feel stronger jealousy toward those with opposite tendencies to themselves.”
Why was that?
At my words, he didn’t respond for a moment.
Then he stared at me with narrowed eyes and extended his hand.
“Then I don’t need to get involved in your affairs any further. Good. Shall we go back?”
I smiled wryly and, putting on the face of an innocent younger brother again, took his hand and returned.
He didn’t suggest dancing again, but somehow he didn’t let go of my hand either.
It seemed like he was exchanging glances with the Archduke…
Eventually, we began walking around the hall together.
In front of Lady Marsien, not only holding hands but also linking arms and hanging on his arm.
I was briefly inwardly flustered seeing Theodore hyung maintain his attitude of indulging a younger sibling.
I soon realized they had decided to watch over me.
‘Then that’s fortunate. I need to focus on the young lady.’
The nobles showed reactions I was familiar with.
They didn’t even ask if I was sick despite me breaking out in cold sweat.
Some time passed with them looking at me like a curious monkey with faces that didn’t fully hide their malice.
“…”
Finally, the young lady’s face became expressionless.
‘I thought we’d have to encounter each other several times at the ball.’
I’d seen that look before.
Around the time Sercil began being tormented by her.
I caught the macaron that hyung fed me with an annoyed expression with my mouth, then grinned and made eye contact with her.
When I tilted my head with an innocent face and looked at her, Lady Marsien slightly raised one corner of her mouth.
Her expression was saying something more than a simple greeting.
That smile looked elegant and kind at first glance, but mixed within it was a kind of provocation, observation, and something like a test.
The smile that appeared on her white, fair skin was beautiful like flower petals, but if you looked closely, the thorns hidden beneath were sharp enough to prick anyone.
And soon she created a beautiful expression as if nothing had happened, then began approaching lightly toward where hyung and I were.
Her footsteps were as light as floating feathers, and the delicate lighting of the ballroom touched her dress, reflecting a subtle golden light. The sight of her dress hem flowing as it brushed the floor was like walking on water, and even the fragrance surrounding her spread carefully without being artificial. Gazes quietly followed along with it. The nobles’ gazes were changing direction just from her appearance alone, without a single word.
“Your Highness.”
Her voice carried an unfamiliar energy. It was neither excessively polite nor casually familiar. Rather, it exquisitely maintained somewhere right in between, the kind that made listeners try to discern her intentions.
“Young lady.”
Hyung’s response was neither cold nor warm. But it was definitely shorter than usual. A wordless signal that he would maintain distance.
“I don’t think I properly greeted His Highness the Second Prince.”
The young lady’s words pretended to be humble while piercing to the heart. This wasn’t simply a matter of courtesy. She was revealing her existence frontally and clearly. There was a strong intention to announce her name, show off her influence, and simultaneously test the position of the existence called Ersen in this space.
Was that so? Crown Prince hyung looked back at me.
That gaze was more exploration than surprise. A look mixed with slight tension and curiosity, wanting to see what I intended to do.
Was he remembering my words about using the young lady as bait and wanting to see what I planned to do?
‘For that, it’s somehow a warning look.’
Hyung’s eyes were quiet but sharp. The message contained within was clear. Don’t get emotionally entangled, and don’t cross that line – wordless pressure. It was very rare for hyung to warn me like this.
I remember hyung really disliked Lady Marsien.
That wasn’t simple personal antipathy. Theodore hyung instinctively judged people’s danger levels. He didn’t like that the young lady was showing movements to somehow scratch me or drag me onto the stage to prove something in the middle of the ballroom.
While I tilted my head, the gazes of the ball’s nobles were subtly focusing this way.
Though they covered their mouths with fans, their ears were perked up. Gazes that had been pretending indifference shifted our way, hands holding wine glasses stopped, and lips that had been conversing slightly closed.
“It’s my first time meeting you, Your Highness. I am Isabella Marsien.”
Her greeting contained the refined tone characteristic of noble families. The moment she revealed her name, small gasps came from around us. Her presence was originally large, but it stood out even more at this moment.
“Ah! Nice to meet you, young lady. I’m Ersen Mayer. I couldn’t greet you properly earlier. I was only looking at hyung.”
I replied with an innocent smile. The playfulness in my voice was intentional. An implicit boundary line saying not to take it seriously, while simultaneously a laugh showing off that I had the qualifications to exist comfortably in this place.
When I innocently smiled and replied like a young boy, hyung’s hand that had been offering me another macaron flinched.
That movement was very brief but clear. As if unexpected emotions had crossed at my sudden reaction.
When I glanced at him, he was giving me a look of disbelief.
Then he withdrew the macaron and put it in his own mouth.
His fingertips were elegant and simultaneously resolute. Even such an action carried emotion. Silently picking up the macaron and putting it in his mouth was a small but certain warning.
‘I haven’t tried gold kiwi macaron though…’
When I unconsciously looked at the macaron disappearing into his mouth with eyes mixed with regret, hyung’s expression became strange.
There was a bit of laughter mixed in that gaze. Eyes that seemed about to let out a “pfft” sound.
That’s when it happened.
Breaking the flow of us subtly exchanging glances, the young lady spoke.
As if she had aimed for the exact timing, she interjected while slightly twisting the grain of her words.
“Various ‘bloodlines’ have gathered in one place at this ball. Unexpected diversity, you might say.”
Those words were within the bounds of etiquette themselves, but anyone could feel the blade within. As if gently mocking being ‘different.’
With an expression invisible to others, she was preparing a blade tip aimed at my identity.
“Huh?”
I reacted by tilting my head slightly. I put composure in my eyes, but inwardly I steeled my heart firmly. This kind of attack was familiar. Maintaining dignity on the surface while striking at vital points.
“His Majesty seems to have become… much more generous, Your Highness.”
Her manner of speaking was solidly refined. Without the slightest flaw, she struck down with precise words and rhythm.
It was incomparably smoother speech than when she had first approached Sercil after ignoring him.
Back then she had thrown uncomfortable and sharp words without hesitation, but now she was very skillfully pretending courtesy while sharpening the blade in her heart.
‘Could she be acting like this because I’m a prince?’
The suddenly changed attitude was unfamiliar. It seemed like she had acknowledged that I had become an existence with some kind of status and changed her behavior accordingly.
I thought she wouldn’t care about such things toward Ersen.
She had always been faithful to emotions, someone who put feelings before status. At least until now.
Of course, despite her speech being like that, I was suffering quite a bit.
‘She’s not stopping the fear magic even in front of the Crown Prince? Very bold.’
As this thought crossed my mind, something cold slowly crept up my spine. The identity of the magic she was using wasn’t clear. But what was certain was that there was a sensation that only affected me. I felt slightly dizzy, and the fear rising from my toes began creating darkness that didn’t actually exist. No matter how much she was a noble’s daughter, to do such things without hesitation in front of the Crown Prince meant she was confident she wouldn’t be caught.
Well, this magic only leaves brief traces on the target.
From the outside, she was still an elegant and graceful young lady. Her expression was gentle and her speech smooth. But the world I was experiencing was different. The pressure and cold energy I was receiving was seeping in like transparent poison that no one else could notice.
As she drew closer, I felt the fear intensify to a level that made me feel like I might lose my mind, and I raised the corners of my mouth.
Even the short moment of breathing in and out felt long. The air entering my lungs was cool, and the sound of my heartbeat strangely struck my ears.
‘Something’s strange.’
I endured quietly and suddenly thought.
‘Is this really fear magic?’
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
