22

"Sister, how long has it been?"

Avella pretended to know her in a friendly tone. She felt the skill of hiding herself even though it was a young age from a happy expression that she could not feel any pretense.

'You're still like a kid, though.'

Elena thought Avella's behavior was cute. It was Avella, who had established an unrivaled faction in society, but was brutally trampled by Elena. However, now Avella was no match for Elena.

"Avella, how long has it been?"

Elena greeted her as happily as if she had met a long-departed blood relative.

"I know. You have no idea how worried I was about you"

"Why wouldn't I know? If Avella was sick, I would be, too."

Elena responded skillfully. Since she couldn't really do that, she returned to say that in the same situation, the same would be true for her.

"Can we see each other often now?"

"Yes, of course."

"That's good! I have a lot of ladies I want to introduce to my sister."

Avella turned her body around and seemed to boast a crowd following her. Some of the dogs included ladies who followed Veronica well.

'Childish.'

Elena snorted at Avella's child-like boast.

"Really? I'm already looking forward to it."

"Me, too. So, are you going back to the academy?"

Elena paused for a moment.

Frontier Academy. It was the highest and largest academy on the continent in both name and reality. It was a place where the children of imperial nobles, the royal families of the small kingdoms, and the nobility all hoped to graduate from, and it had a long history and a reputation for its high standard of education.

It was also the place of connections that would lead the empire would be completed, and the royalty and nobility of other countries sometimes considered graduation from the academy to be a symbol of an elite course. Its fame was so solid that the Rune Academy of the Kingdom of Royer was far from being overwhelmed.

'Leabrick, you're about to step up, aren't you?'

Elena hesitated and waited for Leabrick to answer.

"Her Highness is scheduled to return to the Academy."

Avella clapped her hands lightly and laughed when Leabrick answered for her.

"Really? I'm so happy. I'm sure we'll see a lot of each other at the academy then, sister."

"Is that so?"

It was time for Elena to answer the meaningless conversation in a perfunctory manner.

"Oh! What is it!"

The rear of the group led by Avella became noisy. Naturally, her eyes were drawn there. A man with curly hair was seen over the heads of the similarly dressed young ladies.

"S-sir B-Bastache?"

"Can you move your ugly face out of the way for a second?"

He pushed past the ladies and approached her, cynical and quarrelsome. The ladies, who couldn't stand the rudeness, scowled at him, but couldn't resist Ren's bleak smile and quieted down.

"What are you talking about, you're having so much fun with me? Disappointed."

When Ren intervened, Avella's face hardened. That's because she'd never seen anything good in association with a fool who doesn't have common sense.

"Sister, I'm going to get going."

Avella stepped back in a hurry. It's not that she avoided shit because she was afraid of it, it's that she avoided it because it was dirty. Leabrick's face hardened as well, and she seemed to tense up. It was types like Ren that were the most unruly to her of intrigue. There was no one whose possibilities were more difficult than someone who didn't know where they were going. If Elena showed him vanity, she could be suspected of being a substitute. Leabrick tried to stop such a worst-case scenario from happening.

"What, you don't like me?"

Ren looked at Avella with a hurt look who was easily gone, and turned his eyes away.

"Even my sister won't be cold to her brother, will she?

'Of course..'

Elena's unspoken answer was filled with affirmation, not denial.

'I waited for you to come.'

Surprisingly, Elena was pleased with Ren's sudden intrusion. It was as if the sharp conversation they'd had earlier had been a lie.

'Come to think of it, there are times when you're useful, too.'

Elena's eyes glanced at Leabrick. Elena was planning to use Ren to take off the Leabrick that was stuck like a leech.

"…. I don't think I should turn a blind eye to you."

"Yes, we should be a bit more friendly since we're cousins."

Despite the chilly atmosphere, Ren looked excited.

"So, I thought about it a lot. How can I cross the line?"

"I'm curious. Try it."

Elena casually rolled her eyes and asked back. Ren's grumbling got stronger as if the reaction was no more interesting. Did he feel uneasy with that smile? Before Ren took any unexpected action, Leabrick moved first.

"Excuse me, but for a while…"

"It's not your place. It's between family members."

Ren snatched Elena's hand issuing a violent warning. The lack of respect for a lady was a very ignorant and vile act.

"Let's dance to a song."

"W-what?"

Elena pretended to be embarrassed and looked to Leabrick for help. But it was already too late to stop Ren's spontaneous behavior, which happened in the blink of an eye. Elena was reluctantly pulled by Ren to the center of the hall. It was an action that was half compulsive and half arbitrary.

The nobles were quite angry at Ren's rude behavior.

"W-what the hell is this!"

"The Bastache family's young lord is awful."

"Is the Princess going to live like that?"

All together, they criticized Ren. However, no one ever scolded or stopped Ren in public. Although independent, the roots of the Bastasche family were still with Grand Duke Friedrich. Since the relationship between the two families was based on bloodline, it was not easy to leave.

Ren, who reached the center of the hall, let go. When Elena glared, smiling Ren asked for a dance with an exaggerated gesture.

"We've come this far, and it's going to be lonely standing around. Let's dance to a song."

"…"

"Of course, you can't refuse."

Elena stared at Ren, who never lost his mischievousness. It was the same situation, but she had the feeling that it was completely different from her past life. At the time, she had no choice but to do as she was told, since it was known that she was a substitute and she could not refuse.

But, the situation was different now. Elena seemed to have been drawn out, but she walked of her own volition. She was not swept away by Ren or by Leabrick, and she took the initiative to lead the game.

"If I don't want to?"

"I'll have to force you to dance."

"What?"

Ren quickly snatched Elena's hand, which had been free for a while. She tried again and again to shake him off, but she couldn't, because of how strong he was.

'It hurts.'

Elena frowned at the surging pain. Either way, Ren held Elena's hand tightly in one hand, while the other wrapped her waist tightly and stepped with a waltz. It was like a puppet on a string, a picture that danced spontaneously regardless of Elena's will.

"Why are you doing this nonsense?"

Elena quizzed at the sound of Ren's breath, which felt close to her.

"Because you're Veronica."

"That's the reason?"

"I need a better reason?"

"…"

Elena was convinced by Ren's unique smile.

'Pure hatred toward Veronica.'

The Hundred Year Treaty put the Bastache family in the position of having to live as servants for the Grand Duchy. Ren, who is known as a "Sword of the Empire" and has a natural talent, could not see Veronica as a beautiful successor to the family of the Grand Duchy, which would be a hindrance.

"Like a cockroach."

"What did you just say?"

Ren couldn't believe his ears. These were shallow words to come out of the mouth of a noble Veronica, not even a commoner.

"You're pathetic and can't take any more complaints."

"Hey, you're scratching my temper again."

"Bite me if you're going to complain."

Elena intentionally provoked Ren by touching the Achilles tendon, which he was most sensitive to. The reaction was immediate. Ren's stiff face told her that. Perhaps due to the psychological influence, Ren's movements were getting piled up and the beat was being pushed back little by little.

"If I bite, you and your father die."

"So bite. If you're really that confident?"

Elena continued to provoke and shake Ren's mind, taking steps to delay the music. Human emotions were indeed trivial, and even though Elena was responding to the rhythm, Ren was so consumed by anger that he didn't notice it at all.

Elena was so adept at social dancing that no one could follow. She couldn't do her best because Leabrick was watching, but it was a piece of cake to take away the opponent's flow. If your partner has lost his mind.

Without even realizing it, Ren was letting Elena set the pace for him.

"You're crazy, aren't you?"

"You're right on the money. Do you want me to tell you why you can't bite?"

Elena paused and focused on the steps. The balance of the dance, which was taken away little by little, was already in the position of an equal partner.

"You're a man who's got a horse in his mouth."

"…!"

Elena did not hesitate to say insulting things to Ren beyond provocation.

'To be swayed by emotions.'

The reaction was immediate. Ren's eyes, with a devilish, fierce look, were filled with murderous intent.

"What you shouldn't have said…. HYUK!"

Ren, who felt the step twisted momentarily, swallowed his breath. He could barely maintain his balance by exercising his animal senses, but his legs, already entangled in an "X" shape, were in danger of falling at any moment. Elena wasn't able to pass this opportunity. She pushed Ren in an equivocal position as hard as she could.

"Huh? Uh!"

Ren, who lost his balance, stumbled. He tried to bring her down too, but when Elena quickly moved on to the next move and broke the balance of his lower body, there was no way to throw it away anymore. Eventually, Ren fell down in the middle of the hall, frowning his butt in the middle of the hall.

"Look over there. Sir Bastache fell down."

"Fufu, he's not good at dancing, is he?"

"Oh, I feel good."

The aristocrats, who usually disapproved of Ren's words and actions, laughed and criticized him. It was an excuse to laugh at the mistakes made during the banquet to the aristocrats who value dance and etiquette.

Elena did the same. She felt relieved as if she had lost a 10-year-old weight because she had a lot of things. Elena gave a sweet smile as she looked down at the fallen Ren.

"It looks just right for you, who has no respect for ladies."

"Kk… kgh."

Ren, who was looking up to Elena because he was dumbfounded, suddenly began to laugh.

"I strangely don't feel bad."

Despite being properly humiliated after a blow, Ren got up without wiping his smiling face off.

"See you again."

Ren shook his hand and gradually moved away from Elena. However, he didn't forget to show his true self by saying 'Keep away' to a lady, who was blocking his way.

'It's not the time to be like this.'

Elena quickly rolled her eyes and found Leabrick. From the center of the hall, it was mixed in the gap between Avella's crowd on the left. Elena, relieved at some distance, hurried to find someone.

'I saw you standing over there a little while ago… oh! There she is.'

Elena's corners of her mouth went up. She was standing at the end of the hall on the right side of the hall, probably based on Elena's presence.

'Madame De Flanrose.'

When she repeated her name, she remembered some words that followed her like a modifier.

The height of elegance.

Lady of the ladies.

An aristocratic specimen.

Surprisingly, all of these qualifiers have been attributed to Madame de Flanrose alone. Her disdain for flattery and niceties, her honesty and emphasis on etiquette made her the epitome of respected sobriety in the social world. Despite the fact that she did not form any cliques, she was respected and adored by many of the noble women and ladies, and was a grown woman in both name and reality.

'I got something for you.'

Elena had planned to use Ren to pull Leabrick apart from her and devote the freedom and time she had managed to get to Madame de Flanrose.

Elena turned around and walked out to the opposite side of Leabrick.

"…!"

Leabrick, who naturally thought she would come to her side, was embarrassed.

'I can't leave her alone.'

Leabrick was in a hurry. Ren's situation a little while ago was ambiguous as she was out of control. Ren told her not to do it, so she didn't want to do it. When she called in the knights, she thought it would backfire because it seemed like the situation was growing too much. However, she was relieved that it seemed to have passed it without any accident, contrary to her concerns. Of course, she should ask Elena about the details and deal with them.

But she missed Elena. Leabrick urgently tried to chase Elena, but it wasn't easy. First, the size of the hall was so large that it was too far to the other side. She didn't know if she should cross the central hall where people were dancing, but it was too much. In the end, it was best to turn around in a circle. That alone wasn't easy, but one more hurdle remained.

"Leabrick, how have you been?"

"My lady, if you don't mind, can I talk to you for a minute?"

They were the nobles who were struggling to somehow line up with the real life Leabrick of the Grand Duke.

At that time, the ladies who were waiting for Elena to come down from the center hall, approached.

On the other side, there were mainly noblemen and their children from the capital, but this was a province of provincial ladies and their sons. To the provincial aristocrats who were trying to get connections to the central political world somehow, Princess Veronica was a friend they had to grab even if they had to sell their souls.

"Your Highness, I feel so refreshed."

"I can't tell if you dance as well as your beauty."

"If there's anyone I want to lead the social world in the future, it must be Her Highness."

Each of them routinely practiced flattery and fought to catch Elena's eye. They were so despicable that they could have stretched out on the floor for Elena.

'I used to enjoy flattery like this.'

To them, Princess Veronica was a noblewoman far away, at the top of the mountain, out of reach. Beyond their longing for an existence that could not be bound up in the same category of nobility, there was jealousy and envy, as well as a period of time.

Elena of her past life enjoyed their eyes looking up to her. Even their jealousy and timing was considered mere amusement. Princess Veronica was a woman in such a position. It was no exaggeration to say that the social world revolved around her.

'It was all pointless.'

Elena regretted her immature days. If she had not been drunk with such illusions and vanity, she would not have been used and killed so miserably.

'If I had really realized… I would have seen Ian grow up.'

Ian's shadow, which had been buried deep in her heart, popped out and made her cry. Even knowing that it was already irreversible. A child who rises without warning or sign, heavier than a lump of lead, rejuvenated her consciousness. A passage from the novel that there are no parents who forget their children touched her heart.

'Stop.'

Elena managed to overcome her overwhelming emotions. If she were a little late, tears would have poured out from her moist eyes.

'Just look forward. Just look forward.'

There was nothing more pointless than looking backwards all the time. She didn't want to waste this time in order to avoid repeating the same mistake.