Left alone in the space Prince Nguyen had vacated, I downed my red wine with a troubled heart.
‘……So this is the empire’s true face. It treats the capable well, yet is endlessly cruel to the incompetent and the weak….’
The hostages at a table far away, shoveling food into their mouths like beasts, now looked somewhat different to me than before.
Of course, I had not the slightest desire to get involved with them, but the fact that a single whim of the imperial family could send me tumbling into the abyss as soon as tomorrow sank painfully into my bones.
‘I must never become incompetent. And I must never fall out of the imperial family’s favor.’
I was drinking my wine, silently firming my resolve to survive, when—
“Oh my, who is that?”
“Good heavens…… Why is someone that handsome sitting alone at a table in an outlying garden like this?”
“My word, there was such a beautiful man in imperial high society? Why didn’t I know until now?”
“This must be his first time in society. Goodness… How can a person really look like that?”
Before I knew it, noble young ladies who had been strolling around the garden had gathered in little groups near my table and begun whispering among themselves.
Their gazes, peeking over ornate fans that covered their mouths, were unmistakably blatant and sticky.
‘Ah, how annoying.’
It would have been better if they had simply come over and spoken to me. Instead, several of them kept whispering about me from a distance where I could hear every word, and it was starting to grate on my nerves.
Feeling like a monkey in a zoo, I quietly prepared to get up.
It seemed better to withdraw to some secluded corner of the garden.
Just as I was about to push my chair back—
Tap.
“Is this seat taken?”
Along with a smooth, sensual voice, someone plopped down in the chair across from me, where Prince Nguyen had been sitting moments earlier.
“……”
When I raised my head, I nearly stopped breathing for a moment.
The young woman seated before me had dazzlingly pale skin and long, abundant, glossy dark-brown hair flowing down her back.
Her black silk dress, daringly cut to reveal her cleavage and the line of her back, perfectly emphasized her breathtaking figure.
Most striking of all was the alluring beauty mark set beside her right eye like a teardrop.
With an arrogant, confident air, the woman elegantly crossed her legs and grinned at me.
“A pleasure to meet you. I happened to be passing by when that blindingly handsome face of yours caught my interest, so I came over. You wouldn’t mind if I sat here, would you?”
I was flustered by her openly saying she had come because of my face, but since she was not trying to dress it up or speak in circles, this was actually preferable.
Hiding my surprise, I rose politely from my seat and gave a slight bow.
“Thank you for the compliment. You, too, are breathtakingly beautiful, my lady. May I ask from which house and whom I have the honor of addressing?”
“My name is Alba de Espada. I am the second daughter of the Count Espada family, imperial counts.”
The moment she revealed her family, the faces of the young ladies who had been glancing over and whispering nearby turned white.
“E-Espada……!”
“Good heavens, if it’s the Espada family, then that great noble house of the east…?”
“If she’s the second daughter, then she’s the famous…….”
‘Espada… Ah, that was one of the great houses in the east.’
It was a house introduced in the materials the Crown Prince had given me as one of the major families that supported the empire.
There was no way these noble young ladies, nobles in their own right, would not know of a family even I, practically ignorant of high society, knew about.
The young ladies began slowly backing away, unable to dare approach this way or continue whispering.
“And who might you be? I had no idea such a handsome man was hidden in the imperial palace. It seems my family’s information network has grown old.”
Lady Espada asked, resting her chin in her hand and smiling seductively with her eyes.
I sat back down and answered calmly.
“I am Prince Ian from the Kingdom of Sterling. I have come to the capital to prove Sterling’s steadfast loyalty in serving the great empire.”
At my answer, the young lady’s eyes gleamed with interest.
“Hm, Sterling, Sterling… Ah, the kingdom in the south. In short, Prince Ian, you are a hostage from a defeated nation?”
“That is correct.”
“Hmmm…”
The young lady half-closed her eyes enchantingly and let out a faint smile at me.
“A hostage… Have you not been in the empire for very long?”
“A little over a month.”
“Then this must be your first time in society. Hm… I’ll be direct. Living as a hostage in the empire is rather difficult. You can tell that much just by looking at the other hostages sitting at that table over there.”
“Yes, I am well aware.”
“Then this will be a bit easier to explain.”
As she said that, the young lady slid her slender wrist before my eyes.
Tied around her pale wrist was a crimson silk cord interwoven with gold thread.
“Fortunately, however, my family has quite a bit of power. When the ball begins shortly, come dance with me, Prince Ian. If even one partner presents this cord, you can enter not the garden, but the main hall inside the imperial palace. If you are someone I have chosen, you will never be treated poorly anywhere.”
Alba de Espada extended her hand to me with confidence, as if certain I would accept her offer.
“Is it not the etiquette of high society for the man to be the one to invite a lady to dance or become his partner first?”
When I asked with a slight smile, Alba snorted.
“I have not the slightest desire to become the sort of passive, boring woman who merely waits for a man she fancies to extend his hand to her. If there is something we want, we reach out first and seize it. That is the way of House Espada.”
Alba de Espada was an alpha woman through and through.
Unlike a typical noble young lady, she was independent, confident, and did not hide her desires. To be honest, I rather liked someone like that.
If I had not already had someone else to rely on, I might have taken that hand then and there.
But a promise was a promise.
Putting on an expression of deep, genuine regret, I politely shook my head.
“It is a truly charming offer, and one difficult to refuse, Lady Espada… But unfortunately, due to certain circumstances, I have firmly promised not to dance with anyone at this social gathering.”
“…May I ask who?”
“That, too, is difficult for me to say. I can swear to the heavens that I am not lying, but the fact remains that I will not dance. I apologize.”
At my polite refusal, Alba’s pretty eyebrows lifted slightly.
Around us, along with murmurs, faint sounds of ridicule drifted in.
A man had refused an offer made confidently by a woman, and moreover, the daughter of a great noble house had suffered such discourtesy. It would not have been strange for her to become angry, but—
“Ho……”
She withdrew her outstretched hand and instead looked at me with even greater interest.
“To have such a fine opportunity before your eyes and still shake off temptation to keep a promise with someone? Ah, what am I to do? I’ve been rejected, yet I like you even more now. A man who treats his promises seriously is attractive.”
She leaned close across the table and parted her red lips.
Her cleavage came fully into view, and the dizzying scent of perfume wafted over me.
“Then I’ll give up on the dance, so stay just like this and have a nice, long conversation with me instead. I don’t know who the other party to that promise is, but surely a conversation or two is allowed?”
Faced with her blatant temptation, I was feeling slightly troubled and wracking my brain over how to refuse, when—
“……”
“…Oh my.”
The young ladies around us, who had been secretly watching from a distance until just moments ago, all inhaled at once as if by agreement and hurriedly lowered their heads.
The noisy clamor that had filled the surroundings vanished as if by magic, and a chilly silence settled over the area.
“I had intended to bring Prince Ian inside myself, but Lady Espada, you’ve put me in quite the difficult position by making the first move.”
The voice that came from behind me was cold, yet at the same time languid and sweet enough to melt the bones.
When I slowly turned my head, I saw a familiar face.
A beauty draped in a snow-white fur shawl, wearing a golden dress that revealed her snow-white cleavage.
The greatest mage in the empire, heir to the Grand Duke of the North, and one of imperial blood—Ella von Arzenheim—stood there.
Treating the frozen nobles around her as though they were invisible, she passed them by, then approached me with perfect ease, her silver eyes sparkling as she gave me an enchanting smile.
“It’s been a while, Ian. You’ve grown even cuter while I wasn’t looking. Come with me to the main hall.”