49.
‘Anastasia Roksan appeared, escorted by Rogiche Peregrine.’
If this fact were to become known to everyone?
A novel was born in my head, as if sketched out.
A woman who caused a scandal with the older brother of her ex-lover’s fiancée!
It was an excellent scoop that wildly stimulated the imagination of the masses.
Just then, something collided with my back, sending my body staggering.
Engulfed in mental shock, I hadn’t even noticed something approaching.
In the midst of it all, I hurriedly grabbed the mask that was slipping off my nose.
And to check what was still pressed against me after the collision, I turned around.
‘Huh?’
When I lowered my gaze to my otherwise blind field of vision, I saw some little brat clinging to the hem of my skirt.
His cheeks were flushed red—he had clearly been running around like this for a while now.
Snot dribbled down from his tiny nostrils.
Was he a child of House Erdel?
“You…….”
My attempt to say something was rendered meaningless as the brat quickly dashed off elsewhere.
The party hall, already filled with people dressed in glamorous attire, instantly swallowed up the small child and hid all traces of him.
‘Well, it should be fine.’
No matter what anyone said, the most urgent problem here was me.
‘Surely he isn’t still looking for me.’
I raised my head and calmly checked his whereabouts.
‘He’s not there.’
Neither Meriana nor that green hair was anywhere to be seen.
After that, I happened to overhear several conversations around me, and through them, I barely learned the truth.
That the Peregrine and Erdel families had been close from the start, and that Sophia and Meriana, the daughters of the two houses, had been practically childhood friends.
I could almost understand, yet couldn’t fathom at all, why they had given me this invitation.
With the thought that I couldn’t be the only one to suffer, I surveyed my surroundings with flashing eyes.
‘……Daena Greengale.’
People caught in my eerie gaze shuddered.
‘Since it’s come to this, you’re going to have to help me.’
* * *
Daena was with her friends.
Just a short while ago, as the sun had completely set, all the candles placed throughout the party hall had been lit.
The chandelier lights, dazzling with a dizzying brilliance, seemed to possess a magical power that made even a moderately decent face look like an unparalleled handsome man.
It might have been simply my mood, or perhaps because they were partially hidden by masks.
In any case, people held hands with flushed cheeks and came out to the center of the hall, dancing round and round endlessly.
An atmosphere heated to an oppressive degree pervaded the party hall.
And like a jackal that had spotted its prey, I quietly approached behind Daena and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“As I thought, for a man, the back is importa……. What?”
Daena, who had been chattering away energetically, stopped and turned around, likely coming face-to-face with my owl mask.
Though she didn’t show it, I felt her shoulder flinch beneath my hand, as if startled inwardly.
“Who are you?”
I whispered softly, quietly enough that those around us wouldn’t hear.
“It’s me.”
“So who are yo…….”
Daena’s eyes widened.
“No way?”
“Why? Because my hair color is different?”
Daena, finally realizing, glared and darted her eyes this way and that, looking as if she were roughly protesting, ‘Didn’t we agree not to pretend to know each other?’
I smiled brightly, pretending not to notice.
Ah, she probably couldn’t see it because of the mask.
“You have to take responsibility for me.”
Daena cried out, lowering her voice as much as possible while sounding aggrieved.
“Why me!”
“You’re the one who told me to come? More importantly, are you okay with my identity being exposed?”
I asked, throwing my arm around Daena’s shoulder in a friendly manner.
At the perfect timing, one of Daena’s friends approached us.
“Daena, who is this person……?”
Daena barely managed to turn up her trembling lips and began to introduce me to her friends.
“Ah, this friend is my maternal cousin’s daughter who came up to the Capital this time…….”
“Oh my, hello! I’m…….”
Since it seemed to immediately turn into exchanging names, I cut in at the right moment.
“Isn’t this a masquerade ball?”
“Yes?”
“Since we’ve already gone to the trouble of wearing masks, isn’t it more fun if we don’t know who each other is?”
“Oh my.”
“Well, that’s true too.”
Anyway, since they fundamentally knew that I was the daughter of Daena’s maternal cousin, we were fortunately able to get past it naturally.
The person standing beside Daena nudged her in the side.
“If she’s your maternal cousin’s daughter, shouldn’t you have at least gotten her a decent mask as a gift?”
Daena, who had been scolded unexpectedly, shot me a glare on the sly.
I spoke confidently.
“Why? Isn’t this owl cute?”
“What? Ahaha.”
Everyone laughed, probably thinking it was a joke.
But Daena alone, who had realized my words were sincere, looked at me with a cold expression.
Most of Daena’s friends had amiable personalities.
They were honest and cheerful.
However, even they had been among the group that had harshly criticized me alongside Daena during the hunting festival.
Having them act so friendly toward me was honestly not easy to adapt to.
“By the way, do you have a guy you like?”
“……Excuse me?”
When I seemed flustered, one of them burst into mischievous laughter.
“What’s with that reaction?”
“I guess this is your first time in the Capital?”
“Did you leave a lover behind?”
I quickly waved my hand.
“No. Nothing like that.”
“Your tone suddenly became very polite?”
“Are you hiding something?”
“Or did you come all the way here because there’s someone you like in the Capital?”
“Is it a man attending this party right now?”
Those who had started teasing me looked back and forth between me and Daena with mischievous, sly expressions.
No matter how much I was Daena’s maternal cousi— …anyway, a distant relative, they seemed to start having strange ideas, wondering what reason I could have for coming all the way to the Capital and attending this party.
“Have you ever dated a man?”
I have.
He’s even right over there.
I gritted my teeth to keep my gaze from drifting to Rovinas, who was treating his followers like flies and giving them perfunctory responses as always.
“Oh my, it seems she has?”
“Was he handsome?”
He was.
“How much? How handsome was he?”
To the point where he had monopolized first place in some beauty survey for ten full years, before Prien Ijanar appeared.
I let out an awkward laugh.
“L-let’s stop talking about that. Rather than looking back, shouldn’t people seek out new love?”
“Great words!”
“A famous saying indeed.”
“That’s right, very well said!”
A woman with an unusually crazed gleam in her eyes rolled up her dress sleeve and spoke emphatically.
“Today we’re each going to catch one here!”
……Catch what?
Men?
“No, I’m fine…….”
“What’s your type? Just say the word!”
As I began to flounder, Daena’s face, on the contrary, started to brighten.
It seemed she was beginning to find this situation quite thrilling.
Maybe she was simply happy that our positions had been reversed.
“I know my nephew’s tastes inside and out. I think he liked blondes, didn’t he?”
Daena even chimed in.
And so, as though swept along by an irresistible current...
I had no choice but to join these women on their journey to find a new lover.
At one point, Daena whispered a hint in my ear: the woman searching for prey with especially feverish eyes had just had her heart broken the other day.
‘Ah, so that’s why.’
It was then.
Someone entered the party hall belatedly, even though it was already practically packed.
Daena’s group, positioned near the entrance, quickly turned their interested gazes that way.
He had unusually long hair, and his stride stood out among the crowd.
It wasn’t that his posture was strange. Rather, it would be more accurate to say that because it was so straight and smooth, without the slightest excess, he stood out all the more among ordinary people.
Watching the women’s eyes gleam sharply, I secretly swallowed.
I thought I knew who he was.
‘That’s Prien.’
I desperately turned my head away and pretended not to notice.
All while fervently hoping that these women would, thanks to the tool known as a mask, unfortunately overlook the most handsome man in the entire imperial capital.
But the women’s eyes were fierce and precise.
“His clothes fit perfectly.”
“Even his hair looks handsome.”
“There’s a high chance his face is handsome too.”
“What shall we do, ladies?”
“Shall we pick him?”
Pick him? What exactly were they picking?
Their way of speaking had been anything but ordinary for a while now.
Daena, wearing a half-mask painted with a pale pink swan pattern, tapped my shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
“...I know him.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, not particularly...”
In truth, it wasn’t.
It wasn’t as if my relationship with him was so bad that I had to suddenly avoid him.
It was just that, since I had something weighing on my conscience, I didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention in the current situation.
Because I never knew when, where, or how that green-haired person might pop up.
‘I am Daena Greengale’s nephew...’
While I repeated that inwardly and calmed myself, someone brave approached Prien, who had stopped near the entrance.
Prien was wearing a plain, jet-black half-mask.
‘...Wait. Come to think of it, everyone’s wearing half-masks. Don’t tell me... I’m the only one?’
“I’ll decline.”
At that utterly chilly voice, I reflexively lifted my head.
Prien was staring coldly at the woman who had approached him.