“….Yes.”
He knew how I felt.
“I’ll just dance with you next time.”
“Thank you, father.”
“No, thanks to you.”
Tenstheon patted my head lightly. It was the touch of a warm father. At that moment, the surrounding area became full of chatter again.
“Oh my! Did you see that? This time, His Majesty whispered first!”
“His Majesty patted her head!”
“I think I’m hallucinating!”
“I think so too! Did he get a mental disturbance while sealing the Door of Darkness?”
Just what kind of image did Tenstheon have before? Still, even though everyone was surprised by the gentleness of the Emperor, no one seemed to dislike it.
Everyone except for the Duke of Cassil that is. He looked at us disapprovingly, but when I looked at him, he quickly turned away.
Even though the song started playing, everyone was busy looking at Tenstheon and me.
“Even if you didn’t get to dance with Blake, it’s your first party as the Crown Princess, so just enjoy yourself.”
“Yes, Father.”
As soon as I walked down the platform, people rushed to greet me.
“Your Highness, you look wonderful tonight. I am Marquis Sheldron.”
“Good to see you, Marquis Sheldron. Your son graduated second-ranked from the Knights Academy this time, right? Congratulations.”
When I gave my congratulations, Marquis Sheldron’s eyes widened.
“Lady Emily, congratulations on your wedding.”
“Countess Marcion, I heard your precious grandson was born five days ago. The child will receive the Goddess of Light’s blessings since the Door of Darkness was closed. You must be delighted.”
There was one more thing that I made sure to learn carefully alongside ball etiquette and dancing. It was memorizing everything about the nobles.
I memorized the profiles of powerful aristocrats among the participants in the ball and the list of those who had special occasions to celebrate among the lower nobility.
I studied so hard I felt like I’d have gone to Harvard if I studied like this before.
The Empire was quick on marriage and tended to start social activities relatively early.
If Ancia had been active in social activities, people would suspect me, because I didn’t know who Ancia was close to and who she wasn’t.
Fortunately, Count Bellacian only supported Diana’s social activities, and Ancia wasn’t allowed to go out unless absolutely necessary.
In fact, it was part of the Empress and the Crown Princess’ duties to learn the names of the nobles. Usually, however, they’d learn it naturally through social activities and receive help from their maid.
However, today was my social debut, and I greeted people without any help from anyone.
This should be enough to imprint the existence of Crown Princess Ancia in everyone’s minds.
The greetings were coming to an end. Count Bellacian tried to approach me, but when I stared, he could not say a word and finally retreated.
I was sure he had boasted that I respected and followed him, but he couldn’t come forward because he was afraid they'd find out about that lie.
I saw a little child next to Count Bellacian. Just like me, she had blond hair and blue eyes.
Her eyes seemed to resemble mine, round and cute, but her eyes were more droopy, so her aura was mild.
It was Diana. She looked much lovelier than what was described in the novel.
I was looking at Diana when a man suddenly blocked my view.
Richard cut his way past Diana and came towards me.
“Your Highness, long time no see.”
“Ah, yes.”
I answered with a wry smile. Why was he talking to me again after being rejected like that?
“You’ve become more beautiful.”
He was still young, but his comments were so cheesy. It was common praise, but coming from him, I found it off-putting.
“Thank you.”
As a courtesy reply, he held out his hand.
“Your Highness, will you allow me a glorious first dance?”
‘What are you talking about, bastard?’
Tenstheon said he wouldn’t dance, but no one thought it was really because his dancing skills were rusty.
All citizens knew that Tenstheon was a good dancer. Countess Chardin also praised him for his dancing skills. He wouldn’t get rusty that soon.
No one said anything about it, but they didn’t ask me for a dance either because they thought I hadn’t mastered it or I had a good reason not to.
Besides, I was the Crown Princess.
The Crown Princess’ first dance partner should, of course, be the Crown Prince. For the Crown Princess, there was an implicit rule to only dance with the Crown Prince, his father, or his brother, if any.
Everyone else had stayed put in consideration of their status and circumstances, but I couldn’t believe Richard was asking me to dance proudly.
I’m afraid I’d even refuse Count Bellacian.
Why was he confident that he won’t be rejected? Only Richard, the male lead, could have this kind of confidence.
“I’m sorry, but I refuse.”
“You don’t have to be ashamed of your poor dancing skills. I’ll lead you well.”
So he was assuming that my skills were lacking? Even if that was true, he couldn’t say that in front of everyone. He was really inconsiderate.
“You’re not as awesome as His Majesty so I don’t want to dance with you.”
Richard’s expression froze.
He was arrogant and proud. Normally, he would look down on everyone and treat them like his chess pieces, but he only acknowledged Tenstheon.
However, beyond his respect for Tenstheon, there was also a sense of inferiority.
Richard’s pride had been scratched and he gritted his teeth. But in fact, I had been rather considerate.
“Oh, Your Highness, there’s no one in the world more wonderful than His Majesty.”
“That’s right. If I look for a man like His Majesty, I wouldn’t be able to dance with anyone for the rest of my life.”
“….”
The ladies who heard me burst in laughter.
Amidst the friendly atmosphere, only Richard’s face was red.
***
The party was held in the widest hall of the Palace, but it was a bit frustrating because the hall was full of people.
I finished the greetings and went to the terrace to rest for a moment.
The cold air made me feel a little relaxed.
What was Blake doing? Ever since I became Ancia, I had never been away from such a long time.
I missed my husband. He wasn’t crying because he missed me, was he?
“Knock knock knock.”
Suddenly, I heard a cute girl’s voice.
“Knock knock, can I come in?”
There were several terraces in the ballroom. Anyone who wanted to rest could close the curtains and go into the terrace. If the curtains were closed, it was polite to not come in, because there would already be someone inside.
But the girl asked for permission to enter so the other terraces must be occupied.
“Come in.”
Upon receiving my permission, the curtains opened carefully, and a blonde girl came in.
It was Diana. I was shocked by the sudden appearance of the heroine, who I thought was just another young aristocrat.
“Diana…”
“Sister…”
As I called her name, her eyes curved up into crescents and she smiled brightly.
“You look so pretty today. You’re like an angel. You’re not just pretty, you’re very elegant and cool. How can you be so pretty!”
Diana’s small lips moved in praise. Her voice contained pure joy, and I couldn't detect even a hint of jealousy.
Diana liked Ancia very much because she was her only sister. At first, Ancia also liked Diana.
However, Count Bellacian’s discrimination separated the two.
The Count gave Diana a large room and a small one for Ancia. He bought Diana all kinds of dresses, jewellery, and toys, but gave Ancia nothing.
Five teachers were hired to teach Diana so that she could be in the spotlight, but he refused to allow Ancia even a book.
No matter how young they were, they could understand who their parents loved more and who they discriminated against.
Diana hated this situation. She felt that her time with her sister was more precious than those dresses or jewellery. She only wanted to be with her sister.
But whenever she brought that up, the Count would hit Ancia instead. He said that Ancia lured the innocent Diana to get what she wanted.
No matter how much Diana explained that it wasn’t, he didn’t listen. Even if Diana made a small mistake, he’d get angry, believing that it was Ancia’s fault.
As this situation continued, Ancia stayed away from Diana. Diana couldn’t ask her sister to play with her anymore either.
In the original story, Diana was a character who acted brightly on the outside but was filled with deep sorrow on the inside.
She thought her sister died because of her, and couldn’t forget that guilt until the very end.
Diana regretted it again and again, thinking that none of it would’ve happened if she had married the Crown Prince instead of her sister.
When Ancia commited suicide, Count Bellacian panicked.
He didn’t mourn for his daughter’s death. Rather, he was afraid of the Emperor taking back the wedding gift that he gave to them when she got married.
However, the Emperor apologized and sent a tremendous amount of consolation money to the Count.
Although the Count’s family was satisfied by Ancia’s wedding gifts and consolation money from the Emperor, Diana was not happy.
Diana said she didn’t want to be well-off with the money the family had accumulated thanks to her sister’s tragic death. Soon, she left home and when she became an adult, she took on the position of being Blake’s maid, a job which everyone was reluctant to do.
She regarded Ancia’s death and Blake’s despair as her own responsibility and went to him as atonement.
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