Chapter 68: Party (3)
A ball… I knew what it was—dancing.
…But I didn’t know how to dance.
“Oh, of course, Lady Anastasia. By the way, do you have a partner?”
At the mention of the ball, Dogeon was beaming, seemingly thrilled by the prospect of dancing.
Meanwhile, I was here regretting coming to this party in the first place, feeling utterly deflated.
It took invoking the gods I hadn’t spoken to in ages just to calm myself down.
“…Well, to tell you the truth, I don’t have a suitable partner yet… If Lady Hoyeon wouldn’t mind, I was thinking of dancing with Dogeon…”
“No. Dogeon is dancing with me.”
The words escaped my lips before I even thought about them.
After all, one of my reasons for coming here was to prevent Dogeon from doing anything foolish.
Half of it was curiosity, but another key goal that developed along the way was making sure Dogeon didn’t stray.
…I knew I couldn’t stop him forever. But for as long as I could, I wanted to keep his attention on me.
“…I see,” Anya murmured, trailing off awkwardly. Even if she had asked as a favor between friends, I wasn’t planning on agreeing. Thankfully, she gave up quickly.
“Ugh… I guess I’ll have to settle for the person my father picked…”
Oh. It seemed Anya had her own reasons for wanting a partner. But I wasn’t going to change my mind. Today, Dogeon was sticking with me.
…Which meant I’d have to dance with him.
“…It seems I’ve found my partner. Lady Anastasia, I wish you the best of luck in finding a wonderful partner as well.”
“Thank you for the kind words… Lord Dogeon.”
I knew it was just polite conversation between friends, but hearing it still made me uncomfortable. It felt like Anya was trying to get too close to Dogeon.
“Lady Anastasia…! Oh, there you are… Ah!”
It seemed Anya had slipped away from her followers earlier. Her entourage, clearly searching for her, soon gathered around her.
The moment they spotted me, they all reacted the same way.
They froze, their expressions screaming we’re doomed.
“…Your Highness, please forgive our rudeness!”
One after another, the group began bowing and apologizing profusely.
The excuses poured out—how they hadn’t heard of the princess because they’d been stuck in the northern countryside, or on vacation with their families in the west.
Every word was a desperate plea for forgiveness.
It was pathetic.
Exipri, not understanding what was happening, joined in the apologies simply because everyone else was doing it.
Meanwhile, the girl who had been glaring at me earlier, Camilla, hung back, silently observing.
Right. I recognized her. I even remembered her name. Camilla.
We’d met before, I was sure of it—before coming to the academy.
I brushed off the apologies with a vague acknowledgment and walked past the group, stopping in front of Camilla.
“…Camilla. I have a question for you. Before coming to the academy, did we meet?”
I wanted to know if I had done something to earn her hostility.
“Oh my. You’ve finally remembered my name, Your Highness. What an honor. Yes, my name is Camilla. I am the daughter of a lord who governed one of the many territories you have surely passed through. We even sat at the negotiation table together once.”
“Is that so? Is that why you’ve been glaring at me? Because you harbor resentment?”
Even now, her eyes burned with seething anger.
…Thinking back on how I conducted those negotiations, I could understand why she might be upset.
I hadn’t even looked her in the eye, just demanded that she sign the documents.
But I had no intention of backing down now—not in front of Dogeon.
If I apologized once, I feared she’d press for more, so I decided to double down on my arrogance.
“…To be truthful, yes. That is why I’ve harbored feelings I shouldn’t have toward Your Highness. I apologize. Will you accept my apology?”
In this unspoken battle of wills, it was Camilla who first backed down.
“Very well. I am magnanimous, after all.”
Though she still seemed angry, I doubted she’d bother me further. I deliberately avoided mentioning my own apology—I didn’t want to waste any more time on her.
“…I’ll take my leave now.”
Suppressing her emotions, Camilla departed. As she left, the other children, who had been hesitant to approach while she was there, quickly swarmed back, clinging to me with more pleading.
“You’re in the way. I understand your words, so be gone,” I said, dismissing them with as much annoyance as I could muster.
I didn’t like using my authority, but it was the simplest way to deal with them.
In the ensuing confusion, I took the opportunity to grab Dogeon, who had been stuck near Anya, and made my exit.
“Lady Anastasia, I’ll take my leave now. I hope you find a good partner.”
“…Ah… I… I’m sorry…”
“What do you have to apologize for? Raise your head.”
Anya had done nothing wrong. It was her followers who were the problem. She had invited me to her table with genuine goodwill—I couldn’t hate her for that.
I didn’t want to leave her with unnecessary guilt.
“Let’s go, Dogeon.”
“…Yes, Lady Hoyeon.”
Dogeon followed me without resistance, and seeing his changed expression from earlier, I decided to let him off the hook.
Once we had escaped from Anya’s group, I checked our surroundings and spoke to Dogeon.
“…Dogeon, I spoke confidently earlier, but… I don’t actually know how to dance. Do you?”
“You dragged me into this without even knowing how to dance? I know a little, but don’t expect too much.”
He knew how—good enough.
“…Lead me.”
“Me? I’ll… try my best.”
“Just leave it to me.” That’s all he needed to say. Whether it worked or not didn’t matter.
…I’d never actually said those words before, but they were the kind of thing someone like Dogeon would say effectively, not someone like me.
“Just trust me next time,” I advised Dogeon, drawn from bitter experience.
With time to kill, I decided it might be worth learning a bit of dancing from him.
“Let’s practice now.”
“Now? It won’t help much.”
“We won’t know until we try.”
Reluctantly, Dogeon agreed, guiding me through the steps as I clumsily followed.
“When I step back, you step forward, and then—whoa!”
“Careful!”
I tripped but didn’t fall—Dogeon caught me. His hand held my waist, steadying me as we stood close.
“…Thanks. You can let go now.”
“Oh, right.”
I wanted people to know we were friends, not anything more. As awkward silence lingered, Stefania’s voice echoed through the venue.
“The ball begins in five minutes! Please gather in the central hall!”
“…That’s enough practice for now,” I said.
Dogeon nodded, unbothered. Following his lead, we moved toward the main hall, now bustling with couples chatting, laughing—and some kissing.
Undignified.
I averted my eyes, but my gaze wandered to Anya, who stood with a burly, unpleasant-looking man.
Good luck, I thought, turning away.
Soft music began, and the lights dimmed.
“It’s starting. No mistakes this time,” Dogeon reminded me.
“…That was an accident. It won’t happen again.”
Grumbling, I followed his lead. Step forward, step back—occasionally, he spun me, catching me off guard but never letting me stumble.
Then, just once, I took the lead, pulling him close.
“Lady Hoyeon…”
“Move as I say. I’ve followed you enough.”
Dancing wasn’t as boring as I thought. This might even be… fun.