Translated by d6y (ko-fi)

Chapter 32

Huh?

My heart sank.

I felt strange. Everything suddenly seemed unreal. It looked like a forest fairy had greeted me.

Did he just smile at me?

That must've been a hallucination.

I was about to turn my head and leave when the Crown Prince's stride came to a halt as he walked forward.

Why did he suddenly stop? 

As I was looking at the Crown Prince with these questions in my mind, he spoke up.

"Where is Princess Skyla?"

Huh?

Bewildered, I blinked and stared at him.

Why is he suddenly calling for me!

In an instant, the eyes of the nobles around me turned to me. I felt like a bull's-eye, a bull's-eye with a 100% hit rate.

Lancer leaned slightly towards me,  "Do you... know him?"

I didn't even have time to chastise Landseer for saying, "That guy." to the Crown Prince of this country. I was just as baffled.

I stood frozen, helpless.

"Do… do you mean Princess Skyla of the Kaerun Duchy?" A nobleman standing right next to the crown prince asked him.

"Yes."

The crown prince nodded leisurely.

The ballroom began to stir at his monotonous response.

People seemed to find it odd that the prince was looking for me out of the blue.

The stares of the nobles who recognised me gradually piled up around me.

"Princess Skyla, His Highness is looking for you."

A lady standing nearby whispered to me, her thoughts were easily heard.

'Why is His Highness looking for you?'

'That's what I'm wondering too, my lady.

As I stood there, speechless, the crowd around me slowly began to part.

People who had been exchanging wary glances with each other began to make way when they realised that the Crown Prince was looking for me.

"Ah, Princess Skyla."

His gaze fell on me once more from a distance.

A gentle smile smeared his mouth like a scent.

Turbock, turbock.

Leaving behind the human barrier, the Crown Prince strode slowly towards where I stood.

I had a hunch that he was coming towards me.

For some reason, I felt like the defenceless prey that was exposed to the hunter.

What the hell is going on?

I took a step forward to avoid getting lost in the chaotic crowd.

"Where are you going?"

Lancer grabs my hand. I turned my head and saw Lancer's darkened face. He looked impatient for some reason.

"What's wrong, Lancer?"

A pathetic voice quietly flowed from Lancer in response to my question. It was unintelligible.

"Don't go."

"What?"

"Don't go. Stay with me."

Don't go? What are you saying…

As I stare at Lancer, dumbfounded by this unexpected request, I hear the soft voice of the Crown Prince near me.

"There you are, Princess."

Startled out of my reverie, I quickly turned to face him.

"His Highness the Crown Prince."

I tried to bow down to greet him out of courtesy, but one of my wrists was still held by Lancer, and I couldn't move properly.

I immediately gave Lancer a look as if to say, "Let go of me," but he didn't easily give in to my request.

Instead, he just stared at me with a harder and firmer gaze.

What's wrong with him?

If I could, I would stomp on his foot to shake off his touch, but people were looking at us.

With my wrist still clasped in by Lancer, I awkwardly bowed slightly to greet the Crown Prince.

"I greet the little sun of the Empire..."

"Won't you dance a song with me?"

The words were out of the crown prince's mouth before I could finish my greeting.

What?

It happened in a flash.

The air in the ballroom froze, the eyes of hundreds of nobles flew at me as if they had become blades, and the roof of my mouth went dry.

Hey, Crown Prince… don't you think you're moving too fast?

I could feel a cold sweat trickling down my back.

It had been part of the plan to ask me for the first dance. He and I had planned it together that day.

The problem was the process of asking me to dance.

Didn’t you say you were going to act like you fell in love at first sight first?

Here's the plan I had in mind:

1. The Crown Prince arrives at the ballroom, stands at the head table, and leisurely looks around the ballroom.

2. He 'stumbles' upon me while looking around at the guests at the ball.

3. Having taken a liking to me, he approaches me and asks me to dance.

But what should I do if he had just arrived and asked me to dance right away?

It was too direct, too straightforward, too aggressive.

So, in the eyes of others, the Crown Prince asking me to dance would seem out of the blue.

as if to match my own concern, the faces of those around me were filled with confusion.

Of course, so was mine.

Although I was almost speechless with embarrassment, I soon regained my usual blunt expression.

After taking a deep breath, I spoke to the prince in a clear voice.

"To have you ask me to dance as soon as you arrive at the ballroom is a great honour, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude, but why did you find me right away without looking around at the other young ladies who are more precious than I am..?”

As I spoke, I cast a desperate glance towards the crown prince. I wanted him to explain in some plausible way why he asked me as soon as he arrived.

Unfortunately, the Crown Prince was as tactless as Lancer.

"Of course, it would be a great honour to dance with me."

Plus, he's an a-hole.

"And you are a woman worthy of that honour."

Well, he’s a bit of a donkey, but I kind of like the way he’s saying it now.

"My goodness, His Highness the Crown Prince has asked Princess Skyla to..."

"Those two don't normally interact, do they? Why would His Highness invite Princess Skyla right away..?”

The ballroom erupted once again at the Crown Prince's words. The nobles began to discuss the situation amongst themselves.

"Then, will you not join me?"

Ignoring the noisy nobles, the Crown Prince extended his hand towards me.

I stared at his hand for a moment, then nodded.

Even though the first part hadn't gone as I'd expected, it had all been pre-planned with our agreement anyway. It was, in other words, a well-organized play.

"I will gladly accept."

He nodded, and as I was about to take a step forward to take his hand,

"His Highness the Crown Prince seems to have a hobby of stealing other people's partners."

A voice as cold as winter snow rang in my ears.

At first, I wondered who would dare to utter such blasphemous words in front of the Crown Prince when they could be severely punished for doing so, but now that I thought about it, there was only one person who could have said it in this situation.

“...Lancer?”

Are you out of your mind?

What is he saying?

Puzzled, I turned to face the Crown Prince then narrowed my eyes at Lancer. This was my signal for Lancer to quickly apologise.

But Lancer stood as firm as an old tree and didn't move.

Instead, he began to glare at the Crown Prince.

"...!"

The colour drained from some of the faces in the crowd.

Lancer’s gaze was a piercing gaze that was filled with hostility.

"Is that Lord Lancer of the Soli Duchy standing behind Princess Skyla?"

The Crown Prince looked a little surprised as if he had just seen Lancer behind me.

He didn't seem to be feigning it. It was as if he really didn't know that there was someone else behind me.

"..."

At the Crown Prince's confirmation of his identity, Lancer said nothing, his eyes still fixed on the Crown Prince.

I felt my stomach churn at this unexpected three-way confrontation.

What should I do? Should I punch Lancer in the face and leave this place with the Crown Prince?

Regardless of my deliberations, the Crown Prince kindly spoke to Lancer first.

"I’m always indebted to your father. It’s good to see you here."

He offered a friendly smile to the not at all pleased Lancer.

But the sunny smile could not melt the icy indifference on Lancer’s face.

"I’m going to have to ask you to step away."

"Hm? What?"

"I said, stay away from Skyla."

"Lancer!" Unheard of, I shouted to Lancer.

This was going too far. No one, not even a member of the Duke's family, could be this disrespectful to the next emperor.

I was about to grab Lancer by the scruff of his neck and demand that he apologise,

"Oh, Lancer, my dear brother, there you are!"

When a figure popped out of the crowd surrounding us.

It was a young man with radiant blonde hair, just like Lancer.

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