The center of the ballroom was wider than I had expected.
From the outside, it had looked like nothing more than a gleaming floor.
But standing on it was different.
Hundreds of gazes pressed in from every direction.
Laughter.
Whispers.
Lips hidden behind fans.
Hands holding glasses.
Everyone was watching us.
Eveline Rosette.
The count’s daughter who had nearly become a discarded fiancée.
Leon Cart.
Her commoner private tutor.
And now, her escort.
We were exactly the kind of material high society loved most.
A difference in status.
An engagement scandal.
A commoner.
A wayward noblewoman.
One small mistake, and tonight’s rumors would chew us up and spit us out.
The fingertips of Eveline’s hand in mine were cold.
They were not hot as usual.
Her mana was not fluctuating wildly, either.
Instead, she was stiff with tension.
"Leon."
She spoke quietly.
"Yes."
"I really want to hit someone right now."
"Who, exactly?"
"Everyone."
"Please restrain yourself."
"I hate that phrase."
"Then we lose."
Eveline’s grip tightened, then loosened.
By now, those words worked almost like a spell.
I did not know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Rule three,"
I said.
Eveline drew a breath.
"We laugh last."
"Yes."
"And at the beginning?"
"We do not fall down."
"That’s harder."
I could not deny it.
My waltz proficiency was at 32%.
At least, it had been until just now.
Standing in the middle of the ballroom, it felt as though it had dropped to about 12%.
I summoned the system window in my mind.
`Basic Waltz Proficiency: 34%`
It had gone up a little.
I did not know why.
Perhaps it meant people learned quickly when facing the threat of death.
Thanks, but it was not enough.
The orchestra played its first note.
At that moment, I frowned ever so slightly.
The tempo was different.
It was half a beat faster than the basic waltz we had practiced.
And it was a song with a turn in the third measure.
A piece the Berhardts often used at the Preliminary Ball.
I remembered its name from the original work.
`Waltz of the Silver Goblet`.
I remembered its nickname, too.
`Beginner Crusher`.
It was a piece that had earned plenty of curses in the game community.
An event song that made it easy for the commoner heroine, Liana, to make a mistake at her first ball.
Miss the beat, and you stepped on your partner’s foot. At the third turn, you stepped on your dress hem, and your noble reputation went down.
Back then, I had cleared it without giving it much thought.
Now, my own ankles were on the line.
Arsene Berhardt.
He really had an awful personality.
If he had put this song on right after the first dance ended, it was no coincidence.
He wanted the image of a commoner tutor collapsing in the center of the ballroom.
The image of Eveline being humiliated alongside him.
That was what he was after.
Perhaps Eveline had noticed something was wrong as well, because her eyes wavered.
"The tempo..."
"It’s fast."
"It’s different from what we practiced."
"Yes."
"Are we doomed?"
"Not yet."
"Not yet?"
"We have not even started."
She glared at me.
"Don’t joke at a time like this."
"I was trying to ease the tension."
"It didn’t work."
"Neither am I."
The music began in earnest.
The first step.
I did not pull Eveline.
I followed half a beat behind.
Just as we had practiced.
Eveline tried to move ahead first.
It was a habit.
Whether she held a sword, argued with someone, or danced, she always moved first.
Whether to attack or to flee.
I gave the slightest pressure with my fingertips.
A signal to stop.
Eveline’s eyes turned to me.
"Do not move first."
I mouthed the words.
She clenched her teeth.
Then she returned to the rhythm.
One.
Two.
Three.
The first turn.
It was not stable.
But we did not fall.
Low whispers rose around us.
"They’re better than I expected."
"I thought he was a commoner."
"Is Lady Rosette matching his pace?"
She was matching it.
More precisely, we were both desperately holding on so that neither of us would ruin this.
We might have looked reasonably elegant from the outside, but a war was raging at our fingertips.
Eveline kept trying to pull me along.
I kept having to slow her down.
The song grew faster and faster.
The third measure.
The problematic turn.
A large turn to the right here would put her dress hem in danger.
The original walkthrough was simple.
`Keep your left foot half a step short.`
`Relax the force at your partner’s waist and keep the axis of rotation small.`
Easy to say.
In the game, it had been one button.
In reality, my feet, Eveline’s feet, and hundreds of watching eyes all moved together.
"Short,"
I whispered.
"What?"
"Just half a step with your left foot."
Eveline did not ask questions.
She moved her left foot just half a step.
Exactly half a step.
Then we turned.
The hem of her black dress barely brushed over the floor.
It was not stepped on.
My shoes survived as well.
Eveline’s eyes widened.
"Just now..."
"That was good."
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"This is not the time to ask that."
"Say it anyway."
"It was very good."
The corners of her lips began to lift.
I immediately said,
"Don’t smile yet."
"Why?"
"You have to smile last."
Eveline pressed down the corners of her lips.
The sight nearly made me laugh for some reason.
A wayward noblewoman was even practicing holding back a smile.
Players of the original game would never believe it if they saw this.
But that opening was brief.
The second attack came.
One young nobleman who had been dancing deliberately widened his path toward us.
Pretending it was natural.
Pretending it was an accident.
But the aim of his toe was too precise.
He was targeting my left heel.
He was not trying to make me fall.
He was trying to make me stumble.
At a ball, one stumble became a rumor.
I remembered that face.
A collateral relative of the Marquess of Berhardt’s house.
One of the young nobles who followed Arsene around in the original work.
His name was...
Klaus Dean.
He had no nickname.
In the player community, they just called him the `Foot-Tripping Bastard`.
Because he really did trip people.
Seeing it directly in this world made him even more irritating.
I pulled Eveline slightly.
"Right."
She reacted immediately.
This time, she did not pull too hard.
We slipped to the right half a beat faster.
Klaus’s foot stepped into empty air.
For a brief moment, his expression cracked.
Eveline noticed it, too.
Her eyes sharpened.
"That bastard."
"Rule one."
"Don’t move first."
"Rule two."
"Ask first."
"We will not ask right now."
"Why?"
"We are dancing."
"Let’s ask him after it’s over."
"Good."
"Good?"
"Yes. But use words, not a sword."
"I know."
I was not sure she really did.
But she did not explode right then.
That alone was enough.
A system window appeared.
`Unexpected Interference: You evaded Klaus Dean’s path obstruction.`
`Eveline Rosette maintains self-control in a provocative situation.`
`Preliminary Ball Counterattack Route success rate has increased.`
`Current success rate: 72%`
72%.
High.
But the final part still remained.
The end of the song.
After the last turn, the Waltz of the Silver Goblet ended with the man stopping the woman once.
It was an extremely elegant finish by noble standards.
The problem was that Eveline and I had not been able to practice it properly.
Because every time we reached that part yesterday, I had lost my footing.
Eveline knew it.
I knew it, too.
It was coming soon.
"Leon."
"Yes."
"The end."
"I know."
"Can you do it?"
I did not answer.
If I said I was confident, it would be a lie.
If I said I could not do it, I would die.
So I gave the most accurate answer.
"I have to."
Eveline gave a short laugh.
"I hate that phrase."
"So do I."
"But it’s true."
The music swelled.
The final turn.
I counted the beats.
One.
Two.
Three.
Eveline’s hand shifted lightly in mine.
Her grip was looser than before.
I did not pull her.
She did not push me either.
We turned within each other’s rhythm.
The hem of her black dress drew a circle.
Her red hair caught the light.
For an instant, the entire grand ballroom’s attention settled on us.
Eveline Rosette no longer looked like a wayward noblewoman.
Nor did she look like a woman about to have her engagement broken off.
A sword in its sheath.
Still dangerous, but a sword that controlled itself.
That was how she looked.
The final stop.
I fixed my feet in place.
I relaxed my wrist.
Eveline stopped half a beat later.
It was close.
Dangerously close.
But we did not fall.
We came to a stop in the center of the ballroom.
The music ended.
Silence.
A truly brief silence.
Then applause.
At first, only a few people.
Then a few more.
In the end, about half the grand ballroom was applauding.
Not all of it would be sincere.
A noble’s applause was like a blade.
It could be praise, an assessment, or a signal for the next rumor.
But one thing was certain.
We had not fallen.
We had not stumbled.
We had not been humiliated.
Eveline Rosette was no longer the fiancée publicly cast aside. She was a noble lady who had walked out into the center of the ballroom with her escort.
I spoke quietly.
"Rule three."
Eveline drew a breath.
Then she smiled.
This time, it was neither a threat of murder, a sneer, nor a mistake that slipped out despite her efforts to hide it.
A practiced smile.
A little awkward, but a smile she had clearly made of her own will.
The moment they saw that smile, the whispers in the grand ballroom changed direction.
"Lady Rosette smiled?"
"Was she capable of smiling like that?"
"She’s more than I thought..."
"Did you see Lord Arsene’s expression?"
Arsene.
I turned my eyes toward him.
He was applauding.
Very slowly.
He was maintaining his smile, too.
But his eyes were not smiling.
Liana was clapping with an expression of genuine relief.
She probably did not yet understand exactly what this situation meant.
She simply looked relieved that someone had not been humiliated.
That made her even more dangerous.
An innocent person could sometimes make the best shield.
Eveline took my arm and walked toward the edge of the ballroom.
Her steps were steady.
But the moment we left the hall, she let out a quiet rush of breath.
"I..."
"Yes."
"I didn’t fall."
"You didn’t."
"I smiled?"
"You smiled."
"Was it weird?"
"No."
She looked at me.
Her red eyes were wavering.
"Really?"
"Really."
Eveline pressed her lips tightly together.
Then she turned her head away.
"Fine."
Her voice trembled a little.
But she did not cry.
Instead, she took out a handkerchief.
The white handkerchief she had carried all day.
It was not wrinkled.
A system window appeared.
`Eveline Rosette successfully maintained self-control in a public setting.`
`The individual entrance humiliation event has been completely nullified.`
`The chance of entering the duel accident route has greatly decreased.`
`Preliminary Ball Counterattack Route success rate has increased.`
`Current success rate: 81%`
81%.
At last, this had become a game we could win.
I let out a breath inwardly.
But the system window did not end there.
`A new trait candidate for Eveline Rosette has been confirmed.`
`[Sword That Rises Again]`
At that moment, the letters glowed red.
`[Sword That Rises Again]: Reduced chance of rampage after defeat. Self-control bonus under pressure from public scrutiny.`
I could not move for a moment as I read it.
The trait had been confirmed.
An Eveline Rosette who had not existed in the original work.
The villainess who used to go on a rampage whenever she was defeated had gained the [Sword That Rises Again].
This was not merely a successful event.
It meant the character herself had begun to change.
Then a voice sounded behind us.
"That was an excellent dance."
A calm voice.
Neither low nor high.
Yet it was strangely distinct amid the noise of the grand ballroom.
I turned around.
The silver-haired man I had seen at the second-floor railing stood before us.
He was even more striking up close.
Silver hair.
Cold gray eyes.
Black formal attire.
There were almost no decorations, yet the fabric and tailoring alone revealed his status.
A noble.
And not an ordinary noble at that.
Eveline’s hand stiffened ever so slightly.
It seemed she recognized him as well.
But I could not yet recall his name.
That was strange.
If he were a major character from the original work, there was no way I would not know him.
At that moment, the system window appeared.
`You have encountered Observer ???.`
`Authorization to view information partially unlocked.`
`Kaiden Astrea`
`The Empire’s Second Prince`
I stopped breathing.
The Second Prince.
Kaiden Astrea.
I knew that name.
I knew it far too well.
A key figure in the hidden route of Academy of the Golden Crown.
A man who was not supposed to properly appear until the middle of the academy storyline in the original work.
Why?
Why was he already here?
Kaiden looked at me.
More precisely, he was looking into my eyes.
"Leon Cart."
He called my name.
The atmosphere in the grand ballroom changed once again.
An imperial prince knew the name of a commoner tutor.
That fact alone was enough.
Arsene’s gaze flew toward me from afar.
Eveline looked at me too.
Her eyes asked, `What else have you been hiding?`
I wanted to ask as well.
What had I done for the hidden route’s prince to know me already?
Kaiden did not smile.
He merely spoke quietly.
"May I speak with you for a moment?"
The system window flickered again.
`Warning.`
`A hidden-route character has made contact earlier than scheduled.`
`The original storyline may change drastically depending on your choice.`
The applause in the ballroom had already ended.
But in my head, an alarm louder than before was blaring.
I had only come to stop Eveline’s first ruin route.
Yet the door to the hidden route...
was opening far too soon.
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