White gloves.
In noble society, they carried two meanings.
One was that they were part of formal attire.
The other was a challenge to a duel.
And the glove in Arsene Berhardt’s hand was unmistakably the latter.
The air in the grand ballroom changed.
The music continued to play.
People still held their glasses, and the chandeliers still gleamed gold.
But every gaze was converging on one spot.
Arsene.
Klaus Dean beside him.
And us.
Eveline Rosette and Leon Cart, a commoner teacher.
‘So it’s finally here.’
I steadied my breathing and assessed the situation.
In the original story, Eveline’s first ruin route was a duel incident.
Arsene’s disdain.
Jealousy toward Liana.
The mockery of high society.
And a public provocation.
At the end of it all, Eveline drew her sword.
Her opponent had not been Arsene.
Arsene did not dirty his own hands directly.
Instead, someone around him made the move.
Someone skilled at provoking others, of suitably high status, and useful for escalating matters if he got hurt.
Klaus Dean.
A branch-family member of House Berhardt.
The bastard who had targeted my feet during the dance earlier.
His community nickname was ‘the foot-tripping bastard.’
In the original story, he publicly challenged Eveline to a duel here.
The reason was simple.
‘Lady Rosette insulted a commoner scholarship student.’
In reality, it had happened after Liana was directly insulted by Eveline.
But this time was different.
Eveline had not attacked Liana.
She had protected Liana’s right to the first dance.
She had also prevented the humiliation of her entering alone.
The first dance had gone well, too.
That should have eliminated any pretext for a duel.
And yet, the white glove had appeared.
They would bring it out even without a pretext.
That meant only one thing.
Arsene needed a duel.
Whether Eveline exploded, I stepped forward, or someone bled, today’s board would become his.
"Leon."
Eveline spoke quietly.
"Yes."
"That."
"It’s a challenge to a duel."
"I know."
She was gripping her handkerchief.
It was not crumpled.
But her fingertips had turned white.
"Is it for me?"
"Probably not."
"Then who?"
"Me."
Eveline’s eyes turned toward me.
"You?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"If they target you directly, the situation they’ve built up until now falls apart. I’m an easier target."
A commoner.
Questionable etiquette proficiency.
Unknown swordsmanship.
I bore House Rosette’s seal of guarantee, but my actual status was low.
And above all else.
Eveline had started caring about me.
If they saw that, then naturally I was the one they would attack.
Eveline gritted her teeth.
"Then I can stop them."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because that would give them exactly the picture they want."
I looked toward the grand ballroom.
Arsene still had not moved.
Klaus was approaching first.
Arsene was smiling gently behind him.
A perfectly textbook arrangement.
A branch-family noble swung the sword, while the man from the main house remained clean.
I spoke.
"If you explode on my behalf, high society will say this."
I imitated a noble in a very small voice.
"Lady Rosette is excessively obsessed with her commoner teacher."
Eveline’s face instantly turned red.
"Who’s obsessed?!"
"Exactly, so please stay quiet."
"You’re seriously irritating."
"Rule one."
"Don’t move first."
"Rule two."
"Ask first."
"Rule three."
Eveline drew in a breath.
"Smile last."
Good.
The handkerchief was still intact.
Klaus Dean arrived before us.
He wore a bright smile.
Obviously a rehearsed one.
The expression nobles wore before publicly stabbing someone.
"Lady Rosette."
He bowed to Eveline first.
"Your dance tonight was impressive."
Eveline replied coldly.
"Thank you."
"Your companion in particular held up surprisingly well."
The blade had arrived.
An insult disguised as praise for her companion.
Not ‘he danced well,’ but ‘he held up well.’
A remark expressing surprise that a commoner had not humiliated himself beside a noble.
Eveline’s hand started to crumple the handkerchief.
I murmured softly.
"Ask first."
Eveline narrowed her eyes.
"What exactly do you mean by surprisingly?"
Klaus’s smile stiffened ever so slightly.
Well done.
Much better than simply getting angry.
It forced him to state the insult clearly in words.
Nobles hated that.
Because then they had to take responsibility for it.
Klaus smiled.
"Ah, don’t misunderstand. I merely meant that it was surprising for someone of common birth to adapt to a ball so well."
His gaze shifted to me.
Here it came.
"You are Teacher Leon Cart, correct?"
"That’s right."
I bowed my head.
At an appropriate angle.
I prayed my fifty-percent etiquette would do its job, just for today.
Klaus slowly raised the white glove in his hand.
The surrounding whispers stopped.
"I am Klaus Dean, one who shares blood with House Berhardt."
"I know."
"Oh?"
Klaus’s eyes gleamed.
"You know me?"
"You targeted my heel during the dance just now."
Silence.
Klaus’s smile stopped.
Eveline looked at me.
Her eyes asked, ‘You’re saying that now?’
That’s right.
I had to say it now.
I had to shake his pretext before he threw the glove.
Klaus quickly recovered his smile.
"I don’t know what you mean. Our paths merely overlapped while dancing."
"Is that so?"
I nodded.
"Then that’s a relief. If it had been deliberate, it would have been quite discourteous under ballroom etiquette."
This time, quiet laughter spread around us.
It was faint, but unmistakable.
Klaus’s eyes grew cold.
He was no longer smiling.
"You have a way with words."
"I learned it to survive."
"Then do you have skill with a sword as well?"
The white glove swayed between his fingers.
At last, the main point.
"If you are Lady Rosette’s companion, should you not possess at least the dignity and courage worthy of her?"
"Who decides that standard?"
"Noble society does."
"Specifically?"
Klaus hesitated.
I immediately continued.
"Is there a clause in today’s ballroom regulations stating that dignity and courage must be proven with a sword?"
The surroundings fell quiet again.
The glove in Klaus’s hand stilled.
This was the first way to prevent a duel challenge.
Don’t accept it emotionally.
Bind it in procedure.
Nobles loved procedure.
At least until that procedure turned against them.
Klaus lowered his voice.
"You are quite cowardly."
Eveline’s eyes flashed red.
I spoke before she could.
"Yes."
Klaus stopped.
"What did you say?"
"I am cowardly."
The entire grand ballroom became completely silent.
A commoner teacher had openly admitted to being cowardly.
The answer nobles would find most laughable.
But I continued.
"That is why I am checking the dueling procedure. Fearless people usually hurt others without any procedure, then clean up afterward with their family name."
Klaus’s expression hardened.
This time, his smile did not return.
I used the words I had taught Eveline.
Don’t move first.
Ask first.
And make the other party say words they would have to answer for.
"Young Lord Dean."
I looked at the glove in his hand.
"Are you planning to throw that glove at me?"
Klaus narrowed his eyes.
"And if I am?"
"Then please state the grounds for the duel officially."
"The grounds?"
"Yes."
I raised my voice slightly so those around us could hear.
"Have I damaged Young Lord Dean’s honor? Have I insulted House Berhardt? Have I harmed Miss Liana Bell? Or is attending this ball as Lady Rosette’s companion grounds for a duel?"
At the last question, the atmosphere around us shifted.
It was an important question.
If Klaus admitted the last one, he would be challenging House Rosette’s choice of companion to a duel.
It would go beyond looking down on a commoner. He would be calling House Rosette’s very guarantee into question.
That was dangerous.
There was no reason for Count Rosette to stay still.
And the Empire’s Second Prince, Kaiden, was here as well.
Klaus knew that.
His fingers tightened around the glove.
Arsene was still smiling from afar.
But his eyes were cold.
His calculations had probably gone a little awry.
Klaus opened his mouth.
"I merely..."
"Merely?"
I pressed.
He fell silent for a moment.
Beside me, Eveline was holding her handkerchief.
She did not crumple it.
She was holding on remarkably well.
In the end, Klaus chose another path.
"I simply wish to confirm something for Lady Rosette’s honor."
"What exactly?"
"Whether you are truly qualified to stand as Lady Rosette’s companion."
"Qualified."
I nodded.
"Very well. Then let us make it a test of qualification."
Eveline’s hand froze.
"Leon."
"It will not be a duel."
I looked at Klaus.
"If what Young Lord Dean wants is not a duel but a test of qualification, then there is no need for bloodshed."
Klaus’s eyes wavered.
He had likely expected me to avoid the glove.
Or perhaps he expected me to accept in anger.
Neither.
I would not accept a duel.
Instead, I would change the board.
"This is a ballroom. We cannot draw swords, and no one should be hurt."
I took out a handkerchief.
The white handkerchief I had used during training.
Eveline’s eyes widened slightly.
"Let us use this instead of swords."
Klaus stared at me as if I were absurd.
"A handkerchief?"
"Yes."
The nobles around us stirred.
I folded the handkerchief in half and laid it on my palm.
"The rules are simple. We stand facing each other, and whoever makes the other person’s handkerchief fall to the floor first wins."
Klaus gave a disbelieving laugh.
"Is this a joke?"
"No. It is a test befitting a ballroom."
I spoke.
"Use too much force, and the handkerchief will crumple and look unsightly. Move without etiquette, and you will disturb the dancers. Hurt your opponent, and you lose immediately. And above all..."
I met Klaus’s eyes.
"The person who can control his fingertips, rather than the one without fear, wins."
I felt Eveline swallow.
Handkerchief training.
The thing we had practiced to death for days.
How to receive without breaking.
How not to merely restrain your strength, but release it.
I had brought that training here.
Not a duel, but a test of qualification.
Not blood, but handkerchiefs.
Not anger, but control.
If Klaus refused?
He would become the man who had avoided even a safe test proposed by a commoner teacher.
If he accepted?
Then it was my board.
Of course, it was not as though I was particularly good at this either.
But at least I had thrown handkerchiefs to death over the past few days.
Klaus might have been accustomed to humiliating people with a sword, but he likely had never trained to subdue someone with a handkerchief without hurting them.
For the first time, Arsene’s expression stiffened.
I could see it even from a distance.
Good.
Even he had not expected this.
Then a low voice sounded from above the grand ballroom.
"How interesting."
Kaiden Astrea.
The Empire’s Second Prince was looking down from the balcony.
He did not descend the stairs.
Yet his voice alone silenced the grand ballroom.
"A handkerchief test in place of a duel at a ball."
His gaze turned to Klaus.
"If honor can be confirmed without bloodshed, it is a good method."
It was over.
The prince had said it was good.
Now Klaus would have a hard time refusing.
Klaus’s face went rigid.
He smiled as though baring his teeth.
"Very well."
The glove returned to his breast.
"An amusing method."
I let out a breath inwardly.
The duel had been stopped.
But a new board had opened.
A handkerchief test.
The name sounded ridiculous.
But it was a fight in the center of the grand ballroom, watched by everyone.
If I lost?
I would become a laughingstock, befitting a commoner teacher.
Eveline would be mocked along with me.
If I won?
Klaus would be humiliated, and Arsene’s provocation would fail.
A system window appeared.
‘The public duel challenge is being altered.’
‘Immediate activation of the Duel Incident Route has been blocked.’
‘New Event: [Handkerchief Test]’
‘Victory Condition: Make Klaus Dean’s handkerchief fall to the floor.’
‘Defeat Conditions: Leon Cart’s handkerchief falls / opponent injured / etiquette violation.’
‘Current Success Rate: 49%’
Forty-nine percent.
It had suddenly dropped.
Good.
Not good at all.
Eveline spoke softly.
"Leon."
"Yes."
"Can you do it?"
I fell silent for a moment.
If I said I was confident, it would be a lie.
But I could not say that I could not do it.
It was the same situation as before the dance.
I answered.
"I have to."
Eveline looked at me.
Then she smiled very faintly.
"I told you I hate that line."
"I hate it too."
"Still."
She took out her own handkerchief.
The white handkerchief she had tried all day not to crumple.
She placed it in my hand.
"Use this."
I looked at the handkerchief.
"Isn’t this yours?"
"It’s mine, so I’m telling you to use it."
The tips of her ears turned slightly red.
"If you crumple it, I’ll kill you."
"That adds one more defeat condition."
"I’ll seriously kill you."
I accepted the handkerchief.
It was light.
Clean.
And strangely heavy.
The handkerchief Eveline had tried for days not to crumple.
The object she had first clung to in order to stop herself from running wild.
She had entrusted it to me.
A system window appeared quietly.
‘Eveline Rosette entrusts her training handkerchief to Leon Cart.’
‘Mutual trust adjustment has occurred.’
‘Handkerchief Test success rate has increased.’
‘Current Success Rate: 57%’
Good.
It was not high yet, but it was worth trying.
Klaus also took a handkerchief in hand.
A snow-white silk handkerchief.
He smiled leisurely.
"Commoner teacher. Do not regret this."
"I’ll regret it later."
"You seem quite relaxed."
"I’m not."
I laid Eveline’s handkerchief over my palm.
"I’m concentrating because I’m cowardly."
Kaiden’s voice came from above.
"Begin."
The grand ballroom went silent.
The music stopped as well.
Hundreds of eyes fixed on us once more.
Klaus stepped in.
His movement was fast.
Much faster than I expected.
He was not someone I could take lightly just because of his foot-tripping nickname.
A body trained in noble swordsmanship.
Flexible wrists and low shoulders.
He held out his handkerchief like bait and tried to strike the back of my hand.
It was not against the rules.
As long as he did not hurt his opponent, it was allowed.
I did not retreat.
Retreating would give him the rhythm.
Instead, I lowered my wrist.
I let Eveline’s handkerchief flow as though entrusting it to the wind.
Klaus’s fingertips sliced through empty air.
A small gasp ran through the room.
"Oh."
Klaus smiled.
"You do have some skill."
"I learned it to survive."
The second time.
This time, from the left.
He waved his handkerchief as if throwing it before my eyes.
A move to block my vision.
And then his foot from below.
Of course, it was his foot again.
This man really did love feet.
I shifted half a step to the side.
A motion I had learned through dancing.
A short half-step with my left foot.
The movement I had used to evade the Waltz of the Silver Goblet.
Klaus’s foot stepped through empty air again.
This time, the people around us saw it.
Whispers arose.
"That foot just now..."
"Was it a mistake?"
"Wasn’t that the second time?"
Klaus’s face stiffened.
Good.
His ugliness was gradually being exposed.
But I could not let my guard down.
On the third attempt, he immediately increased his speed.
His handkerchief came in as though wrapping around my wrist.
This was no simple trick.
A technique meant to bind my wrist and make me drop my handkerchief.
A cheap technique closer to ballroom fighting than swordsmanship.
For an instant, I nearly tensed my hand.
Then the handkerchief would crumple.
No, it would fall.
Then I heard Eveline’s voice.
"Relax."
A small voice.
But precise.
I relaxed my wrist.
I did not let go of the handkerchief.
Instead, I followed along.
The force Klaus had intended to wind around me slipped into empty air.
At that moment, I turned my fingertips over.
The handkerchief I had thrown at Eveline dozens of times.
The movement of receiving it, letting it flow, folding it, and passing it over.
The white cloth lightly brushed over the back of Klaus’s hand.
The edge of his handkerchief wavered.
It had not fallen yet.
But his balance had broken.
Klaus’s eyes widened.
"What..."
I stepped in.
Not an attack.
A step.
A waltz step.
One.
Two.
Three.
Half a turn around his side.
Klaus tried to follow.
But his feet tangled.
A ballroom floor was different from a swordsmanship arena.
And he was too accustomed to targeting other people’s feet.
He was less accustomed to protecting his own.
I laid Eveline’s handkerchief over his wrist.
Very lightly.
Then I said,
"There’s too much strength in your fingertips."
The words Eveline had heard from me.
This time, I said them to Klaus.
His face turned red.
The next moment, strength entered his hand.
Anger.
Humiliation.
And an excessive reaction.
The handkerchief slipped from his hand.
The white silk spun through the air.
And then.
Tap.
It fell to the floor.
Silence.
The entire grand ballroom was quiet.
Klaus looked down at his hand.
He still looked unable to understand what had happened.
With Eveline’s handkerchief still resting on my palm, I bowed my head.
"That was a good test."
It took a while before applause came.
First came laughter.
Small, suppressed laughter.
Then applause.
This time, it was sharper than the applause after the dance.
Klaus Dean had tried to drag a commoner teacher into a duel, only to lose because he could not properly hold on to a single handkerchief.
It was a scene made for gossip.
Eveline was looking at me from beside me.
Her eyes were shining.
"That just now."
She spoke softly.
"That was my training."
"Yes."
"It was what I used to do."
"That’s right."
"You won with that?"
"Yes."
Eveline accepted the handkerchief.
Slowly.
Carefully.
It was not crumpled.
She looked down at it, then smiled very faintly.
"Nice."
A system window appeared.
‘The public duel challenge has been completely nullified.’
‘You have won the [Handkerchief Test].’
‘Probability of entering the Duel Incident Route has greatly decreased.’
‘Preliminary Ball Counterattack Route success rate has increased.’
‘Current Success Rate: 91%’
Ninety-one percent.
At last, I had nearly won.
But I looked at Arsene.
He was not applauding.
Instead, he was quietly smiling.
It was not the face of a man who had lost.
It was the face of someone who still had a card left to play.
And at that moment.
Liana Bell stepped forward.
Her face was pale.
But her eyes were strangely resolute.
"Excuse me."
The grand ballroom fell silent once more.
Liana looked at Klaus.
Then, in a trembling voice, she spoke.
"Was what happened just now... started using my name as an excuse?"
I held my breath.
Liana had moved.
The original heroine.
Rather than remaining Arsene’s shield, she had begun asking questions herself.
For the first time, Arsene’s smile vanished completely.
A system window appeared.
‘Liana Bell’s original behavioral pattern is changing.’
‘New branch generated:’
‘[The Saint Candidate’s First Question]’
Good.
No.
Was it good?
I looked at Eveline.
Eveline was looking at Liana.
Not with anger.
Not with wariness, either.
But with the eyes of someone reassessing a person she was seeing for the first time.
The board at the ball was changing once again.
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