I smiled warmly at them—a rare gesture for me. Though I wasn’t certain of its effect, they blushed furiously and nodded. Their reactions made me smile even more.
“Thank you, always.”
I curtsied gracefully, holding the hem of my dress, expressing my gratitude. They shook their heads and hands vehemently, their faces still bright red. By tomorrow, some of them might leave my side. But tonight, I was still one of the Three Great Beauties.
On this final night with my long hair, I smiled, hoping to leave them with a beautiful memory.
A commotion erupted near the entrance to the grand hall.
The Third Prince, accompanied by the Baron’s daughter and their entourage, barged into the soirée, ignoring the servants' attempts to stop them. The Baron’s daughter, a notorious party enthusiast, had likely begged him to take her there. Lacking an invitation, the Third Prince leveraged his royal status to force his way into yet another event. This behavior had long irritated the capital’s nobles.
Adding fuel to the fire, the Third Prince would typically justify his intrusion with remarks like, “You should be grateful for the prestige my presence brings to your party!” This arrogance only worsened his reputation, which was already in freefall.
A ripple of tension spread through my personal guard.
Aware of the Third Prince’s tendency to degrade me with his haughty remarks, they quickly formed a protective barrier around me, shielding me from his view.
If I were the novel’s Sherilia—a noblewoman raised with pride and dignity as the daughter of a marquis—I would have handled the Third Prince with stoic grace, hiding my inner turmoil. But I’m not her.
The truth is, the King had invested effort in raising his eldest and second sons with care but left the Third Prince to the Queen, treating him like a doll for her amusement. The Queen, having been distanced from her elder sons, poured all her doting affection onto the Third Prince, indulging him to excess. This honeyed swamp of overindulgence shaped him into a shallow, self-centered man bloated with a cruel sense of superiority.
Now, the Third Prince was little more than a source of irritation for the royal family. But the King, weary of dealing with the Queen’s temperamental fits, left him entirely in her hands. Consequently, the Prince’s faults and missteps were never corrected, and his arrogance grew unchecked.
The true victim of this situation? In the novel, it was Sherilia.
Her forced marriage became a key point in exposing the royal family’s tyranny. Her father and Ludovice likely worked behind the scenes to topple the King, leading to his abdication and the Third Prince’s mysterious death. The subsequent rise of the noble faction created a turbulent backdrop for the love story of the hero and heroine, making it a best-seller.
But I have no intention of marrying the Third Prince, not in any world.
And tonight, on the last evening I’ll be known as one of the Three Great Beauties, I want to create a memory worth keeping.
I turned to the young lady beside me and offered her a warm smile. Her yellow dress, layered with translucent organza like the petals of a wax plum flower, accentuated her delicate charm. Taking hold of my deep green dress with one hand, I extended the other toward her.
“Would you do me the honor of dancing with me? I can lead, and since my fiancé, the Third Prince, has forbidden me from dancing with men, I’ve been a wallflower all year. But tonight, I wish to dance. Would you grant me this favor?”
“M-me? With you…?” The lady in the yellow dress blushed deeply, her eyes widening in astonishment.
“Yes. Your dress reminds me of the blossoms of a wax plum tree, and mine of its leaves. Together, we’d look as beautiful as nature itself.”
I extended my invitation to the other ladies in my guard as well. Each of them had their unique charm—a delicate pink dress embroidered like cherry blossoms, a crimson gown as vibrant as a rose, and a soft lavender ensemble adorned with lilac-like frills.
One by one, their faces turned rosy as if warmed by spring sunshine, and they nodded eagerly, their excitement uncontainable.
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