Chapter 35: Masquerade Ball (1)

Royal-hosted Ball.

A royal ball held regularly four times a year, every quarter.

The concept for this fall’s ball was a masquerade.

“What are the rules of the masquerade?”

“Don’t acknowledge me.”

“I wasn’t going to anyway, but if that’s the rule, even better.”

The ball was tonight, so I was hastily getting fitted for a ready-made dress at the dressmaker’s while talking with Damian.

This ball was unfortunately a masquerade, so it seemed like there wouldn’t be much of an opportunity to network.

Entering the ballroom while concealing one’s identity was the rule of the masquerade, so you couldn’t flaunt your status.

Even if it was the Emperor, that was the rule of the masquerade.

‘I should have brought Chloe…’

Assassination risk or whatever, if I had known there was going to be a masquerade, I would have brought Chloe no matter what. It’s one of the few opportunities for Chloe, who is so conscious of status, to escape the walls of social class.

‘Later…should I host a masquerade at the Grand Ducal Castle too…?’

Chloe would definitely like it. Invite a lot of people, and take advantage of the chaos to dance together. No one would know I’m the Grand Duchess, and they wouldn’t think of Chloe as a maid.

“Haa…”

If this was going to happen, I should have really brought her. The opportunity to dance with Chloe was right in front of me…

“All done.”

Looking in the mirror, I was wearing a dress with a black raven concept. I received a long mask like a raven’s beak and looked in the mirror, quite satisfied with the appearance.

“Why a raven, of all things?”

“It was the only one left?”

Time was short, so I couldn’t get the concept I wanted, and the only one left was the raven concept dress. A luxurious dress with gold thread embroidery on black fabric.

It must not have sold because it was expensive.

Coming outside and looking at Damian, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Pfft…”

“Are you laughing right now?”

“White suits you well, Damian.”

Damian, wearing a suit with gold thread embroidery on white fabric, was lying on the sofa with his legs crossed, and sighed. Even his mask was white.

The sun was setting, and the ball time was fast approaching.

Leaving the dressmaker’s with the dress and mask on, I firmly resolved.

‘I’m definitely going to host a masquerade at the Grand Ducal Castle.’

I remembered the dance with Chloe that I couldn’t have at the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.

The desire to dance with Chloe in the ballroom

remained in my heart, not yet gone.

---

The entered ballroom was so crowded with people that it was dizzying.

Walking through the crowd surrounded by countless masks, I stumbled, overwhelmed by the people.

Damian had disappeared again; as soon as we entered together, he slipped away somewhere else.

Left alone, I pressed down on my mask to avoid attention and stood against the wall like a screen.

Scanning the people nearby to see if the Princess was there…

As expected, I could easily find her.

The combination of silver and pink hair was immediately visible, so I knew those two were Princess Kasia and Erina.

I took a glass of drink from a passing servant, brought it to my lips, and savored the sight of the Princess and Erina.

I could sense that they were happy, seeing Erina’s flushed face and the Princess’s smile.

Hmm, sweet.

Not the drink, but the situation was sweet. And I was envious.

I also dreamed of such a situation. In the end, I regretted that my overprotectiveness had caused me to miss this good opportunity.

Assassination attempts were something I could have watched out for…why did I make that decision back then? As I drank the glass of juice with regretful feelings, it now tasted bitter.

Erina left the room with a flushed face, so I slowly approached the Princess.

“Are you having fun?”

“Hah?!”

The Princess’s lark mask slipped slightly, startled by my raven’s beak.

“O-oh? Grand Duchess Edmund?”

“Yes, Second Princess. It’s me.”

Smiling brightly, I looked at the Princess, and the Princess’s complexion turned severely pale. As if I shouldn’t be here.

“…? What’s wrong?”

“W-why are you here? D-does Grand Duke happen to be here too?”

“…? Yes, he is…”

The Princess covered her mouth with her hand, her face turning white. I didn’t understand why she was acting like this, so I asked the Princess once more.

“Is there something wrong with us being here…”

“Who, who invited you?”

“…? His Imperial Majesty insisted that we participate…”

“Ha…”

The Princess whispered, coming close to my ear. She covered her mouth with a fan to hide even the shape of her lips as she whispered.

“Find the Grand Duke right now and get out of the ballroom.”

“…? Princess?”

“There’s no time to explain. I’ll invite you to my palace later and explain it to you…”

-Phat!

“Damn it…”

The lights went out in an instant, and the surroundings became dark.

As the magic lights went out, a curse word escaped from the Princess’s lips. Bright magic lights illuminated the wide stage. Then came a troupe of actors.

Among them, the actor with the ash-blue wig standing in the center stood out.

‘…Is that Damian…?’

“The Emperor still hasn’t forgiven the Grand Duke for that incident. With this marriage being canceled, that feeling has only grown stronger. The reason he’s not very interested in you is also because of this.”

“Pardon?”

“…The Grand Duke must have already seen it. You should see it too. That play. And…”

The Princess opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her lower lip trembled, then she bit it tightly and barely managed to make a sound.

“You, decide.”

As the Princess pointed to the stage with her fan, the actors slowly took their places and began the play.

---

“That son of a b*tch…”

I was hiding in a corner, killing time. Suddenly, the troupe started performing a play.

The actor in the center, wearing an ash-blue wig and a mask that covered his eyes, seemed to be playing me no matter how I looked at it.

My heart started beating like crazy.

Has my uncle still not forgiven me for that incident? It couldn’t be helped. What did I know back then?

“Ah- Mother…”

The ash-blue actor grabbed the hand of a woman lying in bed and began to wail. The ash-blue actor’s voice, filled with grief, echoed pitifully across the stage.

“Damn it…”

Memories are annoying.

The moment they are stimulated, good and bad memories become intricately intertwined.

There is no such convenient function that freely cuts out only what is not needed.

The past that had been locked away pours out like a tide.

“Uncle…do you hate me that much? To the point of even calling for such a trivial play? Do you…curse me that much?”

The play invades my past like a coastline. The voice coming from the undulating stage.

As if it were my voice.

“It was a 17-year-old’s bravado… Please, just let me go…”

Mother had a disease. A strange disease that no one could cure.

My biological father, who was the Emperor at the time, made every effort to save my mother, who was suffering from the disease.

He gathered all the doctors in the empire.

Even wizards and curse casters, consecrationists and priests, and even a woman called a saint, who was difficult to summon even after donating a huge amount of money to the temple, were brought in.

But it was all in vain.

Even through the eyes of me, who was 17 at the time, it was clear that my mother’s illness would not be cured.

However, my father was genuinely distressed by his mother’s impending death until the very end.

It is said that when a male wolf dies, he starves to death in that spot.

My father, who seemed to be dying next to my mother, who seemed to be already dead, had no intention of taking care of the country at all.

That’s why my uncle took over the work instead. My uncle and my father, who had a deep brotherly love.

My uncle, who gave up the throne to his younger brother even though he could have become the Emperor himself, was a man who had no desire for the Emperor’s seat at that time.

On the stage, the ash-blue actor cries sadly, looking for his father. Just like me.

“Father! How long are you going to keep doing this!”

“…”

I couldn’t watch anymore. The sight of my father grieving because of my mother. I couldn’t bear to watch them both die like that any longer.

Those who can live must live.

The two people, starved and starved, with only bones left, only exchanged shallow breaths. They didn’t get out of bed.

“Ah…ah…”

Father cries like a child. Cursing me for forcibly separating him from his mother, he cries sadly. My father, who plays the actor on the stage, cries sadly.

The ear-piercing sound of crying and the laughter of the damn people watching the troupe.

Even if he was separated, Father somehow found his mother. He smiles happily only when he looks at my mother, who has no consciousness.

“Uncle…what should I do? Father has become a wreck, and there is no sign that Mother will recover.”

On the stage, I was seen kneeling before a silver-haired man. Desperately, desperately, I, kneeling before him, couldn’t see anything at that time.

I was not confident that I could accept my father’s appearance and the pain of losing my mother as they were. That’s why I trusted my uncle. I relied on my uncle and worshiped my uncle.

“It’s okay…it’ll be okay…”

My uncle also took care of me. He just treated me, his nephew, like his own child. I shed tears at the warmth of an adult I felt for the first time.

The lights went out and the stage curtain was drawn.

A candle was lit on the stage, and a man wearing a hood walked out.

“Your Highness, I have brought a cure that will cure the Princess’s illness.”

My teeth grind. I want to go up on stage right now and strangle that man to death. I know that man is not that man.

Even so…the very act of imitating that man makes me lose my reason.

“What is your name?”

I, who knew nothing, asked him.

I asked his name with the feeling of grabbing a spider web falling from the sky.

“Alchemy City Lord…Conrad, is my name.”

The candle held by Conrad flickers.

As if representing my heart at that time.

The flickering candle is like my heart.

There was me on the stage, reaching out to his sweet words.

Conrad’s bitter smile hidden in the hood he was wearing.

I didn’t know it at the time.