“You’re so pretty, Elaine!”
“Oh my god! I can’t believe it even though I’m watching it. Sergey Lindell’s partner is my friend!”
Debbie and her friends were in an uproar at Elaine’s appearance.
It was surprising that Elaine, who always seemed modest and frugal, appeared as if she had stepped out of a fairy tale, but it was even more surprising that she attended as the partner of Sergey, a hot man in the society.
Debbie lifted her chin as if to show Elaine, who was looking embarrassed.
“I told you if you go to Count Lindell’s house as a chaplain, a fateful love might begin.”
“No, Debbie! Sergey was so busy that he didn’t have time to find a partner. I just happened to be at Count Lindell’s house—!”
Elaine made excuses, but it only added fuel to the burning fire.
“Sergey? Are you already calling each other by name?”
“kyaah! Oh my god!”
“The future Countess Lindell!”
“Melina! Avril! Danae! What’s wrong with you guys too?”
Elaine was terrified that someone might hear them and tried to stop her friends.
But to be honest, she didn’t feel that bad.
Sergey was more dazzling than any man in this banquet hall, and Elaine looked quite presentable today, even in her own eyes.
Elaine thought carefully that perhaps, as Anais and her friends had said, Sergey and she might seem like a good couple to others.
‘I’ve truly succeeded in life to be the party partner of someone like Sergey.’
Elaine smirked as she ran away from her friends who were trying to pry into her about Serge.
Being the partner of a handsome and caring man that everyone admires is quite a pleasant experience, even if it is only a one-time thing.
Thanks to Sergey’s strong support, no one in the banquet hall pointed a finger at Elaine, calling her an illegitimate child, and she was able to slap Lark and Lorina with arrogance.
And in her previous life, she’d never even spoken to the crown princess, who she’d only admired from afar.
It was the first time she felt like she was so precious.
The sweet sensation seemed to soak Elaine’s whole body, but a piece of her reason was still cold and alive.
‘But I shouldn’t like Sergey. It’s more foolish than liking Lark.’
Sergey would surely fall in love with a noble lady of a family that rivaled that of Count Lindell, and she would be ridiculed as ‘that fool who, without knowing the subject, fell into the delusion that she was Sergey’s lover.’
Although she was used to being ridiculed and looked down on by others, she was afraid of loving alone, being abandoned alone, and getting hurt alone again.
With these thoughts in her mind, she headed for the stairs to the second floor when someone stopped her.
“Lady Elaine! Why are you alone?”
“Your Highness the Prince…!”
Prince Abel stood with a smiling face. But Elaine couldn’t figure out why that smiling face was so creepy.
“Sergey has a lot of people to meet. I’m going to take a break and get some air.…”
“Oh, no…, even if he has a lot of people to say hello to, he leaves his partner lonely.”
“Oh, no! I just wanted to get out and get some air!”
“Just kidding. Don’t be so surprised.”
Malek plastered a drawn-out smile on Abel’s face, but he was still eyeing Elaine curiously.
‘As expected, my prediction was right! This woman is the owner of the Dragon Stone!’
‘I don’t know how it happened, but the dragon’s aura that I hadn’t felt until just now was flowing out from Elaine.’
Even though it was faint, as if it was obscured by something, it couldn’t fool Malek’s keen senses, who was using his magic to scan Elaine’s aura.
However, it wasn’t what Malek was looking for.
It was the same feeling he’d gotten from Newt two years ago, before the big power boost.
But it was unmistakably dragon energy, so Malek knew he was in the right place.
‘Where on earth did you hide the Dragon Stone?’
I hadn’t sensed it when she was with Sergey earlier, so it must have been hidden somewhere in the banquet hall after she and Sergey parted ways, but if that were the case, I should have sensed it the moment I entered the banquet hall.
Furthermore, the wavelength was too faint to be the result of finding a dragon stone. Even an empty dragon stone would emit a stronger aura than this.
Malek turned to Elaine.
“However…Do you remember what I told you before?”
“Yes? If that’s what you said before….”
“It’s a jewel that Elaine’s mother inherited. I was wondering if you found it.”
Elaine realized once again that the small black stone her mother had inherited was no ordinary object.
Not only did the Empress and the prince use fake letters to trick her, but the prince also asked her that even though she had denied receiving it.
But Elaine had nothing to fear.
Because it was something he really didn’t know.
“No. If there is somewhere, it would definitely be inside the Newt mansion, but even when I was young, I wasn’t in a position to freely roam the mansion, and I spent my time in the temple.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Malek assumed Elaine was lying. But it wasn’t something he couldn’t understand.
She would be afraid to tell Abel or Sasha, who were close to Rubaine, about its whereabouts, even if they promised to keep it secret.
But for a lie, her attitude was so natural.
Elaine, as Malek understood, was not a person who was good at lying.
‘Well, that doesn’t matter anymore.’
‘Anyway, now that I know that Elaine has the Dragon Stone, it doesn’t matter if she’s lying or not.’
“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do either. Oh, would you like me to guide you to the balcony?”
Malek put his hand on Elaine’s waist as if he was leading her. It was a final check.
“Oh, no, Your Highness! How could I dare…Thank you for your kind words.”
The contact time was short because Elaine was startled and slightly dodged, but it was enough for Malek.
That was enough to figure out everything.
“Haha! That’s what happened…!”
“Yes? What are you talking about?”
“No, it’s nothing. I don’t want to make Miss Elaine uncomfortable, so I’ll step aside here. I hope you enjoy the banquet today.”
“Ah, thank you…”
Elaine looked at Malek’s back with a puzzled expression as he walked away without being able to ask any more questions, and then sighed deeply.
“This whole banquet thing is exhausting.”
Feeling like she was wandering through a forest infested with clawed beasts, Elaine decided to escape to the second-floor balcony before she faced anything more exhausting.
But the path, which was not that far, was too rough.
Just as she gripped the railing of the stairs leading up to the second floor, another hand grabbed her wrist.
“Let’s talk, Elaine.”
“Lark!”
It was Lark who waited for Elaine to be alone.
He grabbed Elaine’s wrist and dragged her behind a pillar in the corner of the banquet hall.
There was not a trace of the calmness or maturity that was usually felt by him.
“What are you doing? Let go of me!”
“Let go? So you can run away?”
Lark’s gaze was more eerie than Malek’s.
If Malek was a beast with hidden claws, Lark was a hungry beast.
However, Elaine, who believed that Lark would not throw away his dignity or honor in the place where so many eyes were watching, took courage.
“Run away? What did I do to deserve to be called ‘running away’?”
“I don’t have any intention of joking. Let’s go home.”
“My home is now Count Lindell’s. Well, Newt’s home has never been mine.”
“Don’t make me angry!”
Lark barely suppressed his anger and growled softly.
“Sergey Lindell, I don’t know what kind of sweet talk that bastard is telling you, but you’re being fooled, Elaine.”
“You are the one who always says sweet talks.…!No, that’s enough. I’m tired of trying to make you understand. Stop it, Lark.”
“Stop doing what?”
“Deceiving me. Making fun of me. Thinking of me as your property. All of it!”
Elaine struggled to shake off Lark’s hand.
Lark gripped Elaine’s wrist more tightly as if he was going to break it.
“What do you want from me? What on earth do you want that makes you cause trouble like this?”
“I want to ask you this. What do you want from me that you have to act so shamefully? The Count Newt is not a family that would regret not being able to sell me off! You don’t need someone like me!”
Elaine decided that this time she really wanted to cut off Lark, and used Rabes’ magic for the first time.
‘Rekuro Rabes! Give me the strength to shake off this hand!’
Whether it was from anger or magic, Elaine’s whole body felt hot, and an unbelievably strong force flowed into her slender arms and wrists.
Even though it was Elaine’s first time using magic, she skillfully controlled her magical power and shook off Lark’s hand.
But it was Elaine who was pushed back by the reaction.
“Ouch!”
“Elaine!”
Lark tried to grab Elaine, but Elaine hit the pillar hard and scratched her arm. Red blood quickly formed on her white forearm.
“You’re hurt!”
“Because of who?!”
Elaine also avoided Lark’s hand which was trying to grab her.
“Let’s not meet again, Lark. Please have a pleasant banquet today without me.”
Elaine left those words behind and turned around without any regrets.
But Lark, who was left behind, now clenched his empty fists and muttered with a longing that was building up to the point of being overwhelming.
“Yes. I don’t need someone like you. So if you leave me, I’ll leave you. But you shouldn’t be the one leaving me first!”
* * *
