The Abandoned Empress

“Oh, I would like to thank you for steadily inquiring about my brother Allendis. We’re mobilizing all the resources in our family to look for him, but as of today we don’t have any update about his whereabouts. I don’t know where he is…”

“… I see. Thank you for telling me.”

My heart ached.

‘Where are you, Allendis?’

I suspected that the ominous feeling I had when I finally broke up with him had to do with his whereabouts, so my heart, which had warmed while I was dancing with my father, became empty again.

“Aristia.”

“… Yes?”

“Lady Jena is approaching. I wonder what she wants to say.”

When I looked ahead, she was indeed walking toward us. Her black muslin dress studded with silver cubics was reminiscent of a rose because it was tapered toward the ankle, which was different from the trendy style these days.

Come to think of it, the crest of the Duke Jena family was also a black rose with amethyst tiara. But where is the crown prince? Why is she coming here alone?

While I was puzzled, she already came and smiled brightly.

“Nice to see you here, Lady Jena.”

“Me, too.”

“Why are you here alone? Where is the crown prince?”

“Why are you bothering?”

I remained silent as she smiled triumphantly as if she didn’t want to tell me. At that moment, Ilya, who was having a conversation with Alexis, said, looking toward me, “Oh, I heard that they saw a messenger conveying the crown prince a message that the emperor wanted to see him urgently. What a pity, Lady Jena! It looks like the crown prince is so busy today when you’re the ball’s protagonist. A partner usually refers to the person you are supposed to stay with, right?”

At her response, Jiun spoke, pretending to look around me. Her black eyes sparkled, “I see. By the way, as you talk about a partner, where is Lady Monique’s partner? I mean that knight.”

“Sir Carsein…”

When I was trying to choose some right words to make excuses for Carsein’s absence, he appeared timely and asked with a pleasant smile, “Sister-in-law, Aristia, you are here. I’ve been looking for you a while. Oh my, Lady Jena is here, too. It seems you are engaged in a very interesting conversation.”

Frincia said, with a smile, “Oh, you have come at the right timing. In fact, Lady Jena has been curious about your whereabouts here.”

“Uh, really? Thank you, Lady Jena. It is a great honor to draw the attention of such a beauty. ”

“… I’m flattered.”

“But you are alone again. Oh my! I don’t know why the crown prince keeps leaving this beauty alone. ”

Jiun remained silent at his barbed words. Obviously, she was trying to control her anger.

I was surprised at that. She always revealed her emotions when she felt annoyed, but she was now good at hiding her feelings, too.

Did she notice my gaze staring at her quietly? Her sparkling black eyes turned to me, and she opened her red lips slowly, “Lady Monique.”

“Yes?”

“I would like to tell you something as another crown prince bride candidate. I hope you don’t misunderstand.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“I thought you were not hiding behind someone. I’m disappointed. Isn’t it necessary for you to stand tall on your own without the help of others to take care of the crown prince?”

As she attacked me with hostile intent, I paused for a moment, and quietly opened my mouth,

“I thought so, but…”

“But?”

“I found out that standing tall on one’s own wasn’t the only best option.”

“What nonsense… ”

Carsein stopped Jiun from responding and asked for a dance, “Lady Jena, would you give me the honor of dancing with you?”

With everybody speechless, I looked up at the young red-haired man staring at her casually.

‘Carsein, what the heck are you thinking?’

Watching the two moving to the dance floor, I was lost in thought for a moment.

‘She said I should stand tall on my own to assist the crown prince. Well, that’s what I thought so too in the past.’

When I was pondering over why she said such a thing, I noticed the two on the dance floor spinning to the tune. As soon as the hem of her black dress fluttered beautifully, Jiun pretended to stagger on purpose and stepped on his foot with her pointed heel.

“Ah!”

I exclaimed in spite of myself as if I felt the sharp pain he might have felt. Frincia, who was chatting with Sir Lars, was surprised and looked at me, “What’s wrong, Aristia?”

“… ”

Although she looked at me suspiciously, I couldn’t take my eyes off Jiun and Carsein. They, who agreed like cats and dogs, seemed to be so different today, because Carsein looked so calm despite her stepping on his foot, and she moved her red lips sweetly.

“Aristia? Are you okay?”

“Ah yes.”

At her repeated questions I reluctantly took my eyes off the two. After replying to Francis who looked at me worriedly, I looked back at them. They were walking back toward us after the dance.

Is he okay? He looked okay on the surface, but it seemed that she stepped on his foot very hard.

“I enjoyed dancing with you, Lady Jena. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Jiun reacted coldly and disappeared after bowing slightly.

After casting a glance at her, Alexis said, “Then please excuse us, me and Ilya. We should go see mother. ”

“Ah yes. It was a pleasure to see you, Alexis. See you next time, Ilya. ”

“Rynn, why don’t we dance? Shall we go out to the floor?”

“Sure, Sean. Let’s go.”

When Alexis and Ilya disappeared and Sir Lars and Frincia walked out to the dance floor, Carsen turned to me and said with a smile, “It looks like the party is almost finished. Shall we leave?”

“Well, is it okay to leave now?”

“We have stayed long enough. I don’t think anybody will blame us if we leave now.”

“Sure, let’s go.”

I felt I spent a lot of time here. As I went through lots of things today, I suddenly felt tired a lot, so I quickly nodded at him.

As I stepped outside the banquet hall and walked down the hallway, I squinted at Carsein from time to time. Is his foot really alright? He looked okay as he was walking without any problem.

“Why are you looking like that?”

“Oh, well…”

“Do I look cool to you again? Well, I think I appeared before you at the perfect moment. What do you think?”

“… ”

“Sorry, I couldn’t come earlier. In fact, I was stopped by my mother from coming to you here. Fortunately, I managed to escape from her, but this time my friends stopped me. ”

“Oh, I see.”

As there was a meeting among young ladies, there was certainly a young men’s meeting, too. In the case of young men, there were lots of them in the high-ranking nobles, so Carsein didn’t have to come. However, Carsein was very popular among his friends even though he rarely participated in their regular meet as the youngest knight. Some of them openly said they wanted to be like him when they joined the knights division.

‘Totally unexpected. As he wasn’t interested in social circles, I thought he was an oddball. Looks like he attends social clubs, too.’

When he got in the wagon and closed the door, Carsein, who looked so casual until then, suddenly frowned.

As he made a painful expression, I quickly looked at his foot. I thought he was okay because he looked casual, but he was very conscious about others.

“Are you okay, Sein? Does it hurt because she stepped on your foot?”

“Uh, did you notice? She was really mean. She stepped on my foot with all her might.”

“Really? Are you alright?”

“I am not okay. Actually, it hurts a lot.”

“Really? Let me see. What if your foot was wounded?”

Stunned, I held him. He recovered from his shoulder injury only recently. What if he got wounded again? As he was a knight who had to move his body a lot, he had lots of minor injuries most of the time.

Carsein stopped me from checking his condition with a smile. His blue eyes stared at me.

Only

“Please calm down.”

“Huh?”

“Why are you so friendly to me, little girl? It’s not too late since you aren’t married yet.”

“… What the heck are you talking about?”

As I was dumbfounded at his reaction, I pushed his chest gently. With a full smile on his face, he grabbed his chest and chatted me up, “Oh, it hurts. Tia. You are very strong, man. It hurts more than when she stepped on my foot.”

“Oh really?”

“Sorry, Sein.”

When I narrowed my eyes to stare at him, he raised her hands to show surrender. I stared at him for some time, then turned my head outside the window.