50

…It was the right answer.

Yes, it’s a bit regrettable that I couldn’t properly celebrate my coming-of-age ceremony. Moreover, I had the debutante ball and even danced with others. It would be strange if Lucian didn’t envy that.

Besides, considering Lucian is at such a young age, having recently come of age, I could cut him some slack, but…

“No, it’s not allowed. You need some rest now.”

I shook my head.

Upon hearing that, Lucian glanced at me without apparent displeasure.

“Is it only Lady who gets to have a debutante ball?”

“…,” I remained silent.

“I haven’t properly celebrated my coming-of-age, and I was brought here against my will, you know?”

“…”

“Oh, how pitiful.”

Mumbling to himself as if telling me how unfortunate it was, Lucian cautiously checked my reaction.

“If Lady would just dance one song, I might feel less miserable…”

“…”

Well, choosing words that sting the conscience like that is indeed a talent.

…Well, if he puts it that way.

I carefully observed Lucian’s condition.

For now, he seemed to be doing okay. The conversation flowed smoothly, and his mind seemed clear.

Finally, I sighed deeply and responded.

“I won’t even know if you step on my foot.”

At that, Lucian rose with a bright face.

“Great… Ugh.”

However, as soon as he stood up, he seemed to feel dizzy. He held his forehead and groaned, a typical side effect of the detoxifying scent.

I squinted my eyes.

“Are you really okay?”

“Well, of course.”

Lucian confidently replied, despite groaning as he held his forehead after standing up.

I raised an eyebrow as he cautiously extended his hand towards me.

It was the gentlemanly gesture of a man requesting a dance from a lady.

“May I have the honor of dancing with the lady?”

“…”

Honestly, I was still concerned about Lucian’s physical condition.

‘But dancing one song should be fine.’

I took Lucian’s hand and stood up.

“Waltz, okay?”

“Sure.”

With that brief conversation, we started dancing the waltz.

There was no music from a band, no dazzling lights. All we had was the pale moonlight pouring in from beyond the window.

Yet… It wasn’t a bad feeling.

* * *

Quietly, I looked down at Lucian’s face with closed eyes.

‘Is he asleep?’

Perhaps to keep my promise that he was fine, Lucian danced through one song. However, after just one dance, he seemed to exhaust his energy and collapsed.

Still, this time, there were no nightmares or seizures.

Lucian’s face, deep in sleep, looked peaceful.

“Have sweet dreams.”

I whispered softly, pulling the blanket up to cover Lucian’s neck.

Then I stood up.

Thud.

The door closed.

The peacefully sleeping Lucian disappeared from view through the crack in the door.

* * *

In a dark, secluded room, Dante looked down at two men sitting slumped over a desk with a cold gaze.

Their faces were completely disfigured, covered in blood.

Dante clicked his tongue with a sneer.

“Really, these guys without any decency are disgusting.”

“Ugh…”

A middle-aged man with his head buried on the desk groaned faintly.

Then Dante, with an emotionless face, grabbed the hair of the middle-aged man, lifting his head.

“Too noisy.”

Bang!

He then slammed the head back onto the desk.

The man fainted.

Dante, with a refreshing expression, murmured.

“Ah, now it’s finally quiet.”

The situation was roughly like this:

Another organization, which had agreed to deal with Dante’s organization, secretly sold goods to Dante and received hush money. After that, they attempted to disappear as quickly as possible…

[Hello?]

Somehow managing to bypass security, Dante walked into the transaction site. The two men turned to look at Dante in shock.

[Oh, Marquis Offenheir?!]

[How did you get in here?]

Dante, with his hands in his pockets, walked in confidently and addressed the two bewildered men with a cheerful voice.

[Well, it’s fine. Demanding the level of decency that a human should have from these rat bastards is too much to ask for.]

[We, uh, we…]

[But rats will be rats.]

A demonic smile spread across Dante’s handsome face.

[Being trampled to death seems fitting, doesn’t it?]

After that:

“…Did you really need to go this far?”

Liam, who was looking at the table covered in blood, let out a groan. Dante kicked the table that the two men leaned on with his toe.

“Well, if it weren’t for these bastards, there would be no need for me to come here and leave you alone at the banquet, right?”

Elze.

She stood alone on the balcony, catching Dante’s eye.

[It’s okay.]

A bright smile, masked on her face like a mask.

[Please don’t say that. There are far more important matters at hand.]

Even with that calm tone.

Elze didn’t cling to me as usual, asking me to stay by her side.

Instead, she first considered Dante’s position and generously let him go.

However, when Elze spoke like that, she strangely looked lonely.

…It felt odd that her appearance caught my eye.

It was like leaving a child alone in an unfamiliar place.

Although this deal was quite important for Dante and he knew that he needed to catch the rat bastards right away, he couldn’t bring himself to leave.

“Annoying.”

Dante clicked his tongue briefly.

Then, he took out a cigarette case from his pocket and lit one.

Tilting his head towards Liam, as if it was natural, Liam lit the cigarette with a match.

After inhaling the cigarette smoke deeply into his lungs, Dante seemed to feel somewhat relieved.

“Ah.”

After exhaling the smoke for a long time, Dante briefly lifted his gaze and looked at Liam.

“So, what about her?”

“I heard that she returned to the boarding school.”

“What?”

For a moment, his red eyes glared fiercely.

“I distinctly told her to prepare so that she can rest and come back from the townhouse, didn’t I?”

“Well, I heard that Miss Elze declined.”

“Why?”

“She said she couldn’t stay in an ownerless townhouse.”

“….”

Dante was silent for a moment.

It was indeed the truth.

Elze had no official relationship with Dante.

Not even engaged, let alone married.

If she stayed and rested in the ownerless townhouse, it would be enough to cause unnecessary misunderstandings from outsiders.

Such misunderstandings about the intimate relationship between Elze and Dante.

‘But… why does it feel so dirty like this?’

Dante felt a bit puzzled.

Currently, Elze knew her place, maintaining a clear boundary with Dante.

So there shouldn’t be any reason to feel so disgusted.

But Liam’s report was not over yet.

“Also, it’s reported that Duke Kalleid had a seizure.”

“Duke Kalleid? Why that brat?”

“According to the report, the staff at the annex administered sedatives without authorization. It’s presumed to be a side effect of that.”

“Oh, really? The brat didn’t die, huh?”

Dante shrugged his shoulders and asked Liam.

“Is he physically fine, and is he mentally sound?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Alright then.”

Dante took a long drag from his cigarette.

Liam sneakily observed Dante’s reaction.

Fortunately, Dante seemed to be in a much better mood than before.

Relieved, Liam added, “Oh, and Lady Elze has confined all the annex staff to the underground prison.”

Dante paused for a moment.

“She did?”

“Yes. Lady Elze personally investigated Duke Kalleid and punished the annex staff…”

At the same time, Dante kicked the legs of the chair where the middle-aged man was sitting.

Bam!

Thud!

The man collapsed on the floor like a ragdoll.

Dante looked back at Liam with a sinister smile.

“What the hell?”

“Sorry.”

Liam quickly lowered his head.

Honestly, this incident wasn’t Liam’s fault.

If you really wanted to point fingers, there might be some negligence in properly supervising and managing the annex staff.

In fact, they exceeded the appropriate usage time by quite a bit.

But considering Lucian’s state was already bad, it was more reasonable to think that the side effects manifested strongly due to his unfortunate condition.

However, Dante’s anger seemed to stem not from Liam’s negligence in supervision but from something else.

“Why did she personally intervene with Duke Kalleid?”

For a moment, Liam doubted his ears.

Elze had only done what she was supposed to do.

But why?

“Um, isn’t Lady Elze the manager? Naturally, she has to take care of special students in similar situations…”

“Why? Shouldn’t she personally investigate Duke Kalleid?”

Dante sarcastically retorted with a sharp tone.

“Did that damn brat do something he shouldn’t have after kicking the bucket?”