Do Your Best and Regret

Chapter 22

I didn't even know how I got into the banquet hall. But I was starting my waltz anew when I came in. I blindly led the Grand Duke's hand and stood in the middle of the banquet hall. People were staring, but I didn't care. I looked at the Grand Duke and nodded my head. I signaled that I was ready, and at the same time, the Grand Duke led the dance.

"Are you usually this good at everything?

"Are you dancing better than last time?"

"I'm pretty good at memorizing things."

I spoke more cheerfully on purpose. It was hard to believe that I had walked away while ignoring my father, or rather, the Duke of Madeleine.

I danced harder, afraid that my trembling hands would be caught. I tried to enjoy the banquet as best as I could. I could not let the Duke ruin my mood, as long as I was on the same page as the Grand Duke had laid out for me. But it seemed like I couldn't really enjoy it.

"It's confusing?"

The Grand Duke's blunt question hit the nail on the head. I tried to pretend she was okay, but I smiled a little bitterly.

"....If not, it would be a lie, right?"

"Not as much as you, but me too."

"Why, Your Highness?"

Is it possible that if they are saying that because I am complicated, I am also complicated? As I narrowed my eyes, the Grand Duke sighed softly.

"Because His Majesty the Emperor has left."

"So?"

"I made a wish, but he left without approval. I am ready to get married today."

It was a voice of sincere regret. I smiled faintly without realizing it. A loose smile appeared on the lips of the Grand Duke as he checked my face.

"You don't want to get married tonight, do you?"

"That's what it says, right. You take the joke seriously?"

"That's because I'm very witty."

I quoted what the Grand Duke said to me last time. The Grand Duke, who was sticking out his tongue, laughed softly. It was an insignificant conversation, but it eased his mind a little. As I was turning the turn, I also noticed a Leopold standing in front of me.

Leopold, who was always absent except when dancing, looked as if he would jump up as soon as his dance was over.

"I hope the waltz never ends."

"I thought so too."

The Grand Duke stretched out his words and laughed.

"Then Winster answered that it was inevitable because he had to change partners."

Where the Grand Duke glanced, there was knight Winster Calter. A few days ago, the knight laughed hard and ran around the garden until the evening. Hannah said he even ran to the training ground.

I looked at Winster. When I first saw him in the Garden of the Four Seasons, he was dressed in a ridiculous outfit, but now that he was dressed up like that, he seemed like a completely different person. There might have been a chance to talk about it at least once, but so far it was all in vain.

Was it his taste to wear a knight's uniform with lace at that time? The Grand Duke, with his cheeks puffed out, entered the field of vision that was looking at Winster.

"Isn't there a man right in front of me who is too nice to see Winster?"

"Yes?"

"For example, me."