After our dance, which I felt lasted forever, came to an end, I embarrassedly reminded:

— Rachel, can you let me go now…

Despite the fact that some time had passed, the girl continued to hold me by the waist, which turned out to be extremely unusual. But when she heard my request, she sighed with displeasure and took her hand away.

As soon as the music accompanying the dance subsided, a buzz of whispers and gossip instantly grew around us.

— It can't be! Did you see what just happened?

"Does the Archduke's daughter have any ties to the Cassius family?"?

"Is Lady Ashford sick with the curse now, too?!

There were more and more such speeches every second. Since everything had already happened, I saw no point in worrying about my future reputation in secular society. After all, what could I fix now that everyone had already seen everything...?

More than that, I was worried about Rachel's reaction. I was afraid that getting angry at all these people, the girl could turn the holiday into chaos. Unless, of course, he was already like that.

But surprisingly, after listening to all this nonsense, Rachel turned to me with a completely calm expression on her face.

— Come on.

After dropping this short sentence, she took my hand and was about to lead me away from the hall.

I was taken aback.

— Wait, where are we going? The ball isn't over yet!

Rachel snorted.

— Do you want to continue staying here?

I looked around excitedly. And indeed, after what we had done, there was no question of the former continuation of the banquet. After all, all these speculations will only continue to flare up with the presence of the two of us.

In order not to spoil my debut evening, the girl chose to act extremely prudently by leaving herself. I decided to support her.

— Okay, let's go…

After my consent, Rachel squeezed my hand more resolutely, and we left the ballroom together. Duke Cassius followed us almost immediately, while my father had to stay behind to explain the situation to the king and apologize for this commotion.

Despite the fact that I expected at least some explanation from Rachel, she never told me anything. After waiting for the Archduke, we silently got into the carriage and drove back.

This time we went in the same carriage, as there is nothing to hide anyway. During the trip, despite the huge number of questions, no one said a word. And soon, my father fell asleep from exhaustion on Duke Cassius' shoulder. A real family idyll.

But despite the fact that Rachel and I were almost alone, I did not dare to ask her the most important question. The girl preferred to give her debut dance not to her father, according to tradition, but to me. It turned out to be extremely unexpected.

Won't she regret it in the future? And what motives moved her at that moment...?

The more time passed since our acquaintance, the more complex a person she became for me. Even now… I couldn't understand her true intentions.

After we left the Christmas Ball with a scandal, all the subsequent events were pretty crumpled for me. After waiting out this night, it's time to go back.

Since I promised Rachel to spend the winter holidays at her estate, I decided to keep my word to the end. Despite my father's possible persuasions, I chose to spend the rest of the vacation week in the Duchy of Cassius. The Archduke, who had apparently understood everything for a long time, just sighed and did not argue.

— ...Lea, don't forget to write to me about your affairs! — my father said goodbye to me in the same touching way as on the day when I left by train for the academy.

— Of course, Dad.

— If something happens, you know that you can always contact me, right?

— I remember everything.

Every time we said goodbye to him, it looked like I was going on a lifetime-long expedition, and we wouldn't see each other again.

Looking at the Archduke and me hugging and crying before the impending separation, Duke Cassius and Rachel just rolled their eyes.

In the morning we said goodbye. After a tearful parting of half an hour, my father went to the Duchy of Ashford, while the three of us were going to return to the northern capital. Everything happened so quickly that I was even surprised how our stay in the capital Kronos passed so unnoticed.

The journey in a carriage several days long already seemed familiar to me. We arrived back without any incidents and repeated attacks, and the servants in the house greeted us with the whole crowd.

Since it was already late in the evening, Rachel and I went straight to bed without further ado. This time I was sure that she had definitely fallen asleep, because she never responded when I called her softly.

Meanwhile, I was still lying with my eyes open, and looking at the dark ceiling, thinking about my future.

Recent events have developed so rapidly and unexpectedly that I could not even imagine what would happen in the future. In the end, I came to the conclusion that my original plan did not develop at all in the direction that I imagined.

Unpredictable plans of the Crown Prince, unexpected events, and, most importantly… Rachel's attitude towards me is strange.

At one point, everything changed so dramatically that I couldn't even figure out exactly how it happened.

I was afraid that as a result, all this could lead to something completely different from what I needed.

If I had the opportunity to look into the future, everything would be much easier. But, unfortunately, I could only rely on my own intuition.

My head was bursting with such uncertainty, and in order to finally give myself a break, I decided to lie on my side. Previously, after a little airing, to go down to the kitchen for a glass of water.

I didn't want to wake Melinda up in the middle of the night for this, so I put on a robe myself and went out into the corridor. It's cold and dark. At such a time, everyone in the house had been asleep for a long time, and there was not a single living soul.

Without turning on the light, I groped my way to the stairs, hoping that I wouldn't stumble somewhere. But fumbling with her hands in the dark, she almost screamed.

At one point I touched something resembling a human figure, and at first I thought I had encountered a ghost. After all, in a place like this, you can expect anything. But no.

The unknown man was holding a lighted lamp in his hand, which illuminated his face. I let out a sigh of relief when I discovered that it was Duke Cassius.

— Sir...? — I said uncertainly, — What are you doing here?

— It's good that you're still awake, — said the man, — I have to show you something.

— What? — I was surprised.

— Follow me.

This was said in a tone that did not accept rejection. And yet I fell into a stupor, deciding to clarify just in case.

— But why at this time? Isn't it too late now?

— When Rachel is around, I won't be able to do it anymore, — he sighed, — She will definitely mind if she finds out about it.

The atmosphere was as if I was going to be initiated into the affairs of some terrible and mysterious organization. Or, to be more precise, the secret of the Cassius family, which has been kept from me all this time behind seven seals.

Seeing the Duke's determined attitude, I still agreed to take the risk.

— What do you want to show me?

"You'll understand everything when you see it," the duke gave me only such an unambiguous answer.