"I'm not a witch. Don't worry, I'll protect you. Don't be scared."

I comforted Blake who was still scared because of the story. Then, after being silent for a while, Blake smiled brightly.

"Yes, I'll protect my wife too."

He came out of the blanket and hugged me tightly.

Blake was really so nice.

***

A huge ball was held in the palace in order to commemorate the day Goddess of Light gave her power to Phillip.

Various representatives from the nobility, knights' academy and many more, came to thank the Goddess and praise Phillip.

Everytime I heard them praising Phillip, I felt annoyed.

He was the reason why Blake was cursed, yet, he was praised as a hero while the victim was despised.

The ball began after the congratulatory speech ended.

Tenstheon left the ballroom with the Duke of Cassil and Collin. I walked to a corner of the dancing hall quietly.

But there were many people who tried to approach me and talk to me.

There were always people who tried to do so every ball, but there were really too many this time.

In particular, there were many men who came to ask me for a dance.

"Your Highness, won't you share your glorious first dance with me?"

"I'm sorry. I'm not feeling very well today."

"But just once..."

"I don't want to dance."

"...."

'He's so rude.'

When they saw the requests for a dance flooding in, Countess Chardin and some women refused in my stead.

I was wondering why Richard was very quiet while the others were doing this today, when suddenly, a man came up to me.

The silver-haired man with small eyes reeked of booze. It was Frank, Richard's half brother.

"Just one song."

He commanded me in a haughty manner.

His actions went against the etiquette.

However, no one dared to point out his rudeness because Frank was the Emperor's nephew and the candidate most likely to become the new Crown Prince.

I looked Frank in the eye and said, "I refuse."

"What!"

Frank's expression turned sour.

When I rejected his very disrespectful advances, his pride was broken.

"How dare you disobey me?! Did you not get a proper education because you're a fallen count's daughter?"

The atmosphere instantly turned cold. Even if he was next in line for the Crown Prince position, I was still the Crown Princess right now.

Everyone was astonished by Frank's rude words, but he didn't stop talking.

"Not everyone's a fool. No one's going to believe the stupid rumor about the curse being lifted soon. Are you an idiot? I'm the next Emperor! I, Frank, will become the next Emperor! You seem to be underestimating me because you're going to become a princess, but your husband would be the Emperor, so that means you'll be mine! You're going to marry me anyway!"

Frank shouted incoherently. His choice of words and pronunciation were both terrible, and he couldn't even stand properly.

As he continued to keep speaking so rudely, I was becoming rather displeased.

Frank was an arrogant person. The Duke of Cassil cared about Frank because he was just like him. He doted on him, thinking that Frank would become the next Emperor.

Frank, too, thought of himself as the next Emperor.

However, he was usually careful not to make such a mistake in a ballroom where so many important people were gathered.

I had already encountered him several times during various balls.

But, he suddenly went on rampage today.

No way...

I looked at Richard.

Everyone was in a shock, but Richard was smiling.

This must've been one of his ruses.

He deliberately let Frank get drunk.

"Frank, don't do this."

Frank's fiancee, the daughter of the Westin family stepped up and tried to stop him. Frank shook her off roughly.

"How dare you touch me! You're so ugly! I wouldn't even accept you as my fiancee if you weren't from the Westin family! Ah, I don't need your family anymore, so just get lost!"

"Frank..."

Everyone was very shocked, but the smile on Richard's lips grew bigger.

"Sir Cassil, you should go now. You're very drunk. I'll speak to you later about your rudeness today..

When I raised my hand to call a servant, Frank grabbed me by the wrist.

"Who are you to order me?!"

"What are you doing?! Let me go!"

"I am the Emperor of Asteric! I'm the Emperor! The monster's going to die anyway and you're going to be mine! Ahh—!"

Frank screamed as he fell to the floor. He furiously turned to look at the man who had knocked him down.

"Who are you?! How dare you!"

"Your Majesty."

Tenstheon was looking down at Frank.

"Father..."

"Ancia, are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Tenstheon gave me a big hug and comforted me.

"I'm fine."

Then, Frank hurriedly said, "Your Majesty! I didn't mean that!"

This time, his pronunciation was relatively clear.

He must've sobered up when he saw Tenstheon.

"The Crown Princess seduced me first!"

Frank ended up blaming me. Tenstheon kicked him in the stomach.

"I-I was wrong!"

A sword was now pointed at him.

Silence fell upon the huge ballroom. The people were overwhelmed by the Emperor's presence, but no one dared to stop him.

Frank had called the Crown Prince a monster and brought up the fact that he would die soon in front of everyone.

Of course, this was no secret to anyone, but everyone would only discuss it in private. Afterall, Blake was still the Crown Prince of this Empire.

Even though he was the heir to the curse, people could never bring that up in front of the Emperor and the Crown Princess.

Moreover, Frank had called himself the Emperor of the Empire.

Under these circumstances, there was no noble who would dare to side with Frank. There was only one person who took his side.

"Your Majesty, please stop!"

The Duke of Cassil tried to stop Tenstheon.

"Frank is your nephew! How could you do this over a small mistake?"

"Small mistake?"

Everyone held their breaths, while the Duke of Cassil continued brazenly.

"Yes, he made a small mistake because he was drunk! Even I could tell that Frank was drunk when he said that!"

"Your Excellency, that's enough."

Reading the unusual atmosphere, Richard tried to stop the Duke of Cassil, but the Duke shouted even louder.

"Moreover, he was just expressing his opinion. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"I see."

"I'm glad you understand it."

"No matter what he said, you owe him an apology."

The corners of Duke of Cassil's mouth raised up. He was very happy because of his victory over Tenstheon.

Frank quickly stood up.

"Hey, that's right! I need an apology!"

Tenstheon looked at the two of them.

"I knew it. This idiot also learned from you."

"Idiot?! I'm not an idiot!"

The Duke of Cassil tried to protest but Tenstheon ignored him.

"Lock the Duke of Cassil and his eldest son up in prison. They're charged with treason."

"T-treason? Brother, what do you mean?"

The Duke of Cassil's eyes widened.

He still hadn't grasped the situation, but there was no one who would explain the situation to him either.

The Duke of Cassil and Frank were immediately taken away by the knights.

Richard hadn't expected this to happen either.

Tenstheon came closer to me.

"You must;ve been scared. I'm sorry I came so late."

"No, it's okay."

He hugged me. I also hugged him back tightly in response.

I wanted to comfort Tenstheon because he seemed more shocked than I was.

***

There was one good thing about Frank's incident.

The dance, which was supposed to last all night, ended early, so I was able to return to Amoria palace earlier.

"Ancia, why did you come back so early?"

"I missed my husband."

"What happened?"

Blake was quick-witted. Even though I spoke as brightly as I could, he noticed it instantly.

"I came home early because I wanted to see the fireworks with you."

"Really?"

"Yes."

On the last day of the festival, there would be fireworks everywhere.

The event was big enough to be seen from the Crown Prince's palace.

"Hurry up."

"Okay."

We went up to the small attic on the topmost floor of the Amoria Palace.

Although the space wasn't used frequently, Melissa had still cleaned it in advance.

"Melissa and Hans are at the square right?"

"Yes, they should be in the square waiting for the fireworks to start by now."

I gave Melissa and Hans a vacation today. They both refused but I told them to spend some time together. At this point, they probably forgot to hide their relationship and decided to enjoy a date together.

"We could do the same, right?"