The daughter of the Warburg family, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, naturally took the seat to my left with a sullen expression on her face.

“It’s been a while, Senior Conrad.”

“What are you doing here, Hilla?”

“Yeah, of course I heard rumors that Senior Conrad would be attending the ball hosted by the imperial family… I didn’t come here, I was planning to participate from the beginning.”

“yes?”

“In order to dispel suspicions that I was betrothed to a certain viscount family, I need to regularly show my face at events like this.”

Seeing her staring at my face as she said that, I wouldn’t have to explain who the Confucius of the viscount’s family was.

I am grateful to Hilla, who acts as a breakwater to prevent me from getting an engagement letter, but I have always had to look for a real marriage partner because of the rumors.

It made a lot of sense that I would dilute the vexing questions I had about myself by actively participating in these social activities in time for the year I was graduating.

Of course, it was hard to agree with the words that followed.

“In fact, if I really became a betrothed to the viscount’s Gongja, I wouldn’t have to attend such a troublesome event.”

“… … .”

“I’m tired of doing swordsmanship training while also working at the student council, so I wish I could take a break even on a holiday like this.”

I intentionally ignored Hilla’s blatantly forcing me to say something, but I changed the subject as I thought it was a good opportunity.

“Oh, right. I heard that a new child was born to the Warburg family a few months ago.”

“… Yes. I was born.”

“It’s good to have the brother you’ve been longing for, Hilla.”

“… … Yeah?”

I thought it was an extremely normal greeting asking about the current situation, but Hela looked into my eyes as if she was surprised and asked.

“You said you wanted to know how it feels to have a brother because you only have an older sister. That’s why you asked me to be your fiancée, and now that I think about it, then there’s no reason to cling to me anymore.”

“… No, how did you know you were born as a younger brother?”

“yes?”

“Certainly, my mother gave birth to a younger brother a while ago, but my father told me to keep it a secret whether he was a younger brother or a younger sister… .

So how did you find out that me, the unnies, and all the employees were keeping quiet about it… ?”

I made a mistake.

Yes, at the time of Marshal of Warburg, the sex of the son will also be one of the means of political use, so it would be better to disclose it as late as possible.

It was just the moment when the topic of conversation brought up as a memory of a previous life caught my ankle.

… Now that this is the case, I have no choice but to gloss over it somehow.

“… Are you really my younger brother?”

“… … Yeah?”

“No, I just said it because I thought it would be nice to have a younger brother because you seem to be longing for a brother, Hilla.”

After showing the attitude that it was a shameless shot, Hilla’s expression changed to a sorry face this time.

“I made a mistake.”

“It was information that was kept secret. I’m sorry, Hela. I will never tell anyone about this.”

“… I beg you. If my father finds out, he will probably scold me… .”

“Yes, yes.”

Fortunately, she seemed to know that she had made a mistake.

… I’m sorry, Hilla. Still, you have to hide what you want to hide.

While the conversation with Hilla was getting longer, this time Stella’s voice came from the right.

“… Senior Conrad.”

“Yes, Stella.”

“Hey, just in case, I’m asking. When this song is over… . He, me, me… .”

“yes?”

The moment when Stella, with a hesitant expression on her face, was about to say something while pointing to the center of the stage.

“Senior Conrad, after Prince Antonio and Miss Delfina’s stage this time, would you mind playing one song with me?”

Again, on the left side, as if crossing Stella’s words, Hilla brought up a story to me.

“Hilla, doing that with me now won’t do anything to clear your suspicions.”

“There is no law that says you can only dance between your fiancé or your lover. Senior Conrad is Miss Delphina’s older brother, so strictly speaking, I’m not that distant from you, right?”

“… And I’m not very good at dancing.”

“Have you already forgotten the memories of fighting together in the North a few months ago? I thought I got quite close to senior Conrad because of that… .”

“… OK got it. I’ll sing just one song for you.”

Seeing Hilla’s expression as if the headdress had fallen off, I felt apologetic for some reason, so I had no choice but to respond to her proposal.

“Whoops. Thank you, Senior Conrad.”

Seeing Hilla’s expression change as soon as I answered, I felt like I was caught somehow, but maybe it would have been much better if I didn’t think too deeply.

“Stella, so what are you talking about?”

“Yes Yes?”

“I was going to say something earlier.”

“… Ah, nothing. Don’t mind me and dance with Miss Hilla, Conrad. I will be waiting here.”

I tried to ask because this one seemed to have a serious expression just like Hilla, but in the meantime, the stage where Prince Antonio and Delfina danced was over before I knew it.

Before the next song started, Hilla grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me to the center of the stage.

“Senior Conrad, please hurry up.”

“Ah, yes.”

Unlike the first two songs, which were upbeat, as soon as the relatively quiet third song sounded in the hall, Hela and I clasped our hands and waists and slowly matched our feet.

Her mouth opened quietly as she slowly synchronized her breathing to the slow beat.

“If anything, I was going to lead, but you’re not saying that your dancing skills aren’t good, are you?”

“… I learned the least. I can’t go anywhere and be treated like a country boy.”

“Huh, that’s right.”

Hilla, who really smiled like a noblewoman, suddenly moved her feet and body half a beat quickly and pulled me.

“Hilla?”

“… Even though I know that I shouldn’t be impatient, I keep rushing into seniors.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I want to somehow make him look back on me in a relaxed way, but it’s difficult because there are so many romantic relationships around him.”

“… kinship?”

“So I am going to do it my way. No matter how many times you say you push me away, I won’t be far from you.”

“… I never really pushed it.”

Because I’ve never been that close before.

The third song ended by the time beads of sweat began to form on the foreheads of Hilla and I, who had a slightly off-topic conversation and moved a little faster until the end of the song.

“Good work, senior Conrad.”

“Yes, Hilla, you danced well too.”

“For a daughter of the Warburg family, this is standard. If it’s okay with you, would you like to dance the next song together?”

“You said you only danced one song. Now I have to go back to Stella.”

“… Then I can’t help it. It doesn’t matter though, since I’ve achieved my goal.”

After leaving the stage with Hilla, who had a regretful yet relieved expression on her face.

It came back to Stella, the partner of this prom.

“stellar?”

“… Senior Conrad.”

“… What, is there something that makes you feel bad?”

Her expression didn’t look that good, so as soon as I asked, Stella made eye contact with me and said,

As if drunk on something, he pushed his blushing face towards me.

“… I wanted to dance too.”

“yes?”

“Me too, I wanted to dance with senior Konrad… .”

“ah.”

Could it be that the words he hesitated earlier were about to bring up a proposal to dance together.

Looking at the center of the stage and talking about it, it was something I could notice enough.

The problem is that I foolishly questioned it and fell for Hilla’s twist.

Even though I was a fake partner who came together to stop her engagement, I was definitely Stella’s partner at this ball.

Leaving her alone and going out to dance with another woman was probably no excuse for ten mouths.

“You told me that you would dance with Ms. Hilla before you even listened to my words… . I, I was going to say it first… .”

“Sorry, Stella. I made a mistake.”

“Me too… ! He said he wanted to dance with senior Konrad… !”

“stellar… ?”

“But leave me alone… ! Where are you going to dance with Hilla? !! Today, I am Konrad-senpai’s partner… !!”

It was only for a while that he felt something strange about Stella, whose reaction was noticeably intense while she was away.

As soon as I saw the cocktail glass in her hand, I was sure what had happened.

While I was away, Stella, left alone and lonely, thoughtlessly ate one of the drinks the waitress gave her.

All in all, it seemed that the alcohol was enough to make her weak against alcohol.

It would have been better if I had quietly fallen asleep like my usual drinking habit, but… .

“Senior Conrad is a flirt… ! You don’t even care about a woman like me anyway… ?!”

“Stella, calm down for now. I’ve done everything wrong, so lower your tone.”

“Today, Konrad-senpai asked me to join the prom as a partner… ! How much did I expect… !!”

As Stella’s voice grew louder, the eyes of the surrounding nobles focused on us one by one.

“what’s the matter?”

“Well? Do you think the man cheated on you with a partner?”

“But isn’t that the Arwen family lady over there?”

Putting aside the stigma that I was a playboy, at this rate, an indelible dark history would be created for Stella as a noble lady, so I had to calm her down somehow.

I wanted to drag her out of the hall, but it was not an easy choice because of her strong muscles.

I have to somehow get her to shut up and calm her emotions.

… In the end, is that the only way?

It was impossible to use silence magic in such a crowded place, so it was probably the only way to naturally block Stella’s mouth.

Let’s hope Stella got drunk enough to not remember the day.

“… Stella, I’m sorry.”

After giving her a small apology as if talking to herself, I brought my face close to hers.

Immediately after that, her lips gently overlapped with mine.

“Senior Conrad is a bar… Eh?!”

Stella, who had been about to say something raucously until just before, put on a puzzled expression as soon as her mouth was blocked.

After kissing for a few seconds, the power that entered her body naturally faded.

Fortunately, after confirming that it worked, I slowly opened my lips and made eye contact with Stella and said slowly.

“I’m sorry, Stella. Even though you’re my partner, I left you alone. Your partner was disqualified.”

“… … no.”

“Did you say you wanted to dance? Would you like to go out with me now?”

“… … Yeah.”

“Okay, then let’s go to the stage.”

“… … Yeah.”

After that, like a hypnotized person, “yes.” After dancing three songs in a row on one side of the stage with Stella who only repeats “No.”

In the end, I was able to return to the academy by forcing her to go to sleep in a carriage.

… What happened today should be taken to the grave if possible.