Lena looked at the ballroom as if she was spying on the enemy. The aristocracy smiled one by one in her careful appearance. They began to wonder about Lena’s intention.
Lena stopped looking and caught a man’s eyes. He was a gentleman who held his smile most abruptly. The gentleman was surprised by their eye contact, but soon he faced Lena casually. Until then, his lips were full of curiosity and scorn.
Lena stared at him and looked at him slowly. From head to toe, from collar to sleeve.
Lena, who had looked at his face for a long time, opened up her fan. Then, she laughed and covered her face.1
The gentleman who faced Lena was muted. However, for a moment, his face gradually turned red. Others didn’t know what happened. But he himself was aware of it, that he had just, very openly insulted.
When their eyes met, Lena said with her eyes.
‘How do you walk around like that?’
It was neither an illusion nor a delusion. In fact, Lena’s eyes were full of ridicule and contempt. Staring at someone like that and laughing. The gentleman who enjoyed the ball was quickly overwhelmed.
While the man was lost in thought, Lena made eye contact with another woman. She was the lady who glanced at Lena and stalked the person next to her constantly.
Lena again observed the lady’s appearance. Then, she raised one of her eyebrows and sent a casual glance to the lady.3
“Huh?”
It’s not an educated act, but the lady opened her mouth unbeknownst.
“What, that girl? Did you look down on me now?”
‘I’m sorry, overall.’
Lena looked at her with eyes full of sympathy, and the meaningful look shattered the lady’s heart. The smile of regret sent by a beautiful woman was enough to cause shame.
Lena made two people angry in an instant.
But that was just the beginning.
Lena looked around the nobles, looking for the next prey. Then, when they met her eyes, she automatically irritated them. She smiled at them, sympathized, provoked, and even blatantly shot them and sometimes ignored them.
Only then the aristocrats realized what Lena was doing.
‘Are you looking down on us?’
Lena stood tall like an emperor and criticized the nobles under her feet.5
The aristocrats, who believed to be superior, belatedly realized it. And Klavis who watched quietly burst into laughter.4
‘I never thought it would come out like this.’
He wanted to see because she appeared alone without fear. It seemed that the other side didn’t have the intention to get along well.
‘It’s great, Miss Lena Rubel.’
Klavis looked at Lena with his two eyes. She looked arrogant and beautiful to look down under the twinkle of the chandelier. Lena naturally took the position of the conqueror, and the aristocrats looked up at her.
This was different from their plan. It’s rude to talk to someone you didn’t know. So the aristocrat had made up their minds to left Lena alone and evaluated from one to ten and smiled.
But they overlooked one fact.
‘I can do what you can do.’
Lena laughed at those aristocrats who didn’t even know this simple fact. And Klavis stared at her silently.
‘But are you all right by yourself?’
Even under the same conditions, she was alone, and there were hundreds of nobles gathered here. So this was a one-to-one hundred fight. They were not all very good people too, could she really handle it?
The moment Klavis asked inside, Lena and an aristocratic young lady made eye contact. The young lady, famous for her strong influence in the society, angrily looked at Lena.
‘How dare you!’
The young lady glared at the unfamiliar guest. Lena laughed and waved her fan to the blatant hostility.
‘Where are we?’
Then she folded her fan tightly and shot the young lady. The eyes of the two ladies were hot. However, it was the young lady that eventually escaped the gaze.
She couldn’t do anything. It’s almost impossible for a young lady who had grown up in perfect condition to face the death-like glare.
‘Is that enough?’ Klavis asked in his mind. He lifted his concerns in a pleasant way. Lena overpowered each of the nobles looked at her composition like she did.
But it wasn’t just a confrontation. At the ball, many didn’t consider Lena evilly. Those who were young and kind or hate troublesome things.
One of them was a lady with bright cheeks. The lady looked puzzled because she didn’t know why the older members of the social class were being so angry.
Lena’s eyes softened on the lady. The eyes of the nobles who watched also moved their eyes naturally along Lena. And the young lady was so surprised because she didn’t know why everyone was looking at herself, and she stared at Lena in fear.
The young lady who met Lena’s eyes froze, like a rabbit who saw a lion. Lena glanced at the figure, and narrowed her eyes, and then smiled. Then she finely bowed and moved her gaze away.
‘Ah…’
The heart of the young lady sank on a sudden glance. After that, it was irresistible that her peach cheeks turned rosy.
She was so hostile, made people an enemy, antipathetic, and attracted to people. More attention was focused on Lena.
‘It’s driving me crazy.’ Klavis said to himself again. He covered his mouth with a smile on it.
He couldn’t believe that such a piquant lady would appear. Klavis quickly waited for Lena to give him the eye. He waited, expected, eagerly.1
After a while, Lena’s clear eyes captured Klavis’ as he wished. Klavis hid his anxious heart and gently faced Lena. Both of them stared at each other for quite a long time.
Immediately before the misunderstanding, Lena smiled at Klavis.
‘Smile?’
With Lena’s bright smile, Klavis felt an indescribable thrill.
He wanted to approach Lena right away. He wanted to get closer and saw again at a close distance. The color of emotion in Lena’s eyes.
It was when Klavis tried to swallow his breath. Several discontented aristocrats muttered.
“There’s a guest who doesn’t fit this place.”
“I know right. It must be uncomfortable to be in this uncomfortable situation.”
“Should we let go of our excitement?”
The aristocrats, who were angry at Lena’s arrogance, called the guards who were guarding the ballroom. They forced the guards to export Lena. At the unusual order, the guards hesitated and approached Lena.
But they couldn’t kick her out. Because Lena, as if waited for them, pulled out the invitation. As people who kept the rules of the Imperial Palace, it’s impossible to send out a guest without reason. Poor guards eventually stepped back.
Then, one of the ladies watching was irritated.
“Do something. Don’t keep looking down on us!”
The gentleman next to them reluctantly stepped out. He approached Lena with a smile. He was determined to drag Lena away from there.
But before that happened, Lena closed her eyes and fanned her face. It meant not to talk on the first page. The gentleman was speechless and forced to step down, embarrassed by the humiliation.
As the guards and the gentleman surrendered one after another, the nobles who watched became more tempered.
Then, someone laughed.
“Pfft!”
The aristocrats frowned and swallowed their breath. It was none other than Klavis who laughed pleasantly. He laughed as if he was dying, and looked around the sofa.
“Did you invite that lady for this?”
There, a ferocious young man sat with a nasty face.
“Did you, Prince Ruvid?”
In one gulp, Ruvid grabbed his wine glass at Klavis’ mockery. Then he got up roughly.
🍃🍃🍃
‘This would be enough.’
Lena devised and looked at the atmosphere. She showed everything she could show. If she did this, they’d get sick and made mistakes.
The truth was Lena could no longer endure.
‘I guess everyone’s upset.’
Dozens of nobles, not one or two, opened their eyes to her. That ridiculous confrontation was possible because Lena left them in a critical situation.
They were anxious to expect a cluttered shack. So Lena decided to end it. But from now on, it won’t go well. They must have recognized Lena to some extent.
‘Should I leave now?’
She didn’t know who the invitation sender was, but thanks to that, she finished the declaration. If she finished it like this, it’s perfect.
Lena folded her fan to get back. Then she sighed as if she was bored. She felt some aristocratic planted discomfort, but she ignored it and slowly turned away as if it was no longer interesting.
It was then.
“Lady.”
A voice called Lena.
Lena again pretended to be surprised and tried to defeat him. But this one was faster this time.
“Thank you for accepting my invitation.”
Lena turned to the unexpected greeting. A young man with a bright, blonde hair was smiling at her.
They were strangers to each other. However, she could guess who he was.
‘Is this the person?’
The person who sent the invitation.
Lena smiled gently. She claimed to had been formally invited, so she couldn’t pretend she didn’t know the sender.
So Lena couldn’t push him out. The young man kissed the back of Lena’s hand casually.
“Thank you for inviting me.”
Lena greeted him formally because she was unhappy about the kiss. Then she read the atmosphere again. The aristocrats who were standing in a sense of defeat were showing new curiosity.
‘I’m almost done, though.’
Lena was disappointed and looked at the opponent in front of her.
The young man had a very, very condescending appearance. Lena thought he was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. His skin was as clear as marble and his features were as sharp as sculptures. The shoulder-length blonde was bright and his eyes were jewel-purple.
The dazzling handsome, Ruvid, smiled pleasantly.
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At first i was confused if i should name this young blonde man as Ruby or Ruvid. But i noticed there was a ‘Deu’ behind his name in Korean so i decided to translate his name as Ruvid, because Rubid sounds strange for me hehehe….