The music came back cautiously.

The noble boy and Aurelia found their footing again and stepped back into position, and for a moment the hall settled into the careful quiet of people pretending everything was fine.

Then something strange happened to Aries.

He couldn’t name or explain it.

Watching her move, he could feel the rhythm before it happened. Like threads of something invisible pulling through the air around her, tracing where her next step would land before her foot left the ground.

Her next turn. Her next shift of weight. All of it arrived before his eyes like a vision of the future.

’Why am I seeing this?’

He pressed a hand briefly to his chest. The mark on his palm was warm.

’What is this.’

It wasn’t mana. It was something underneath mana, something that moved through her like a second song playing beneath the one the orchestra was producing, one that only he could hear.

Then her foot caught wrong.

He knew it was coming before it happened. Felt the thread snap.

Her heel clipped the noble’s ankle mid-turn, their balance went sideways at the same time, and neither of them could catch it.

They went down together harder this time.

The orchestra stopped again.

For one full second the ballroom held its breath.

Then the whispers came.

"She fell again?"

"Does she even know how to dance?"

"Gods, how embarrassing—"

The words spread fast, running along the edges of the crowd like fire finding dry wood. Aurelia stayed where she landed, one hand on the marble floor, her gown spread around her, not moving.

At the high table, King Malgorath pressed two fingers to his brow. His expression had gone from proud to something harder. "What a shame."

Aurelia’s throat tightened. The floor in front of her blurred as her eyes filled.

She could still hear the whispers, the terrible loudness of the silence where applause was supposed to be.

’All that practice. Every evening. Every hour until my feet hurt and I still kept going.’

Her hands pressed against the marble.

’And it ends like this. Again.

Why does it always end like this.’

The pain in her knees registered somewhere distant and unimportant; her chest was where the real damage was. Everything that had just happened was humiliation suffered in front of every important person in the kingdom.

’I’ve humiliated Father. I’ve humiliated Mother. I’ve humiliated everyone who believed tonight would be different.’

Her breath came in shallow pulls. Her lips trembled.

’I...

I need help.’

Click.

Click.

Footsteps crossing the polished floor through the absolute silence of a room.

The crowd parted without quite deciding to.

Aurelia didn’t look up. She couldn’t. Her eyes stayed fixed on the marble in front of her hands, vision still blurred.

But she felt the shadow that fell across her.

"Princess Aurelia."

The voice was calm.

She lifted her eyes slowly.

A boy stood in front of her — black coat with gold running from shoulder to waist, crimson hair catching the chandelier light.

Looking at her, he went down on one knee.

The hall went so quiet that the sound of his knee touching marble was audible.

His hand extended toward her.

"If I may," he said. "Would you allow me the honor of this dance?"

On the far side of the room, Adrian’s brain took a second to catch up with his eyes.

Then: "A-haha... hahaha, why does he look like yo—." He turned to say something to Aries.

Julian was standing beside him instead.

Adrian blinked at the empty space where Aries had been. Then looked back at the floor where the boy in black and gold was kneeling in front of the princess of Xylaris.

"...WHAAAAAAAT—"

Eren, from somewhere to the left: "No way."

Nico, arms crossed, jaw slightly unhinged: "Is that brat serious right now."

Valea had both hands over her mouth: "Aries?!"

Julian stood completely still with his mouth open.

Up at the royal table, Cedric’s eye twitched.

’Tha—That absolutely reckless little—’ He pressed two fingers hard to his temple. ’I told him not to cause trouble. One job. What was he thinking, walking straight to the princess and asking for a dance with her?! Does he even know how to dance??’

"Who is that boy? I’ve never seen him among the nobles." King Malgorath squinted toward the floor.

Cedric straightened immediately. "He is... my pupil, Your Majesty."

The King’s gaze moved from Aries to Cedric.

Then he sighed, slowly, from somewhere deep. He raised one hand toward the orchestra. The gesture of a man ending something before it got worse.

Queen Seraphina caught it.

"Please," she said softly. "She worked so hard for tonight. I watched her practicing until her feet were shaking during rehearsal and she kept going anyway." A pause. "Just one more chance. Please."

The King looked at his wife for a moment.

His jaw tightened. Then let go.

"...Fine."

He lowered his hand.

On the floor, Aries was having a completely different experience than the one he was projecting outward.

’What did I just do...

Why did I walk out here. Why did I kneel. Why is my hand extended toward the PRINCESS OF XYLARIS right now while every single person in this room stares at me.’

On the outside, he was flashing a confident grin, but on the inside, he was repeatedly slamming his head against a wall.

’I was supposed to stand in the corner. And instead, I have committed full public social destruction in front of the entire royal family.

Someone please object. I don’t care who, just object to this!’

His hand stayed where it was.

His face stayed calm.

Aurelia looked at the hand for a long moment, her breath still uneven, her eyes still glassy from the tears she hadn’t let fall. But confusion moved across her expression.

"Umm..." Her voice came out quietly. "Shall we, mister?"

Aries swallowed.

"Ah — um." He cleared his throat. "Yeah. L-let’s."

He stood. She took his hand as the orchestra found its place again, tentative at first, the melody building back slowly.

Her fingers were cold. Still trembling faintly.

He could still feel that thread — the rhythm underneath the music, the current that moved through her like something that had always been there and just needed the right conditions.

’Okay, You know how to do this, Shang. Afterall,’

In his past life as a hotel and bar waiter, there had been plenty of late nights where wealthy older women demanded a partner, and customer service meant he simply couldn’t say no. That was exactly how he had learned to dance.

The memory surfaced. He had apparently retained all of it anyway.

He set his hand at her waist. She stiffened slightly.

"Don’t think about the room," he said, quietly enough that only she could hear. "Just the count."