The entire ballroom was silent.

All eyes were fixed on the group standing close to the entrance.

The lady in black dress glanced at Count Hall and said, "I’ll not get into who started what because everyone has seen everything already."

Count Hall felt beads of sweat form on his forehead while standing beside him, Vincent thought, ’Oh? Someone with a rational mind and just eyes?’

The lady took hold of a drink from a server and sipped it, letting the weight of her words settle first.

The sweat on Count Hall’s forehead increased with each passing second.

Holding her drink in her hands, the lady in black continued, "I am assuming the Count will let bygones be, yes?"

Count Hall let out an amicable smile on his rough face, relief washing all over him.

He immediately responded. "Yes, of course, my lady. It was a little skirmish so there’s nothing to brood over."

The lady in black gently nodded. "Then I wish you a pleasant evening."

"A pleasant evening to you too, my lady." Count Hall placed his palm on his chest and bowed, disappearing almost immediately from her sight.

He did not wish to linger a second longer!

The lady said polite things on the surface but her intent was clear as day.

’I know it was you who started this. I also know you’ll press this matter further. But, I am willing to leave you a way out if you let go of the grudge.’

The lady now turned to Vincent.

All eyes were now on him.

How will the lady treat this wastrel with a big mouth?

Will he get slapped like the young man of Morvell House or will he be scolded like the Count?

Everyone eagerly anticipated the lady’s next move.

The lady in black dress slightly raised her glass and broke into a slight smile.

"The D’Arc House never ceases to amaze me. Please send the Countess my regards."

Vincent thought she’d leave after saying so, but then—

’Wait, why’s she staring...’

The lady’s emerald-like green eyes peered into Vincent’s for a second longer than necessary, making him uncomfortable.

She left immediately after, without waiting for Vincent’s response.

[Ding!]

[Fate deviated slightly.]

[New Entanglement Formed.]

[Subject: Agnes Falkner.]

Vincent thought of checking the profile of this mysterious lady but in his vision, another line of text appeared while a notification rang in his head.

[Ding!]

[Fate deviated slightly.]

[Entanglement upgraded!]

[Entanglement upgraded!]

[Subjects: Anastasia, Leona Voss.]

Vincent’s gaze immediately turned to his attendant first.

She was quietly standing like a mannequin but staring at him and contemplating something.

Vincent gave a dry cough to break the awkwardness and asked, "Can you get me a drink?"

Anastasia did not find anything weird in it and nodded. She went to a nearby server to grab a drink.

In the meantime, Vincent turned to look at his fiancée, wondering what her reaction was.

’Wait, I don’t even know how she looks. How am I going to find her?’

[The host’s worries are unnecessary.]

’Why are they unnecessary? She’s in the ball and if I don’t recognize her, what will she think of me as a man? Won’t she regret her choice of marrying me?’

[Negative. She deems it a necessary sacrifice for her future.]

’...’

[...]

’...’

[...]

’...motherfu—’

[Here’s a portrait of subject Leona Voss...]

In Vincent’s eyes, he saw the image of a beautiful lady with metallic silver hair and red eyes. Her gaze was neutral, and she seemed quite refined and elegant.

’Holy shit... that’s... that’s my fiancée!?’ Vincent couldn’t believe his eyes.

"Young master, your drink." Anastasia interrupted and did not let his thoughts run wild.

Vincent took the glass from her and took a sip, scanning the room for his lady.

A few minutes passed.

The final guests arrived, and it was at this time that Vincent found the lady he was looking for.

She was quietly standing beside a young lady in a blue dress, who was busy socializing.

’Good lord...’

Donning a well-fitted black dress which proudly displayed her curves, she exuded an air of coldness around her.

Even from a distance, she seemed a head taller than him—something he didn’t mind in the slightest.

He only just had a look when the soft chime of a bell rang.

Ding.

Ding.

The crowd shuffled and Vincent lost her view.

’Tch. Is it just my imagination or has my luck gotten worse lately?’ He thought and sipped his drink, wondering why there were bells ringing.

Ding.

Ding.

Silence befell the ballroom as the bells got louder, and everyone shifted to the sides, leaving the brightest area of center open.

Large metallic doors at the end of the ballroom opened up slowly.

In walked a dignified man with a pretty young lady in his arms. She wore a frilly yellow dress that dragged against the polished marble flooring.

All eyes were fixed on the two.

Vincent on the other hand, as it was his first time in a noble setting, looked around, trying to see the reactions of people and behave appropriately in future.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your presence at my daughter’s special day."

Duke Leurox warmly greeted everyone and began his speech.

Vincent was distracted and didn’t focus on the generic speech.

He looked around and saw that everyone was focused on the Duke’s speech. Though, one thing that stood out was the presence of the lady in black dress, Agnes Falkner.

She stood quietly in a corner, holding a glass of red wine.

Although she did nothing, she still effortlessly outshined the Duke who was now in the center of the room.

’However...’

Vincent turned to his fiancée, whom he found standing behind the young lady in blue.

’If she wasn’t surrounded by so many people, I don’t think her presence would’ve been any less than Agnes.’

Vincent had a small smile appear on his face, knowing he was one lucky man to have such a fiancée.

’Now, if fate follows the plot of an isekai otome, she would probably be the protagonist and the title would be «I am troubled that my fiancé is a drunk wastrel!» or perhaps «Married against my will to the evil count’s heir!» or something.’

’... I can’t fall for such a cheap plot. I have to make this marriage work!’

[...]

[Opening live feed...]

[Anastasia is looking at her young master with visible disgust.]

[Leona Voss turns away from her fiancé’s prolonged gaze.]

Vincent: "..."

He turned to the side and saw Anastasia staring in his direction. Her expression immediately changed to a neutral one as she asked in a soft, professional tone, "Do you need something, young master?"

’Wow. I see how it is...’

Vincent shook his head and turned his attention to Duke Leurox.

"...House Leurox stands strong as ever, being a pillar of support to the great Crown..."

Duke Leurox was expressing the might of his house which then followed with him stating the purpose of this ball.

"...tonight, we set aside names and titles to form bonds without prejudice."

The words of the Duke fell on deaf ears. Vincent couldn’t be any more bothered to listen to his house’s might or why he’s holding the ball in flowery and formal words.

He decided to check the profile of Agnes, to see who she really was.

[Loading profile...]

+

[Name: Agnes Falkner]

[Cultivation: ???]

[Lineage: Human]

[Role: Crown Princess]

[Affiliation: House of Falkner]

[Relationship: Unregistered]

[Entanglement: Friction Link (Unstable)]

---

[Traits]

Improve Entanglement to get traits details.

---

[Notes]

– A natural-born authority surrounded by a thick aura of death.

– Detected anomaly: Sovereign Authority Variant(Unstable Classification)

– Emotional state: Observant, Expectant.

– Physical state: Untainted, stable.

[Live Feed]

Improve Entanglement to get live feed.

[Warning: Do not carelessly approach.]

+

’Damn... a Princess...’ Vincent wasn’t even surprised anymore, just dumbfounded and slightly depressed.

’...everyone around me has so much aura, meanwhile I... forget it. No point brooding over the starting points. I can change my destiny slowly.’

As he read more about Agnes, he was surprised to see her anomaly condition.

’System, what does natural-born and those stuff in brackets mean? You keep writing things like ’anomaly condition’, ’unstable classification’ and so on. What are they?’

At this point, Vincent knew the system was somewhat sentient or more like an artificial intelligence which liked to make fun of him. So he asked without thinking much.

[What the terminology states is what it means, host. Natural-born means someone who’s born with it.]

[As for the terms in brackets, the meaning varies.]

[Unstable classification in subject Agnes Falkner’s profile means that the system cannot fully resolve her existence into a fixed category due to interference from either her cultivation or Sovereign Authority nature.]

’Ooga booga?’ A derpy expression formed on Vincent’s face.

[Sigh...]

[Downloading primitive terminologies...]

[Translating...]

[Host = weak. Therefore, system = weak.]

[Agnes Falkner = strong, but system = weak, therefore system cannot read Agnes Falkner.]

’Ah... so it’s like that... you should’ve said so.’ Vincent clicked his tongue. ’You are far too useless. Can’t even scan someone properly.’

[...]

’Anyway, I have a bit of time to go through my mother and sister’s profile too now. Open—’

"...and that concludes my speech."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I now invite you all to witness my daughter’s first dance!" Duke Leurox said in an enthusiastic tone.

In the center of the ballroom was the Duke’s daughter, and she looked around for a partner.

Vincent had to pay attention and couldn’t busy himself with something else at this moment.

Immediately after the first dance, the others would start dancing too and staying still would sully the house’s name.

He had to abide by this code and was warned strictly by the maids. Anastasia was here to remind him too, so he couldn’t dally even if he tried to.

Vincent squinted his eyes as he noticed a pattern.

’Everytime I try to open my family’s profile, some or the other thing comes up. Is it perhaps intentional.’

[Negative. It’s a complete coincidence.]

’Are you sure?’ Vincent squinted his eyes further.

[Affirmative.]

’Whatever you say.’ Vincent clicked his tongue.

He turned his attention back to the Duke’s daughter. She found herself a partner and it was a young man wearing a suit with yellow accents.

’At least their matching colors aren’t a coincidence.’ Vincent commented internally.

After a few minutes of the first dance, the Duke and the Duchess joined the stage.

This was the cue for others to join.

Anastasia nudged Vincent from the back. "Young master, it’s our time to enter."

Although Anastasia was a maid, she would do fine as a partner as she was currently his attendant.

Given Vincent’s reputation, no one would be willing to dance with him, so Anastasia did not encourage him to ask someone either.

She was ready to grab Vincent’s arm and enter the dance floor, but the young man shook his head.

"I’m not dancing with you, Anastasia."

"What?" Anastasia’s arm was still in the air, in a grabbing motion as she expressed her surprise.

Vincent turned around and waved his hand. "I have someone in mind, don’t worry."

Saying so, Vincent walked away, leaving Anastasia contemplating her life choices.

Retracting her hand, she stared at Vincent’s departing back.

’Does he think there’s someone willing to dance with him?’ Anastasia thought. ’There’s nothing that can stop the Countess’s reputation falling now. Sigh... I did everything I could to help save the image, but some things are just inevitable.’

Anastasia shook her head and turned to look at Vincent again.

A few seconds passed.

Vincent was moving towards a lady in a blue dress.

Anastasia thought nothing of it.

However, right in the next, Anastasia saw a second figure seated beside this young lady and her jaw almost dropped.

’Oh no! Is he going to do what I think he’s going to do!?’

Anastasia was startled and immediately rushed to Vincent’s side.

’Shit! I need to stop him or I might get beheaded too early in this iteration!’

Back at Leona’s side, she was calmly standing beside the young lady she accompanied.

She was contemplating something as she stared at her wine glass absentmindedly.

A few instances passed.

"Hey, someone looks eager to meet you." The young lady in blue nudged Leona and broke her train of thoughts.

Leona adjusted her gaze and looked up, only to frown as she saw a short young man walk in her direction.

The young lady in blue’s lips curved up and she snickered. "If this isn’t love..."

’What’s he trying to do?’ Leona was too stunned to respond to the young lady’s obvious taunt.

Vincent moved from one end of the ballroom to another, and was halfway close.

Due to the drama earlier, he was still in the limelight and caught everyone’s attention.

The dancers subtly focused on him while the ones yet to join and the spectators paid full attention.

Who was this drunkard going to ask out for a dance by moving so swiftly?

Who was the unfortunate young lady?

Such were the thoughts of the people.

There was surprise, confusion and anticipation mixed with feelings of contempt.

They couldn’t wait to see him making a fool out of himself and soil the D’Arc House’s reputation.

Vincent stopped before the young lady in blue, who was staring at him with a smile.

Everyone wondered which house this young lady belonged to and what her reaction would be regarding Vincent’s proposal.

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, Vincent stepped to the side and instead focused on the young lady’s attendant.

Wait.

An attendant?

The realization hit the crowd a second too late.

Vincent looked up and extended his hand out. "My lady, would you like to dance?"

The music faltered.