- Dance? Here?

The prince's request was strange - we were outside, it was cold, and most importantly, there was no music to dance to.

- Prince Dorian, why would you want to dance with me? There is no music and I cannot dance at all.

Dorian looked away for a moment, probably trying to hide his blushing cheeks. While he was standing calm and still, I was finally able to notice the way he looked - his black hair was brushed behind from both sides, long bangs forming untidy waves above his forehead; his uniform was light black with a rich crimson-colored cape connected at the right shoulder and the waist. The under-jacket had thin gold ornaments and buttons, it was definitely a slim fit since I could clearly see the outline of his now a lot stronger upper body.

"He looks so much bigger now, good job, Yoo Na."

The prince took a deep breath and looked back at my face.

- Miss Yoona, do you know what it means to have the first dance with someone?

I did not know. It sounded important, as many first things are, and that was what made me even more curious about his choice of partner.

- No, but I can only guess that it is very important.

He nodded his head and smiled.

- It is very important, therefore I --

I suddenly realized what was happening and it made me become very uneasy. I had to remember my place.

- Prince Dorian... Since the first dance is so important, shouldn't you have it with your fiancee?

Dorian's expression turned surprised for a second, then turned somewhat dark. He brushed his hand over his hair carelessly, messing it up quite a lot. It probably took him a lot of courage to ask me for a dance, and I for sure was very honored, but stealing his first dance felt wrong, even if Lilith was his fiancee just in the name. I stood in front of the prince and asked him to lean a bit forward.

- Like this?

He obeyed my request without hesitation and leaned his body so that our faces were on the same level. I smiled and started organizing back his messed-up hair. Although he was clearly no longer conscious of my touch, I still tried to be as subtle as possible.

- All done!

I was about to lower my hand when Dorian suddenly caught my wrist and looked right into my eyes. Our faces were so close that I could smell his breath by which I could tell that he also had a couple of drinks before coming here. He seemed to be unbothered by how close we were - his face was calm, not even a hint of blushing, his bright blue eyes were drilling into mine as he was trying to read my mind in them. My heartbeat was ringing in my ears, I was afraid my head would just explode.

It felt as if time had stopped. I could not tell what was going on around us, I could not tell how long we were staying like that, everything seemed irrelevant at that very moment in my life.

- Ahem... Excuse me.

We both were brought back to reality by a sudden sound of a familiar voice. It was Luther.

- I did not mean to butt in like that but lady Lilith is waiting for you, it's time to make the announcement.

Dorian let go of my arm and straightened his posture. He left the terrace without even saying anything, without turning around, leaving me and Luther alone. The Crown Prince sighed, rubbed his neck and smiled awkwardly at me.

- I'm sorry, miss Yoona, it looks like I have interrupted a very important moment.

His words hit me hard and made me realize how it might have looked like seeing us so close to each other like that. I waved my hands rapidly trying to distract the prince from my embarrassed face. Luther just laughed it off and opened the door behind him.

- Would you like to go back to the hall? The Empress will announce Dorian's engagement.

I hesitated. What was the point in my presence anyway? There were enough nobles to congratulate them and I knew about their engagement already. I was disappointed for no apparent reason. Was it the feeling of being gossiped about for becoming the first female knight? Or maybe the fact that I had to see the bastard Vincent again? I did not want to go back.

- Prince Luther, I think I'll walk around for a bit, I still feel a little tipsy.

The Crown Prince furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head.

- I can't let you go around alone and wearing just a thin dress. Here, put my jacket on.

He took off his jacket and placed it rapidly on my shoulders leaving me no chance to oppose. Luther's jacket felt nice - it smelled of a strong but warm perfume mixed with the light scent of his body odor.

"It's nice... But Dorian's jacket smelled better."

I blamed alcohol for making me think all those weird thoughts.

- Miss Yoona, I have to be present during the announcement since I'm the Crown Prince, but will you wait for me to escort you on your walk?

I felt like I'd bothered the Dio brothers enough in the last 30 minutes, but I also did not want to start another game of tug-of-war with Luther by rejecting his kind offer. I just smiled politely and nodded my head.

- Sure, I'll wait for you next to the greenhouse.

When the Crown Prince left, I decided to make a run for it. Sure, I was very grateful for his gentlemanly offer but I felt like being alone for some time. I left the palace through one of the back doors and went straight ahead. The night November air was chill and fresh, it almost felt like all those heavy rains washed away all the dirt and dust from the capital, leaving only the sense of cleanliness. I was not used to such weather. Back in Korea, Novembers were cold but humidity and pollution always made the air feel stiff and heavy as if a damp veil was covering me every time I had to go outside.

I looked around - the whole territory around the palace was lit with street lamps, those were the lamps you would see in the old movies, the kind that the servants of the palace would light manually every time. Their warm orange light was scattering on the already dead trees and bushes, empty walking paths, benches and sculptures.

"I thought I had already gotten used to all of this, after all, I've spent almost six months in this world... Still, every time I look around like this, I just cannot believe I'm here. Everything is new, everything is different. I've spent my whole life in one place, my desires were small and trivial, I never dared to dream big, I thought dying was not so scary, I had no regrets, and yet... What is the point of being here amongst all this beauty and splendor when all that is waiting for me is a rapidly approaching death?"

I got lost. I was wandering around so deep in my thoughts that I forgot to pay attention to where I was going and I had no idea how to get back.

"Nice, Yoona, very nice. And not even a single person in sight. How am I supposed to return now?"

I turned around and started walking back following the same path, however, it only seemed as if I was walking in circles. The palace was behind me but it was quite far, it appeared that I had been walking for quite a while.

"Damn it, I wonder if people are looking for me... I mean, I can walk from the main palace back to the Dorian's but I need to figure out how to get there first."

My feet started to hurt. It was the first time I was wearing heels and I have been walking for ages so it was only natural that I already had blisters. I could not bear it any longer.

"Screw it. So what if it's November and the ground is dead cold? It's either that or crawling back to the palace on my knees."

I took a deep breath, exhaled rapidly, took off my shoes and started running. I could not tell how long I was running around but at some point, I was finally able to see the familiar greenhouse ahead of me.

"Ugh, at last. Good thing Luther is not there, I would not want anyone to see me like this."

The greenhouse was not locked. I entered it with caution but no one seemed to be inside, I was relieved. I noticed a small gazebo in the middle and decided to take shelter in it in order to catch my breath and tidy myself up a little. Just when I was about to fall down on the bench, I heard footsteps approaching.

- And what are YOU doing here?

I turned my head to the right, where the voice was coming from, it was Lilith. She was wearing a slim blue dress outlining her gorgeous body. The lady looked mesmerizing - the dress was shining under the lamps as if it was sprinkled with magic powder, she was wearing a small fur bolero on her shoulders, going down to her wrists and protecting her back from November chill. Her hair was up, decorated with numerous white gems, matching well with her dress.

"She is a gorgeous girl, a great match for prince Dorian. I can't believe she is younger than me. I will never be able to look like this, no matter how much you dress me up."

Lilith stepped inside the gazebo and raised her eyebrows.

- I asked you, what are you doing here? And why are you dressed like this? Aren't you supposed to be a knight?

That spoiled childish tone was ruining her whole impression again.

- Firstly, I am here because I wanted to rest. Secondly, I am dressed like this because prince Dorian allowed it. And lastly, I am a knight. What else?

The girl became furious. Her beautiful face was distorted by anger and disapproval, for a moment there I was afraid she might actually hit me.

- How dare you to talk to me like this? It doesn't matter whose knight you are, your status is low and nothing will ever change it! I want you to apologize to me right this instant.

I had enough.

- Why should I apologize? I did nothing wrong. You asked me questions, I answered them. Neither my status nor my way of speaking was in any way offensive. It is you who was rude to me from the start.

Lilith's eyes became even wider, she was about to explode. Her body was trembling and her fists were clenched to the point that her knuckles became white.

"Oh my, she might actually try to hit me."

- Fine. Whatever. I'll speak to Dorian about that myself.

Her bolero slipped from her shoulder and to my great surprise, I noticed how muscular her arm was. I clearly remembered that women were not wielding swords here and never really exercised so seeing a noble lady having a muscular body surprised me quite a bit.

"Come to think of it, Dorian told me she graduated from the military academy..."

- Uhm... Lady Lilith?

She flinched and pulled the bolero up covering her arm.

- What?

- Do you perhaps want to become a knight yourself?

- And why would I want that?

Her expression became visibly fake. It was obvious that she was excited by the question but was trying her best to hide it.

- With all due respect, it was hard not to notice the muscles on your arm and I also happen to know that you were the first in your father's military school. In addition, the way you act and talk does not suit you at all. You look like a strong woman that knows what she wants so what's up with your attitude?

To my great astonishment, Lilith's face became soft but bewildered at the same time. She looked at me as if I stripped her naked and took out her soul to take a better look. She approached me slowly and sat on the bench right next to me, rubbing her forehead with the bolero's sleeve.

- You are smart, and not so weak yourself, I'll give you that. That's true, I want to become a knight and join Dorian on the battlefield. I don't care about that stupid marriage, my only hope was that after marrying the prince, I'd be able to free myself from my father's tight grip and do whatever I wanted, but it turned out that unless Dorian becomes the Emperor, my father's influence will follow me forever.

Her words were upsetting. I came from a modern world where women have much more rights than they did in the past but we still had a lot of patriarchal obstacles in our way.

- Have you ever thought that your father is just trying to protect you from harm?

Lilith rolled her eyes.

- As if. Do you think I put on this ridiculous "rich and spoiled girl" act because I want to? I lied to him that I wanted to study in the academy because I wanted to get close to him but once he figured out how smart and capable I was, he pulled me away so that I barely graduated in a hurry. I thought that if I keep acting clueless, he would just let me be but he suddenly decided to marry me to the prince, and not even the Crown Prince at that!

"She is right. It is weird that he decided to marry her to the second prince, if she married Luther, she would become the Empress and change the military law. Why doesn't he want her to be ambitious?"

- I was partially successful at postponing the wedding because once I'm married, my life will be decided forever. Gosh, I'm so mad at men!

Hearing those words coming from such a beautiful and noble lady made me genuinely laugh. Lilith was surprised at first but then also laughed with me. It's been a while since I laughed like that with another woman.

- Gosh, what happened to your feet?

I looked down and realized that I was still barefoot and my feet turned into a mess of blood and dirt after all the walking and running. I had completely forgotten about them but after noticing them once again, the burning pain spread up to my ankles.

- Wow, my feet are all messed up. What should I do now?

- Leave it to me. Although I was hostile to you at first, you turned out to be a very decent woman so I'll help you instead of simply apologizing. Hold on!

And just like that she sprung to her feet, grabbed me from under my knees and back and started carrying me in my arms straight to the palace.

- Hey! What are you doing?!

- Be quiet! It's still quite a walk back to the palace, you can't go when your feet are in this condition. It's fine, I'll just bring you back and let your silver-haired friend take care of the rest.

Lilith started walking so quickly and confidently as if she was not carrying a human being, but a pillow or a light blanket. I was so surprised that my mind went blank for a moment but when I came back to my senses, all I could think of was how strong that girl was and how lucky I was that I have met her.

"And just when I promised myself to not be a bother anymore."

She was silent for a while and I did not know what to say either, the situation we were both in seemed somewhat awkward when I finally realized what was going on. Her gaze was fixed in front of her, her expression was calm and relaxed, and even her breath was almost unnoticeable.

"Gosh, every single person I meet is incredibly beautiful and strong, it is starting to bother me and making me feel insecure."

At some point she lowered her eyes to the level of my face, probably having realized I was staring at her this whole time.

- Done staring? What? Is there something on my face?

Lilith's every word, spoken in her real voice, was like a needle prickling my ears, she sounded so cool and confident, that I felt my cheeks turning red in embarrassment. I figured if I tried to speak at that very moment, my voice would tremble, betraying my embarrassed self, so I simply shook my head, implying that her face looked fine.

- So what happened to you back then? Why did you faint? Are you ill?

- Wow, you still remember this. A lot of things happened prior to our meeting, I guess I was just exhausted.

She clicked her tongue and shook her head slightly.

- You did not look that weak yourself, I guess being a knight is still way out of your league.

I was not sure whether it was okay to confess that I was not, in fact, a real knight. Although her remark was rather harsh, it was not entirely untrue - even with my cancer aside, I was less qualified to be a knight than 10-year-old Loyd.

- Well, I'm sure you're going to be fine. If Raphael approved of you, it means you are very capable, so you just work hard and make sure I do not regret not ditching you here to freeze to death for the sake of every woman that ever wanted to hold a sword.

- That's... a lot of pressure.

- Get used to it. If you want to be my friend, you have to live up to my expectations.

Lilith winked at me and pulled a childish grin on her face. She tossed me up slightly to adjust her grip, then speeded up her pace, ending up almost running.

- We should hurry, or else I'm afraid your feet will fall off.