So I Was the Persecuted Grand Duchess Destined to Die? Chapter 81

Chapter 81

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“Oh my…”

“My goodness, were we just cut in line?”

“What on earth? How can someone be that rude?”

In a space packed only with young ladies, the ill-mannered brat towering among them certainly made his presence known.

The lady who had been next in line before me couldn’t even form a protest—she was just trembling in place.

Judging from the youthful tone in her earlier “I’m fine”, she was clearly very young.

Most likely this was her first banquet.

When our eyes met, I could see tears welling up behind her mask.

Seeing such a delicate girl utterly terrified made my protective instincts surge.

I have to protect her!

I glanced back at Ternox, who was standing behind me.

“Oho.”

He rubbed his chin with clear interest.

“That guy’s… strange.”

“Of course he is! Who in their right mind cuts in line like that?”

“No, not that. I mean his eyes—”

Behind his mask, Ternox’s eyes narrowed.

He fixed his gaze on the man who had cut in line, as if measuring him.

“Hm…”

After thinking to himself for a moment, Ternox shrugged as though it were nothing.

“Never mind. Let’s just watch for now.”

“What do you mean, never mind?”

He’s always muttering things to himself like that.

Ignoring my protest entirely, Ternox chuckled and changed the subject.

“Want to say something to that guy?”

“So you’re saying I should just watch?”

“Well… he really is shameless.”

The infuriating dragon shrugged again, clearly with no intention of stepping in.

Instead—

“Sure, this could be fun. Cleanup duty falls to the adjutant too, doesn’t it, Your Highness?”

Grin.

With a slick, shameless smile, Ternox nodded.

Still incredibly annoying.

But knowing I had this being at my back gave me confidence—the courage to step forward in the name of justice.

After all, this was a stage prepared by none other than the strongest being in the world: a dragon.

I decided, willingly, to step into the ring.

Tap, tap.

“Excuse me.”

I moved the trembling young lady behind me to shield her and tapped the man on the shoulder.

He was quite a bit taller than me, but I refused to stand on my toes—that was my last shred of pride.

“What?”

Annoyed, he spun around sharply.

But thanks to my years of diligent morning exercises, I was quick.

I slipped neatly past the hand he tried to swat me with, folded my arms, and stared straight into his golden eyes through the mask.

“You should respect the order, sir.”

“Don’t make me laugh. Order? I am the order.”

“……”

Look at this ill-mannered bastard.

Most people would’ve been flustered—but I lived with the most ill-mannered man in the world, so this was nothing.

Hoo… still, this is pretty infuriating.

“Hey! What are you doing? Hurry up and serve it! Want to die?”

Ignoring me completely, the man snapped at the maid serving the ice cream.

Still holding the young lady’s hand tightly, I deliberately squeezed in beside him.

“No. This lady was first. Miss, which flavor were you going to have?”

“M-Me? I-I’m fine, really…”

“Is this woman insane?”

The maid with the scoop and the young lady beside me both looked back and forth between us, utterly at a loss.

I enunciated each word clearly, loudly.

“The one who’s insane is you, wouldn’t you say? You don’t have even the slightest courtesy toward a lady!”

“What? Did you just call me crazy?”

“You were the first to say it to me. I’m simply returning the words without alteration!”

If I said I wasn’t intimidated by a large man openly bristling with anger, that would be a lie.

But I couldn’t abandon the girl whose small hand was still clutched tightly in mine.

“Do you know who I am?”

The man rattled off the classic villain line.

It was so predictable it almost made me laugh.

“I don’t! But I do know that you looked down on everyone who stood in line properly here, and that you acted rudely!”

“H-Huh…!”

He kept sucking in sharp breaths, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“And you seem to have forgotten that this is a masquerade ball. If you’re so eager to flaunt your status, why not take off that mask right now and reveal who you are to everyone?”

I tilted my lips into the most obnoxiously crooked smile I could manage.

People who say ‘Do you know who I am?’ are rarely anyone truly impressive.

Gulp.

Still, swallowing hard was… a perfectly natural human reaction.

That was when—

“Y-Yes!”

The young lady who had been clinging to my hand like a lifeline stepped forward and spoke up.

“E-Everyone here saw it. Disturbing order like that is wrong!”

Her voice trembled as the words came out, but it tugged painfully at my heart.

And it seemed I wasn’t the only one.

“That’s right! We all saw it.”

“You not only cut in line, you shoved young ladies aside!”

“Someone could’ve fallen and gotten hurt. That was careless.”

The girls who had been watching from behind all chimed in one by one.

They were all very young ladies.

“Ha, damn it…”

With everyone’s attention suddenly on him, the boy panicked and covered his lower face with one hand.

At this point, it seemed even he felt too embarrassed to reveal his identity.

“You—remember this. I won’t forget what happened today.”

Leaning toward me, he growled the threat under his breath.

I snorted and shrugged.

“And do you know who I am?”

You’re not the only one wearing a mask. I am too.

It was a deliberate provocation.

“You think I couldn’t find out who the hell you are?”

“……”

Yes. That’s exactly what I think.

Still, pushing him further might’ve invited real danger, so I simply stared at his face—long, slow, unblinking.

The man’s face flushed bright red beneath the mask.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

“Oh? Was I supposed to? If I tell you honestly, you might get hurt.”

Can you handle that?

Drawing on all my experience living with a terrifyingly sharp-tongued man, I was just about to unleash a verbal machine gun—

“Enough! Shut up! Damn it… I just wanted ice cream, and now I’m dealing with this garbage!”

He shouted, hastily covering his own mouth, then spun around and stalked off.

He disappeared into the crowd so quickly that in the blink of an eye, there was no trace of him left.

If he’d just lined up properly from the start, none of this would’ve happened.

Why was he the one throwing a tantrum?

Honestly, I doubted that elementary-schooler even knew how to stand in line.

Haa… well, I guess it worked out.

I let out a quiet sigh.

“Th-Thank you.”

Once the man was gone, the lady who had been ahead of me spoke in a tearful voice.

“Ahaha! It was nothing.”

I forced a bright smile.

But cold sweat trickled down my spine.

I must’ve been far more tense than I realized.

I knew that if he’d crossed the line, Ternox wouldn’t have stayed idle—but still…

Well. Looks like Ternox didn’t even need to step in.

Watching the whole thing, Nox chuckled softly as he looked at me.

“Not bad at all. I didn’t even need to move.”

…It still would’ve been nice if you had, you know?

I nodded a few times, then spoke as gently as I could.

“Now then, my lady. Please enjoy your ice cream—properly, in your rightful turn.”

I lightly patted the young lady’s shoulder with my free hand; she was still holding mine.

Startled, she finally let go and bowed deeply.

My hand was damp with sweat, but it didn’t feel unpleasant at all.

“Yes… thank you so very much, miss!”

“I merely did what was right.”

The lady bowing over and over, the maid gazing at me with shining eyes, and others around us as well—

all of it made me acutely aware of the attention gathering once again. “Why is it such a damn struggle just to eat some ice cream…?”

Somehow, I’d ended up drawing attention again—completely unintentionally, at that.

Was this really okay?

But the water had already been spilled.

Honestly, maybe the masquerade ball was a blessing in disguise.

Thinking that, I decided to brush it off and trudged away, carrying a mountain of strawberry ice cream piled high by the maid.

Ugh. I’m exhausted. Completely wiped.

And the most discouraging part of all was this—

The midnight bells announcing the crown prince’s birthday hadn’t even rung yet…