"Shall I lead?" Ru gave me a weird look as he was nearly a head taller than me. I blinked. I tried explaining.

"I'm better at leading so—" 

"I'll lead." Ru didn't let me finish as he put his hand on my shoulder blade and hand. I tried not to glare as I put my hand in his, cupping it and on his shoulder. I nervously waited for the music to start. Having nowhere to look, I stared at Ru. He stared back and spoke.

"Why did you pick me?" I decided to be honest.

"I wanted to get to know you." I saw Ru give me a curious look. "Isn't it a good thing to have a prince get to know another prince?"

"Right." He grew quiet and I looked at him. 

Ru Hasselt. He was the Crown Prince of Tenn, the neighboring country of Urel, and the next heir to the throne. He had a strained relationship with all of his family members, except his father, and older sibling who was currently studying abroad. He learned to shoulder his burden and complaints by himself as he prepared to fulfill his duty as the future king. However, that all came crashing down at his awakening. Something had gone wrong. He was unable to do magic. If he even tried, it'd backfire and cause him great pain. Ru managed to start in Lore Academy while suffering from the pain. He grew accustomed to it. 

One day, he got a letter in the reception, forcing him to leave class early. He read the letter and felt his heart sink. Buying the fastest carriage while he tried processing what he'd just learned, he returned to his castle being quiet. He saw attendants crying in the hallways, and the gloomy expressions of others. Finally, he stumbled outside and found three caskets displayed, all of them carrying the corpse of his father, mother, and younger sister. Someone had assassinated them. Ru, devastated by the news, grew more distant and cold as the years went by. He became twisted and cruel, borderline sadistic in the way he treated others and himself. He stopped caring about his curse and used magic more and more. 

By the time he started his fourth year, he collapsed from his injuries. Had Ophelia not found him when she did, he would've died. Ophelia handes him the ring that her mother had given her. And he starts to recover. She tries carrying him to safety but fails and decides to use a healing spell on him. Ru wakes up and sees her before passing out due to sheer exhaustion. 

That's how Ophelia saves his life. I did consider just letting Ophelia save his life again but to let him suffer that much for two more years? I'd be a cruel person to allow it to continue. All I knew is that a certain onyx ring could break the curse or at least halt it. And that was good enough for me. But how would I give it to him? I wasn't a cute girl like Ophelia so I had to be slick about it. 

"...?"

"What?"

"Aren't you going to dance?" I hadn't even noticed that the music had started. My face grew red as Ru began leading me around. Damn, the dance hasn't even begun and I already embarrassed myself.

"You're not that good at dancing," Ru said.

"Really? I didn't know that." I sarcastically remarked. Oh crap! Don't show attitude to him or he'll use this as an excuse to kill you! I forced a smile.

"You're good at dancing though so I'm in safe hands." I saw Ru's lips twitch before he spun me. I nearly fell but he caught me and tried not to scowl at his amused expression. 

"I had expected you to pick someone else." He began. I blinked and looked away. 

"I decided at the last second to pick an unexpected guest. Why did you decide to come to my debut?"

"I was dragged here by Kain and Quinn. They thought I was too antisocial and needed to get out more. And see where that landed me." He gave me a look and I glanced away with a wry smile. It's for your own good Ru, you'll understand soon. 

"You sure are lucky," I said.

"I sure am," Ru replied with a dry tone. 

My head was spinning with all sorts of thoughts. How could I give him the ring? Perhaps by telling him it's a gift? That might work.

"I had planned on giving my partner a present for... putting up with my atrocious dancing."

"Atrocious is an understatement." I had to bite my tongue so as not to let his word get to me. 

"Right. As I was saying, as a thank you, I wanted to give you a ring." Ru raised an eyebrow at that. "Listen, I didn't accept your invitation to propose to you." I rolled my eyes.

"Neither was I proposing, it's merely a piece of jewelry. Perhaps the start of a new friendship?"

"That sounds a bit suspicious." That's because I'm trying to get on your good side before you turn dark and gloomy. I gave him an innocent smile.

"Why would that be? I want to get to know you better and I think a gift is a good start." Ru narrowed his eyes at me. I heard the music slowing down and we finished our dance. I thanked him as he did the same. I took something out of my pocket.

"Well? I swear it's not cursed." Seeing how Ru paused in taking the ring, I had chosen the wrong thing to say. "It's a joke!" Ru gave me a look before he grabbed the ring again. He put the ring on and stared at it. 

"It's strangely comforting. Did you put a charm on it?" I smiled mysteriously. "Something like that." Ru paused. And then he gave me a small smile.

"Thank you." I felt my heart squeeze from the smile before he waved goodbye and walked back. I felt a bit guilty when he smiled at me, as I didn't deserve it. I merely decided to make his life less worse before his family was assassinated. I'd thought of stopping it or finding out who ordered the attack, but something told me that I'd land myself in deep water if I did so. Whoever hired the assassins might decide to attack me instead. I'd rather allow the game to follow the same route than deviate that far. 

And so I hurried to my table, only to be stopped by a group of guests around my age. 

"Rael! That dancing was fantastic! I wonder, do you perhaps want to dance with me?" A young girl asked. Someone shoved her. A boy this time, who looked to be my age, offered his hand. "No no, you should dance with someone who is of equal status. Please, let me be your next dance?" He gave me a hopeful smile. But that was dashed when a girl with a hat kicked him to the side. "Fuck off, budget prince, Rael, you should dance with me!" 

I gave them a small smile. "I'm quite tired of dancing and am quite hungry. However, I wouldn't mind talking once I'm done eating?" They let me go as I slowly walked to the dinner table. I took my untouched plate and sat down, savoring every bite. Once I was done, stuffed to the brim, I walked back to the group who were now conversing with one another. 

I struck up a conversation with a boy who I vaguely remembered, he might be an extra in the game. Soon, I found myself talking with the rest of the guests as they crowded around me. I commented on the food and the girl to my right laughed. It wasn't that funny... 

Finally, one of the guests made a move.

"Prince Rael, you're quite funny. I would love it if you visited my home." Someone cut him off, another boy with a haughty smile. "No no, don't go to a lowly count's house that can barely take care of itself! Go to mine, we have all sorts of delectable dishes that I'm sure you'll enjoy!" That sounded pretty fun, I won't lie. 

A third slid in before any words left my mouth. "You belittle a count when you're merely the child of a marquis. Get back in line. Rael is only worthy of going to my house! We even have a Pegasus that you can ride on!" I gasped. A pegasus? I didn't know they existed in this world. 

A girl with a large hat snorted. "A pegasus you say? You forgot to tell him that it's been dead for centuries and that you stuffed it up?" 

The pegasus boy froze. "How did you know that?" The girl sneered. 

"Poor Clara fell for your trick and its head fell off when she got on it! I heard it traumatized her!" The girl in question nodded tearfully. The girl added, "I can't believe you're still trying to do it, honestly, put that poor thing out of its misery."

The pegasus guy snarled. "It's none of your business. What's it to you? If you're going to be revealing others' secrets, why don't I reveal yours, Marie?" She crossed her arms. "Go on. I have nothing to hide." 

The pegasus guy laughed as though he heard a funny joke. "Really? Can you still say that when your actual father is your damn grandfather?" Marie's mouth was agape. The pegasus guy considered that a victory, and feeling good, he decided to pick a fight with the rest of the nobles.

"You with the freckles—"

"My name is—"

"I don't care, all I know is that your father was the one who killed your dog, you're welcome. You, with the yellow dress, I heard from a little birdy that your sister stole over thousands of gold and framed it on you. And the one who's hiding behind your boyfriend of one year, he's cheating on you with your brother. Oh and Marie?"

Marie, who was still recovering, looked up. "Y-yes?"

"All of your cousins are actually your half-siblings." Marie staggered back as she was in too much of a shock to reply. 

Having left a heavy blow on any noble he could reach, the adults were dragged into the arguments. Someone asked a good question. "How does he know all of this?" The pegasus guy, whose name was Al, winked. "It's a secret!" 

It was too amusing watching him expose these nobles. They had little to no comeback. I watched five children confront their family members who in turn grew pale. I started laughing. This felt like a drama show. 

"Your aunt breaks apart families for fun, your grandpa burned an orphanage down while he was drunk, oh and you... should never get close to a horse again." The people who were called out, grew red in the face and retreated. The horse girl sprinted from the scene. 

Al was on fire. He pointed at a short girl who'd been minding her business. "You— oh wow. You know what, I'll stay quiet." Everyone stared at the innocent girl who grew red in the face. She walked off and Al mumbled out loud. "That's a high body count." I saw her run away as Al began cackling. His snickering was paused when a tall boy approached.

"Al..." He warned. Al turned pale. 

"I'm not doing anything! They started it, I'm only finishing it, Kain!" Kain wasn't having it. He grabbed Al, apologized, and left early with a whining boy in tow. I kept laughing as this was a great end to the debut. It was getting late. I was curious about this Al guy. Nevertheless, I thanked the guests for coming as they began leaving one by one. 

I yawned from the sheer exhaustion. I walked up to my family who was headed towards their room. I saw Wei look at me with a devious smile. "It seems that your dance went well." I gave him a confused look. Heath invited himself into the conversation.

"He means the ring."

"What ring?"

"The ring that you gave Ru?" I gasped. Oh no. Oh no no no. Did they think I proposed to Ru? I furiously shook my head.

"No! Never! That ring wasn't like that. I was giving him it as a thank you for dancing with me." Wei and Heath exchanged a glance.

"Really?"

"Yes! And why do you care so much?" Wei patted my head. 

"You're the youngest so I've got to look out for your stupid mistakes." I glared at him as he grinned at me. He left and I was about to leave when Heath stopped me. 

"Did I thank you? For Mary?"

"Yes...?"

"Oh. Okay. Good." He was silent for a while. "If— if you ever need advice on Ru, I can help you." I glowered at him.

"If you mean advice on friendship, then sure." Heath gave me a teasing smile before walking off, leaving me annoyed. Great. They'd misunderstood my attempt to save Ru's pitiful future as a marriage proposal. 

As soon as I entered my room, I washed up and wore my pajamas. Once I was done, I fell asleep as soon as I touched the bed. I'd been too exhausted to notice that the window was open when it was previously closed. But when I woke up, it was closed again. As though nothing had happened.

__

Faaaan art time! Here's fan art from a reader (its basically the same reader 99% of the time lol) who drew Rael in casual clothes and looking cute in a mask! There were several versions but I could only find one... But each version were adorable!

Thanks for reading!