The grand party hall buzzed with activity, but that died down a little the moment I entered. All eyes turned toward me, drawn not by curiosity but by recognition. They started whispering again.

They whisper so much, I noted as I ignored them and headed inside. The chandeliers overhead cast a warm glow across the grand hall as the nobles’ eyes locked onto me. They watched for a second before resuming their conversations, feigning nonchalance.

I adjusted my coat slightly and exhaled. The room was filled with familiar faces, a mix of allies, rivals, and people I had yet to categorize. I guess I’d have a good idea after this ball. Some glanced my way with calculated interest, while others simply watched to see what would happen next. I wasn’t particularly in the mood to deal with any of them, but unfortunately, that was what this evening was for.

I made my way deeper into the hall, heading toward the food table. There was a balcony nearby, barely lit by the stars, and my eyes moved there. I think that girl will move there soon. For now, I plan to observe from the table alone. But someone decided to accompany me.

A figure stepped out—a young man with dark, curled hair and a sharp but casual look on his face. His suit was elegant but not overly flashy. He looked at ease as though this sort of environment was something he’d grown up in. A high-ranked noble?

“You must be Iskandaar Romani,” he greeted me with a slight grin on his lips.

As if he doesn’t know. “That would be me,” I nodded with a smile, taking his approaching hand and shaking it.

“I’m Dorian Varn,” he introduced himself. “Son of Count Varn. I saw your performance earlier. Impressive.”

“Appreciate it. Ah, you’re one of the top five in the earlier test, right?” I only then recalled seeing him beside Nebula yesterday.

Dorian waved a hand dismissively. “Luck, nothing more. You and your fiancée are what people are talking about. Care for a drink?”

We found a quiet corner and took our seats. A servant quickly approached us and poured me a deep red wine while Dorian took whiskey. I took a slow sip, my eyes sweeping the room once more.

I saw Princess Sathari Nezehra chatting with some nobles, giggling to herself. People were scared of approaching her, but her royal status removed much of the prejudice against her lower half. Perhaps I was staring too intensely because she turned her head and locked eyes with me. I blinked, embarrassed at being caught, but she just revealed a soft smile with her eyes closing as her tongue flicked out for a moment.

I nodded at her and looked away, unwilling to be a bother. I noticed Nebula across the hall, surrounded by a group of nobles who were clearly eager to talk to her.

She was like a star in that sea of mud. She seemed to be handling the talk well, keeping her composure. I imagined she was enjoying the recognition. After all, alliances with any of those nobles would be useful for the Carlstein Barony.

I didn’t plan to approach her tonight. This was her moment.

Dorian glanced over, noticing my focus. “Your fiancée seems to be the star of the night.”

“She deserves it,” I replied simply, my mind already shifting gears.

“Fair, she scored 9,200 on the exam. She’s really something.”

“Yeah.”

There was someone else I had to look for. I’d spotted her earlier thanks to my Demonic Sphere, standing off to the side, all by herself. Now wasn’t the time to approach, though. I should let the night grow before I’d do that. Regardless, I kept my eyes on her from time to time, making sure she wouldn’t abruptly leave.

Just then, the doors to the hall swung open. The energy in the room shifted as the Crown Prince himself made his entrance. Nobles turned their heads, and within moments, they flocked toward Orion Ethenar. It was as if he pulled them in without even trying.

Dorian raised an eyebrow. “Well, if it isn’t the prince. Never one to miss a chance to steal the spotlight.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. Someone else might have taken offense to him talking about the imperial bloodline like that.

Orion moved through the room with practiced ease, offering brief pleasantries as the nobles scrambled to gain his attention. His charm was undeniable, but even from here, I could tell he wasn’t fully engaged. It was all a well-rehearsed move. I just sipped wine.

After a few minutes, his voice cut through the chatter. “It’s a ball, isn’t it?” he called out, his tone carrying a soft air of authority. “Where’s the music? Where’s the dance?”

A flustered noble immediately rushed to instruct the musicians, and soon enough, a soft melody filled the hall. Couples began to move onto the floor right away, dancing in time with the rhythm. I watched as a few of the more eager noblemen tried to approach Nebula for her hand. But before they could get close, Orion strode forward, confidently cutting them off.

He knelt in front of her, taking her hand with a smile that was too smooth for my liking. My eyes narrowed. “Lady Nebula,” he said, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear, “would you do me the honor of a dance?”

From across the room, I sipped my drink, my expression neutral. A flicker of annoyance crept in, but I pushed it aside. I am sure the girl in question was happy. She could work this to her advantage. To begin with, as I had predicted back then, she planned to sever our engagement once she graduated. She wooed the prince to save herself and the Barony in the game. I didn’t see a reason she wouldn’t do the same here when she didn’t take our engagement seriously.

The Carlstein Barony could gain far more by aligning with the prince than by relying solely on the Romani family.

Beside me, Dorian wasn’t as calm. He set his drink down, frowning. “Isn’t it improper to ask an engaged woman for a dance?”

He might not be a bad guy. I didn’t answer and turned my back to the scene. I tried to zone out, but my ears stayed alert for her response. She didn’t take long.

“...I’m sorry, Prince,” Nebula said, her voice steady. “I have a fiancé whom I cherish.”

A murmur rippled through the crowd. Orion’s smile faltered, just barely, but his eyes gave him away. He wasn’t pleased.

“My lady, it’s just a dance—” he began, but I found myself beside Nebula, smiling down at the prince before he could finish.

“Your Highness,” I said smoothly, “it’s rather uncustomary to ask a lady for a dance before her fiancé has had the chance. Were you not aware that she’s taken? Or did you not know of this common sense? It can’t be the former since you were right beside me on the stage yesterday, so it’s the second. Ah, not that I am blaming the Prince for his lack of etiquette and knowledge. I’m certain your teacher back at the royal castle forgot to go over the finer points of etiquette?”

The room went still. I caught a glimpse of Dorian out of the corner of my eye, a crazy smirk tugging at his lips as he tried to hold back his amusement. The Prince, however, wore a dark expression. Orion rose to his feet, his eyes meeting mine.

We stood there for a moment, the air between us tense.

Finally, he forced a smile. “Quite right,” he said, his voice tight. “I’ll have to speak with my teacher. Thank you for the correction… Romani.”

He turned sharply and walked away, his steps measured. The crowd was silent, watching him go. I could feel the weight of their stares, but I didn’t pay them any mind.

Nebula turned to me, frowning. “That was unnecessary. I had that under control,” she muttered.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I offered her a small smile. “I’m sure you did,” I stared into her blue eyes, my smile widening.

Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she grumbled. “Stop looking at me like that...”

I held out my hand. “Sure. Care to dance?”

She hesitated, her eyes searching mine before nodding slowly. She couldn’t reject me after rejecting the prince for me. She placed her hand in mine, and together, we moved onto the dance floor. We ignored the stares around us as the music swelled.

The rest of the world seemed to fade into the background as we danced.

****

Throughout the dance with Nebula, I felt the weight of the room’s eyes on me. Once again whispers rippled through the crowd, no doubt about the confrontation with the prince earlier. This time I wasn’t the only one they talked about though, they talked about Nebula too.

On another note, this time it wasn’t just insults about me, some praised me too. It seems my reputation was making a turn for the good. However, it was the opposite for Nebula. She had rejected Orion with grace, but the fallout was already taking shape—no noble dared approach her for the rest of the time she was here. Nobody wanted to offend the prince by being seen talking with her.

That was something she had likely anticipated when she turned him down, but I couldn’t help but wonder if she realized how much it would cost her in the long run. I’d make sure she didn’t ever regret the decision, though.

I caught her eye as I stepped away, giving her a brief nod. Tonight wasn’t about just the two of us, not really. It was about securing something far more valuable. With one last wave at Nebula who walked out of the ball now that nobody was willing to talk to her, I made my way toward the dimly lit balcony.

I waited until she left to enter the balcony because I didn’t want her to misunderstand. I did have a bit of a reputation with girls, so I only approached this lonely girl on the balcony after Nebula was gone.

“Oh,” I paused as I entered the balcony, feigning surprise. “I thought the place wasn’t taken.” I looked at the reddish-orange-haired girl standing against the railing, facing the lights of the academy ahead.

She slowly turned away from the stars and looked at me. The black fabrics of her dress rustled while her striking green eyes seemed to sparkle under the night sky. I noticed the red wings behind her twitch slightly as she observed me. “...It’s okay, I’ll leave,” she finally said, her voice low but not soft.

“Oh no, it's okay, I just wanted to take a breather. I’ll leave right afterward,” I cleared my throat and walked toward the balcony's edge. Since the party was on the ground floor, a balcony might have been pointless, but it was raised with stairs leading up to it. From the very top, the ground was almost a floor below. It also obscured any eyes from within the hall.

I rested my hands on the railing and took in a breath. The air was fresh since there was a flower garden around the building. You couldn’t find air like this back on Earth. My mind felt clearer.

“You like stargazing?” I commented as I looked up at the stars. “Ah, the phoenix constellation is visible today. Was that where you were looking at?”

She didn’t reply, staring at me from the corner of her eyes. She was quite the cold person, contradicting her fiery features. I recalled that she wasn’t always this way. We had met a few times during our childhood. There weren’t any impactful memories, but we did attend each other’s birthdays. Our families used to be close, perhaps because of the striking red hair.

“Been a while, Solara,” I turned away from the stars and looked at her. “How’ve you been?”

She looked insulted when I asked her that. She looked away, her lips pursued in displeasure. “What do you want, Iskandaar?”

“Just checking on you,” I said, and she turned back with a frown.

“I don’t need you to check on me. Where was your concern all these years?”

“Fair. I didn’t think we had ever been close enough for me to travel for weeks to your territory and ask about your whereabouts,” I said, and she stared. “But I had to check on you this time.”

“Because you wanted to come and mock me?”

“Because my grandfather said I should make sure you’re alright,” I said, and she closed her mouth. Her eyes were slightly wide as she pondered over my words. Of course, I was lying. Sikandar of Erebia was a busy man. I had never met him, although the original Iskandaar had.

The last time Sikandar and Iskandaar met was when Fenixia fell. Solara’s grandfather, the former-former Fenixia Duke, and Sikandar were good buddies. There were talks about my older sister marrying Solara’s older brother.

But then everything went to hell. Her brother died, as did most of the Fenixia Duchy. It was a mystery how she lived when all her family had perished, likely by mistake. From the game, I knew that it was indeed by mistake.

Sikandaar heard the news and rushed to Ethenia with his jaws clenched, standing over the ruins of Fenixia. Back then, he had held Solara and declared with a booming voice, “You killed them, I’ll let it slide. But this is my sworn brother’s last blood. If even a strand of her hair falls, be ready for the [Fist of a Titan]!"

Even since then, everyone avoided Solara. Both because people didn’t want to associate with a useless, nearly fallen noble, who was also an orphan, and also because nobody wanted to risk it. What if one day she dropped dead, and people blamed the person she had last talked to? Nobody wanted Sikandar to flatten their territory against the ground.

Because of that, Solara was eternally grateful to Sikandar. Although slightly mad, too. Because while he knew the cause behind Fenixia Duchy’s fate, he didn’t tell her. He didn’t want to burden her with the information. Solara was a smart girl, though. She had a solid guess.

Besides that, I’ve heard from my parents that Riasmin often visited Fenixia and spent time with Solara; that was the only social life this girl had. Because of that, she was soft toward the Romanis, even if that didn’t include me due to my reputation.

“Did he really?”

“He did,” I turned away from her and looked at the phoenix constellation. It was a beautiful thing, etched on the canvas that was the sky. “He also told me about the hand behind Fenixia’s fall.”

“What.” She grabbed my shoulders and made me turn to her. “What did you say?”

“I think you already know, though,” I said, staring into her green eyes calmly. “I’m just going to say your guess is correct.”

“The–” she hesitated, her voice low. “The Imperial Family?”

I just stared at her. She stared back, biting her lip and letting go of my shoulders. She turned to leave, her wings twitching as if to flare up. “I knew it. I knew it was them, those bastards! I’ll tear that prince apart right now, I-”

“Solara, stop,” I said, but she didn’t stop. Of course she didn’t. She was so strong because she had been training herself for revenge. Now that someone had finally confirmed her guess, how could she sit still? In Orion’s defense, he didn’t know about any of this. Attacking him was pointless. Especially because the royal [Knights] will tear her apart before she can touch him.

“I’ll burn this place down, I’ll tear them all apart… I’ll kill them!” Episode 2’s Boss Villain muttered as she descended the stairs. Episode 1 hadn’t ended yet, but she’d get herself killed at this rate.

“With that pain in your wings?” I called, and she stopped in her tracks. “Grandfather didn’t just send me to tell you that, you fool. Why do you think I insulted the prince earlier? I’m on your team. Give me your time.”

I really just wanted to insult him for trying to dance with my fiance, but that was also a small reason behind my harsh words. It certainly had its planned effect because she turned toward me and climbed back up the stairs.

“How did you know about my wings? I can’t believe my grandfather told yours. It’s a family secret,” she said, and I shrugged. She grumbled. What choice did she have but to believe me? “In that case… Can you fix it?”

The phoenix wings on her back came from the Fenixia Bloodline, which was started when a phoenix took human form and mated with a human. Indeed, the Fenixia Family was essentially demi-humans, but people didn’t really look at them that way. It was the same with the other three directional duke families, including the Black Draconia Dukedom.

It made sense when you thought about it. Prejudice died before power, and Phoenix and Dragons were symbols of just that. Amelia, for example, held strong authority in the empire despite being a demi-human.

However, when these divine beasts mate with humans, a much weaker race, their descendants are bound to have some difficulty controlling their power. The families have their own methods to fix this issue. For example, the Drakovar family limited their members’ mana so that the black flame mana wouldn’t burn their energy channels.

The Fenixia family used to have their own remedies for their problem—the phoenix wings. The children aren’t born with these wings but unlock them over the years. Once fully grown, they’d be taught how to dematerialize these wings into mana so they weren’t always sprouting from their backs. Over the years of developing, these wings hurt the bones a lot. The members look forward to the day they could make them vanish more than their birthdays.

Solara’s wings started growing when she was really young. Over the years, the pain in her wings, the bones on her back, and her spine grew unbearable. She was to learn how to dematerialize them during her 15th birthday finally, but that was the day when her family fell.

She never got to learn how to do it.

Now she was stuck like this, and the five years of pain made it so that she could barely walk. She screamed in her room every night as she slept on her stomach, crying on the bed sheet.

She was such a poor girl. Her story made me sad when I read it in the game, only for her to go supernova and kill hundreds of students during Episode 2.

I could stop that.

“Yes, I can fix it.”

At the same time, I could help myself from the residue of Phoenix energy from the process. That, right there, was the key to fixing my lifespan; if I cultivated that energy, it’d help me.

“I can help you, Solara,” I reached out a hand. “You just have to promise me you’ll stay calm and listen to me from now on.”

“I am not your slave,” she scowled at me. "You really think you can fix this?" she added, her voice tinged with doubt and something darker. "You think you can take away years of suffering just like that?"

“I can. And yes, you’re not a slave. But I want you as a subordinate. I want you.” My eyes looked deep into hers, my hand outstretched. “I’ll grant you control over your wings, you’ll finally be able to fly, and I’ll grant you your revenge. But in exchange, you’ll have to attend to my orders from now on.”

“.....”

The wind picked up slightly, rustling her wings. I could see the conflict in her eyes, the desperation, and the hope. Since this was an exchange and not a one-sided oath, her choice was simple.