CHAPTER~12
You Should Look at Me
After that, Yvonne faithfully played the role of a guide.
Whenever she diligently explained the names and uses of the flowers, Cedric nodded appropriately or asked related questions.
In the meantime, the bad feelings were buried.
Buried by beautiful and harmless things like the scent of flowers, moonlight, and the spring breeze.
After walking once around the garden, they somehow ended up back in front of the fountain.
Seeing the mansion beyond the fountain, Yvonne realized she had been away for too long.
It was time to return to the role of “Lady Yvonne.”
Yvonne hesitated for a moment and looked back.
Then Cedric, as if reading her mind, spoke first.
“You should head in first. The star of the ball shouldn’t stay away for too long.”
He was still keeping his distance.
Two steps.
A distance he could have closed in an instant, yet he never did.
Yvonne was grateful for those two steps.
“Thank you.”
As Yvonne lifted her dress slightly and curtsied, Cedric returned a light bow to match her, the perfect gentleman protecting her from behind.
After the greeting, Cedric turned first.
Yvonne watched his back grow distant for a brief moment before she turned toward the mansion.
Her back felt oddly cold, but even so, her steps were noticeably lighter.
When she hurried into the ballroom, the atmosphere showed that the banquet was nearing its end.
It was neither too late nor too early—just the right timing.
She had been nervous the entire time, afraid she might be exposed as a fake, but things seemed to have gone well enough.
However, at that moment, a man’s sudden voice made her hands tremble around the glass.
“There you are, Lady Yvonne.”
When she reflexively turned her gaze, a slender man she had never seen before was standing with Derrick.
Derrick introduced the man beside him.
“He came late to the ball, so I couldn’t introduce him earlier. Even if I said he could greet you another time, he insisted on seeing you today.”
“I am Oliver of the Marsh County family.”
Hearing his name, Yvonne froze.
She hadn’t seen the face clearly, but she remembered the name Oliver.
He was one of the men standing in Derrick’s group earlier.
Only then did she notice Derrick’s friends watching her and the man with curious eyes from a corner of the ballroom.
“I only saw you from afar at the funeral, but up close, you’re even more beautiful. Especially your eyes—they look like jewels.”
The man’s gaze, glistening with strange excitement, slid past Yvonne’s pale neck and down to her chest.
“Large and beautiful.”
The gaze that had subtly wandered downward returned quickly to her face, but Yvonne could not pretend she didn’t notice.
Every spot his gaze touched felt like insects crawling over her skin.
Oliver laughed lightly as if he had made some amusing joke.
Derrick also let out an awkward laugh, but that was all.
“There he goes again. He’s always like this, so please don’t take it seriously.”
“My apologies, Lady. I become terribly talkative when standing in front of a beautiful woman.”
The two men exchanged laughter around the stiffened Yvonne, then returned to a gentlemanly attitude as if nothing had happened.
They acted as though she wouldn’t notice their gaze or suggestive tone.
To others, it looked like a perfectly ordinary conversation, and if she mentioned it here, the one shamed would not be them—but Yvonne herself.
In the end, Yvonne chose to keep her mouth shut.
‘…Would it have been better if I had known nothing?’
If she hadn’t known, she wouldn’t have felt this shame, humiliation, or helplessness.
“In that case, how about letting him make up for it with the last dance? He’s not good with words, but he dances well.”
Her fiancé was suggesting she dance with the man who had just harassed her.
Even though he knew exactly what would go on in Oliver’s mind during that dance.
At that thought, nausea surged up in her throat.
“I’m sorry, but I…”
Just as Yvonne opened her mouth, trying to come up with an excuse—
“That won’t be possible.”
The voice that cut her off was one she knew well.
The three of them turned reflexively toward the sound, and there stood Cedric, who had returned to the ballroom at some point.
“She promised the last dance to me.”
Oliver and Derrick frowned slightly as they looked at Yvonne, trying to confirm the truth.
In a crowded ballroom, there was no way to remember who spoke to whom, so only she would know whether Cedric’s statement was true.
Meaning—it was a lie only she was aware of.
As Yvonne blinked at Cedric in a daze, the orchestra began the final song.
Cedric calmly held out his hand.
“Shall we, my lady?”
Yvonne stared at the hand extended toward her, then cautiously reached out.
At that moment, Logan’s voice flashed through her mind.
Her hand faltered briefly in the air, but only for an instant.
Yvonne took Cedric’s hand.
Cedric naturally closed his fingers around hers.
His hand was large enough to envelop hers completely, like the jacket he had once lent her.
When they reached the center of the hall, Cedric gently pulled her hand and turned her body toward him.
At the same moment, his other hand rested on her back.
Facing Cedric directly under the lights, Yvonne instinctively stiffened.
The distance… was far too close.
Two steps.
A distance that once seemed impossible to close was narrowed this easily, if he simply wished it.
Realizing this, the gaze with which he looked down at her felt unfamiliar.
Feeling a sudden urge to flee, she lowered her gaze.
But then, she felt a faint pressure in their joined hands.
Startled, Yvonne looked up again.
His deep blue eyes, like the night sky, were fixed on her.
“Yes. You should look at me.”
Only then did he smile, satisfied.
Beautifully.
“My, it seems Sir Cedric has taken the lady’s last dance.”
The remark of one noblewoman shifted the conversation.
When Catherine lifted her gaze, she saw the young couple dancing their final dance together.
Among them, Cedric and Yvonne stood out most prominently.
Others must have felt the same, for every gaze in the ballroom was directed at the two.
No one voiced their thoughts in front of Catherine, but she could guess them easily.
Even she could not deny it.
“Ah, youth truly is a wonderful thing. Watching young people like this makes the years feel terribly cruel.”
Just as others noticed Catherine watching them for an unusually long time and tried to change the subject—
“I suppose I should start considering a marriage match for Cedric soon.”
Catherine brought up Cedric herself.
“It doesn’t sit well with me as a mother to marry off the younger one while the eldest remains unmarried.”
The noblewomen beside her widened their eyes.
“What about my daughter, madam? She may not be perfect yet, but she’s clever and learns quickly. If you would allow it, perhaps we could arrange a meeting…”
The ladies with marriage-age daughters seized the opportunity.
They all knew Catherine did not truly dote on her stepson, but that didn’t matter.
Derrick’s fiancée was already decided, and the path to marrying into the Glaston family through him was closed.
Even if marrying Cedric strained things with Catherine, securing him was worth it.
His commoner blood was a concern, but the Glaston family’s wealth more than compensated for it.
However, the very woman who brought up the topic—Catherine—only sipped her drink with a vague smile, eyes fixed on her stepson.
She knew him well.
Cedric would never meet the woman she recommended.
If she wanted to move her stepson, she needed a more subtle approach.
The music finally ended.
Cedric and Yvonne gave each other a polite bow and stepped away.
Catherine withdrew her gaze from them and answered leisurely,
“I’ll consider it.”
Despite the lingering smile on her lips, her eyes were no longer smiling.
