Bloodline is a Cheat Code - Chapter 27

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 27
It was terribly disrespectful to refer to the Crown Prince that way, but I understood my sister’s feelings perfectly.
In my previous life, after she lost everything and was left alone, Vincent never sent a single word of salvation to the Rosena Duchy—not even until the moment she resolved to take her revenge. He simply buried the matter as if it never happened.
When I first learned that truth, I couldn’t fathom how drastically my assessment of Vincent plummeted in my mind.
I’d thought he was merely a somewhat weak man, but to be this cowardly? That I died was one thing, but the way he turned his back on my sister was unbearable.
Yet if the owner of that sword I saw in my dreams was Vincent, things might be different.
“Still, try to be patient for now.”
“Besides, when he speaks to someone one-on-one, he basically asks whether there are any men she’s met, whether she has a marriage planned—that sort of thing. Sometimes he even asks the same questions about Tiae, and those moments are truly difficult to endure without losing my temper.”
But since she’d gone to the trouble of arranging this gathering, she couldn’t ruin it, so she’d decided not to engage in conversation with anyone at all.
Looking around, I could see Hailey Genevre was already seated skillfully among the other young ladies, leading the conversation. They seemed to be people she knew.
I was about to suggest that perhaps it would be better to join them over there and simply listen quietly when suddenly all eyes turned toward us.
Why?
We haven’t done anything.
“If you don’t mind, might I request a dance?”
A quiet voice.
I didn’t need to turn around to know who owned that voice. I’d been melancholy all day, and now one more element had arrived to deepen that gloom.
I turned and offered a respectful curtsy to Vincent.
I’d worried she might stand awkwardly, but my sister clearly understood that she had to maintain at least the bare minimum of propriety—her curtsy was flawless.
But to request a dance from my sister? Did he know she was a minor duchess?
I hadn’t been able to gauge what my sister was feeling after hearing all those questions that had angered her so much, but watching Vincent’s behavior, I was beginning to understand.
How could he be eyeing my sister as a potential Crown Princess?
Everyone knew that those who bore the titles of Empress, Imperial Consort, Crown Princess, or Imperial Princess had been dying one after another ever since the current Emperor was Crown Prince.
“Young Lady.”
But only when Vincent looked directly at me and called my name once more did I realize my thoughts had taken the wrong direction.
It wasn’t my sister Vincent had asked to dance with—it was me.
“Ah… I apologize, Your Highness. I thought you were asking my sister.”
“I cannot take the first dance of the Minor Duchess of Rosena. She is to become a Duke, after all.”
What he was implying was clearly that he’d come looking for a woman who would not inherit a dukedom.
Right, so he really did come to find a Crown Princess.
I didn’t know how many others he’d danced with, but considering we’d arrived not long after the ball began, his first dance was probably with someone else as well.
Me, a candidate for Crown Princess?
“Would I suffice, Your Highness?”
If Hailey Genevre had been at my side, Vincent might not have asked me to dance.
She was one of those openly supporting Lucian Advein.
But we were separated now, and I had no real choice in the matter.
I quickly took Vincent’s hand before my sister’s lips could spill out words born of fury that should never be spoken.
“Tiae.”
“I’ll be back soon. It’s a slow song right now, so it should be fine.”
If it was something I had to do anyway, it might be better to finish it quickly.
‘Will Flotie Rosena choose the Crown Prince whose position is already secure, or will she support the newly rising Third Prince?’
I would soon gain a reputation as a lady who juggled multiple members of the Imperial Family with such a ridiculous name, but as long as I ignored the gossip, it would fade away soon enough.
“I must apologize, but my health is not robust enough to dance multiple pieces in succession.”
“I myself have been ordered to dance with at least five ladies today, so I cannot spend a prolonged time with you.”
At the very least, this meant Vincent had not appeared here of his own volition, nor had he come because he desired marriage.
The accusation I had been nursing in my heart—whether he wished to be happy alone with Elian—subsided somewhat.
I began to dance slowly, matching the rhythm of the languid melody that drifted through the air.
As people circled the Ball Hall dancing with one another or attending to other matters, they cast their gazes toward Vincent and me each time we passed, as though witnessing something remarkable.
The sight of the Crown Prince dancing with the Rosena Duchy’s daughter is precious—commit it to memory, for you shall never witness such a thing again.
It was not long before I realized Vincent was deliberately choosing the wider sections of the hall where fewer people lingered.
He seemed to have brought me here intentionally because he had something to convey to me.
If that were the case, we could have communicated through other means rather than dancing. Already, as we circled the hall, my stamina was approaching its limits.
Was a single piece of music always this interminably long? Perhaps I should feign collapse.
As I entertained this cowardly thought, Vincent’s voice reached me.
“I hear you visit Lucian Advein’s residence quite frequently these days.”
“Yes, he is merely a dear friend.”
“A friend, you say.”
Ah, so this was the conversation I had been expecting.
There are no eternal secrets within the Palace. Moreover, rumors had already spread that Flotie Rosena and Lucian Advein were of that sort of relationship.
Yet for him to request a dance with me—this could only be premeditated.
“A friend of Rosena’s, then?”
Whether Lucian Advein’s friend was Serpina Rosena or Flotie Rosena was an exceedingly important matter.
Some might dismiss it as mere gossip, but it could easily become a symbol of which side Rosena was supporting.
Someone of Vincent’s standing would never have asked such a question without understanding these implications.
Yet I sensed no malice in his words.
Besides, he surely knew that Serpina Rosena was present in this very space, and he did not seem the type to act in such a manner.
Had he been that foolish, he would have been assassinated long ago. He was neither naive enough to believe that distance would prevent her from hearing, nor simple-minded in any other regard.
I smiled gently and continued my response.
“I am a friend of Flotie’s.”
“The Young Duchess seems to hold you in particularly high regard.”
So my will is Serpina Rosena’s will, and Serpina Rosena’s will is the will of the Rosena Duchy Family?
For the Crown Prince, this was an unusually blunt probe.
It was puzzling why he would resort to such a method when distance would not prevent others from hearing anyway.
Most knew that competition simmered among the princes, but such overt hostility would likely backfire against Vincent.
A man who must constantly walk such a precarious tightrope could not possibly be unaware of this.
“Sisterly affection and family interests are separate matters. Moreover, the higher one’s station, the more carefully one must weigh each word spoken, would you not agree?”
I was deliberately speaking in roundabout terms, as though merely reciting the basic duties of nobility.
Your current remarks risk pushing yourself deeper into the mire.
I harbored no intention of deliberately showing concern for Vincent or coming to his aid. I simply did not wish to create further complications at a time when I already had so much to manage.
“It appears the Young Lady understands well what virtues she must uphold.”
“If my words have caused you discomfort, I sincerely apologize.”
“No, it’s just that I find crowded places rather unpleasant, so I ended up asking something pointless. Never mind it.”
He withdrew quite readily. It seemed he wasn’t particularly fond of this Ball Hall either.
As someone whose stamina drained with each person I met and each moment I spent, I felt a strange kinship with him.
Finally, one dance came to an end.
“I had quite high expectations since you mentioned you might be a hindrance, but your dancing is quite skilled.”
“How could I possibly trouble such an exalted star of The Empire? It was surely the most careful moment of my brief life.”
I was trying to wrap things up warmly with a joke at the end, so he really needed to leave now.
Serpina Rosena was sending me a sharp look, and I needed to escape at least a second faster.
I really didn’t want to see an actual sword fight break out in the Ball Hall.
“However, the next dance is one I’m not particularly familiar with, so I was thinking of having a bit more conversation with the young lady while it plays.”
Damn it!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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