Countess Frieda found herself in the center of the storm. Despite the Crown Prince’s presence, her anger could not be soothed.

Those noblewomen only knew to strut around in the clothes their husband bought them, or flash big chunks of tacky jewelry. In fact, everyone knew that few couples were truly peaceful behind closed doors, and this vanity was purely to show off to other noblewomen.

She herself was the same. This ring was not truly a sign of affection from her husband, but it was a sign of her social standing. Having been embarrassed for years by these fake women hiding smirks behind their feathered fans, the one time it became her turn ended in disaster.

Not to mention, her husband would be displeased that she lost the ring she had begged him to buy. Their relationship was already estranged, but Countess Frieda refused to go down without a fight.

These damn tramps…! How dare they!

Countess Frieda ground her teeth. She wanted to serve these fake women their comeuppance. Especially that Countess Almony. That woman might as well divorce already, considering her current surname was a single character away from ‘alimony’.

Her fingertips twitched, and a few embers sparked around her hand. She furtively flicked her finger, singing the side of Countess Almony’s dress.

“Ah!” Countess Almony jumped in alarm. She immediately pointed a finger at Countess Frieda, “It was you, wasn’t it?!”

Countess Frieda crossed her arms, “Oh my, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You b–! You lost your own ring and not only accuse us of stealing it, but even go so far as to attack us! You’re insane!”

The other women around her muttered in agreement. Countess Frieda felt herself being driven into a corner, shunned by all around her. She stomped her foot, “SHUT UP! Nobody leaves until I find my ring today!!!”

“How brazen!” a noblewoman exclaimed. She folded her feather fan and took steps towards the exit, when a small fireball hit the floor in front of her. “Eek!”

The others didn’t expect Countess Frieda to follow through on her words. At first, the noblemen avoided this argument, but it seemed that they had to step in now. Some of them took their partner’s hand and whispered into their ear.

Among them, Count Frieda finally stepped forth and grabbed Countess Frieda’s arm: “What do you think you’re doing?! In front of the Crown Prince, no less!”

Countess Frieda glanced at the Crown Prince standing in the circle of women, currently giving a wry smile as he tried to placate both sides. She scoffed, “Hmph! You’re asking me?! Why not ask–”

A gush of wind blew against her back, pushing her a step and tangling her carefully-styled hair. She shrieked and turned around, glaring at the circle of women: “THAT’S IT! We’re going to settle this today!”

Sparks and spells began to fly around. Although Countess Frieda was the main target, some took advantage of the chaos to target other ladies who were an eyesore to them. Without knowing who or what was attacking them, some began to frantically cast spells in every direction.

Suddenly, a bright light was cast down from above, so blindingly bright that all could not help but shut their eyes. When the bright spots faded, everyone turned to the stunning blonde-haired man with a slight smile on his face. Crown Prince Troy surveyed the crowd, clasping his hands: “Now, Ladies, are we ready to speak?”

There was a momentary silence as everyone looked down or averted their gaze. At this time, a servant pushed his way through the crowd, making his way to the Crown Prince’s side. He presented a red velvet box, which the prince nodded and took.

He smiled, “Countess Frieda, it appears that your ring may have been found. Please check and confirm if this is yours.”

Countess Frieda leaned over. Inside, the large emerald ring glittered back at her. She quickly snatched it over and put it back on her finger, “This is it!”

“Hmph, how about an apology to us first?” There was a murmur in the crowd.

Her face darkened, expressing visible reluctance. Crown Prince Troy attempted to negotiate, “Countess Frieda, this matter has certainly caused a scene. Would it not be nice to wrap things up for the night?”

Countess Frieda looked around, taking note of the angry faces. Count Frieda also stood to the side with a black face. In the end, she took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry. I was wrong to accuse all of you.” She turned to Crown Prince Troy, “I apologize for causing you trouble too, Prince Troy.”

Crown Prince Troy bowed elegantly with a smile. His red eyes were vivid under the chandelier lights.

· ─ ·✶· ─ ·

It appears that things are ending smoothly.

Elphie stood hidden in the back of the crowd, watching with an impassive face. Beside her was Ariadne, who was anxiously clutching her hand.

Countess Frieda withdrew after recovering her lost ring. She even apologized for her reckless actions, which is better than what I anticipated.

In the novel, Countess Frieda never found her lost ring, and she held fast to her accusations of stealing. Even though Crown Prince Troy temporarily blinded everyone, another angry woman took the chance to throw an attack right at Countess Frieda’s open back. In the end, another fight ensued, and someone threw a large spell.

Countess Frieda noticed in time and dodged, so it happened to hit another lady who was unprepared. Though she was part of the fight and not completely innocent, all of the other spells had been child’s play compared to this one.

That spell truly had malicious intent behind it. If not for Ariadne’s healing powers, perhaps it could have been fatal.

At least, that situation had been avoided.

Elphie smiled to herself. Ariadne noticed and leaned over, “What’s up? Why are you smiling?”

“I’m happy that this resolved well.” Elphie controlled her expressions while speaking.

“That’s true, no one was hurt either, which is great!”

“Mm.”

Eyeing the center of the crowd, Crown Prince Troy was exchanging words with Countess Frieda, who appeared to have calmed down. Although the other noblewomen were somewhat dissatisfied, they weren’t daring enough to openly confront the crown prince.

After all, they still valued their social reputation.

All in all, sometimes all a situation needed was a simple resolution. Since the root of the issue was the ring, it just needed to be returned. Although Countess Frieda would still need to calm down and apologize, Elphie trusted the Crown Prince could achieve at least that much.

It was at this moment…

A dark flash appeared from the ring on Countess Frieda’s hand. She shrieked and hurriedly threw it away, but the energy inside seemed to be going out of control. No one had anticipated such a situation, and everyone was shocked by the sudden turn of events.

The ring glided through the air and seemed to fall in slow motion to the foot of a young lady. The young lady hastily lifted up her dress and tried to step away, but purple electricity was already bursting out, striking straight at her!

But there was a silver flash, and a gleaming sword blocked the strike. Crown Prince Troy’s face was grim as he fended off the strike. The ring flashed again and it appeared that lightning would shoot out again.

Metal conducts electricity, what if…?

Suddenly, a thought crossed Crown Prince Troy’s mind. He abruptly whipped his head around, turning to look behind him. There were only other guests in their fancy clothes, appearing shocked and timidly backing away—wait, there was someone who wasn’t originally standing there amidst the crowd.

It was an inconspicuous face, blending into the crowd at first glance. However, Crown Prince Troy had an impeccable memory. Though he had moved positions to block the first strike, he was absolutely certain this person wasn’t originally there. As if aware that she had been exposed, she simply raised a black ring on her hand, pointing it at him.

An arc of purple lightning shot towards him, and he sidestepped to avoid it. However, Countess Frieda’s ring served as a second focal point, connecting to the bolt of lightning. While he could defend his front, his back would still be left exposed.

He could see the guards approaching, but they still hadn’t noticed the woman in the crowd yet. The woman seemed to faintly smirk, raising her hand for another attack. Prince Troy gritted his teeth, there was no time…!

.

A white speck seemed to float past his eye.

He thought he may be seeing things, so he blinked. However, there only seemed to be more and more. The arc of purple lightning was about to reach him, so he simply ignored it and blocked the attack, evading as much as possible to avoid the attack to his back.

But even after waiting for a moment, he didn’t feel any pain. He couldn’t turn his head around to check the situation while watching the attacker, so he wasn’t aware of what was happening. Gripping his sword, he dashed towards the attacker, who was beginning to flee.

During his pursuit, he could see the nobles finally noticing the attacker and distancing themselves. There seemed to be gasps echoing around him, and he saw a trail of white snaking up before him. The air seemed to turn colder as his breath misted.

In what appeared to be just a second, ice shot up from the ground, acting as a barrier between the crowd and the attacker. The attacker was visibly flustered, quickly backing up, but the ice chased her even faster.

Before Troy could even react, the attacker backed into a towering ice wall that had formed at some point behind her, and the ice in front pinned her body against it. She screamed and threw purple lightning at her cage, but the ice was sturdier.

Crown Prince Troy looked at the spectacle wordlessly for a moment, and then walked over and cast shackles of light over her. After knocking the attacker out, the ice slowly receded and allowed the guards to penetrate the barrier, taking her into custody.

While the guards dragged the attacker away, Crown Prince Troy surveyed the crowd for the Elraba family. They were the only family who had ice bloodline magic in the kingdom after all.  He was curious who had helped him in that critical moment just now.

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