Rosa’s voice was sharp and piercing, like nails scraping against glass.
The music stopped abruptly.
In an instant, the entire room fell into a dead silence.
100 pairs of eyes snapped over, filled with unconcealed curiosity, voyeurism, and the anticipation of seeing someone make a fool of themselves. Those stares felt like they were trying to pin Sylvia and Shen Luolin in place, or even skin them alive.
Sylvia’s back instantly tensed into an iron plate.
Rosa knew her too well. She knew that Sylvia’s weakest skill during their student days was dancing, especially under the watchful eyes of a crowd. Back then, as long as she was nervous, her body would become as stiff as a piece of wood.
That was one of the few pieces of dark history hidden beneath the Queen’s mask.
Now, Rosa wanted to dig up this dark history in front of everyone, throw it on the ground, and stomp on it a few times.
Shen Luolin finally deigned to lift his drooping eyelids. He turned his head and caught a glimpse of the woman beside him out of the corner of his eye. Under the lights, her face was even paler than the silver threads on her dress.
‘Trouble,’ he defined the sudden situation in his heart.
He recalled that forced pre-job training in the study. That body in his arms had been tensed so tight, as stiff as a wooden plank…
With her skill level, doing a simple Waltz was like undergoing physical therapy, let alone being forced into a situation like this.
‘Tsk, looks like I’ll have to work overtime again.’
Just as Shen Luolin was weighing whether it would be easier to just pull her and run, or more efficient to create some chaos and slip away, Rosa turned toward the orchestra before he could choose a plan.
She snapped her fingers.
“To be worthy of Her Majesty’s status, we must naturally use the highest level of etiquette. Let’s have that one — *Elven Rhapsody*.”
“Hiss — “
A collective gasp echoed through the crowd.
*Elven Rhapsody*!
That piece was a graduation exam track used by top dancers to show off their skills. It was not something people danced to for fun! Rosa was crazy! She wanted to rub Sylvia’s face into the dirt!
Shen Luolin’s gaze turned cold. He was already prepared — making a scene and turning this banquet upside down was better than letting Sylvia be humiliated in public. No one was going to have a good time.
However, Sylvia did something he didn’t expect.
She took a deep breath. Her violet eyes, which had been shaking like a candle in the wind, suddenly stilled the moment they met his. There was no plea for help and no fear in that look. There was only a desperate, reckless determination to go all out.
“As she wishes.”
In the next second, instead of waiting for him, Sylvia took the initiative to raise her hand. She elegantly and firmly hooked her arm through Shen Luolin’s. Her fingertips were still cold, but her grip was like a small pair of pliers.
Shen Luolin paused. ‘Wait, don’t court death. Don’t increase my workload! I’m just the Party B who’s getting paid to work! Does Party B have no human rights?’
Under the bated breath of the entire room, she led him, step by step, into the center of the empty dance floor.
The string music exploded like a violent storm. ‘Sigh, whatever.’
Shen Luolin resignedly pulled her into his arms, prepared to dance with a human-shaped wooden stake.
But the expected stiffness and clumsiness didn’t happen.
The moment the drumbeats exploded, the body in his arms suddenly came to life!
Sylvia tapped her toes and spun! Her skirt flared out like deep-sea waves! With a stunning backbend, her platinum-blonde hair traced a silver arc of light, nearly brushing Shen Luolin’s chin.
Shen Luolin’s pupils shrank.
‘This… this is still that little wooden stake?’
The music changed, the rhythm becoming as fast as a death knell, yet Sylvia’s dance steps didn’t falter at all. She remained as fluid as flowing water. That face, which was usually cold as frost, now carried a radiant, high-spirited glow.
She wasn’t just dancing. She was using her dance to strike back at Rosa’s malice!
The music surged toward its climax, moving so fast it made one’s eyes blur. Sylvia’s movements became even more expansive. During a complex step change, she even gave a slight tug, using a clever force to guide his rotation.
He was even being led by her, becoming the one being looked after.
In this moment, she wasn’t the puppet Queen who needed him to pass her notes to cheat. She was a truly radiant existence who could stand side by side with him.
Outside the dance floor, everyone was stunned.
The nobles who had been prepared to watch a joke had their jaws hitting the floor. Rosa’s face, which had been written with the words “I’ve already won,” had long since shattered into pieces. She stared fixedly at the pair in the center of the floor, her nails nearly drawing blood from her palms.
How could this be? It’s impossible!
Sylvia is a clumsy fool; how could she possibly dance to *Elven Rhapsody*?! She’s cheating! She must be cheating!
As the final note fell, Shen Luolin steadily supported Sylvia’s waist in a perfect closing pose.
The entire hall was silent for 3 seconds.
Then, thunderous applause erupted.
That applause was like 10,000 slaps hitting Rosa square in the face.
No! She couldn’t lose like this!
Rosa suddenly pushed aside the people around her, clutching her skirt. With a crazed smile on her face, she actually tried to rush into the dance floor. She wanted to perform an even more magnificent solo dance to steal everyone’s gaze back! She wanted to prove that she was the most dazzling one!
However, just as she took one step —
“Huh?”
As if she were drunk, her feet suddenly stopped listening. Rosa’s body tilted uncontrollably, and the heel of her shoe stepped squarely onto her own magnificent skirt.
“Ah — !”
A short scream rang out.
Under countless shocked gazes, the previously overbearing Miss Rhodes fell flat on her face with a loud thud. Rosa slid several meters across the floor, finally crashing accurately into a long table filled with red wine.
The bright red liquid drenched her head and face, making her expensive red dress look as if it were truly soaked in blood.
By the dance floor, Shen Luolin lazily retracted the Mental Power he had just extended.
‘Well, the world is quiet now.’
He was a person who hated working overtime the most. Although Sylvia was just his employer, she was at least a part of his job. Anyone giving her trouble had to ask him first.
The chaos lasted only an instant. No one was looking at the clown lying on the floor with a torn dress and messy hair anymore. All the light and every gaze gathered once again in the center of the dance floor. They converged on the Queen who had just defended her dignity with a stunning performance.
Sylvia’s chest was still rising and falling slightly, her cheeks flushed with a healthy glow, and her violet eyes were terrifyingly bright.
Rosa’s intelligence wasn’t actually wrong. During her student days, Sylvia really wasn’t good at dancing.
But that was in the “past.”
To avoid losing face for the royal family in any situation and to prevent anyone from getting a handle on her, she had long since fixed that weakness. She had done so during countless late nights drenched in sweat.
Shen Luolin picked up a glass of champagne and strolled over to her, lazily swirling the liquid.
“Queen, that was a good dance.”
Sylvia tilted her head up. The flush hadn’t faded yet, and there was a hint of hidden pride in the corners of her eyes and brows.
“What, you’re not mentioning overtime pay this time?”
“I am, of course I am,” Shen Luolin clicked his tongue. “You were holding back during the pre-job training and made me worry for nothing. This counts as mental damage fees.”
Sylvia was choked by his bizarre logic, and her cheeks turned even redder.
Back in the study, it was because he was too close and his face was too aggressively handsome that she had been so nervous she didn’t know where to put her hands and feet.
How could she possibly say something so embarrassing out loud!
Just then, a Royal Attendant ran toward her through the cheering crowd. He looked frantic, his face showing a level of terror she had never seen before.
The attendant rushed up to her, not even bothering to bow. He leaned directly into her ear and whispered an urgent sentence in a voice that sounded like he was about to cry.
The color instantly drained from Sylvia’s face.