The Incubus Archduke Dreams of a Pet Human - Chapter 21

At the ballroom, nobles of marriageable age were dancing in pairs.

Lively dance music played by string ensembles echoed throughout the hall, and magnificent chandeliers scattered beautiful light across every corner of the ballroom.

Tethicia stood with her back against a wall in a corner of the hall where even light couldn’t reach, when she suddenly came to her senses.

‘Why am I here? Until just now…’

She frowned, dizzy and disoriented. She couldn’t remember why she was there. Something had happened, but it felt like waking from a dream.

“Sister, why are you in a place like this?”

Startled by the voice, Tethicia looked up. A swirling familiar face. She recognized it as her twin stepbrother, Theo.

At the ball, both Theo and Roy slicked back their hair with oil, making it difficult to tell them apart without hearing their voices.

Tethicia was at a loss for words, unable to remember what had come before or after.

“You can’t stay here like this, others won’t be able to rest comfortably. How about getting some fresh air?”

Theo gestured toward the terraces on either side of the hall. Seeing the woman linked arm-in-arm with him, it was clear they had come to tease her for being alone.

The woman, seeming embarrassed, gave a small cough. Theticia averted her eyes from the flushed female face.

“All right, I’ll go get some air. Ex-excuse me.”

Turning quickly as if fleeing, Theticia drew back the heavy curtain and flung open the terrace door.

She thought it would be better to be alone, but the terrace was already full.

“Ah…”

“What are you doing, sister?”

This time it was the voice of her other stepbrother, Roy.

Roy hurriedly wrapped his arms around the woman. Since no one could see her face, it was an attempt to conceal her identity. No doubt she was some noblewoman with an engagement.

“S-Sorry, Roy.”

Theticia hastily closed the curtain between herself and the two of them. Inside the terrace, Roy’s voice was heard calming the woman.

“Don’t worry about it. Sister has a poor memory, so she’ll soon forget your face. Last time, she didn’t even recognize the Count of Kensington and couldn’t properly greet him.”

Though she had said hundreds of times that she couldn’t recognize faces, no one believed in her strange condition.

From a short distance, Theticia could even hear Theo and his partner whispering among themselves.

“All of them fall for it. She’s so dumb you’d never think we shared the same blood.”

“She didn’t dance once at the last ball either. Wouldn’t it have been better to just leave her at home?”

“She’d only become a burden that wastes the family fortune. Her face is decent enough, so they parade her around hoping some fool will take her.”

With her head bowed, Theticia gripped her own arm tightly. Though the whispers should not have been audible from that distance, they came through clearly. A cold sweat of shame ran down her skin.

“Milady, are you alright?”

A young noble quietly approached Theticia and reached out his hand.

Startled by the silent approach, Theticia looked at him. His face was blurred, his eyes, nose, and mouth floating indistinctly. The young noble who had reached out to her seemed just as shocked, as if seeing a monster.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Recognizing Theticia’s face, the young noble immediately withdrew.

“The young lady of the Pelloni family has driven another man away. She looks perfectly normal, but there’s something eerie about her. Does she even deserve to come to a ball like this?”

“She’s truly an outrageously rude woman. I’ve encountered her several times at balls, and she never properly greets anyone.”

“She’s the daughter of a traitor, after all. The Emperor is very tolerant to have raised the child of his former wife like that. I wonder how considerate the Viscountess must be.”

Mocking voices whispered all around. Theticia’s fingers clenched tightly around her arm.

She wanted to explain that she couldn’t properly greet anyone because she couldn’t recognize faces. If she were dealing with just one person, she could distinguish them by ear or by their clothes.

But in such a crowded space, all the sounds mixed together. She couldn’t even tell whose lips were moving, let alone whose voice was speaking. She couldn’t confide in anyone about her chronic illness, which even her own family didn’t believe.

In such a situation, avoiding the place was the best course.