Being suddenly pulled aside, Elena’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as her body stumbled toward me. For a brief moment, she looked confused about what had happened before following the direction of my gaze.

"You were about to get entangled between those two."

I pointed toward the center of the dance floor.

There, Prince Lucian and Hina were dancing while completely ignoring the existence of everyone around them.

The problem was that one of them wasn’t particularly skilled at ballroom dancing while the other one is not his usual self.

Hina was being ignored by her father when she was a child and had only recently begun learning noble customs, so she isn’t good at ball dance yet.

While prince Lucian... He is too lovestruck to mind his surroundings.

As a result, the two of them occupied almost twice as much space as everyone else.

Several couples had already been forced to adjust their movements to avoid colliding with them.

Elena blinked and looked around.

Only now did she realize that she had been walking directly toward their path.

"Oh!" She let out a small sound of realization.

"Thank you very much, Lord Kai."

"It’s nothing."

We quietly retreated toward the side of the ballroom where fewer people were gathered.

The orchestra continued playing elegant music while nobles chatted amongst themselves.

Crystal chandeliers illuminated the hall with golden light. Servants moved between guests carrying trays filled with drinks and desserts.

For a moment, everything seemed peaceful. Far too peaceful for a game event. Which naturally made me suspicious.

A peaceful event in an otome game was often the calm before some troublesome event.

As I was scanning the crowd, my eyes met my mother’s.

She was standing together with several noble ladies while maintaining a graceful smile.

Unfortunately, I knew that smile. That was not the smile of a loving mother.

That was the smile of a hunter who had spotted her prey.

Then suddenly—

"Ask her for a dance."

A familiar voice echoed directly inside my ears which nearly made me twitched.

It was ’Wind Voice’ a magic used for communication for several purposes. But I didn’t expect my mother to be using it for such a thing.

I deliberately pretended not to hear her.

Unfortunately, mothers possessed terrifying instincts.

The moment I tried ignoring her, her smile remained unchanged, but her eyes were narrowing slightly.

I sensed extreme danger.

The survival instincts I had developed after reincarnating immediately began screaming warnings.

If I continued pretending not to hear her, then I would undoubtedly suffer some weird punishment later.

Perhaps additional etiquette lessons or forced participation in another noble gathering or something even worse.

I sighed Internally.

It’s just one dance. One dance won’t kill me. Probably...

Unlike Prince Lucian, I had no intention of saying anything that could create misunderstandings.

I simply needed to fulfill my social obligation and survive.

Clearing my throat, I turned towards Elena.

"Lady Elena, may I ask you for a dance?"

I asked Elena who had finished her juice and was just looking around. I made sure to avoid using any flattering words, I just need to get done with it.

"Y-yes!"

Her response came out much louder than intended. Several nearby nobles glanced toward us.

Elena immediately lowered her voice.

"I mean... yes, of course."

Then she looked aside as she reply "But I’m not really used to it"

"Don’t worry. I will take the lead"

I extended my hand. Her gaze shifted toward my hand.

"It’s not much different from Wind Dance anyway."

That seemed to reassure her as she slowly placed her hand into mine.

"...Okay."

Together we stepped onto the dance floor and I carefully chose to lead her to an area far away from Lucian and Hina. Self-preservation came first.

The orchestra changed to a slower melody. I placed one hand at Elena’s waist while taking her other hand. The dance began.

As expected, Elena wasn’t actually bad at it. Her movements lacked refinement compared to noble girls who had trained since childhood, but she adapt incredibly fast.

Which wasn’t surprising, she was a genius. Whether it was swordsmanship, magic, academics, or apparently dancing.

After only a few moments, she was already matching my pace. Her steps became smoother and more natural.

"It’s really like riding a Gale."

She sounded genuinely impressed.

I couldn’t help smiling slightly. Actually it was due to me who has been practicing wind dance for over four years

Wind dance was a high-speed wind technique used by advanced wind mages. The flow of movement required precise control.

Years of practicing Wind Dance had unconsciously influenced everything about how I moves. As a result, leading a dance felt incredibly natural.

I smoothly lead the dance without causing trouble for others unlike prince Lucian and the heroine who aren’t that good in this regard

Elena continued following along. Her long black hair swayed gently with every movement.

Unlike many noble girls, she wasn’t focused on appearances. She was focused on understanding the technique itself.

"Interesting... If I shift my weight here..."

Elena murmured as she analysis the pattern. No normal girl analyzed dancing like a combat technique.

Only Elena does.

I honestly wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be impressed.

Just like in the game, around us, more and more guests began gathering near the dance floor. The adults were watching.

The younger generation represented the future of their families. Naturally, everyone wanted to evaluate them.

Their focus is mainly on Lucian and Hina, who are using most of the space of the dancing area.

Meanwhile, Elena and I remained largely ignored. Exactly how I preferred it.

As the dance continued, I found myself reflecting on today’s events. I kind of completely destroyed the first meeting of the heroine with the other two targets.

She was supposed to meet Ralf when going to clean her dress and being helped by him.

And when she would have been returning, some scum would try to harass her when Jin comes to her rescue.

Now that there is no spoiled dress then there is no meeting with Ralf and after seeing her dancing with the second prince, I don’t think anyone will try to harass her.

After that the party went smoothly, but Elena seemed to have started enjoying the dance so it took more time than intended.

"So you actually like dancing?" I asked Elena, trying to pull her out of her immersed state.

Elena blinked "..Maybe."

Unexpectedly, the battle maniac enjoyed dancing.

Eventually the music came to an end anx the guests began preparing to leave.

After exchanging farewells with various nobles, the Mizo family returned to their villa within the capital. Meanwhile, our family headed back toward uncle’s mansion.

I caused a lot of changes in the story but I never intended to follow the original game where I may die.

I thought the day was finally over and I can finally relax, but I was wrong.

"You know Kai, there was also that girl in the party whom we met in the circus"

Just as we were getting ready to go to our rooms to sleep, Ian brought a new topic.

Go and sleep already dude!

Of course she would be there, her father is a prestigious alchemist in this city.

"Well, there were lots of people."

I opened my room’s door.

"I didn’t really notice."

I hoped that would end the discussion.

Unfortunately, Ian seemed unusually interested.

"But you know...She can talk to plants."

I stopped.

"What?"

That was certainly not an information I expected.

Ian nodded "I saw it myself."

That was surprising.

I knew her attribute was Nature but to be able to talk to plants is over the boundary. Nature magic was already rare.

"Well," Ian continued, "she said only with the plants with some intelligence, most of the plants don’t have intelligence"

That sounded more reasonable, still strange. But I had another question in my head instead.

"...And why do you know all this?"

Ian smiled proudly.

"I heard her."

"Of course you did."

His Sound attribute. Sometimes I forgot how absurdly useful it could be.

The girl probably believed nobody could hear her whispering. Unfortunately for her, Ian was practically a walking surveillance device.

But this is interesting, very interesting.

If the future truly followed the sequel game’s timeline and eventually led toward the Holy War...

Then talents like these would become incredibly valuable. I should take notes of all these talents that might become useful in the future.

But for now..... let me sleep!

...

A week later.

We returned to our home a few days ago and are enjoying our tea time while my father is reading the report sent by Uncle Simuka.

"Really, to think that Clive would try to target my family and even the circus was involved in the human trafficking"

Father was astonished after knowing all this, he never disregarded commoners but to think someone from that faction would target us.

It was more of a personal grudge for arresting his son.

Coincidentally that circus was also sponsored by the same person who sent those people.

I am really glad that I took the right action that day, otherwise god knows what would have happened.

Maybe my sense of danger has become stronger because of being hit to death by a truck in my previous life?

"Luckily, nothing bad happened. You will not be going anywhere for some time until clive and his people get arrested"

Mother said with a really serious look.

So I guess I will be staying at home for a while. Perfect for me. Let’s just practice some defensive magic in the meantime.