Walking past them and ignoring their requests was considered incredibly rude. It was basically one of the rudest things a nobleman could do in high society.

So he was trapped. Completely surrounded by silk dresses and strong perfumes. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

’I need to escape.’ he thought as he looked around.

He tried to just politely reject them. If he had not just spent the last few minutes beating a guy to a death, he might have danced just to keep up appearances.

But his social battery was totally fried right now. He just wanted to sit alone and breathe.

"I am a bit exhausted from the duel, ladies." Adrian slapped a fake smile on his face.

But they did not even let him finish.

"Oh!" the first girl gasped. "Then a slow and intimate dance is exactly what you need to recover."

Adrian gritted his teeth and immediately tried a totally different route.

"If your fathers sent you here for political alliances or trade deals," Adrian said flatly. "Then Cassius is the man you need to talk to. He handles all of my trade."

The prettiest girl in the just smiled at him.

"We do not care about politics, Baron." she purred, leaning in closer. "We just want you."

’Someone please save me.’ Adrian begged internally. ’God, I asked you to find me a nice girl, not to get me drowning in them.’

He was about to cave in since he didn’t have any excuses left to throw at them. He opened his mouth to just say yes and get the dance over with.

But then the crowd moved..

The change did not happen instantly. But the chatting girls slowly shut their mouths one by one. They awkwardly shuffled to the sides to make a gap.

Adrian looked up and spotted someone walking right through the crowd.

It was Claire.

She wasn’t wearing those steel armors of hers. She wore that stunning cream dress that he had given her, but even without her swords, the way she walked carried this heavy, intimidating aura. It was a raw presence that just forced the flimsy noble girls to back away instinctively.

She stopped right in front of Adrian.

And she completely skipped the shy, blushing routine the other nobles kept trying to pull. She did not blink her eyes at him and she didn’t even wait for him to ask the question.

She just lifted her arm up and offered her hand right to his face.

"Care to dance with me, Lord Adrian?" Claire asked instead.

Adrian raised an eyebrow at her.

"Sure." Adrian said.

While he still wasn’t really in the mood to dance, dancing with Claire was just better than unknown people.

A collective gasp came from the surrounding girls.

Because offering a hand instead of asking verbally first was a massive thing. It was a very bold sign. In this society, handing yourself over like that was something only a wife or an established lover would ever do.

Claire doing it right here sent a very loud, very clear message to the rest of the swarm.

’I am not half hearted like you girls. So back off.’

Adrian reached out and took her hand.

Aria watched this entire scene unfold from the edge of the food tables.

She saw Adrian get totally flocked by the women and she was literally a second away from running over there and interfering. She refused to let those nobles flirt with him.

But before she could even take action, Claire beat her to it.

Aria watched Claire offer her hand for a dance and blinked in surprise. For a split second, she actually felt a tiny flash of annoyance.

But then she just smirked.

’Well, if it is Big Sis Claire, then it should be fine.’ Aria thought to herself as she crossed her arms.

’Actually... if this really works out between them.’ she smirked. ’Maybe I should stop calling her Big Sis.’

She had her own internal debate going on in her head, but she definitely approved of the match.

On the opposite side, Serena was watching too.

Seeing Claire take such an aggressively bold action hit Serena like a physical punch.

’I need to do something too.’ Serena thought desperately. ’I cannot just sit here and watch her take him away.’

She clenched her trembling fists, ’If I want the Dragon to help me... I need to fight for this. I need to fight for his love.’

Serena took a deep, shaky breath and made a hard choice on the spot. The second this song ended, she was going to walk up there and ask him to dance with her.

Back on the floor, Adrian took Claire’s hand and he gave her fingers a tiny tug just to pull her a bit closer to himself.

Normally, when a guy pulled a hand during a dance, the woman took a measured, polite step forward.

But Claire didn’t do that.

She literally just stepped straight into him.

Their bodies touched and Adrian instantly felt her waist pressing against him. The sudden contact made him freeze for a second. With her so close, he couldn’t help it. He stared straight down into her eyes.

And Claire stared right back and couldn’t stop herself from blushing but she still managed to hold his gaze.

Adrian swallowed hard and started moving, and Claire matched his footwork perfectly.

They started with a standard, slow waltz. But when the tempo of the music shifted, and so did they. Adrian led her into a much more dynamic, aggressive rhythm which involved a lot of sharp, open movements.

He spun her out and pulled her back in. Claire moved flawlessly with her dress flaring out around her legs with every sharp turn and dip.

Neither of them spoke a word and honestly didn’t need to.

They just stared right into each other’s eyes while Adrian guided her steps across the dance floor. He completely lost himself in the rhythm and the two of them just kept moving while the loud chatter of the party faded out completely.

The music finally died down a few minutes later.

Claire looked right up at him. Her chest heaved up and down from the dance but she did not turn red or look at the floor.

She just smiled at him instead.

"That was the best dance of my life." Claire said softly. "And definitely the one I enjoyed the most."