Not receiving a response from Celitia, Ileana took the initiative to introduce herself:

"My name is Ileana, and I'm the leader of this peace negotiation delegation."

Ileana shrugged, "But from your expression, you seem to recognize me."

Celitia stared at her silently, her long hair falling to cover half her face, her smoke-purple eyes misty, concealing all emotions within.

She had wanted to immediately refuse Ileana, but when the words reached her lips, they changed: "Why are you inviting me?"

"Why invite you... is that important?"

Ileana smiled, tilting her head at Celitia in apparent confusion.

"If I must give a reason, I noticed you from the moment I entered. Obviously, you're also very interested in me."

When Ileana had entered earlier, many people had been looking at her, so why had she specifically noticed her?

"I'm not interested, just curious, so I looked a couple more times." Celitia lowered her eyelashes, "Lady Ileana, you're probably overthinking."

"Is that so," Ileana said with a smile, her voice gentle and deep, "but your eyes clearly say otherwise."

Her eyelashes trembled slightly as Celitia remained silent.

"The first dance has passed," Ileana didn't give up, "right now, I'm only inviting you to an ordinary ballroom dance."

"With my status, I don't have the qualifications to dance with Lady Ileana." Celitia replied.

"If you truly think that way, you should choose to accept. Moreover, when a lady invites you to dance, you cannot refuse."

Ileana smiled, "I know your name is Celitia. Come, relax, big sister won't eat you."

Hearing this, Celitia finally couldn't hold back, glaring at Ileana's face and quietly complaining:

"What do you mean? I'm also a lady now, shouldn't I have the right to refuse? And speaking of which, this lady who's twice my age calling herself 'big sister' is way too narcissistic, don't you think?"

The people who had followed Ileana, whether from York or Lansca, all turned pale upon hearing Celitia's words, feeling this might evolve into a diplomatic incident.

But Ileana wasn't angry at all; instead, she laughed: "How stubborn. This personality makes me somewhat nostalgic."

No one around knew what Ileana was nostalgic about, except Celitia understood.

She involuntarily closed her mouth quietly.

These few brief exchanges with Ileana could match a whole year's worth of conversation from before.

Ileana was reminiscing, while Celitia only felt wistful.

Even after being repeatedly refused by Celitia, Ileana still didn't leave, continuing to stand before Celitia, her pure black eyes tinged with faint sadness.

"Could it be... you're afraid of me?"

Her voice carried some laughter, some self-mockery, and Celitia couldn't tell whether the emotions contained in her words were genuine or fake.

The past was over, and looking back now was clearly too late.

Having become strangers, why reminisce, and why probe deeper?

Celitia told herself this.

However, as if possessed, before Ileana could withdraw her hand, Celitia gently placed her own hand in her palm.

Perhaps after this time, they would never meet again.

If this was the last dance, then dancing once more wouldn't matter.

The silk gloves were cool, making Celitia's fingertips even colder.

The gloves were thin as gauze, just this thin layer was enough to separate their contact from each other.

Just like they used to be.

"What a good child."

A flash of surprise appeared in her eyes as Ileana said gently, taking Celitia's hand and walking into the dance floor.

Though she had said she was a lady and told Celitia not to refuse her, Ileana's dance steps were obviously more dominant.

Whenever Celitia tried to take the lead from her, Ileana would immediately notice and forcibly reclaim control.

After struggling with Ileana for a while and nearly falling several times, Celitia was gasping for breath from exhaustion.

Even though she still wanted to compete mentally, her body could no longer support it.

She had to give up and could only cooperate with Ileana, following her movements as they danced.

This woman really was something—couldn't she take even the slightest loss? What would it hurt to let her lead a little?

Celitia complained inwardly in frustration.

Watching the girl's efforts, Ileana's smile deepened slightly.

"During my days in Cassia, I've occasionally heard Princess Sophia mention you."

"Is that so?" Celitia was noncommittal.

She didn't really want to engage with Ileana's conversation.

Mainly, she was worried that saying too much would let Ileana recognize her identity from the clues.

No matter how distant they became later, they had once been family who spent countless hours together.

"How should I put it," Ileana didn't mind Celitia's coldness, only smiling gently, "the feeling you give me is quite different from what I imagined."

"I'm just an ordinary student, completely insignificant." Celitia said flatly, "Your Excellency the Regent doesn't need to pay me any mind."

Celitia's tone became more cautious, not even calling Ileana by name anymore, changing to address her as "Your Excellency the Regent."

"You were just as cold earlier, I thought I would be completely rejected by you."

Ileana's hand lightly supported Celitia's waist as she stepped forward with the music, lowering her head close to the girl's ear.

"But I can sense that you have a very gentle heart, just like earlier, when you ultimately couldn't bring yourself to refuse me."

Celitia felt some irritation rising in her heart.

She didn't like Ileana trying to analyze her this way.

"I just worried about being misunderstood as rude, so I chose to accept. There's no other meaning." Celitia said coldly.

Ileana continued to smile.

As if no matter how cold a face Celitia put on, Ileana would maintain this gentle, patient appearance.

"By the way, I remember Princess Sophia calls you 'Lily,' right?"

Ileana suddenly spoke, "The name 'Lily' means lily flower, which indeed suits you very well. It's a very beautiful name."

What exactly had Sophia chatted about with Ileana? How had she mentioned even these details?

Could it be that Ileana had put on the act of a caring big sister with Sophia, listening to her troubles?

But in reality, even she herself had never been able to see through Ileana.

That caring big sister appearance was just her facade.

If Sophia trusted Ileana, she would probably be completely deceived by her.

"Your Excellency the Regent concerns yourself with rather too many matters." Celitia was unwilling to continue the topic, "Is someone as insignificant as me worth spending so much energy on?"