This Time, I’ll Do As I Please

“Aww, why not?!”

“Absolutely not. What if you collapse again and something happens?”

In all the time Derek and I had been friends, we’d bickered plenty, but we’d never openly disagreed like this.

At most, we’d had that brief falling-out on my birthday the other day.

But this was the first time Derek had so firmly and unequivocally opposed me.

“But aside from collapsing, I haven’t been sick lately, have I?”

“That’s exactly what matters, so why leave it out? Besides, if you think about it, you’ve collapsed twice in the past six months from unexplained heart pain. You need to take it easy for a while.”

“If I say I’m fine, what’s the problem?”

“I’m not fine with it.”

The Second Princess’s coming-of-age ball was going to be held as a masquerade...