All around Kyungsoo, resplendent ladies in gowns dripping with lace and jewels whirled, smiling and gazing coquettishly into their dance partners’ eyes. In turn, the men of the ton postured and posed, bragging about their latest hunting prizes - Kyungsoo could faintly hear Lord Park fairly preening as he announced to his pretty young dance partner, “the stag I brought down was larger even than that boulder on the edge of my property, the one I showed you yesterday during our stroll!”

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes none too discreetly as the lady fairly swooned with admiration, accompanied by a breathy “oh, was it really?” Privately, he thought any stag Lord Park, a notoriously clumsy oaf of a man, could bring down was likely only to be larger than something else of Park’s that rhymed with “rock.”

 “Kyungsoo darling, why aren’t you dancing?” The sharp voice in his ear made Kyungsoo cringe. I love you, but please go away, Mother.

“Mother, I’ve already told you,” he said patiently, not moving from the chair he had dragged into a dark corner for himself at the beginning of the night. “I don’t like dancing. Not like you do, at least. Speaking of which, why don’t you go out for a whirl? You haven’t been dancing for a while now.”

“I’m not going dancing,” said his mother just as patiently, “because I’m not the one who is supposed to be looking for a wife.”

“I’m not looking for a wife!” Kyungsoo protested. “I don’t even want to be here for the Season. All this talk of dowries and inheritances and marriage contracts, I can’t take it! Why can’t I just stay at our estate and manage the finances as usual?”

“Because you’re a duke now, and dukes need wives in order to produce heirs.” His mother seated herself next to him and pulled out a fan, watching the dancing with a serene look on her face. “You can’t just hide on the property like this, darling, and you know it. People are already talking about the bookish young heir of the late duke who recently came into his inheritance. It won’t do for you to be ostracized, you know.”

“People always gossip,” Kyungsoo grumbled. “At least people of the peerage do. I don’t care what they think of me.”

“Well, you ought to!” His mother’s face was starting to get flushed. “Think of your sister. She may have a large dowry to back her, but no one’s going to want a wife from a notoriously bookish and reclusive family. They’ll think her a bluestocking, Kyungsoo! A bluestocking!”

Kyungsoo didn’t find anything particularly wrong with being a bluestocking, but if he said so, his mother would probably faint on the spot. He loved her dearly, but he couldn’t help but question some of her beliefs.

“No one is going to think that,” he said soothingly. “Don’t overexert yourself, Mother. Shall I bring you something to drink?”

She turned a fierce glare upon him. “Don’t try to distract me, Kyungsoo. I’m not an old biddy yet. You need to at least make an effort to find a wife. Look at all the ladies here tonight!” She swept an arm out for dramatic effect. “Aren’t they pretty with their ball gowns and jewels?”

Pretty, sure, Kyungsoo thought, until you see their eyes start glittering as they measure up your inheritance against the next unmarried man’s, and then the claws start coming out. Husband hunting, indeed.

“They’re not my style,” he said firmly, and, seeing his mother start to protest out of the corner of his eye, sighed and continued, “but I’ll keep an eye out in case I do see one I like.” Not likely.

This, at least, seemed to mollify his mother, and Kyungsoo sat back with a groan and tried to disappear into his chair, willing the evening to come to an end soon. So much for hiding in the corner.

~~~

Clutching her champagne flute so tightly she thought it might explode - with her pinky raised delicately as her aunt had drilled into her head, of course - Sera was fairly steaming with anger. Keep an eye out in case he sees one he likes, indeed! What are women to him, cattle at the market?

She sent an imperious glare in Do Kyungsoo’s direction and felt vaguely unsatisfied when he didn’t howl with pain at the daggers she was mentally plunging into his back. To think I thought he was different from the others this whole time.

But he is different, pleaded a little voice in her head. He is! He prefers books over gambling, and he never goes to the gambling hells or brothels with the other men, and his voice is just lovely and deep and wonderful! He only said that to put off his mama!

Sera allowed herself three seconds to melt into the daydream of Do Kyungsoo’s warm brown eyes and heart-stopping smile before she pinched herself on the arm and shook herself free of the delusion. No point in harboring dreams that would never come true.

Do Kyungsoo was one of the wealthiest men around, having recently become the duke after his father’s death. When he had first appeared in the ballroom this Season, it had been like a feeding frenzy - all the ambitious mamas and duenas almost simultaneously shoved their trussed-up daughters at him, hoping to marry into such an excellent bloodline. It didn’t hurt that the man was undeniably attractive, not in the blatantly masculine, heavy-handed way most of the lords attempted to imitate, but in a quiet, sweet way. He never bragged about his hunting prizes or got drunk and d serving girls; he never sneered when someone below his rank approached him or started a conversation; and if the gossip circulating the ton was accurate, then he always ended his orders to his servants with “please” and “thank you.”

Too bad he’s never so much as sneezed in my direction, Sera thought mournfully. No one ever sneezes in my direction, except for that awful Lord Byun, and he never covers his mouth when he sneezes!

But there was nothing to be done about that; Sera had resigned herself to a life of being a wallflower, and subsequently, a spinster long ago. Her dance card tonight was empty, as it had been all Season long, and she knew exactly why.

“Now everyone knows you’re a notorious little hoyden,” her aunt had bemoaned during her first Season out, when Sera had excitedly shared her passion for teaching sheepdogs tricks and been met with cold rejection. “You’ll never get an offer now, especially with your d