[ In the face of Claude's modesty, Dorothea simply hums and sips from her glass. She's not fooled, but there's no point in pressing. They're all here to have fun, after all. ]

The winter ball is the social highlight of the year at Garreg Mach, or so I'd heard. I've been looking forward to it since I arrived. It's not quite what I expected, but I'm having a good time.

[ It isn't always easy to walk that line between being her most genuine self and being someone that the upper-crust students at the Academy could find agreeable, desirable... Tonight she'd intended to be more of the latter, but the former keeps peeking through.

She considers the students on the dance floor, thinking about the Deer and the Eagles, how she's the only commoner in her house, how exhausting that can be. Would it hurt her chances of finding a spouse if she wasn't surrounded by the nobility at all hours? ]

It does seem fun.

[ Her voice is pensive as the seed of an idea takes root in her mind. ]