5.10
“Yes, I will do that. But before that, I have something to say to the Lady.”
He isn’t going to say something strange again, is he?
I wanted to believe he wasn’t such an indiscriminate person who couldn’t distinguish time and place.
However, I couldn’t help but feel slightly
tense.
“I wish to have the first dance with the Lady later. Will you permit it?”
Of course I can’t permit it.
Why would I have the first dance with you?
“I am—.”
“Of course not! Listen to yourself!”
Just as I was about to answer, Father’s angry voice rang out through the banquet hall.
“Honey!”
Mother restrained Father, who was excitedly pointing his finger at Kane.
“I wish to hear the Lady’s answer.”
Even in this situation, he was incredibly calm.
He seemed to be under the illusion that my answer would be different, but my answer was no different from Father’s.
It was just a little, a very little bit different.
“I already have someone I promised the first dance to.”
At my words, a crack finally appeared on Kane’s face, which had been standing there brazenly without a single change in expression until now.
“Who…… is it?”
“It is Young Master Bayon, who is sitting over there.”
As I had thought before, I didn’t want to involve Eiden in the affairs between Kane and me.
However, I didn’t want to see Kane acting as if he thought, ‘I can do whatever I want with you at any time.’
I wanted to distort that face of his.
When I had used Eiden—or rather, ended up using him—on impulse last time, Kane’s reaction was greater than I expected.
So, in a moment of being somewhat worked up, I recklessly blurted out the words without even seeking Eiden’s consent.
“It is Young Master Bayon…… again.”
“Belita, what are you talking about? Young Master Bayon!”
Father raised his voice again at the mention of Young Master Bayon.
“Father, please calm down.”
However, Father’s voice was quite loud, so it was certain that Eiden, who was sitting a short distance away, must have heard.
Eiden, who had been looking this way for a while, stood up from his seat.
And with his long legs, he strode over and arrived before me in an instant.
“Belita, what is the matter?”
“Well, that is…….”
I intended to wrap up the conversation here and speak to Eiden separately later, but the situation had become completely tangled.
I hesitated slightly and then spoke, hoping he would please help me.
“Duke Maxius asked me for a dance, so I was telling him that my first dance partner is Young Master Bayon.”
“Is that true?”
Kane asked Eiden.
I turned my back slightly to Kane and sent a signal to Eiden with my eyes.
I hoped he would realize the meaning behind my gaze.
“Yes, I have a prior engagement to have the first dance with Lady Hates.”
Upon hearing Eiden’s answer, Kane’s expression turned icy in an instant.
Phew…….
But regardless of his expression, I exhaled a sigh of relief and looked at Kane triumphantly.
“I am sorry. Therefore, it seems the Duke will have to ask another lady for a dance.”
I told him, driving the final nail in.
I thought that after speaking to this extent, he would back off given the nature of the setting.
But as expected, Kane was Kane.
“Then even the second dance—.”
Again, he’s being persistent again.
With an expression that looked as wounded as his pride could be, he was even mentioning a second dance.
“No, I am only going to dance with Young Master Bayon today. So please find someone else.”
And I returned a perfect rejection to him.
Kane’s expression became as distorted as it could possibly get.
‘He’ll give up now.’
However, I had underestimated him too much.
Immediately, words that were enough to make one gasp burst out of him.
“You are truly too much. How can the Lady do this to me?”
I’m too much?
Kane’s words now sounded as if I had done some kind of harm to him.
Who does he think he is to act like a victim?
It was absurd.
I felt nauseous at his excessive shamelessness.
However, an emotional response to this man was not good.
If I reacted emotionally just because he did, it might instill a misunderstanding in him.
People of this sort were highly likely to package even the heart of hatred felt toward them as something stemming from love—labeling it as a love-hate relationship.
I wanted to show him that I didn’t hold even a shred of emotion for him.
So, I deliberately smiled with the corners of my mouth lifted high and answered.
“Yes, so please return to your seat now.”
Perhaps Kane expected me to act
hysterically like last time, as he stared at me with a shocked expression at my calm response.
However, I turned away from him and looked toward Eiden beside me.
“See you later.”
And I said to Eiden while wearing a radiant smile, not the forced smile from before, for all to see.
“I understand.”
However, Eiden only answered and did not move.
He seemed to intend to stay by my side until Kane left.
But while Kane was still standing there without budging and only looking at me, it was just as I was about to open my mouth to say one more thing.
Bwaaa—.
The sound of a horn announcing the Emperor’s arrival echoed through the banquet hall.
“His Imperial Majesty Christian Winston Baltheus, the brightest sun and noble one of Baltheus, is entering. Everyone, please stand and show your respects to His Majesty.”
And following the loud voice of the attendant, all the nobles stood up from their seats.
Following the Emperor, the Empress, the Crown Prince, and various members of the imperial family appeared in a line.
Kane looked back and forth between them and me, and then, with a resigned expression, he turned around and went back to his seat.
Eiden also met my eyes, nodded, and returned to where he originally was.
As the two men disappeared, Father looked at me from the side with sharp eyes.
However, because the Emperor’s congratulatory speech began immediately, Father said nothing.
There was nothing particularly important to listen to in what the Emperor said.
It was just about how they had a great harvest this year and to enjoy the festival.
And he didn’t forget to mention that he had prepared a special prize for the winner of the riding competition this year, so please do your best.
After the speech ended, the Emperor took his seat at the highest place of honor.
In the darkened night sky, multi-colored fireworks exploded, announcing the start of the eve festival.
As the imperial musicians took their places, the pleasant sounds of instruments and a grand song spread loudly through the banquet hall.
All kinds of food and alcohol were placed on the tables.
As the surroundings grew noisy, Father, as if he had been waiting, began to question me in a voice tinged with anger.
“Belita, what on earth is this talk about having the first dance with Young Master Bayon? Is that true?”
“That’s right, Father.”
“When did you make such a promise?”
“I asked him when I went to visit Lady Bayon last time.”
Perhaps because I had no doubt that Eiden would join in my lie, the lies came out smoothly even in front of Father.
“It wasn’t Young Master Bayon who asked first, but you asked first?!”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“What is this! Have you forgotten what you promised me!”
“Father, please calm down and understand that I had a reason for doing so.”
Saying that, I looked at Mother.
It was to ask for help.
Mother read my desperate gaze and approached Father.
“Honey, calm down. You must show the dignity of a noble.”
“Do I look like I can be calm right now!”
“I will tell you everything when we get home. So Father, please trust me.”
I intended to tell Father everything about why I did that.
However, this was not a very suitable place to talk about past events.
Regarding this matter, we needed to have a serious conversation in a quiet place.
“Honey, if we don’t trust Belita, who will?”
“Ahem.”
At Mother’s single word, Father became quiet.
“When the eve festival is over, you must tell us everything that happened without a single lie.”
“Yes, I will definitely do that.”
“Then you are going to dance with Young Master Bayon today?”
“Yes, because I made a promise with the Young Master.”
“Why on earth—. Fine, I understand. Do as you see fit.”
“Thank you, Father.”
Father’s permission for today’s matter was finally granted.
Feeling certainly light-hearted, the food spread out on the table came into view.
I picked up a wine glass on the table and moistened my mouth.
It was a top-quality wine where the astringency and sourness of the grapes were moderately felt along with a sweet aroma.
While I was sipping wine and enjoying the eve festival like that, the music that had been playing gently stopped, and soon joyful music echoed out.
It was the dance time, the highlight of the eve festival.
Actually, before coming to the eve festival, I had no intention of participating in this dance time at all.
Even if someone asked me for a dance, I planned to reject them all.
However, because of Kane, I ended up dancing with Eiden.
I glanced toward the seat where Eiden was sitting.
Eiden had already stood up and was approaching me.
My gaze became entangled with his.
The moment I met those straight purple pupils, I couldn’t move, as if someone was holding my head tightly so I couldn’t turn away.
And he arrived before me in an instant.
“Lady Hates, will you dance with me?”
The long and large hand, which I had seen several times already, was extended toward me.
“I would love to.”
There was no hesitation.
I ended up taking his hand once again.
He took my hand and led me into the crowd of couples dancing.
As we appeared, I could vividly feel the heated gazes of the people.
I knew well why they were looking at us.
It must be interesting.
They will whisper that it is a very interesting sight to see.
But it didn’t matter.
At this moment, there was only him and me here.
One of his hands wrapped around my waist, and with the other hand, he held mine.
I gently placed my hand on his shoulder.
And I slowly moved my body to the music.
Although I had never learned how to dance, Belita’s body remembered it.
And even though there was absolutely no record of dancing with Eiden in Belita’s memories, our synchronization was perfect.
People who had been standing blankly, watching us dance nonchalantly, began to move again one by one.
As quite a bit of time passed, I could no longer feel gazes watching us.
Except for one person, that is.
When I had passed him earlier while holding hands with Eiden, Kane looked at us with an icy expression.
And I could feel that his gaze was still directed toward us.
However, Eiden and I focused on the dance instead of paying attention to him.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For joining in my lie.”
“It was not a lie.”
“Pardon?”
Since I obviously knew I had lied, I looked up at him in a bewildered state when he said it wasn’t.
“Actually, I wanted to ask Belita for a dance. I simply missed the timing and couldn’t say it.”
Saying so, Eiden smiled playfully.
This feeling of something thumping and echoing somewhere in my body right now was definitely because of the music.
If not, it was just that I was momentarily captivated by his beauty because he is so handsome.
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
“I see.”
“Yes.”
Feeling as if my lips were burning dry, I intentionally teased him with a play on words.
Then, he accepted my joke without any suspicion.
We continued our responses to keep the conversation from breaking.
“Have you practiced riding a lot?”
“Well, to some extent.”
“I hope you definitely win.”
“Eiden, you must win too.”
“I will do so.”
After that, we also talked about Adela, who could not come here.
“You said Adela mentioned she would come to watch the match if Eiden makes it to the finals? Will her health be okay?”
“Even though I told her she didn’t have to come, I couldn’t break my sister’s stubbornness.”
“Ah…….”
As expected, Eiden was weak when it came to his older sister.
“But shouldn’t you be worried first about whether you can make it to the finals?”
I threw a joke with a face full of playfulness.
“Then, if I make it to the finals, will Belita come to watch my match as well?”
“Pardon?”
How did the conversation jump like that?
I made one joke and suddenly ended up in a situation where I would be going to the finals.
When I looked up at him with a slightly flustered expression, Eiden continued speaking with a pleasant smile.
“If you come, I think it will give me a lot of strength.”
I fell into thought for a moment, and when the thought that he helped me today flashed through my mind, I nodded my head willingly.
“Fine. Since Eiden helped me today, I will go to watch too. However, only if it’s the finals.”
“I understand. I will definitely reach the finals.”
Judging by the way Eiden rode his horse in Hemoa last time, his skills already seemed sufficient.
Like that, we shared various conversations and continued to dance in a world of our own.
Glancing at the surroundings, it seemed that other people had already changed partners several times.
But we did not do so.
As if what I said to Kane was true, we did not change partners even once and focused only on each other.
And the dance time, which was short if considered short, ended and the music stopped.
Accordingly, the feet of everyone who had been dancing came to a halt.
“It was a good time.”
“Me too.”
At that moment, fireworks more brilliant than the ones that first exploded in the night sky began to pop.
“Wow!”
I lifted my head, looked at the night sky, and let out a cheer.
“It’s so pretty. Right?”
In my excitement while watching the fireworks, I ended up grabbing Eiden’s arm and jumping up and down impulsively.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Then, realizing what I was holding, I quickly took my hand off his arm and apologized.
“It is fine.”
I looked up again while wearing an awkward smile.
However, I could feel his unwavering gaze fixed on me, so the fireworks no longer even entered my sight.
I became consciously aware of him beside me, and a sense of tension rushed in.
“Have you still never been to Peorat?”
“…….”
Because I knew in what sense he was asking, the words did not come out easily.
“Even though I remember a moment just like today.”
I took my eyes off the fireworks and looked at the man beside me.
His eyes looked sad.
Was he disappointed back then when I denied meeting him?
“……I am.”
I slowly opened my mouth.
And only now did I get to say the words I wanted to say if I ever met him.
“I am Bel. Who are you?”
“……I am Eden.”
“Then we are meeting for the first time in a very long while after seeing each other in Peorat and Ulita. How have you been, Eden?”
“I have not been well.”
“You haven’t been well? Why?”
“Someone, I missed someone for a very long time.”
“…….”
My heart thudded and dropped.
I had to reply, but the words absolutely would not come out.
Since I was silent, he opened his mouth again.
“I missed you, and only now have we met. So, I think it will be okay now.”
“……That’s a relief.”
“Yes, it is a relief.”
I could see relief filling his handsome face.
We shared a satisfied smile toward each other.
