Chapter 42
The gazes of the northern nobles all turned to Reina at once.
The light-colored platinum blonde hair sparkled like stars under the lighting.
The light blue eyes reminiscent of a clear sky, and the white, pale skin stimulated pure beauty.
It was the first official event of the protagonist who had only been rumored about.
Naturally, gazes full of curiosity gathered, but she showed no signs of being intimidated or tense.
Perhaps due to her noble birth, her gait and every expression overflowed with elegance.
If she hadn’t been leaning on crutches, the movements were so clean that one wouldn’t even notice she had injured her leg.
Her leg was publicly known as an accident, but some northerners knew the inside story.
An attack by a disloyal family that did not recognize the princess as the duchess.
It was something anyone working at Crencia Castle could quickly learn that Crencia Castle was turned upside down because of that.
The culprit could be roughly guessed, but since it was publicly announced as an ‘accident,’ everyone was keeping quiet.
Of course, Kaiden did not just let this incident pass.
Having recognized that the northern nobles’ hostility toward the royals was quite severe due to Lady Mary’s incident, he summoned all the northern nobles to Reina’s birthday banquet this time.
It was a polite invitation, but the message was clear.
[Those who recognize Reina Crencia as a northerner shall attend.]
No matter the circumstances, any northerner who did not come to this place was as good as turning Crencia into an enemy.
Most northern nobles who read his hidden intent attended the banquet.
Those who knew the inside story were even more active in the banquet.
Since Lady Mary’s position was vacant, they were aiming for the opportunity.
Some nobles whispered while covering their mouths with fans.
“It seems the Mary family wasn’t invited after all.”
“With this, it’s almost certain.”
A few days before the banquet was held.
It was a public fact that Lady Mary suddenly gave up her nanny position.
A few people guessed that it might be related to Reina’s accident.
And today, the fact that the Mary family, which had been a friendly family to Crencia, was not invited made it a fait accompli.
* * *
Meanwhile, Kaiden headed to the sofa prepared for Reina, who had difficulty with her leg.
She, who sat down on the sofa right away, smiled awkwardly.
“I’m sorry. Normally, at such occasions, it’s customary to dance. But because of my injured leg.”
“It’s fine. I don’t like dancing anyway.”
“Well. I’ve never seen you dance at a banquet before.”
Reina muttered casually while recalling before her regression.
At that time, Kaiden was quite popular among the young ladies.
A sturdy build with handsome looks.
Solid military power and an independent territory system.
If the north wasn’t a monster den, it was enough conditions for several young ladies to rush in saying they would marry him.
Such a hexagonal man didn’t marry even when he was well past marriageable age, to the point where rumors spread that he might be impotent.
“They all left the first line of their dance cards empty because they wanted to dance with you.”
“Did you do that too?”
“Huh?”
“Did you also leave the first line of your dance card empty because you wanted to dance with me?”
At the direct question, Reina blinked her eyes.
It was an unnecessary question. Reina had little experience with banquets.
Because right after coming of age, she was locked in the basement and only heard about him through the emperor.
If she hadn’t been locked in the basement…….
Thinking that, Reina found it not so difficult to answer.
She said with a faint smile.
“Probably. Because you’re a cool person no matter who sees you.”
Kaiden gazed steadily at her, who somehow seemed to be reminiscing about a distant place.
Occasionally, she embarrassed him with somewhat whimsical answers.
When she gave straightforward compliments like now, it felt like heat was rushing to his face.
Just as he hesitated for a moment, he stood up from his seat.
“What the heck, it’s not like I can’t do it.”
“Huh?”
When Reina asked back puzzled, Kaiden bowed politely.
“Would you dance one song with me?”
“Whaat?”
Flustered, Reina waved her hands.
“No! No! I didn’t mean I want to dance now…….”
“If it’s because of your leg, don’t worry. It won’t hurt at all.”
Kaiden pulled her up from her seat.
And he wrapped aura around her injured leg.
As his purple aura enveloped her whole body centered on her leg, cheers erupted from various places.
It created the illusion as if the Milky Way was lingering around her.
Reina was bewildered as her whole body became light like cotton.
“You can do this too?”
“It’s the power of the pioneer.”
Aura was one of the dragon’s legacies.
If Mernie had divine authority, the dragon had aura.
The reason the first Mernie emperor made a pact with the dragon Crencia was precisely because of the aura.
It was an ability that literally allowed superhuman strength.
The fact that the limits of that power have not yet been proven made it natural in a way for Mernie to be wary of Crencia.
Reina felt strange experiencing the aura firsthand.
It felt like new strength was sprouting in her leg that had hurt until a moment ago.
Her whole body felt light as if in top condition.
“Amazing.”
“Yeah?”
“Does using aura burden you?”
“At close range, this much is easier than breathing.”
“Is it hard at long range?”
“Inevitably, the accuracy drops. Of course, it’s not that there’s no way at all.”
Kaiden shrugged his shoulders and swallowed his latter words.
Reina guessed that the words he hid implied the ‘pact.’
Because it had been shown in imperial history that using aura on a pact partner was much freer.
Reina suddenly fell into thought.
‘If aura is this kind of power, maybe it’s possible…….’
Momentarily, a vain hope arose that the power that moves the injured leg might also make the invisible eye see.
Of course, it was just a fleeting hope. Reina shook her head lightly with a bitter smile.
‘It’s nonsense. Let’s not get hopes up unnecessarily.’
It seemed her mind was restless as that day approached in just one day.
Shaking off her thoughts, Reina moved to the center of the hall as if entranced.
With the appearance of the Crencia couple, people yielded the center spot.
The moment the orchestra started the next waltz, Reina muttered softly.
“It’s been a long time since I danced.”
“It’s fine. I’m terrible at dancing anyway.”
“Liar.”
When Reina laughed it off nonchalantly, he said in an unconfident voice.
“Sigh. I never thought the day would come when I voluntarily dance.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll probably soon find out why I don’t dance?”
Kaiden uttered a meaningful remark and started the preparatory pose.
The first move was excellent, so Reina thought he was being unnecessarily modest.
But this thought changed before the first verse even ended.
Kaiden’s words were true.
He really couldn’t dance.
He couldn’t dance so badly.
Reina looked at Kaiden with shaking vision.
‘N-none of it matches…….’
His clunky movements with his massive build had tremendous impact enough to provoke laughter from everyone.
Due to his messy steps, it had long since the song and dance moves didn’t match.
Reina had thought all along that Kaiden didn’t dance because the courtship from young ladies was bothersome.
But now she saw that he didn’t dance because he was too bad at it.
At least his dancing skills had the effect of making his partner’s dancing skills stand out more.
Thanks to that, Reina, who had been moving awkwardly, instead looked like she was dancing well.
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By Anna 💓
