Chapter 20

With a young visage that one couldn’t believe to already have two children that over their 20s, Marchioness Clavis handed Aurora the list written in very small letters.

(T-This is the list of guests that wouldn’t normally have the names of people from the faction of the old royal family?)

She has now changed from her evening dress back to her regular dress and felt beads of sweats on her back.

(A-A certain Earl is wearing a wig, a Viscount is hiding his illegitimate child, the first love of Viscount A is Baron B, and many more―! It’s scary to imagine what kind of person who collected this information!)

From the head of the House of Loomis, to the recently debuted Baron, there seems to be no end to this faction. The names of the new royal family were written in much detail―the only modest part are the names while the content was quite cumbrous―Aurora trembled at the carefully written list in her hands.

It was in Marchioness study room that Aurora got a hold of such papers. The room was furnished with a huge writing desk, a silk chair, complimented with a curved amber furniture, and shelves lined up with ceramic plates and potteries and bookshelves which completed the charm of the small room. The walls are decorated with silk wallpaper adorned with crests of yellow-green lilies arranged in an orderly pattern, a brown carpet about a foot long was laid to prevent the sound of the footsteps, large windows decorated with green curtains, and the planted trees outside looked like forest with the sunshine peeking in between the trees. Out of all the rooms, the sun room and the study room were the most interesting ones. Noble mansions would usually have study rooms for their Lord but Marchioness Clavis have a hobby of writing letters since she was just a little girl so Marquis Clavis built a room for her as a wedding gift.

「The good news for the two of you is that the number of guest is less than the number of those who came for Duke Laetus evening party. Fortunately, the same number of participants that are attending were royal family! At that time, I was about to give up on memorizing them! How many people are there in the House of Loomis? You have to know where they come from!」

「There’s a difference between a Duke and a Marquis evening party, sister…」

「Hohoho!」

(I wonder if I can remember all these names like how I did with embroidery… But with this number of people, I can’t do this in a few days. Oh, I want to embroider… The needle and the threads are calling me…)

Right next to Aurora who’s struggling to read the small words―that immediately got dressed from his work clothes―is Felix who’s holding his head in his hands. Instead of their mother who just left the room, Luna Mare took the position of supervising them while laughing elegantly, concealing his lips with her fan. Her eyes though were not smiling.

「I don’t think I can remember all of this.」

「It’s far too early for my little brother to give up. You’ll sully your title as the top student of your class.」

Felix who tried to raise the white flag as early as possible received a blow at the back of his head from his elder sister. Felix is not in any way stupid (he graduated as the top student in his class after all) was to a certain degree one of those few bred of nobles who had an extremely poor ability to remember nobles and their names.

「Men escort ladies at evening parties. It’s the role of men to introduce ladies to other nobles, in short, isn’t it you that will have to answer their greetings first?」

「I… will do my best.」

「I will also do my best in remembering up to the Earl, Lord Clavis.」

「Let’s do that.」

Fortunately, there’s quite a few numbers of nobles, so Aurora will remember those nobles below the title of Earl and Felix will remember nobles above the title of Marquis since he can cope up with those nobles of higher title than him. They then began to whisper to each other that they must go against Luna Mare. She looked at the couple and let out a sigh.

「Still, it’s quite inefficient if you stay cramped in this room. Sometimes, it’s better to move around, so how about you practice your dance to entertain yourselves? I think you’ve only practiced once and that was after your measurements were taken, right?」

The two who made such excuses at the time when they were having their measurements taken but actually sat on the couch without doing their dance practice, trembled on their seats and looked at each other.

「I… had danced at Duke Laetus evening party.」

「There were no problems during the practice.」

The two calmly refuted his sister, the person that they mustn’t go against at. If they’re going to move around now, the things they were trying to remember would likely disappear from their minds. In addition to that, it takes a long time to try out the dance steps that are stuck in their heads.

「Huh, but you two only danced together two times. You can’t dance like a pair of Gemini Fairy in that situation!」[1]

「Gemini Fairy?」

The Gemini Fairy is a magical being that is said to be borne by dividing one soul into two. It was said that they always move together and if one dies, the other one will die. Just like the Welbum Kingdom and the magical neighboring country of Magna Magia which is rather close (or a bit too intimate) like a lover, a couple or twin. Between fiances that’s only recently got acquainted with each other and are actually having their first-time being fiance, this analogy is a bit difficult to understand.[2] Luna Mare’s smile was fierce just as how panicked Aurora was. She lifted Aurora’s jaw with the hand fan she folded. Narrowing her eyes and locked them to Aurora’s eyes, she drew an arc on her red lips.

「That’s right! You have to dance with your partner like you’re the perfect couple. As Lady Aurora has said during the selection of the evening dress, that for you the success for this evening party is to leave an impression to the new royal family, deep enough that that son of the House of Loomis cannot remember anyone else and will regret his choice of inviting you? No matter how good smart you are during conversations during the evening party, the ones that makes the most impression are those specially near you, something that everyone can see. In other words, you two have to show off that you’re an intimate fiance!」

(Wha-What does she even mean by that?!)

Aurora wasn’t the only one who was frightened at Luna Mare’s words. Felix was also shaken; his purple eyes were trembling as he glances at his sister.

「How do we show that we’re intimate?」

「You do that by flirting.」

「What do you mean by flirting?」

「It just like me and my darling when we’re on our house.」

「That’s impossible, it’s embarrassing to do that.」

It was immediate answer.

Feeling jittery, Felix looked like a magic tool that run out of power―this so-called 『flirting 』was out of his common sense. Nonetheless, Duke Laetus was a man famous for his Ashura face. At the last evening party, he looked like a statue brought out from the gates of hell and like a charm that could exorcize all the evil beings in the world and hardly left the host’s table. Duke Lateus looked scary so seeing how he flirt would be interesting. Her thoughts might have slipped to her facial expression that Felix murmured to her while shaking his head.

「Don’t even try look at him for the betterment of your mental health.」

「Well, it was just a joke. Just dance as usual, so tighten your hold on her waist and increase your intimacy as if you’re entwining your fingers. Try to show that you’re enjoying it, never divert your gaze from each other! That will surely make an impression!」

「To stick closer to an unmarried lady…」

「She’s your fiancee!」

「But…」

「Quit sitting on the fence and follow your sister’s order! I’ll ask the other ladies how they do about it, so hurry up and practice!」

「Ah!」

「Sister!」

Luna Mare who has been behind Aurora this whole time pushed Aurora’s back towards Felix. Aurora stumbled on her feet and fell down with a cute scream but was relieved as Felix held her by her arms as she leaned on him.

(Although it was all of a sudden, he was quite fast! Amazing!)

As expected from one of the Imperial Knights, a magic knight who’s got a solid agility. There’s no possible oversight in his response and his slim but well-trained arms have a great sense of stability. In contrast to Aurora who involuntarily blurted out words of relief when she felt him supporting her, Felix raised his voice and stiffened in his feet. There were mottles of blush on his cheeks.

「What are you doing?」

「Lena! Music! Mina! Shoes! Come now Fel, hold her!」

The beautiful lady claps her hands and picked up the beat at the third time. One of the maids she called headed to the upright piano at the corner of the study room and the other one offered Aurora dance shoes. The other servants went to settle a wine table and chairs at the edge. Although the study room is a small room in the Marquis Mansion, once the place was vacated, the room became spacious that a couple of man and woman could practice their dance.

Giving up, Aurora got up from Luna Mare’s clapping without any questions. She then started to wear on her feet the dance shoes she borrowed while glancing at Felix who’s still stiff, he then sighed and gestured that he’s up for the dance practice. He is clumsy but he is a son of a Marquis. He is a nobleman. His gesture of inviting Aurora was awkward but she was used to it. If she hesitates to take his hand, his powerful arms will hold her.

(There’s that… great feeling of stability!)

Take one of the lady’s hand and put the other arm to her waist.[3] The posture of this hold is, in short, a framework to secure the space for the lady to dance. If the hold is stable, the lady can dance lightly. Although Aurora is fond of embroidery, she isn’t a hermit.[4] She’s got a physical prowess of a lady, but she loves horseback riding and dancing. She is a daughter of an Earl in a family of knights, and so she has been taught swordsmanship to a degree of self-defense. In the first place, the young Aurora at that time was overwhelmed by the embroidery her grandmother has taught her. Even now, she thinks that dancing is one of the most pleasant activity to move her body after immersing herself in the embroidery when her body is stiff.

As the tune of the piano began, Felix moved in a conditioned reflex and Aurora began to follow through. This was the basic waltz according to its pattern. It’s a simple dance step. Although their breathing wasn’t good, it was a very easy dance with a strict follow up like a dance teacher. And so, Aurora stood right up a bit. Her neck and waist were painful after staring at the letter. Her pent-up frustration of not being able to embroider were accumulating. However, there’s this opportunity to move, a dance lesson with a very stable partner. She couldn’t help but feel better.

(If it’s Lord Clavis, then it’s okay to have him lead the dance.)

As Aurora felt at ease, she let her body being led―「So tender…」 「Calm down…」 「Get used to it…」 「Her tenderness is different from my sister…」 「Calm down already…」 「Get used to it…」―made Felix mutter such words.[5]

「Lady Porta？」

「Fufu, I’m really looking forward to this.」

「You do?」

「I really like to dance but this is my first experience dancing so easily. My brother is a bit delicate and unsteady, while my father used to move on his own—I think I’ll have lots of fun dancing at the evening party with Lord Clavis.」

「That’s… a grave responsibility.」

Turning around with her waist supported by Felix, Aurora’s casual skirt spreads out beautifully. Then in good spirits, Aurora smiled in cheerfully.

「You’re unexpectedly good at this, Lord Clavis!」

「I’m glad to hear that.」

Felix’s lips arched up as if he caught Aurora’s cheerfulness that she couldn’t stop smiling. A smile that doesn’t look like the people of the Old Forest (Elves) but the smile of a young man of his own age.

T/N: Sorry this chapter took too long to release. I was busy with school events that I wasn’t able to release this last week.