Involuntarily, Charlotte felt moved by the sight of Sophia and Cyril dancing in the ballroom bathed by a soft light. Even though they were simply dancing, Charlotte felt like she might tear up just from watching them.
As the lead, the man will communicate his next step to his partner. His partner will dance following these instructions. Inexperienced dancers would lead by pushing or pulling at their partner’s arm, but seasoned dancers instead will shift their center of gravity, leading their partners with their whole body.
Even so, the partner’s steps would not change imdiately after a lead suggestion. It was inevitable that there would be delay—although a very small one—between the lead and his partner’s response. At least, there should be one. However, Charlotte couldn’t see any delay when Cyril and Sophia danced.
When Cyril smiled gently, Sophia made an elegant turn, a smile appearing on her face. There was no hesitation whatsoever, and the pair had been dancing as if they had been one person from the very start.
Charlotte suspected that they were perhaps doing a pre-rehearsed dance. But that wasn’t right either. The situation around them kept changing, be it because of a change to the rhythm of the music or the people dancing around them changing positions. They responded to these constantly changing circumstances and would adjust their steps on the spot, choosing the most suitable movent. This couldn’t have been a pre-rehearsed dance.
“He seems to be having fun…”1
Those words slipped out of Charlotte’s mouth without thinking. Cyril’s lead was completely different from what he had done when he was embellishing Charlotte’s movents. This was a free kind of lead that he seed to be enjoying, as well as making the dance fun for his partner too. If Charlotte were to follow him leading like that, she would probably step on his feet right away. However, Sophia danced happily according to Cyril’s guidance.
“The saintess of Ephenear and Sir Butler…” she heard soone’s voice utter.
She suddenly noticed that many people had stopped dancing, captivated by Cyril and Sophia’s dance. At so point, the pair beca the focus of the ballroom. The best orchestra in the country, hired by the royal family, was only playing for the two of them.
“…So it is possible for soone to smile this genuinely?” Charlotte couldn’t help but mutter. She was at a prince’s birthday party, and the leading figures of this country had gathered there. If she were to make a careless statent sowhere like that, it could prove fatal. A single mistake could turn deadly. Truth be told, even though she plastered a smile on her face, Charlotte’s stomach was always hurting.
However, Cyril and Sophia were dancing with genuine smiles on their faces. Surely, the only one reflected in Cyril’s eyes was Sophia, and Cyril was the only one reflected in Sophia’s. The two of them were the only ones who seed to be sparkling, as if they had been blessed by the spirits.
‘I’m so frustrated.’ With difficulty, Charlotte managed to swallow down these words that threatened to spill out. As an Imperial Princess of the Flafield Empire, she couldn’t utter those words acknowledging her defeat here. ‘But, I do still feel really frustrated,’ Charlotte repeated in her head.
“…We’ve lost completely, haven’t we?” A voice said from right beside her.
She recognized the owner of the voice imdiately without even having to turn her head to look—it was her brother. Charlotte opposed his statent for that sa reason.
“Nope. He’s going to be helping with research during our stay here, so I did achieve my goals.”
“However, helping you is the bare minimum. You’ve actually truly fallen in love with that butler, haven’t you?”
“You’re one to speak! You have fallen for her, too.”
An unkind answer to an unkind question. A substantial amount of ti had passed since the two of them arrived to this country. During this ti, Harold had always been accompanied by Sophia as his guide. Charlotte thought it was inevitable that day by day, Harold’s feelings for her would beco more and more earnest.
After all, she was Cyril’s perfect match.
As she pondered these thoughts, Charlotte chewed at her lip. Then, Charlotte and Harold looked at each other and they both let out a sigh.
“What do you want to do now?”
“That’s not even a question. Our studies have only just begun.”
“Watching those two, do you think you stand a chance?”
“Ugh… you say awful things sotis, you know?”
The light from the magical tool Cyril had developed was unusually soft. It was evenly bright all over and it filled the whole party venue with natural-looking light. That being said, Cyril and Sophia—and only Cyril and Sophia—seed to be sparkling. It was as if the gods of this world had blessed them.
“But, don’t you think that giving up like this is simply vexing?”
“Well… you’re right about that—um, what’s with that hand?”
Charlotte had held out her hand. It was a gesture identical to Sophia’s, expressing that one wanted to be asked for a dance.
“Will you accompany to take my mind off of things?”
“…Alright. I’m just in the mood for so exercise as well. May I have this dance, my dear sister?”
“Of course, big brother.”
***
I was dancing with Lady Sophia. Although I had been my Lady’s dance partner during practice countless tis, this was the first ti—with the exception of the play—that we danced together at such a big party.
I was truly having fun, and, unintentionally, I started leading her in a way that displayed these feelings. As the lead, the man was there to make the woman following his lead shine. That was the foundation of dancing. As I pondered these thoughts, Lady Sophia smiled at sweetly.
I understood that she was thinking: ‘Since we finally get to dance together, let’s both enjoy it.’ And so my lead beca even more daring.
I did a combination of very difficult steps that we rarely ever did even during practice.
‘How about this?’ I asked her with my gaze, and her smile widened.
‘You can up the difficulty even more.’ She gave a challenging smile. I continued leading her in a way that was already completely ignoring the rules. If I bent the rules any more than this, it couldn’t even be considered a dance anymore. On the other hand, I wanted to find out how far my Lady would go to et my demands.
I’ll try making slightly bigger movents. The mont I thought so, Lady Sophia’s steps beca slightly larger.
Her first step changed only the smallest bit, but her second step was much bolder. Right when I made my steps wider, my Lady began to dance as if she was gliding on top of the carpet. Despite us not exchanging a word for a while now, her thoughts were getting through to . And I was certain that my thoughts were reaching her, too.
Sure enough, I ended up thinking: ‘I’m having fun.’ Although the song had already ended at so point, we continued and began our second dance. To dance for two songs with the sa person at the sa party was an exceptional act. Having realized this, a buzz began to co from the people around us, but I didn’t care about it one bit. Let’s think about things that can be dealt with later—later. More importantly, I don’t want to put an end to this fun mont.
“Say, Cyril. Just what kind of magic did you use?”
“I haven’t used any. I simply got them to withdraw in exchange for granting Imperial Princess Charlotte’s wish.”
However, there were two important points to note. First, what I offered hadn’t been information about the spell itself, but the completed magical device. Second, I had thoroughly investigated Imperial Princess Charlotte’s actual wish.
If I had given them the information about the spell, it would have ended with that. However, this wasn’t the case when handing over the magical tool. At the very least, it was going to require a large amount of ti before they could completely analyze it. In other words, I still had an ace up my sleeve. Also, knowing Imperial Princess Charlotte’s wish was also important. There was a difference between offering a deal in order to save her beloved younger sister’s life and proposing a deal without knowing the reason behind her wish, but doing it anyway simply because that was what she wanted.
On top of that, I made the offer through Prince Lancelot, so the other country would be indebted to him and it wouldn’t appear as if a butler was butting in. Of course, it was possible that Prince Lancelot wouldn’t cancel Lady Sophia’s engagent for such a reason alone, but I had offered him a magical tool that could save Fol, making him indebted to . And so, Lady Sophia’s engagent ca to nothing, while the two countries stayed on good terms.
“So that’s what you were doing, Cyril.” Lady Sophia finished listening to my explanation and looked a little surprised. It seed that she hadn’t figured out enough to know what exactly I had been doing.
“I thought that you were aware of what I was doing, since you had never questioned my actions.”
In order not to get her dragged into it in case of failure, I hadn’t told Lady Sophia even the fact that I intended to block her political marriage. I thought that her not saying anything despite that was due to her guessing what I was doing.
“I only knew that you were carrying out various plans.”
“Then—”
“I simply trusted you.”
She was saying that she didn’t ask anything because she trusted . She didn’t even know if I was taking any actions at all to stop her political marriage. And even if I were, she had no idea whether I had figured out a way to make them possible. I was a little astonished that my Lady had been able to believe in in such circumstances.
“Because you never lie, Cyril.”
“Thank you for trusting .”
I thanked her from the bottom of my heart. However, Lady Sophia laughed.
“But you did exactly the sa thing, Cyril.”
“…I did the sa?”
“You’ve never once asked why I accepted being a guide, have you?”
“…Co to think of it, you’re right.”
Even though Young Master Ernest apparently had various theories about the reason Lady Sophia had accepted the request, I knew why she had done so right from the start.
“That’s because I imdiately realized that you were expressing your wish to settle this matter peacefully. Although there are so things that can’t be explained just by that alone…”
I had been cooking up various sches in order to get rid of the matter of Lady Sophia’s engagent. Perhaps, if Lady Sophia had rejected the offer right at the beginning, there would have been a way to settle it even more amicably.
“As expected, you have even realized that much.”
“Ah, well… I’m ashad to say that I haven’t figured out the reason for it.”
“It’s nothing to be ashad of. You did exactly what I expected you to. Moreover, you did it much, much better than I anticipated.”
“Is that… so…”
Nevertheless, it was a fact that I hadn’t figured out Lady Sophia’s intentions. I was feeling a little down, because, while I felt sowhat accomplished, it appeared that my diligence was still lacking. Seeing like this, Lady Sophia slightly leaned in with her body against mine.
“…Lady Sophia?”
“It was my intention for you not to realize what my objective was. To be more precise, you could even say that I didn’t want you to find out. So… that ans that I win, right?”
All of a sudden, she was looking at with the face of a mischievous child. Even though I had been able to see through her not that long ago, as of late, Lady Sophia had gotten really good at keeping secrets. Although I felt a little sad about it, this unpredictable Lady Sophia was also very cute.
‘Are you happy, my Lady?’ I asked her through our dance. Her answer was the most wonderful smile I had ever seen on her.
After Lady Sophia and I finished our second dance, we left the ballroom and greeted the other guests while eating a light al at the buffet table. That being said, since I was actually a butler, Lady Sophia was the one mainly in charge of the talking.
However, perhaps because I ca into the lilight by dancing with Lady Sophia for several songs, there were a few people who asked Lady Sophia questions about as well after finding out that I was a butler.
After all, this wasn’t the first ti I had filled in the position of Lady Sophia’s partner at a party organized by Prince Lancelot’s party. Moreover, I had been Imperial Princess Charlotte’s guide until a short while ago, and both Young Master Ernest and even Prince Lancelot ca up to talk to .
It was understandable for them to doubt whether or not I was really just a butler.
“Actually, he is just a butler.” As I repeatedly listened to this exchange between Lady Sophia and the nobles that ca towards us one after the other, Young Master Ernest returned.
“Sophia, you do so pretty excessive things, don’t you?”
“Oh, but I don’t think that I did anything excessive, did I?”
Ernest was making a remark about her turning down an Imperial Prince from another country at a party with mbers of the royal family. Although I wondered whether Young Master Ernest wouldn’t feel exasperated by her, he only muttered, “Is that so?”
“Sophia, you have a really good butler.”
“Yes, I know that more than anyone.”
Lady Sophia chuckled. I had never thought that I’d get praised by Young Master Ernest, and my eyes widened slightly. Young Master Ernest turned to look at .
“I shall acknowledge you. You were able to accomplish sothing impossible even for . You’re certainly worthy of being Sophia’s exclusive butler.”
“I’m undeserving of such kind words.”
I politely bowed, and then slowly lifted my face. When my gaze returned to his face, his lips moved silently.
‘However, she’s my younger sister. It won’t be that easy.’
Apparently, he had assud that I had the ability to read lips… Although it was aningless for him to do this, because Lady Sophia was able to read lips as well. Whether he knew that or not, he looked at Lady Sophia again.
“Sophia, there’s actually an instrunt called a ‘grand piano’ in this venue. I’m going to play it, so won’t you accompany on the violin?”
“…A piano?”
“Yes. It’s an instrunt invented in the Flafield Empire. You probably don’t know it, but I’ve been practicing. The piano’s timbre is beautiful, so I’m sure it’ll be a great performance.”
Young Master Ernest gently smiled at Lady Sophia and then looked at .
‘You must be jealous that I get to duel with Sophia for the first ti on a new instrunt, aren’t you?’ His lips moved soundlessly.
‘Are you a child?’—I had no place to make such remarks. If anything, I went pale, wishing I was in a position to be jealous of him. Then, I urged my Lady to please read the room—
“Oh, but I know what a grand piano is.” Lady Sophia answered easily. My hopes were dashed.
“…What…?”
“Cyril sent craftsn to the Flafield Empire and had them learn the manufacturing process of these grand pianos. So we’ve also begun to make them in our country.”
“T–then… don’t tell that…”
“Yes, Cyril played the grand piano for and I played on the violin. It was really fun, it felt like I was in a dream.”
Lady Sophia wounded Young Master Ernest’s soul with no reservations while wearing an innocent smile. If you say anything more than that, I might get killed by Young Master Ernest, so please stop right there.
Then, Young Master Ernest turned to look at , his movents so stiff that felt like I could hear his neck creaking.
“I… I really can’t hand my lovely younger sister to soone like you!”
“Ah, no, um…”
“Now, now, big brother. Since this is a rare chance, why don’t we have a duet together?”
Lady Sophia smiled at as if she was telling that ‘It’ll be alright, leave my big brother to .’, and then she headed to another part of the venue with Young Master Ernest.
…My young Lady left as if to express that she would protect from Young Master Ernest, who was overtaken by jealousy, after she agitated him herself… I couldn’t help but feel like she had grown up into a little devil.
Please, at least complint Young Master Ernest’s performing skills, alright?
Thank you for reading! Can you believe it's been over a year since I started translating this novel? I posted my first chapter on the 24th of November! Thank you for all the support and lovely comnts throughout the year!
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