Chapter 6 – Development

“Let’s stop here for today’s class. You all worked hard.”

With the final ensemble complete, their supervising professor, Lopez, lowered her baton. With graduation not far away, the faces of the students, who had been expecting free time, were full of dissatisfaction.

“I hear many students have been frequenting salons lately. You only have to endure a few more days, so let’s not turn red in the face with one another and decorate the end with elegance. That will be all.”

Lopez brushed aside the students’ reactions as though they were nothing and continued her scolding. As soon as the sound of her footsteps faded away, the groans everyone had been holding back burst out all over the ensemble room.

“My nails are ruined. Valley Lopez, that witch! I had them done before going to the party.”

“Exactly. The recital is already over, so there’s no need to go this far.”

“I guess she wants to get in the way somehow. She has such a rotten disposition, that’s why she still hasn’t married.”

“More importantly, have you decided where to go tomorrow?”

“I don’t know, maybe the Belnua Salon is the best option?”

Despite their supervising professor’s warning, her classmates were abuzz with talk of tomorrow’s graduation party. Sitting at the piano, Ellen calmly organized her sheet music. Thanks to that, no one noticed that Ellen was listening closely to their conversation.

“Well, no place gets the balance of men and women quite right like the Belnua Salon.”

“More than anything, it’s open-minded. I hear there are lots of couples who just catch each other’s eye, get a thrill, and head straight up to a hotel.”

“They say if you go in alone, you always come out as two, or else three?”

“Kyaa!”

Together with the shrieks of her classmates, Ellen, who had been quietly eavesdropping on the conversation, swallowed a startled breath and fixed her expression. Some of those who had already gone to parties before were laughing as they traded tips on things like how to have a successful *rgasm.

If I go there…… me too?

As if she were somehow part of the conversation herself, all sorts of disorderly thoughts ran wild in Ellen’s head. She had never experienced it personally, but she knew how desire between a man and a woman unfolded.

Among the things that had helped her most was the secret box of her brother Julien’s that she had stumbled upon by accident, especially the picture book by an obscure author at the very bottom.

The plainly intertwined man and woman, their expressions, even their positions. To Ellen, who had thought the metaphorical expressions in romance novels were everything, it had been almost nothing short of a paradigm shift.

Of course, when she first discovered it, she had only vaguely thought he was a pervert. But just as one’s hand naturally reaches for dessert even when full, Ellen would sometimes sneak peeks into Julien’s treasure box.

Recently, perhaps because the author was running out of ideas, there were occasional repeats of similar scenes, but anyway.

“What, since when was she there?”

“Don’t mind her. Ellen only cares about studying.”

“She’s not going to go and report this exactly as it is, is she?”

While she had been carried away with all sorts of thoughts on her own, the classmates who had noticed Ellen whispered among themselves. Just as Ellen, conscious of their stares, was about to rise from her seat as if nothing were wrong, Lillian poked her head out from behind the piano.

“So, did you think about it, Ellen?”

“Th-think about what?”

Worried the others might hear, Ellen feigned complete ignorance and asked back. Naturally, there was no way she did not know what Lillian was talking about.

‘Since it’s come to this anyway, let’s go there and choose directly.’

‘Go there and choose directly?’

‘I mean let’s go to the party and find you a suitable marriage partner! I’m just a commoner, so no one will give me a second glance, but you’re a noblewoman, Ellen. There will definitely be plenty of people eyeing you.’

‘What kind of absurd nonsense is that.’

‘This is the most sensible thing we’ve said out of everything so far. If it doesn’t work out, then at least you can just enjoy that one day.’

‘……’

‘To put it bluntly, in a situation where you don’t even know whether you’d be the first wife or the second, it’s just too unfair to go through with it like this.’

That one remark had not only left Ellen distracted the whole time, but today she had even let go of her sheet music in the middle of ensemble practice.

“I mean the Belnua Salon. What we talked about over the weekend.”

“Lower your voice, Lillian. Everyone else will hear.”

In spite of Ellen’s efforts, the curious gazes of her classmates turned toward the two of them. Some of the girls whose eyes met Ellen’s already wore languid expressions, as though they had understood everything.

“There isn’t much time left, Ellen. Once tomorrow passes, the chance is gone.”

“……”

“What chance?”

Before she could decide whether to answer, a low, deep voice cut into the conversation. As if announcing who the owner of the voice was, the classmates sitting in front began whispering and blushing.

It was Felix.

“There’s just something.”

Ellen cast a sidelong glance at Felix, who had appeared from somewhere, then answered indifferently. Unlike her dry voice, her heart was pounding so hard it felt ready to burst.

If Felix were to notice that she had taken an interest in the graduation party being held at the ‘Belnua Salon’…… the result would be disastrous.

Her brothers, who cherished her almost excessively, would storm about like a tempest, and her conservative father might even forbid Ellen from stepping outside her room until the wedding.

Therefore, Felix Mendel absolutely must not find out about this.

“Lillian, where was our next class again?”

Just as Ellen, gathering up her sheet music, was about to walk right past Felix and head toward Lillian, Felix frowned and stepped in front of her to block the way.

“Go away. We need to go to class.”

“Does the instrumental department have classes even during lunch break?”

“What does it matter to you what other people do?”

“It matters because you’re not other people.”

Along with the reproving voice, Felix’s annoyingly handsome face entered her field of vision. Whenever Ellen reacted sharply, he always tried to keep the conversation going by meeting her eyes.

Until just a few months ago, Ellen had rather liked that side of Felix, but now even this irritated her.

They were only friends, and he even has a fiancée, so she could not understand why Felix was acting like this toward her.

It wasn’t as if he should be making people misunderstand, so what exactly was this supposed to mean?

“It feels like you’ve been hiding things from me lately.”

I’m not the one hiding things, you are.

Ellen swallowed down the words that had risen to the bottom of her chin and lifted her eyes. Given the situation, Felix too could not escape the arrows of her resentment.

In truth, Felix Mendel had also played a part in why she had ended up like this.

When they were children, he had stirred up her heart by constantly saying they should marry, yet once he became an adult, he went ahead and chose a bride entirely as he pleased. And not just any noble young lady, but an Imperial Princess.

‘When I grow up, Ellie, I’m definitely going to marry you.’

If it had not been for those words, she would long since have dated some decent male student at the academy. Then, after growing tired of him, she might have met a new lover and broken up again and again, enjoying a hot-blooded youth.

If that had happened, she would not now have to get married as if sold off at a single word from her father, nor would she have found herself agonizing belatedly over finding a replacement groom.

Of course, she had also been at fault for misunderstanding and interpreting things however she liked…… but in the end, the reason Ellen Sawyer had ended up like this was all because of Felix Mendel.

Traitor.

Ellen swallowed the words in her mouth again and again, then shoved past Felix. Compared to his solid body, her strength was absurdly weak, but Felix stepped back without much resistance.

“Hey!”

But only for a moment. At the sharp sound of his voice, Ellen’s steps halted in place. When she turned her head, an invisible battle of nerves stretched taut between them.

It would be better if she would just say it.

Felix swallowed a strained breath and held on to the last of his patience. He too, no less than Ellen, felt stifled by this situation. But this time, the degree of it had gone far too far.

Since childhood, Ellen had the habit of pressing her lips tightly shut whenever she was upset. At first, he had brushed it off lightly, thinking she would soon tire herself out and speak.

But now, after two days, three days, one week, one month, and nearly half a year, Ellen still held on with her mouth shut tight like a spoiled clam. And if not that, then she was forever snapping at him the way she did now.

And that was not all. If they happened to run into each other in the hallway, she would noticeably turn tail and run. Lately, she had been outright avoiding him. Thanks to that, Felix no longer had even the slightest idea how he was supposed to deal with Ellen.

“Let’s have lunch together.”

To think that after all that, the only thing he could manage to say was something about food. Felix wanted to pound his utterly unremarkable lips. And it seemed that thought was not his alone, because Ellen let out a laugh of disbelief and slowly opened her mouth.

“You go eat as much as you like.”

With your precious fiancée.

Leaving the last words at the edge of her lips.