Chapter 2

“Since I’m here, I’ll do one more number before I go.”

“This is why I adore you! Should I bring you more water? Aren’t you hungry? The kitchen just got fresh lobster in….”

“Next time. I’ll just take the thought. But before I go back on stage…. would it be all right if I took a moment?”

Camellia lifted her cigarette case and gave it a light shake. Fidgeting noisily while inwardly expecting a refusal, Olga instead winked one eye without a trace of disappointment.

“Of course. As always, I’ll make sure no one comes anywhere near.”

“Thank you.”

Camellia rose from her seat and stepped out into the narrow passage connected to the waiting room. At Olga’s gesture through the air, one of the guards standing tall at the back of the room moved to the front of the passage.

Right after that, the curtain to the waiting room was pulled aside and a clerk with a haggard face poked his head in.

“Madaaam…. we’re short-handed in the hall….!”

“Yes, yes. I’m coming.”

“And the customers keep asking whether Camellia has left. Maybe the rumors have spread already, because there’s a huge line of people outside now….”

The clerk looked around the waiting room, then brightened when he did not see Camellia.

“She’s gone back, right? Then I’ll tell them that and send them away….”

“No! Spread the word far and wide that Camellia is preparing for the next performance. Let’s sell until the storage room is wiped clean today!”

“Kgh, cough! Madam…. we can still go home today, right….?!”

“By the authority of the owner, I’m giving out a special bonus.”

“I’ll go home tomorrow! I’ll work hard!”

The clerk, whose exhausted and dazed eyes lit up again, snapped into a salute. Olga too laughed, rolled up both sleeves, and left the waiting room.

***

If one went out the back door of the waiting room, there was a wall surrounding Fiore’s outer building, separated by barely a meter of space.

The wall was so high it only barely allowed a glimpse of the sky, making the place feel stuffy, but that was exactly why there was no need to mind anyone’s gaze.

“Hoo….”

With the sounds of the performance faintly carrying over from beyond the wall, Camellia quietly smoked. The thin stream of smoke rising from the end of the cigarette fixed in her antique cigarette holder scattered into nothing before it could even reach the top of the wall.

Staring blankly at the white smoke rising upward, she closed her eyes.

‘Who knows when I’ll be able to come out again, so I should enjoy it enough while I can. The cigarettes, the dancing. And….’

When she opened her eyes again, she slowly swept her gaze across the backyard, where there was no one besides herself.

‘Looks like I won’t be seeing him today.’

Contrary to Olga’s usual confident claim that she would never let anyone come near, Camellia had once met a man here half a year ago.

‘….Well, it doesn’t matter.’

The reason she came here, to Fiore, was for performances and nothing more.

But even while thinking that, the pace at which she smoked grew slower. As Camellia gazed steadily at the shortening length of the cigarette, she suddenly lifted her head at a sound coming from beyond the wall.

“Sir Brandon? You mean to climb over the wall? Are you serious?”

“Then do I look like I’m joking? Insolent wench! I, in my magnanimity, say I’ll meet her personally, and she rejects me every time?”

“W-well, women with high noses are good at playing hard to get. Camellia is probably inwardly thrilled by your interest, Sir Brandon. So please go back inside and send flowers or jewels instead…. urk!”

“How many times have I done exactly that, according to you! Every single time she didn’t even spare them a glance and disappeared! What are you all doing? Kneel down already! Lift me over the wall, I say! This time, I’ll finally see that haughty face of hers myself.”

“Oh dear, please calm yourself! If the security force catches us….”

They were uninvited guests, not the man she had been waiting for. Sometimes petty nobles, curious after hearing rumors about the dancer whom commoners even called a queen, showed up now and then.

‘I should go back inside.’

Swallowing a sigh, Camellia extinguished her cigarette.

Setting aside whether those troublesome men could even get over this high wall, it was about time for her to return to the stage. Olga had surely lured in a crowd of customers with the bait of her performance, so even more people than before must be waiting for her to come out.

Just as she was about to quietly turn away.

“Oh, goodness, that startled me….!”

“W-what, who are you? Where did you come from?”

“What, do you need something? Hm? You foreigner.”

‘Foreigner.’

At the words carried over from beyond the wall, Camellia paused and turned back. Inside her dark eyes, her pale sky-blue irises sharpened with interest.

“Tsk, I’m asking what business you have. Speak up. Ah, can’t you understand our language? Hm?”

“Sir B-Brandon. Please calm down a little….”

“Calm down? You can still say that after seeing that b*stard’s insolent attitude? How dare he, knowing who I am….”

Whoosh—at that moment, a strong wind blew through. Camellia, standing still and listening to the conversation beyond the wall, caught at her fluttering skirt and tilted her head.

‘….Why did it go quiet?’

The men who had sounded ready to start a fight had suddenly gone mute. Curious, Camellia stepped closer to the wall. Soon, voices reached her—shrunken now, for some reason.

“N-no…. What I meant was, ahem, well….”

“Ha, haha! What Sir Brandon means is, he was just trying to advise you to be careful of behavior that might cause misunderstandings, right?”

“Yes, exactly that!”

“Haha! Truly, you are so generous. You even offer advice to a stranger you’ve never met before.”

“Hahaha! Well, then!”

‘What’s going on? What is this?’

The ‘foreigner’ had not said a single word, yet the men were the first to back down. Even as Camellia pressed her ear to the wall, she could not see what was happening on the other side.

“Well then… I’ll be leaving now… I suddenly remembered something urgent.”

“Oh my, if it’s urgent, you should hurry!”

“I’ll escort you! Let’s run… I mean, let’s go take care of your business, Sir Brandon!”

‘Wait! Explain before you leave! Hold on…!’

But contrary to Camellia’s wish, the men quickly fled. Hearing their retreating footsteps, she wore a look of disappointment.

And then, above her head, a low voice descended.

“What are you doing?”

Camellia looked up. There, silently perched atop the high wall, was a man, their eyes meeting.

He was a man whose atmosphere seemed to wrap him in the darkness of night itself. Beneath an exotic robe pulled low over his face, tawny, languid eyes gazed down at her.

Still pressed close to the wall, Camellia did not fluster, but calmly straightened her back and tilted her head.

“Hmm, eavesdropping?”

“…Now that I’ve been caught, it’s not eavesdropping anymore, is it?”

“Then listening?”

“You really are fearless.”

His eyes curved in a long arc. Then, as quietly and gently as he had climbed the wall, he landed below.

Flutter—the robe’s hem flipped up as he landed, and Camellia parted her lips slightly in surprise.

‘So that’s why those men were scared.’

Under the robe, he wore nothing, his bronzed bare chest exposed and packed with hard muscle, adorned with a large, ornate gold necklace and exotic chest ornaments that gleamed even in the dark.

And that wasn’t all. Gold bracelets, eight rings set with large jewels.

The man standing before her was physically imposing, and the display of wealth had clearly intimidated the men from earlier.

And then…

“It’s been a while, Camellia.”

He removed the hood of his robe, revealing features that seemed to shine even in the middle of the night.

Exotic, thick eyebrows, a straight nose, lips curving gently, a bold jawline, and long silver hair spilling from beneath the cloth hood.

‘No matter how many times I saw him, it was refreshing.’

As a foreigner, he looked completely different from the men of the kingdom. This made the citizens wary, but in Camellia’s eyes, he simply looked mysterious.

Especially his eyes, which shifted between gold and tawny depending on the light, were captivating. Perhaps they were the colors of the desert she had only seen in storybook illustrations.

“…Camellia?”

“Just a moment.”

Noticing her silence, he started to approach, but Camellia raised her palm to stop him.

“I’m appreciating the view. Don’t interrupt.”

“…You’re always so direct.”

“You know I like your face.”

“Just my face?”

His thick eyebrows furrowed slightly. Even that seemed like a scene from a foreign art book.

‘Isn’t this art? That beauty is art itself.’

Camellia applauded silently. From the moment she first saw him, his looks—so different from the kingdom’s standards of beauty—had appealed to her.

That’s why, when she saw him in the backyard when she was smoking without Olga’s permission, she hadn’t reported or warned anyone. Good things were best enjoyed alone.