Chapter 8.1 (Part 7)

The appearance of Chester felt out of place, just as she had harbored the vain hope that Viscount Lensch would come.  

“You can’t take your eyes off him.”  

She was so surprised that she didn’t even register the large hand supporting her swaying body or the low voice beside her.  

Chester glanced around the hall once, then walked straight toward Sellakia. Coming directly toward her, he looked like a racehorse charging forward.  

“Sel…”  

Suddenly, Tenus blocked Chester’s path. Tenus stepped forward, obscuring Sellakia from Chester’s view.  

Chester hesitated as if he had only just realized Tenus’s presence.  

“Duke Sei… Young Master. It’s been a while. Have you been well?”

“You seem very well too, Young Master Pyregen. So much so that you attend banquets you weren’t even invited to.”  

Sellakia, who had been staring blankly at Chester, snapped back to reality at the sight of Tenus’s broad back and his sharp voice.

Responding to a formal greeting in such a rude manner. She couldn’t understand why Tenus was always so hostile toward Chester.  

Sellakia, flabbergasted, quickly stood beside Tenus to defend Chester.  

“I had spoken to the Young Master of Pyregen separately. He said he probably wouldn’t be able to make it, but I still sent an invitation…”

Sellakia’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Chester. Chester brushed off the unspoken rebuke with a thoughtless smile.  

“The business with the merchant group ended earlier than expected. I couldn’t miss the chance to enjoy the banquet with you.”  

“Wow. That’s… grateful indeed.”  

Sellakia forced her reluctant lips into a smile.  

She never imagined Chester would pull such a stunt. If only Tenus weren’t there, she could have slapped his back.  

As she swallowed her regret, Tenus spoke to refocus her attention.  

“Sellakia, we can’t delay any longer. We must go.”  

“Right. The dance.”  

The dance was the highlight of the banquet and couldn’t be delayed too long. Only after the host’s first dance could the attendees freely dance. That’s when the banquet truly began.  

“Then, Young Master Pyregen, let’s talk more later.”  

Leaving a stern look and words like a warning, Sellakia was almost dragged to the center of the hall by Tenus.

* * *

As soon as they took their positions, the orchestra’s music, which had been softly filling the space, stopped. Everyone in the hall directed their attention to them standing in the center.  

Sellakia hid her face behind Tenus’s broad shoulders, using them as a shield as she assumed the dance position. Tenus raised her hand with his left hand and lightly placed his right hand on her back, asking,  

“What’s wrong?”  

“I’m not as composed in front of people as someone else is.”  

The close proximity, where even a slightly deep breath would make their chests touch, added a different kind of tension from standing in front of people.  

Sellakia shook her head slightly to shake off his heavy scent lingering at the tip of her nose.  

“Focus your mind on one thing.”  

Sellakia’s gaze, which had been anxiously fixed on her feet, followed the low voice.  

Even looking up from below, the man with a flawless face added another word.  

“That’s what I do.”  

“If it were as easy as you say, I wouldn’t be trembling like this.”  

“It’s not that difficult.”  

“What are you focusing on right now?”  

Tenus locked eyes with Sellakia and answered in a casual tone.  

“Why I might be shameless.”

“What?”  

Sellakia was dumbfounded by the sudden reflection. The absurdity was enough to dissipate all her tension.  

“You said earlier that you didn’t care about such things.”

“Did I?”  

“…Don’t you remember?”  

“I never said that.”  

Tenus blinked slowly, looking genuinely clueless.  

He seemed to have forgotten what he had said just minutes ago, as if he too was not in his right mind due to nerves.  

She thought his composed face meant he was unaffected by the attention, yet he was secretly trembling and focusing elsewhere.  

The incongruity almost made her laugh.  

Sellakia found peculiar comfort in realizing that Tenus was not so different from her. She judged that advice from someone in the same situation was worth following.  

At the moment, the only thing she could focus on was the man right in front of her.  

Sellakia looked at the hand she held with Tenus and asked,  

“Has the wound on your wrist healed?”  

“Thanks to someone pouring medicine on it.”  

Before she could scold his annoying answer, the orchestra’s music began calmly.

Tenus smoothly led Sellakia. Since it was her first time with such a tall partner, Sellakia hesitated to gauge her stride, and Tenus changed his steps fluidly.  

The orchestra then promptly slowed their playing to match his pace. It was a perfect harmony as if pre-arranged.  

As they moved widely across the center of the hall, the view changed rapidly. Unlike when standing still, it was hard to focus her attention on one place.  

Sellakia tried to forget the attention on her by gripping Tenus’s arm tightly.  

“Tell me. What are you thinking about now?”  

There was no reply.  

Sellakia glanced at Tenus. He met her gaze directly, as if he had been watching her all along.  

“…”  

For a moment, the anxiety in her heart calmed a little. Tenus’s beauty had the same effect as the ceiling fresco she had looked up at before standing in front of the servants.  

His silver hair, sparkling under the chandelier’s light, was more captivating than a gilded masterpiece. His elegant features seemed to be touched not by a master but by the hands of a god.  

Sellakia stared at his face, which was rewarding to behold, for quite some time. Just as her heartbeat, which had been racing with tension, began to beat in an inexplicable rhythm, Tenus answered the question she had forgotten.  

“That there are things you can’t stop even when you know them.”  

“…What?”  

“Once you give up one thing with the mindset of letting go of yourself, it eventually spirals out of control and becomes unmanageable.”  

“…”  

“I always think like that these days.”  

“…Oh.”  

Sellakia reacted a beat late.  

At this critical moment, in the center of everyone’s attention, Tenus seemed deeply immersed in a rather philosophical inquiry.  

She couldn’t understand a word of what he meant, but it was certainly a more refined thought than just staring at someone’s face.  

“I see… That’s what you’re thinking…”  

“What are you thinking about?”  

In Sellakia’s mind, there was only Tenus’s face. She couldn’t find any metaphysical topic to match his words.  

Unable to confess the truth outright, Tenus asked in a low voice.  

“Shall I guess?”  

For a moment, he gently pushed Sellakia’s back.  

Sellakia spun around to the music, moving away from him, then was pulled back into Tenus’s arms with a strong tug.  

Their bodies were even closer than before. Tenus lowered his head and placed his lips close to her ear.  

“It would have been nice if you’d had your first dance with Young Master Pyregen.”  

“…What?”  

Sellakia asked slowly. The unexpected comment seemed to drain the heat from her flushed face.  

Tenus tilted his head and met her gaze again.  

“Or is it the affectionate tutor?”  

“…What kind of nonsense is that?”  

Sellakia barely managed to control her furrowing brow.  

“How could I have my first dance with another man at the banquet? I know at least that much.”  

“You don’t particularly care about conventions, do you?”  

A breath of disbelief escaped her. Who would have thought that taking a canoe ride with Chester would make her a shameless person who disregarded conventions?

It was too much. The injustice made Sellakia’s previously timid steps a bit more vigorous. The orchestra accelerated their previously slow music to match her pace.  

“If I don’t know conventions, then you’re someone who doesn’t know promises.”  

Tenus looked at her intently, as if asking what she meant.  

“You said you’d share Seidon’s rights and duties with me. What’s the use of rights and duties if I can’t even freely go to the family’s Long Gallery?”  

Tenus raised an eyebrow as if hearing something unexpected. Yet, his movements as he held Sellakia and danced showed no hesitation.  

“Do you want to go to the Long Gallery? Why?”  

“That’s…”  

Sellakia realized her mistake. In a burst of emotion, she had let slip the grudge she had kept tightly bottled up.  

She focused all her attention on maintaining a nonchalant face as she spoke.  

“No particular reason. It’s just that when you’re forbidden from going somewhere, you become curious about things you weren’t curious about before.”  

“I’ll tell the housekeeper to clear it out, so you can go the day after tomorrow.”  

“Clear out what?”  

“…”

Tenus didn’t answer. His stubbornly closed lips seemed like they would never open.  

Sellakia quickly gave up on finding out the answer and muttered.  

“You know you can be really annoying sometimes, right?”  

“Yes.”  

“What?”  

“I know.”  

“You know? …Why do you know?”  

“Because I’ve heard it often.”  

His calm answer, delivered without a change in expression, left her speechless.  

It was hard to believe that this man, who seemed to have looked down on everyone with a stoic face since birth, had often heard such things.  

Sellakia unknowingly let out a chuckle at the unbelievable story.  

The gazes pouring onto them as they gracefully moved across the hall like one body were completely forgotten.