Second Arc: Tenth Chapter

Chapters 1–90 are on AsianHobbyist: read them here.

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"Cosette, let's dance."

His Highness held out his hand to me.

I took it, and we began a waltz to Lady Emilia's piano.

This was the first time I'd ever danced with His Highness.

His deep green eyes were right there in front of me. My face went red in an instant, and I felt my heart start to pound.

He led so well that my feet found the steps on their own.

His hand around mine was warm.

For a while I forgot the time and lost myself in the dance.

It was almost as if the two of us were one, as if I could feel what he was feeling — I nearly believed it. I held every movement controlled down to my fingertips, to look as graceful as I could, then turned, and our hands came together and clasped again.

"Thank you."

It was Lady Marietta's voice. At some point Lady Emilia's piano had stopped, and hearing her brought me back to myself.

I hurried to bow to His Highness too.

"Th-thank you."

"Thank you. …I enjoyed that very much."

His Highness smiled, a little shy. Somehow I felt terribly embarrassed, and I dropped my eyes, flustered.

"…How long are you two going to stand there gazing at each other?"

Lady Julia's voice snapped us out of it. We looked away at once and let go of the hands we'd still been holding.

"His Highness and Lady Cosette were wonderfully in step," Lady Julia went on. "Well — Lady Cosette lost the steps once or twice, but… that was all, really."

So she'd caught me nearly missing a step…

I put a hand to my cheek and gave a rueful smile.

Lady Julia is one of the best dancers in the school. That's why she'd come today to play teacher. There really was no slipping anything past her.

"She's right," His Highness said. "Mind what Lady Julia says, and it'll be better still. If I were the one leading in the exam itself, I could cover for you."

The partners for the exam hadn't been announced yet. The teachers decide, apparently, going by your marks in the regular dance lessons. His Highness is without question top rank, so he probably won't be paired with me.

"Marietta…" Lady Julia turned to her. "Shall we dance once more, you and I? You need the practice."

"Oh no… Julia's so strict, I'd rather not…"

Standing next to Georg, catching her breath, Lady Marietta let out a long sigh. Georg had been slipping her little pointers all through the dance, but Lady Marietta really is hopeless at it, and she'd missed the steps quite a few times.

"Hmm, Marietta," said Georg. "Best thing is not to panic. Miss a step, but carry yourself like you meant it and no one will notice."

"Lord Georg," said Marietta. "It shows."

"Ngh…"

So Georg had been missing steps too. I hadn't noticed. Maybe because he carried himself like he meant it.

I took over the piano from Lady Emilia, and Georg and Lady Emilia, Lady Julia and Lady Marietta began to dance.

We kept at it after that, swapping partners, and by the time Lady Julia had passed every one of us, we were all worn out.