Free Web NovelChapter 176: The Butler And His Lady [2]: A Dance
"Would my lady like to dance?" Adrian asked after Cedric’s words.
"You don’t have to, Adrian," Renelle said as she glared at Cedric. She knew that he was just looking for an opportunity to tease her, hence the suggestion.
"I know," Adrian answered with a smile as he took off his gloves and extended his hand towards her, "but I want to."
Renelle looked at his extended hand for a while before resting hers in his before allowing herself to be pulled to the center of the ballroom.
The ballroom quieted down as attention was pulled towards the two in the center, as if a signal was given to them, the musicians suddenly switched to something that resembled a waltz.
The two immediately started dancing, tuning out everyone else as they focused on each other.
Adrian couldn’t truly dance; fortunately for him, the training the previous Adrian underwent included dance lessons.
And Sebastian had been, as with everything else, extremely thorough.
So when he led, he led properly, and Renelle followed with ease.
They silently moved to the music, unbothered by all the gazes on them...or rather, they were so focused on each other that they didn’t even notice.
The Grand Duke of the West finally understood why Boreas hadn’t shown much reaction to the Saintess representing the royal family, even though his daughter was previously engaged to the prince.
It seems she had already found someone else.
Grand Duke Boreas also had no expression on his face as he watched the two; he would’ve preferred if they held off on the public displays until the butler had established a big enough reputation for himself.
Then again, it wasn’t as if he had any intention to stop them, so he just silently continued looking at them.
As they continued dancing, Renelle suddenly spoke in a low voice, "My mother liked to dance."
Adrian looked down at her, but he said nothing, allowing her to continue.
"She used to dance with my father in the estate’s hall," she continued, "very early in the morning, when they thought no one was watching."
"Did she know you watched?" Adrian asked as they continued dancing.
"Probably," Renelle said with a small smile, "though she never said so."
The silence between them returned.
"She would have liked you," Renelle said again," she had good judgment about people."
The Grand Duchess had intended to meet Adrian to personally thank him; unfortunately, the incident with the cult happened, and she never got the chance.
Adrian looked at her, noting that although she looked calm, she was very clearly reminiscing.
"I think," he said quietly, "she will be very proud of you."
She looked up at him for a while, a small frown appearing on her face at his words, but she soon dismissed it as his mistake before focusing on the dance again.
Adrian noticed her expression, but he didn’t address it; after all, he knew the reason for her frown.
The two went silent again as they continued moving to the music, soon joined by the other nobles attending this ball.
Cedric, standing a distance away, was saying something to the person next to him that made them laugh, but his eyes kept returning to his sister on the dance floor, and he couldn’t help but let out a satisfied smile.
Perhaps it was truly a good thing that the prince called off the engagement.
***
Speaking of the prince, Lucian looked at the two dancing before letting out a sigh.
He wasn’t jealous per se, but it just felt strange.
The Renelle he knew and hated crept him out, a stalker and one who made use of her position to bully anyone who tried getting close to him.
And yet, there wasn’t an ounce of that Renelle to be seen anywhere.
From the moment that Butler showed up, it seems she had become a completely different person.
Which made him wonder,
Would this part of her have surfaced if he had accepted her?
Seeing the prince’s attention fixed on the two on the dance floor, Noelle couldn’t help but ask,
"Do you regret calling off the engagement?"
"No," Lucian answered almost immediately as he turned to her, "but now that I’ve had the chance to think about it, I figured there were better ways to have gone about it."
"Hmm," Noelle nodded as she looked towards the two dancing, "but I think she’s better off this way."
She then turned back to the prince and added, "After all, she seems happy."
Lucian chuckled before holding her hand under the table, "I guess you’re right."
Though he was still smiling when he turned back towards Adrian and Renelle, he seemed to have something to say to them.
Which he did.
But he had no idea how to approach, so for now, he stuck to observing them.
***
The night quickly faded away with nothing major happening as it seemed all the factions decided not to make any moves just yet.
The next day, all the representatives found themselves at the entrance of a large forest that spanned as far as the eye could see.
This forest sat at the very edge of the South, far from the dukedom’s walls. The trees here tall enough that their canopies blocked out most of the morning sky.
The fourteen representatives stood in front of a short woman who was from the South’s military, if the clothes she had on were anything to go by.
The said woman was going to be the officiator for the festival’s first objective, a beast hunt.
"The rules are simple," the woman started, "Beast cores count as points and kills count as double. Higher-ranked beasts mean higher points. You have six hours."
That was as simple as she could explain the rules, especially with someone like Darius among them.
"Don’t die, don’t cross the eastern markers, and finally don’t interfere with other pairs unless you want to forfeit your accumulated points."
She then paused and looked at them before asking, "Any questions?"
Linda, the girl in glasses, raised her hand before asking, "What’s past the eastern markers?"
The officiator looked at her for a while.
"The reason we have eastern markers," she finally said.
Linda lowered her hand at that answer. After all, with the way the woman explained the rules, she should’ve expected something like that.
"Any other questions?"
There was total silence as none bothered to ask anything; after all, they were sure to receive a lackluster response.
"Good." She lifted her arm, held it in the air for a second before bringing it down, fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"Begin."
