Volume 3 - CH 10

Lively cheers and applause echoed. The ball began after the King and the Queen entered the hall.

I stood by and watched from behind the curtains.

A ball does not start with dancing. Particularly this time, we are not only welcoming the visiting Prince of Albatro and his wife, but they are also announcing the engagement between the Princess and Prince Rufus.

While the guests are gathering in the hall, the royal family and the Hero’s party who are the state guests arrived in order. Anyway, their presence is announced.

The first to enter is Their Majesties, the King and Queen, who sat on their thrones. Next, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Albatro── Lautrich-sama and Mariage-sama entered with their arms linked with each other. It is believed that the reason why there are so many cheers from the men is because they are die-hard fans of Mariage-sama who was the most beautiful princess in the kingdom until she went away for marriage.

Following them were Louise-sama, my master, who was being led by Rufus-sama. The bright green dress looked great on her. I saw Rufus-sama wearing formal wear for the first time, and the dark green jacket matched the color of the princess’s dress, which looked very nice.

Rufus-sama usually wore his magician’s robes, but him wearing a formal dress like a prince of a kingdom right now is exuding elegance. It seems that the buzz, cheers, and applause are not only because Rufus-sama is the magician of the Hero’s party, but also because he is the prince from the powerful Elusion. Of course, there are times when he looked great alongside my Princess.

After the Princess and Rufus-sama, Tiana-sama, who was escorted by Alfred-sama, entered. Tiana-sama must have begged to be escorted by Greed-sama, but things seldom go as one wishes. A royal basically escorts a fellow royal if he/she is without a spouse or fiancé. Even if a royal does not have a suitable partner, this time there is a person named Alfred-sama who is just right in terms of age. It’s no wonder that Alfred-sama was chosen as Tiana-sama’s partner. No matter how selfish she is, she must follow etiquette.

Perhaps because of that, Tiana-sama seems to be a little dissatisfied, but she is behaving well while being escorted by Alfred-sama.

──Now that all the royal has been admitted, it’s the Hero’s party’s turn!

In truth, they were reluctant to attend the ball at first. Apparently, they have refused all such flashy events up until now. This is because they are allowed to wear anything even if they were armed during the heroes’ parade and audiences with the royal family, but when it comes to a ball, it is unavoidable for them to wear formal wear and dresses. They cannot bring their weapons either, so they will end up being unarmed. That is why they kept refusing no matter how much they were asked.

However, when His Majesty the King asked them to join in Schwarze, where they had been staying for a long time, they cannot refuse. That is why they decided to participate on the condition that they can keep their weapons.

It was approved, and all they needed to do is formal wear and a dress. At first, they said that they don’t need it because they will wear their usual clothes, but that was not the case.

──Is a ball an event where you can wear your everyday clothes!? Or rather, these people who are worth dolling up like this will wear their usual clothes!?

……And so we (the Princess and the maid corps), who were fired up, managed to persuade them to wear formal wear and dresses.

By the way, Greed-sama also said that he would wear his usual shirt at first, but when I requested, he changed his mind…… In exchange for dancing with me, though.

I already said I won’t attend the ball, right? Even the viscounts in the kingdom were not included in the guest list. Therefore, I, a viscount’s daughter, should not attend because my parents were not even invited…… They will address me as “the daughter of Viscount Milford”, and then? Well, I would have the opportunity to dance someday, so I accepted the trade-off.

This way, the Hero and the others decided to participate in the ball in formal wear and dresses, but unfortunately only Rufaga-sama did not agree.

“Only adults can attend the ball, right? Then I can’t participate. I don’t even know how to dance because I’m an elf.”

You say that but you are older than everyone else, right? Moreover, do not use “Boku [T/N: I]” as first-person! And not knowing to dance is a lie, right!?

“Even if I practice, I’m not tall enough to dance. I’m just this tall.”

When he phrased it like that, we cannot strongly refute him. That’s right, if Rufaga-sama will dance, he is shorter than his female partner. That would be a bit awful for a man.

For that reason, we had to give up on persuading Rufaga-sama to participate in the ball. That was unfortunate.

Anyway, without Rufaga-sama, the male-female ratio is just right, so there is no inconvenience.

The names of the members of the Hero’s party will be read aloud, raising the expectations of the guests. This time, nobles from distant lands and diplomats from other kingdoms who could not come at the time of their victorious return were also invited, so many people are seeing them for the first time.

The first to enter was Renas-sama and Millie-sama, who snuggled close to his arm. Millie-sama has short hair and has sharp facial features, so lace and frills don’t look good on her. That’s why the craftsmen made a dress with a simple and bold design. What a novel one-shoulder dress! Moreover, the color is bright red to match her hair! She stands out so much!

On the other hand, Renas-sama…… Oh, he is wearing a white formal wear. It looked like a sacred color, but it complemented Millie-sama’s dress and created an exquisite contrast. The cravat is jade green to match the color of his hair, but this also matched the color of Millie-sama’s eyes.

The person who designed the dresses also prepared the formal wears of Greed-sama and the others, and I think those were made with lots of thought.

And after Renas-sama and Millie-sama, Greed-sama and Farah-sama appeared. Greed-sama, who doesn’t like being touched by people, just entered alongside Farah-sama. Farah-sama’s dress is blue. Like Millie-sama, laces don’t look good on her, so her dress also has a simple and bold cut. It has an off-shoulder design, and instead of sleeves, lace hid her upper arms. It suits Farah-sama well. She is oozing with adult vibes. I am not confident with my chest so it is a design that I can never wear. Kuuu.

But right after they entered, the oohs was not only due to Farah-sama’s dress. There are admiring voices of women especially when they saw Greed-sama. That’s because when I looked at Greed-sama……! I turned my eyes to Greed-sama, who was walking next to Farah-sama.

──Greed-sama is different from usual today. Even his pale blonde hair that is usually tied up is neatly organized with a ribbon today. The color of his formal wear is blue. It is a shade darker than Farah-sama’s dress and its edges are embroidered with gold threads. His white cravat completed his gorgeous outfit. It totally feels like he is a real-life prince.

Hey, they are going to have nosebleeds! I can see it!

Like me, the noble ladies and daughters were mesmerized. Of course, so is Tiana-sama, and it seems that Alfred-sama, who was standing next to her, is nowhere in sight. Then, when he saw me watching the hall from the antechamber, a smile appeared from his usual expressionless face. It was not like the fake smile he showed to Tiana-sama, but a real, heartfelt smile.

“Kyaaaa!”

Those shrill voices that rang nearby were probably from the nobles’ daughters who stood between Greed-sama and me. They must have thought that his smile was directed at them.

But that was still for me, wasn’t it? Feeling happy and embarrassed, my cheeks reddened. Smiling in your Prince version is foul, Greed-sama!

Tiana-sama followed Greed-sama’s line of sight and noticed me, her expression froze. While catching it from the edge of my peripheral vision, I waved at Greed-sama a little in response to his smile. Then Greed-sama smiled even more.

……Like I said, that’s unfair! Distracted by his destructive smile, I didn’t realize that Tiana-sama was staring at me with an indignant look.

After the official announcement of the engagement between the Princess and Rufus-sama, the ball began with the opening remarks and the first dance of the King and the Queen.

The castle’s exclusive orchestra played a light sound. Along with that, men and women in colorful dresses and formal wear danced together in the hall. At the center, the Princess and Rufus-sama danced happily while smiling at each other. A little away from them, Renas-sama and Millie-sama were also dancing. You can tell immediately because they stood out.

In a wait-and-see stance, I took a close look at them from between the curtains.

As the Maid A of the princess, I’m waiting in the antechamber this way, but in reality, I don’t have much to do. My role is to take care of the princess when she takes a breather. Besides, since this is an antechamber dedicated to the princess, no one else will come. I have a lot of free time.

All I can do now is either sit quietly and wait or take a peek at the ball. It’s natural to do the latter, right?

I took my eyes off from the two dancing pairs and searched for the other non-dancing pair──Greed-sama and Farah-sama. It took me a while to find them, probably because they were surrounded by people, but it seems they decided to stay at the edge of the hall so that they would not get in the way of the dancing people.

Judging from the gap between their heads, it seems that Greed-sama and Farah-sama are holding wine glasses in their hands. Are they expressing their intention not to dance?

Still, those who want to dance and talk with them are constantly approaching. Farah-sama merely smiled, and Greed-sama seemed to refuse everything, seeing him shake his head with no expression.

Princess Tiana, who was reluctantly dancing with a Schwarze noble, left him as soon as the song was over and headed towards Greed-sama. I gloomily thought that he was going to dance with her but . . . Greed-sama shook his head at Tiana-sama and said something.

However, Tiana-sama still seems to be determined. Greed-sama’s mouth moved to answer her…… I wonder what they are talking about.

“I apologize but I am just a villager and having been devoted to martial arts, I cannot dance.”

“Ehhh!?”

Suddenly, someone spoke from behind so I jumped.

Hurriedly turning around, it was Rufaga-sama who was there.

“Eh? Eh?”

Rufaga-sama smiled at me, who was dumbfounded.

“That’s what Greed told Princess Tiana. The spirit told me.”

“Eh?”

Various questions popped in my mind, such as why Rufaga-sama is in such a place and why he knew that I was worried about Greed-sama’ss reply, but what I was most interested in was ──

“He can’t dance……?”

Even though he can’t dance, why did he say, “Dance with me” as a trade-off?

Maybe I need to teach Greed-sama to dance……? Eh, from the basics?

Rufaga-sama answered me, who frowned unknowingly.

“Well, that’s a lie.”

“What?”

“Greed can dance. Millie and Renas, who are from the same village, are also dancing, right? That was his way to refuse the dance. Since he said he can’t dance, she has no choice but to give up. Look, she gave up and left.”

When he said that, I looked again at Greed-sama and the others, and indeed, Tiana-sama moved away from Greed-sama with a petulant expression. It seems that Lautrich-sama called her for some reason because she was heading in his direction. Next to Lautrich-sama is probably the son of one of the dukes of Schwarze, so maybe he is trying to introduce him to her.

Relieved, I asked Rufaga-sama again.

“Why are you here, Rufaga-sama?”

“Before going to the castle’s library, I wanted to see what everyone was doing.”

After saying that, Rufaga-sama smiled meaningfully.

“And I heard that you finally felt like responding to Greed’s feelings, so thank you.”

I averted my eyes inadvertently.

W-Why, no, how did he know that──!?

As I gaped in surprise, I remembered what happened yesterday and I wanted to kick myself.

Speaking of which, I told the spirits not to tell Greed-sama, but I didn’t mention that they can’t tell anyone else!

After a moment of being dejected, I asked Rufaga-sama nervously. Someone who can get information directly from the spirits…… There were others, right?

“E-Err, besides Rufaga-sama, then Renas-sama also……”

“Yes, he knows. Right now, he is eagerly chatting with Millie as they danced.”

“What!?”

“We haven’t told Greed, so don’t worry about it.”

“How can I be relieved!?”

My screams echoed in the antechamber as the merry sound get through the curtains from the hall.

“Gossiping spiri~iits!”

Even after Rufaga-sama said he is going to the library, I was so embarrassed that I held my head and agonized alone. I can’t help but be upset that everyone knows except Greed-sama. I’m so embarrassed I could die.

Do I have no privacy……!?

……This is no good. No matter how much I like Greed-sama, this is unacceptable! This problem should be solved!

As I pumped my fist when I came to that decision, the curtain of the antechamber suddenly opened and someone came in. When I looked back in amazement, the one who entered was……

“Greed-sama!?”

“Aria.”

Greed-sama, in his Prince version, stood there, smiling.

With his destructive smile, my conversation with Rufaga-sama, and my thoughts running around my head, I was on the verge of an explosion.

However, I managed to regain my composure. If I did that, Greed-sama will be suspicious, and above all, I am here for work not for peeping at them nor to embarrass myself!

……Yes, this is work. I managed to hide the turmoil by gathering myself together with the finesse of the maid I had cultivated over the last six years and asked Greed-sama with feigned nonchalance.

“Is there something wrong? If you are tired, can I offer you something to drink?”

The antechamber has everything one might need for a break, from makeup and wet towels to drinks and light meals.

“No, I don’t need a drink.”

Greed-sama shook his head, then reached out to me and said with a smile.

“The promise, Aria.”

“Eh?”

“Will you dance with me?”

“……Ha?”

I gaped.

At-At a place like this──!?

* * *

While I was screaming in my heart.

Far above, three shadows were overlooking the castle of Schwarze, which was illuminated by magical lights.

One of them declared with a laughing voice.

"Now, the festival has begun ──"

── That was the beginning of the mayhem that happened this night.