Previously
At the banquet, Sienna dances the first set with Theo as per tradition, while Declan watches with growing possessiveness and jealousy. Ignoring social risks, Declan approaches Sienna on the terrace and uses her previous promise of repayment to force her into a dance.
How to Say Goodbye to You Completely - Episode 28
I hurriedly cast my eyes downward, fully aware that sweeping him from my sight would never make me vanish from his.
Fortunately, instead of offering more needless words, he took my hand and gently guided me toward the center of the hall.
With the orchestra yet to resume playing, the hall remained quiet.
In that suffocating stillness, there was no need to ask where everyone's eyes were fixed. Even I, who had entered the hall alone with my head bowed, could distinctly feel the sharp gazes pricking my skin.
Amid the unbearable silence, I gripped the folds of my dress tightly with the hand Declan had not taken.
Declan Monferrato and Sienna Malony.
A hero revered across the entire continent, and the daughter of a traitor.
An absurd combination, in the truest sense of the word. Every single person gathered here was thinking it.
And that was not all. For the Grand Duke—who stood aloof on the rare occasions he attended a banquet, acting as though nothing concerned him—to ask a princess who never danced with anyone except her imperial guard for the first dance…
Even the Empress, sitting demurely beside the Emperor with a gentle smile, looked taken aback by this unexpected pairing.
As whispers began to rustle from every corner, I felt my breathing grow increasingly rough. Yet Declan, through it all, appeared completely unbothered.
Shortly after the two of us reached the center of the hall, the strings began to play smoothly once more.
It was the beginning of the third piece. Under a mood somehow distinct from the previous two melodies, Declan and I drew closer together. Our hands remained clasped.
When his other hand rested on my waist, our bodies pressed flush against each other. Meanwhile, my free hand hovered awkwardly in the air, unsure of what to do.
He glanced down, noted it, and whispered softly.
“You ought to hold onto me, Your Highness.”
“I know.”
The voice that forced out that short reply trembled pathetically.
Of everyone gathered at tonight’s banquet, the person most flustered by this situation was undoubtedly myself. Gathering my wits as best I could, I rested a trembling hand on Declan’s shoulder.
Inevitably, our bodies drew even closer. The moment I felt the man’s warm breath against me, my frame stiffened even more. The thumping of my pulse began to pound louder and louder in my ears.
As Declan took a slow step in time with the continuing melody, I followed him listlessly.
The only small mercy was that even in this rattled state of mind, my body faithfully moved as it had been trained since childhood.
Instead of teaching me statecraft or countless geography treatises, my father had schooled me in refined etiquette and dancing. Seeing this now, it seemed not all of that investment had gone to waste.
Thanks to that, I managed to avoid stepping on his feet, yet I still thought I must look utterly dreadful right now. Even if, in truth, my movements were nowhere near as terrible in the eyes of others.
Rather, for a pair dancing together for the first time, we were excessively natural. As if we had been dancing partners for a very long time.
Beneath that strange sense of dissonance, one fact remained clear: a man who never let anyone close and a woman who had lived alienated from the crowd blended together in a mood that was peculiar, yet strangely harmonious.
Though several other couples danced alongside us, the gaze of everyone gathered in the hall was fixed solely upon one pair.
In the end, the Emperor’s ambitiously prepared first banquet had ignited a spark in a completely unintended place.
* * *
Standing frozen in fresh shock like the rest of the nobles, Dahlia glanced toward the high seats.
As always, the Emperor was watching the dancers with a faint smile. Whatever thoughts he harbored inside, at least none showed on the surface.
Yes, that much was fine. The problem was Marianne, standing not far away.
She was trying hard to feign a calm expression like the Emperor, but the fact that Dahlia could see right through it meant Marianne was far from fine.
Dahlia clicked her tongue quietly.
‘Good grief.’
To think that the man who was practically her first love had returned to the capital and offered his very first dance to the half-sister she despised most. It was easy to foresee Marianne being on edge for a good while.
Arriving at that thought, Dahlia let out a faint sigh. The mere thought of having to walk on eggshells around Marianne for the foreseeable future made her weary.
And all the blame landed squarely on the man who had asked such an unexpected partner to dance.
While Dahlia was not an ardent admirer of the Grand Duke like Marianne or the other girls her age, she at least agreed he was a prudent man.
She was ignorant of matters on the battlefield, but even Duke Lowell spoke highly of how well the Grand Duke conducted himself so as not to cross the Emperor.
Yet watching this spectacle today, it seemed that was not the case after all. Had he really no idea what the Emperor would think upon seeing this, when he had carefully earmarked the Grand Duke as Marianne’s match in all but official decree?
‘Or is he simply so mad about her that none of it matters?’
Men falling for Sienna was hardly anything unusual. It was just a little surprising that even the utterly indifferent Grand Duke was merely one of those ordinary men.
“What in the world is that pairing?”
Beside Dahlia, a noblewoman watching the center of the hall covered her mouth with a fan and whispered to the lady next to her in sheer disbelief. A look of clear bafflement showed across her white-powdered face.
“The Grand Duke is just a man after all, isn't he?”
The noblewoman beside her clicked her tongue softly with a similar expression.
“What good is a pretty face? I hate to say it, but… she's hardly a fitting match for His Grace.”
“Even if their ranks are the same, she cannot compare to Her Highness the First Princess.”
“Things may be quiet now, but to think she'd dare carry herself so brazenly after Empress Melope died like that. Shameless beyond belief.”
“Low blood never changes, does it?”
Just as the first noblewoman parted her lips to speak again with relish, a loud cough from nearby cut the conversation short.
Their gazes snapped in unison toward the sound. At the end of their stares stood a young woman, still retaining her youthful features, clearing her throat with a prim expression.
Wearing a bright yellow dress with her black hair swept up, the girl looked far closer to an unassuming country maiden than the daughter of a noble house.
Belatedly noticing her presence, a look of dismay gradually washed over the noblewomen’s faces.
When it came to ‘low blood,’ Dahlia Lowell standing right before them was no better off than the Second Princess they had just been badmouthing. The only difference was that Dahlia had the formidable backing of Duke Lowell.
Frozen for a moment, the noblewomen exchanged glances filled with fluster.
“Ahem… Lady Tezet. That wild berry dessert over there looked rather delightful earlier. Have you tried it?”
“O-Oh, no. Not yet. I was just feeling a bit peckish, so that works out well. I think we’ve watched enough of the dancing—shall we go try some together, Lady Thurman?”
“Oh, my. I would love to, of course.”
As the two noblewomen edged away with awkward smiles plastered on their faces, Dahlia finally clicked her tongue in silence.
‘This is why I hated coming to the capital.’
If she had her way, she would have preferred to shut herself in her room all day claiming indigestion, just like before.
Sharing the same space with the capital’s nobles was exhausting enough to drain the very soul from her body. For all the nobility they affected, they were nothing but revolting hypocrites.
Tapping her shoulder with a weary face, Dahlia turned her gaze back toward the center.
Beneath the opulent chandeliers, the dancing woman's pearlescent skin shone even whiter. At this very moment, no one could dispute that Sienna Malony was a presence more radiant than anyone else.
Dahlia’s gaze, previously filled only with curiosity, grew a shade darker.
The half-sister she could barely remember ever speaking to was a completely different beauty from herself, yet there remained traces that were chillingly alike.
The pitch-black hair that looked as though it had swallowed all darkness, the skin white to the point of transparency, and the fact that none of it was inherited from their father.
Sisters who seemed alike yet unalike were another reason Dahlia despised the capital.
For merely looking at her was a vivid reminder of what a wretched imitation she truly was.
* * *
The beautiful melody was likely no different from any ordinary ballroom tune, yet to me, it felt like eternity. While I maintained an untroubled expression on the outside, turmoil churned within.
No matter how much I racked my brain, I could not understand why the man before me had asked me to dance.
Though my memories before coming to Lopawell were hazy, at least according to what I remembered, Declan and I had never been close.
Far from close, I had no memory of ever sharing a proper conversation with him. We had exchanged formal courtesies whenever our paths crossed, but could that really be called closeness? In the first place, close acquaintances did not exist for me back then.
Given Declan's sharp nature, there was no way he was unaware of why Joseph had hosted tonight’s banquet.
The more I turned it over in my mind, the deeper I felt lost in a labyrinth.
“I cannot fathom your reason at all.”
Having moved only my body in silence, I suddenly spoke.