155 - Pieces of the Broken Glass Slipper
Shattered Glass Slipper Shards 155
==========
When women greeted Michael Ayres, they always bowed deeply, sticking their buttocks out a little more than usual.
It was to flaunt their gathered cleavage and seduce him sexually.
This happened everywhere, whether in the garden, on the hunting grounds, or in the palace corridors. So much so that there was a joke that there was a special greeting just for Michael Ayres.
This somewhat excessive posture came across as awkwardly strong, accompanied by expectant gazes. The eyes, full of ardent desire, sparkled as if they knew no shame.
Each time, he could easily read a strand of emotion in the women's eyes. It was 'expectation.'
Michael Ayres did not know what aspect of himself gave women leeway. He only offered polite greetings mindful of others, but those who received it seemed to consider it special.
It was the same at the Dibenzel ducal residence. He suppressed a sigh at the sight of the girls looking at him with envious eyes, bowing deeper than usual. Their flushed cheeks revealed their shyness.
The women hoped he would say even one more word to them. They blinked exaggeratedly, as if wanting to see his face a little longer. When Michael spoke to Princess Dieunzel, they twisted their bodies as if melting, causing a small commotion.
It seemed they couldn't bear the presence of a superior male subtly revealing his presence. The noise, like whispers, gradually grew louder, eventually eliciting low screams.
In contrast, the girl's movements were calm. Despite her seductive appearance, what flowed smoothly over her body was restrained elegance.
She bowed just the right amount, offered greetings at the appropriate time, and turned her gaze away.
Her somewhat indifferent but somehow blatant face seemed to say, 'You're such a nuisance.'
Is that how my face looks when I look at other women?
Michael Ayres felt a strange sensation again and subtly swallowed his saliva without making it obvious.
He almost laughed at the fact that Princess Dieunzel and the girl were the only ones in the room maintaining their reason.
Leaving aside the princess, who was as inscrutable as her father, he found it interesting that she kept turning her gaze to the book on her lap.
If the Crown Prince were here, he would have exclaimed, 'Mel being pushed aside by a book, unbelievable!' and chuckled.
It's still interesting. But I wish she would show a fresher reaction?
In fact, many of the women who had approached him had pretended to be uninterested while trying to catch his eye.
Whether they had ambitious plans to stand out based on differentiation, they acted in ways that didn't suit them and lingered around Michael Ayres. How foolish.
A knight is more sensitive to changes in the emotions of others than anyone else. They had to have the ability to distinguish friend from foe, so it was inevitable. They were required to sense the murderous intent of others at first sight and be wary of it.
Therefore, there was no way that an outstanding knight like Michael Ayres would not know that the acting was worse than that of a third-rate actor. He only endured it because of the 'Etiquette for Ladies' written in the knight's manual.
It would have been better if they had maintained a consistent attitude from the beginning, but it was impossible not to notice when their eyes were filled with lingering emotions.
The discrepancy between their emotions and actions was so ridiculously off that it felt like watching a cheap comedy.
Each time, Michael Ayres hardened his lips as if he were in a bad mood. He thought it was more disgusting than sloppily spilling emotions. They cowered as if to say, 'Take it or leave it,' but acted as if they had experienced all the sorrows of the world.
Above all, the fact that he had to put all his effort into maintaining an emotional distance because of this ambiguous attitude made him even more angry.
The situation was annoying because he had to pay close attention to the emotions of women he didn't care about, as he could become a rude man who didn't care about women.
How much contempt he had swallowed because of this ridiculous trick, even the Crown Prince would not have dared to count.
The affection that women desired was not listed in the words that Michael Ayres knew. So he found the women who desired his heart uncomfortable and annoying.
He even found it ridiculous that such a heart could run around like an unbridled colt.
If he could, Michael Ayres wanted to ask the women who confessed that their hearts were shaken by their affection for him in a cynical tone.
What do you know about me that you dare use the word 'love'?
Compared to them, how wise that girl was. He was quite satisfied that she maintained an external expression as if she had no interest, as if she were looking at himself.
An ordinary man would have felt disappointed in a woman who did not recognize his charm, but he was already tired of such things, so he was rather pleased with this situation.
At the same time, he also had a slight, albeit very small, whim to see a different side of her.
Because there was nothing as boring as looking at himself in the mirror. He knew how cold-blooded he was, so he also wanted to see 'change.'
But it would be better than being annoyed.
Fickle emotions quickly lose their fun. The only things he maintained consistency with were his friendship with the Crown Prince and Lüce Roshan, and his sword.
So the interest he had felt just now maintained a bland temperature like lukewarm tea.
Still, something feels a little lacking?
Michael Ayres thought as he greeted Princess Dieunzel for the last time.
Did she notice his feelings? It was just as he was about to turn around after finishing the formal greetings.
By chance, when his gaze turned to the brown-haired girl, he found her face with her eyes curved and an awkward smile. It was the change that Michael Ayres had wanted.
In an instant, something shattered with a crash. The gaze that had not found any particular uniqueness, as if looking at a mirror, collapsed for the first time.
The lasciviousness felt as he had first felt made her beauty, which was no different from other women, into something special.
Her lips, curved gently as if they had no choice but to rise, drew a pretentious line as if it were a situation where she had to smile rather than truly laugh.
But it was very vivid. Like a blue sprout rising alone in a white snowfield, like a dot printed on a blank sheet of paper, she stood out alone. In a world made of black and white, only she was shining brilliantly.
Michael Ayres stared blankly at the girl without realizing it. He had wanted her to show a fresher reaction, but now that she had, he couldn't take his eyes off her for some reason.
No, it wasn't just that he couldn't take his eyes off her. He didn't even know what kind of expression he was making. At that moment, he couldn't control his reason.
For a knight of his level, especially one like Michael Ayres, who was known to have a heart made of ice, this situation would have been nothing, but he couldn't move at all, as if he had been petrified. It was strange.
Perhaps not noticing his gaze, the girl shook her head as if she were in trouble. When the lady sitting next to her said something, she smiled as if to say no, but her eyes were coldly sunken, which felt quite familiar.
Her eyes, dripping with annoyance, were so cold that it gave him a sense of déjà vu. It was as if he was watching himself dealing with the lady from the perspective of an audience. For a moment, his spine tingled and resonated.
Interestingly, the girl was different from him, who maintained a blank expression from beginning to end. Surprisingly, she had all of the Crown Prince's pretense, Michael Ayres's coldness, and Lüce Roshan's response.
So she could smile as much as she wanted, even if she didn't like it. She was the same as looking in a mirror, but the girl was showing a better Michael Ayres. So she could be indifferent even when she looked at him.
…Huh?
Michael Ayres frowned and closed his lips tightly. The moment he thought of her, who expressed her displeasure with a momentary but cold expression, and himself standing blankly in front of her, something felt very strange.
He was feeling a strange and unpleasant feeling. A violent passion that had reached the extreme of coldness was slowly raising its head.
It was even more so from the moment he discovered the girl frowning as if she had seen something she shouldn't have after meeting his gaze.
His head was dizzy and cold as if he had been hit with a hammer, and it was strange that warm heat was rising from his earlobes.
Why? He slowly asked himself.
Was he feeling this way because he had discovered and faced something he didn't have? His interest faded and an indescribable feeling consumed his entire body.
It was a completely different feeling from when he met Lüce Roshan, whom he thought was a similar human being.
At that time, he showed a negative reaction like hatred of the same kind, but even though he met the same person as looking in a mirror, he didn't feel annoyed or repulsed. Why?
When Michael Ayres's thoughts reached this point, his eyes widened at one question that flashed through his mind.
But why did I expect a fresh reaction?
As if he had encountered an unsolvable problem, Michael, who was about to look at the girl again, barely regained his senses when he felt the gaze of the Dibenzel lady watching him.
Because she was a cunning woman who resembled the Duke, he couldn't show even the slightest gap.
So the expression that had been absent-minded and loose returned to its place in an instant.
He felt his whole body cooling down. His heart, which had been fluttering as if he were feverish, beat slowly as usual. All of this was happening in a very short moment between opening and closing the door.
'Lüce might know.'
When the door closed with a thud, he sighed without realizing it, thinking of his close friend, Lüce Roshan.
It was annoying to think of her, who usually wore a hateful smile and acted like an older sister, but it couldn't be helped.
He thought that Lüce Roshan, whose tastes perfectly matched Michael Ayres's, might pick up on something he was missing. She might even make a fuss about meeting that girl.
And as he expected, Lüce Roshan showed great interest in the brown-haired girl. It was impossible for a man who usually didn't even mention the word 'woman' to not be interested when he heard that he had met a girl who was emotionally similar to him.
"Another ice cube like you exists, that's really terrible. It'll bring winter to society. Anyway, it's very interesting. It's fun. I want to see her right now? Mel doesn't hate women, that's so amazing."
"She's mingling with Princess Dieunzel's group, so you'll be able to meet her soon."
"That's strange."
"Why?"
"I haven't heard any news that Princess Dieunzel has accepted a new person."
"You didn't know?"
"Yeah. If she was invited to the mansion, she must have met her several times, but I haven't heard anything about it."
She frowned and made a serious expression. The interest in the new person disappeared at some point, and only a woman remained who was seriously contemplating in a serious tone.
If Michael Ayres was the Crown Prince's sword, Lüce Roshan was in charge of the social circle's information broker.
She made full use of her beauty, position, and discretion to mingle with everyone from the old noble ladies to the young ladies who were just preparing to enter society, gathering information.
Lüce Roshan was one of the few women who could use social gossip.
Since she met the Crown Prince as a child and promised to become friends, she had been steadily growing as an 'invisible hand' - referring to the people who manipulate the rumors of society - by running rampant through the social circle where wild beasts roamed, and she had become so great that she could confidently say that there was no story she didn't know.
Even the Crown Prince would listen to Lüce Roshan's words first when it came to rumors and gossip.
She said that she didn't know about the girl who had joined the Dibenzel lady's group. He couldn't help but be surprised. This meant that there was a minor problem with the information system that Lüce Roshan had built, or that someone had blocked it in the middle, one of the two.
