Chapter 26: Dance "What"s wrong?"
I was surprised at the Captain"s sudden appearance.
A troubled smile appeared on his face when I asked him what was wrong.
"I"m sorry for disturbing you in the middle of your lesson. I"m not here for any particular reason…… I just thought I would come to see how you are doing."
The Captain told us the reason why he came after hesitating for a while.
"Could I watch?"
Huh? Watch?
I somehow managed to dance with the teacher but it wasn"t good enough for people to see.
It was embarra.s.sing so I tried to refuse but the teacher had already replied.
"Oh, Hawk-sama. How gracious of you. If you would like, how about joining in too?"
I inadvertently turned around at the teacher"s words.
What does she mean join in?
The teacher noticed my stare and told me why she was smiling.
"You also learn by having a difference dance partner once in a while."
"That"s true but……"
I understood what the teacher was saying but I only recently became able to dance with a partner.
Even then, I had only managed somehow because the teacher was leading.
Can I dance well with the Captain in my state?
It was very doubtful that I could but the teacher and Captain both seemed keen.
Hmm.
The Captain has been learning this since he was little so if I follow him, it"ll probably turn out okay?
I somehow had managed even while dancing with the teacher.
The Captain held out his hand to me while I was hesitating.
I looked at his gentle smile and his hand.
My anxiety grew but it would be rude if I didn"t take his hand.
I took a deep breath and prepared myself.
I corrected my posture and put my left hand into his and he pulled me closer to him.
The Captain swiftly placed his right hand on my left shoulder.
I put my right hand into his left, looked up at him and inadvertently gulped.
H-he"s close……
Well, I knew this would happen because I practiced with the teacher, I knew but……!
This was something that happened all the time when we rode the horse together and we were sitting relatively close to each other in the carriage when we went to the Capital.
So I thought that I would be used to being this close to him.
Uh yeah, I haven"t gotten used to it at all.
To being face to face with him that is.
Up until now I"ve only been sitting behind him or beside him.
I realized that the embarra.s.sment I felt when facing him was nothing compared to those times.
"What"s wrong?"
"N-nothing……"
The Captain smiled and asked curiously at me, who was looking up at him frozen.
I somehow managed to reply and hastily dropped my eyes to his chest.
My ears are hot.
Calm down, me.
I"m in the middle of a lesson.
I took another deep breath and somehow managed to calm myself down before looking up at him.
The Captain, who was facing me, already found out how I was feeling but he pretended not to notice.
We took the first step when the teacher said, "Begin".
I stepped in time with the Captain"s lead.
Although I was a bit awkward, I was able to dance since the Captain was good at leading.
Nonetheless, it was problematic that I was leaving everything up to him.
In order to be able to move by myself, I recalled and practiced all that I"ve learnt so far.
After a while, I heard a voice from above me.
"Have you calmed down?"
"…… Yes."
Well, I"ve just become more restless.
My eyes wandered about as if showing the disturbance in my innermost thoughts.
I was so focused on dancing that I finally forgot about the Captain but when I remembered that he was there my heart started beating fast.
I don"t know if he noticed this or not because he kept on talking.
"I heard that you never danced before in j.a.pan……"
"Yes. I didn"t have the chance to dance there in the first place and there are many different dancing styles."
I did learn folk dancing and the dance of my region during my school days for the sports festival.
It was completely different from the step dancing I was learning now.
"Then you"ve just started dancing?"
"That"s right."
"Then you"re really talented to be able to dance like this already."
"Huh? No way, I don"t think so?"
I don"t think I have a talent for dancing at all so even if he flatters me I don"t know how to reply.
I panicked and refuted and the Captain chuckled.
It seemed like he was teasing me.
Arggh!
I was frustrated and pouted, but there was nothing I can do because his smile grew wider and wider.
"You started learning after your audience with the King, isn"t that right? When I started learning, I wasn"t able to dance that well."
"The lecture contents seem to be progressing at a fast pace. It seems that she"ll have the chance to dance in the near future."
According to the teacher, the lectures felt crammed and the reason for this was because there was a dance in the near future.
I, who wasn"t even an aristocrat and just someone who worked at a research facility, didn"t think that I would get an invitation to the ball.
It was only my wishful thinking and things seldom went as one wished.
Well, I did recently have an audience with the King.
However, that wasn"t the only reason I was learning how to dance, I was also interested in it.
If not then I would have firmly refused even it was the Civil Official who had given me the recommendation.
"It"s the social season in a few months."
"Social season? There"s something like that?"
"Yes. Several parties are held in the Capital in that season. You were also invited to a few of them, were you not Sei?"
I knew it.
It was fun to dance while twirling but it was questionable for me to attend such a dazzling party.
My feelings must have shown on my face because the Captain talked again.
"There are only one or two b.a.l.l.s that you must attend, right? So it"ll be fine if you just refuse the rest."
"Even so, I have to attend at least one of the b.a.l.l.s, don"t I?"
"Yes. It"s a ball hosted by the King so you must attend."
"I see……"
Certainly, one normally didn"t refuse if they were invited to a ball organised by the King.
That"s what I thought but I still didn"t want to attend.
If I had to attend a ball then I would want it to be something a little cozier.
"I don"t really like parties……"
He cut his words off there and I thought something was wrong so I looked at him.
Mhm……
Why are you looking at me like that?
I felt the Captain look at me softly and my pulse starts racing.
The Captain drew his face a little closer to mine and whispered.
"But if you attend then I want to escort you."
Th-that kind of sweet whispering is foul-play!
I gave him an accusation look but it wasn"t effective. The Captain still had a smile on his face and it felt like he was waiting for my reply.
At that very moment, the teacher gave her signal and the dance finished.
That signal also indicated that the cla.s.s was over for the day and I said my goodbyes to the teacher.
I was told that I danced well with someone who I"ve never danced before and I felt relieved.
It didn"t felt like practice anymore half way through the dance so I thought she was going to say something about it.
I watched blankly as the Captain said his goodbyes to the teacher.
An escort?
I thought that it was possible for me to be invited to a ball but I didn"t think about the escort matter.
I couldn"t just go by myself, could I?
But I also didn"t want to enter the premises by myself while everyone was entering in pairs.
I would draw unwanted attention.
The Captain finally invited me so could I ask him to take me?
Ah, but if he escorts me to the ball then I also have to dance with him, wouldn"t I?
Do I like him?
"Sei?"
The teacher had already left the room while I was endlessly worrying. It was only the Captain and I left in this room.
The Captain looked worried probably because I was pondering.
"Sorry, I was just thinking."
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. Mhm…… It"s about you escorting me to the ball."
His face became more anxious when I said escort.
It"s because I was thinking about it so hard, isn"t it?
I"m sorry.
"Please escort me if you are fine with it, Hawk-sama."
The Captain"s face suddenly brightened when I finished my sentence.
"Really?! Of course I am!"
I felt quite at ease that he looked so happy about it.
I still haven"t received any invitations yet so I still don"t know if we would have any b.a.l.l.s to attend to together.
I didn"t think that it would be a bad idea for me to ask the Captain to escort me.
If an invitation had arrived I would have asked the Director about it anyways.
I"ve never been to a party before so it"s more rea.s.suring for me to go with someone who was used to them.
That way my future worries would decrease by one.
This should be a good choice?
The Captain seemed happy to send me off into the room that was given to me at the Royal Palace.
Translator: Blushy