episode_0117

Disguised as a beastman, I attended the masquerade ball.

Entering the ballroom with a mix of beastman and even servant disguises,

“As expected, the stares are piercing.”

Christian, who was there with me as my partner and my husband, felt the burden of the surrounding gazes that glanced at us and awkwardly covered his headband with his hand.

“Why are you so embarrassed when you’re wearing a mask?”

“Even with a mask, these stares are uncomfortable, and these cat ears and tail are too much.”

“Huh, wasn’t this what you were hoping for?”

“Sofia, you were the one who wanted this. You suddenly bought these things without saying a word. I was thinking of just a cat mask.”

“That doesn’t mean I lied.”

I just didn’t say everything.

He was the one who told me to do as I pleased when I suggested a cat costume.

Now that I’ve done as I pleased, I thought it was cowardly of him to complain about it belatedly.

“Ugh… Still, this is…”

He couldn’t argue back, but that didn’t make the embarrassment go away, so Christian pouted and mumbled in a small voice.

“Christian.”

I called Christian’s name and stared at him with a visibly displeased expression, then squinted and said.

“I prepared this because you like cats more than me, don’t you like it?”

“Ugh…! Sofia, don’t keep bringing up that one mistake I made a while ago.”

Christian bit his lip slightly and avoided my gaze as he defended himself, but one word in Christian’s words bothered me, and I frowned and crossed my arms.

“Mistake? Just once?”

He confused me with Daisy and calls it a mistake?

I could understand if he just called me by the wrong name, but I couldn’t forgive him for petting Daisy and saying, ‘Sofia, why is your fur growing so much?’

It was something I was already self-conscious about…

“…It was a pretty big mistake, but I already said I was wrong about that.”

Christian, who had his head down as my gaze grew colder, awkwardly touched the back of his neck and admitted his mistake a little more honestly.

“There’s no compensation for my wounded heart. If you know your mistake well, I hope you will enthusiastically mingle today and fulfill your apology for the mistake.”

“Haa~ Alright.”

Christian, realizing that there was no way to persuade me, sighed and intertwined his arm with mine.

“Then, shall we have a song right away?”

The feeling of uncomfortable gazes was still strong, but Christian’s attitude had become somewhat more proactive.

Christian can always be so confident, but he’s always so shy.

I looked at him with a pleased expression and gently shook my head.

“Uh… why?”

“This song won’t last long, so we’ll move to the center when the next song starts. If we’re going to do this, shouldn’t we match our steps properly?”

“…Are we only dancing to one song and then leaving?”

“……”

I avoided Christian’s gaze as he asked back in an anxious voice.

“Sofia?”

“……”

Christian called my name and tried to subtly pull his arm away, but I squeezed the intertwined arms tightly to prevent Christian from escaping.

If it’s compensation for an apology, it’s common sense to enjoy it until the victim is satisfied, so why is he trying to get away with it so easily?

“Ah.”

As I held onto Christian tightly and waited, silence fell, and a fleeting moment came when the orchestra’s hands stopped briefly to organize the sheet music.

“Christian, it seems like a new song is about to start, so let’s head to the center quickly.”

“Ugh…”

_

I got too caught up in the atmosphere and ended up entrusting myself to the music for about an hour without a break, which left Christian completely exhausted.

“Hua… eugh…”

Leaning against the wall, Christian wiped away the sweat that was overflowing like a flood under his mask and tried to catch his ragged breath.

“S-sorry.”

“Ah, it’s okay… It’s just that my, my stamina is weak…”

“……”

I smiled and lightly patted Christian on the shoulder as he blamed himself.

In my opinion, the problem wasn’t with Christian, but with me.

No matter how much stamina he trains, no matter how much of a man Christian is, how many people can keep up with an imperial knight?

If Christian was a knight, it would have been possible, but he was far from being a knight, let alone anything involving physical labor.

“Excuse me.”

“…?”

As I was awkwardly smiling and checking on Christian, someone approached us and spoke cautiously.

A simple white mask.

Judging by the fact that they were wearing a mask, it was certain that they were a noble who had attended the masquerade ball, but seeing that they had constantly twitching ears and a tail that wagged gently, they were presumed to be a beastman.

“…Hello.”

“Yes, hello.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what animal they were, but they were probably a feline.

I wondered if I knew them, so I greeted them and tried to recall, but I didn’t have any feline beastmen among my acquaintances, only canine or wolf beastmen.

Beastmen don’t easily approach those who aren’t acquaintances, so why are they coming to us…

“…Is there something you need from us?”

“I apologize for disturbing your time, but I was hoping to ask you a few questions. Would you mind if I took a moment of your time?”

“Yes, if it’s just for a moment, it’s fine.”

“Thank you.”

I nodded readily and turned my body completely towards the beastman noble. He slightly lowered his waist and turned his ear towards me.

“I know that this is a huge discourtesy to ask at a masquerade ball, but could you tell me which tribe you’re from? It seems like it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a married couple who are both beastmen. You’re new faces, so others have been watching you closely as well.”

“Ah…”

I closed my eyes tightly without realizing it.

I never thought that a beastman would mistake us for beastmen, even if a human wouldn’t…

“I’m sorry, these tails and ears are fake. We’re not beastmen, we’re humans.”

I put everything else aside and bowed deeply to clear up the beastman noble’s misunderstanding of us.

“Humans?”

The beastman noble blinked rapidly and slowly lowered his ears, carefully examining my ears and tail.

“U-uhm…?”

However, he couldn’t make a definite judgment with the naked eye, so the beastman noble slightly opened his lips and began to stare intently at me.

“Oh…? Really humans…? Then those ears and tail are…”

“As I mentioned earlier, they’re fake. The tail is attached to the clothes, and the ears are… a headband, as you can see here.”

“!!”

When I took off the headband, the beastman noble’s eyes widened, and the fur on his ears and tail puffed up as if charged with static electricity.

“Aha ha! I never thought it would be fake! Now that I look closely, I can see human ears. The cat ears and tail were so well-made that I was completely fooled.”

“We didn’t intend to deceive you. I apologize if you were offended.”

“It’s okay, there’s no reason to be offended if you’re not using it as a mockery. At least the beastmen here wouldn’t think it’s that serious.”

“Thank you for your generosity.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

Fortunately, the beastman noble burst into a hearty laugh and dismissed the matter as trivial.

The beastman noble, who waved his hand and shook his head at me as I bowed deeply once again, pointed to the headband I was holding with his finger while maintaining a beaming expression.

“By the way, who made the ears and tail? It seems like someone who is very interested in us made it. I’m very curious to know what kind of person he is.”

“William, an honorary imperial knight who runs an atelier specializing in clothing in the capital, made them.”

“Honorary Knight William…? Ah! Aah!”

The beastman noble narrowed his eyes as he repeated William’s name, then clapped his hands as if he had realized something and exclaimed in admiration.

“Is that the human who’s been the talk of the town for a while?”

“If he’s the one who recently went to prison, then that’s him.”

“That’s him! Haha~ To think that he made this! If you think about it, there’s no one else who could have made it besides him.”

The beastman who heard William’s name showed a fairly strong reaction and wagged his tail gently.

“It seems like you know Sir William well. Are you very interested in him?”

“Of course, I can’t help but be. There are hardly any humans who interact with beastmen as freely as he does, so many beastmen are interested in his actions.”

“Hoo~ Is that so?”

“How many people in this empire hire the spider tribe, which humans find repulsive, as employees, interact with witches, and trade freely with beastman merchants?

We’ve been worried for a long time because there haven’t been many people to act as a bridge between humans and beastmen, but everyone is expecting that a big shot who can play that role is emerging. Isn’t his background also extraordinary?”

“He’s certainly extraordinary.”

I nodded, listening to the beastman noble who was half-excited and spouting words rapidly.

When I put together everything he said one by one, it seemed like Sir William had an extraordinary background and was taking extraordinary actions.

From the beastmen’s point of view, it would be strange if they weren’t interested.

“Oops, it must have been a story that you weren’t very interested in, but I got too excited and rambled on.”

“No, it was a very interesting story.”

“Aha ha~ Thank you.”

The beastman noble, who was embarrassed belatedly as his excitement subsided, awkwardly touched the back of his neck and apologized.

However, I smiled and shook my head.

Beastman information is one of the hardest to obtain, so it’s advantageous to listen to anything you can.

As an imperial knight, it’s also important to keep track of the trends of various forces when you can.

“Huum…”

“Euum…”

The conversation that had been flowing naturally was cut off after the apology, and the conversation fell into a lull.

The reason was that the topic of Sir William was used up appropriately since we didn’t know each other’s names or faces well, so there was nothing more to say.

“I should give you your time back now, I think I’ve been disturbing you for too long.”

It was the beastman noble who made the first move.

He glanced back and forth between me and Christian and started by saying that it was time to step back.

Since that was what I also desperately wanted, I nodded lightly and continued his words.

“No, it’s okay. My husband also needed some time to catch his breath. Still, I think it’s time to take care of our own partners now.”

“I am grateful that you have generously overlooked my rudeness. Then, I will be on my way. Thank you for the kind conversation, Lady.”

“I also enjoyed having a pleasant conversation with you, sir.”

Towards the beastman noble who bowed and greeted me, I lifted my skirt slightly and bowed slightly as well.

Then, we turned our bodies and approached our respective partners.

“Christian, are you feeling a bit better now?”

“Ah, yeah, I’m feeling a bit better now.”

Christian, whose complexion had improved a lot and whose breathing had stabilized, smiled and nodded.

“Euum~”

Listening to the song that was being played now, the ball was now about halfway over.

At this rate, the ball would continue for about two more hours.

Christian’s condition had also improved quite a bit, and there was plenty of time, so it seemed like it would be okay to enjoy this time a little more.

“Christian, how about one more song then?”

“Guuh… Just five more minutes of rest…”

“Alright.”

Christian gave an awkward smile and drooped his shoulders slightly, but I pretended not to see it and linked arms with Christian.

“Eueu…”

“Hehe~”

Christian made a moaning sound, and I made a pleasant humming sound.

I’m sorry to my husband, but I wasn’t planning on letting him off until I was satisfied today, so I was planning on dancing for almost the entire remaining two hours.