The Calm Before the Storm (3)

Meeting Princess Seraphine as a commoner maid named Lillith was a situation that would inevitably make anyone nervous, no matter how you looked at it.

Of course, the biggest reason my heart couldn’t stay calm wasn’t because Seraphine was a princess, but rather because she was the main character from my favorite game.

No matter how much of a “cancerous character” she played in the story of 『Luminor Academy』, that was only because she interfered with the “game’s story progression” that she felt like a cancerous character.

Now that she’s become someone unrelated to my fate, standing one step apart from me, it was impossible for me to harbor any ill feelings toward her.

Just as I had been able to reduce the same anxiety I once felt toward Ethan after becoming certain that his romantic interest in me had faded.

With personal feelings set aside, facing Seraphine was no different from meeting a main character from my favorite game.

I tried my best to remain calm and put on an unaffected expression, as if I were meeting a game character at a fan meeting.

…To be precise, I only made the effort to do so.

“Are you enjoying the ball, miss?”

“Y-yes, th-thank you… Ah, no… I-I’m enjoying it…?”

“There’s no need to be so nervous. I’m just another guest attending this masquerade ball.”

“I-I wasn’t nervous…?! I-I never once thought of you as a p-princess… Ah, no… I mean…”

After one nervous slip of the tongue, every subsequent conversation was filled with incoherent words.

The aura radiating from Seraphine before my eyes was making my heart race uncontrollably.

Not to mention, Seraphine in person was breathtakingly beautiful.

It’s not for nothing that people said she would rank first in popularity polls if she weren’t such a cancerous character.

Even with a mask covering half her face, she was this stunning-just how beautiful must the face hidden beneath that mask be?

It was absurd to think anyone wouldn’t feel nervous seeing such a girl in real life.

…Still, I had to calm down. If I made a fuss here, Seraphine would feel burdened, and worst of all, I’d be causing trouble for Ethan, who brought me as his partner.

“Huuu, hoo…”

Placing a hand on my chest, I took a deep breath to steady my pounding heart.

Then, with the calmest expression I could muster, I met Seraphine’s gaze and continued my “noble lady act” composedly.

“I apologize for showing you such an embarrassing sight, miss. I couldn’t help but get nervous in the presence of your beauty, even hidden behind that mask.”

“…Oh my?”

“My partner and I are enjoying ourselves very much. It’s my first time visiting the imperial palace, but it’s so beautiful and magnificent that I lose track of time just looking around. Isn’t that right, Ed?”

“…Li-Lillith?”

At the end, I naturally linked arms with Ethan and smiled as if I truly were his “fiancée” and a “noble lady.”

“…I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying yourselves.”

After observing me for a moment, Seraphine exchanged a few more words with Ed before disappearing into the crowd.

Unexpectedly, the meeting itself was nothing more than a brief conversation.

Given her status as a princess, she was naturally too busy to engage in leisurely chats.

As the hostess of the masquerade ball, she couldn’t spend all her time talking to just us.

It was already an exceptional case for a princess like her to speak to a mere maid like me.

Though, knowing her personality, it felt like an entirely natural action.

In any case, under normal circumstances, I would have been lucky just to catch a glimpse of her from afar, so getting to speak with her directly was more than enough for me.

As I took another deep breath after she left, Ethan spoke to me.

“Lillith, were you nervous?”

“Not at all, Ed.”

“You seemed a little flustered in front of Her Highness.”

“Wouldn’t anyone be when speaking one-on-one with royalty, even as a commoner? Even if you ordered me to act as your fiancée, expecting too much from a mere debt maid is a bit much, don’t you think?”

“…That means you were nervous.”

“I wasn’t. More importantly, Her Highness has already left-how long do you plan to keep my arm linked with yours?”

“You’re the one who grabbed it…”

How dull.

For some reason, Ethan avoided my gaze and turned his head away, but I let it slide for now.

Instead, I scanned the crowd for “Agnes the Inferno.”

Meeting Seraphine, the biggest figure here, was already more than enough, but…

Since I was here, I figured it would be even more satisfying if I could also see Agnes in person.

Agnes probably wanted to avoid being dragged into annoying affairs, so she was likely hiding somewhere inconspicuous.

Maybe tucked away in a corner of the venue or standing on a terrace, waiting for this banquet to end.

Or perhaps she was wearing a full-face mask to completely conceal her identity…

…Ah.

At that moment, I realized just how foolish my thinking had been.

Right, there was no way Agnes would attend a masquerade ball with just a simple mask.

No matter how much she was called “Agnes the Inferno,” the magic she wielded wasn’t limited to fire magic.

Among her abilities was a specialty spell she had used several times in the story-one particularly suited for hiding her identity.

The premise itself was flawed from the start.

Agnes was probably hiding somewhere in this ballroom, quietly waiting for the event to end.

She might be wearing a mask like everyone else, but beneath it, she would have used transformation magic to alter her appearance.

She was the type who disliked standing out or engaging in unnecessary conversations.

Even before enrolling at the academy, her exceptional magical talent meant that transformation magic was child’s play for her.

In fact, in the game, if you recruited Agnes as a companion, transformation magic was one of the spells she could use.

Of course, it had no combat utility, so it was only available during certain story episodes.

…In that case, finding her is practically impossible.

Unless her mask came off, there was no way to identify Agnes based on other features alone when she was using transformation magic and wearing a mask.

Besides, since I was here today as Ethan’s partner, I couldn’t freely roam around to observe people.

Oh well. I’ll just have to be satisfied with meeting Seraphine today.

With that thought, my gaze shifted to the nobles dancing in the center of the ballroom.

It was a decent enough spectacle to pass the remaining time without getting too bored.

At least the nobles invited by the imperial family had some basic dancing skills.

High-ranking nobles were likely already accustomed to social gatherings like this, so their movements were natural and unforced.

Lower-ranking nobles, on the other hand, must have practiced diligently after receiving such a rare invitation.

With their identities concealed behind masks, dancing was probably the only way to make an impression on higher nobles.

Though in reality, it’s all just a staged social event.

I wondered how many viscounts and lesser nobles had practiced dancing desperately to catch the eye of higher nobility.

As I pondered this, Ethan called out to me again.

“Lillith, can we finish the conversation we didn’t get to have earlier?”

“Huh? What were we talking about?”

“Nothing much. I was just wondering if you’d like to dance with me.”

“…Me?”

“Yeah.”

“With you?”

“…Yeah.”

“Hmm…”

…What should I do? I’m not confident in my dancing.

I came here today to play the role of Ethan’s fiancée, not to show off noble lady etiquette.

I only found out about this ball around 12 hours ago, after all.

Between getting dressed and traveling by carriage, there was no time to learn proper noble dances.

If I went out there, I’d just embarrass myself, so I shook my head to decline.

“No thanks. If I go out there, I’ll just become a laughingstock.”

“It’s fine. Everyone already knows you’re my fiancée, so no one will laugh at you even if you’re bad at dancing.”

“That’s not what I meant. I don’t want you stepping on my feet. If you really want to dance, why not ask one of the other noble ladies?”

“Well… I’d rather dance with you than any other lady.”

“……”

Well, considering why Ethan brought me here today, that made sense.

Bringing me to the masquerade ball and having me act as his fiancée was a statement-a way to fend off troublesome factions vying for his hand.

If he were seen dancing with another noble lady while his partner was present, all the groundwork he’d laid would crumble meaninglessly.

Once he danced with one lady, five or ten more would follow-such was the privilege of being the young master of House Blackwood.

Even choosing a dance partner required considering others’ perceptions. Being a noble in a medieval fantasy world was such a hassle.

“Are you really sure you don’t want to?”

“Hmm…”

Judging by how persistently he was asking, it seemed he genuinely wanted to dance but had no other partners, so he was trying to coax me.

Come to think of it, Ethan had been pushing himself relentlessly over the past year to grow stronger.

Going from a chubby boy to someone with a somewhat muscular build in just over a year spoke volumes about his effort.

In an environment like that, stress must have built up whether he realized it or not.

If dancing here could relieve even a little of that accumulated stress, there was no reason not to humor him.

After all, I was Ethan’s personal maid, bound to serve House Blackwood for the next three years.

If Ethan collapsed from stress one day and reverted to his old self, I’d be the one suffering.

They say weight lost quickly comes back just as fast.

“Alright. Let’s dance, Ed.”

“…Really?”

“Only if you can handle dragging a complete beginner like me who knows nothing about dancing.”

“…That’s fine. I learned properly from the head maid. Just follow my lead, and you’ll be fine.”

“Just so you know, I’m not saying this because I want to dance. It’s only because you’re so eager and I’m the only partner available.”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Good.”

Having confirmed each other’s intentions, we moved to the center of the ballroom as the next song began.

Holding hands, we started moving to the rhythm of the music.

…Though it was only moments later that I realized this was the calm before the storm.