Chapter 42: In the Moonlight…

“Lady Cecilia!”

“Hmm? Oh, Lady Lateia, that dark green dress looks great on you.”

“Oh, thank you. And Miss Cecilia…you look very nice.”

“Thank you very much.”

I was smiling, thinking it was very cute to see Lateia-sama shy and happy, when she grabbed my hand with a huff.

“That’s right, Cecilia-sama! Why are you dancing with those men, one after another!”

“What? Because they asked me to? Oh, I was alone”

“What!?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“It’s…It’s not fair.”

“It’s not fair? Did you want to dance with someone else? Then I’ll go talk to him…”

“No! I thought it was unfair that those men danced with Lady Cecilia!”

“???”

At Lateia-sama’s words, I blinked my eyes and stared at her face, which looked dissatisfied.

“Uh…Lateia-sama, do you want to dance with me?”

“Yes! That’s right!”

“I…I’m a woman, you know?”

“I know!”

“Well, if you insist…if you insist…maybe next time, in a secluded place, I’ll do my best to dance the male part?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think I’ll be able to dance that well…”

“No problem! Oh, if you don’t mind, it would be very nice if you could dress as a man then…”

“Oh, well that makes sense.”

“Thank you! Well, it’s not a good idea for me to be the only one who runs off. Cecilia-sama, may I bring Nina along with me at that time?”

“I don’t mind that…but…would Nina want that in the first place?”

“She will be delighted, no doubt!”

“Well, is that so…”

I was slightly taken back by Lady Lateia’s exaggerated energy, when Nina and Prince Alfeld, who had finished dancing, came down to us together.

In addition, Ghislan, Viktor and Prince Leon had also gathered together, and all at once it became noisy.

“Nina! Cecilia is going to dance with me next! And in men’s clothes too!”

“Is it true, Lady Lateia?”

“Yes, it’s true.”

“Ah, I’m so glad!”

Nina looked excited, holding hands with Lady Lateia as the two of them were laughing happily together.”

…Is that something to be so happy about?

As I looked at the two of them happily talking while wondering that, I noticed that Ghislan and the others had been watching me.

“…What is it?”

“What do you really want to do?”

That’s what Ghislan said in disgust, and the other three nodded in agreement with him.

“Hmm~ Even if you say that, I’m still not sure who entered the route…”

“The route? What’s that?”

“Oh, no! That’s the story!”

I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I hurriedly gave an empty smile at Ghislan, who was looking at me with a questioning expression.

Then Prince Leon came up to me, smiling.

“Hey, hey, Sister Cecilia! I danced with Nina as promised, so come dance with me again!”

“What?”

“No, that would be me in that order!”

“Then I, the highest-ranking crown prince in all of this, would have to go first, wouldn’t I?”

“Princess, I would love for you to dance with me!”

“Oh, gentlemen, that’s not fair! Cecilia-sama, how would you like to have dinner with the three ladies over there in the eating area while we talk?”

“Lady Lateia, that’s a good idea! Lady Cecilia, shall we go?”

For some reason, they all came close to me at once.

“Uh, um…everyone please calm down for a moment.”

As I said this, I thrust my hands out in front of me and backed up a little bit with a troubled expression on my face, and bumped into someone at my back.

“I’m sorry…”

“I’m fine, Cecilia.”

It was Kaiser who put his hands on my shoulders and smiled gently at me.

Oh, come to think of it, I haven’t seen Kaiser at all since we parted.

I looked up at Kaiser’s face at that and noticed that for some reason his usual pseudo-smile had changed as he put his hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, you all look like you’re having fun together.”

“Prince Kaiser…let’s not get in the way this time, shall we?”

“Ghislan, that’s out of the question. I’m not going to interfere…’I’ am, you know.”

Kaiser said and glanced behind everyone with a pseudo-smile.

“Lateia! There you are! There are many more people I want you to dance with!”

“Oh, Father!?”

“They’re already waiting for you over there. Let’s go!”

“Hey, wait a minute, Father!”

Marquis Daiharia grabbed Lady Lateia’s arm and tried to take her away.

“Oh Nina-sama, I’ve been looking for you.”

“Priest!?”

“There is a group of priests who would like to hear your story from you over there. We would love to have you with us.”

“What? But…”

The priest invites Nina to join him with a smile.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Ghislan, but there’s someone from the Ministry of Academic Research at the Royal Palace who I’d like to introduce to you. Come with me for a moment.’

“Father!? I—now!?”

“Yes, he’s a very busy man.”

“But…”

Ghislan gives a puzzled look to Mr. Dimitria, who comes to call him.

“Leon.”

“…Mother!? And father too!?”

“I wonder if you would like to have a dance with me?”

“What? If that’s the case, then father and you…”

“The queen and I danced so much earlier.”

“That’s why. I’d like to dance with Leon this time.”

“If that’s the case, then you can just have brother…”

“I’ve already danced with Kaiser. Leon…do you hate dancing with your mother?”

“Uh! I don’t hate it, but…”

Prince Leon flinched at the queen’s sad expression.

“Commander!”

“I…What’s going on?”

“Excuse me, Commander! I apologize for the inconvenience at this time, but…we’ve found a few security flaws…”

“What!?”

“I’m afraid this is not the best place…I’d like to talk to you over there…”

“Is this something you can’t decide for yourselves?”

“Yes…I’m sorry.”

“…”

Viktor made a difficult face towards his subordinate who was bowing his head apologetically many times.

“Prince Alfeld-sama~!”

“You guys are…”

“Don’t suddenly disappear!”

“I still need to speak with Prince Alfeld.”

“Please dance with me again!”

“No, I’m sorry…”

“Come on, Prince Alfeld, let’s go over there!”

“Hey, don’t pull so hard…”

Prince Alfeld made a troubled expression on his face as three glittering young ladies pulled him by the hand.

I was startled by this sudden situation, blinking my eyes, when before I knew it, Kaiser, who had come to my side, held me by the waist.

“Come on Cecilia, we mustn’t disturb everyone, so let’s go over there.”

Then Kaiser smiled and put a pseudo-smile on his face.

At that moment, all six of them looked at Kaiser at once and made a face that could kill.

…Ah, it’s true that each of them is an opponent that can’t be refused. But why bother with such a thing…?

I noticed that and looked at Kaiser next to me with a puzzled expression, and Kaiser smiled at me with an even better smile.

“Cecilia…you promised to listen to me, right?”

“Uh…sure…I promised that.”

“Shall we go now?”

“…Yes. Okay, everyone, I’ll leave you all to it.”

Despite being amazed at Kaiser’s behavior, I bowed to everyone who was looking at him sharply and left with a wry smile on my face.

***

I was invited by Kaiser to move from the hall to the courtyard.

However, the courtyard was unoccupied, and the only sound was the sound of plants and trees swaying in the gentle breeze.

And the white pentas flowers in the courtyard were beautifully illuminated by the silvery moon in the cloudless night sky.

“Beautiful…”

I whispered to myself, entranced by the beauty of the scene.

Then Kaiser, standing beside me with my waist in his arms, scooped a tuft of my hair and dropped a kiss on it.

“Huh! Kaiser!?”

“Cecilia is even more beautiful than that.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden!?”

Suddenly, Kaiser whispered sweetly to me, and I looked at his face with a surprised expression.

My heart jumped even more at the look on Kaiser’s face.

What’s with this Kaiser’s face!? It’s like a prodigal, sweet smile!

I opened my eyes and froze at the first sight of him.

Then Kaiser’s smile deepened as he saw me.

“Ah!”

“Hmmm, Cecilia is adorable when she’s blushing.”

“You said it was adorable…well, I thought you wanted to talk to me more than that.”

I said that in an attempt to somehow change the subject even as I realized my face was getting even hotter at Kaiser’s words.

“…I want to discuss the future with Cecilia.”

“You mean what happens from now on?”

“Yes. We’ve been engaged for eleven years now, haven’t we? Besides, we’re both adults now…it’s time for us to move forward and start talking about our marriage.”

“What!?”

“Is that really such a surprise? The truth is…I was thinking of marrying you as soon as you came of age, you know? Well, the timing didn’t work out for a lot of reasons, and it’s already gotten to this point…”

“Wait a minute! Kaiser, did you really intend to marry me!?”

I stared at Kaiser’s face with a surprised look on my face, intensely upset.

Although I had thought about it before, when Ghislan told me to marry Kaiser…but then, I didn’t think too much about it because I didn’t think that Kaiser would be interested in marrying me. That’s why I casually replied to Viktor that I wasn’t going to marry him right away either…

I was confused by Kaiser’s words, which I didn’t expect.

“…Why is it that you are asking something so obvious?”

“Because…I thought my engagement to you was just a defense from other ladies…and Nina is there too…”

“I don’t know why Nina’s name is mentioned here, but…I never thought of my engagement to you as a shield in the first place, did I?”

“Yeah!?”

“Well, as I thought, you have no idea how I feel.”

“Huh? Kaiser’s feelings?”

“Cecilia, my feelings…”

“Kyaa!”

Then suddenly a gust of wind blew up and I let out a small scream of surprise as I held my hair back and closed my eyes.

I slowly opened my eyelids and gasped at the sight in front of me.

“…beautiful.”

I was mesmerized by the scene and had even more heartfelt thoughts and sighs of admiration than before.

Because in front of my eyes, the petals of the Pentas flowers were dancing all around me.

Each petal was shining with the light of the moon, and it was a fantastic sight.

As I was gazing blankly at the scene, Kaiser spoke quietly to me.

“Cecilia…you have petals over your eyes.”

“What? Is that so?”

As soon as I heard Kaiser’s words, I was about to touch the top of my eyes when Kaiser stopped my hand.

“Oh, if you touch it poorly and get it in your eye, you’ll be in trouble. I’ll take it off, so please close your eyes.”

“Oh, yes. Then, please.”

Saying that, I closed my eyes while turning my face towards Kaiser.

…Huh? Something about this situation…it seems to have happened a long time ago. Oh yeah, I remember when Kaiser was coming to my house to show me around the garden, and just like now, there was a gust of wind and a piece of trash that flew away and ended up on my eye. So that’s when Kaiser tried to take the garbage away for me, too…hmm? Come to think of it, my brother, who came back unexpectedly at that time, said something strange…

I was closing my eyes and reminiscing about that moment, when something soft touched my lips.

…What? What’s this feeling?

I opened my eyes and widened them in astonishment as I was startled by this unprecedented feeling.

I was even more astonished when I opened my eyes and saw a close-up of Kaiser’s neat face in front of me, with his eyes closed.

Huh? Huh? Why is Kaiser’s face so close to me? This is like being…kissed…kissed!!

It was there that I finally realized that Kaiser was kissing me.

“Huh!? Ka-kaise—mmph!!

Upset by my first experience even with my previous life, I hurriedly pulled my own face away from Kaiser’s face, but soon after, Kaiser put his hand behind my head and kissed me again.

He also grabbed my waist so tightly that I couldn’t get away from him at all.

However, I managed to push on Kaiser’s chest as hard as I could and finally managed to escape from his restraints.

As I pulled away from Kaiser, I looked at him with a look of disbelief on my face as I held my mouth in my hands.

“Kaiser…why did you…”

“Do you still not understand after all this?”

“…”

“Cecilia…I love you.”

“Huh!?”

“I’ve been in love with you from the moment I first met you.”

“Uh, no…That’s not possible.”

“I’m not lying. I love you.”

“Huh!?”

My mind wreaked havoc when I saw that Kaiser smiled lovingly at me as he gazed at me.

“Cecilia…”

“I…I’m sorry! I’ll take my leave now!”

“Oh! Cecilia!”

I turned on my heel and ignored him as he rushed to stop me from behind.

I didn’t even go back to the hall, but returned to my room in the castle.

But I was unaware of the presence of a man with red eyes in the courtyard, who was staring at us from a distance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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