Chapter 56

* * *

The sight of Xue, still calling her Lady but actually wanting to call her ‘master’ whom she deeply reveres in her heart, tensing her whole body as she requests a dance.

This scene could be depicted now because of a compromise process between Evangeline and Xue for the greater cause.

[Clatter (I said I wouldn’t allow one person’s great leap forward until everyone gathers, but…)]

[Still, we can’t let the master attend her first banquet without a partner…]

[Tack (And you’re the only one who can be a partner now. It’s frustrating, but)!]

Reverence not wanting to make the master experience the humiliation of not being able to dance at a ball without a partner.

A sense of crisis that they absolutely cannot give away the position of dance partner, especially the master’s first ball partner in this other world, to a complete stranger.

[I swear on our friendship and reverence for our beloved master… I won’t take this as an opportunity…]

Those two feelings united the hearts of the two competitors and friends.

[Clatter (It’s unbelievable! You who act coquettishly all the time. But now I have no choice but to believe those words).]

[You have to overlook the coquetry… You wouldn’t hesitate either if you had a chance to embrace the master…]

[Tack (You sly fox).]

[If I don’t adapt… I can’t survive…]

…It should be right that it united them.

Anyway, as a result of this compromise, Lin Xue was able to kneel before her beloved master.

“Lady. Would you please grant me the honor of sharing the first dance with you?”

And to Xue’s serious expression and earnest request like that, Libertas froze.

For about half a minute without giving any answer or reaction.

* * *

I thought I had gotten used to receiving people’s favor since coming to this world.

Well, since coming to this world, I have always been receiving emotions full of goodwill and respect from summons.

Constantly feeling others’ emotions, especially goodwill, without any dislike mixed in, was so addictive that I felt like my perception of emotions would become distorted if I stopped keeping myself in check even for a moment.

I think the role of this emotional support, along with the power of characteristics, was quite significant in allowing me to handle all matters relatively calmly since coming to this world.

‘The belief that there are beings who will affirm me no matter who else hates me or what happens.’

That was what made me feel confident in everything. Even with the assistance of characteristics, it’s not a power that creates something I don’t have.

“…”

However, while such emotional support made me accustomed to goodwill and better able to let others’ hostility flow off me.

It seems to have made me vulnerable to the collision of ‘real affection’.

“Lady…?”

I had been feeling it occasionally.

Evangeline’s restrained sincerity was felt through the pass connected as summon and master.

Even without being connected in such a special way, Xue’s intense true feelings looking at me straightforwardly enough to be felt directly.

“…”

I saw Xue tensing up, afraid of being rejected, as she brought out part of that huge emotion that could not be hidden.

I couldn’t fail to recognize the emotion she was showing now.

Even without actively touching the magic power of the contract pass, her eyes and expression were already full of sincerity.

“Master…?”

“Let’s go ahead first. It seems this will take some time.”

“Ah, yes…”

Well, there’s a comparison right next to me.

Leonis’s face when asking Sonia to dance just now and Xue’s expression when looking up at me nervously now were almost exactly the same.

So I couldn’t easily open my mouth.

‘My heart… is beating too fast.’

The duet of Xue’s serious emotions and tense expression was creating such a hot reaction in my chest that if I let it out as is, it felt like it would just burn my whole body.

It was as if after burning like that, this emotion would not be maintained continuously, and only ashes would remain; it was so hot.

So.

“I’m not used to dancing yet. Will that be alright?”

Although the voice I managed to let out while restraining myself as much as possible was organized as usual, my expression probably wasn’t properly arranged.

-Clatter!

“O-Of course…!”

Seeing Evangeline and Xue also showing appearances on the verge of going crazy in addition to being flustered.

Seeing that.

“Be more confident. Who are you dancing with?”

“U-Um…!”

“You too.”

-Tack!

With the embarrassment rushing in, I ended up feeling like blaming those children for no reason.

* * *

Meanwhile, Maria, who was watching the appearance of these two couples from the side, was properly feeling what the words ‘fresh shock’ meant at the new appearance Libertas was showing.

‘So she can make that kind of expression too.’

The subject of that shock was Libertas, the expression she was making.

‘Usually, she’s expressionless.’

Of course, it wasn’t a stiff or cold feeling. It should be said to be a face with a comfortably settled feeling.

Her smile was like that too.

When dealing with people, her smiles became more frequent, but those smiles also felt restrained.

It was like a smile expressing a close relationship and ‘familiarity’ while keeping an appropriate line and distance.

“I’m not used to dancing yet. Will that be alright?”

However, in the ‘face not making any expression because she doesn’t know what to do’ that Libertas made just now and in her current face.

No calculation was felt from her now, and even her usual nobility was quite reduced.

A face smiling broadly with embarrassment, shyness, and a heart saying, ‘I like and cherish you.’

Unlike her usual feminine and noble appearance, it gave a very boyish and uninhibited feeling.

To summarize, it showed her ‘hidden true feelings’ as they were.

‘If that had been directed at me, it would have been hard to stay calm.’

Maria thought.

That’s a magical face that would just change all dislike into ‘like’ by breaking through dislike towards the subject.

What more if the person seeing it was someone who originally had goodwill?

“O-Of course…!”

As if knowing well the truthfulness of that expression.

Xue, who had erased her usual blank expression and had been tense all along until just now, nodded her head three times, her face brightening as if blooming. She firmly grasped the small hand placed on hers and kissed it.

She applied so much force that as Xue stood up from her seat, Libertas, who was rising following Xue’s gesture, even floated off the ground for a moment and ended up being embraced in her arms.

“Sorry…!”

“It’s alright.”

Xue, who usually clung to Libertas as if embraced by a body more than a head shorter than herself, froze for a moment, seeing Libertas embraced in her own arms instead.

A face half-buried in her uniform, then separating her body, looking up between her cleavage.

The surprise that had briefly stayed on that face faded away, and happiness arose.

“Escort.”

“Um… yes?”

“Aren’t you going to do it?”

“Ah… yes!”

-Tack!

At Xue’s dull reaction, Evangeline made a sound from within Libertas’s shadow, meaning ‘Do it properly, you fool!’, but.

Of course, that didn’t reach the current Xue.

“…Huhu.”

It only made Libertas’s smile deeper.

Thump thump

Where did her usual powerless and slightly slackened appearance go, Lin Xue walking with a strange gait stretching one arm and leg forward simultaneously while extremely tense.

-Look at that.

-How cute…

Laughter flows from both Libertas accompanying her and the noble ladies in the banquet hall watching their appearance with interest.

Among them, there were no people who ridiculed or looked strangely at a woman asking another woman to dance.

In a world where physical training can be done regardless of gender and noblewomen often have no partners, it was quite common for a female knight guard to be a young lady’s dance partner.

-I was like that once too.

There were even very rare cases where even that female knight was unfamiliar with the situation.

Beyond that point, there are cases where people look strangely, but up to this stage, it’s just something that happens within common sense.

“Xue.”

“Uh, ummm? Yes?”

“Try to calm down. You’ll faint at this rate. Won’t you dance with me?”

“…!!”

That state of extreme tension was quickly shattered by Libertas’s words.

Coming out to the middle of the scene where people were already dancing but not being able to dance herself meant that Libertas would have to stand there awkwardly and then leave.

“I’ll do well.”

“Alright. I’m looking forward to it.”

It was quick for Xue, who instantly realized this, to become the world’s most gentlemanly lady.

However, the tension that filled the space between them didn’t disappear, but this time it moved from Xue to Libertas.

‘Hmm. … It’s unfamiliar.’

Feeling Xue’s hand, which had become so gentlemanly, unhesitatingly placed on her waist, and seeing her eyes looking down at her become serious, she suddenly became conscious that she was going to dance in front of people.

It’s not a private stage but a group stage, so there’s no need to be conscious of people’s gazes or evaluations, but just the consciousness of being on stage like this was enough to cause tension.

Xue’s much taller build than herself also contributed to that tension anew.

“I’m ready.”

Libertas hid that tension within her usual gestures, but Xue was already feeling it in her muscles.

“Not yet? Relax. Lady.”

Of course, it was the partner Xue’s role to relieve her tension that was subtly stiffening her back like that.

The silver-haired red-eyed werewolf, now completely relaxed and with a smile on her lips, whispered softly.

Her smile revealing unusually sharp canines, felt much more refreshing than usual.

“I’m confident in the male role too, though not as much as someone.”

“What does that mean…?”

“It means you’ll be the best young lady today.”

As that ‘someone’ sighed in the shadows, and just as Libertas was about to say, ‘That’s not necessary,’

♩ – ♪♪ – ♪♪

The music that had been subtle until now changed to something else with a somewhat exciting tone.

The grace period was given to people who had just come on stage in the middle after the countdown ended, and the peak time came when they had to move after finishing their self-check.

“Leave it to me.”

“No, I mean…”

Libertas’s first couple dance in her entire life, including Earth and now.

Tap!

That memorable first start was her partner Xue’s cheerful footstep.