Episode 20. You’ll choose me anyway
She had to go back in time to find out why the situation was like this.
It started with Louis accepting Ellodie’s dance request.
“…… It wouldn’t be right to embarrass the lady who gave courage to her first dance. I look forward to your kind cooperation.”
“Waa, I’m glad! Please take care of me!”
Ellodie jumped for joy, and Louis smiled at her.
It looked like he had finally found his pace.
It’s just that Odette’s eyes showed everything she was trying to hide.
‘Count Clovis…… He definitely saw me before he accepted her dance request.’
Odette was approaching him, he must have noticed that she was about to ask him to dance.
Especially since Louis was not a social novice like Ellodie.
So in the end, Louis chose Ellodie even though he knew everything.
It’s a difficult situation to refuse, wrapped up as if you can’t help it.
‘If he wanted to make an excuse, he could have made as many excuses as he wanted.’
Although it’s not necessarily, the first dance of a ball is usually performed with partner.
So, Ellodie’s dance request could have been rejected citing such an implicit convention.
There are probably two reasons for not doing so.
‘One is that he was uncomfortable.’
The other thing is, he quite liked Ellodie.
Of course it could be both.
‘I heard he was a playboy, I didn’t expect to see that already.’
Ellodie took Louis’s hand and glanced toward Odette.
The triumphant look in her eyes was exactly that of a winner.
However, rather than feeling bad, Odette was in a bit of a daze.
‘I thought I was quite on good terms with Count Clovis.’
She had mistakenly thought that their relationship was so shallow that it could be broken up by Walter’s estrangement.
Louis and Odette clearly had quite a bond until they came to the ballroom.
– You said you were going to meet Regis Xavier? I’ll be there to keep you company.
– I’d really appreciate it, but can I ask you to do that?
– Why not? Your Highness is my partner.
Louis said he would help Odette meet Regis safely, just as it was not a lie to say that he was attending a banquet to help Odette.
– This time…… I won’t leave you alone.
It was said in a carriage on the way to the banquet hall, so it was probably not meant as a greeting.
The tone in which he spoke felt strangely solemn.
She don’t know why he would go out of his way to do this, she thought she could rest assured, at least for today.
‘There’s nothing I can do.’
It’s not like there’s a big problem if Louis dance with someone else.
Odette was willing to go to the ball without dancing.
She wasn’t very good at dancing in the first place.
So Odette tried to find a place to retreat.
Until she saw Regis’s head approaching from a little distance.
‘Count Xavier……!’
He was walking exactly to her direction. No doubt he was going to ask her to dance.
It was an unexpected move.
Of course, Regis was in the banquet hall from the beginning as he was the host of this banquet, but he did not even glance at Odette or pretend to know her.
‘With all the people, I thought he wouldn’t have time to pay attention to me for a while.’
So, she thought she would have a chance to talk to Regis only after the banquet was well underway.
Did she ever expect he would approach me so straight away?
Moreover, since this was my first dance and I didn’t even have a partner, I didn’t have the words to refuse Regis request to dance.
‘It’s too late to escape.’
Odette took a step back, trying to manage her facial expression not to show her embarrassment.
Meanwhile, Regis was almost right in front of Odette.
“Now that we finally have a chance to speak, Your Highness the Fourth Princess, would you do me the honor of sharing our first dance-.”
And then.
“I’m sorry, but that’s going to be hard. Your Highness has decided to share her first dance with me.”
A weighty warmth wrapped around Odette’s arm.
Walther had simply reached out and wrapped his arms around her, but Odette was also mistaken as if she had been holding Walter’s arms.
It was such a relief. How ridiculous.
“Isn’t it, Your Highness?”
“……That’s right. Thank you, Count Xavier. I hope you find a good partner.”
And there was no way Odette could miss this opportunity to revive.
Instead, she got the penalty of dancing with Walter.
‘But it’s better than dancing with Count Xavier.’
Worst of all, it wasn’t actually Odette’s punishment.
“Ugh.”
“…… Sorry, ah.”
“I think you did it on purpose.”
“It’s a real mistake.”
“……This too?”
“……This too.”
Her steps were slightly twisted, Odette’s foot land on Walter’s instep.
That’s right.
Odette is…… she was quite bad at dancing.
“…… I’m good at other things, but dancing is something I need to work on a lot…….”
Odette, who was stepping on Walter’s foot for the seventh, no, eighth time, muttered a lame excuse.
Of course, it is true that she had to dance a lot to improve, but Odette recognized that his skills were objectively inferior to others.
That’s why she wanted to avoid dancing as much as possible.
‘This is somehow…… I feel like I’m taking revenge a little bit.’
It felt strange to be happily stepping on Walter’s feet.
If Walter had really looked like he was going to die from pain, he would have felt remorse.
Instead, he looked at me as if he thought it was funny.
It’s strange enough to make you feel suspicious.
“I stepped on it like this, doesn’t it hurt?”
“Of course it hurts. More than you think.”
As if what he said wasn’t completely wrong, but Walter had a slightly frowned face as if he were enduring pain all the time, except when smiling like this.
‘It wouldn’t hurt that much if I stepped on his foot, right……?’
Does he have more delicate feet than I thought?
She wondered.
“You’re smiling even though it hurts?”
“I didn’t know you couldn’t dance.”
And she didn’t know he had an unnecessarily merciful personality.
Odette blinked in surprise at this last comment, but then realized what Walter was talking about.
He was obviously referring to the time he mediated between her and Ellodie.
“You mean Lady Ellodie Montoire? That was something I had to do.”
“I understand. It’s just that understanding and appreciation are two different things.”
“……! That was you in the first place.”
Out of emotion, Odette suddenly said that it was because of his messy relationship in the first place, but Odette managed to hold it in.
Walter, who was looking at this scene, suddenly asked.
“……Your Highness. Have you ever had a dream?”
“Dreams?”
It was too unnatural a change of subject.
“Something…… like dreaming of marrying the love of your life.”
“Does the Duke even dream about that?”
“I don’t, I tend to have them. such a dream.”
“How unexpectedly romantic.”
At Odette’s comment, Walter raised an eyebrow instead of answering.
“Your Highness must not be.”
“I don’t want to be more ridiculous here.”
If you dream of romance, you will become a romanticist, but if I dream of romance, you will become an idiot who cannot even understand the subject.
“Romance is for people like you, not me.”
“So, is that why you’re not taking my marriage proposal seriously?”
“……!”
“Be careful.”
Odette was so surprised that she lost her balance.
At least Walter caught her right away.
Odette barely stepped outside just before his feet were completely twisted, and then came back inside to answer.
“I’m thinking seriously.”
“Well. You must be taking my intentions seriously, not the proposal. Isn’t that right?”
How would I know?
“……No.”
She finally answered, but her voice didn’t sound very convincing.
Walter looked at Odette and muttered something to himself.
“……I should have remembered you. needlessly…….”
“Remember…… What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
Odette’s eyes narrowed as she realized he must have said something.
“The Duke is a very suspicious man, do you know that?”
“Of course I know. The fact that he seems to have a lot of plans. but”
“But?”
“Just once…… If I ask you to believe me, will you believe me?”
“I’ll listen.”
“Nothing I do will harm you.”
She listened, but it was already starting to sound implausible.
‘Putting a wedge between Count Clovis and me.’
And now he’s brought Ellodie along to make the rumors even worse, couldn’t do any harm.
She felt like she was getting choked up.
“You keep interrupting me, and you expect me to believe you?”
“……I thought you wouldn’t believe it.”
“If you want people to believe you, you have to show it with action, not interrupting me.”
“That would be difficult. As I told you, I intend to marry Your Highness one way or another.”
As Walter said that, he looked at Odette as if he were a little sad.
It was the look in his eyes from time to time.
“I know you don’t like me, and I know I’m not your ideal marriage partner. But I have my reasons.”
“……There’s a reason why you have to marry me?”
“I don’t care if you don’t believe me.”
Walter pulled Odette into a tight embrace. It was a fitting pose for the end of a dance.
Then he whispered.
“You’re going to choose me anyway.”
The whisper was followed by a burst of applause.
And so the first song ended.
* * *
After the first song ended, Odette stood there blankly for a while.
By the time the applause was almost over, she finally came to her senses and returned to Louis.
And there was someone who looked at Odette with anxious eyes.
‘Odette… … Are you flirting with another man over me?’
Regis Xavier.
His face contorted nervously as he dressed more handsomely than usual.
It was such a nice face that at first glance it might seem attractive, but once you knew the dark intentions underneath it, no one would be able to say that.
Regis had been keeping an eye on Odette from the moment she first stepped into the ballroom.
The problem is that Odette has no intention of leaving Louis and Walter.
Plus.
‘Were Duke Ertmann and Odette that close?’
