Sienna quickly lowered her gaze, knowing full well that averting her eyes wouldn’t make her disappear from his sight.
Fortunately, instead of saying anything unnecessary, he gently took her hand and led her to the center of the hall.
The hall was quiet, as the music hadn’t started yet.
In the suffocating silence, there was no need to mention where everyone’s gazes were directed. Even Sienna, who had entered the hall with her eyes fixed on the floor, could clearly feel the burning stares upon her.
In the unbearable silence, Sienna tightly gripped the hem of her dress with her free hand that wasn’t held by Declan.
Declan Monferrato and Sienna Maloney. The continent’s revered hero and the daughter of a traitor. A truly absurd combination – that’s what everyone gathered here thought.
And that wasn’t all. The Grand Duke, who usually kept his distance at rare social gatherings as if they were none of his concern, had for the first time asked someone– and that someone was the Imperial Princess who never danced with anyone other than her guard knight to dance.
Even the Empress, who had been sitting quietly with a gentle smile beside the Emperor, seemed surprised by this unexpected pairing.
As whispers arose from all around, Sienna felt her breathing become increasingly rough. Meanwhile, Declan appeared completely unfazed.
Not long after the two took their position in the center of the hall, the string instruments began playing smoothly again.
It was the start of the third piece. In an atmosphere somehow different from the previous two pieces, Declan and Sienna drew closer, still holding hands.
As his other hand settled on her waist, their bodies came together without a gap. Meanwhile, Sienna’s free hand remained suspended awkwardly in the air.
He looked down at it and whispered softly, “You need to hold onto me, Your Highness.”
“I know.” Her voice trembled pathetically as she spoke these brief words.
Among all the people gathered at today’s banquet, she was undoubtedly the most flustered by the current situation. Sienna barely managed to collect herself and placed her shaking hand on Declan’s shoulder.
Naturally, their bodies drew even closer together. When she could feel even his breath against her, Sienna’s body became even more rigid. Her heartbeat grew increasingly louder.
As Declan slowly began to move with the melody, Sienna followed him weakly.
The one fortunate thing was that even in this unstable state of mind, her body was moving faithfully according to what she had learned since childhood.
Instead of teaching her imperial studies and numerous geography books, her father had taught her excellent etiquette and dancing – and now it seemed that all that investment hadn’t been entirely in vain.
Thanks to this, she managed to avoid the mistake of stepping on his feet, but she still thought her current appearance must be terrible. In reality, her movements weren’t quite that bad to others watching.
Rather, for two people dancing together for the first time, they were unnaturally smooth – as if they had danced together for quite some time.
In this strange dissonance, one thing was clear: the man who never let others close and the woman who had lived apart from crowds somehow blended together in an oddly harmonious way despite their differences.
Though there were several other couples dancing, all eyes in the hall were focused solely on this one pair.
The Emperor’s ambitious first banquet had ended up lighting a fire in an unexpected place.
****
Dahlia, who like the other nobles was standing there in fresh shock, glanced toward the highest seat.
The Emperor was, as always, watching the dancers with a subtle smile. Whatever he was thinking inside, at least it didn’t show on the outside.
Yes, up to there was fine. The problem was Marianne, who stood not far away.
Though she was trying to maintain a peaceful expression like the Emperor’s, the fact that Dahlia could see through it all meant that Marianne was not fine at all.
Dahlia quietly clicked her tongue.
‘What a situation.’
The man who was practically her first love had returned to the capital, and his first dance request was to her most despised half-sister. She could clearly envision how Marianne’s nerves would be on edge for quite a while.
Upon reaching this thought, Dahlia let out a soft sigh. The mere thought of having to accommodate Marianne’s moods for a while was mentally exhausting.
And all the blame went to the man who had unexpectedly asked for this dance.
While Dahlia wasn’t an ardent follower of the Grand Duke like Marianne and other girls her age, she at least agreed that he was a wise man.
Though she was ignorant of battlefield matters, even Duke Lowell highly praised how well the Grand Duke managed to conduct himself without offending the Emperor’s sensibilities.
But seeing today’s scene, that didn’t seem to be the case. Though it hadn’t been officially announced, did he truly not understand what the Emperor, who had carefully selected him as Marianne’s match, would think of this sight?
‘Unless he’s so infatuated with her that he doesn’t care about such things.’
It wasn’t strange that men fell for Sienna. What was slightly surprising was that even the notoriously insensitive Grand Duke was just one of those men.
“What kind of combination is this?” a noblewoman beside Dahlia whispered behind her fan to another lady, her voice filled with disbelief. Her powder-white face clearly showed her bewilderment.
“Even the Grand Duke is just like any other man, I see.”
The noblewoman next to her clicked her tongue quietly with a similar expression.
“What good is a pretty face? I hate to say this, but… she’s not worthy of the Grand Duke.”
“Even though they’re of the same status, she can’t compare to the First Imperial Princess.”
“Even though things have quieted down now… after Empress Melophe died like that, how dare she act so boldly. She’s completely shameless.”
“That common blood will show itself eventually.”
Just as the first noblewoman was about to speak again with an eager expression, a loud cough from nearby interrupted their conversation.
Their gazes turned toward the source of the cough. There stood a young woman with a prim expression, clearing her throat.
The girl in a yellow dress with black hair pinned up looked more like a modest country lady than a noble’s daughter.
Belatedly recognizing her presence, dismay gradually spread across the noblewomen’s faces.
When it came to ‘common blood,’ Dahlia Lowell, standing right before them, was no better than the Imperial Princess they had been discussing. The only difference was that she had Duke Lowell as her strong backing.
The frozen noblewomen exchanged glances with embarrassed faces.
“Ahem…Lady Tejet. I noticed earlier that the raspberry dessert over there looks quite delicious. Have you tried it?”
“Ah, no, not yet. I’m actually feeling a bit peckish, what perfect timing. I think we’ve seen enough of the dancing, shall we go try some together, Lady Sermon?”
“Oh my. I’d love to.”
As the two noblewomen awkwardly smiled and retreated, Dahlia quietly clicked her tongue.
‘This is why I didn’t want to come to the capital.’
She wished she could have stayed locked in her room all day, using indigestion as an excuse, like before.
The capital’s nobles were exhausting just to be around – their very presence seemed to drain her soul. For all their pretense of nobility, they were nothing but disgusting hypocrites.
With a tired expression, Dahlia tapped her shoulder and looked back toward the center.
Under the brilliant chandelier, the dancing woman’s pearly skin glowed even whiter. At this moment, no one could deny that Sienna Maloney was the most radiant presence of all.
Dahlia’s eyes, which had been filled with mere curiosity earlier, darkened.
Though she barely remembered exchanging words with her half-sister, who was a completely different type of beauty from herself, there was still an eerily similar aspect between them.
The darkness of their hair that seemed to absorb all shadows, their skin so pale it was nearly transparent, and the fact that none of these traits were inherited from their father.
These sisters, similar yet different, were another reason why Dahlia detested the capital.
Just looking at her half-sister was enough to remind her of how inadequate a copy she herself was.
****
Though the beautiful melody was likely the same as any other piece, to Sienna it felt like an eternity. While she maintained an outwardly composed expression, inside she was in complete turmoil.
No matter how much she pondered, she couldn’t understand why the man before her had asked her to dance.
While her memories from before coming to Lopwell were hazy, at least as far as she could remember, Declan and she had not been close.
Far from being close, she couldn’t even remember having a proper conversation with him. Though they exchanged customary greetings when they met, could that be called familiarity? To begin with, she hadn’t had any close relationships with others during that time.
Given Declan’s sharp nature, he surely understood why Joseph had hosted this banquet today.
The more she thought about it alone, the more lost she felt.
“I really can’t understand why,” Sienna suddenly spoke, breaking their silence as they continued to move.
😍❤