A Dance Machine That Defiles Even Social Traditions (4)
A Dance Machine That Defiles Even Social Traditions (4)
After I danced with Mother, she returned to her table.
It was too far away to see clearly, but Mother didn't seem to be glaring at Kir, so I figured her anger had faded.
'...Actually, if anything, it looked like Kir was the one glaring at Mother. Hmm. I must be misreading things from this distance.'
In any case, Kir didn't seem to be in mortal peril, so I headed for a different table from Mother's.
The table where my sisters were sitting, the one I'd spotted while dancing.
"Oh my, Yune."
"Little brother. What brings you here?"
My two sisters' eyes went round when they saw me coming. And then...
"..."
'Whoa. Sis Charl, your expression is a total giveaway....'
I felt a little guilty thinking this about the heir to the Grand Ducal House and my eldest sister, but Charl was staring at me like a dog that desperately needs to shit.
Still, I was sure this was exactly what Charl wanted at that moment, so I spread my arms wide toward her.
"Sis Charl! Let's dance next!"
"...!!"
I'd asked her to dance. My three sisters' reactions split in a variety of flavors.
Albert pressed her fingers to her forehead and frowned, as if thinking, 'Just as I expected... well, what else did I expect.'
"Wh-What? Little brother, just because you danced with Mother doesn't mean you have to dance with your sisters too. Wouldn't it be better to dance with girls your own age?"
Mar, flustered, tried to stop me, asking what on earth people would think of us.
And then.
-Beaming.
"Ahe-ahem. Since Yunes insists, it can't be helped. Come here~."
"Charl, big sis!?"
Sis Charl knelt right down on the floor to welcome me.
Mar looked back and forth between me and Charl with scandalized eyes, then shot a look at Albert.
-Shake shake.
"Give it up, sis Mar. Your turn's next, so get ready."
"Eeek!?"
Albert calmed Mar with a what-can-you-do expression.
Then she looked at me and gave a small nod, as if telling me to enjoy myself.
Delighted, I took both of Charl's hands in mine.
"Okay! Sis Charl, what do you want to dance?"
"Hmm... maybe your big sis would also like to waltz with Yune?"
"Sis Charl, are you just dropping the mask right in front of everyone now?"
"...Ahem. Yunes. Will you not waltz with me? If a third waltz bores you, we can do another."
"No way! A waltz with Sis Charl. Hehe. I'm looking forward to it."
"He-hehe. Then let us go, Yune. No—Yunes."
After that, I took Charl's hand and merrily headed for the center—for the third dance.
'Sorry, Kir... I'll sort my thoughts out while I dance with my sisters. I'll give you my answer to your confession just a little later!'
* * * * * *
Before long, Charlotte and Yune began to waltz.
Watching them, Margarete let out a deep sigh.
"...Hey, Albert."
"Are you bringing that up again? I told you to give it up. The moment he danced with Mother, it was already too late. That was the best possible move."
"Even so. What will other people think of our house...."
"Mother danced with Yune. If we don't also dance with Yune, then that really will look strange. The only option is for everyone in the family to have one dance each, and then pass it off as a Northern tradition."
"There is no such tradition."
"There isn't. But if the Grand Ducal House says so, who's going to argue? This is a Northern tradition now."
But with her particularly sharp intellect, Albert had concluded that this was the politically optimal move.
She was even egging Mar on to dance with Yune—specifically a waltz.
"You're also going to waltz, sis. You have to push through even if Yune gets tired and says no."
"I've never waltzed before?"
"Neither have I. But it would be awkward to change the dance now, so it can't be helped. Watch Charl's movements closely and memorize them."
Mar, fully aware that Albert was smarter than she was, weakly agreed.
The two of them stared intently at the brother-sister pair to learn the waltz steps.
Mar's face grew increasingly uncomfortable.
'No, because of the height difference, Yune's groin keeps touching her thigh. Is this really okay?'
The more closely she examined the dance steps, the more she could see Yune's crotch repeatedly mashing against Charl's thigh.
When she noticed that Charl's ears had turned bright red, as if she herself had realized this dance was quite embarrassing, Mar's face began to flush in turn.
'I have to dance such a lewd dance with my little brother? Right in front of everyone? Is this really right...?'
And the same was true for Albert. The two of them gradually turned red.
But soon they realized something.
'Sis Charl looks really happy.'
'Yune looks like he's having a blast.'
Though they themselves were embarrassed just watching, the pair on the dance floor were dancing blissfully, as if they were the happiest people in the world.
"...They look like they're having fun. Both of them."
"Now that you mention it, Mother was in a good mood just now too, wasn't she?"
"Is it really that wonderful... dancing with Yune?"
After realizing this, their thinking shifted a little.
From 'How mortifying to dance something like that in front of everyone,' it became, 'I want to make my little brother that happy too.'
"...There's no avoiding it. Since it's come to this, we might as well give our little brother happy memories. Let him remember his tenth-birthday Debutante Ball as joyful days spent with his family."
"Yeah. Yune might feel embarrassed later when he looks back on this... but I hope he'll think, 'Looking back, it's embarrassing, but at the time, I was happy.'"
Their voices grew quieter, and the conversation between the two died down as they started focusing on Charlotte's dance movements.
To make Yune as happy as Charl had. The two sisters watched the dancing siblings, forgetting even to breathe.
With that level of concentration, the third piece of music soon came to an end.
Even so, after three consecutive dances, Yune should have been tired. Yet, with beads of sweat dotting his forehead, he immediately came trotting straight over to the two sisters.
"N-Next is. Huff. Next, I want to dance with Sis Mar!"
"You're out of breath. Wouldn't it be better to rest for a beat?"
"My body's just perfectly warmed up right now! Let's hurry!"
"...Fine, understood, little brother. Albert, I'll be back."
"Okay. Stay safe."
"Then let's go, little brother."
"Okay!"
After that, the sisters waltzed with Yune. Yune acted a little put out and said 'Another waltz?' but they half-forced him through it.
In many ways, this was an act that profaned high-society traditions...
But the people actually doing the dancing all enjoyed it. And since the Empress, the Northern Grand Duchess, and Duchess Schmut all said nothing.
The onlookers had no choice but to quietly watch Yune's waltz, unable to point a finger.
* * * * * *
After dancing with Charlotte, Yune then danced with Margarete and Albert in turn.
The Empress, the Kaiserin, shook her head as she watched.
'...He danced with the heir of the Charlottenburg family, his fiancée, and now every blood relative of the Nordkirchen house. It's difficult to fault him for dancing the waltz. If I rebuke him rashly, the two houses might feel I've humiliated them.'
'It was awkward to watch, but Yune himself doesn't seem to understand what kind of dance it is. Shall I let it slide this once?'
He had performed the scandalous dance known as the waltz at a Founding Festival where even the Empress was watching. But after dancing with Kirschblüte and then with his entire family, the Empress now found it hard to criticize.
Instead of going to Yune to caution him, she looked down at her own daughter, Isabella.
"What do you think?"
"It is, it is magnificent. Truly magnificent, Your Imperial Majesty. To dance so beautifully. As befits a child of the Grand Ducal House."
"Pfft. Call me Mother, comfortably. How could I be just 'Empress' to my own child?"
"...Yes!"
Busy with state affairs, the Empress had neglected her only child for some time. But after feeling the terror of death from an unknown curse and then surviving, she had resolved to take better care of her daughter.
As it happened, she had brought her ten-year-old Crown Princess along and was enjoying the Founding Festival banquet with her.
Isabella, elated to be enjoying a banquet with her lofty mother for the first time, was blushing.
Of course, blushing wasn't her only reason.
'Was he ten? He looks much younger than me. To think he's already performing such a bold dance...?'
Yune had danced excitedly with his family even while sweating.
What's more, Yune had finished that staggering forced march of five consecutive waltzes and had returned to rest at the table where Erengard was.
Seated nearby, Isabella could glimpse Yune's bare skin through his sweat-soaked shirt.
For a Crown Princess who had kept men at a distance due to her station, seeing a boy's chest for the first time was a tremendous shock. She had no choice but to blush.
Seeing this, the Empress smiled mischievously and spoke.
"If you appreciated the dance, go and offer him a compliment in person."
"M-Me, you mean?"
"Yes. ...Do you see this tucked into my bosom? Thanks to this, which Yunes offered up to me, the illness I'd been suffering from lately was cured. And yet he refused my reward."
"To think that magnificent item was offered by Young Lord Yunes... Just what I'd expect from a child of the Nordkirchen house. A loyal retainer indeed."
"Indeed. Yet I cannot forgo giving him a reward. If you, the Crown Princess, personally commend a debutante's dance, that should serve as sufficient reward."
"I-In that case, I shall go and personally bestow praise upon Young Lord Yunes!"
After making that excuse to send the Crown Princess to Yune, the Empress slipped the wand tucked into her cleavage in and out as she sank into thought.
'Let's see. It wouldn't hurt for the only son of the Grand Ducal House to grow close to Isabella. First, I'll have them exchange words. And then, if Isabella comes to fancy Yune... I'll have to arrange for them to meet more often.'
-Squiiish... pop.
The Empress's breast gently rose and fell with the friction of skin.
Had Yune seen it, he would have been appalled and asked what the hell she was doing, but that subtle elasticity helped organize her thoughts.
Fiddling with the wand like that, she immersed herself in calculating the political gains, countermeasures, and repercussions if Isabella and Yune were to be linked.
"I have returned...."
"That was quick. What did Yunes say?"
"...Young Lord Yunes had fallen asleep. So I conveyed my praise to the Grand Duchess instead and came back."
Shortly thereafter, Isabella returned with drooping eyes.
Only then did the Empress snap out of her reverie and look toward where Yune was.
"Nnnyaa...."
Yune was sound asleep, his soft cheek resting on the table. Isabella must have found it awkward to wake a sleeping boy and so made a brief report to Erengard before coming back.
Seeing Isabella looking dejected, as if she found it terribly disappointing not to have exchanged words with Yune, the Empress chuckled.
"There, there. Yunes will show his face in high society often, so make an effort to befriend him in the future. Erengard is a friend as dear to me as any comrade. Nor will it hurt for you to grow close to Yunes, her son."
"Yes! Mother!"
Only after hearing the Empress say, 'There will be many chances later, so become friends then,' did Isabella's expression brighten.
But she didn't know. She didn't know that in the future, except for the day of the Founding Festival, Yune wouldn't show so much as the tip of his nose in high society.
And that even at the one annual Founding Festival banquet where she could see Yune, he would avoid her.
For years to come, she would never manage to exchange more than three sentences with him.
With no way of dreaming this future, Isabella began to ponder what she would say when she next met Yune.
'The next time we meet, I should compliment his dancing and say it was incredibly cool. I wonder if he'd dance with me if I asked. That's it. Starting tomorrow, I must start practicing the waltz too!'