Swamp Girl! Chapter 60

While I was practically being kidnapped back to the party venue, the atmosphere inside had changed without my noticing.

Slow music drifted through the hall. Following it to the source, I spotted a stage further inside. On top of it was  group of black-clothed musicians with their various instruments in hand, playing a symphony with such skill that even an amateur could appreciate its perfection.

To be honest, as far as music and me go, all I knew were the minstrel ballads or tawdry piano tunes I occasionally heard in the taverns.
The symphony, the first I’d ever heard, was stately and yet refres.h.i.+ng to my ears.

“Such a pretty song…”

As Leon pulled me along, I half-closed my eyes with pleasure, listening to the music.
Until now, I’d thought that music and song were nice enough if they happened to be around.
This wasn’t something you’d just listen to ‘by the way’, though; it might even be worth listening simply for listening’s sake.

Well, that aside.
This was the scene I was being led into.

“Wha–…ah–…”

When I first entered, I thought it was odd for the exact center of the hall to be left empty, but now, the s.p.a.ce had been occupied by several couples doing some kind of dance.

Seeing those figures, I was at a loss for words.
I wasn’t exactly an expert on paired dance in the first place. Vague as it is, the deepest thought I’d ever had about it was that there were two people involved, each dancing their own role.

The sight before my eyes told me just how naïve my imaginings had been.
Men and women, pressed together in pairs as they danced.
Even if I said that they were practically embracing, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
Speaking of which, now I could clearly see what Karen meant when she was going on about ‘entrusting my body’ or whatever. Or rather, I might be an idiot for not getting it.

But still… this is embarra.s.sing.
Though I had my doubts about the dance itself, when I thought about pressing up against someone else in public like this, just imagining it was enough for my face to catch on fire.

I glanced at Leon.

“Chris, let’s go.”

The moment our eyes met, his smiling face happier than I’d ever seen it, he walked me out onto the dance floor. And I followed his lead like a criminal walking out to the gallows.

I mean, what’s Leon’s problem?
With his unusual pus.h.i.+ness, he seemed somehow childish to me.

…But well, I guess it’s okay.
His grin’s fun to look at, that’s for sure.

But since it really was extremely rare for him to be in such a mood, we attracted even more attention than we did when we entered the hall.
Surprise, and the curious gazes that would follow a charming sight, converged on us.

I couldn’t keep up my act, no surprise there. I didn’t give a d.a.m.n about the way I walked anymore, and besides, with Leon pulling me along in the first place, I had my hands full just keeping up.

“L–Leon. Oi…”

I tried to object, but I had to keep my voice down at all costs, and unsurprisingly, it didn’t reach him.

…What the h.e.l.l, man?
Seriously, how much are you going to humiliate me today before you’re satisfied?
Normally, this is where I’d slap you in the face and go home, you know.

Though inwardly I cursed up a storm, seeing Leon so delighted, all the bite went out of it.

“Uhp–”

Walking with my head hanging down, I didn’t notice Leon coming to an abrupt stop, and I pitched forward right into him.
…Though from the outside, it probably looked like he’d caught me in his arms.
He was, in fact, hugging me tightly from the front. And like so, I looked up at him.

“Everything will be alright. Don’t be nervous.”

I’m not nervous. I’m embarra.s.sed!

It seemed that the protests I was conveying with my eyes didn’t get through.
Leon’s hand encircled my waist, then the other grasped my hand. All in the blink of an eye.

“Calm down, follow me.”

“O–Okay…”

Before I could say anything, he instructed me with a serious look, and I awkwardly matched my steps to his. I focused on that operation.
If I didn’t, then I’d be unfortunately aware, no matter what I did, of our joined hands, the way our chests were pressed together, the arm he had around my waist.
In that case, where am I supposed to put my free hand…?

“Raise your face, put your hand on my shoulder.”

Shoulder, is it?
My relief outweighed the embarra.s.sment of hearing the cause of my confusion guessed right.

Umm, raise my face, put my hand on his shoulder.

Just as I was about to do so, it hit me. That I’d end up holding Leon in my arms by necessity.
I felt my body temperature rocketing upward all at once. But even so, leaving my hand dangling free was too awkward, so there was nothing for it but to bury my face in Leon’s collar and wrap my hand around his shoulder. Given the height difference, that was the only possible outcome.

s.h.i.+t, he’s more muscular than I expected. Leon.

Belatedly, the thought occurred to me.
I can’t think about it, of course. I can’t, but if I think about how I can’t, then I can’t help but be aware of it to the point of thinking about it.

Looking for a distraction, I stealthily peeked over Leon’s shoulder at our surroundings.

…As I expected — no, more than I expected, we were the center of attention. Lord and Lady Silverbark from earlier, and Palmira behind them, were mixed into the crowd too.
That being the case, it was an embarra.s.sing scene, so I unconsciously clung to Leon’s shoulder.
This was embarra.s.sing too, but even so, there was a feeling of security in it.

“Is something the matter?”

“…s’nothin’.”

What do I even say to that? I abruptly turned my face away.

Following Leon’s lead, matching his movements, I measured out my steps. I didn’t have the faintest clue whether I was doing it well. But strangely enough, it didn’t bother me.

Gradually, I stopped worrying so much about such things; being together like this, moving in unison — I was beginning to enjoy it, to take pleasure in it.

It was mortifying, in some respects, but also indescribably comfortable.
I knew it wasn’t a good thing. But even so, I honestly thought, ‘It’d be nice if we could stay like this forever.’

–

–

There was no way it could last for an eternity, but still, we danced the entire piece. Then, with Leon taking me by the hand again, I returned to the surrounding throng.

Everyone was still looking at us with inquisitive eyes.
It was just as embarra.s.sing as before, and using Leon as a s.h.i.+eld to hide behind, I cast my eyes down and quickened my pace. I wasn’t in a situation where my lessons counted for anything anymore. ‘It’s enough that I’ve come this far already, right?’ I thought.

“Yo, Leon, aren’t you in a good mood? How rare.”

“Elder Brother.”1

At the sound of that voice, I lift my face.
‘Elder Brother’. Lucien?

It wasn’t.
Standing there was a man I’d never seen before. A middle-aged man with a bright, or rather, sunny smile. He resembled Leon a little. The Leon from back when we’d just met.
Elder Brother, and not Lucien.
— In other words, he was the First Prince. The promised future emperor. The man with the world in the palm of his hand…

I inadvertently ended up staring hard at him. When our eyes met, I snapped back to my senses, and I hastily lowered my eyes and curtsied.

What am I doing? Too careless.

At which point the First Prince, with a wide roguish grin that wasn’t the least bit prince-like — or like any member of the upper cla.s.s, for that matter — turned his gaze directly upon me.

“Ah, you’re the one Lucien was talking about, Leon’s sweetheart. Nice to meet you. I’m Arthur Veidt Stroidel. Leon’s older brother.”

‘Nice to meet you,’ he says…

His over-frankness left my head spinning.
How am I supposed to reply to that? It’s obvious, but there’s no way I can say ‘nice to meet you’ back at him. Uhm, uhhhhhhmm.

“…It is my pleasure to meet you for the first time, Lord Arthur. My name is Christine Rouelle Felmiran. I am Lord Leon’s sweet — ”

In my panic, I let his words influence me, and I hastily cut myself off in the middle of blurting out something strange.
I stopped myself, but I didn’t know what I was supposed do now.
Even the First Prince had a slight tilt to his head. That said, I couldn’t afford to openly ask Leon to bail me out.

“…sweetheart,”

I finished in a small voice. There was nothing I could do. I felt like I was burning up with shame.

“Puh–! Ahahaha! Leon, your sweetheart’s quite interesting. And very charming. Hahaha. I can see why Leon fell captive. Nonetheless… Felmiran, is it? I’ve heard the name before somewhere…”

As First Prince Arthur’s gales of laughter failed to lessen, my face grew hotter and hotter.

So glad to provide the Imperial Family’s bored darling son with a laugh. Oohohoho.

I tried to relieve my sourness by entertaining stupid thoughts, but naturally, my emotions didn’t grow any sunnier.

“Yes, it’s a bit of a long story… Chris, I’d like you to wait here for a moment.”

“Oh, y–yes. I understand.”

Leon parted with me and started to talk with Arthur about something.
Probably laying the groundwork for me. Otherwise I might’ve blown my questionable cover story.

Still, you could say it about Arthur, and about Lucien too: are all the princes the weirdly over-familiar — I mean, sociable — type? Even Leon’s like that, in a sense…
Speaking of Lucien, is he not here today? When I think back to that day, I don’t want to meet him, so if he isn’t here, so much the better.

I nonchalantly surveyed the inside of the hall.

“?”

I spotted Palmira by the wall, talking to someone.
I tried to get a look at who she was talking to, but unlike Palmira, who was facing my direction, her partner — a man, I think — had his back to me, so I couldn’t really make out his features. All I knew was that characteristic red hair.
Helped along by my boredom, I walked toward them to join up with Palmira. As I did, the man turned slightly, his gaze pointed in my direction.

” — !”

The moment our eyes met, a s.h.i.+ver ran through me from head to foot.
Our eyes met for that one moment.
But I felt a terrible chill.

That man — who is he?
Ending his conversation with Palmira naturally, the man then parted ways with her, left the venue, and went outside.

My eyes chasing after him, I walked up to Palmira as quickly as I could.

“Palmira.”

When I got close enough, I called out to her.
Palmira’s condition — was normal. As far as I could tell, nothing about her had changed.
I don’t know what they talked about, but it wasn’t anything of importance, right?

“Lady Chris.”

Perhaps because my voice reached her, Palmira acknowledged me with manners befitting an armsman. As solid a performance as ever, but that was beside the point right now.

“Palmira, that man just now was…?”

I noticed the hurry creeping back into my tone. As Palmira looked at me in puzzlement, I leaned close to her ear.

“Who was that man just now? An acquaintance?”

“The person just now seems to be someone’s armsman. I don’t know whose; I didn’t get his name either. He called out to me, so I spoke with him a little, that’s all.”

“…I see.”

No important information. Straightening up, I looked toward the door the man left through.

Certainly, I did have the impression that he was wearing a sword outside of his coat, the way an armsman would. I didn’t get a good look at his face, but he was around twenty or thirty, by my estimation.

An acquaintance of mine, but not the type you’d run into in a place like this. However, I still had the hunch that I’d met him somewhere before.
When I was an adventurer? All I knew was his height and his red hair. But I couldn’t remember.

And then there was that chill the moment I met those eyes. Whatever that was, it made me dreadfully uneasy.

“Palmira.”

“Yeah. Follow him?”

As expected, Palmira was more than an attendant. Simply hearing her name was enough for her to guess my intentions on the first try.
It might’ve been that my state was just that strange, but because there was no time, I was grateful.

“Yeah, there’s something bothering me…”

I said, walking toward the exit the man had taken.
Before leaving, I looked around the hall for Leon. I didn’t know where he was.

I felt just a bit guilty for going without saying anything to him, but convincing myself that he’d definitely notice, I went through the door.

Footnotes
1. Leon referred to Lucien back in 52: The Turning Point as nii-san, and here he refers to his oldest brother as ani-ue. ↵

Oh, Chris, when will you learn? And is that denial, or is our mystery man really someone other than the obvious answer…? Next time, on Swamp Girl!