“What’s up with them?”
Lucas, who had approached without me noticing, asked me.
I guessed that ‘them’ included the Emperor.
“Yeah, I don’t really know either.”
I said while watching the two dancing at a distance.
When it comes to couples dancing at a ball, they usually fall into three categories.
First, there’s the little girl dancing with her father.
Typically, the father looks at his daughter with a honey-dripping smile, and the daughter seems to be having the time of her life. Naturally, this scenario often involves a very young daughter, and those around them watch with warm affection.
But those two were indeed father and daughter, yet there was no such atmosphere.
Since Bella was older than me, there was absolutely no way she looked like a ‘young daughter debuting at the social scene.’ The Emperor and Bella weren’t gazing at each other with joy either.
The second category is lovers.
In this case, it didn’t fit at all. Pass.
Lastly, there’s the common social dance. As the name implies, it’s a dance meant to build camaraderie without any particular feelings involved.
In this case, the two people could be close friends, or on the flip side, could be from two rival families.
Uh… they definitely leaned toward the latter in this case. Although they weren’t from different families, Bella’s glare at the Emperor was icy.
The surrounding people were watching Bella and the Emperor dance with bated breath filled with tension.
“……”
We were discreetly watching the two with growing concern.
If we had to pick the person most likely to harbor ill feelings toward the Emperor, we would unanimously point to Bella.
Lucas and Jayden might have gained the Emperor’s favor at a relatively young age, but for Bella…
There was no story exchanged between the Emperor and Bella.
They just stared at each other, locked in a gaze.
After a few minutes of spinning around, the music came to an end.
“Ha.”
Bella sighed a little and picked up her glass from the table.
Then she downed the champagne in one go.
“You dance well. Honestly, I thought your skills would be rusty.”
Had Bella danced with the Emperor before?
“You probably don’t remember.”
“……I remember.”
“Um.”
Bella received a new glass from a waiter and gulped down the drink in one go.
Then, she crossed her arms and said to the Emperor, “So, gentleman, shall we have a little private chat? Somewhere without other people.”
It was a bit of a chilling scene.
Of course, Bella probably intended it that way. She wouldn’t actually try to seduce her father.
“……Alright.”
The Emperor said after a brief hesitation.
The two walked side by side and exited the banquet hall.
“……”
Even the staff waiting to change the record stood there with their mouths hanging open, staring at the door the two had left through.
We exchanged glances and quickly followed after them.
Who knew what they might do if we left them be?
What if they ended up killing each other?
*
Finding Bella and the Emperor wasn’t that hard.
The mansion was spacious, but it was still a house. It wasn’t as vast as a department store.
I found Bella and the Emperor on the third floor.
As I crept up the stairs, I could faintly hear Bella’s voice, so I slowly moved in that direction, trying to make as little noise as possible.
The two were talking.
Actually, it was more accurate to say Bella was talking alone.
“Why did you do that?”
Bella asked very directly.
It seemed she hadn’t noticed I was nearby.
“Do you know how hard it was for me after you abandoned me?”
Her voice was wet with unshed tears, but oddly enough, it was very calm.
It felt like she was forcibly holding back.
They were on a terrace at the end of the corridor.
I pressed my back against the outer wall of the terrace to avoid being seen by them.
“……”
The Emperor remained silent.
“If your blood was flowing in me, you didn’t have to prove anything. You could have just brought me here, raised me decently, and married me off to an appropriate noble, right? Even if I wasn’t capable.”
Bella lamented.
“Why? Did you dislike the thought of children inheriting the Emperor’s blood? Did you have to grab all the power for yourself?”
Her voice was like one reading a predetermined script.
My heart raced. What if Bella decided to kill the Emperor?
The Emperor had looked strangely weak in all his actions today. When he was first captured, he had seemed ready to concoct and execute new plans immediately, but it felt like something was missing from him after spending so long alone.
“Did you know? The moment I learned about my lineage, I wanted to kill you.”
“……I understand.”
“You understand?”
Bella scoffed. This was the first time I heard genuine emotion from her voice.
“Then will you die for me? I don’t want to dirty my hands.”
At Bella’s words, I wondered if I should jump out now. I hesitated but decided to stay hidden a little longer.
“I can’t kill this feeling I have for you. Given time, I might actually try to kill you.”
“……”
“A sister, they said.”
I stiffened.
“Well, it’s not like she’s the type to call me ‘sister’ under normal circumstances, but isn’t it odd? If circumstances were different, I might have cut her throat myself, but she tried to save me. And here she is, trying to create something family-like. She’s a strange one. She was also used by you, after all.”
“……Is that so?”
For the first time, the Emperor spoke.
“Is it because of Sylvia?”
“Yeah. If you’re going to put it that way, it is. It’s ironic, isn’t it? She, who doesn’t have a drop of my blood, keeps coming to me to talk. All sorts of strange things too. Nonsense that’s completely distant from power or authority. But you know? She’s the first person to come to me like that in my life.”
Bella laughed.
“So yeah, I might feel a little regretful. If I die or if something happens to me that makes me unable to talk to her.”
“……”
Bella had been shown to sympathize a lot with Claire in the original story. Considering the weapon Claire used until her death was Bella’s sword, it likely meant they were very close.
In fact, Bella had wanted family more than anyone. Whether it was her father, mother… or her own siblings.
“I’m trying to talk to her, but you seem to be in the way.”
“……Is that so…”
“Sylvia is really nice, isn’t she? Maybe even nicer than you think? Even in this situation, she’s still trying to look out for you, right? Lucas and Jayden are both startled every time they see you. It’s possible our family’s focus shifted to Sylvia a long time ago. Maybe that’s when your plans started to slip away.”
“……”
“……I said you should die earlier, but that might be a bit difficult. You see, she can’t turn back her plans. So, to come to the conclusion I want, I’ll have to cooperate with her plans. Don’t get it twisted. That’s not me forgiving you. I’ll probably never forgive you. Well, different feelings might overshadow that, but.”
“I understand.”
The Emperor replied.
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. I’ve thought about it for quite a while now. I had plenty of time to think during the alchemy period.”
The Emperor slowly continued.
“The plan has fallen apart. Looking back, no matter how I constructed the plan, there were no options left. Everything was connected to you guys. If I… had been in a properly trusting relationship with you, maybe I could have executed my new plan.”
“Ha, what a conclusion befitting you.”
“Now, to say I found something precious… I wouldn’t think of saying something like that.”
The Emperor said.
Calmly. Just like Bella next to him.
“But… hearing your story, it’s definitely interesting. This plan of Sylvia’s. I…”
“Well, I don’t even need you to say it.”
Bella leaned against the terrace railing.
There was a long silence between them.
Um, I was thinking it might be time to slip out when…
“Sylvia!”
A redhead appeared from afar.
Lucas came up the stairs waving at me.
“Oh, what’s going on? You were all here—”
Bella seemed somewhat relieved that she hadn’t pierced the Emperor after all, but as she moved up, she caught sight of me hiding behind the wall and her expression stiffened.
I placed my hand on my forehead.
Seriously, if you’re going to call out, could you do it a bit quieter!
They’ve figured out I was eavesdropping all this time!
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