Dance With the Nightingale - Chapter 40

Organizing the guests and controlling the atmosphere was supposed to be a challenge, but Countess took the lead here and tackled it head-on. And to my surprise, within a few minutes the mixed up guests who didn’t knew what to do next, were organized and pacified.

And honestly, no one can blame them, for the Empress really banged the ceremony’s schedule.

‘I guess, a sweet smile carrying enough force, was just the thing needed for the task.’

I thought as I looked at the crowd that was being divided into two broad sections.

The commoners who were wealthy enough to get invited. And the lesser nobles, that were actually the nobles of the past kingdoms.

Made up the first section and were naturally allowed to mash-up with each other.

While the higher nobles, or the actual nobles of the Empire consisted of the second section.

And this was not a classist behavior, rather this was a necessary countermeasure.

Imagine what would have happened if an opportunistic commoner somehow sneaked in and had a handshake with a Duke. If by any chance the Duke shook his hand without actually paying any attention to the commoner, what will happen?

There won’t be a hand to shake anymore.

So, both the classes were separated roughly.

Yes, roughly, it wasn’t like we could actually ban the guests from moving around. But as long as the invitee had a brain, he or she will surely notice the distinction.

“You can enjoy some high quality drinks here, Gentlemen. Be sure to enjoy the evening. Excuse me, now.”

“Of course, of course, go ahead Young Master! Being escorted by the star of the show was enough for us, we won’t waste more of your time.”

“You surely jest.”

I said, as I flashed a smile before moving back to the higher nobles region.

You surely didn’t think I would just be standing around doing nothing, right?

Fuck you, if you did.

Anyways, I climbed the small flight of stairs that acted as an invisible boundary of between the two sections, with light steps. Only to notice a bunch of definitely not light stares focused on me.

Of course, I ignored them and moved towards my parents who were talking with one of the Dukes of the Empire.

Well, not actually a Duke, but an Duchess.

Duchess Ekaitza, Ekaitza Lark Fernsby.

Better known as the Queen of Destruction.

Or the Incarnation of Destruction.

The Duchess looked like she was in early-thirties, was considerably tall, reaching 182cm, had long blue hair, which were a shade darker than my dad’s, currently tied in a bun, and glittering golden eyes.

She wore a blue-black dress filled with silvery gems that shone like stars. Beside her stood two people, her husband Levin Lark Fernsby, a handsome man with short green hair, violet eyes, and two crystalline horns that poked through his hair, and finally her daughter, Kapheira.

The Young girl was clearly my age, perhaps a few months older than me, and with the way she was twirling her hair on her fingers, she was bored, extremely so.

Just like her mother, the girl had dark blue hair and golden eyes. Their only distinguishing features would be their face-cut and her height that fell 20cm short of her mother.

(A/N: 162cm, no need to do math while reading a novel.)

Unlike her mother’s sharp features, she took more after her dad, having a well rounded face while also inheriting those horns of his.

Just hers, were too small to actually call horns, they were more like two small triangles that you wouldn’t notice until you intently focused on her head.

But even then my focus remained on her, not because she looked absolutely astonishing in that black dress, but because she was one of the few people that Eva befriended during the Academy arc.

So, more or less, one of my small objectives of this ceremony was to leave a favorable impression on her.

Atleast, Rayne knew her.

-Tap

-Tap

Apparently, my arrival was noticed before me actually arriving as the adult talk ended just as I reached the group.

And the first one greeting me was, of course, my own mother.

“Oh! Rayne you are back! Looks like you settled last of the guests. Come here greet your, Auntie.”

So, I did.

Showing a huge smile, I greeted with a light bow.

“Nice to meet you Madam Fernsby!”

“You are looking so gorgeous that my heart can’t bear to call you a Auntie.”

A brief silence lingered around our group after my greeting, which was quickly broken by a restrained chuckle from the Duchess, who was having a hard time suppressing her smile.

“Huhu~, you have really changed a lot, haven’t you Rayne? It’s nice to see you like this.”

The Duchess continued while patting my shoulder,

“But Young Man, there’s someone else you would like to praise too, correct?”

Well, yeah, can’t cut through that.

“Of course!”

I nodded my head, as I replied, turning it to the side, to face the Young girl who currently had her eyes opened wide.

“Long time no see, Kapheira. You are looking gorgeous today, just like your mother.”

I said, extending my hand for shake, instead of bowing, after all, not just Eva’s, she was a childhood friend of Rayne too.

Thankfully, the girl quickly snapped out of her stupor, as she hurriedly shook my hand.

“O-oh!, T-thank you very much, Rayne, you are also looking very handsome.”

The girl returned the courtesy hastily.

Smiling, I shook her hand lightly while looking into her shining golden eyes, and answered.

“Thanks for the compliment, it finally feels real when someone as pretty as you says so~”

“Oh my~, isn’t that the same thing you said to me back in the waiting room, or am I remembering things incorrectly?~”

Naturally, I ignored the quip, let go of the girl’s hand and greeted the final person.

“Greetings, Sir Levin, I hope you are enjoying the banquet.”

I said while performing a short bow.

“You don’t have to worry about that, I surely am enjoying it.”

“That’s good then.”

“Okay, now that the greetings are done, how about we start the banquet?”

The Earl asked as everyone nodded.

Of course, not all greetings were done, there were a lot of nobles that I had to greet, but that can be done after the opening ceremony.

Then, why did I greet the Fernsby’s first?

Simple, Duchess Fernsby is the head of our political faction.

Yes, our faction.

Simply put, there are 4 political factions in the Empire. Each headed by two Magus ranked magic users.

Our faction, an alliance between Duchess Fernsby and my dad.

One was an alliance of Duke Arsenio and Duke Etherfleihm.

Another was an alliance between Duke Anais and mercenary guild leader.

And finally, the last alliance was between Duke Nevaeh and the Blackbeard searchers.

Of course, these were not the only groups in the alliance, particularly the last two alliances were rather big ones, but these people, were the leaders of these alliances, these factions.

Meaning these Magus’ controlled the whole Empire except the regions that were placed under direct control of the Empire.

So, obviously, I had to make a statement that pointed out to people, that we were from the same faction.

Interrupting my thoughts, was a familiar voice, that I had grown used to, just the tone of the voice was not something that I liked.

“Madame the preparations are complete.”

“That’s good Amelia!, I knew you could make it on time somehow.”

The Countess said to my Maid that wore a serious look and expression, before turning to us,

“Let’s start, shall we?”

***

With everything more or less done, I stood straight in front of the guests, along with my father as he started.

“Welcome, everyone.

I think we all know the purpose of gathering, and as all of you saw, unexpectedly, the official ceremony is over.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy ourselves.

So, without further ado let’s start the banquet just the way we always do.

With a dance, by the star of the show!”

“Rayne, choose your partner.”

I stepped forward at his call and looked around the whole hall.

While the many girls in the lesser nobles and commoner section made inviting gestures as my gaze passed through them, the high class nobles were apathetic.

And not without reason, after all, though the Earl said ‘choose’ my choice was already made for me long ago.

Scanning the hall was nothing more than a courtesy I was told to do.

So, after a preliminary glance, I moved. Taking confident steps, as soon, I reached her.

Reaching out my hand and bowing slightly, I asked smile,

“Will Lady Kapheira give me the honor to dance with her?”

For the first time in my two lives, I didn’t feel any nervousness while asking a lady to dance.

Why?

Cause everything was predetermined, she must have been informed about this setup, so there was no chance of her rejecting me, or so I thought…

But, seeing her standing rooted in place, like an wide eyed statue, I wasn’t so confident anymore.

Taking a quick glance, I saw the Duchess who was standing just beside her Kapheira, curling her lips along with my parents.

And as soon as I saw that smile, I knew I have been had.

‘FUCK!! THESE!! ADULTS!!!!’

I cried out in indignation, as I activated Split Second. My mind worked on overloaded as I didn’t have much time even with my skill.

First, things first, calm her down.

I came to a conclusion, as I quickly threw a mind link at her.

The mental probe brought her back to her senses as the girl quickly caught up,

“The honor will be mine.”

She said, totaling the delay to 4 seconds, as she grabbed my outstretched hand.

-Huuuuuu

Sighing in relief inwardly, I deactivated my skill, as I guided her to the middle of the hall, where we were supposed to dance.

Both of us were quiet, as we kept our poker faces on. But that was just on the outside.

Inwardly though…

‘J-just what was that, Rayne!’

‘How the hell are you talking like that!’

‘What do you mean, and why were you so shocked?’

‘What do you mean by ‘what do you mean?’

Are you okay?’

‘Is that some kind of disease you got after you woke up.’

‘Wait! Don’t tell me…

You are some kind of doppelganger who is just filling up his role.’

‘That makes sense, that ‘Rayne’ wouldn’t talk like that even at death’s door…’

This girl, is she delusional?

‘STOP!!’

In the end, I had to put a stop at that.

‘First we dance, then we talk. You know how to do so, correct?’

‘Yes, yes, of course I know. For a mere doppelganger you are quite feisty.’

-Pop.

A vein popped on my head as I heard her reply, but in the end, I let it go as the hall got dimmer.

-Twinkle

-Twinkle

Slowly, small, twinkling, multicolored stars surrounded us. Providing us with a dim, but visible region of light filled with colors.

Bowing towards the guests once, I started the countdown for both of us, through the mind link.

-3

-2

-1

-Go.

The instant the music started, I grabbed her waist and pulled hard. We crossed by each other, as I twirled her once, before our legs got to work, fighting for supremacy.

And it was not just us, the lights around us got to work too.

Forming beautiful, but fierce patterns that sometimes complimented our moves, while sometimes depicting something that our dance complemented.

We moved, we twisted, we twirled as we danced, all while we kept talking with our mind link.

‘You tripped and fell, hurting your head when you were 8, but convinced me to say that you got injured while sparring with me. I agreed and was scolded harshly, and wasn’t allowed to train with others after that.’

‘Believe me now?’

‘Y-yes, I believe you, I’m sorry for that.’

‘But seriously, the way you talk and act changed a lot, almost as if you are a different person.’

What the-?

She is the only person who said that on my face.

I know she is supposed to be simple, and outspoken but this is just dumb.

But then, maybe it is exactly because of this personality of hers that she was able to befriend her?

Who knows…

-Lift

-Twirl

Another lift, another twirl and our dance continued, just like our talk.

‘But you missed my ceremony this year. I had to dance with Robert because of that.’

‘Actually, not just mine you missed everyone’s ceremony this year.’

‘Well not my fault that my birthday comes on 22nd of the last month.’

‘Of course it’s your fault!, who told you to go in coma in the first place.’

‘Sorry, for that Princess~’

‘Ahhh! Don’t call me that, it feels creepy!’

‘Why?, Your Robert calls you princess, right?’

‘Ahh, I told you to not call me that! And don’t remind me of that guy. He can be anyone’s but definitely not mine.

I mean, he’s staring at me like the creep he is from the beginning.’

‘Well, you are beautiful and all, you know that right?’

‘I’d be dumb to not know that.’

‘Oh! So you don’t know.’

‘Y-you, are you calling me dumb?’

‘You are still asking me that?’

‘Fuck you!

You were better off before.

At least you listened to everything that I said as long as it didn’t interrupt your training.’

‘Ahem! Noble dames shouldn’t curse, and I am not your teddy bear princess.’

‘Teddy bear? What’s that?

Also, I told you to not call me that!’

Just like that our bickering continued.

And after some time the music ended, ending our dance with it, but our bickering, it just continued…

The hall lit up once again as we bowed at the crowd, receiving light claps.

We looked at each other, and one way or another, a laugh that looked out of place from outsiders perspective leaked from our lips, before a huge smile formed on them.

And Damn!

Her smile was beautiful…

So innocent, so pure, so enchanting, that for the second time today, I had almost been had…

***

Author’s Note:

Hey guys, I am posting this here cause I want all of you to read this.

It’s an important announcement.

And no, I am not dropping this work nor I am going on a hiatus.

Just I am changing the release rate of the chapters.

It will be a chapter every two days.

Actually, there is a lot going on IRL, I have a part-time job, my university which was closed has started again just this week.

Yes, I didn’t post for a few days because of this.

I was busy with college.

So, just to make it manageable for me, I can only complete a chapter every two days.

Please cut me some slack there. I am an honor student and I really want to remain one, so guys please understand.

Anyways, the chapter length will be 1.5k min, sometimes it can also baloon up like this one did 2.4k words without this note.

Well, that was it, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Also, add my work to your library.

Give me your power stones.

Send me gifts.

And most importantly read my work.

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it.

Stay tuned.

My usual jargon.