TPOTLPIM Chapter 19

This time, power filled Rosein's sky-blue eyes.

"No matter how I think about it, your relationship with each other is strange. Do you and Lord Teros communicate well?"

"We don't need to report every detail of what happens between us to you, do we? Don't you think you're being presumptuous?"

Cecilia returned the exact words that Rosein had once said to her at Odik Castle.

Remembering those words, Rosein closed her mouth. Though Cecilia couldn't see Rosein's expression while dancing, just silencing her felt refreshing.

When the section came to change partners again, Cecilia seemed to finally be released from her discomfort. Or perhaps she was about to become even more uncomfortable?

The moment came when she had to dance with Dmitri.

"Please take care of me, Lady Cecilia."

With a gentle smile, Dmitri's eyebrows curved upward in an arc. It was an expression she had once loved.

Cecilia's hand touched Dmitri's. Like his affectionate demeanor, his hand was also warm. Their palms touched and then moved apart, circling each other at a set distance until they faced each other again. Dmitri's soft brown eyes lingered on Cecilia's face.

Looking into those eyes made her feel somehow embarrassed, and when Cecilia averted her gaze, she heard Dmitri's boyish laughter.

"Come to think of it, this is the first time I'm dancing with Lady Cecilia."

Yes, that's right. The days when she had yearned to see Dmitri and sought out balls he was attending, yet never dared to think of dancing with him, only watching from afar, came to mind. To think they were dancing together only after he became Rosein's fiancé.

If she had known it would come to this, she should have at least spoken a word to him first, or lingered around until he asked her to dance. Those who do nothing ultimately gain nothing, regardless of the size of their heart.

But what use were such thoughts now? Cecilia merely sent a bitter sneer to her past immature self.

"Lady Cecilia, you'll become the owner of the golden crown."

"That's something no one knows yet."

"Teros will give the crown to Lady Cecilia if he wins. And with that fellow and Thunder's combination, victory is a sure thing."

Thunder? Cecilia recalled the black horse Teros had ridden when she went to Hasblue. That horse's name was Thunder, wasn't it?

"Thunder is a fine-blooded fellow born from breeding excellent breeds together. When Thunder first came to our house as a young horse, Teros and I fought for days over who would have that horse."

Cecilia recalled the magnificent stature of the black horse Teros had ridden, its gleaming mane and solid muscles. It was indeed a splendid horse that would make brothers covet it just from its appearance.

"Seeing that Lord Teros has it, did you yield to him, Lord Dmitri?"

"Not at all. We both wanted it so much that we went to Father. Father was a fair person. He could have told us to share and take turns riding, but instead he said to have a riding competition and the winner would get Thunder."

"And then?"

"That's right, Teros won spectacularly, so Thunder has been his ever since. Ah, I should have said I yielded. Did that just make me look pathetic?"

When Dmitri playfully made a sad face, Cecilia burst into laughter.

While laughing, Cecilia suddenly glanced sideways toward where Teros was. Teros would be dancing with Rosein.

'...!'

Without knowing when he had started, Teros was staring in this direction. Unlike the charming circular dance movements, his expressionless face looked quite frightening.

Then she heard Dmitri's gentle whisper near her ear.

"It seems like you're finally relaxing a bit, which is a shame. Well, now let's return to our original partners."

As if returning to where they should have been, Cecilia and Teros's steps naturally brought them back to face each other.

Facing each other again, Cecilia and Teros each took a step forward and pressed their palms together to dance.

Cecilia raised her head to examine Teros's expression. The frightening expression she had seen when dancing with Dmitri was gone, but he somehow looked stiff.

"Are you perhaps angry?"

When she asked carefully, his rigid face relaxed and a slight smile appeared.

"Not at all. Actually, I wasn't in a good mood, but now it doesn't matter."

"Why weren't you in a good mood?"

"Because I disliked seeing you dance with another man."

"It was Lord Dmitri. Rosein's fiancé and your brother. It was just a meaningless dance."

When Teros gave no response, Cecilia felt embarrassed and focused on counting beats in her mind to avoid making mistakes in her dance steps.

When the music was almost over, Teros spoke.

"It's fine now that you've returned to me."

As if making her recognize that he was the main partner, he lightly grasped her hand and intertwined their fingers.

"Oh, Lord Teros. If you do this, the dance..."

Normally they should have lightly touched palms and stepped apart, but because Teros wouldn't let go of her hand, the two could only face each other in an awkward position with only their lower bodies apart.

Cecilia tried to escape from Teros's hand with slight force, but she couldn't do so the moment she saw the look in his eyes watching her.

Teros was saying many things with his eyes, but Cecilia couldn't read their exact meaning. However, she clearly felt that if she shook off this hand, he would be deeply disappointed, so for that brief moment she stood still, obediently offering her hand.

She couldn't hear the music that had been softly filling the ballroom, nor could she see the other people spinning around them. Strangely, at this moment, it felt as if only she and Teros were alone in the vast ballroom.

While everyone else turned with toy soldier-like regularity, only the two of them stood still as if existing in a different time and space.

Just then, as the orchestra's performance ended, Teros naturally released her and stepped back to perform the closing bow of the dance.

Bewildered, Cecilia stood hesitating before suddenly coming to her senses and following him in the closing bow.

Even after returning to the table, Cecilia couldn't hide her confused expression as she tried to understand the strange emotion she had felt in that brief moment.

"Lady Cecilia, are you alright? Your face is red."

"Oh, I think it's because of the champagne I drank earlier."

To Dmitri's worried concern, Cecilia made up an excuse that came to mind.

"That's not the only reason. You must have been embarrassed as a partner because my dancing was terrible. I lost the beat while dancing."

"Haha, is that so? Teros, did you step on Lady Cecilia's foot?"

"Well, more than her foot..."

"Yes, yes, that's right. His feet were so big and heavy. I was quite surprised, haha."

Not knowing what unexpected remark Teros might make, Cecilia hastily babbled.

"Forget it, Cecilia."

Teros smiled bitterly and lowered his head.

After some more trivial conversation, Teros stood up from his seat and extended his hand toward Cecilia.

"Cecilia, let's go get some fresh air together to cool your face."

Cecilia was somewhat bewildered as she accepted his escort and left the ballroom.

The two began walking in the garden behind the south wing where the ballroom was located.

Whenever the night breeze blew, the leaves rustled and danced. The season was now passing from summer into autumn. The scent of the wind blowing from the forest and the sensation touching her skin announced the change of season.

It had already been well over a month since she met Teros.

At first, she had wondered how she would spend six months. Time was flowing faster and more steadily than expected. Almost regrettably so.

Cecilia impulsively asked about something that had made her curious in the ballroom.

"By the way, earlier in front of Lord Dmitri, you said we were nothing to each other. But usually you say you're going to marry me."

At the end of her question, she smiled mischievously to hide her genuine curiosity about the reason.

As the mood lightened with her playful tone, Teros also smiled leisurely.

"Don't feel hurt. Like Sister-in-law Rosein, keeping it secret until the engagement is less troublesome in many ways. Still, I'll continue with the wedding preparations."

"I've never felt hurt! Ha, I thought I had become free for a moment, but I guess not."

"My fiancée seems to like being restrained."

"Not at all!"

Bickering with meaningless words, Cecilia found this situation amusing.

The love potion, the military trial, marriage to Teros. All the things that had given her headaches seemed to become light and turn into mere jokes.

It must be because she was intoxicated for a moment. She was aware that heat still remained on her cheeks and that she was in a strangely elevated mood.

"Let's sit over there for a moment."

Where Teros pointed, there was a long chair carved from marble, and the two sat side by side on the chair.

Cecilia raised her head to look at the night sky, so high its depth was unknowable. She thought the color of the night sky resembled Teros's eyes, where black and blue were mysteriously mixed.

For a moment, she recalled the look in his eyes when he held her hand tightly while dancing and gazed at her. More than why he held her hand, she was more curious about why he had such an expression at that moment. An expression that seemed to be suppressing something while also being immersed in sadness. What had Teros been thinking then?

She wanted to ask, but it was too delicate a situation to ask directly.

Then Cecilia heard the murmuring conversation of women near her ear.

"Did you see Lady Cecilia dancing with the Jeminick brothers earlier? Wasn't it strange?"

At hearing her name suddenly, Cecilia's shoulders stiffened. Behind the chair where she sat with Teros, thick garden trees lined up. The women on the opposite side seemed to have no idea that Cecilia was right next to them with just garden trees between them.

"It looked a bit odd. As far as I know, Lady Cecilia definitely used to like Lord Dmitri..."

Startled blue eyes looked up at Teros sitting beside her. Because of that, Teros had no choice but to directly meet her eyes, which looked as if they were about to cry from panic.

Without time to think, Cecilia raised both hands to cover Teros's ears.

'He'll definitely be hurt.'

She didn't want Teros to know about her dark history of liking Dmitri. There wasn't enough time to leave the spot, and she couldn't stop the women's mouths, so this was the only way.

At this moment, Cecilia realized exactly why she had desperately tried to hide the fact that she had liked Dmitri. It wasn't because of the embarrassment of having her dark history exposed. She didn't want to see Teros's expression when he became disappointed upon learning the truth.

Regardless of her anxious heart, the women's conversation continued to be heard.

"I had forgotten about it for a moment because Lady Rosein got engaged to Lord Dmitri. Right? Lady Rosein said that before. I remembered when I saw her dancing with Lord Dmitri. So does that mean Lady Cecilia liked the brothers one by one in order?"

Contrary to her wish, the women's conversation didn't stop, and she could see Teros's expression hardening.

'Could Lord Teros be hearing that conversation?'

Cecilia pressed Teros's ears more firmly with force, then met his eyes and quietly shook her head. It was a plea to stay still like this for now.

Then,

"Watch your words!"

At the sudden protest, Cecilia perked up her ears. Someone had intervened in the women's conversation, but since it was happening beyond the garden trees, Cecilia couldn't see who it was. She could only listen to the conversation that reached her.

"Oh my, Lady Asen!"

"The claim that Cecilia liked Lord Dmitri is something Lady Rosein said, but no one heard it directly from Cecilia. If that were true, would Lady Rosein, who was close friends with Cecilia, have gotten engaged to him? And it wasn't even a political marriage but a love marriage!"

"Come to think of it, that was quite strange too."

"Did Lady Rosein misunderstand and misspoke?"

"Well, even if it was a slip of the tongue, not correcting it was wrong, and if it wasn't a slip of the tongue, meeting him was still wrong."

At Asen's words, the direction of the gossip began to turn toward Rosein, and the women began to freely pour out the suspicions they had kept only in their hearts, unable to voice them before. These were words they had all felt inside but couldn't say because they feared the power of Rosein, who would become part of the Jeminick family.

"Knowing that Lady Cecilia admired him, didn't Lady Rosein meet Lord Dmitri anyway?"

"Or maybe Lady Rosein was interested in Lord Dmitri and used Lady Cecilia as an excuse. Thanks to us, she learned a lot of good information about him."

"No way! Lady Cecilia's honor is at stake, would she really go that far?"

"This whole situation is too suspicious."

From beyond the garden trees, Cecilia drew a small breath, grateful to Asen. Asen, who was usually quiet, had gathered courage for her sake. However, whether the target of attack was Cecilia or Rosein, the fact that Teros shouldn't hear this conversation remained unchanged.

Then, Teros's large hands took hold of Cecilia's hands that were covering his ears and brought them down.

'No.'

Seeing her shake her head pleadingly, Teros smiled as if it was fine.

He held her hands tightly and carefully placed them on her knees.

Soon his straight lips approached her ear, and a low, deep whisper tickled her ear.

"I'm fine, Cecilia."

'What do you mean you're fine?'

Cecilia asked with her eyes, but he only smiled without answering and stood up from his seat.

Looking up at him as he suddenly rose, Teros extended his hand toward Cecilia as if suggesting they escape this chaos.

Hidden by garden trees taller than a person, the women on the other side couldn't see this way.

The two held hands and secretly escaped the garden. At first they walked stealthily, killing the sound of their footsteps, then gradually their pace quickened until they began running hard enough to pant. As if playing a game of hide-and-seek that only they knew, this secretive situation was amusing, and later both burst into laughter.

Teros didn't let go of her hand until they reached the garden entrance, and Cecilia, busy escaping as they fled, didn't think to shake off that hand.