It was time to clear the dance floor. Esperanza turned around, rubbing the back of her hand against her skirt hem. She was drained. She really had no talent for mind games.
Still, there had been gains. The Duke had just said that he was the owner of the information broker. And if that was true, it was certain that the Duke had also sent the assassin to Mabelwood.
And one more thing.
'He definitely dislikes me, but why does he dislike me?'
The reason was unclear. Strictly speaking, they were meeting for the first time. Esperanza looked around the ballroom searching for Cider to resolve her accumulated questions.
She had expected their eyes to naturally meet when she turned her head, but when she actually tried to find him, he was nowhere to be seen. Why was this damn ballroom so spacious anyway?
Moreover, perhaps because she had danced with Duke Galliston, gazes poured down like needles.
It seemed the Duke had equally avoided dancing thirteen years ago too. He appeared to have danced one song each with Miss Talbot, the hostess, and her daughter Mary Talbot out of courtesy, but didn't seem to have requested dances beyond courtesy.
Such a man—moreover, a wealthy and handsome royal—had suddenly asked a strange woman to dance, so it was worth being curious about. Nine Holder would be buzzing with this story for days.
Esperanza wondered if this too was something the Duke had intended. If that was the case, as someone who preferred using her body over her head, Esperanza wanted to step aside and let Cider handle it alone.
"Esperanza. What happened? Do you know His Highness the Duke?"
"I just met him for the first time."
Lucinda Maxwell, backed by her mother's full support, had quickly escaped from an uninteresting fiancé candidate and rushed over.
"For the first time? But His Highness the Duke..."
"I really have no idea at all. I'm curious too."
"Then did he fall for you at first sight?"
As if that were possible. Esperanza unconsciously scoffed. At that cold reaction, Lucinda's eyes widened.
"He only talked about charity work the whole time. If that was an expression of interest... even if he's a Duke, that's a bit, you know."
Lucinda immediately showed distaste.
"Ugh. You really only talked about that kind of thing?"
"He seems to be quite interested in charity originally. I really saw him for the first time, so I didn't even know he was a Duke until I was introduced."
This was definitely a lie, but it was a believable lie. When would a lady from Paolun with no connections to the royal family have occasion to meet a Duke? However, Lucinda, who had expected juicy gossip, couldn't hide her disappointment.
"So that's really all there was. Then why on earth did His Highness ask Esperanza to dance?"
Excuses like coincidence or hastily requesting a dance to save face in the situation wouldn't work, as it was obvious to anyone that the Duke had deliberately approached her. Esperanza rolled her eyes, then quickly threw Cider under the bus.
"Maybe the one he's interested in isn't me but Lord Avondale."
"That... makes sense."
"He must be interested in magical engineering."
Even while Esperanza was being thoroughly interrogated by Lucinda, Cider didn't appear.
In the meantime, she encountered Viscount Kendrick Grimston-Hanger and danced another song, and was caught by a curious noble lady for conversation without introduction. Still he didn't appear. Where on earth had he gone?
The baseless confidence that their eyes would meet as soon as she left the dance floor seemed ridiculous in hindsight, but she had still expected him to be nearby. Not to be completely out of sight.
Or had he gone to smoke Paoran?
Though he seemed to have cut back lately, he still seemed to smoke about one a day. She hadn't seen him smoking today, so he might be outside smoking. The conversation could happen outside anyway, and she had gained enough for now...
Esperanza's eyes narrowed as she headed toward the door thinking this. Cider wasn't smoking Paoran. He was just near the door, not having gone outside.
Her eyes met with Cider's, who was casually listening to a lady leaning toward him eagerly seeking attention. He said something unilaterally to the lady, then approached without looking back.
"You look worn out."
"...Are you talking about me?"
When Esperanza belatedly pointed to herself, Cider nodded as if asking who else there could be. His tone suggested it was so obvious that what was there to ask, to the point where she unconsciously checked her reflection in the ballroom pillar. However, the reflection in the pillar was perfectly fine without fault.
"You must have had fun."
"If you're curious, try the next song with His Highness the Duke."
"I don't want to."
"Ah, right."
Esperanza answered reluctantly, then gestured with her chin toward where Cider had been and asked.
"Who was that person from before?"
"Lady Claudia Riphaely. You must have heard of her."
She had heard from Cordelia. The girl who went around badmouthing Esperanza and ardently had a one-sided love for Cider.
With looks like that alone, there would be more than one or two young ladies suffering from lovesick fever, but such public displays of affection were rare. Wasn't Nine Holder's social circle one where reputation was most important wherever you went?
"She must be a celebrity."
"If you make such a show of it, you can't help but be famous. Those young ladies hovering around you must have talked about it too."
Esperanza shrugged broadly. She had forgotten until Cider mentioned it. What did she care whether girls under twenty gossiped or not in their conversations?
"So, is that young lady about the level of your fiancée candidate?"
Cider took a glass from a passing automaton server's tray. A beat-delayed answer came back.
"As if."
"Ah. She's not?"
"No."
The firm answer, as if shaking off a grabbed arm, even contained inexplicable displeasure. Had she said something wrong? He didn't look upset though. When Esperanza avoided eye contact while reading the mood, Cider soon produced a smile.
"I didn't know you were interested in my marriage."
"Is it too much meddling?"
Even though they had become friends, marriage was a personal matter...
"No. I like it."
Then what was the problem? While she was lost in confusion, Cider asked back.
"Have I ever told you I would get married?"
"Not that, but don't people usually? You're a noble with a title..."
"Usually, yes. But I'm free without adults to nag me about getting married."
She didn't know what to answer. It hadn't been a topic to bring up lightly in the first place. Having no adults to nag meant both parents had died early. However, Cider added as if it really didn't matter at all.
"Which means I can marry whoever I want. Lady Claudia is too young and not my type either."
So he does have a type. Of course he would have likes and dislikes since he's human too, but thinking that he had preferences for a marriage partner felt strange. Cider tilted his head sideways to meet Esperanza's eyes. Around the time she felt their gazes had been locked longer than usual, Esperanza asked.
"Were you thinking of getting married?"
"No."
Then what was all that about preferences earlier?
"Well. My reputation in the marriage market was already finished the moment I started living alone with a young lady."
Esperanza's head shot up.
'...Because of me?'
Come to think of it, he had said early on that people wouldn't believe the ward story. While no one said anything to their faces, had everyone been whispering behind their backs? Her cheeks burned. Cider put down his glass and smiled, pulling at his lips.
"So stop with the strange misunderstandings. So, what did the Duke talk about?"
"Ah. I was actually looking for you to talk about that."
The tension eased a bit when the topic changed. Esperanza turned her body in a full circle to meet eyes with all the gazes that persistently followed her.
The curious gazes that had followed Esperanza's back as she whispered with the Count after meeting the Duke quickly disappeared when their eyes actually met. She sighed involuntarily. Right, that's how they had been gossiping behind her back.
"The Duke seems to have given you quite a headache."
A cold glass touched her empty hand. Esperanza relayed exactly the incomprehensible charity work story the Duke had brought up. While Cider looked at Esperanza's dance card with an expression of understanding yet not understanding, Esperanza received a new glass from a server and sighed.
"The Duke aside, while you were dealing with that follower young lady, I had to deal with all the people at that party. At this rate, it's better to handle things physically. Using my head and reading the mood really doesn't suit me."
"True, seeing you use your body, using your head isn't really using anything."
"It's not like I'm that bad at using my head..."
She really must have been tired. What was she even saying right now?
"How much time is left until the last dance?"
"Just one song left now."
Cider answered after checking the program written on the dance card. Suddenly she seemed to feel a bit more energetic. This would be over soon and she could go home.
"Want to just go back if you're tired?"
"Is that okay?"
"Though Lady Purse will camp out at the mansion tomorrow."
Lady Purse seemed like a good person, but that was precisely the problem. Lady Purse wouldn't tolerate grown ladies and gentlemen whispering to themselves behind closed doors for hours like the employees of Avondale Mansion would. Esperanza decided with the determined face of a general going to war.
"Let's just get through one dance and finish it."