Not there.
Nowhere he looked.
Golden eyes flickered restlessly.
Nowhere in this vast banquet hall could Ollia be seen.
“Seems you've no interest in what we have to say, Sir Cassian. How disappointing. Is none of us to your taste?”
The ladies' coy laughter rang in his ears.
When he pressed his lips shut, not knowing what to say, a flurry of remarks followed: that they'd let it slide since he was so handsome, that at least he could answer them since his voice was so nice.
Where did the priest go?
The crowd around him only seemed to keep growing.
Within that press of people, within the clusters scattered here and there across the hall, Ollia was nowhere.
He was a man impossible to miss.
That was true even though Ollia, unlike Cassian himself who was decked head to toe in bright colors, wore a tailcoat like a shadow.
Cassian couldn't forget the way every gaze in the hall had rushed toward Ollia the moment he stepped in.
Astonishment, admiration, a desire resembling wonder, lust hidden beneath composure.
It was attention enough to call Ollia the star of the banquet, and no exaggeration.
As if aware of it, Ollia had spent the whole evening at Hersta's side, and Hersta permitted no one to approach.
Naturally, that had cut others off from Ollia too, so Cassian had thought he could relax a little.
But while he was frantically fending off the strangely swelling crowd, he'd lost track of Ollia somewhere along the way.
There's no way he slipped out in that time.
Ollia had been toward the inner part of the hall, and Cassian was nearer the entrance. If Ollia had passed by, there was no way he wouldn't have known.
His anxiety was flaring up again.
The man vanished and caused trouble the moment you looked away, so it became unbearable to endure his absence.
First I have to shake these people off.
Even after Cassian held his silence for several minutes without any real reply, they didn't know when to give up.
More than wanting to know him, they seemed to have taken a liking to the act of chattering away at his side.
Unable to stay held there any longer, Cassian spoke as politely as he could.
“I'm afraid something else has come up and I must be going. Let's save our conversation for another time.”
When he made the request while meeting the eyes of each and every lady surrounding him, they hid their smiles behind fans and exchanged glances, betraying their excitement.
“Oh my... All right, then dance just one song before you leave.”
“I'm sorry...?”
Among the ladies giggling and worked up, the one at the very front spoke.
Caught off guard by the unexpected request, Cassian frowned.
“I don't know how to dance.”
He'd been a stranger to dancing since childhood.
Even if he had been skilled at it, it would've been nothing like these nobles' style of dancing.
When Cassian, showing his reluctance, reflexively took a step back, the woman boldly held out the back of her hand.
“I'll teach you. Just follow my lead.”
“But...”
“There aren't many men who get to dance with me, you know?”
Lowering her fan, she flashed a bright smile. She was a woman with waving golden hair and pink cheeks that gave a fresh impression.
“Come now. I'm more persistent than I look.”
Even if he wanted to refuse, there was nowhere to retreat.
The women surrounding him held their positions without a gap, and the men watched with interest.
To the nobles, what choice this striking, beautiful swordsman from the empire would make seemed to be the most fascinating bit of gossip of all.
In the end, unable to find any compromise, Cassian took the woman's hand, and she smiled shyly and led him to the center of the hall.
“Ah, this song. It's Patir Rügang's 'le doute.' Do you know it?”
“No.”
“The greatest artist of the southern continent.”
Southern continent artist or northern continent artist, he had no interest.
Cassian braced himself to be made a laughingstock.
He intended to endure this long stretch of hardship somehow, then set about searching for Ollia in earnest.
“Now, wrap your arm around my waist. This hand, like so. Wow, you're quite good.”
Any other time he'd have tried not to let so much as a fingertip touch a noble, a noblewoman especially, but not today.
He set his posture exactly as the woman instructed, without complaint, and moved his feet in the direction she led.
Whether he was taking odd steps, whether his movements were clumsy, how he appeared in others' eyes, none of it concerned him in the slightest.
For Cassian, who normally didn't enjoy standing out, it was quite a fresh experience.
Not an enjoyable one, of course.
The whole time he moved to her lead, his eyes darted busily in search of Ollia. He couldn't focus on anything.
“It's not polite to look away from your partner while dancing. Look at me, Sir Cassian.”
“Just dancing is more than enough of a strain. Don't ask too much of me.”
“...Hmph. Is this what they mean by a pretty face and nothing more?”
The music filling the hall's stage was deeply alluring.
The tempo was slow, giving off a thick, lingering mood, and the harmony of strings and winds cleanly lifted a melody that could otherwise have turned dark.
Music fit for nothing but a nobles' banquet. A melody for indulgence.
Where on earth did he vanish to?
It was an utterly passive dance, moving to the woman's lead, yet from off the floor Cassian's figure looked all but perfect.
In truth it was closer to an illusion created by the woman's smooth lead and Cassian's unrivaled looks.
The pure-white tailcoat trimmed with gold leaf fluttered elegantly along with Cassian's movements, and his slightly lowered head made his deep gaze and sharp nose stand out.
A bearing more noble than any noble in the hall.
The expedition knights, who'd had nothing to do but drink themselves silly, whistled at the sight of Cassian, and not only the ladies but even the kingdom's princesses filling the seats moved their lips busily.
One turn, two turns.
As the music approached its climax, the dance grew more elaborate too.
While spinning, he had to trade places with the other couples on the floor.
Cassian, who couldn't manage even that smoothly, collided with several of them as he moved, but since it was always the other party who went flying, he was able to keep dancing as flawlessly as if he'd never made a single mistake.
“You use your body very well.”
“I've done physical work my whole life.”
Cassian parried his partner's compliment dryly and briefly ran his tongue over his lips.
The music was longer than he'd expected, and Ollia still wasn't in sight.
At this point, it was more believable that Ollia had slipped out of the hall through some secret door Cassian didn't know about.
The player drew the cello's strings passionately, and a heavy resonance was added to the music.
The resonance carrying on in a steady beat grated on him.
How distracting.
Not even realizing that he was growing more and more on edge, Cassian only wished for this pointless stretch of time to pass.
And so, from the edge of the floor, back to the center. Taking the center of the stage naturally, the woman whispered as if delighted.
“Now hold my waist firmly, and support me.”
The instant he obeyed, the woman bent sharply backward.
Tilting her body as if lying down entirely, she gracefully raised one leg.
Applause poured out along with the music, which had stopped at some point.
But Cassian's gaze was fixed not on the woman he was supporting, but on somewhere else entirely.
Beyond the stage, a space that had been hidden by a deep navy curtain.
The thick curtain was half drawn back, revealing the balcony beyond.
Ollia was there.
Back against the balcony railing, arms crossed. Cassian could feel those violet eyes, carrying a more imperious air than usual, gazing straight at him.
The corners of Ollia's mouth were faintly raised, as if he'd watched everything Cassian had been doing.
No relief came at finally having found Ollia.
His gaze, moving on instinct, caught a half-hidden figure beyond the incompletely drawn curtain.
Priest Leinon.
He had a removed vest draped over one arm and was hurriedly buttoning up a shirt that hung completely open.
Why on earth had Priest Leinon gone out onto the balcony with Ollia and had to remove the layers upon layers he'd been wearing?
And was it really only his top he'd taken off?
“Oh my...!”
Raising his arm to set the woman upright, Cassian made straight for Ollia.
Whoever stood in front, whatever was in the way, he paid no mind.
His eyes looked only at Ollia, and the place he had to go was likewise wherever Ollia was.
When he arrived before the balcony, Leinon, now dressed again, gauged the mood and hurried off.
“Haha, Cassian. I didn't know you had that in you. You danced quite well.”
Cassian's eyes swept quickly down Leinon's unruffled retreating back, then turned to Ollia once more.
Ollia, who had been staring intently at Cassian as his shadow fell over him, crinkled his eyes cheerfully.
“Playing with the ladies. Did you have fun?”
