「So… What did you and that prick talk about?」
Straf asks as he and Cycelia walk off to the side, where there is some dancing space free.
「Who?- Ah, Sir Vinis?…」
Very briefly confused, she tilts her chestnut head before glancing at Sir Vinis, who is now dancing with one of the noblewomen.
「…Just politics, and general affairs. It seems like next year, Sir Vinis intends to compete for your title as the empire's busiest man. He and his government have a lot of things planned.」
Cycelia shrugs, smiling softly at Straf while deftly stepping back and forth, turning with him.
「Oh boy. More, bigger government, huh?…」
Straf rolls his eyes in response.
「Isn't that good?… That's what he was elected for, isn't it?」
Lightly puzzled by Straf's reaction, she gently tilts her head again.
「The best government is no government, Lia. That's not to say anarchy… Just no assholes to meddle with you…」
Straf shrugs with his mouth aslant, glancing over Cycelia's chestnut head at Sir Vinis. The two seem to gain a split-second eye contact across the ballroom.
「…Failing that, the second best government is an all-powerful leader at the top who has the undisputed power to do anything, and takes the blame for everything… And can be killed if he's shit.」
He adds, quickly shrugging his head aside, nonchalantly grimacing as he returns his bored eyes to Cycelia's emerald ones.
「…So, like a king?」
Intensely focused on his gaze, she asks with a light smile while blinking her emeralds at him.
「…Not exactly. Something like that, though. But yeah, you're right… Big government does help a lot. I can't imagine what things would look like if the empire had checks and balances.」
Straf replies with a tight-lipped grimace on his face, and turns his eyes up towards the rest of the ballroom. Greaves and his orange mass of hair stand out from the crowd while dances with Alicia. She appears to be the only reason he's still up on his tripping feet. Elsewhere, Lian is dancing with Will. The height difference between makes the dance a little awkward, if not difficult, and Will has to keep his blushing face turned away to avoid either having to stare directly up, or directly at her breasts.
Nona seems to have caught an older nobleman. He vaguely resembles Fost from a distance, though Straf can't quite see his face. She looks up from her dance partner and turns her amber eyes to Straf and Cycelia. She stares for a few seconds, then returns her gaze back to the man. Straf looks back at Cycelia's rosy face, and his attention drifts lower, to her generous cleavage.
「…I know I said this already, but fancy dress. You said it still fits… It's not new?」
Straf remarks, tracing the chain of her necklace with his eyes out of her cleavage back up to her face.
「No, it's not. It's not really old, either. It's from my father. He threw a grand ball for my birthday… I remember tripping over my feet while dancing with him, despite the lessons…」
She shakes her head, giggling quietly as her smile grows. Her emerald eyes drift down to their feet while she speaks.
「…I haven't danced in a pretty long time. My last was at that ball… You're a pretty good dancer, though. Did you take lessons? Practice?… Experience?」
Cycelia adds, and turns her smile back up, inquisitively tilting her head.
「Nope, nope, aaaand nope. There's not much to this dance, it's just walking back and forth. If you asked me to breakdance though…」
「Breakdance?…」
Straf shrugs as he replies, and turns his eyes to the crowd around them. She furrows her brows slightly.
「…Well, I better not. With these rich assholes around us, it'd be more break than dance. You'd get to see what the inside of a blender looks like while it's blending.」
He adds with a sigh, and returns his gaze to Cycelia's smiling face.
「Still… You're not missing a step, and you're holding me tight. You're confident you won't trip. I remember my father dancing like that too…」
Cycelia shrugs her shoulders, smiling. After a moment, her emerald eyes become visibly damp as she blinks faster, her gaze drifts downward, and her smile begins to fade. Though she dances, the music becomes background noise as she recalls the last dance with her father. Her heels were unsteady, and her steps hesitant. The amused faces of assorted nobles were surrounding and watching them, while her father was holding her firm, smiling down at her.
Clak.
「Wah!」
Fwump.
Cycelia absentmindedly steps too far and trips over her dress, sending her flying forward into Straf. He catches her with ease, and she presses her face into his chest, briefly pausing their dance.
「…You alright, Lia?」
Straf asks with his brow raised. After a moment, she lifts her chestnut head.
「Yes… Yes, I just stepped on my dress. I don't usually wear these shoes…」
She nods, and briefly looks around the ballroom to see if anyone saw that. It's impossible for an empress to trip unnoticed, of course, and many curious eyes are on her already.
Cycelia turns her damp green eyes back up to Straf with a pained smile on her face.
Pat.
「…Eh?」
She furrows her brows as Straf places his hand on the back of her head and pulls it in closer. With her rosy cheek resting on his chest, he begins to pet her gently.
「Straf, people are watching…」
「So?」
Cycelia meekly protests, but makes no effort to pull away or stop him. If anything, her shoulders slump and she relaxes her head onto Straf, who nonchalantly shrugs.
He glances at the other dancers, who seem to be separating a little ahead of the etiquette time. Cliques of men and women quickly reform as they watch Straf and the empress, with a handful of people still dancing, although likewise staring at the two while they do so. The people around them lean in and whisper into each other's ears.
「So that's why she's still unmarried…」「…It all makes sense now…」「…Is he from a noble house, though? I've never heard of any Vindicts…」
The men and women gathered around them gossip in hushed tones, nodding or shrugging.
「…This dance is a little boring. Let me show you a better one.」
Straf says as he pulls his hand away from Cycelia's head, only to place it at the back of her waist.
「Eh? Straf!?…」
Her head perks up in alarm at how low his hand is, and she looks aside at the crowd.
「Come on. One-two-three…」
Straf guides Cycelia aside, rapidly shuffling side to side instead of back and forth. Every now and then, Straf forcefully spins Cycelia about, holding her firmly in his grip as if she's a prop for the dance, rather than the second dancer. With a nervous grin, she rapidly tries to match his steps, loudly stomping her heels on the floor.
「Straf! Straf, slow down! I'll trip again! On the floor this time!…」
She pleads with nervous eyes, then gets swept by Straf in a spin when they reach the end of their side-shuffle. Their leading hands are now facing the way back, and the shuffling resumes.
「No you won't.」
Straf declares with casual confidence, and continues rapidly shuffling left and right. The men and women watching them begin nodding in approval, and their dance becomes the main topic of the discussions in the background. The band appears to have noticed that their energetic tune was too slow for the empress and her dancer, and have switched to another, much faster one. With a new song being played, dance pairs begin forming once again, and the new dancers attempt to mimic the strange shuffling.
「Eh?…」
Cycelia looks aside again. The crowd is no longer paying attention to her, and instead are focused on avoiding tripping, or bumping into each other. The ballroom devolves into a state of nigh-chaos as people shuffle back and forth, left and right, spinning and turning. Lily continues tapping her foot on the floor, and she follows the two at a safe standoff distance while they watch.
「Redwing girl!…」
Lily calls out as Straf and Cycelia speed past them. Straf speeds past with Cycelia having very little, to no control over it.
「…Tsk. Redwing girl!」
She calls out again, following beside the two on another pass. Cycelia turns her emerald eyes to her scarlet ones.
「Lily?…」
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She replies, furrowing her brows.
「…Unhand Straf! I wish to dance with him!」
Lily demands and holds her small, clawed hand out for Straf. He shrugs, and opens his hand.
「…In just a moment, Lily.」「Eh?」
Cycelia replies, and grips tighter onto Straf's hand, not allowing him to pull away. Narrowing his eyes in surprise as her dainty fingers squeeze his hands, Straf gets pulled away towards another shuffle. Lily grits her teeth and follows after them, clenching her tiny fists.
「You danced long enough! The others are now on their second dance!」
Without yielding, Lily exclaims as she follows Straf and Cycelia.
「Uh, Lia… Isn't this enough?…」
Straf asks, furrowing his brows as he looks at Cycelia's face.
「Just a little more.」
She replies with a tight-lipped grimace, and pulls Straf away from Lily towards an escape vector. Angered, Lily stomps after them.
「Unhand Straf! It's my turn to dance with Straf! Unhand him now!」
Lily shouts, bringing the entire ballroom's attention to themselves as she points her clawed finger up at Cycelia.
「Lia…」
Straf sighs out. Cycelia's shoulders slump, and she lets go of his hand with a sullen sigh of her own.
「Hmpf!… Finally.」
Lily scoffs scornfully as she snatches Straf's hand and pulls him away from the empress. She stops, and turns to face him.
「Straf. I know a lot of written theory, but I don't have any dancing experience. Teach me that new dance.」
She demands, holding her other hand out for him.
「Lily… There's going to be a problem…」
Straf replies with a tight-lipped grimace on his face, like the father of a disabled daughter, who now must explain to her that her dream of becoming a ballerina will never come true.
「…What problem? I assure you, I know the theory of dancing very well- Eh?」
Lily tilts her golden head, but it then recoils in surprise when Straf's palm measures her height, and his other hand measures an approximate offset a few heads higher.
「…You'd have to be about this high for it to work, Lily. Unless you want me to dance on my knees.」
「Huh!?…」
Straf replies, holding his palm out horizontally far above Lily's head, roughly about his chest level. Her eyes widen in shock, and her jaw drops, baring her fangs in dismay.
「…Khhhkh…」
She grits her teeth as she lowers her head, clenching her tiny hands.
「…Then!… Just teach me the lowlander, Straf! You can do that, can't you!?」
Lily exclaims, pointing her finger at him with a pout that she's desperately attempting to hide.
「Huh? The lowlander?…」
Puzzled, Straf narrows his eyes at her.
「Your previous dance! Before the new one! Teach me that one!」
She demands, and holds her hands out up for Straf.
「Ah, that… Yeah, I can work with that. Let's go, then, Lily.」
Straf's brows rise and he nods, enlightened. He then shrugs, and grabs onto Lily's cold hands. While the rest of the ballroom are dancing in a poor imitation of the new, fast, energetic dance, the two dance the rather muted lowlander dance to a music that's too fast for the dance. Lily does not seem to mind, however. A smug smile of satisfaction slowly appears on her face as she steps back and forth, slowly rotating with Straf, holding his hands while he holds hers.
Lily's golden twintails sway with each motion of the dance, and the fabric of her dress rustles softly, though it's all inaudible details over the music being played. Her scarlet eyes look up to Straf with a smug smile on her pale face. A fang appears as she smirks.
「…I won't mind the wait, as long as my dance is the longest.」
She declares, causing Straf to let an amused huff out of his nose.
「How long? Sixty… Seventy years? Do I get breaks to rest? Food?」
Straf asks, smirking back.
「Hmpf. You jest, Straf. As long as it's longer than the Redwing girl's dance. I rule here right now, after all.」
Both amused by each other's quips, Lily shrugs her puffy dress shoulders, and gazes at Straf in his eyes with a surprisingly serious look in them.
「Yeah, I jest, 'cause I'm in fucking trouble otherwise… Is dancing such a big deal to you, Lily?」
Straf glances aside with a smirk on his face, though it's tinged by nervousness. His eyes return to hers as he asks.
「Nonsense… But I will not be second to her. A vampire baroness stands much higher than a human queen.」
「And a human empress?…」
「Hmpf… Rather pitiful, her empire. It'd fall apart if you just left, Straf.」
Lily scoffs at Straf's question, and tilts her golden head while shuffling back and forth, to and fro with Straf.
「Lily, I have the impression things just have the tendency to fall apart on their own. Me keeping it all together is just an unnatural occurrence against the grain.」
Straf lets out a long sigh, and shrugs with his mouth slightly aslant as the two continue dancing. While at it, Straf has to pay extra attention to not accidentally step on her dress.
「…Indeed. Nothing lasts forever… Which is-」
「No, Lily…」
「Tsk…」
Straf cuts Lily off before she can finish her sentence, causing her to click her tongue, and briefly turn her gaze aside.
「…Besides, vampires don't last forever either. If they had, you wouldn't constantly pester me about becoming one. Things come and things go, Lily… 350, end of.」
「Hmpf… 」
He adds with a shrug of his shoulders, and Lily turns her pouting face away again after just a momentary glance at Straf.
「…I'll hold you onto that, Straf. I will not allow you to weasel out of that promise.」
She replies with a serious, albeit slightly sullen face as she looks into his eyes.
「Suuuure… 80 to 100 is a pretty short time, anyway…」
Straf casually nods in agreement, shrugging his shoulders while the two continue dancing…
…
A little over an hour later…
Long after Straf has finished his dance with the baroness, most of the guests have settled at the tables, and are now being served by the maids. A few groups remain on the dance floor, chatting or dancing, but the space has now grown a lot more open and empty. Cycelia and the rest are chatting in a group again. She wiggles her elbow-gloved fingers at Straf, smiling from across the room. He nods back, acknowledging her wave, and searches for Stripe.
「…There you are. I didn't think you'd literally do that.」
Straf remarks as he approaches Stripe, who's standing in one of the corners of the ballroom and covertly sipping from a glass of alcohol, trying to avoid bringing attention to herself.
「What else am I supposed to do?… I didn't want to come here.」
She asks with her mouth scrunched to the side, and finishes her glass, setting it down on a small, nearby table flanked by two chairs by the wall.
「…How about dance?」
Straf asks, holding his hand out towards Stripe.
「H- Huuuuuh!? I'm not gonna! W- Why would I dance!?…」
Stripe's golden eyes widen in shock, and she recoils back at the suggestion as her cheeks slowly turn red.
「Tsk… So you're seriously just going to come here, not talk with anybody, drink all their booze, and then just leave? For shame.」
Placing his fists on his hips, Straf looks at her with a disapproving tight-lipped grimace.
「H- Huh!? I only drank a little to help me survive this!」
She exclaims, pointing her finger at the empty glass on the small table.
「So… How much booze do you need to survive a dance?」
Straf asks, holding his hand out to Stripe, with his other in a fist on his coat-covered hip.
Stripe looks at his hand, then at his slanted mouth and bored eyes. She raises her clawed hand up to her chest, then hesitantly places it in Straf's, albeit while refusing to look his way…