Chapter 19
“Cedy?”
Cedric is holding onto my hand and waist as if frozen, staying completely still.
His head was bowed deeply so I couldn’t see his face. Maybe he’s embarrassed for messing up this easy choreography.
“Are you okay?”
“……”
“Hey, it’s fine to mess up the choreography a bit.”
I whispered like a joke to comfort him. Did that work? Cedric slowly raised his head and faced me.
He took a deep breath as if controlling something, then moved his lips again. For some reason, I felt strength entering the hand supporting my waist.
“Then…”
“Mm?”
“Is there someone else you have feelings for?”
A voice that flowed out softly.
That voice carried a nuance that felt extremely earnest… making my mood a bit strange.
“No. I only recently gave up on my feelings.”
When I lightly shook our joined hands as if to say let’s move again, Cedric observed other people’s movements and led me to continue the dance with good timing.
Even while moving again, Cedric looked dazed as if half his mind was elsewhere.
I stared intently at that face and shook our joined hands again to bring his attention back.
“Now tell me your story too.”
“…What story?”
“About that person you said you like.”
I spoke in the smallest voice possible. Suddenly Cedric made a strange expression and slightly raised one eyebrow.
“What. I thought you had figured it out, but you hadn’t.”
“Huh? Mm. Actually… I think I might know.”
“Who.”
“His Highness Prince Castian?”
That’s when I learned that Cedric could make such a disgusted expression.
“How exactly do you come to that conclusion.”
His words, spat out like curses, were vicious. He frowned so terribly that I unconsciously shrank back. His face was quite fiercely crumpled and scary.
“Uh, ah, it wasn’t?”
“No.”
“Then who is it?”
Cedric glared at me and turned his gaze sharply away.
“It’s a secret.”
Since he cut off the conversation like that, I also awkwardly closed my mouth and focused on the dance. I wondered if he was overreacting from embarrassment or if he really disliked it.
Right now it seemed difficult to probe further about who this person Cedric likes was.
Before long the waltz ended and we entered the favorite part. From there on, I had no time to think about other things.
The tempo kept getting tangled and I don’t know how much I stepped on Cedric’s feet. Even my apologies became tiresome.
But just standing there blankly would draw everyone’s attention, so I moved enthusiastically while trying my best to follow along.
The fortunate thing was that in the favorite choreography, people making mistakes like me appeared quite frequently.
It seemed even more so since cases like ours, where friends paired up, danced more playfully.
When the song flowed to the latter half and reached the end, I was internally praying for it to finish quickly.
‘That was exhausting…’
Just as the final performance ended and the atmosphere became one of people dispersing while enjoying the afterglow. Cedric, who had suffered dancing with me, also stepped back and gave a closing bow.
Since the after-time continuing until late at night was for only those who wanted to stay and enjoy it, some were already leaving the hall.
“Good work…”
“You too. I hope you’ll step on my feet less next time.”
The moment I heard those words, my face grew hot.
Really, isn’t there a mouse hole I can hide in somewhere?
I was grabbing my face and groaning when Cedric let out a chuckling laugh and suddenly muttered “Ow.”
I reflexively opened my eyes wide and checked on Cedric. He was standing hunched over as if his feet hurt and waved his arm toward me.
“Eddie, my feet hurt so much from where you stepped on them.”
“……”
“Help me to my room.”
His face doesn’t look hurt at all though.
His attitude of exaggerating and trying to make his friend wait on him was amazing, but I wasn’t in a position to refuse.
“Ugh.”
I willingly offered my shoulder.
Cedric grinned and put his weight on me with that build of his. I tilted and barely supported Cedric without falling over.
“You’re heavy, dude. Stand up straight.”
“It’s hard to stand properly.”
The guy who says it’s hard to stand properly immediately straightened his body and walked alongside me after saying that. I, who had suddenly become not someone supporting him but an armrest, rolled my eyes.
“You’re lying. You’re walking just fine.”
“I’m serious.”
“…I should reconsider what Ret said.”
“What did she say?”
“That you have a bad personality.”
“Don’t say that. You’re my partner.”
While leaving the hall, Cedric fiddled with my cravat. The contact fidgeting below my neck was precariously maintaining a line that wouldn’t feel too burdensome.
Perhaps because of that, my attention kept being drawn there, and my senses gradually became sensitive.
The feeling of smooth silk fabric slipping between his fingers and touching the thin collar was strangely clear.
My mouth instantly went dry.
I couldn’t look at Cedric because of this dangerous feeling that was hard to express in words, so I turned my head to the other side for a moment. Then, to dispel this subtle emotion, I jabbed his side with my elbow.
“Ow. Why are you hitting me.”
Cedric whined, but I pretended not to know and took a step forward.
Why… am I acting like this lately?
* * *
After the ball ended, while Gareth was briefly away, Riette spotted Edgar and Cedric leaving the hall.
Since it was rare to see the two of them walking arm in arm so amicably, Riette watched quietly with curiosity.
…Exactly when had it started?
From what she remembered, the two had grown rapidly closer after Edgar’s sudden behavior on his birthday.
‘Before that, there was distance between them.’
Riette smiled with a pleased face, recalling when Edgar had declared that he seemed to have become somewhat close with Cedric.
Knowing that Cedric had been harboring unrequited love for him for a long time made it even more overwhelming.
‘Sometimes I felt sorry for Cedy, so this is fortunate.’
Edgar was fundamentally kind and gentlemanly to everyone, but he also had high invisible walls in relationships, so he rarely became closer than a certain line with others.
Cedric was the same, but Edgar especially had a feeling of forming narrow but deep relationships when it came to people.
Once you became close, he was really soft and gentle, but to those not particularly close to him, he would only smile kindly on the surface while actually drawing lines and not revealing his inner thoughts – that was Edgar.
He was often cold to Cedric especially…
Perhaps because Cedric joined their group later, Edgar always just followed behind her, and Cedric, excluded from Edgar’s attention, often became sulky.
‘Because of that, I even fought with Cedy who was pointlessly jealous of me. Of course, it was because of that fight that I learned about Cedric’s feelings.’
Even though she had gradually helped the two get along since then, there was no progress at all… but seeing them get along so well recently was refreshing.
‘Come to think of it, how did Cedy say he came to like Eddie?’
She had heard that something happened before Riette introduced Cedric to Edgar, and he had liked him since then.
Though Edgar didn’t know, Cedric had been the first to ask her to introduce him to Edgar.
That childhood Cedric who grew up under the strict Grand Duke father and was much more taciturn and passive than now.
That’s when it happened. She saw another person who had spotted the two leaving the hall moving toward them.
It was Viola.
‘Ah.’
Riette, who had already noticed that she had been hiding her feelings of liking Edgar while only watching him from afar, hesitated then quickly approached her.
“Miss Viola.”
Then Viola, who had been approaching to speak to Edgar but was caught, turned around looking troubled. Though she felt very sorry for her, knowing too well how much Cedric had suffered, she hoped no one would disturb them right now.
“Who did you decide on as your partner?”
“Ah… I’m with Isaac…”
“Isaac! The heir of Count Izrael’s family, right?”
“Yes. What about you, Miss Riette?”
“I partnered with Gareth from the Leonhardt family! By the way, the dress Miss Viola is wearing is really elegant and pretty. It suits you well!”
“Is, is that so?”
“Yes! Do you happen to know about accessory brands that are popular among nobles these days?”
Riette continued the conversation warmly while holding onto her. Viola, who couldn’t be bold by nature, ended up just reading the situation while being held by Riette…
She couldn’t escape from the conversation with her until the two people left the hall and were no longer visible.
* * *
While walking and accommodating the whining Cedric, I had already come up to his room.
Since I had achieved my purpose of seeing him to his room, I was about to go back…
“Why are you leaving already.”
Cedric grabbed me as I turned around.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
How did Cedric fell for Eddie again? I forgot already.. being a forgetful person sucks!