Third Arc (Fallen Heart) - 26. The Second Dance II

Angel extended his hand to Rose who was by his side.
"Shall we?" he said with a gentle smile, something he rarely showed.

"With pleasure." Rose took his hand with the same smile.

As they got up from their seats, several maids approached Rose. Swiftly, they removed the small hook on the back of the dress which connected her main dress to the long tail. Her gown was much simpler now so she could move and dance more freely. Then their feet moved down the stairs and their eyes fell on the hall.

Everyone's eyes fixed on the royal couple as the murmur began to subside. But from this rare event, some began to guess that the rumour that the king had fallen in love with the princess was true.

The royal couple walked to the middle of the hall and bowed briefly at one another. As the music started, they put their palms together and began to dance. They spun around to the music, their eyes looked around them. Their steps moved in harmony as well as their every move as if they were a perfect team. Not a single stomp landed on each other's feet and their bodies moved elegantly to the flow of the music. On the other hand, even though their performance and movements were extraordinary, their gazes fixed on each other clearly show how they paid attention to their couple. Everyone could see the royal couple only looking at each other as if there were only the two of them in the room.

Everyone was amazed by their performance. Whispers began to come out from several people's mouths, but of course, they did not turn their attention away from the king and his wife. Some looked happy, especially the other kingdoms' delegates since it showed Angel's good intentions and his sincerity, something that the ancient dark king didn't have. On the other hand, they were also worried... Euphorion's military power alone was strong enough to take over three kingdoms in a short time and now they had the Heart family's poison and the princess had fallen in love with the king. On the one hand, they couldn't attack Euphorion out of fear since that would make their kingdom position the same as Asteria. Moreover, with this invitation and celebration, Angel's good intentions were clear. But, who was not worried about a kingdom that had a power that exceeded the rest? Who knew if Angel would change his mind one day and decide to rule over the entire continent.

Meanwhile, this was definitely good news for Euphorion's nobles since it meant the king had managed to get a good hostage and another royal family's ability in one person. Not only the poison but also the Heart family's medical ability. But not with the noblewomen. This fact irritated them, even though they knew they had no right for it and Rose's status was indeed above them. Likewise with Lady Belle...

Lady Belle's eyes were on the king dancing with his wife in the middle of the hall. She didn't remember how many times she had tried to ask him for a dance, but he always refused. At first, everyone thought he couldn't do it because he was a hunter, a commoner who didn't understand how the noble danced yet the guess began to disappear since he had no interest in learning it. And according to Chancellor Allan, the king could dance well just like the other nobles. So they thought he was too shy or maybe he was a bad dancer. Yet from this dance, they could see, he didn't. Even though he was not an expert either, he could balance his and his wife's movements well as if they had danced hundreds of times. The harmony was so beautiful, yet too painful for Lady Belle.
"Your Majesty... Why? Why won't you give me a chance?" Lady Belle muttered again. Her jealousy burned her heart, yet she couldn't do anything but keep quiet. Luckily, everyone's attention was focused on the centre of the hall so no one noticed it, except for Cley and Claire. They paid their attention to Lady Belle more than the royal couple since they already knew the big secret behind the dance.

Indeed the couple danced beautifully, but behind all that, it was not something romantic and beautiful. Yesterday, the royal couple had rehearsed for this surprise but just like all the other couples, they had a hard time following each other's movements. They were kept stomping on each other's toes no matter how much they tried. Angel had just returned from the war, his body and movement were more used to fighting movements and reflexes where he had to move faster than his enemy. While what he needed was a harmonious movement in rhythm with his partner. Meanwhile, since Zephyrus' unstable condition in recent years, Rose also spent more time in the training ground to sharpening her fighting ability than dancing. So instead of concentrating on the music, she concentrated on Angel's movements and tried to match his speed. In the end, the dance was more like a race than the dance itself.

So due to their short time, they decided to take a shortcut to make their plan run smoothly. Rose agreed to let Angel use his spell on her, Devil Puppet. So once she touched his hand on the thrones stage, his dark aura took over her, but of course he did this in secret. That way, since all of her consciousness and actions were completely under Angel's control, he could move her as he wanted, making them dance as if they had practised hundreds or even thousands of times. The only thing he needed to do was pay attention to the music flow. This made things easier.