The Whipping Maid of House Calley - Chapter 83

Even though the second tune began to play, Alfonso, standing along one edge of the great hall, still didn’t step out into the center.

He just wasn’t as excited as he expected.

His eyes were on Eloise, who danced the first song with Cedric, then withdrew from the center and stood at the edge of the hall.

Earlier, right before the first song started, when Eloise moved, Alfonso was briefly seized by the illusion that she was coming toward him.

Of course, Eloise went to Cedric, and Alfonso, far from feeling disappointed, ended up admiring her instead.

A dance was something a man originally offered a woman, yet Eloise didn’t simply wait. Boldly, she approached Cedric and made him ask her to dance.

Even in that situation, Cedric didn’t immediately offer, and Alfonso looked at him with an unpleasant glare.

That homo bastard. What the hell makes him so great that he makes a lady wait?

Eloise was a woman who had waited three years for Cedric, without even being officially engaged.

If Cedric hadn’t offered her a dance and had embarrassed her, Alfonso felt like he would’ve truly been angry.

And even in that situation, Eloise, waiting calmly, seemed impressive.

‘If she’s going to be the heir’s mother, that’s how she should be.’

Alfonso hadn’t forgotten the reward Cedric gave him. And because of that, his standards in choosing a woman rose even higher.

By background and by character, the only woman who caught Alfonso’s eye was Eloise.

Alfonso wanted to dance with Eloise. But he couldn’t step forward rashly.

It wasn’t improper for an unmarried man and woman to dance, but taking over immediately as the second partner right after Eloise danced the first song with his brother didn’t look good. After all, it was true that Eloise was known as Cedric’s strongest fiancée candidate.

“My, you were here.”

While Alfonso was gauging the timing to invite Eloise naturally, he noticed Marquis approaching and jolted in surprise.

“Y-Your Highness… Why aren’t you dancing, and here of all places…?”

“I have to let my friend, the star of the event, shine. Do you think I can step out from the start without any sense?”

That was true. Given his rank, if the crown prince stepped forward right away, it was obvious the guests’ attention would scatter from Cedric to the crown prince.

And his huge, sturdy frame, a full handspan taller even than tall Cedric, was more than enough to steal people’s eyes.

Alfonso felt overwhelmed by his physique as he came closer.

When he remembered the touch that had brushed his thigh at the royal palace last time, Alfonso’s body stiffened. The more he stiffened, the only thought in his head was that he needed to get out of here as fast as he could, somehow.

“Why are you just standing around like this? Why aren’t you going out to dance?”

“I’m fine, Your Highness. This banquet was prepared for the guests. If our honored guests all enjoy themselves and leave satisfied, that’s enough.”

The crown prince wouldn’t invite him, a man, to dance in a place like this, but Alfonso cut off every possibility at the root by giving up dancing altogether.

At his words, wrapped up as a sacrifice for the banquet, Marquis smiled with satisfaction.

“As expected. Just like I saw last time, you’re an excellent young man, not at all inferior to Cedric.”

“You flatter me, Your Highness.”

Alfonso tried desperately to refuse Marquis’s praise.

“And you’re so devoted, working hard for your brother.”

Marquis didn’t care and kept praising him. The more he did, the more Alfonso’s expression rotted away.

In truth, ever since returning from the royal palace, Alfonso sometimes felt a vague sense of resistance toward his older brother, Cedric. Still, since it involved none other than the crown prince, he couldn’t respond recklessly and ended up welcoming the appointment ceremony as it was.

Seeing Alfonso’s subtly twisted expression, Marquis looked even more pleased.

“It seems this banquet will be even more enjoyable thanks to you.”

“If there’s anything that makes you uncomfortable, please let me know at any time.”

At Alfonso’s words, which sounded like he was wrapping up the conversation, Marquis smiled and left without lingering.

When Alfonso finally took a breath and looked for Eloise again, he couldn’t find her anywhere in the great hall.

The banquet hall was a place where countless guests came and went freely, but once he confirmed Eloise’s absence, Alfonso felt strangely unsettled.

With a faint sense of unease, he scanned the hall thoroughly and moved his steps in search of Eloise.

***

After leaving the Great Hall, Alfonso didn’t have much trouble finding Eloise. She’d stepped out of the banquet hall and was standing on the terrace right beside it, enjoying the night breeze.

“Miss Eloise, so this is where you were.”

Startled by Alfonso’s voice, Eloise quickly hid the nail she’d been chewing on and said, “The night air feels nice.”

Alfonso naturally moved to her side and studied her face.

The ball hadn’t been going on for long, yet she was already out here getting fresh air, which meant something had clearly dampened her mood.

“And yet, why does the face of a young lady who should look like a flower seem so lonely?”

“Oh, does it really look that way? I don’t think so….”

Eloise hurriedly put a smile on her face.

“We’re the same age, so you can think of me as a friend and speak comfortably.”

“There’s nothing wrong. I just wasn’t in the mood….”

For some reason, Alfonso felt a sense of kinship at her words and looked at her with pity as Eloise continued.

“To think such a trivial feeling showed on my face… I suppose I’ve only grown older, but my training is still lacking.”

“That’s not true. It’s only because I was tactless enough to stare too closely at a beautiful lady’s face.”

At her modest self-criticism, Alfonso took all the blame onto himself.

Eloise’s expression brightened. That was exactly the kind of reaction she’d hoped for.

“No, Alfonso. When I look at your face, I feel strangely at ease.”

“At ease?”

“At ease knowing that when I enter this household someday, there’ll be at least one person who’ll welcome me.”

“No one would fail to welcome a lady as refined, beautiful, and virtuous as you.”

That doesn’t seem to apply to the Young Count.

Eloise pressed her lips together and held back the words.

Quick-witted Alfonso noticed even that subtle sign. Without asking, he could tell that the one who made such a beautiful Eloise feel alienated was Cedric.

So Alfonso also held his tongue. Instead, he held out his hand to her.

“The breeze is nice, and the music is good. Would you like to dance for one song?”

There was no hidden meaning. Leaving a saddened young lady alone without doing anything simply wasn’t the way of a gentleman.

Without a word, Eloise took Alfonso’s hand. Several lively songs passed, and the music that happened to start playing then was a blues number.

Their bodies drew close, moving to the rhythm as if they were one.

There were steps even to the blues, but right now, it was closer to swaying naturally to the music.

Had there ever been a time when she let go of all formality and entrusted herself purely to the music and the mood like this?

Alfonso and Eloise were usually the type to value noble, formal conduct. For the two of them, this kind of experience was something they’d never had before.

***

“Sheila.”

Molly, who was attending the banquet, approached Sheila.

Since Sheila’s assignment had changed to Cedric, the two of them now ran into each other like this from time to time and exchanged brief words about how they were doing.

“Oh, Molly. Where’s the young lady?”

At Sheila’s question, Molly jerked her chin.

Anne was standing beside Judith, whispering eagerly in her ear while pointing out the young noble sons in the banquet hall.

“The two of them get along surprisingly well.”

“It does look that way.”

Was Anne seventeen now? Maybe because their ages were close, there seemed to be something they connected over.

From Molly’s perspective, watching the two of them talk past each other without really listening, it was hard to understand.

“At least it makes things easier for me,” Molly said lightly.

And lately, Judith’s habit of striking servants had noticeably decreased.

That started right before Sheila became the Young Count’s maid, after he’d gone to Judith’s room and dismissed the other maids.

Molly didn’t know exactly what the Young Count said, but it was clear he warned her that if she caused trouble again, he’d take her maids away.

For Judith, who couldn’t do anything on her own, living without maids would be the most frightening thing imaginable.

“After her last engagement fell through, she started showing interest in men. Since yesterday, she’s been diligently looking for a groom. I think she liked a young lord named Lucas from the Brock Viscount’s house the most. Though that young lord seems interested in Lady Clarisse.”

The Clarisse Molly mentioned was the daughter of Baron Boel, the young lady who’d fought through fierce competition to claim Cedric and was dancing with him now.

‘This really is a jungle.’

Watching the tangled relationships between men and women, Sheila shook her head.

Even while entering into political marriages based on conditions, nobles constantly sized each other up. They talked about virtue and fidelity, yet committed affairs and all sorts of things. It was no different from the animal world, a contradiction if there ever was one.

‘And in the end, it’s a world completely separate from mine.’

Sheila repeated that to herself, as if making a vow.

“Oh, I should get going.”

Seeing Judith glancing around, Molly hurried away.

Judith felt uncomfortable toward Sheila, who took her punishments in her place, and she didn’t like Molly socializing with Sheila either.

Once Molly left, Sheila’s eyes immediately searched for Sylvia.

The bold foreign young lady who tipped generously seemed to have taken quite a liking to Sheila.

Sheila, too, liked her. She treated Sheila like a person, and though Sheila wasn’t sure it was appropriate for a mere maid to think this way about a noble lady, she couldn’t help it.

It wasn’t that Sheila saw Sylvia as nothing more than a source of income, but she didn’t want another servant to snatch her away.

‘I should find her quickly before she starts handing out tips to other servants.’

Before the Lotas lady’s habit of opening her purse without hesitation spread around, Sheila needed to find her.

But in the brief moment she’d looked away because of Molly, Sylvia, who’d danced with the crown prince after Cedric, disappeared from sight.

No matter how much she scanned the great hall, Sylvia was nowhere to be seen.

Sheila wondered if Sylvia, who kept lifting her wineglass to her lips while Cedric danced the first song, had stepped out for some air. She headed into the corridor and began checking the terraces.

But Sylvia wasn’t there. Instead, what caught Sheila’s eye was Alfonso holding Eloise in his arms.