"We should go to the corner!"
Marcellus suddenly shouted, his grin wide and cheeks glowing red from drink.
"The young generation should have our own party and drinks! Kehe!"
Before anyone could protest, he staggered forward and grabbed whoever was closest.
Cedric, Javier, Heres, Aelius, Athine, Lograc, Kivira, and Kezzoth. One by one, he hauled and pushed them along, not letting a single soul slip past his grip.
The group stumbled and shuffled until they were all gathered at one side of the grand hall, away from the elders’ watchful gazes.
Marcellus raised his goblet high, wine sloshing over the rim.
"Tonight! We enjoy our youth! Woo!!"
They kept drinking, laughter and clinking glasses echoing in their corner.
Then the music shifted, strings and flutes weaving into a softer, flowing lody ant for the floor.
Javier’s eyes followed the sound.
There, at the center of the polished marble, Aelius had already taken Athine’s hand. With practiced ease, he drew her close, and the two began to move in ti with the music.
Their steps were asured, their rhythm flawless. Every turn flowed into the next, as though they weren’t following the music but the music was following them.
Aelius guided firmly, his hand steady at her back. Athine’s gown rippled with each spin, her movents graceful and light as if she weighed nothing at all. When she lifted her chin and smiled, her eyes never left his, and the hall seed to dim around them.
It wasn’t the stiff performance of nobles bound by etiquette. It wasn’t the clumsy sway of guests pretending to know the steps.
This was different.
A dance of two people who had spent years moving side by side.
Who knew each other’s rhythm, each other’s pauses, without a single word.
The rise and fall of their steps matched perfectly, like two halves of a single soul.
Javier blinked, his lips tightening faintly.
Never, in any party, had he seen a pair dance with such perfect unity.
Even Marcellus and Cedric had gone quiet, their drunken laughter stilled as they leaned back, wide grins spreading as they watched.
A perfect dance.
Sothing no lesson, no book of etiquette, no rehearsal could ever create.
And then Javier noticed.
It wasn’t just him or his brothers who were staring.
Across the grand hall, many eyes were fixed on the pair. Officers from Armand, envoys from the Beastkin Kingdom, even the Demon Kingdom’s young nobles. Most of the n looked stunned, their cups halfway to their lips, their conversations forgotten.
It wasn’t hard to guess why.
Athine.
Tonight, she was a vision.
Her silk hair flowed with each turn of the dance, catching the light of the chandeliers and shimring like woven silver. Her eyes glead with a quiet warmth, reflecting both elegance and confidence as they stayed locked on Aelius.
The delicate lines of her gown hugged her form in just the right way, graceful, refined, yet undeniably captivating. Every motion revealed not just practiced etiquette, but natural beauty carried with ease.
Each step she took only emphasized the subtle curve of her figure, the poised line of her shoulders, the elegance of her fra. She carried herself with natural beauty, effortless yet radiant.
And the way she danced with Aelius...
The gentle smile curling on her lips, the tender way her fingers rested against his hand, the perfect synchrony of their movents.
It was a portrait of harmony. Each spin and each step seed to speak without words: trust, closeness, a bond no one could imitate.
While the sons of Armand were known for their handso and charming looks, tonight it was the only flower of Armand, that shone brightest.
The others could not compare. Heres’s younger sister was still a toddler; the rest of the household had no daughter who could stand in such a hall.
Athine beca the single point of brilliance among them, the flower blooming in the midst of steel and stone.
Javier swirled the wine in his glass, watching as those stunned gazes lingered.
...No wonder.
And then Javier’s eyes shifted, away from the dazzled n, away from Aelius and Athine gliding like a perfect pair.
His gaze found his father.
Lord Garius.
Seated with Lady Francesca, and beside her, Lady Garcinia, Lady Phenelopie, and Lady Eridith. Queen Mylezra sat among them, her presence commanding yet warm, and near her a demon noblewoman that Javier vaguely recalled from Marcellus’s stories. Soone once whispered as another of Father’s possible marriage candidates after Mylezra.
And Garius himself?
He simply watched.
Calm, silent. His chin resting lightly against his hand, fingers brushing along his jaw as he gave the faintest nod.
No complaint. No command.
Despite Athine being the only flower shining tonight, surrounded by watchful eyes, Father never once forced her. Never once spoke to restrain her.
He only nodded, acknowledging, perhaps even approving.
That’s Father. Never breaking his children’s happiness, never binding them with chains. Only guiding when needed, never pressing when not.
And I believe... Father already knows about Aelius and Athine.
Javier’s eyes lingered on Garius, still calmly stroking his chin as he watched the pair dance.
Perhaps that’s the reason he never pushed them apart.
After all, Athine and Aelius were only a year apart, raised together, inseparable since childhood. To others, their closeness might look unusual. To Father, it was simply truth he had already accepted.
Father...
He always sees farther than the rest of us. He must have known for years. And yet, he chose silence. Letting them find their own path, without scolding, without forcing separation.
His eyes drifted across the hall, occasionally glancing at Liana and Gloria.
They sat gracefully among the gathered personal maids, waiting quietly for their master. Even in the crowd, their presence stood out to him, steady, unwavering, the ones who had always been at his side.
From what I rember of stories in my old world... nobles never let their sons take partners outside of noble blood.
Yet Father never forced that onto us.
Not once has he ever demanded we marry for title or power. Not once has he tried to bind us to alliances by bloodline.
Instead, he gave us freedom. We’re all open to choose who we want, who we truly desire.
Javier’s gaze softened for a mont, lingering on Liana and Gloria’s faint smiles.
That’s why I... we... can exist like this.
He lowered his glass, composure never breaking as the music played on.
( End Of Chapter )
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