Chapter 134: You’ve Kept Waiting
“Ah, brother, that really speaks to my heart.”
He leaned in closer, lowered his voice, and adopted the air of soone confiding from the depths of his soul.
“That’s honestly what I think too. Look at —my family has no real influence, and my abilities are only so-so. If so noble young lady took a liking to , wouldn’t I be set for life? I would not even mind marrying into her family. My house does not exactly have so grand inheritance waiting for anyway.”
He sighed and touched his own face.
“Sadly, this face of mine is only average. It is not the kind of devastatingly handso face that leaves people unable to forget it after one glance.”
Then he looked at Ryan, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
“But you are different, brother! Just look at you! Those brows and eyes, that face, that air about you—I am telling you, before long so young lady is bound to co over and strike up a conversation with you.”
Ryan paused.
He had not expected Allen to suddenly turn the topic onto him. Looking at the other man’s bright, shining eyes, he almost wanted to laugh.
“That’s enough,” he said.
“I an it, really!” Allen slapped his thigh. “Believe ! Just sitting there like that, with that sort of presence—honestly, you look even more like a noble young master than the noble young masters themselves!”
Ryan lifted his glass and took another sip, but said nothing.
“Excuse , sorry to disturb you.”
A soft female voice sounded from the side. Ryan and Allen turned their heads at the sa ti.
Two young won were standing in front of them.
The one on the left wore a champagne-gold gown. Its skirts caught the light in fine, scattered gleams, and at the neckline was pinned a ruby brooch that made her fair skin look almost snowy. Her hair was a warm chestnut brown, loosely pinned into a chignon, with a few loose strands hanging at her ears and swaying gently when she moved.
The one on the right wore a pale pink full-length gown, embroidered with fine silver patterns that gave off a faint glow whenever she walked. Her hair was a very light blond, braided loosely over one shoulder, and her eyes were a pale blue, like two clear springs.
Both wore delicate, tasteful makeup. Their features held the natural poise and pride peculiar to noble ladies, yet the smiles at their mouths were gentle enough that they did not feel distant.
Allen sprang up from his chair with a start.
He moved so fast he looked like a cat that had just had its tail stepped on. He stood bolt upright, both hands hanging stiffly at his sides, his face arranged into what he probably thought was a proper smile, though in truth it was so tense it had gone rigid.
“Hello, hello! My na’s Allen! Allen Harris! From the Eastern Region! I’m representing—”
He spoke so fast the words poured out like beans from a split sack.
The two girls were obviously startled by this sudden enthusiasm. They exchanged glances, then covered their mouths and laughed at the sa ti. Their laughter was light, like silver bells trembling in the breeze.
“Hello, Mr. Allen,” said the girl in the champagne-gold gown with a warm smile. “It is a pleasure to et you.”
Allen scratched the back of his head, his face turning a little red, though his grin remained bright.
Then the girls’ gazes passed over him and fell on the figure seated behind him.
They settled on the figure in deep ink-blue.
“May I ask,” said the girl in the pale pink gown softly, her pale blue eyes looking over, “you are…?”
Ryan set down his glass and rose to his feet.
His movents were slow and steady, his shoulders unfolding naturally, the ink-blue formalwear on him giving off the faintest cool sheen under the candlelight.
“Ryan Velt,” he said. “A representative of Saint Roland Magic Academy.”
He did not ntion his family, but the girls’ eyes clearly brightened.
The girl in champagne gold stepped half a pace forward, the hem of her skirt swaying lightly. She tilted her head up a little and looked at Ryan, the smile at her lips deepening slightly.
“Mr. Velt, I am Emily Sutherland. My father is Count Sutherland of the Southern Region.” She paused, her pale blue eyes resting on him. “Forgive the interruption, but I wished to ask—would you be willing to dance one piece with ?”
Ryan froze.
He truly had not expected a noble young lady to co and invite him to dance.
He looked at the expectant face before him, then at the girl in pale pink beside her, who was covering her mouth and smiling, her eyes bent into crescents.
Allen, beside him, was waggling his brows so frantically that the aning was obvious: See? See? What did I tell you?
A wave of speechless disbelief rose in Ryan’s heart.
He had just opened his mouth, preparing to decline—
“Sorry.”
A cool voice cut in from the side.
All four of them turned their heads at once.
Within the dim halo of the corridor lamps, a figure in black was walking toward them.
Her long black hair was pinned high, loosely secured with a silver hairpin, while a few loose strands hung at her ears and swayed gently with each step.
Her face wore only the faintest trace of makeup—rely a slight emphasis to her brows and lips—yet that only made her already exquisite features appear even more sharply defined, like a ticulous painting rendered in the fewest possible strokes.
Her violet eyes looked like two athysts subrged in water under the candlelight. Her nose was elegant and straight, her jawline neat and clean, and her skin was so pale it was almost translucent.
She wore a black evening dress, very simple, simple to the point of almost having no ornant at all. The cut clung to her figure and fell along the lines of her body, drawing in slightly at the waist before loosening subtly around her calves.
The neckline was cut just right, revealing a stretch of pale collarbone, above which hung an extrely fine silver chain. At the end of it was a tiny star-shaped pendant.
The black fabric reflected only the faintest trace of light beneath the candles, like the surface of a lake at midnight, perfectly still.
Simple, yet enough to overwhelm the entire hall’s riot of splendor.
She walked without haste, the hem of her dress shifting lightly at her ankles. Every step was steady. Her gaze remained fixed in this direction, fixed on the figure in deep ink-blue.
Emily froze. The girl in pale pink froze as well.
Allen simply gaped, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor.
The girl in black ca to Ryan’s side.
She extended a hand and naturally looped it around his arm. Her fingers were pale and slender, resting lightly against his sleeve, and the little star pendant above her collarbone swayed once, catching a thread of fine light.
“Sorry,” she said to the two girls, her voice as cool as the first wind of early winter. “He was waiting for .”
Emily’s smile stiffened for an instant. She parted her lips, as though she wanted to say sothing, but no words ca.
The girl in black did not look at them again. She turned her head and looked at Ryan. Violet t gray-blue.
The corners of her lips lifted slightly.
“You’ve kept waiting.”
Her voice was very soft.
Ryan looked at her.
He really had gone still.
From the instant she entered his line of sight, he had gone still.
Black hair, violet eyes, a simple black dress, a tiny star above that pale collarbone—
This was Ilis.
And yet it was not the Ilis he knew.
Not the shadowlike attendant who always wore a deep blue uniform and seed almost to have no presence of her own. Not the ssenger whose voice never rose or fell, as though she were reciting lines from a text. Not the girl who stood under the veranda with lowered violet eyes and trembling lashes.
And yet here she was before him, looping her arm through his, saying, “You’ve kept waiting.”
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