The Ball Where Only Shoes Remained🐶
“A ball?”
“Yes.”
“The kind of ball where people wear dresses and tuxedos, wander around going ha-ha-ho-ho, and finish things off by kissing on a balcony?”
“…Even if the sky falls, our lips are not touching. Anyway.”
Arden nodded, saying yes, that ball. After hesitating, he quietly added,
“We absolutely will not kiss, but still, a dance or so… we could do that together.”
As he said that, Arden’s ears were bright red.
Red all the way down to his neck, as if he’d already gone off somewhere and kissed someone a hundred times, Arden repeated the explanation he had just given.
“This time, I’ve been appointed as the investigator in charge of arresting the Magic Saintess….”
Of course, he wasn’t the only one appointed; several others had been newly assigned as well, including investigators in charge of noble corruption.
“They’re holding a ball to coincide with the appointment ceremony. I’d like you to be my partner there, Senior.”
“I see.”
I nodded.
So in the end, Arden, you’ve become the investigator chasing me.
Hold on, let me wipe my tears.
‘This is bad.’
That bastard Arden, judging by how he clung to my shoe with his bare hands last time, he’s not lacking in tenacity.
‘With his bare hands! My shoe! Even though he’s a clean freak!’
If, by any chance, I ended up getting caught by Arden of all people.
‘I don’t even have to see it to know.’
So the person who ran across rooftops wearing that ridiculous skirt was you, Senior? Filthy! He’d look at me with eyes full of contempt.
‘And he’s even asking me to go with him to the ball being held for his own appointment ceremony.’
I’m attending a ball celebrating his appointment to catch me.
Isn’t this basically mockery?
—Question.
Aren’t you surprised Arden asked you to go to the ball with him?
—Answer.
Not really….
‘He probably asked me because he has no one else to go with. Arden doesn’t have friends.’
The only women around Arden are me and the Magic Saintess.
The problem is that both of them are me.
Hiding my guilty conscience, I opened my mouth.
“But Arden.”
“Yes!”
“…Why are you answering so loudly?”
“Ahem. I’m not. What is it?”
“I can’t dance.”
“Neither can I.”
“And I don’t have a dress to wear.”
Can I wear that disastrous green dress from last time? The one you tore the ribbon off of. At that, Arden immediately replied,
“I’ll give you one as a gift.”
“…….”
“The dress, the gloves, and even the shoes. All of it.”
“…….”
You’d go that far just to go with me?
“Arden, you really, really don’t have any friends…….”
You should’ve lived a better life…….
I patted Arden’s elbow.
“It’s okay. They say a man with no friends is the best husband material.”
At least you’ll marry well…….
At my words of genuine pity, Arden clenched his teeth.
“Yes. I don’t have a single friend.”
He continued through gritted teeth.
“So, my dear Miss Seraphina, please, please go to the ball with me. Please?”
“All right.”
I agreed while holding back my laughter.
Having received my permission, Arden let out a long sigh of relief. As he took out a handkerchief and pressed it to his cheek, perhaps because he was sweating, I said,
“But.”
“What now!”
“Have you ever bought a dress?”
“No.”
“As a dress shop employee, I know this—dresses are really expensive.”
They use a lot of fabric.
But Arden, you…
“You….”
You’re an imperial knight, but you’re still poor enough to live in the same boardinghouse as me…….
“To buy me a dress just to take me to one measly ball….”
Your wallet situation…
I trailed off.
At that, Arden bristled twice as much as before.
“I have a lot of money, you know?!”
“Mm-hmm….”
“…….”
“…….”
“No…!”
Arden stopped talking and pressed one hand to his forehead.
“I’m serious. I’m not that incapable as a man! I could buy a few thousand dresses if I wanted…! Ha. I don’t know why I have to make excuses for this. Anyway. You don’t have to worry.”
“Sure, sure.”
“I’m telling you, it’s true!”
“Mm-hmm.”
“No, believe me, would you!”
“I believe you, I believe you.”
Even though you live in the same boardinghouse as me.
I’ll believe you.
“You’re not behind on your rent, are you…?”
“That’s not what you think it is, Senior! Do you know how much money I have?!”
Look at this! Arden took off the coat he was wearing and made a fuss, telling me to look at the brand embroidered on it.
Not realizing that behavior only strengthened my opinion that “Arden spends all the money he earns on clothes and is therefore broke.”
“I’m the richest unmarried man in the empire…!”
“Mm-hmm.”
Ignoring Arden’s nonsense, I asked,
“So when is the ball?”
“So, are you going to the ball?”
“I have to. If my junior has no money and no partner, how miserable would he be? And.”
“And?”
“When else in my life would I ever get to attend an imperial ball?”
In about two years, after I become an imperial civil servant, I’ll probably just be working hard preparing balls for other people to attend.
“Going to a place like that is all experience. Besides, I can even eat dinner for free, so there’s no reason not to go.”
♡☆♧Yes, I’m completely jaded♡☆♧
“There’s one more reason I have to go, too.”
After informing Cassian, who had been wearing a displeased expression ever since I told him, “I have to go to the ball, so I won’t be at the dress shop that day,” I showed him the item I’d taken from my pocket.
“I brought this from the drawing room of the Tram estate last time.”
“What is it?”
“A social club badge.”
On the back of the gold badge shaped like a bald eagle, the word “Center” was written in decorative script.
“I saw this badge before, too, during the dress shop affair man incident.”
The day I first awakened as the Magic Saintess.
“…You did?”
“Yeah. I did.”
Of course, it wasn’t strange, since every man of some status in the empire was a member of at least one social club.
Reporter Skeeter, who had now been kicked out of the Imperial Daily, had gotten into that mess because he was greedy to join a social club too.
“I think it’s worth looking into.”
What on earth this social club was doing to keep catching my eye like this.
“Who knows? These bastards might be the ones behind the villains who attacked me and Dubu.”
And above all.
“I’m curious to see the faces of these self-important types who casually call themselves the ‘Center’…….”
My eyes went unfocused as I let my gaze blur.
At my words, Cassian burst into laughter and clapped his hands once.
“Good. Then I’ll go too.”
“…You will?”
To the ball?
“Why? Am I not allowed to attend?”
“It’s not that you’re not allowed.”
(Though he did say he could only love one person for his whole life.) He could love, he could marry, he could attend a ball…….
“What kind of priest does that?”
“…….”
“Live a little more modestly.”
I clicked my tongue.
Cassian’s expression twisted.
Beside us, Dubu, who had been chewing on a dog chew, panted and laughed.
* * *
Meanwhile.
At a certain mansion in the capital where one desperately wished they’d turn on some lights.
“Master, why did you simply stand by and watch the Magic Saintess run wild this time?”
The Magic Saintess had even gone so far as to send an advance notice. It had been the perfect opportunity to lie in wait beforehand and get rid of her!
The red-eyed man lying flat on the floor asked.
“Foolish.”
The one sitting before him in a chair that looked like some kind of throne clicked his tongue.
“That is why the likes of you cannot measure up to me. Do you not know why the Magic Saintess sent an advance notice?”
“Was it not to draw people’s attention?”
“Yes. In fact, hundreds of people gathered at Baron Tram’s estate that day.”
How could they possibly harm the Magic Saintess in a place where so many people had gathered?
“Then…!”
“Yes. The Magic Saintess sent the notice because she feared us. She tried to gather people and avoid our reach.”
The Magic Saintess, conscious of us, used the people as shields!
“As expected of you, Master!”
“The Magic Saintess will certainly appear again. There will be plenty of opportunities. As long as you do not foolishly fail as you did before.”
“Please give me just one more chance. This time, I will surely…!”
“Very well.”
When the Magic Saintess appeared again.
The eyes of the master sitting in the strange chair flashed.
The master reached out and stroked the crystal ball within arm’s reach.
“This time, let us set a trap on our side and lure the Magic Saintess in.”
The Magic Saintess, Seraphina.