[Episode 81] - Not Like What I Imagined (1)
The first emotion Titania felt upon arriving at the ballroom wearing a mask was—
—regret that made her sigh without thinking.
The reason Titania had attended the masquerade, even throwing a fit at Vivian to get her way, was simple. The masked balls that appeared in the romance novels she had read with Viola until now had looked truly enchanting.
To Titania, the act of "hiding her identity" was truly difficult. She rarely even left the royal palace, where everyone knew her face, and when she did step outside, hiding her status as a princess was no easy feat.
Could it be because those tiny frustrations had piled up, again and again? Titania had slightly admired the rebellions that appeared in novels. The protagonists hiding their identities to sneak out and enjoy village festivals with commoners, or anticipating a romantic encounter while concealed at a masquerade.
Like an adolescent girl, Titania had dreamed of the free-spirited rebellion found in books. So when she received the invitation to the "masquerade" that Viola had sent her, she truly couldn't contain her excitement. An opportunity to actually carry out the kind of rebellion she'd only seen in books had arrived.
'So even though Mother opposed it, I threw a bit of a tantrum...'
Regretting that she had forced her mother's hand, Titania scrunched up her face fiercely in the middle of the ballroom. Perhaps judging that her frown would go unnoticed thanks to the mask, Titania looked around the ballroom with an expression even more displeased than usual.
Before entering the ballroom, she had been certain that a magnificent masquerade like those in the world of books would unfold. She had thought everyone would wear masks hiding their identities and enjoy free-spirited rebellion, but...
The moment she stepped into the ballroom, she couldn't hide her confusion at the swarm of young noblemen rushing to surround her.
"Good evening, Princess Titania. Might I ask who your partner for this ball is..."
...Does this child not know the rules of a masquerade?
"Y-Your Highness! Might you perhaps dance with me at this ball...!"
...He's just a child who barely entered society, isn't he?
"Princess Titania, do you remember me? We met at the last ball, but your partner this time..."
How am I supposed to know when you're asking if I recognize you while wearing a mask?!
Frown.
Titania's face scrunched up so much that it couldn't scrunch any further. The ironclad rule of a masquerade was that you must not speak the other person's identity aloud. After all, if that were going to happen, there was no point in wearing masks and costumes in the first place.
This was the most fundamental of fundamentals at a masquerade, yet the young noblemen clustered around Titania seemed not to know even that. She had simply wanted to enjoy a masquerade like those in novels. Had she been wishing for too much?
Irritation flooded Titania to the tips of her hair thanks to the young noblemen mumbling around her, asking to be her partner. From the start, her plan to dress as "Little Red Riding Hood" had been a secret of secrets, not even shared with Viola. Just how did they know...
'Either someone bribed the maids, or someone saw me at Count Selina's estate. It's one of those two...'
...Not that it was the time to search for the culprit, but Titania simply hated whoever had revealed her costume to others. She didn't know who it was, but because of that person, the masquerade she had looked forward to was completely ruined. Titania railed inwardly that this wasn't a masquerade at all.
She finally felt she understood why her mother had told her to bring two masks, or to cover her face completely with a cloak. Her mother had already known and given her that advice from the start. That no matter how much it was called a masquerade, her status could not be completely hidden.
Titania let out a deep sigh of irritation, then flicked open the fan she had borrowed from her mother with a flutter to cover the corners of her mouth. First things first—she needed to leave this place, masquerade or not.
"Won't you all move aside now?"
"But my dance partner... Father and Mother told me to dance with Your Highness and come back..."
"Sigh..."
As Titania tried to pass by, a young nobleman shorter than her shrank beside her and mumbled something like that. The moment she heard that voice, Titania's stomach churned with familiar irritation.
Even in the usual children's social circles, there had been many young noblemen who had tried to dance with her at least once. And most of them were young noblemen pushed by their parents to forcefully ask her to dance.
The ugly thoughts of adults trying to forge connections with the royal family through her by any means.
It wasn't untrue that Titania had admired masquerades all the more because she could hide her status there—precisely because she hated such things. If she concealed her identity as a princess, she wouldn't have to feel the subtle guilt of refusing a dance partner.
Titania whipped her head around and looked at the young noblemen making bitter faces around her. They were all making tearful expressions, saying they would be scolded by their parents if they went back like this. She could have just ignored them without any issue, but...
"Sigh... Viola. Could we change this ball's music to a mazurka?"
"Ah... a mazurka? It's fine to change the music. But... mazurkas are songs where you switch partners midway. Tit... would that be alright with you, Your Highness?"
A mazurka was a piece where people gathered in a circle on the dance floor and changed partners every so often.
A piece where everyone stomped to the same beat, moving right once, left once, then turning halfway, with the men moving left and the women moving right to switch partners at the proper timing.
In other words, the dance was simple, but the timing of switching partners was crucial. Viola, who knew that Titania had two left feet, asked worriedly. After all, Titania was someone who absolutely never danced at balls except for the obligatory first dance.
Titania let out a deep sigh, then rolled her eyes slightly to look at the young noblemen surrounding her.
Titania's eyes fell on the young noblemen fidgeting and poking their fingers together. They weren't children looking forward to dancing at the ball, but children afraid of being scolded by their parents if they went home without dancing with her.
Since a mazurka quickly changed partners in a short time, she thought she could dance with all the young noblemen surrounding her after a few turns. She didn't normally have to go this far, but...
"Ha... anyway, change the music to a mazurka. I'll choose my partners myself, so don't cling to me until it's time to dance. Got it?!"
"Y-yes! Princess Titania!"
Watching the young noblemen scatter as if fleeing, Titania clicked her tongue softly. Tsk. This was no different from the usual social circles. Where on earth had the masquerade of her dreams gone? Titania hung her head deeply, feeling like she might cry.
'I wanted to experience something like the fated meeting where you hide your identity like the protagonist of a novel, too...'
*
Eventually, the time for the ball's first dance arrived. Numerous young noblemen and ladies gathered on the spacious dance floor, taking their places and waiting for the music to begin.
Titania's first partner was...
"It is an honor to be Princess Titania's partner. I am from the western region—"
—Young Nobleman #1, dressed as a pirate, whom she had simply grabbed as he passed by. From now on, she'd just call him Pirate.
From the start, ball dances could not be danced between women; partners had to be male and female, so it was truly an unavoidable choice. If she could have, Titania would have just liked to dance with Viola.
The music signaling the start of the dance rang out on the dance floor, and Titania held her hand out to the Pirate with a stony expression. Whether the Pirate knew of Titania's stiff expression or not, he was grinning from ear to ear, a smile saying he was truly happy.
'Really, it's times like this that a mask is convenient. Aside from the mouth, there's no need to hide your expression.'
With that thought, Titania listened to the Pirate's incessant chatter with one ear and let it flow out the other. Most of it was talk about his family or him muttering to himself about what kind of person he was.
Titania felt no particular need to take an interest in the Pirate. The Pirate, who had chattered without rest while dancing, tried to somehow continue speaking to the end while catching his breath, but—
"Huff, huff...! So, as I huff...! Our family's mine is...!"
"Yeah, sure. Good work. Bye~"
Just as the timing came to switch partners—Titania spun halfway around on the spot without hesitation, let go of the Pirate's hand, and left to find her next partner.
Her next partner was a young nobleman dressed like a hunter.
The Hunter was no different from the Pirate. He chattered without rest about how his family was this and that, how he had been such-and-such since childhood—such boring stories that Titania was on the verge of yawning.
And so the next partner, and the next after that, were all the same the moment they stood before Titania. If there was a partner worth remembering, it was the young boy dressed as a fairy.
He was a young boy who had just entered society, unable to get a proper word out to Titania before time ran out and he had to leave. Aside from him, there were no particularly memorable partners.
Then, as the piece neared its end, Titania encountered her next partner. A young nobleman much taller than her, wearing a wolf mask that covered his entire face. His outfit was covered with a grey fur cloak, entirely grey as if to express a wolf.
Titania pondered deeply over whether there was such a young nobleman in the children's social circles, but since his face was completely covered by the mask, she couldn't tell who he was. Moreover, unlike the other partners, he wasn't saying a word, so there was no way to know who he was.
Well, she thought it was comfortable that he wasn't talking, so she was just continuing to dance—
"Your dancing is still terrible. When on earth will your two left feet be fixed? What am I to do if you still creak along even in this simple dance?"
"Huh?"
At the all-too-familiar voice coming from behind the mask, Titania raised her head and looked at the wolf mask.
Titania stared intently through the eyeholes, and seeing the familiar green glow shining through the small holes, she couldn't help but gape. For—
"Huh? M-Mother...?"
—she had never imagined that her mother would attend the masquerade dressed as a man.
Though her face was covered by the wolf mask, Titania could tell. That her mother was smiling broadly right now. The proof of that was her tone of voice, raised just like when she teased her.
"So? How is the masquerade? It's not as fun as you thought, is it? You want to go home right away, don't you?"
"Mother..."