50.
“There’s absolutely no opening to make a move.”
The woman who returned crestfallen shook her head as she spoke.
“Still, since he came to a party, he’s bound to dance, isn’t he? It’s not as if asking someone to dance is rude.”
Unwilling to give up, someone else set out to challenge him.
In the meantime, I spotted one person wearing a mask that covered their entire face, just like mine.
‘Thank goodness!’
……Though the thought did cross my mind that it was only one person, so it wasn’t exactly something to be that thankful about.
Daena tapped me.
‘What?’
‘Is he dangerous, by any chance?’
‘What?’
Daena glanced toward where Prien was and answered.
‘If he is, I’ll stop you from going or something.’
‘No, he’s not particularly dangerous…….’
At that moment, the image of Prien Izanar swinging his sword while drenched in heretic blood came to mind.
But that was strictly limited to heretics, and he wasn’t someone who harmed other people…….
This time, I remembered him throwing a drunken, ill-mannered bastard off the terrace.
Perhaps my expression had turned subtle, because Daena glanced back with anxious eyes.
“I believe I told you earlier that I would decline.”
Because he was tall, the gaze with which he looked down at the person before him seemed to press them flat—and now there was even a chilling air to it.
My mouth fell open at the sight of Prien’s face, one I had never seen before.
“Are you perhaps the sort who has difficulty understanding words?”
“Pardon? Pardon? Ah, no, no…….”
The woman who had been rebuked to her face turned ashen.
In the end, the woman returned to where her companions were with her pride clearly wounded, but—
“Whew, even his voice is handsome.”
There was admiration mixed into the words she reluctantly spat out.
At last, the woman whose eyes had been gleaming to an unpleasant degree since earlier went into action as the final contender.
The one who, from what I’d heard, had broken up with someone just two days ago.
Even with his back turned, Prien sensed the approach once more and turned his head with a motion laced with displeasure.
From inside his coat, I heard a distinctive dull clack.
That was a sword.
The joint between the scabbard and the sword hilt had shifted.
Most likely because his fingertips had brushed the sword, consciously or not.
……He seems more than a little irritated right now, doesn’t he?
Whether that was the case or not, the woman was brave.
“Then why did you come here today?”
“…….”
Prien did not answer.
Feeling on edge, I watched the two of them.
It was only now that I realized anew just how much impact Prien had when he was not in priestly robes but dressed neatly in a tailcoat.
Would it have been better if he had worn a mask that covered his whole face, like mine?
“I won’t bother you, so how about we go over there and talk for a moment?”
“…….”
“If you stay here like this, you’ll be harassed all day, even if not by us. Are you really all right with that?”
I couldn’t tell for certain because of the mask, but Prien’s gaze moved somewhere into the distance.
It was an action that completely ignored the presence of the person standing before him.
And it wasn’t merely ignoring her; he looked like someone who had truly forgotten her very existence.
As if he existed in an entirely different space.
“Excuse me!”
When the woman raised her voice to call out to him, Daena shoved my back.
I stumbled forward in confusion and missed my footing.
By the time I barely regained my balance, adjusted the mask that had nearly slipped, and raised my head, everyone’s eyes were on me.
‘Damn you, Daena.’
Even Prien’s gaze, hidden behind his mask, rested quietly on me.
I let out a small dry cough, then said,
“Um, if you don’t mind…….”
“…….”
“Would you like to go over there and talk with me…….”
To be honest, it wasn’t all that different from what the woman had said earlier.
If I got rejected and returned like this, I was definitely going to punish Daena.
Prien stared at me silently for a long while.
The woman looked back and forth between me and Prien with puzzled eyes.
‘What is this? Did he recognize me?’
Is my disguise really that low-quality? I even changed my hair color.
“……Very well.”
After saying that, Prien strode toward me.
When I stood still with my mouth open, he even urged me on.
“Are you not going?”
“Pardon? Ah, right, yes…….”
With no other choice, I approached the group with Prien in tow behind me, and everyone was staring at us at this unexpected turn of events.
I could feel a quiet shock.
Soon, mischievous glances were exchanged among them…….
I gulped.
‘Did he realize it was me?’
I glanced back at Prien, but he gave me no clue whatsoever.
“Seeing as you came to the party, I suppose you’re close with House Erdel.”
“Not particularly.”
“Then are you an acquaintance of the fiancé’s side?”
“No.”
And whether Prien had truly changed his mind or not, he no longer refused the questions directed at him and answered each one diligently.
Of course, every answer was brief, and his attitude was not exactly kind.
Even that much seemed to be quite the stimulating entertainment to the group, as everyone’s eyes shone brightly.
Prien pushed a glass of sparkling water in front of me as if it were an unconscious gesture.
I had just been looking around for something to wet my throat, so I flinched slightly inwardly and took the glass.
‘It didn’t seem like he was looking this way at all.’
The gazes watching the two of us without missing that were subtle.
“From the looks of it, you don’t seem like someone who enjoys a party atmosphere. Why did you come here?”
“I came because I have something to say.”
“Something to say? Then…… that means you came to meet someone!”
“Goodness, it isn’t a woman, is it?”
“It is.”
“Oh my!”
Everyone looked extremely entertained.
In truth, perhaps what they had needed was not a man, but a high dose of stimulation…….
“Did you know? This friend here also says she came here to meet someone!”
Just then, the person beside me suddenly shoved me forward.
“Th-that’s not what I said!”
I hurriedly waved my hands, but no one seemed to believe me in the slightest.
“It must be someone she likes.”
“……Is that so.”
Even Prien responded to this utterly fruitless topic.
“Do you have someone you like?”
He asked as if he knew nothing, as if he were a person with no interest in the matter.
But under the gaze staring straight at me, I felt as if cold sweat were running down my back.
Flustered, my hand moved on its own to the nape of my neck. I rubbed the back of my neck as though kneading dough, when—
“……I see.”
Prien said quietly. Then he slowly lowered his head.
Feeling an unspoken pressure, I hurriedly opened my mouth.
“No! I mean, I don’t! I don’t, but…….”
At that, Prien raised his head.
“I see.”
His voice was utterly calm.
Beyond the eyeholes of his mask, I could see his eyes faintly shining in the darkness.
Though not a trace showed on the outside, I could sense that he was smiling.
‘Did he tease me on purpose?’
I fidgeted with my hands, hidden beneath the folds of my dress.
‘Did he notice after all? Who I am?’
“I’m only asking just in case…… but you two don’t happen to know each other, do you?”
When someone quick-witted finally picked up on that ambiguous atmosphere and asked, I looked at Prien with my heart in my throat.
He cast me a sidelong glance, then answered.
“We are not acquainted.”
“But…….”
The woman, having checked Prien’s expression and apparently decided she would hear nothing more no matter how much she asked, closed her mouth.
This time, someone else asked in a voice full of interest.
“Then may we ask what kind of woman is your ideal type?”
Beneath the mask, the corners of Prien’s mouth curved.
“I like someone whose heart is tender…… but firm.”
The group looked at one another.
His answer had not been particularly easy to understand.
What did it mean to be tender and firm at the same time?
“Mm. What sort of person would that be, exactly?”
“Would it explain it if I said someone who is kind because she is honest…… and cruel because she is honest?”
I tried to withhold judgment as much as I could, but I could not stop the question, ‘Don’t tell me he’s talking about me?’ from rising in my mind.
It was hard to bear, having to listen to such things right to my face while pretending not to know and staying silent.
I wanted to cover that mouth of his right this instant…….
“Cruel? Then isn’t that a bad thing?”
But it seemed no one had any intention of changing the subject for the time being.
“Aside from that, is there no appearance or type of look you prefer?”
After taking a sip of tea, Prien looked at me and answered.
“Someone with black hair.”
“…….”
“And eyes the color of…….”
As if gauging my eyes beyond the mask under the lights, his words slowed for a moment.
“I would like someone whose eyes are the color of wheat on an autumn day.”