Silent Witch

That day, two more observers came to the after-school dance training.

They were Felix Ark Ridill, the student council president, and Cyril Ashley, the vice president.

When these two appeared, Lana's cheeks turned rosy and squealed in high-pitched voices.

While Monica screamed in terror inwardly in pale expression.

As for Neil, he looked at Felix and Cyril awkwardly, while Glenn said loudly, "Who are these people?" And they were some big figure.

"-W-Why… w-was Y-Your Highness… h-here…"

When Monica said this in a low voice, Felix furrowed his eyebrows and gave her a look of disbelief.

"I'm not so heartless as to have expected you then only to throw you out later, okay?"

"Right, you should be grateful for Your Highness's generosity!"

Cyril then stuck out his chest proudly. Are you okay came here leaving your student council work behind… or so thought secretly Monica when Felix glanced at Cyril.

"By the way, I don't remember having called you here, Cyril."

"I'm Your Highness's bodyguard! It is only natural that I should accompany you along!"

"I see. So you've been getting your student council work done ahead of schedule even before I told you I was planning to come here. You were planning on coming to watch Monica practice from the beginning. And even if I didn't show up here, you're planning to come here, weren't you?"

For some reason, Cyril embarrassed at Felix's ridiculous remarks which made his gaze wander.

"W-Well… As your right-hand man, I had anticipated some of Your Highness's plan, after all!"

Monica was secretly impressed by the fact that the vice president had to always be ready for the president's whims.

However, to be honest, this situation did not make Monica happy. In fact, it has become a burden on her mind.

As Monica's stomach knotted up in anguish, Lana was shaking her shoulder.

"Hey, look at that! Student council president and vice president are standing side by side, so close together!"

Lana's exuberant was probably the correct reaction of most of the girls… so thought Monica.

"Look at His Highness' scarf embroidery, such delicate and beautiful needlework… It's definitely the work of a master craftsman. The colors of the embroidered thread changes depending on its luster… and also those embroidered vine patterns, they will definitely become a trend. I need to burn it in my memory, and if possible, I would like to draw it down… Ah, look at the lace on the edge of Lord Cyril's gloves! That's not something made without the latest technique… I'd like to see it up more closely…"

"………"

What Lana was staring at was not the faces of Felix and Cyril, but their clothes and accessories.

Perhaps Lana was also a little different from what most schoolgirls think.

While Monica was dumbfounded at that thought, Felix was encouraging while saying to her, "How about showing your dancing first?" with a smile. Monica did as she was told, standing in the middle of the room before holding Glenn's hand.

Lana hurriedly sat down at the piano and began to play. Neil clapped his hands along with the music.

"Alright, I will start with a one-two-three as a signal."

"Okay!"

"One, two, three."

Monica and Glenn took their first steps at the same time. It wasn't a bad start. This was because Monica was less nervous around Glenn than she had been yesterday.

However, after a few repetitions of the steps, their rhythm started to go wrong.

"Stop!"

Cyril was the one who raised his voice.

Ah, she sure her dancing had ruined the dance or so thought Monica shrinking into her shoulders.

Lana stopped her music, and Cyril glared at Glenn sharply.

"Glenn Dudley! You are not escorting her properly! You had better learn to control your manners towards girls!"

It was a very unbelievable statement from someone who abuses Monica on a daily basis.

Monica, who had been expecting that she would be the one to be criticized, widened her eyes in disbelief.

On the other hand, Glenn, who had been ruined the dance complained, with his lips pursed in a boo-boo.

"I've been treating her carefully though."

"In the first place, you haven't even properly asking her for a dance! Watch me over there!"

Cyril pushed Glenn away haughtily before staring down at Monica, who was scared out sniffling.

Looking at the flow, surely Cyril will be Monica's dancing partner, right?

If I accidentally stepped on his foot, he might shove a block of ice to me… or so Monica shuddering at thought of that when Cyril placed his left hand behind his own back, bow gracefully, before reaching out his right hand.

"Will you dance with me, young lady?"

"…huh?"

Monica's thoughts froze at the graceful bow and the dialogue that didn't seem to belong to Cyril.

Standing there in a daze, Cyril reached out and took Monica's hand with as much care as if he were touching a delicate piece of glass.

As soon as Lana started to play her music, Cyril lightly put his hand on Monica's waist. By the movement of his hand, Monica subconsciously understood that the dance was about to begin. Even without a signal "one-two-three" like she did with Glenn, she knew what to do as it natural. She even knew the timing of the first step.

As if lured by Cyril's hand, Monica stepped forward, one, two, three, one, two, three… Too busy worrying about her steps, Monica's upper body movement inevitably became a mess.

But when Monica's back and arms started to do a wrong move, Cyril's hands supported her to get into the right position.

The same goes for the direction of travel. If it was Glenn, he would say, "Let's go to the right!" then "We're about to run into a wall, so go that way!" to indicate the direction of travel vocally. But Cyril didn't guide Monica with his words but with the movement of his hands, his feet, and his gaze.

—And for her, it was surprisingly easy to dance with.

After the music was over, Cyril gave the same beautiful bow as when he started. He then raised his head to look at Glenn and…

"Did you see that, kid? This is what escorting is all about!"

He yelled at him, looking proud of himself.

Far from being when he's dancing, he was the usual Cyril Ashley that Monica knew.

Monica couldn't help but mutter to herself.

"I was relieved to see that Lord Ashley was still the same as usual."

"What do you mean by that?"

After Cyril glared at Monica, he coughed.

"You could say that ballroom dancing is entirely dependent on how the male doing a lead. If the male leads properly and matches the timing to the music, the dance will look good to some extent."

At Cyril's explanation, Glenn cheered honestly.

"Oh, that's awesome!"

"When you're going to compliment someone, you should use better vocabulary, and compliment them with a word of decency."

Cyril seemed less than pleased but still maintained his cynical attitude.

Glenn pondered about ‘use better vocabulary' for a moment, then opened his mouth with a serious face.

"Your movements went like whoosh, swish, and snap, and it was cool!"

"Before you learn etiquette, you should learn the human language."

Cyril gave Glenn a half-hearted glare, and now he looked at Monica.

"Monica Norton. Your dancing needs a lot of work. First of all, you need to get used to being escorted. Don't freak out every time. Don't hunch over. Don't look down. A few missed steps will go unnoticed as long as you keep your head held high."

"Y-Yes…"

Cyril's point was something that both the teacher and Neil had said to her.

In any case, her habit of hunching over and looking down, caused Monica to always take a bad posture.

Now that he mentions it, at the rehearsal for the Seven Sages ceremony, Louis pointed out to me that I was hunched over… I remember having a pole tied to my back.

The memory of him saying "how about I tie a pole to your back next time?" with a smile, still made her shudder even until now.

While she shuddering after recalling that memory, Felix proposed smilingly.

"In that case, Dudley should practice being an escort and Miss Norton should practice getting used to being escorted. Cyril, can you teach him how to be an escort?"

"If Your Highness insists…"

Cyril nodded grudgingly, then turned to face Glenn before saying with a raised eyebrow.

"Now, kid! I will teach you my escorting skills! First, you will escort me as if I were a girl!"

"Well… treating you like a girl was… a bit hard…"

"Stop being so picky!"

As Cyril scolding and dragging Glenn away, Felix smiled at Monica.

"Since that is the case, please take care of me. Miss Norton."

"P-Please take care… of me, too."

As Monica bowed her head perpetually, Felix quickly reached out his hand to Monica.

"Grab my hand."

"………"

Without taking a single step, Monica stretched her arm to its limit. Then, she touched Felix's outstretched hand with her fingertips.

Felix looked down at her fingertips with a smile on his face.

"I guess you're surprisingly unwilling in being escorted, huh?"

"No, I don't mean like that! I-I'm so sorry!"

Felix was smiling, but his eyes were not.

Shakily, Monica took a half step forward. Then Felix quickly grabbed Monica's hand and pulled her toward him.

Felix's hands were supporting her body, and the moment she thought about that, Monica's body tensed up.

"You know, when you were with Cyril, you were a little more docile in being escorted."

"T-That's… because at that time, Lord Ashley was different from usual, I was so surprised, so…"

At that time, she was too stunned by Cyril's conduct when dancing, and the dance had started and ended before she realized it. But now, the situation was different.

As Monica stiffened, Felix looked up and instructed Lana.

"Excuse me. Can you play some music for me? With a slightly lower volume."

"Yes, sir!"

Lana nodded excitedly and began to play the piano. As the music played a little more subduedly than before, Felix took Monica's hand to lead the way. It was the same as with Cyril. Even without the call of a "one-two-three" signal, she could somehow understand when to start, probably because Felix was also great at escorting.

"You don't have to pay attention to your steps right now. Maybe you could forget about your dancing altogether."

"…Eh?"

"You could walk around at your pace while having fun chatting with me. Your body easily stiffens, after all."

The idea of having a nice chat with someone really threw Monica off. Monica was not very good at talking, and she was not very good at bringing up topics of conversation to anyone. Since she never had a chance to make a casual conversation.

When Monica frightened and clammed up, and Felix smiled at her.

"I've never seen your eyes up close before. They look light brown, but when exposed to light, they seem to have a slight greenish tinge… They look like the trees deep in the forest illuminated by the sun, doesn't it?"

"Um… Er…"

"Your light brown hair is also very shiny and beautiful. Did you have a friend braid it for you today?"

"Y-Yes. Um, Miss Lana Collette is very good at this kind of thing."

"Yeah… it looks really good on you."

When someone complimented her hair, she was happy because it was like a compliment for Lana.

Monica giggled, her cheeks relaxing.

"…Eheehee… Thank you… very much…"

"Hmm, so you can even smile like that. Hey, can you show me more?"

Being stared at so closely, Monica felt embarrassed and lowered her eyes. Then the scarf on Felix's lapel caught her eye.

I think Lana had mentioned something about the embroidery, and it was indeed quite intricate. If one looks at it from a distance, it's not that spectacular, but when one looked closer, it looks more luxurious and intricates.

Monica loved to look at the beautiful patterns.

If I look at the pattern of this vine rose… I could think of it as a circle, and since four circles are inscribed in another larger circle, with that particular set of principles… along with the distance between roses…

"I think a green dress would look good on you. Something a little deeper, but not too dark. Maybe a beautiful flower embroidery on the skirt would be nice. Do you have a favorite flower?"

Two circles that do not intersect each other have two common tangents. And each of them has the same distance… with that assumption… It can be applied in multiple magic formulas with a wide range of magic coordinates.

"Ah, autumn roses look good, too. It's smaller and more elegant than the large roses that bloom in summer. I think its calming color would suit you better."

The radius of the four circles is infinitesimal and the length of the tangent line has an equal distance between them… but considering the development of the scope of the wide-area magic formula…

The music stopped.

As Felix stopped his steps still supporting Monica's body, Neil, who had been watching the scene, clapped.

"Amazing! From halfway through, the dance became a proper dance! And Miss Norton's movements were more relax and less tense… It's the best dance I've ever seen!"

"Miss Norton was doing her best to learn the steps with her feet, but her movements tended to be stiff and her tempo slipped because she was thinking too hard."

Felix said, looking into Monica's face with a smile.

"I guess enjoying a good chat had allowed them to move on their own devices without thinking about any unnecessary things, is that right?"

Upon being spoken to, Monica raised her head and looked around as if she had just woken up from a dream.

"Ah… Um… Er…"

"Monica! Monica! You were dancing so well just now!"

Glenn, who had been watching Monica's dance from halfway through, praised her with a sparkle in his eyes, and Cyril nodded his head in agreement, saying, "As expected of His Highness, his escorts was the best!"

Monica held both cheeks, like still fluttering in her dream.

"… I was able… to dance?"

"Yeah, you danced very well."

At Felix nod, Monica's face lit up.

She had a big smile on her face, something that Monica rarely shows, as she usually keeps her head down and squirms.

"I… I just realized, the pattern on Your Highness's scarf could be replaced with a different set of patterns! And this set of patterns is very beautiful and applicable in many ways. Just thinking about how to apply this helped me stop thinking about unnecessary stuff!"

A heavy silence filled the dance room.

Like an innocent child, only Monica was the one who has sparkles in her eyes.

Then, a kindhearted Neil interrupted her fearfully.

"Um… I think, in a roundabout way, that kind of thinking was the epitome you were thinking of unnecessary things…"

"…ah."

Monica's smile stiffened as she slowly, slowly glanced over at Felix.

Felix was still smiling. Albeit, his blue eyes shone darkly.

"Was our little chat kind of unnecessary things for you, Miss Norton?"

"Um, er, well, I mean, it just…"

Monica paled quickly, clenched her fists, before shouting.

"The only reason I was able to dance so well was thanks to Your Highness's scarf!"

"You should have said, ‘Thanks to Your Highness!' here"

Cyril's angry voice echoed through the dance room.

Thus, Monica learned how to perform a dance without getting nervous by immersing herself in her thoughts.

It should be noted that the pattern on Felix's scarf, which Monica had been gazing at intently, was accurately drawn before it shown to Lana, who was greatly appreciative of the result.