“Your Highness, it’s been so long!”
“However precious a face you may be, do you really hold yourself back this much? I’ve been dying to see you.”
“Why haven’t you shown yourself? Without Your Highness here, everyone’s been as quiet as mice.”
The moment Cheshire entered the Hall of Lilies, the women and followers she hadn’t visited in a while swarmed around her. It had been quite some time, indeed. Ever since he went to greet Sahara, and even after returning, he’d only briefly stopped by on the day of their first victory party—this was his first time actually attending a party.
He hadn’t even realized he’d been absent for so long.
“I’ve been away, so work piled up.”
“Well, you were away from the capital for a while. But I suppose all the busy business is resolved now?”
“Ah.”
Cheshire responded politely while quickly scanning the interior. He’d heard Sahara was inside. He thought she’d be in seclusion or immersed in training, but instead she was engaging in social activities. It was a little unexpected, and rather irritating.
No matter how busily she moved around the party hall and tried to meet people, with her poor conversational skills and sullen expression, she could hardly escape being a wallflower. Even if she was beautiful, the scrutiny would be harsh. Without connections or support, she must be feeling the cold wind of high society.
I should go and at least hold her hand, Cheshire thought. I need to rescue her from these venomous socialites.
“Your Highness, is something urgent?”
Someone asked, but s he didn’t answer. Cheshire leaned against the railing of the staircase connected to the hall entrance and looked towards the walls of the Hall of Lilies. No, before he could even direct his gaze to the walls, something caught his eye immediately.
As though she were the only person in the entire hall, she came into view at once.
On the dance stage at one side of the hall, beneath the shimmering light of thousands of chandeliers, she stood there.
“…….”
His lips went dry instantly. His throat ached.
Her black hair flowed softly down over her white shoulders. Even from a distance, her face was strangely vivid.
Cheshire gazed at Sahara’s white cheeks, her black eyes, her lips. Beneath her long eyelashes, the chandelier light cast shadows that trembled.
Cheshire forced himself to swallow dryly. He could only clench his fists.
Whenever he closed his eyes, that face was vividly before him, tormenting him, but seeing it in person was different.
Ah, so that’s how she looked. So that’s how she looked. Sahara had such luscious cheeks, such lips. Her black hair was thick and silky, her skin clear and firm. Her beautiful chest needed no emphasis, her straight back delicately revealing fine muscles. She was more radiant and beautiful than Cheshire had ever imagined in his mind.
She wasn’t crying, nor was she hiding shame. Her shoulders didn’t tremble, nor was she holding her breath.
Calm eyes, a straight posture. She shone with a dignity born of strength.
At this belated realization, Cheshire felt his hairs stand on end. As if spellbound, he couldn’t even blink as he stared at her. His throat tightened from the wild pounding of his heart. He stood so still he forgot he was leaning on the railing, just watching.
Standing apart, she was as noble and sublime as when they first met.
Cheshire felt the tip of his heart turning black.
“…….”
Sahara let out a short sigh through those full lips, then slightly bent her knee and took someone’s hand.
Cheshire’s eyes narrowed instantly.
“I was wondering what you were staring at so intently, you were looking at those two, weren’t you?”
“Ah, it is a curious sight. Duke Giskar actually dancing. He was pacing around the whole party, and in the end, he’s dancing his first dance with the Countess.”
“Doesn’t Duke Giskar rarely even attend parties?”
The one holding Sahara’s hand was Kyle Giskar. He was the commander of the Imperial Knights and a reserved man who kept to the sidelines in society. When his wife was alive, he barely attended parties. After her death, he stopped attending altogether. He was the complete opposite of Cheshire, who lived like a fish in water, attending parties every day and mingling with people.
“Even with his late Duchess, he only danced one song at their wedding, didn’t he? Though his wife was frail, of course.”
“He seems smitten at first sight, doesn’t he? Well… she is beautiful. Still, to someone so barbaric. Earlier, his jokes were so crude that even hearing them from afar made me clutch my chest. Though Her Highness laughed.”
Cheshire let the chatter go in one ear as he watched the two.
There was no awkwardness in Sahara’s steps as she followed Duke Giskar’s moves. Like porcelain dolls, the beautiful pair spun round and round, briefly drawing close, and she saw their eyes meet.
They were facing opposite directions, so only Sahara’s face was visible, but he thought he knew what kind of eyes the man was looking at Sahara with.
As he swallowed dryly, his chest turned black as if he’d swallowed poison.
“Your Highness? Why….”
“Let’s dance too.”
Cheshire took the hand of a nearby woman and descended the stairs toward the dance floor.
He tried to walk slowly, but his heart grew increasingly impatient. He pushed through the crowd with quick steps, walking straight toward her. Dancers bustled around her. The dizzying swirl of people, the flickering lights, the lively music all passed him by.
He wanted to stop the fluttering beige hem of the skirt, the foot stepping in sky-blue shoes. Though his face was composed, nothing came to mind except tearing the man holding her hand away from Sahara and turning her gaze back toward him. The closer he got to her, the more the blackness spread, as if it were turning even his fingertips dark.
Meeting another man’s eyes, exchanging some sweet story?
Hadn’t she been staring at his own face, spellbound, just a little while ago? Laying bare her racing heart, watching as if hypnotized? When he felt the gaze and turned around, Sahara’s black eyes would grow wide in surprise. Even in those moments, she couldn’t look away, just stared at him. To the point that Cheshire, who had lived his whole life receiving adoring looks, even felt embarrassed.
Of course, she said there was no feeling at all.
Ah, so with no feeling at all, is she looking at that man with those eyes too? Or this time, is there definitely emotion in them?
“Your Highness, what’s the hurry? —Your Highness?”
Turning at the tug on his hand, the woman looked at Cheshire with a sullen face. Cheshire released her hand and looked back at Sahara.
“—?”
Sahara, who had been dancing just steps away moments ago, was gone.
Where did she go? Frantically pushing through people, he looked around for her.
And then he saw a back hurrying away, clutching her dress hem. Duke Giskar was following behind her.
“Your Highness? What—”
“What’s wrong, Your Highness?”
People who had been disturbed from their dancing stopped or stepped aside, staring at Cheshire, but he didn’t stop. His quick steps became almost a run. Even though they were inside a building, vast as it was, with nowhere to hide, he felt he might lose her.
Sahara flung open the balcony door and plunged inside. Her flowing long hair slithered in like a snake, and Duke Giskar followed her into the balcony.
The Duke’s gaze met Cheshire’s as he closed the door. He saw Cheshire’s frozen eyes.
Heh.
The man twisted his lips in a sneer and clicked the door shut.
“……—”
Cheshire stopped dead in his tracks. From head to toe, he was as cold as if doused in ice water. He felt his cheeks twist.
Striding over, Cheshire grabbed the doorknob. Rudeness be damned, he twisted the locked handle violently and wrenched it open.
Bang. The balcony burst open with a harsh sound and there was no one there.
“…….”
He blinked, staring at the empty balcony.
“Your Highness, what on earth…. Who’s there? Ah, you’re truly strange today—!”
The woman who had hurried over and clung to her arm flinched at Cheshire’s gaze and stepped back. Cheshire didn’t know what face he was making.
“…….”
Furrowing his brow, he raised a hand to cover his eyes.
Everything before him was red.
§ § § § §
They said he hadn’t been attending parties lately, so why of all days did he have to show up today? Standing at the entrance, leaning against the railing, Cheshire’s figure made Sahara freeze on the spot.
“Sahara?”
At the sound of her name being called, she quickly lifted her head.
“Your face is pale. Is the suggestion of a date that shocking?”
“No… it’s not that.”
Sahara’s lips parted as she hid behind the Duke’s shoulder. She didn’t want to be noticed by Cheshire.
<Move your quarters to the West Wing. I don’t want to see you.>
Cheshire had said he didn’t want to see her. Those words weren’t exactly an order. It was just his way of showing how angry he was—it probably didn’t literally mean she shouldn’t be seen in his presence.
Regardless, Sahara had simply thought she’d try not to be in the same place as him, if possible. There was no need to force herself into his presence when he didn’t want her around. It was a feeling of, well, no need to defy him.
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