200 – Behind the Scenes (16)
Now that I see it, I see a strange connection between Hayley and Elliot. As for his outstanding appearance… Above all, these two have the same hair color.
I wondered if he was a distant relative, but since he was the only one with blonde hair, I quickly put the thought out of his mind.
Even after waiting a little longer, there was no one who appeared to be Elliot’s partner. And, there is no silver hair in sight.
I feel depressed. Anyway, my prom was ruined from the moment I saw someone I didn’t want to see. Memories and names I wanted to forget came to mind one after another, and my heart, which had been excited by the festive atmosphere, suddenly became muddy.
I wanted to stop dwelling on the painful past while looking at the ghosts of the past here.
I even thought that it would be better if a magic sword hunter invaded and messed everything up.
At that moment, a girl suddenly appeared in front of us like a savior.
It was Luna. She wore a white frilly dress and had her hair pulled back behind her ear, giving her an unusually fresh look.
Luna lightly bowed her head towards her two seniors.
“Hello, seniors. Damian is my partner… “Can I take you now?”
The two seniors twitched their eyebrows in silence and glared at Luna. Luna did not follow suit and looked straight at her seniors.
After a brief fight, Xenia uncrossed her arms and threw them away.
“Okay, we enjoyed it enough, so take it with us.”
The restraints on both arms have finally been released.
I stood next to Luna and bowed her head towards her seniors. I felt a little uncomfortable because I felt like I was abandoning these two, but I wanted to get out of this ballroom quickly.
Haley said with a light smile.
“You two look good together. Play fun.”
I bowed my head and said hello. And then he hurried out of the ballroom, taking Luna with him.
***
Xenia and Hayley stood still and watched Damian leave.
Luna followed next to him and quietly raised her arm and linked her arms with Damian.
Xenia said as if it was fun.
“The kids from the Ministry of Magic and the Department of Magic seem to particularly like the new student. “It’s so amazing.”
“Elliot is still firmly in control of the combat department. “It’s almost like a religion.”
“Oh, did you see that? “The newbie’s face hardens when talking about Elliot.”
“What does the newbie have to do with hating Elliot?”
“I don’t know. He seemed to have a burning desire to compete when he heard that he was better at using a sword than he was. I guess you’re the type that’s weak to provocation? Cute.”
“I am definitely on the side of newcomers….”
Hayley blurted her words.
“Why? “Even newbies are still good guys, right?”
“What I have shown so far is not enough. “I feel like there’s something there, but I just have a feeling.”
Whether in terms of popularity or skill, Damien was not up to Elliot’s level. Even if he was my favorite junior, I couldn’t cover up that fact and praise him.
Xenia said with a grin.
“But there is one thing that Shinbi is better than Elliot.”
“What is it?”
“Because her newbie got the attention of the princess that even Elliot couldn’t get.”
Haley quietly muttered, lost in thought.
“Princess…. Because of the princess’s interest….”
It wasn’t wrong. Even now, in a corner of the ballroom, the embassy of the principality was writing something in his notebook, glaring at the women with Damien with his eyes wide open like an eagle.
It was a strange thing. When she weighed all the conditions, Elliot had higher value than Damian. However, the princess mercilessly kicked Elliot away last year and showed no regrets. And this year she’s more than accepted Damian, she’s a passionate favorite.
Xenia said as she quietly looked at Elliot, who became the star of the ball.
“I also care more about the newcomers. Elliot… “It feels like a carefully crafted product created by the empire using all its technology.”
“… “It’s not wrong.”
***
The student square adjacent to the ballroom had a neat garden created thanks to planteras working all night long.
Men and women enjoying a walk were rarely seen.
We sat side by side, leaning against the railing of the ballroom entrance.
“Thanks for taking it out, Luna.”
“… Huh. “Because today is my Damien.”
“And today… “It was so different that I almost didn’t recognize it.”
Luna tucks her fine hair behind her ear and lowers her face as if she is embarrassed.
“Because in Part 1, Candy has to appear… “I’ll wait somewhere else.”
I handed Luna her mask. Without saying a word she took her mask and placed it on her face. It had a similar shape and texture to mine, so it seemed like a perfect fit.
“I’ll be back.”
***
I changed my clothes and changed my mask to a crude wooden mask. Then I entered the ballroom. Inside, lively music was already flowing and dancers were in the center.
And the edge of the ballroom was raised so that you could look down on the center of the ballroom, and there were female students sitting there waiting to be asked to dance.
Some people are surrounded by male students, while others are sitting alone and acting like they don’t care… It felt bittersweet, as if I was seeing a microcosm of life.
It was quite difficult to find Cecil. This was because all kinds of male students were gathered around her.
Cecil and Luna… They weren’t the kind of girls who could bring disgrace to Wax Flower just because I didn’t apply.
I checked where Cecil was sitting and squeezed between the male students.
Cecil was there… She was negotiating with a group of male students who were asking her to dance.
“… No, I won’t just accept your dance request.”
“Why do you think I’m the same as a guy like Billam?”
Another male student urgently intervenes, fearing that his opportunity will be taken away.
“We also collaborated on the Magic Department project. I do not remember?”
“Yes. “Everyone, not just the seniors, worked together.”
“Cecil, is there someone waiting for you?”
“No, I never made a promise to anyone.”
What do you mean you never promised? She was standing still next to Cecil, and when she looked at him in bewilderment, she pretended to rub her eyes and winked at him.
What on earth are we going to do?
“Then what are you going to do?”
“We do it according to tradition. There is a long Eternian tradition. “Everyone turn around.”
Then he waved her hand. When she saw the men who were dazed, she urged them again.
“Quickly.”
Then they crouched and turned their bodies back. Cecile waved her hand and told me to turn around.
After a while, Cecil spoke.
“Everyone can turn around now.”
Cecil tied the shoulder straps of her dress. And in one hand she is holding a rolled up bundle of white cloth. What she meant, she couldn’t guess.
“You all know the traditions of Eternia, right? I like a man who takes action. So, I’m going to dance and have fun all night long with the guy who comes to visit me.”
Then, she unlatched the full-length window behind her and opened it wide. Cecil threw the unknown thing into the bushes outside her window.
Soon after, the male students, who were looking at each other, started rushing towards the exit as if they were competing.
Seeing the scenery from the other side, I was able to understand what the situation was. This wasn’t just Cecil’s misfortune. Popular female students threw something out the window one after another, and nearby male students rushed out to find it.
I stood alone in front of Cecil and asked.
“This is different from the promise.”
Cecile smiled and stood in front of me, brushing off the dust from my chest and affectionately adjusting my bow tie.
“No, this is also a promise. You decided to be my slave, right? Go. Go get my stuff. “Today is for me, so make me feel good.”
“But what did you throw?”
Cecil hit my chest with her palm.
“Don’t ask, just go! Then I’ll miss it. “If you miss out, I’m really going to play with someone else!”
Why are there so many traditions in Eternia that I don’t know about?
I sighed and immediately threw myself out the window.
***
Because most of the male students jumped into the bushes to compete for partners, most of those left in the ballroom were female students.
Cecil sat with a popular group in the waiting area in the corner of the ballroom.
Martha, Elias, Brissel, Iris, etc. A group of fifteen first-year female students, including Cecil, gathered in one room and chatted.
Their main interest was the male students who would become their partners.
Elias, one of Cecil’s friends, said.
“One of my classmates at the Ministry of Magic is called Fontaine, and he openly asks to be partners with Victor, even though he is next to him.”
“So? So?”
“I was just going to do it with Victor… If you just accept it, it seems too light. So I threw my underwear out the window for a confrontation.”
“Oh my.”
“What if Victor can’t come?”
Elias cried.
“So. “I feel like I’m dying of anxiety.”
“But since you’re one of the top five in the combat division, it’s not like you can’t come visit me. No way.”
“If it’s about Victor… “Wow, that would be nice.”
Victor had a good reputation among first-year students, so Elias was envied by many among the female students.
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Soon after, Martha made her complaint.
“All the good kids were taken away. Victor was taken away by this b*tch, Varianne had a fiancé, Hubert was taken away by a senior, and the only one who looked like an empty house was Damian….”
“I heard he brought two seniors with him?”
“No, Damian just entered and ran off somewhere else.”
“I saw it. “I heard you’re going with Luna?”
“What? With Luna? Ha, Mr.”
Damian’s reputation has improved since the recent sparring evaluation, but there were still those who disliked him due to his poor sociability.
Naias started talking about Damian behind his back.
“Damian, that bastard is a bastard. “You just chewed my greeting before and left?”
“They ignored my greetings. What is mysticism? “I hope he gets scolded by Luna.”
Cecil just quietly rested her chin and listened to their conversations behind their backs.
Immediately, Brissel asked Cecil a question.
“Cecil, who were you? “Aren’t you the type of person who always wears a mask and never leaves the house?”
“Ah… huh.”
“If you look at what you’re doing, you look very shy. Do you think you can fight well?”
Cecil smiled and answered leisurely.
“You will be surprised when you see it. He’s very rough when he fights, but he’s very calm when dealing with women? “Goshy kids like Damian and Hubert wouldn’t be able to attack him even if they died, right?”
“… “The praise is unusually generous for you, isn’t it?”
“Good-looking guys have no substance.”
Soon after, the male students who had gone out to win partner positions entered the ballroom.
And accordingly, the female students who were waiting stopped chatting and stood up.
I looked at the male students with eyes mixed with half fear and half anticipation.
As the male students gathered in front of her, smelling of sweat, they all made her heart flutter with excitement. However, I was shocked when I encountered unexpected results.
Most of the male students were empty-handed.
“What? “What about my handkerchief?”
“Did anyone bring my underwear?”
“Shake my socks. “Who is my partner?”
Amidst the chaos, the male students complained bitterly.
“What… Crazy guy….”
“That’s right. “The strange bastard swept away everything that was white.”
“I could have won, but by a narrow margin, that bastard…” .”
The female students also couldn’t understand the situation, so they just rolled their eyes here and there.
Marta shouted as if it were absurd.
“One person? “One person swept them all away?”
Soon after, a man wearing a wooden mask entered the ballroom.
As he walked steadily, the area fell into silence.
The clothes were full of dust and several buttons were missing. I roughly rolled up my sleeves, and blood was dripping from my forearms as if there had been a scuffle.
The man’s hands were holding all kinds of white items, including underwear, socks, and handkerchiefs.
He approached the place where the female students were gathered and laid out the items he had collected one by one on the table.
Cecil said with wide eyes.
“Candy… what’s this?”
“You didn’t tell me what you threw, right?”
“… So you brought everything you had?”
“Yes.”
“I just need to bring one bra. “Why did you go to such trouble?”
“… “That’s not the same thing.”
“I just need to bring the biggest one, right?”
The female students were momentarily shocked by Cecil’s words.
“….”
As if trying to hide her embarrassment, Candy rolled her eyes elsewhere and pretended not to hear what she said.
Cecil covered her mouth with her hand and laughed.
“Okay, well, anyway, I brought everything…” “Who are you going to choose?”
The female students swallowed nervously as they looked at him.
He opened his mouth right away without thinking for long.
“Cecil. Let’s go.”
Everyone’s eyes were focused on Cecil.
Cecil suppressed her laughter and stood next to Candy, crossing her arms. She then turned to the girls and spoke calmly.
“Did I tell you? “This guy is amazing.”