“Would it be a big problem if I didn't dance on the day of the party?”
“Not dancing at a concert means that you are protesting against the organizers and that you are dissatisfied with their party.
Or it could be evidence that all the nobles are shunning you and do not want to dance with you.
Even a man like me is forced to dance to at least one song.”
“……”
Theodore, who was not very particular about what others said about him, said that he was forced to dance as well.
This was completely unexpected.
"Let's pretend you have a bad leg.
Or I can come to the party alone and…"
“No.
If I start learning now, I will be able to dance to at least one song by the day of the party.
Come on, tell me what kind of dance I should learn and let’s try practicing it.”
“Just pretend you're sick.”
“I can learn to dance quickly.”
“I admit that you have a well-functioning brain and can learn quickly, but your body movements are a different matter.
I will find a way to justify your inability to...”
“I can dance!
I want to move.”
“I understand your wish.
But Annette Scheringen’s dancing was first-class.
If you dance clumsily like a duck in front of the nobles, it will only raise suspicions around you.”
"I can dance.
If I have trouble learning the steps, I will tell you and back off immediately.
That's a promise~!
But please let me try for once, I want to move my body.
What do you think?
Come on~♡ Don't refuse."
Theodore understood her point when she said “I can dance,” but what the hell did this woman mean when she said “I want to move my body”?
Theodore thought that she would give up after a while if he ignored her, but Annette was persistent and never backed down.
This did not stop here, but she began to beg him like a little girl and act pathetically like wet puppies under the rainwater while blinking her eyes innocently and trying to arouse his sympathy.
(MM: Annette uses aegyo for short 😭)
Theodore wanted to refuse categorically, but when he saw her innocent eyes that began to shine like puppy eyes and when he heard her cute words that she was pleading with him in a child-like tone, he lost his resolve in front of her and weakly surrendered to her desire.
He didn't know why, but Annette was very stubborn today.
Theodore clicked his tongue and eventually took her into the room where the gramophone was.
(M.M.: The gramophone is a recording instrument that contains music)
“First, the easiest dance is the waltz.”
Theodore said it was the easiest dance, but the waltz was never easy.
There were movements that required light and graceful rotation of the body, and there were many songs with fast tempos, so the dancer's sense of rhythm was also required.
Above all, the waltz was the dance that Theodor mastered most.
Theodore said it was an easy dance, but he had no intention of teaching it to Annette easily.
Theodore deliberately chose the dance he mastered in order to show Annette the difference in skill between them and get her to submit quickly.
"Look at my feet.
These are the basic steps."
Theodore said it was just the basic steps but he deliberately moved his feet in a crippled manner.
He had to move as quickly as possible in order to make Annette lose her resolve quickly.
“You mean like this?”
But he forgot that this woman was Annette.
Annette imitated Theodore's complex movements precisely.
Theodore had made some difficult movements without saying how to do them, but Annette had already imitated them all perfectly.
Her speed of learning was amazing.
As Theodore's leg moved forward, Annette's leg moved back at the same pace and then their bodies turned together.
The bodies of the two people, who were close to each other as if they were attached, moved gently in circles around the room.
They were bending their knees together and raising their arms together.
When Theodore opened his arms, Annette hugged him and threw herself into his arms.
Thus Annette announced her complete defeat of Theodore.
A whimsical, bouncy waltz was the type that suited Annette best.
When the gramophone moved on to the next song, Annette paused for a moment as she gasped for breath.
Her little shoulders rose and fell with every breath she took.
A wide smile appeared on her face, which was panting with fatigue.
Theodore asked with a confused expression.
“What kind of dancing did you learn before?”
“Did you notice that I learned to dance before?”
Annette smiled widely as if she was glad he noticed that.
Then she blinked her eyes softly.
Soon her calm eyes, which had suddenly become dim and dark, stared at the ground…
Then her gaze turned towards her legs at last.
“Ballet.
I learned ballet.”
“Ballet?”
Annette admitted to Theodore that she was a ballerina in her world.
"Oh?
Is this dance not here?"
Annette blinked in surprise.
It seems as if she never thought that this world did not contain ballet.
This was the first time she had been surprised while looking at him so innocently.
"I'm hearing this name for the first time in my life.
But I'm not very familiar with dance, so this dance may already exist but I don't know anything about it.
But... what kind of dance is this 'ballet'?"
“Well... how can I explain this to you?”
Annette hesitated for a moment, then started making all sorts of strange movements.
She started spreading her legs oddly apart, then putting her limbs in a position that didn't seem at all natural.
However, her movements were something Theodore had never seen before in his life.
It seemed like they were extremely painful movements, especially when he saw her frowning face at every movement.
Theodore thought that she would give up quickly because these movements were so painful, but Annette continued to be stubborn and kept making more and more painful movements.
"Stop.
I know what this dance you're talking about.
It exists in this world too."
"Really~?
Is she here too?
What do you call her here?"
“Circus Clowns Dance.”
“Hahahaha~”
Annette, who was raising her arm in the air while standing on one leg, laughed out loud.
The movement of her arms was disturbed by her laughter, so she lowered them to their normal position and held her stomach, but despite this, she never stopped laughing.
"I've been hearing that a lot from my coach.
But it's different this time.
I've only been warming up so far."
Annette said this, but Theodore was sure that those strange movements she was performing were the movements of circus clowns.
"In ballet, you have to warm up your body well before dancing.
Now I'm in a body that's not used to moving a lot or doing ballet, so I have to warm up a lot before doing the basic movements that I used to practice in the past, but even so, I'm not sure if I can do the movements at the same level as I was in my world.
This is because it's the first time I've danced with this body.
But I probably won't be seriously hurt."
“Do you get hurt while dancing?”
"Huh?
Yeah.
We don't usually get major injuries, but ankle sprains are common."
“Are you sure this is a dance?
Or do you have a different meaning for dance?”
“Your Highness's behavior is a bit funny today.”
Annette burst out laughing more than usual today.
This was the first time she had shown herself so happy in front of Theodore.
“I'll try to show you what I mean.”
Annette, who had been laughing for a while, took a deep breath and spread her arms in the air.
Then she closed her eyes and stood on her left toes.
Then little by little she brought her right leg back and raised it in the air.
The moment Theodore's eyes widened in shock at what she was doing in front of him...
“Arghh-!”
Annette fell to the ground while groaning.
Theodore, without realizing it, rushed towards Annette to catch her before she collapsed to the ground and hurt herself.
Annette collapsed in Theodore's arms and then burst into laughter.
The sound of her laughter was so loud that even the servants passing by in the distant hall could hear it.
Every time Annette laughed, her little body stuck closer and closer to Theodore's body.
Every time Annette laughed, she buried herself deeper and deeper into Theodore's arms.
She was very close to him.
Even when Theodore was teaching her the waltz steps, Annette was physically close to him, but he never felt that way.
Theodore managed to keep his breathing steady and tried to calm his trembling heart and control his rising body heat.
This had been happening to him a lot lately, so he would be able to handle this situation today as well.
He had to put up with this or else Annette would discover these feelings of his that blossomed whenever he was with her.
Annette, unaware of his inner circumstances, was laughing loudly in his arms.
Are you laughing?
A weak woman fell due to strange clown-like movements and was probably now in terrible pain but was still laughing?
After all, this woman really came from the damned Elysia Sanatorium.
Theodore had almost forgotten that he ever met Annette in a mental institution in the first place.
“It's been a long time since I danced ballet, so I can't get my posture right.”
Annette manipulated Theodore's feelings perfectly and then walked away from him again as if nothing had happened.
“I will try again.”
Annette inhaled deeply and moved her body again.
تساءل Theodore عمّا إذا كان بإمكانها تحريك كاحلها بشكل طبيعي بعد سقوطها قبل قليل، لكن Annette وقفت هذه المرة على أطراف أصابعها بكل أريحية وجعلت ساقيها مستقيمتين بشكل غريب للغاية.
It was a dangerous move, completely different from before.
Then Annette started dancing.
She raised both her arms in the air and began to walk with small steps around.
The length of the stride and the position of her toes changed moment by moment.
Theodore didn't know what this 'ballet' was, but he learned something new about Annette.
Now the secret of her elegant walk has been revealed.
If you are someone who dances like this every day, then of course there should be dignity and dignity in every corner of your body.
Theodore's mind wavered with every slight movement Annette made with her body.
He was confused.
The moment Annette opened her arms and jumped into the air...
His heart sank and he felt as if his soul had left his body for a moment due to fear.
But the moment the woman who was moving like a feather stepped on the ground again, Theodore's soul returned to its place and his legs began to tremble for no reason.
He didn't know why Annette's feather-light jumping over the ground seemed so heavy and painful to him that he thought she would break her foot at that moment.
Annette raised her hand and ruffled her tangled hair to wipe away the sweat and cool her rosy cheeks.
Theodore heard the rustle of her rising breath as it slipped between her fingers.
The corners of her mouth that were happily raised showed her great love for ballet.
Seeing her like this, Theodore had no choice but to ask this question.
“Do you like ballet?”
Annette smiled very kindly.
“Yes, I love him very much.”
The moment Theodore saw that soft smile, his heart sank into despair again.
Nothing Theodore had said before, since he first met Annette, had made her so happy.
So…
She looks like this when she talks about something she loves.
Her expression was completely different from when she met or talked to him.
After all, he was the one who stole this happiness from her because of his selfishness and arrogance.
Theodore had mixed feelings, a corner of his chest seemed to start to hurt and his throat began to choke.
Then Annette's facial expressions became serious without him knowing.
“I mean… I used to love it.
But I can’t do it anymore.”
“Why?”
“It's not a big deal, it's just....
Oh, you're interested in this story, aren't you?
Even if you don't like what I'm saying, please listen to me a little longer.
Okay?
You're the only one I can say this to, and I feel like I'll explode if I don't reveal what's hidden in my heart to someone.”
“I never said I wasn't interested in what you said.”
Annette laughed lightly at Theodore's response.
It was a small, sad smile that made Theodore's heart tighten and sink more and more into sadness.
"I injured my foot during training.
It's common, so I ignored it and performed a training performance without telling my coach, but the condition was worse than I thought.
The doctor was very adamant and in the end I had to leave ballet.
But I could never tell my coach."
Annette told Theodore a story about her world for the first time.
It was a story from the old days when she had to give up ballet due to a serious leg injury.
Annette spoke softly in front of him, but Theodore felt the pain in her sad eyes.
The eyes that spoke of the ballet were serious, sad, and...
…It was beautiful and full of happiness and nostalgia as well.
Theodore did not want to hear or know how this woman lived in a world he could never reach.
By saying this to him, Theodore felt that she was about to disappear from him like that dance she had just shown him.
Annette didn't know how quickly Theodore's heart was burning and sinking into despair, so she kept telling him her secret.
It was a secret that she could never tell anyone but Theodore, whether in this world or the next.
Annette telling him a secret that she would never tell anyone meant that she was thinking about leaving forever and staying away from him.
Since she will leave him soon, she tells him her secrets because she knows she will never see him again.
Even now, his wife entertained the idea of leaving him here alone.
No matter what she said, Theodore wanted to cover her little mouth that was always talking about separation.
He didn't want her to tell him anything.
[Pay attention.]
[This woman is dangerous.]
Suddenly, without warning, Theodore heard a sharp warning from somewhere.
The warning voice sounded like his mother Maria's.