Vol. 4 Ch. 4: Basically, It Was All Thanks to the Embroidery Artisan

That day, two visitors showed up to observe the after-school dance practice.

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

At the sight of them, Lana's cheeks turned rosy, and she let out a shrill, "Kyah!"

Monica went pale and screamed "Kyah!" inwardly, without making a sound.

Meanwhile, Neil looked at Felix and Cyril with an awkward expression, while Glenn flatly declared, "Who are these people?" What a big shot.

"W-W-why... w-why, Your Highness..."

When Monica said this in a feeble voice, Felix lowered his brows and looked genuinely offended.

"Do you think I'm so heartless that I'd give you hope and then simply abandon you?"

"That's right! You should be grateful for His Highness's generosity!"

Cyril said this while puffing out his chest arrogantly. As Monica privately wondered whether the vice president ought to be doing his student council work, Felix glanced at Cyril.

"By the way, I don't remember inviting Cyril."

"I'm Your Highness's bodyguard! Of course I would accompany you!"

"You were already finishing your student council work ahead of schedule before I even told you I was coming here, weren't you? You intended to come watch Monica practice from the start, even if I hadn't come, didn't you?"

At Felix's teasing words, Cyril inexplicably blushed and let his gaze wander.

"I-I was anticipating Your Highness's actions! I am Your Highness's right hand, after all!"

Monica was privately impressed. So the vice president always had to be prepared to deal with the president's whims.

However, this situation was honestly not a welcome one for Monica. If anything, it was increasing her mental burden.

As guilt made her stomach ache, Lana shook Monica by the shoulders.

"Hey, hey, isn't this amazing? The student council president and vice president are standing side by side, right here in front of us!"

One might have thought Lana's exuberance was the proper reaction for most female students... but then—

"The embroidery on His Highness's scarf... That delicate, beautiful needlework is unmistakably the work of a renowned artisan. It makes use of the base color while creating variation through the sheen of the embroidery thread... That vine pattern is sure to become fashionable. I have to burn it into my memory; if possible, I'd like to draw it... Ah! The lace around Cyril-sama's gloves! That must have been made using the latest techniques... I want to get a closer look..."

"..."

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

Perhaps Lana, too, was a little out of step with ordinary female students.

As Monica stood there dumbfounded, Felix smiled pleasantly and urged her, "Why don't you try dancing?" Monica did as she was told, taking Glenn's hand as they stood in the center of the room.

Lana hurried to sit at the piano and began to play. Neil clapped along with the music.

"Th-then, let's go on three."

"Y-Yes!"

"And... one, two, three!"

Monica and Glenn stepped forward at the same time. The beginning was not bad. Monica's nervousness around Glenn had eased since the day before.

However, after repeating the steps a few times, their rhythm gradually began to fall apart.

"Stop!"

The one who shouted was Cyril.

Ah, he's going to criticize me, Monica thought, hunching her shoulders.

When Lana stopped playing, Cyril glared sharply at Glenn.

"Glenn Dudley! Your escorting is atrocious! You need to reconsider your attitude toward women from the ground up!"

It was hard to believe these words came from someone who habitually berated Monica.

Monica had braced herself for criticism, so she was taken aback and blinked in surprise.

Meanwhile, Glenn, the one being criticized, puffed out his lips and complained.

"I am treating her properly and carefully!"

"You don't even know how to ask a lady to dance! Stay there and watch!"

Cyril shoved Glenn aside, gave a haughty snort, and looked down at the trembling Monica.

Was this leading to Monica dancing with Cyril?

Monica trembled in terror at the thought that one accidental step on his foot might get her frozen in ice, but Cyril put his left hand behind his back and bowed at the waist.

"Would you grant me this dance, my lady?"

"...Huh?"

The elegant bow and words that seemed impossible for Cyril brought Monica's thoughts to a halt.

As she stood there gaping, Cyril took Monica's hand with the utmost care, as though touching a delicate piece of glasswork.

As soon as Lana began playing, Cyril lightly rested a hand against Monica's body. From that movement, Monica unconsciously understood that the dance was beginning. Even without Glenn's "On three!" she naturally knew when to take the first step.

As though guided by Cyril's hand, Monica stepped forward. She was so preoccupied with the steps—one, two, three, one, two, three—that the movements of her upper body inevitably became sloppy.

However, whenever Monica's back or arms bent, Cyril's hand supported her and corrected her posture.

The same was true of their direction of travel. With Glenn, he would call out, "We're going right next!" or "We're about to hit the wall, so let's go that way!" But Cyril guided her naturally through the movements of his hands, his footwork, and his gaze, without saying a word.

──It was astonishingly easy to dance that way.

When the music ended, Cyril gave another beautiful bow, just as he had at the beginning. Then he raised his head, turned toward Glenn, and...

"Did you see that, boy? That's how you escort a lady!"

He shouted this with a triumphant expression.

That was nothing like the Cyril Ashley Monica had seen during the dance—it was the usual Cyril Ashley she knew.

Monica murmured without thinking.

"...I'm relieved to see that Ashley-sama is still Ashley-sama."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

Cyril glared at Monica, then cleared his throat and said,

"It would not be an exaggeration to say that ballroom dancing is determined by the man's lead. If the man leads properly and keeps time with the music, the dance will look presentable enough."

Glenn let out an honest cheer at Cyril's explanation.

"Ooooh, that's pretty amazing!"

"If you're going to praise me, use your full vocabulary and some refined language."

Cyril looked far from displeased, but he still maintained his prim, haughty attitude.

Glenn pondered this for a moment, murmuring, "Use all my vocabulary?" Then he opened his mouth with a serious expression.

"It was, like, sleek, snappy, and sharp! Really cool!"

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

Cyril gave Glenn a half-lidded glare, then fixed his gaze on Monica.

"Monica Norton, you still have a great many problems. First, get used to being escorted. Stop flinching at every little thing. Don't hunch your back. Don't look down. Even if you miss a step here and there, people surprisingly won't notice as long as you carry yourself with confidence."

"Y-Yes..."

Those were the same criticisms her teacher and Neil had given her.

In short, Monica's posture was terrible. She had gotten so used to hunching that it had become ingrained, and she had developed a habit of looking down.

(...Come to think of it, Louis-san also pointed out my hunched back during the rehearsal for the Seven Sages' ceremony... He even shoved a board against my back.)

The cheerful warning, "Next time, we'll strap your torso to a board," remained a terrifying memory.

As she secretly trembled at the recollection, Felix made a pleasant suggestion.

"In that case, Dudley-kun should practice escorting, while Miss Norton should practice getting used to being escorted. Cyril, would you teach Dudley-kun how to escort a lady?"

"If that is Your Highness's wish..."

Cyril nodded reluctantly, turned to Glenn, raised his brows, and said,

"Now, boy! I'll hammer my escorting skills into you! First, think of me as a woman and escort me!"

"Uhh... thinking of you as a woman is... yeah, impossible..."

"Don't be so picky!"

As the noisy, nagging Cyril dragged Glenn away, Felix smiled at Monica.

"In that case, I look forward to working with you, Miss Norton."

"I-I-I look... forward to it... as well..."

As Monica bowed her head repeatedly, Felix immediately held out a hand to her.

"Come here?"

"......"

Monica did not move even one step. Instead, she stretched her arm as far as it would go and just barely touched Felix's outstretched hand with her fingertips.

Felix looked down at those fingertips, still smiling.

"You seem remarkably unwilling to be escorted, don't you?"

"I-I will! I'll let you escort me! S-Sorry!"

Felix was smiling, but his eyes were not.

Trembling violently, Monica moved forward half a step. Felix immediately took her hand and pulled her toward him.

The moment Monica realized that Felix's hand was supporting her, she tensed up.

"You were a little more docile when Ashley-sama escorted you."

"Th-that's because... with Ashley-sama, it was different... I was s-surprised..."

With Cyril, her surprise had overwhelmed her, and the dance had begun and ended while she stood there in a daze. The situation now was different.

As Monica stood frozen stiff, Felix raised his head and gave Lana instructions.

"I'm sorry, but would you play for us? Keep the volume a little lower."

"C-Certainly!"

Lana nodded vigorously and began playing the piano. As the music started at a slightly lower volume than before, Felix took Monica's hand and began to walk. It was just like with Cyril. The fact that she could somehow sense when to begin even without an "On three!" was probably because Felix, too, was skilled at escorting.

"For now, don't worry about the steps. If you prefer, you don't even have to think of this as dancing."

"...Huh? What?"

"Just walk around casually while chatting pleasantly with me. Your body is a little too tense."

When Felix told her to chat pleasantly, Monica was at a complete loss. As someone who was poor at conversation, she was terrible at coming up with topics. She had never once managed a witty conversation.

When Monica lowered her brows and faltered, Felix gave a soft chuckle.

"This is the first time I've seen your eyes up close. They look light brown, but depending on the light, they have a slight green tinge... like dappled sunlight deep in a forest, don't you think?"

"I-I see... um..."

"Your light brown hair is very glossy and beautiful, too. Did your friend braid it for you again today?"

"Y-Yes, she did. Lana... Miss Collet is very good at things like this."

"Yes... It suits you very well."

When he praised her hairstyle, Monica felt happy, as though Lana herself had been praised.

Monica's cheeks relaxed into a soft smile.

"...Hehe... thank you... very much."

"Yes, so you can smile like that, too? Come on, let me see more of it."

Under his intent gaze, Monica grew embarrassed and lowered her eyes. In doing so, she caught sight of the scarf around Felix's collar.

Come to think of it, Lana had said something about this embroidery. Now that she looked, it was certainly intricate. From a distance it was not particularly gaudy, but the closer she looked, the more opulent and finely worked the embroidery appeared.

Monica liked looking at beautiful geometric figures.

(This vine-and-rose pattern... If the roses are treated as circles, then four circles are each internally tangent to a larger circle, so that theorem can be applied... The relationship between the distances between the points of tangency is...)

"A green dress would suit you. Something with a little depth to its color, but not too dark. It would look lovely with beautiful flowers embroidered on the skirt. Do you have a favorite flower?"

(Two nonintersecting circles have two common external tangents. Since the distance between the points of tangency is the same whichever one is chosen, ... can be defined... This could be applied to the coordinate axes of multiple wide-area spells...)

"Autumn roses would suit you, too. Compared to the large roses that bloom in summer, they're smaller and more elegant. Their colors are more subdued as well, which would look good on you."

(When the radii of the four circles become infinitesimal, the length of a tangent becomes the distance between points... When considered together with the expansion of a range formula, the expansion is...)

The music ended.

Felix stopped while still holding Monica in a dance position, and Neil, who had been watching them, applauded.

"That was amazing! It turned into a proper dance halfway through! Miss Norton relaxed, too, and her movements became much more fluid... That was your best performance yet!"

"Miss Norton had been diligently learning the steps with her feet, but because she was thinking too much, her movements became stiff and she tended to lose the tempo."

Felix said this as he peered into Monica's face and smiled.

"If you chat pleasantly, you can stop thinking about unnecessary things and let yourself be guided by your partner, can't you?"

When Felix spoke to her, Monica looked up with a start and glanced around as though waking from a dream.

"Huh... um... I... just now..."

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

Glenn, who had been watching Monica's dancing since the middle, praised her with shining eyes, while Cyril nodded repeatedly and said, "As expected of Your Highness's escorting!"

Still feeling dreamy and dazed, Monica pressed both hands to her cheeks.

"...Was I really dancing...?"

"Yes, you danced very well."

When Felix nodded, Monica's face lit up.

It was a radiant smile that Monica, who normally kept her head down and fidgeted nervously, rarely showed.

"...I realized that a theorem could be applied when I replaced the pattern on Your Highness's scarf with geometric figures! It's such a wonderfully, wonderfully beautiful theorem, and it has so many applications, so when I was thinking about how to apply it, I was able to stop thinking about unnecessary things!"

A heavy silence filled the dance room.

Monica alone was the exception, her eyes sparkling brightly like an innocent child.

The kindhearted Neil nervously ventured to speak.

"Um... wouldn't that mean that, if anything, you were thinking only about unnecessary things...?"

"...Oh."

Monica's smile stiffened, and she slowly, slowly turned toward Felix.

Felix was still smiling. He was smiling, but his blue eyes gleamed darkly from their depths.

"...Was talking with me something unnecessary to you, Miss Norton?"

"N-No, I mean, um, well, what I meant was..."

Monica rapidly paled, clenched her fist tightly, and cried out,

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

"Shouldn't you say, 'It was thanks to Your Highness!'?"

Cyril's angry roar echoed through the dance room.

And so Monica learned a way to get through dance practice without becoming nervous: immersing herself in thought.

For the record, when Monica accurately copied the pattern on Felix's scarf—the one she had stared at so intently—and showed it to Lana, Lana was extremely grateful.