“She
suffered an accident when she was little. So her mental age is around 10. They
say they don’t even let her out of her room, so how on earth did she get into
the party?”
Alpheas
looked back at Erina with a complex mix of emotions. Yet she was paying no
attention whatsoever to the gazes of others, cheerfully smiling and greeting
the young men around her.
Much
like most ballroom gatherings, she seemed to be searching for a partner. Yet
not a single person offered her a kind smile. Instead, they hurried to exchange
a brief, awkward greeting and find an excuse to slip away. Even that was only
possible because of the clout held by the Vastarde family.
Alpheas
glanced over at the head of the house seated on the opposite side of the table.
As expected, his face was flushed as he swallowed his fury. Unable to restrain
himself any longer, he hissed at his wife.
“Didn’t
I tell you not to bring Erina? Drag her out right now!”
“Darling,
please control yourself. Erina loves parties too. If you cause a scene trying
to drag her away out of the blue, it’ll be a disaster. Just leave her be, and
I’ll take her away quietly where no one will notice.”
“Ugh!
It’s utterly humiliating. She’s the shame of our family, absolute shame!”
Alpheas
pushed his lower lip out in a slight pout. He could understand the sentiment,
but to call one’s own daughter a shame was harsh. Of course, he was well aware
of the social standing a first-class noble held. After all, Alpheas himself had
been born into a first-class noble house and even earned the spine-chilling
moniker of the Light of Milch.
He looks just like the old man back
at my estate. Honestly, nobles are all the same.
Alpheas
kept his eyes locked on Erina until the music changed three times. In doing so,
what he realized was that she was genuinely enjoying the party. She seemed
completely satisfied simply by the fact that she had exchanged greetings with
people.
Yet
what kind of creatures were mages? They were arrogant beings who treated
ignorance as a sin. Even while smiling to her face, he could clearly see them
mocking dim-witted Erina the moment she turned around.
“Clump.
Hold this for a second. No, you drink it.”
As
Alpheas handed over his glass and turned his body toward the ballroom, Clump
hurriedly called out to stop him.
“What
kind of foolish stunt are you trying to pull now? Please, for once, don’t cause
trouble at a place like this.”
“Those
half-wits just learned how to read a few letters and they’re turning down a
young lady’s goodwill. As the most popular man in Bashka, I ought to step in
and restore her standing a little.”
Clump’s
bear-like strength spun Alpheas right back around.
“Alpheas.
You... that’s a terrible thing to do. To Lady Erina, pity might be taken as
mockery. Those people are enough. Don’t make her feel any more wretched than
she already is.”
Clump
was completely sincere. The usual dopey look in his eyes was gone, replaced by
a fierce glint burning with righteousness. Alpheas smiled and patted Clump’s
shoulder.
“You
really are simple-minded, aren’t you? As if I wouldn’t know even that? Up until
now, I have never treated a single woman with falsehoods. All evil stems from
discrimination. Haven’t you heard that saying? If you start tiptoeing around
her with kid gloves, her life becomes nothing more than a bird trapped in a
cage. Leave it to me, I have a plan.”
“Are
you serious? You’re really going to do it? Hey, look here!”
Crossing
the ballroom, Alpheas turned back toward Clump and flashed the universally
acknowledged, signature killer smile of his.
“Don’t
worry. I am the lover of all mankind.”
When
Alpheas arrived, no one remained around Erina. Unbeknownst to her, everyone had
scattered away. Yet since it seemed to be a routine occurrence for her, she
showed not a hint of gloom and was happily munching on an apple.
“Hello
there? It’s a delightful ball, isn’t it?”
Erina
paused mid-chew, turned to Alpheas, and blinked her eyes. Even before
exchanging words, a mere glance into her gaze made it evident that her
intellect was impaired.
Yet
she was pure.
She
was so utterly pure that it felt as though she were mirroring the emotions of
others like glass. Perhaps, he thought, this very quality might be the real
reason people avoided her.
“Ah!
Hello! I’m Erina!”
Erina
greeted him with a bright smile, as if she had just realized something. Yet her
reaction was unmistakably different from when he had watched her from afar.
There was a faint hint of apprehension in her manner.
Well, naturally. She probably hasn’t
had anyone approach her first before.
Alpheas
bowed politely at the waist and greeted her.
“My
name is Milch Alpheas, a mage. I was so utterly lost for words at your beauty
that I am only now greeting you. If it pleases you, would you do me the honor
of becoming my partner for tonight’s ball?”
Erina
stood blankly with her jaw slightly ajar. A single piece of apple rolled out
from her mouth. Anyone could tell that the emotion of What on earth is happening right now? was written plain across her
face.
Suddenly,
Erina dropped her head low. Without uttering a single word, she turned on her heel
and hurried past Alpheas.
Alpheas
was dumbfounded. To use common slang, the word “rejected” fit the situation to
a tee. Had he approached her with standards fit for a normal person too soon?
Coming to his senses, he hurriedly dashed forward and blocked Erina’s path.
“W-Wait
a moment. Was I too hasty? I’m sorry. I just wanted to get to know you, Lady
Erina.”
Erina
still offered no reply. She merely kept her eyes glued to the floor, her feet
shuffling as she desperately searched for a way around him.
This
time, however, Alpheas refused to give up either. He blocked every route she
tried to take, showering her with continuous words.
“Alright,
I understand. If dancing isn’t to your taste, let’s just talk instead. Let’s
have a conversation. I’ll tell you a very interesting story. By any chance, are
you interested in constellations?”
“I
want to go. I want to go to my room. Mom will scold me.”
“Why
would your mother scold you? No one is going to scold you. You came to the
party, and I’m asking you to be my partner like this.”
“I
was told not to talk. They said anyone who talks to me is a bad person. I want
to go to my room.”
Alpheas
felt a wave of frustration. No, it was anxiety. All the practiced techniques he
had used to win the hearts of countless women vanished, leaving behind only the
single, burning desire to meet Erina’s eyes just once more.
“I
am definitely not a bad person. Here, look at my face. How could this possibly
be the face of a bad person?”
Alpheas
caught her shoulders with both hands. At the same moment, Erina shrieked in
absolute terror.
“Aah!
No!”
Every
single noble in the hall turned their gaze toward Erina. To anyone watching, it
was an unambiguous scene of Alpheas committing a violent outrage.
“Mom!
Help me! Mom!”
“Erina!
Look at me! I am not trying to hurt you!”
“Mom!
Mom!”
Among
the invited mages was Alpheas’s rival, Sarof. As he watched Alpheas’s absurd
spectacle unfold, he was utterly dumbfounded. He knew the man was out of his
mind, but he had never imagined he could be this much of a lunatic.
“Is
captivating all the women in Bashka not enough for him that he now has to hit
on a mentally deficient girl? He must be driven mad by the thirst for success.”
Most
of the nobles shared the same thought. Impaired intellect or not, she was still
the eldest daughter of the house of Vastarde. Enticing her would mean smooth
sailing for one’s future.
Clump
was the only person who understood Alpheas’s true intentions, but now that
things had degenerated to this point, even he washed his hands of the matter.
Ah, to hell with it, you lunatic.
You made this mess, so clean it up yourself.
Erina
was thrashing about in a violent struggle that verged on a fit. Had he been a
man in his right mind, he would have let her go in front of her family, yet
Alpheas tenaciously held fast to her shoulders.
“Erina,
wait a moment. Look at me. Look at me, I say.”
“Mom!
I’m scared, Mom!”
“Erina!”
When
Alpheas bellowed her name, Erina’s movements recoiled to a sudden halt. Yet a
tremor far more terrified than before rippled through her frame.
“Please,
just look at my face for once. I am begging you like this.”
Her
expression steeped in terror, Erina slowly turned her head. She saw Alpheas’s burning
eyes. A searing intensity seemed to draw her in, inflaming even her heart with
a burning heat.
“There,
see? Nothing bad is happening. I am not a bad person. If it is something you
dislike, I won’t do a single thing. But this is a party. Don’t you want to
dance?”
An
unmistakable flutter of excitement settled into Erina’s expression. The
particles of light shattering against the crystals, the music playing from the
musicians, the sounds of countless people mingling and chatting. She had merely
wanted to laugh just like everyone else.
“Lady
Erina. I want to be with you. Please be my partner tonight.”
There
was no answer, nor did he intend to wait for one. Taking Erina by the hand,
Alpheas walked toward the center of the hall. She waddled along like a toddler
who had just taken her very first steps. And for the first time in her life,
she was held in the arms of someone outside her own family.
As
the sharp-witted musicians resumed their playing, Alpheas took the lead and
began to dance with Erina. The nobles wore expressions of sheer stupefied
disbelief. Even Erina’s parents could only stare, lost for words.
Alpheas
paid them no mind. Because Erina paid them no mind. As if only the two of them
existed in the world, they surrendered their bodies to the music. It was a
dance far removed from dignity or grace. Yet it was primal and passionate.
Spinning like a top, they frequently lost their balance and bumped into people.
The more they did, the louder Erina’s laughter grew. By the time 10 minutes had
passed, Erina had, for the very first time in her life, become the main
protagonist of the party.
*
* *
A
playful burst of laughter echoed through the garden. Having practically turned
the party upside down before making their getaway, Alpheas and Erina sprinted
recklessly through the woods.
Reaching
the summit of a small hill, Alpheas stuck out his tongue and gasped for air.
Humiliatingly enough, Erina did not look particularly exhausted. To think his stamina
was weaker than a woman’s. Telling himself that he ought to cut back on
alcohol, he looked up at the sky.
It
was a night where stars seemed ready to pour down in boundless profusion.
Erina
was surprisingly quiet by nature. Yet was Alpheas not renowned throughout
Bashka for his endless loquacity? He carried on the conversation without pause,
never giving the atmosphere a single moment to cool down.
As
time flowed on, he caught himself falling under the illusion that Erina was the
one drawing the stories out of him. No matter what topic he brought up, she
listened in silent devotion. Whenever she smiled as though she understood,
Alpheas grew even more excited and poured out his words like a raging
waterfall.
Eventually,
the conversation drifted to the issue he had been agonizing over lately: the
true identity of the photon.
Was
light a wave or a particle?
Sarof
defined it as a wave, but Alpheas was certain he was wrong. Yet that did not
mean he championed particle theory either.
To
be perfectly honest, he simply did not know. His conviction began and ended
with the idea that one must start by admitting what one does not know.
“Curious,
isn’t it? Light possesses such a strange nature. Interference experiments
demonstrate wave properties, yet on the other hand...”
Alpheas
caught himself and stopped mid-sentence, realizing he had become far too
absorbed in his own monologue. Having rattled on incessantly, he had failed to
even keep in mind that his sole listener was Erina. She was squatting on the
grass, gazing down at the foot of the hill. Yet the smile resting upon her lips
remained breathtakingly beautiful.
“Hahaha!
Did I talk too much? I don’t think I’ve ever talked this long to anyone before.
Usually, people get sick of it.”
“You
are a good person.”
It
was the first sentence Erina had spoken on her own. And Alpheas blinked as
though he were hearing such words for the very first time in his life. He could
not comprehend why his heart had suddenly begun to beat so fast.
His
mind was thrown into total disarray.
Why
was he standing here? What on earth was he expecting from this woman?
It
was an uncharted realm. A realm where the desire to step inside and the fear of
doing so coexisted, rendering him incapable of judging anything at all.
Alpheas
turned away from it. As though he had never heard her words, he pushed forward
with the story he had been telling.
“Haha! It’s an embarrassing thing to admit, but as a mage worthy of the name, I ought to write a thesis, yet I honestly haven’t the faintest idea. I don’t know which direction to take. What are your thoughts, Lady Erina? Is light a wave, or is it a particle?”
Erina showed no hurt feelings over Alpheas’s evasive reaction. Rising from her spot, she looked up at the stars floating in the sky and spoke.