*CRASH!
“Damn it! What a waste! And it all looked so good too!”
Right before Evelyn and Elysia could actually lick Elias’s neck, the sound of a plate shattering rang out from nearby.
Felix’s plate of food had somehow slipped right out of his hands.
Felix stared down at his food scattered across the floor with the saddest look on his face.
Still, at least the crash managed to pull Lucien and the two girls’ attention away for a second.
Elias wasn’t about to waste the opening.
He wrenched both arms free from Evelyn and Elysia’s grip and walked straight toward Lucien.
“My apologies, Young Master Lucien. As you can see, my Ladies have no interest in dancing with you. If you keep pushing the matter, I won’t hesitate to act rather rudely, regardless of your background.”
Elias had already braced himself to draw his sword if Lucien kept forcing the issue.
Seeing that, Lucien finally backed off, muttering curses under his breath before disappearing into the crowd.
‘Good thing he still had a few working brain cells left up there.’
Elias let out a breath of relief, wiping the sweat off his temple.
Still, for some reason, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this whole business with the nobles wasn’t over yet.
Guys like Lucien, when something got in the way of what they wanted, usually didn’t hesitate to rip that obstacle out by the roots.
But at least he wouldn’t dare lay a hand on Elias, not while he was under House Nocturne’s protection.
The people back in his village should be safe too, since they still fell under Nocturne territory.
Bottom line, as long as Elias didn’t step outside House Nocturne’s lands, his safety was pretty much guaranteed a hundred percent, with one condition attached:
Don’t piss off Evelyn and Elysia.
‘It hasn’t even been a full week since I became Caretaker to the twin Villainesses, and I keep running into things that feel off.
It’s like they’re always getting close to me in some weird way.
I’ve been chalking it up to just how they are before turning into Villainesses.
But what if their Villainess side was already brewing even before the Patch update hit?
Since I don’t have any real information to go on, staying cautious can’t hurt.’
The whole ordeal had left Elias starving.
Just as he started walking over to join Felix for some food, Elysia grabbed his wrist again.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“…Is there another problem?”
‘I’m hungry and exhausted.
Please don’t drag me into another mess.’
“We discussed it for a bit earlier. And the result is, Elysia goes first.”
“What do you mean, first?”
“You and me. Dancing.”
“After that you dance with me too, okay?~”
*COUGH!
COUGH!
Felix choked on his food, having “accidentally” overheard Evelyn and Elysia’s whole exchange.
After washing down whatever got stuck in his throat with some water, he hurried right over to them.
“Excuse me, ladies. I’ll be borrowing this man for a moment.”
Watching Elias get dragged off by Felix, Evelyn and Elysia just exchanged a glance before Evelyn gave a small shrug.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Felix let go of Elias and stared at him with dead-serious eyes, like this was a matter of life and death.
“You… are you actually going to accept it? The dance?”
Elias, completely lost on what Felix was even getting at, just scratched his cheek.
“Of course I’m accepting it. If I don’t, this might be the first and last time you ever see me alive.”
“But what about everything you said earlier! You said dancing was exhausting, the dumbest thing you’d ever seen! You said you’d rather just sit down and eat with me because we’re bonded for life!”
Felix’s voice shook, rising a notch by the end.
“…When did I ever say that?”
“What?!”
Like something inside him had just shattered, Felix clutched his chest with one hand.
“You… you’ve already forgotten everything you said?! You said it so loud and clear earlier!”
“I did say some of that. But that last part was your own addition, idiot!”
Felix dropped to his knees, body trembling, before pounding the floor and bawling like someone who’d just been dumped by the love of his life.
“Traitor! I thought what we had was special! I’m never letting you back into my house again!”
‘Does he even know where I live?’
“Are we really okay just leaving him like that? He looks genuinely heartbroken, you know~”
“I didn’t realize Elias had a cruel streak in him too. He really is human after all.”
Elias didn’t bother responding to either of their comments.
He walked up to Elysia and offered his hand, bowing his back slightly as he did.
“Shall we, Lady Elysia.”
“…”
Watching them, Evelyn could only cover her mouth with one hand as she stared at the two of them.
Meanwhile, Elysia’s cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.
She hadn’t expected Elias to take the initiative like that.
Her hand slowly rose, though she still looked hesitant to actually reach out and take his.
Seeing that Elysia’s hand was just a hair away from touching his, Elias closed the gap himself and took hold of it first.
‘I’m starving…’
Elysia flinched slightly but didn’t pull her hand back.
Elias led her toward the dance floor at the center of the room, where the other young nobles were still dancing away with their own partners.
Once they got there, Elias stopped and turned to face Elysia, settling into position like the other couples nearby.
“Alright, let’s begin.”
Elysia just looked at him for a moment before falling into the position he’d shown her.
The music picked back up, and Elias started moving his feet to the rhythm.
His movements were a little stiff at first since he wasn’t exactly used to dancing, but he managed to keep up with the basic steps he’d picked up from watching the other couples earlier.
Elysia followed along calmly too, and slowly the two of them fell into rhythm alongside the other pairs moving around them.
Elysia tilted her head up slightly to look at Elias’s face as they kept moving.
Noticing her staring, Elias finally lowered his gaze a little and met her eyes.
“Something wrong? Or am I messing up the steps?”
Elysia flinched a little, turning her face away, cheeks going faintly pink.
“N-no. I’m just surprised you actually know how to dance.”
“I’m still pretty inexperienced at it.”
‘Guess those two days of practice with Alistair weren’t a waste after all.’
“…”
Elysia went quiet again.
After a moment, she looked back up at his face.
This time her gaze wasn’t as flat as usual.
Her eyes looked noticeably softer, her cheeks still tinted pink.
The distance between them was close enough that Elias could feel the warmth of her breath against his neck.
Realizing that, Elias tensed up just slightly.
He knew Elysia was watching him, but he chose to keep his eyes forward and stick to the dance instead of risking a glance her way.
‘Don’t tell me she’s about to do something again.’
Elysia stayed quiet a while longer.
Her hand resting on his shoulder trembled faintly, her face flushing redder by the second.
A few times she opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, only to close it again each time.
‘T-this is way too embarrassing!
Big Sis, help me!’
She glanced toward Evelyn standing off to the side of the room, watching them with a smile.
“My little sister really is adorable~”
Getting nothing close to the response she wanted, Elysia was left to sit with her embarrassment a little longer.
She could tell her sister was saying something, but between the loud music and the chatter around her, Elysia couldn’t make out a single word of it.
After going back and forth in her head a few times, Elysia finally worked up the nerve, unable to hold out any longer and desperate to just get it over with.
Elias, still focused on his footwork, jolted in surprise at the sudden wet, soft sensation against his skin.
‘What was that?
What is she doing?!’
Just as Elias was about to ask and put a stop to whatever this was, Elysia already pulled back and looked up at him, face burning red from cheek to cheek, eyes brimming with tears.
“U-um… What did you just—”
“Idiot.”
Elysia bolted straight toward Evelyn, who was watching the two of them with a smile, one hand propping up her cheek.
“My, my…”
Elias just stood frozen in place, wiping the cold sweat dripping down his temple while trying to calm his racing heart.
For a second there, he genuinely thought he’d almost died.
Was that whole thought about dying “dry” from blood loss actually about to come true?
‘I’m getting hungrier by the second…’
Just as Elias started heading toward Felix to eat and maybe ask him about the possibility of what had just happened, he’d barely taken a few steps before Evelyn was already walking up to him.
“Fufu~ my turn now.”
Elias paused for a moment before finally smiling and offering his hand to Evelyn again.
“Of course, Lady Evelyn.”
‘Damn it all…’
Even though he was crying on the inside, Elias kept his professional smile plastered on and started dancing with Evelyn.
For a while, the two of them just moved along with the music without saying a word, until Evelyn finally broke the silence.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect you to say something like that.”
“Sorry?”
“When I asked, do we look beautiful? And you went off on this whole speech, dropping to one knee and everything.”
Elias immediately remembered the moment and could only manage an awkward smile.
“I just said what I saw.”
“Oh? So you really think we’re that beautiful?”
Evelyn smiled, leaning in just slightly, her tone light and playful, like she genuinely wanted to see how Elias would answer that.
“I wouldn’t dare lie to either of you.”
“Fufu~”
Elias answered calmly, figuring there was no point denying something that happened to be true.
Besides, if he got caught lying, wouldn’t that just bring him one step closer to death anyway?
Seeing Elias now dancing with Evelyn after just finishing a dance with Elysia set off a wave of murmuring among the other young nobles.
“That guy’s lucky as hell, getting to dance with both empire darlings.”
“Damn it! I’m so jealous.”
“I need to befriend that guy. Who knows, maybe he’ll let me in on his secret.”
“I’m up next if he dies.”
Elias could actually hear some of the whispers, but he didn’t bother thinking too hard about them since he didn’t have the time.
He was too busy focusing on his footwork and trying to figure out why Elysia had done what she did earlier.
Evelyn, meanwhile, caught wind of the comments too and just let out a small smile, huffing quietly to herself.
Noticing that Elias seemed lost in thought, Evelyn decided to take advantage of the moment.
She rose up on her toes and quickly pressed a kiss to Elias’s neck, in a different spot than where Elysia had.
Elias jolted, caught completely off guard by Evelyn’s move while his attention was elsewhere.
Just as he started to gently push her back, his body flinched at a sharp sting and dull ache blooming right where her lips had touched.
“L-Lady…”
When Evelyn finally pulled away, a red mark was left behind from the kiss, a faint trace of blood seeping out along with it.
She stepped back a few paces, face flushed red and still smiling.
Before walking off to join Elysia and leaving him standing there alone, she said:
“Thank you.”
Elias just stood frozen in place, pressing a hand to the mark Evelyn had left, which wasn’t just a kiss, there was a faint bite mark there too, blood still seeping from it.
His heart pounded harder than ever, sweat pouring down in streams, with a single tear slipping out.
‘This time I really do feel like I’m about to bleed dry…’