Ernant’s words were correct.

I didn’t know it myself, but I had a talent for dancing.

As he said, after learning to dance from a tutor for about three days, I was soon able to dance with graceful movements.

Seeing my dance, the tutor showered me with compliments, though I couldn’t tell if it was flattery or sincere.

“Fantastic! You’re more talented than any student I’ve ever taught!”

Unaccustomed to receiving praise, I gave an awkward smile, but the tutor continued to pour out compliments for nearly 5 minutes after that.

If Johannes hadn’t come in and helped me out of my awkwardness, I might have been stuck like that forever.

Anyway, since I had built up enough skill to receive such praise, I didn’t practice dancing anymore.

Instead, I spent the remaining time helping Johannes with his official duties.

For Johannes to rest comfortably during the National Foundation Day event, it was necessary to finish work in advance.

Time flew by as we kept busy, and finally, the long-awaited ‘opening day’ arrived.

The opening day simply meant the first day when the National Foundation Day festivities officially began.

On this day, commoners tired of their daily lives would pour out into the streets wearing masks to eat, drink, and have fun.

Of course, nobles didn’t just stay cooped up at home either.

According to festival tradition, since masks hid one’s face and identity, nobles would also mingle among the commoners to enjoy the festival.

Thus, Johannes and I were currently out on the bustling streets together, wearing masks.

I didn’t know Johannes wanted to enjoy the festival this much.

Watching Johannes look around the street with an excited face from behind, I felt a bit sorry for him.

I didn’t realize it because I had only been strict with him since childhood, but Johannes seemed to unexpectedly like festivals.

When I casually asked him in the morning if he wanted to go out, he immediately started preparing, and now he was roaming the streets like a puppy on a snowy day.

“Sister! Look over there!”

Johannes, who had been frantically taking in the sights of the street, suddenly called out to me like that.

Turning my head towards the large square he pointed at, I saw quite a few people paired up and dancing.

“People are dancing.”

“Doesn’t it look fun? It seems like anyone can go and dance, should we join them?”

Sure enough, as Johannes said, people of all ages and genders were freely out in the square.

Their dancing was close to freestyle, which looked quite new and fun to my eyes, having only learned ballroom dances.

Should I say it was much more passionate than the rigid dances of nobles?

“Alright, let’s go.”

Johannes and I soon went out to the square and mingled among the people.

Originally, I planned to dance with Johannes as my partner for about 5 minutes and then leave, but something unexpected happened.

Suddenly the music changed, and a young woman and man cut in between us, snatching Johannes and me away respectively.

Do they freely change partners while dancing?

Since it was my first time enjoying a festival among commoners, I wasn’t sure, but it seemed that dance partners changed with every change of music.

As a result, Johannes ended up dancing with an unfamiliar woman instead of me, and I was paired with a strange young man.

When I made a bewildered expression at being suddenly separated from Johannes, a smile spread across the lips of the man who had become my new dance partner.

“Was that man you were just dancing with your lover?”

“…He’s my younger brother.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. It would have been more fun if he was your boyfriend. I find it so enjoyable when I steal other men’s girlfriends to dance with.”

The man burst out laughing as he said something outrageous.

Although I couldn’t see his whole face because he was also wearing a mask, the lower half of his face visible beneath the mask was quite well-shaped.

From the dimples that formed nicely when he smiled or his white teeth that showed, I could guess that he was quite handsome.

Of course, even so, I had no intention of continuing to dance with him, so I gently pushed his body away.

“Anyway, let go. I only came because of my brother. Now that I’m alone, I don’t particularly feel like dancing.”

“What, are you going to be boring? Don’t be like that, how about hanging out with me today? I’m quite handsome when I take off my mask.”

“I’ll pass. I don’t particularly need a partner.”

“Hmm, your stiffness makes me like you even more. What should I do?”

Saying that, the man pressed his body close to me.

I was starting to feel uncomfortable and tried to push him away again, but he gripped my wrist tightly and wouldn’t let go.

“Let go.”

“I said let’s hang out together today, didn’t I? I’ll make it fun for you.”

“If you don’t let go right now, I’ll force you to let go.”

It wouldn’t be difficult to deal with an ordinary person like this, who probably hadn’t even awakened his abilities.

Nevertheless, the reason I was tolerating this guy’s rudeness was because I didn’t want to ruin the festive atmosphere.

Everyone was dancing with joyful faces, and I didn’t want to cause a violent incident.

However, I couldn’t keep tolerating his persistent behavior, so I gave him a final warning.

“I’ll count to three. Let go of my wrist and get out of my sight.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Something in your body will break. I’d be happy to shatter your shin bone or ribs.”

“Oh…”

The man flinched, seemingly surprised by my statement.

I thought he would back off right away, but he was more persistent than I had expected.

“Now I don’t want to let go even more. I like tough women like you.”

“Three.”

“Besides, it’ll be hard to break my bones with those tiny fists of yours. Don’t underestimate a man’s body.”

“Two.”

“So why don’t you stop wasting your energy and use those pretty hands to touch every inch of my body instead? Huh… just thinking about it is getting me hot.”

“One. Time’s up. I’ll break that loose lower body of yours.”

With those words, I tried to forcefully knee him in the groin.

But I couldn’t do it.

Before I could hit him, some strange man punched him in the face.

Thwack―!

The guy who had been hitting on me went flying with one punch, and people screamed in surprise.

However, as if such incidents were more common than expected, everyone soon regained their composure.

The fallen man was also dragged away somewhere by people who seemed to be his friends.

Feeling a bit disappointed that I couldn’t kick the pervert’s groin myself, I looked at the man who had helped me.

He was a very tall man with black hair, and my first impression of him was this:

He’s way more handsome than that pervert just now. Even though I can only see his lower face because of the mask.

He was quite a good-looking man, enough to be eye candy.

Anyway, I thanked the unidentified handsome man whose face was hidden by a mask.

“Thank you for helping. Though I could have handled it myself.”

“If you could handle it, why didn’t you do it earlier? Watching you fidget and waste time was so frustrating that I couldn’t help but step in.”

“Wait, this voice… Could it be you, Captain?”

When I asked that because the masked man’s voice sounded exactly like the Captain’s, he nodded.

“You finally recognize me. Can’t you even recognize your superior just because he’s wearing a mask?”

“Captain, why are you here? I thought you were busy with event preparations.”

“I am busy. I just stopped for a moment because I saw you in trouble in the midst of my busyness.”

Of course, I could have dealt with a pervert on my own, but the fact was that I had dawdled and caused the Captain to worry.

Thinking about it that way, I felt somewhat sorry and immediately bowed my head.

“I’m sorry. You’re busy, and because of me…”

It always felt like I was only causing him trouble.

When I sincerely apologized, the Captain scratched his cheek unnecessarily and replied.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. Even if I’m busy, I had enough time to stop for a moment.”

“That’s a relief then. Still, I’d like to do something to express my apologies… Ah.”

Having just come up with a good idea, I immediately asked the Captain.

“You won’t be able to dance at the ball this time either, right? You haven’t been able to every year.”

“That’s right. The knights attend as a group so I don’t have a partner, and more importantly, as the Captain, I have to manage the members.”

“So I was thinking… How about dancing one song with me here?”

“With you?”

To the Captain who showed a surprised look for some reason, I nodded.

“Yes, with me. I don’t usually make this kind of offer to just anyone. I haven’t been learning to dance for long either. But somehow… It seems like you haven’t been able to properly enjoy the event every year, and that bothers me.”

While everyone else was enjoying themselves so much.

The Captain spent every year’s event busily without a moment’s rest.

Feeling secretly sorry for him, I decided to take courage and suggest this opportunity.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to make at least one memory you can look back on and smile about later?”