“Would you like to dance with me?” Nicholas offered his hand. I stopped dead upon seeing Nicholas beside me; golden eyes of his stroke me under lowered eyelashes. A strand of hair fell on his forehead despite a slicked back hair he had today, and it made him look more mature than he already was. Sharp jawline and alluring lips that would tell pretty lies; Nicholas was striking as if angels had carved his looks. Nicholas leaned towards and moved his hand slightly to gesture me to take his hand.

“That’s right.” I mumbled as I realized that I had been staring at him for a few minutes. Flinched and straightened my back quickly, I took his hand. And he led me to the dance floor.

Violins followed up as the pairs: Father with Sophia and me with Nicholas debuted on a dance hall. Golden curves carved above and below and under lights which turned the midnight sky into broad sunlight, we bowed to each other. Melodies circled around us as the dance began, with our feet synchronized with the rhythm. Nicholas with his hand on my waist and me with mine on his broad shoulder we started to let our bodies sway along with the song while our other hands clasped together tightly. Same act with different pair, Sophia and father seemed to be more in sync than us: more graceful, more elegant.

I felt a sudden brush of air. Nicholas pulled me closer and swayed across the dance hall out of blue while I was not aware of it. My feet were pulled towards along with my body towards him, still with my hands tightly clapped between his, now burning with sweat. Ah. As fast as a thunder, he stopped his movement and with such gratifying pull he made earlier, I couldn’t control myself from getting bumped into his chest. The same went for my feet which now stepped on his leather shoes.

“Ah. I am sorry.” I moved away from him, yet our hands held me back. Nicholas was silent. Again, with the sudden rise in tempo, he pulled me close, and I fell hard. Given nothing I could afford in such state, I squeezed his fingers interlocked with mine.

“Ah.” he made a soft squeal.

“I am sorry.” I said and released the grip.

His lips painted a teasing smirk as his fingers crawled back to mine and gripped me tight once again. “It’s okay. Just-” he swallowed his words down to his throat and shook his head slightly.

“I am terrible dancer.” I shifted my gaze to my feet trying to match his pace. “No. I am not even worthy of being called a dancer. And I have made you embarrassed a lot in just a minute.” I glanced to the other side of the hall where Sophia was fluttering freely like a butterfly with her steady and delicate feet of deer. Even while dancing with twice a man, she stood out confident and her dance moves beaming with professionalism.

“It’s not your fault.” Nicholas replied calmly. “You indeed need more practices but-” he span my body round as the tempo changed, giving me a chance to show off my beautiful dress. “Things like dancing can be only fun when you enjoy.” the corners of his lips started to curve.

“So, I just want you to do things that you truly enjoy.”

My heart dropped and my cornea must be burnt at this point from such binding lights. Coincidence you called it, the moonlight fell perfectly on his cheeks and the chandeliers highlighted his smile. Captivating. Nicholas’s lips started to depart one another as he left out a soft giggle. Loud enough only for me to hear. At that moment, I could feel nothing but my eyes, hear nothing but my own heartbeat rumbling inside, so hard that even my heart would tear and suddenly the world seemed to stop for a second. Would it be my fault if I couldn’t resist him? I wouldn’t blame myself.

The tempo slowed down our movements. Back to swaying briefly again, easy as it may sound but hard to swing elegantly and methodically. Harder it was to match with Nicholas’s pace. At one point, he would swaddle quickly and in next minute leisurely stroll would take place. It was hard keeping my head down there almost all the time, calculating his moves and counteracting them.

“Don’t try too hard to match with me.” he spoke. “First, try to match with the melodies.” Nicholas moved his body away from me. “Then, me.” He took a step.

“I see.”

His eyes were telling me “Try it.” with such persuasive gaze; I opened my ears wide and clear and my feet in a stance to follow the melodies. A long, lingering note came. On my own, I followed the path set by the rhythm and his feet followed me, making our moves synchronised sometimes. Nicholas made a knowing grin. I replied with a thankful one.

“So, what do you want for your birthday?”

“Birthday present?” my eyes rolled to the pile of medicinal herbs that the nobles had gifted me and the mountain of giftboxes with colourful ribbons beside them.

“I am pretty sufficient.” I spoke.

Nicholas didn’t utter a word. Instead, his eyes were onto something.

“Two days ago, rubies were found in our Vespertine mine. What if I get you a ruby necklace.”

“A ruby necklace! That would be very expensive.”

“No. Not really. I will have some of my men go on expedition for more if you want.”

Sir. I knew you are rich, but you don’t need to show off this much. His eyes were demanding an answer from me with the look “Shall I?”.

“No.” I shook my head.

“What about cupcakes?”

“I have already.” Nicholas went silent after my straightforward rejections. I could not help but felt somewhat uneasy. Well, I didn’t really need anything in all honesty.

“A while ago, I heard you whining about romance books.” He began. “Do you perhaps want them?”

How. I could feel my pupils dilating and drops of adrenaline ran down on my spine. That was it and I didn’t even know it myself. Kudos boy. Good job reading me.

“No.” I cracked a smile hesitantly. After the ball, I will ask Nanny where to get such books-

“It is not a bad idea to gift you a private library with those books.” Nicholas spoke in a low yet hesitant voice as he uttered his thoughts. A private library! Lord.

“That is too much! I really don’t need anything.”

“Oh,here comes the final dance.” Nicholas’s whisper was shadowed by the climax of the melodies as he pulled me closer. Close enough to hear his shallow breaths. Slightly, his head leaned towards me, and I slowly raised mine. Thunderous applause emerged as the dance ended while Nicholas unwavering gaze fell upon me along with moonlight.

“Such a wonderful dance, ladies.”

“They truly were jewels of Marquess Eruditean.”

“Finally.” I sighed. Voices filled the room as soon as the applause ended as well as different kinds of aroma springing around people. Sounds of forks clashing, the gulps of wine increased as the night went, even a thunder would be quieter than this. Suddenly, I felt sweat running down on me; I had already during the dance, but this time was enough to drown me. Sparkling lights did not help my eyes either, my head ached and my stomach felt nauseous.

“Please excuse me. I want to have some air outside.” I tapped on Nicholas’s shoulder.

“I will accompany you.”

“You have grown into a such fine man, Lord Nicholas.” a high pitched and boastful voice interrupted our way.

“Madam Sharman.” Nicholas bowed.

So, she was the mother of Dahlia.

“How is Madam Vespertine doing?” she asked.

“Mom- I mean Mother is doing fine. She is currently going on a business trip to another country.”

“Please deliver her my regards and I wish to meet up with her when she arrives.”

“Yes, I will.” Nicholas nodded and headed to the exit with me, but Madam Sharman’s words clanged onto him like a vine.

“Our Dahlia has been talking about you all the time, My lord. I insisted her to come along with me to the ball, but she said she wishes to meet you in private.”

Nicholas looked speechless. “It has been a really long time since you visited our manor. "she continued, ignoring me.

“I will think about-”

“No need, my lord. What if-”

She sure was dragging this conversation long.

“I will be going first.” I mouthed the words and waved slightly at Nicholas who was trapped in words of Madam Sharman.

“I’m coming.” his eyes replied but I ran off with an okay sign.

At last. I can finally breathe. Chilly breeze embraced me as I stepped into a garden along with ubiquitous tulips and roses. This garden was on the left of the manor and there was another on the right with a carriage lane divided them in between. There was no sight of people or the carriages until the distant chatters proved me wrong.

“Time flies so fast. Our ladies have already turned 16.”

“It felt like yesterday.”

Sudden silence broke between them.

“But Lady Ophelia-”. A cry followed her words and brought my attention. “To such unfortunate child who is starving of mother’s love, to such poor child.” she wailed. “Why does she have such illnesses? And we don’t know what is causing that either.”

My heart sank. Knowing that there were people who cared for me. I couldn’t look at the direction where the voices came rather I stared at the ground. The reason for such illnesses was stated in the novel before; Ophelia was born with low mana, incredibly low that it would take her weeks to recover from a normal cold. Performing magic was impossible despite being twins with Sophia who had high mana and could even practise her healing abilities. It was not surprising. As if I were a kitten, my feet took a form of soft paws and moved lightly.

“Okay. We are clear.” I looked at both ways: left and right several times before I crossed the carriage lane. It was indeed clear, no sight of carriage or the people. Simple as that, I crossed the road.

Suddenly, light showered on me. Burning hot. Moonlight was not this bright or hot. I covered my eyes from blinding lights while deafening clashes of the hooves barged in my ears. I didn’t know where it came from. I peeked through my fingers. It was a carriage. And the thing was it was speeding towards me with such acceleration as if it were to crash me. I headed back to the garden, dragging my legs away. But something stopped me. From the driver’s seat, I saw someone. Someone whose eyes were very familiar. My heart started to pounder rapidly like it was in our first encounter, my hands were shaking uncontrollably to the point that they slipped away from my eyes and exposed them to scorching light and my chest tightened to that point where hyperventilation would not even work. Devilish stare pierced my body and I started to feel black fogs trying to swallow me.

“Why are you here?” I babbled as I felt an invisible grip on my neck, twisting it slowly. Several feet away from a speeding carriage and several seconds before I got choked, I took my final moments to look into his eyes to confirm something. And they were the exact same eyes that I had seen before in college.

The man who didn’t want me to find out about the Final Chapter of the novel.