Honorable Knight: Life after Death

Dancing Without Melody

One by one the invited guests come. Slowly, the living room in the Duke Kinston Mansion begins to fill with invited guests as the sun has set.

Just by watching how the nobles are proud of each other, Azura’s feeling her heart beat so fast. She is so nervous, even though no one is paying attention to her except Alexander.

"Want to dance?" asks Alexander who suddenly stands up from his chair and extends his hand towards Azura.

Having lived for more than half a century, Alexander knows how to deal with situations. In the case what Azura’s facing, he knew how to make Azura less nervous. Only by standing out from the rest will the feeling of nervousness slowly dissipate. And of course, it’ll need a bravery to begin.

Azura looks hesitantly at the hand that is being stretched out to her, then she sees Alexander seems to be smiling so sincerely. She wants to refuse the invitation, but her heart pushes her hand to accept Alexander's outstretched hand.

With just one gentle pull, Azura is immediately in the arms that wrapped around her rather plump waist.

Alexander leads her to dance.

Never mind that Azura doesn't know how to dance, Alexander is very good at providing guidance. When Azura just takes a wrong step or makes another mistake, Alexander deftly covers up the mistake Azura made by making it look like he is the one who made a misstep although it still doesn't appear whether he made a mistake in moving.

People who initially focus on interacting with acquaintances or relations, their attention begins to shift towards the couple who are dancing without the music being accompanied.

Many are fascinated by the dance moves shown by both Alexander and Azura. Basically, Azura makes a lot of wrong dance moves which are soon covered by Alexander's expertise.

Alexander and Azura seem as if they are dancing to the sound of music, people are anesthetized as if they also hear the music that accompany the dance moves of the two.

Then, one by one the couple start dancing too.

Waiting for the event to start, that's how a new atmosphere is created starting from Alexander who just wanted to get Azura used to being among the nobles and forget her nervous feelings. Usually, the nobles just waited with something boring, like before, chatting with acquaintance nobles.

Azura is no longer nervous or depressed. In addition, she begins to be able to follow the rhythm of the dance moves and mistakes in her movements are not as much as before.

"How about the dance, Azura? Don't you feel normal with these people you thought before as extraordinary humans?" asks Alexander in between him who is dancing.

Azura smiles showing her cute dimples, look sadly at the pair of eyes in front of her, she begins to understand the reason Alexander asked her to dance before the time comes, even to the point of inviting other nobles to dance too. "Thank you, Alexander..." says her in a low voice.

Being fought to such a degree by someone, of course Azura feels her heart flutter. She has forgotten that she has to take care not to be consumed by love again, as because of her age she has to do it.

“I'm glad I could help you, my Angel...”

From the table, Leville is still sitting with his wife, he looks at Alexander in disbelief that his once timid son when he is in the crowd could appear so confident like that. 'Moreover, what's with his dancing skills. Hasn't this one son of mine been too shrewd than his own father?' Thinks him.

“What a surprise, the appearance my Alex showed. So I want to take the place of the woman named Azura, I want to know how it feels to dance with my own son who is even better than his father..." praises --- who looks at Leville with a smile like she is disappointed with Leville that he isn't as good as Alexander and still feel stiff when dancing. Of course it wasn't that she was demeaning her husband, she was just joking.

"That means, I have to practice a lot huh..." says Leville giggling at his wife's gaze, like he is indeed required to be able to dance more skillfully as shown by Alexander.

'Well with that in mind, looks like I'll get to spend a lot of time with Alexander later...' thinks Leville. He feels that this might be used as an excuse for him to be closer to Alexander after a long absence and regret his actions.

"Yes, of course you have to. You should really practice, honey~”

“I will fight, my dear...”

Thomas, who is with his future wife, both of them have also danced like the other nobles. So because of that, Leville and --- feel compelled to dance along, which of course is not a compulsion. They really want to dance and are really waiting for the dance time to come.

"Hey, let's dance too..." asks George's partner who is interested in dancing like the others.

“Hmph! Dancing at an unscheduled time, My Little Brother dared to go ahead of Duke Kinston's policies. Just let them dance, have some fun first. Later when Duke Kinston arrives, things will end badly for those involved, especially those who started this dance…” says George in a deep voice, like he is holding back anger at feeling neglected.

As the eldest son, George should have been in a position where all the attention the Levilles has on him began to fall on him. However, all of his attention is stolen by Alexander who recently underwent such a drastic change in attitude.

'Aren't you so arrogant, My Little Brother...?' George glares savagely at Alexander without seeming himself intending to do anything or something else.

The nobles basically know who Alexander is, it's just that with a significant change in appearance, anyone who doesn't really know Alexander will think that the young man who is now dancing with an adult woman is a noble who has just appeared.

After the dance without the rhythm of this music ends, quite a number of nobles show their interest in getting to know Alexander more, especially young girls who are in the same age or have a year or two age difference with Alexander.

George who has to observe the nobles just realized it. He couldn't understand how an Alexander just by showing his skill in dancing could attract the attention of nobles who even feel attracted to him.

“Cih!”

Being in silence, the atmosphere so inversely proportional to the fun and the crowd that people now feel, George seems to have a world of his own. 'Calm yourself, George! He's just an Alexander, I just need to beat him in the Knights Tournament later…' George clenches his fists, staring intently at Alexander with a small smile.

Alexander who doesn't know anything about the feelings that George is feeling right now is dancing happily with Erina.

...

The party was lively, especially Alexander who attracted everyone's attention for his previous actions.

Contrary to what George thought, Duke Kinston didn't really mind Alexander's impudence. Instead, he praised Alexander's confidence and also thanked him that he felt helped by the excitement that had existed before the event started.

Duke Kinston, who previously had an urgent need, so that he arrived late, was truly grateful that his invited guests were not grumbling over his negligence as the organizer of the event and were instead having fun with their respective partners, dancing without accompanied by music. He himself even cursed the stupidity of the insensitivity of his hired musicians who were instead busy watching the nobles dancing or some were relaxing.

That way, Alexander is now appointed as an important guest and will lead everyone in the dance when the event arrives.

“I am honored by your concern, Sir Kinston. However, I think my partner is too tired to continue dancing. May I change roles as piano player to accompany your guests to dance?” Alexander feels sorry that he was too caught up in the dance rhythm, until he realized too late about Erina who had looked exhausted.

As soon as he felt Erina's breathing getting more irregular, Alexander immediately stopped her. It did happen about a few minutes ago before Duke Kinston came, but to be able to continue dancing after being tired like that would be too much for Erina. Alexander felt, he would push Erina too much to keep up with her stamina.

"Is that so? It is deeply regretted. But, are you sure you want to play the piano?” asks Duke Kinston. He feels, playing the piano is not as easy as how to dance. To be able to dance well, everyone doesn't need a long time to learn it.

At least, dancing for yourself or with a partner without having to pay attention to the feelings of the people around you when watching it does not need to be as sophisticated as how the dancer can provide the world presented in dance for the audience.

However, playing the piano is a difference. Must have the ability or something like compatibility that someone can play the piano well to be able to influence the listener. In addition, very few people can play the piano. Usually, the only musicians who can play with the piano are musicians itself.

"Yeah, you don't have to worry. I'm pretty good at playing it…”