Chapter 148: Five Counts, No Rhythm, and Public Humiliation
Chapter 148: Five Counts, No Rhythm, and Public Humiliation
Elyn’s POV
If there was one thing I had learned since coming to the demon realm, it was this:
Power did not prepare you for embarrassment.
It did not shield you from it.
It did not soften the blow.
And it certainly did not stop it from happening in front of people who would remember it forever.
And I’m not even joking about that. I was certain this utter humiliation would forever be remembered by Rin and Vaelory and even Azerion. It was like they took joy in seeing that I was battling with this thing called dancing.
Morthen’s glasses lay on the floor between us, slightly skewed, one lens reflecting the lights of the hall. I wasn’t entirely sure when they had fallen off his face... again.
This time, I wasn’t the one who had hit them off his face—at least I hoped it wasn’t me.
We had just tried my fifth attempt at turning without looking like I was possessed by some nasty human who had a disease of the crotch and was trying to pray to their gods to get rid of the disease... Rin’s words, not mine.
I’m obviously not that rude, nor do I have an active imagination like that, nor am I as blunt as that... I think.
Honestly, I did not think I looked like what she described, but then I did know I looked ridiculous because I had been flailing my arms around. Now that I was thinking about it, could it be that I was the one who had hit the glasses off Morthen’s face again?
I stared at the glasses on the floor, and Rin chuckled.
"My lady," she said as she stepped forward. "Remind me to take you to the glasses removal challenge, where you can absolutely take people’s glasses off their faces with one hit."
"It was a mistake," I said.
"Most times the competition is won by mistake," Rin replied.
"Is there really a competition like that?" Vaelory asked Rin.
Rin and I turned to her in sync. "Of course not!" we said at the same time.
"Oh," Vaelory said with wide eyes.
How she still wasn’t able to tell when Rin was playing a joke on her was beyond me.
Rin bent down and picked them up carefully, holding them out to him.
"Here," she said. "Before you lose the last shred of your sanity."
Morthen accepted them with a quiet sigh, like a demon who had lived too long and seen too much. That was pretty accurate.
"Thank you," he said, and adjusted them back onto his face.
He took a moment after that. A long moment.
Then he looked at me with concern.
"My lady," he said, carefully enunciating each word, "dancing is not optional at the introductory ball."
I straightened instinctively.
"It is expected," he continued. "Observed. Interpreted." His antennae twitched. "It is a form of communication between the nobles."
Same as Aelthryn. That didn’t sound threatening at all.
"And," he added, rubbing his forehead—if you could even call it that—"I genuinely do not know what to do if you cannot dance."
I opened my mouth, ready to defend myself—to say something eloquent, dignified, queenly—
"Then teach her a children’s dance."
I turned slowly.
Azerion was sitting cross-legged on the floor. He held a small plate stacked with cake slices like he was attending a festival, not witnessing my slow descent into humiliation. Frosting smeared the corner of his mouth and even stained the sleeve of his clothes.
"A children’s dance?" Morthen repeated faintly.
"Yes," Azerion said, nodding seriously. "Since she can’t learn the one you’re teaching her, just teach her something simple."
Vaelory burst out laughing.
"Oh, please," she said between breaths. "If Her Highness can barely move to the beat, what makes you think she can manage a children’s dance, even if it’s a simple one?"
I shot her a look.
"I am standing right here," I said.
Vaelory wiped at her eyes. "Exactly."
I inhaled deeply.
"Excuse me," I said, forcing calm into my voice, "I’m sure I can learn a children’s dance, especially if it’s simple."
Rin had returned to stand beside Vaelory—but noticeably, Vaelory put more space between them, like she didn’t want to be anywhere near the maid she was so in tune with.
Rin crossed her arms, assessing me.
"I doubt it," she said bluntly in reply to my words. "But Morthen should try."
Traitor.
Morthen hesitated, visibly weighing his remaining life expectancy.
"...Very well," he said at last.
He made a gesture, and the music changed instantly, the rhythm becoming fast—unlike the first one.
I stared at him in shock because I was very certain the demons who were supposed to be assisting me wanted me to die embarrassingly.
"...Do you truly believe," I asked carefully, "that increasing the beat makes the dance simpler?"
"My lady," he said, adjusting his glasses, "there is a reason why it is fast. Just relax and watch me."
Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt, I did as he told me.
He demonstrated.
It was hopping.
Just hopping.
One hop to the left.
Count to five.
One hop to the right.
Count to five.
Back and forth.
That was it. But it had to stay on beat.
I blinked, imagining it in my head. I could actually do it.
"That’s... actually simple," I said.
Vaelory snorted.
"I think I can do that," I added, hopeful for the first time in what felt like hours.
Morthen gestured me forward.
I took my place.
The music resumed.
I hopped.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
I hopped again.
Okay.
This was fine.
This was doable.
I was doing it.
Then my brain got involved.
The beat slipped away from me like it was actively avoiding my ears. I hopped too early. Then too late. Then I panicked and hopped twice in the same direction.
I tried to correct myself and nearly ran into Morthen.
"Oh no," Rin wheezed.
She doubled over, laughter pouring out of her.
Vaelory covered her mouth, shoulders shaking, at least pretending to have dignity.
I tried again.
I counted wrong.
I missed the beat.
I forgot which side I was on.
My feet tangled.
"This is fine," I muttered to myself. "Everything is fine."
It was not fine.
Morthen stopped the music.
He rubbed his temples.
His antennae twitched violently.
"This," he said with exhausted finality, "is a disaster."
Azerion chuckled, licking frosting from his fingers. "That was even worse than before."
"Say one more thing and I’ll take your snacks from you," I told him.
He smiled at me instead of listening, giving me that blinding smile that suited his cute face far too well.
"I don’t understand," I said, mortified. "I danced it accurately in my head, so why can’t I do it for real?"
"My lady, I hate to break it to you, but doing it in your head and doing it for real are two different things," Rin said, laughing.
I groaned—but then my body tensed.
That familiar, uncomfortable sensation crawled up my spine.
The air suddenly smelled of perfume as the hairs on my skin stood on end.
"Oh, darling," a voice purred behind me, velvet and danger woven together, "how about I teach you to dance?"
I shivered.
Slowly, I turned.
And my eyes widened in shock.