Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Dalton was still wearing the same understated navy blue design, but it looked great on him. He had an atmosphere around him that attracted everyone’s attention even if he didn’t dress himself ostentatiously, so people would naturally gather around him like bees.

But the difference today was that Dalton’s eyes looked very much alive compared to when he would usually just look bored out of his mind. He faced me and didn’t say anything, which I thought was strange.

“Let’s head to the carriage.”

Seeming to have come to his senses, he held out his arm to escort me there. I couldn’t refuse because I was in a daze. Why was he acting like this when we hadn’t even arrived at the party yet?

“It looks good on you.”

“Well, it’s been a while since I went to a party.”

“I thought you were usually indifferent towards parties, but today…”

“What?”

Dalton averted his eyes from my inquisitive gaze. He just closed his mouth tightly like a clam and just avoided my eyes.

I realized that it was useless to expect him to continue speaking as he kept silent like nothing was wrong with that.

Maybe he was trying to compliment me? Ah, but I won’t fall for that again. His acting skills were getting better.

One might think that he was a pure young gentleman who couldn’t say anything or maintain eye contact because he was feeling shy, but it was ridiculous to think like that for a man who had such a cold, striking atmosphere around him. He was avoiding my eyes, but his facial expression remained the same.

Somehow, my mood soured because I remembered the sharp look from Dalton at dinner. The arm I was holding suddenly felt unbearable to touch.

He would be by my side for the duration of the party, but his presence felt like a ball and chain to me.

Reading my mood, Dalton didn’t say anything either and only wordlessly helped me up the carriage.

We traveled for quite a while in such an uncomfortable silence.

Unconsciously, I let out a sigh of relief when an escort knight said that we would arrive soon. I looked at Dalton, my eyes saying ‘You heard that, didn’t you?’ but he just continued to look out the window with a lethargic look. He was reticent once again.

‘What the hell is he thinking about?’

I was curious about Dalton himself because there wasn’t a single line about him in Tess’ diary. Of course, my goal at today’s party was Redcliffe, but I’d also try to see what kind of position Dalton held in society when I could.

Would he show signs of being a psychopath while wearing a normal man’s mask just as he did in front of me, or…

“Tess.”

Dalton had gotten off the carriage first and reached out to me, quietly waiting for me to come down. We entered the party arm in arm.

The grand hall was already full of people. Everyone was wearing light tones for the coming spring. Fortunately, the trend was more widespread than she thought. Many formalities were skipped in this party, perhaps because its nature was for charity, so there was a free atmosphere where people could enjoy themselves more.

As soon as I entered the party with Dalton by my side, everyone’s eyes turned to me. Inside the hall where the people were abuzz, it seemed as though some of them looked at me with envy. Apart from that, the flowers that filled the hall with all those colors made me a little dizzy.

No, I can’t be like this. I need to stay alert and get close to Redcliffe. But Dalton… it doesn’t seem like he’s planning on leaving my side.

“Brother, don’t those people look like they want to talk to you? Don’t mind me and just come back to my side later.”

“I don’t have to go to them.”

“No, but…”

Me! I’m uncomfortable!

I haven’t even seen a tuft of Redcliffe’s reddish-brown hair yet. I think people have stopped paying attention to me, but I wanted Dalton to leave me alone at least. Didn’t Tess have a close aristocratic mindset? There was not a single mention of having a friend in her diary.

Now that I looked at it, there weren’t any ladies coming up to greet me. Well, even if they had, I didn’t have enough information to have conversations with them, so it wouldn’t be easy keeping up. Rather, it might be more convenient to make new friends.

“Miss Tess, Miss Tess!”

Unexpectedly, a small young lady came up to talk to me. She was a skinny little girl in a bright yellow dress.

“You didn’t forget, did you? I’m Soph. It’s been a while since we met. And oh! I greet sir Dalton of the von Cador family. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Dalton seemed as equally surprised as I was that I had a friend. He finally stepped away when I gestured that I would continue talking with the girl named Soph.

He went towards the group I pointed out to him earlier, but he kept looking back towards me as though he was worried that I’d disappear. Well, of course he’d be worried that I’d draw attention to myself by acting strange.

“When was the last time we met?”

“It’s already been half a year… By the way, you’ve changed so much that I couldn’t recognize you at first. Especially today…”

Soph was short in stature and skinny beyond belief, but she seemed to be paying attention to me closely. Her eyes had the same look in them as the others who scrutinized me when I first entered the hall.

“You look beautiful.”

Somehow, Soph’s behavior didn’t seem to me like she and Tess were friends. What the hell was their relationship?

“Tess, there’s a lot of fun going on. Why don’t you come and talk to me for a while? There are so many people here.”

“Alright.”

Once she heard my answer, Soph took the lead while asking me if I was feeling fine. She led me across the huge hall and found a place where it was somehow quiet but not too isolated.

In this place where they wouldn’t attract people’s attention, Soph spoke to me.

“I’ve been so lonely without Miss Tess these days. Why weren’t you attending parties?”

“Because I don’t enjoy them much.”

“But isn’t this the best place to get good information?”

“So did you get a lot of good information?”

“Yes, I’m getting them now.”

It was somehow difficult to smile. She handed me a glass of champagne and asked me to have a toast with her. I didn’t want it to touch my lips as much as possible. If Tess had a weak constitution against alcohol, then it would hinder her plans for the night.

After taking the glass, I put it onto my lips and took a very light sip. Soph didn’t care about anything and gulped the whole glass in one go. Was that alright? Well, for now, I didn’t have any information on her, so I had to get to know this kid. Please take the bait.

“Do you remember the most interesting topic we talked about last time?”

“Wasn’t the most popular man in the kingdom?”

“Huh? Yeah, that’s… I don’t know who’s who these days.”

“Isn’t it the same person who’s always on the top as usual? You know that.”

“Ahaha, is that so? But what’s the fun thing to do these days? I’m curious about things that people do for enjoyment.”

“Oh, that? Is it about the slave market again? Tess, are you interested?”

Cough, cough!

“…Um, not that. But are you saying that this is what people do for enjoyment?”

As I talked to Soph, I felt like my life expectancy got shortened by one year. Tess’ favorite conversation topic was the most popular guy in the kingdom? I didn’t think she would be interested in such things… But what was fun about the slave market? Did Tess really share secret information with this young noble lady? Ah, I really don’t know anything about Tess.

Soph smiled more, whether she was already drunk or if she thought of something funny. Or was she making fun of me? How polite of her to restrain herself this way then. It’s true that I might learn something about Tess while talking to Soph, which would help me with doing the technique at the Crescent Moon. But instead of helping, my impression of Tess was just getting more and more chaotic.

“Ohoho, so Miss Tess… are you fishing for a decent guy today as well? You’ve always done that, haven’t you?”

Haa… Fishing for a decent guy…

Maybe Soph had mistaken Tess for someone else. Or perhaps there was a big misunderstanding.

The topic of this conversation was getting out of hand, so I’m going to stop talking to her. And it occurred to me as well that I needed to focus on finding Redcliffe.

“It’s not like that today. I need to find a guy named Redcliffe.”

“Ah, I see. So he’s the one you’re aiming for today? Aren’t you making more friends?”

“Then, I’ll need to be on my way now.”

I tried to get away from her quickly because I might leak the wrong information to her. The way back to the banquet hall wasn’t complicated so I was going to go back by myself, but Soph stopped me.

“Miss Tess, can I give you a piece of advice?”

“What is it?”

“You don’t have any close friends except me, so you’d better ignore them if they talk to you. Ohoho.”

“…Sure.”

“And about the most popular man in the kingdom… People have different opinions, so don’t be too sure about it. Pfft.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

I practically ran away from the spot. It was so unpleasant to be with her. At first, I couldn’t feel any hostility from her, but that might have been an act. There’s no way to explain this unpleasantness if it wasn’t that.

She said that there was only one guy who could be the most popular man in the kingdom, but now she was saying that there were differing opinions. She wasn’t being consistent at all. I didn’t know which one was the truth and which one was a lie, so that kid might just be making fun of me. I shouldn’t be swept away by her.

I rushed through the hallway at a quick pace, but I hadn’t seen a single person since earlier. And perhaps it was because my clothes were thin, but it felt a bit cold. Maybe I got lost? I couldn’t believe I got lost within minutes after I was so sure of myself that I’d return to the banquet hall easily. The thought of not being able to meet Redcliffe made me panic.

Then, in front of a pillar in the hallway, there was a man holding a champagne glass. I approached him because I hadn’t seen a person in a while. I opened my mouth to ask for directions back to the hall.

“Excuse me, um, apologies. I’m on my way back to the grand hall, but…”

He held his champagne glass up to his lips and his neck twisted at a strange angle that wasn’t possible for someone alive. With the glass upside down over his throat, there was a sense of incongruity that seemed to separate the man from this space, and a sense of déjà vu swept through me as I thought of the red-haired John.

The gentleman looking out the window slowly turned his head towards me. Ghosts copied what humans did, but everything they did was the opposite. Right now, that man was trying to lift that champagne glass upside down to moisten his throat.

I froze in place, not being able to breathe. I continued walking down the hall, but I didn’t come across any other person at all. Maybe I really went the wrong way. Come to think of it, the only place where Tess didn’t see ghosts was at the Dark Castle, except for when the Crimson Moon rose. So this place…

“Miss?”

“Ha… Heuk…”

“Are you alright?”

I took a deep breath at the sudden appearance of someone blocking my way. I couldn’t see his face because his wide chest covered my view. I looked up to see who it was—and it was a tall, good-looking man who stared worriedly at me. It was a man with reddish-brown hair. I’d seen this man before, but in a portrait and not in person.

It was Redcliffe himself, who I had targeted from the beginning.