Chapter 62: Dance Practice for a Week

Beep beep beep. Beep beep beep.

“Ugh.”

I grabbed the alarm clock that was ringing continuously and turned it off. I yawned and opened my eyes.

I wanted to sleep a little more, but it’s almost dinner time, so I can’t sleep.

“Are you awake?”

“Huh!”

A sudden voice from the side. I was startled and rolled to the corner of the bed and huddled.

It wasn’t an assassin. Fortunately, it was Emily.

Um? But why is Emily here?

“Sorry. Did you get scared a lot?”

“Ah, no. But why are you here?”

“It’s because there are a few things you have to follow at the imperial banquet, so I came to let you know.”

“Ah… right. There was that. I forgot.”

As someone who has read the original work, I know how complicated and tricky the etiquette of the imperial banquet is.

Violating etiquette is a great disrespect that is not strange even if a duel is requested.

Why didn’t I think of that until now? Still, it’s fortunate that Emily is teaching me.

Because I don’t have a tutor.

“Then shall we start right away?”

“Let’s do that. First of all, the basic dress code needs to be matched.”

“What’s the dress code this time?”

“The dress code for the imperial banquet is not special. Women must wear dresses, and men must wear suits.”

Emily grabbed my hand and raised me. I took a sip of water and sat next to her.

“Wine, non-alcoholic wine, food, desserts, etc. are provided at the banquet. But you should never eat these foods as a meal. Because it’s considered to be undignified.”

“Then how do you eat it?”

“Usually, you eat it in moderation with wine. The most important thing for a woman at a banquet is being graceful.”

Graceful.

Honestly, the word graceful doesn’t resonate with me, who lived in the 21st century. But this is a fantasy world based on the Middle Ages.

Elegance and face that come from being graceful are very important.

When I tilted my head, Emily chuckled.

“You don’t have to think of it as problem. Elegance or grace are not special. Just laugh quietly and agree appropriately.”

“Is that grace?”

“Yeah. Honestly, I don’t know, but the tutor said so.”

Okay for now. Anyway, unless it’s a very special thing, there’s nothing to be overly excited about.

“What I said first. Don’t eat a meal. That’s also related to grace. If you eat too much there, people around you will pay attention.”

“Okay. I won’t eat.”

“Instead, if you’re really hungry, there’s a restaurant outside the banquet hall. You can eat there.”

I wonder if there is anyone who eats without noticing at the banquet hall even though there is a separate place to eat.

When I nodded, Emily moved on to the next.

“Next is the greeting.”

“Greeting?”

“Yes. Now your title is Baronet Arcane, right? Low-ranking nobles with low ranks must all go to greet the high-ranking nobles.”

“All? All those nobles?”

“Not that, um. Rachel, do you know what a faction is?”

“Yeah.”

There are currently three factions in the empire.

The first is the imperial faction that supports the emperor and the prince. They are loyal to the emperor’s will and live by eating the crumbs that the emperor gives.

The second is the force that supports the two duchies of the northeast. The two duchies mentioned here are Argon and Tarnerus, respectively.

The two duchies have united to survive between the imperial family and the Muelia family since ancient times.

They also do a lot of political marriages and send a lot of students to each family. Since they are duchies, if the two duchies join forces, they will become a scale that even the imperial family and Muelia cannot easily see.

Finally, the third is the force that supports the Muelia Duchy.

It is the second largest force after the imperial family, and big shots with the title of Aura Master, Archmage, or King have appeared throughout the generations.

Thanks to this, even when the family declined, it was able to overcome the crisis without difficulty and grow to this point.

“Currently, you are affiliated with our family Muelia. You only need to greet the main nobles of the other two factions.”

“For example, who would that be?”

“For example, the Poldan Marquisate, which supports the First Prince, the Ardo Marquisate, which supported the Second Prince, the Sedat Marquisate, which supports the Third Prince, and the Cosde Marquisate, which supports the Fourth Prince.

The other two duchies can go to the two acting dukes.”

That’s a relief.

If I had to greet all the high-ranking nobles, I would have to spend several hours just greeting.

Well, this is also given because of the background of Muelia.

“Next is the dance, and this is the most important. During the banquet, the orchestra dedicated to the imperial family will start playing. You have to dance to it.”

It’s a part that always appears in romance fantasy.

It’s commonly called a debutante.

It refers to a ball where children who have reached adulthood make their faces known to the social world. But this is a banquet, so it’s ambiguous to call it a debutante.

Anyway.

Usually, in this kind of place, the female lead dances with the male lead and falls in love, or it acts as a device to induce jealousy.

“Here, the person’s reputation changes depending on their dance skills.”

“But not everyone dances, right? Only those who want to dance, right?”

“That’s true for powerful nobles, but what if another high-ranking family points you out? By the way, Muelia can’t stop it. I want to stop it too, but dance at a banquet is an extremely common tradition.”

Ugh.

The point she’s making is that if someone asks me to dance, I can’t refuse.

If I can’t dance like that, my reputation will fall.

‘Reputation is not a problem, but it’s like insulting the Muelia who brought me.’

“Teach me. I’ll try to learn hard.”

“You made a good decision. Anyway, all the songs that will be played at the banquet have already been released. It’ll be okay if you practice according to it. First, stand up.”

I stood up and faced Emily.

“The first thing to learn is the waltz.”

I’ve heard of it too.

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake came to mind.

It was also briefly explained in the original work.

It is said to be an elegant and classic dance, one of the styles that are often danced at balls. It is danced in 3/4 time and is characterized by soft rotation and quiet movement.

“Listen carefully. It’s a song called Please look at me by Ideru. When this song comes out, you have to dance the waltz.”

Emily manipulated the artifact. A pre-recorded sound came out.

Tara~ Tara~ Tarara~!

A classic song came out. I’ve only read novels, so I don’t know any songs.

“Now, give me your hand. Let’s do it slowly.”

“Okay.”

I held Emily’s hand.

“In dance, the steps are the most important. You can’t step on someone else’s foot. Follow me carefully. One, two, three. Four. Five~ six~ seven! Eight.”

I moved slowly, following the steps she showed.

Fortunately, this body is not uncoordinated, so I followed along quickly. The problem is that it’s more complicated than I thought, so if I go at normal speed, I might step on it.

Well, I’ll get it if I practice.

“The waltz requires a close distance with the partner. Get close.”

When she opened her arms, the distance narrowed. It’s a distance where our chests are almost touching.

“And turn.”

She grabs my hand and turns me around. This part was the most fun.

“Finally, when I pull, lean on my arm and bend your waist slightly.”

I spun around and leaned on her arm. It’s a scene I’ve seen in movies.

“But you probably don’t have to memorize the waltz.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Next is the twist swing, which is more lively than the waltz. Like this. One two. Three four. Five six. Seven eight!”

Emily, who let go of my hand, danced the twist swing.

Dynamically and lively. There are many swings and turns.

You might think that if you move a lot, it’s not elegant and it’s noisy, but it was rather beautiful.

If you form a pair with a partner and dance dynamically, it will be pretty in its own way.

Emily played the song.

Baba! Babababa! Tarara! Barara~!

The song was so exciting that it made me feel excited just by listening to it.

“Now, follow me.”

I followed along this time too. There were a lot of things to move, but fortunately, there were fewer movements than the waltz.

So I started learning to dance from Emily.

There are a total of 10 songs played at the banquet, and the patterns themselves are said to be only waltz, twist swing, and polka.

Now, there are slight variations depending on the characteristics of the song.

“Huff. Huff. It’s harder than I thought.”

“Right? It’s a dance of nobles, so you might think it’s gentle, but there are actually more active movements.”

As I practiced this and that, I sweated. It’s also hot. I shook my clothes to cool off the heat.

Emily was the same.

She is not a person who can use mana, so she will inevitably sweat if she moves a lot.

The air in the room quickly became humid. As evidence, Emily’s cheeks were flushed. Because she has very white skin and white eyes, the flush looked even redder.

“Let’s stop practicing for now, and we still have time, so let’s do it every day until then.”

“Thank you. Then, can I visit you at night?”

“Yeah.”