Chapter Therese’s Night
Therese’s Night
“Your hair is like a tidal wave of roses, your skin is like marble, your lips are like a ruby, and your eyes are like emeralds of the highest grade.
“My, you flatter me—”
While dancing, the first daughter of Duke Folma, Therese, was intoxicated by the numerous words like honey whispered into her ears.
The one who has his hands around her boasted, slender waist is a slender young man with blond hair. Like Therese, his face is covered by a mask.
There’s no mistake; this person must be King Ludwik in disguise.
That his voice seems lower than when he speaks in the castle, that his shoulders and arms look sturdier somehow, and that his clothes and accessories look over the top but actually seem to be made of cheap cloth must be because he’s in disguise right now.
Hearing that King Ludwik would secretly show up at the festival, Therese also snuck away to town.
After she arrived at the festival, she quickly got fed up with the sea of people.
(Who do you all think I am?! Make way! I can’t search for His Majesty like this!)
As she was fuming like so, the orchestra began to play. Couples formed one after another and began to dance.
In the midst of it all,
(Eh? Eh? Why are those bumpkin girls being invited to dance while I’m the only one who isn’t? O, of course, anyone but His Majesty is out of the question though.)
As Therese was lost in a dither like so—
—Tonight, you are the one who shines the brightest like a queen. Please, bestow upon me the privilege to take your hand.
A man says as he presents his hand to her without delay.
He has blond hair and is wearing a mask.
(Could it be His Majesty?!)
Therese thought as her heart jumped in a start.
As she was stumped as to what to do being unused to this festival of commoners that she had joined, a man resembling King Ludwik dashingly appeared in front of her. This development was more than enough to convince Therese that this man is His Majesty.
Not only that, but as he danced, he would continuously hint that he’s actually of noble blood with every word. That he lives a strict life normally, so tonight he wants to forget who he is and meet his ideal girl as just another man, that he had come to the festival with those expectations, that he knew from his first glance that that girl is her… He whispered such things in Therese’s ears.
By this point, Therese was thoroughly convinced that this man is, without a question, King Ludwik the First.
By the lead of His Majesty, while dancing round and round,
(Ahh, Your Highness picked me after all, didn’t You? It may be that His Majesty called out to me because He realized that I’m Duke Folma’s daughter, Therese. Yes, it must be so.)
She soaks herself in the sweet feelings gushing forth endlessly within her.
—I feel like I’ve met you somewhere before… In the castle somewhere, was it the banquet hall?
(See, He has to be.)
While King Ludwik embraces Therese close with one hand, he lovingly caresses her around her nape.
(I’m sure that when this dance ends, His Majesty will propose to me. He’ll divorce Queen Katerina and make me the queen. I have to hurry up and decide on the design of the dress that I’ll wear at our wedding ceremony.)
As she thought such things, Therese closed her mesmerized eyes.