As expected, even as Zen tried his best to keep up, he wound up being the one led around by his partner all across the dance floor. Nevertheless, he dutifully stuck with Elysia for five songs before they headed back to Mina.
“You’re already breathing so heavily. I think you’re rusty,” Elysia teased.
“I was dancing with Lady Mina before you. My exhaustion was holding me back.” Although Zen knew Elysia was joking, he tried to protect his honor as a father. It was yet another episode in a man’s miserable saga.
Meanwhile, Mina had been waiting with her eyes sparkling. “You were amazing, Miss Elysia! I didn’t know you could dance so well!”
“My strict aunt taught my father and me,” Elysia lied. She couldn’t say it was because of her etiquette lessons as an imperial princess. Zen felt that she was painting Sharla in too good a light, but he kept that thought to himself.
“I was anxious that I’d lose my dignity if it turned out you were good at dancing, but I see now that I shouldn’t have hesitated! I only felt moved that I was treated to something so splendid!” Mina must’ve been very excited. She rambled on and on about her honest impressions to this girl, who was eleven years younger than her.
“You were wonderful as well, Sir Zen!” Mina exclaimed. “So that’s how skilled you really are!”
“It’s only thanks to Elysia making me look good too.” If Zen looked at it objectively, his dance skills at the balls held at the imperial capital were firmly in the middle range, or upper middle at best. If Mina had seen his skills as amazing, that was because of Elysia’s splendid performance.
“I really am tired now,” Zen sighed. “Please allow me to rest for a bit.”
“Then let’s go over there.” There was a spacious room adjacent to the dance hall, and there were many sofas there so guests could chat and rest. Apparently, if they called for a waiter, they’d bring over food and drinks from the party.
The seats were already seventy percent full. There were people soaked in nostalgia as they caught up with old acquaintances, others who were limp and exhausted from dancing, and those who had tired of dancing and were amusing themselves with card games.
Zen and the others had the waiter prepare them seats and bring them some refreshments since they’d become a bit peckish.
“Now what shall we do after this? Fortunately, I’ve successfully fulfilled my role as His Excellency Cummel’s representative. We could go home, or we could stay and have some more fun.”
“Do you think Keel’s getting lonely about now, father?” Elysia asked.
“Definitely not. At this hour, he’ll sleep like a log for as long as you let him.” That was how the divine beast vanargands, who were immortal, behaved. Keel was still immature, but once he became an adult, he’d grow bored of his eternity of time and sleep for many years and decades.
“Chances like this don’t come by often, so how about you dance for a bit longer, Miss Mina?” Elysia looked like she was already satisfied, but she’d probably suggested this upon considering how Mina’s eyes had opened to the joys of dancing.
“I-If Sir Zen is okay with it...” With Mina’s hopeful glances toward him, Zen couldn’t refuse.
He at least took a rest, and the three enjoyed some pleasant conversation for a while.
However, something unexpected happened.
Stoga entered the lounge from the dance hall, crossing the room to walk farther inside the mansion. He wasn’t alone, bringing along a young man in his late twenties, who was plain but wearing a well-tailored dress suit. With a meek expression, that young man spoke to Stoga, and Stoga nodded many times, satisfied.
Everyone in the lounge watched Stoga pass; the main man of the night had appeared, after all. Nobody paid attention to the young man next to him. However, Zen was the only one who couldn’t tear his eyes from his face.
No way... Why is he here? As Zen focused intensely on the young man, he checked several times to make sure he wasn’t mistaking him for someone else. Even after the pair was completely out of sight, Zen’s face remained stiff.
Elysia noticed. “What’s the matter? Your face looks so serious.”
Zen lowered his voice and answered. “The man that His Excellency Stoga took with him is a noble from Baron.”
Publicly, Baron was a friendly nation whose territory was adjacent to the empire’s south. Its history was fifty years older than Catalan’s, and immediately following the empire’s founding, the two countries had gotten into their fair number of skirmishes.
After that turbulent period, they’d never once warred with each other, and until now, they remained on good terms as their main trade partners.
However, there was no telling when Baron would invade the empire if the empire showed any weakness, and vice versa. There’d always been tension between the two nations in that regard.
Mina also lowered her voice and asked, “Is there a problem with a noble from Baron being here?” Her face indicated she hadn’t caught on yet.
“Although this is a simple birthday party, once you invite an important person from a foreign country, it now becomes a matter of diplomacy. This isn’t something a prefectural governor should be doing on his own. Stoga could even fall under suspicion of selling out his country or instigating foreign aggression.” Sensing something unusual was brewing behind the scenes, Zen finally dropped Stoga’s “His Excellency” title.
“Umm... Is it possible that His Excellency Stoga received permission to invite him from the state government office or the imperial capital?”
“In that case, officials from the Foreign Affairs Agency should’ve come flying in, jumping over Stoga to entertain the young man.”
“I see...”
To begin with, it was beyond rude to invite an important figure from a foreign country without making a big show of introducing them to everyone. Since Stoga hadn’t done that, that meant he was doing something shady. It meant he was secretly scheming something.
“There’s...no way you mistook him for someone else, I suppose,” said Elysia.
“I was in the Baron Ambassador Bureau for a bit,” Zen explained. There was a Baron Embassy in the imperial capital, and Zen had been entrusted with odd jobs despite only being an office worker, often being sent there on errands. That was where he’d spotted the young man before.
He was Emile, the Earl of Tus and son of Marquess Ron, a leading figure in Baron. Emile was his heir and holder of the courtesy title of earl.
When Zen had spotted him at the imperial capital, Emile had been there only to accompany the goodwill ambassador from Baron, but Emile was a great noble who would eventually take up an important position in his country.