9. A Little Time, For Once
9. A Little Time, For Once
Although I thought I’d be living my easy shut-in life, instead I ended up spending three whole days building up my physical strength and combat skills. Then, the time of the next evening party had finally rolled around.
The renewed assaults from the palace (or rather, the Aurantian crown prince) that Mr. Fisalis and his parents feared never came to pass, so things had been peaceful. Yes! I’m able to concentrate on my training!
...Don’t actually know what I’m aiming for there, but....
When I went down to the dining room for breakfast, Mr. Fisalis was already there—and not wearing his uniform. Wait, why’s he in normal clothes?
“Good morning. Do you not have work today?”
“Nope! I’ve got the day off, so we can go to the party together.”
“I see!” So that’s why he wasn’t in uniform. And as usual, I don’t know a thing about my own husband’s days off☆
I still very incredibly extremely wasn’t looking forward to the party, but it was comforting to know he was coming with me! With him there, no one’ll try to talk to me, at least.
Apparently because he was home, my only lesson that day was some easy dancing.
“Yes, Madam—your steps must be flowing. And your lead is impeccable, Master.”
The two of us danced in time with Rohtas clapping to the beat. Man, it’s so much easier to dance with Mr. Fisalis’s wonderful lead. Whenever I almost lost my balance, he’d casually pick me back up, and he never once stomped on my feet! Now that I had a point of comparison, Mr. Fisalis was seeming better and better.
Compared to dancing with a terrible dancer like that prince, Rohtas’s lessons are nothing... Ahem! I mean, I must be getting pretty good if I’m thinking that these lessons are a breeze. Or at least, that’s what I was feeling, oddly enough. And Rohtas had gotten on Mr. Fisalis’s case for letting his skills get rusty, so the duke had taken up practicing on his own. Neither of us were getting much of Rohtas’s strict encouragement now.
Ah ha ha ha! We’ve both grown!
“Oh, that’s right, Mr. Fisalis—isn’t this your first day off in a while?”
“Hmm... You’re right. I’ve had to give up my days off for work lately.”
“You leave early and get back late, so you have no time to relax, do you? You’ll make yourself sick like that!”
“Are you...worried about me?” he asked. What’s with that shocked look?
“Of course I am!”
“Thank you! I’ll be taking some time off once those two leave.”
“Please do. And relax as much as you can today.”
Since we didn’t want to exhaust ourselves this early, our dance lesson ended on a moderate note. As we were walking towards the dining room for lunch,
“The weather is beautiful, so why don’t we take a stroll in the gardens?” Mr. Fisalis suggested.
“That’s a great idea! Ah, why don’t we have our lunch outside, too? Some of the flowers will be at their most beautiful right about now!”
“Yes, let’s. The temperature is nice, so we can relax.”
“Okay!”
And so, after our dancing session, we decided to eat our lunch out in my personal garden before lounging in the sun a bit. Mr. Fisalis had been working himself to the bone lately, so I wanted him to relax as much as possible. Though we had that party looming over us, we had some free time until then. We admired the beautifully blooming chrysanthemums as we ate the sandwiches that had been made specially for our little picnic.
This was the first time in a while that Mr. Fisalis and I had relaxed together. Since I was completely in chill mode, the idea of going to a party just felt awful. Did we really have to go?
It seemed I was the only one wondering that, though.
“We should begin getting you ready,” Dahlia said, giving me one of those hard-to-resist smiles when she came to get me.
“I was totally in chill-at-the-manor mode...” I whined, hanging my head.
“Oh, don’t say that. You just need to get through one night, so try to put a little effort into it,” chided Mr. Fisalis.
Awww... Even Mr. Fisalis is getting on my case about it, despite the fact that our “Let’s not go!” “Good idea!” back and forth was becoming a running gag! (Rohtas getting mad at us afterwards was also a running gag.) I felt a bit betrayed.
Mr. Fisalis stood up before holding out his hand to me. When I took it and stood up, he was kind of staring at me. What’s up?
“Mr. Fisalis?”
“...”
When I looked up at him in confusion, he pulled me close for a tight hug.
“Wah?!”
“It’s fine. It’s nothing, and even if anything happens, I’ll definitely protect you.”
I was surprised by how different the air about him was than usual. This is the first time he’s said anything like that before we went to a party, isn’t it?
“What’s up all of a sudden?”
“...I mean, you’re always dancing with other men...”
As I looked up into his beautiful dark brown eyes, he gazed back at me before turning his head away. The hug tightened too.
...Wait, is he jealous? He’s blushing as he looks away. Wait, no—this is too cute!
“I mean, it’s kind of unavoidable~ Socializing is my job, isn’t it? But I’ll be more careful today,” I replied, hugging him back. As I did, he finally looked relieved. Damn, what’s with him acting like a cute little animal or something?! Is he going for, like, emphasizing the difference between his looks and his actions?! Well, damn...I gotta say, it’s working!
“Let’s head back,” Mr. Fisalis said, letting me go reluctantly.
“All right.” It was late enough that we really did need to start getting ready. It takes a lot of prep work to get someone as plain as me ready for high society. Mainly there’s a lot of special effects makeup, more special effects makeup, and then some special effects makeup on top of that. Sometimes the dress helped, too. If I wasted my time here when we were running out of it, I’d be causing trouble for Dahlia, Stellaria, and all of the other maids.
After slipping out of his arms, I quietly followed Mr. Fisalis as he led me by the hand back to the manor.
And once again I was put in a dress, decorated to the nines, and after all that effort work/social mode Viola was finally complete. My gown was the same burgundy color as last time, but with a different design. It was probably made to match Mr. Fisalis’s uniform. But more than anything, I was ecstatic that it was made of light, soft silk! I had been stuffed into my best dresses (with very heavy fabric, very heavy decorations, and the maximum amount of everything) for a few days by now, after all.
I’d gotten so used to those super heavy dresses that it almost felt as if I wasn’t wearing anything at all! Light, loose dresses are so comfy!
“Wow! It’s not heavy, or stifling!” I cheered happily, spinning in place. It’ll be easy to dance in this! And my shoes weren’t those stiletto heels I’d been practicing martial arts in, but ones with heels half the height that were easy on my feet. “My feet won’t get tired with these!” I cried when I realized. Turning corners will be simple in these! Oh wait...guess I won’t be doing that
While I was getting happy about all those simple things...
“Today’s dress looks wonderful on you, Madam. Let’s get your jewelry on, too,” said Stellaria, promptly putting on my necklace, earrings, and my usual ring—my beautiful, sparkly ring that matched Mr. Fisalis’s. Which can also be a deadly weapon if needed, apparently... I’m gonna pray that day never comes!
As I stared at the ring, Dahlia and Stellaria both gave me strained smiles, seemingly reading my mind.
Once I was all done up, I went down the stairs and found Mr. Fisalis all ready in the salon. Sorry for making you wait...
Today, he was wearing proper party clothes instead of his uniform. It’d been ages since I saw him in something other than that! Dark colors suited him. He looked wonderful and manly in his work clothes, but dressing properly like this really brought out his handsomeness too.
By the way, our matching items today were his ring, tie, and pocket square. All of the little details matched. Yes, it was pretty much obligatory by now.
“I’m sorry for making you wait!”
“I wasn’t waiting long. Let’s get going right away, though.”
I greeted Mr. Fisalis as he sat on the sofa, and he folded up whatever document thing he’d been reading and put it in his inner pocket before walking up to me.
“You’re looking your best again today, Viola. Sometimes I wish I could keep you locked up here at the house.”
“Please, I’d love it if you’d lock me up!”
“But I can’t. Not today. Ah, I should’ve slacked off more on preparations.”
What’s wrong, Mr. Fisalis?! You usually go along when I say something like that! But today, he was all for me going out to socialize. Rohtas didn’t even need to pop in!
And hey, what do you mean by slacking off on the preparations?
“If I don’t get all dressed up, no one would even notice me.”
“That’s ridiculous! Your beauty shines from within!”
“Stop that already!”
He was on the verge of having an “I Love My Wife” attack, so I slapped my hands over his mouth. Don’t do that here! Rohtas is so shocked that he couldn’t even get in a dig at us!
After we finished our little back and forth, we headed for the carriage porch. The carriage was already there, but my in-laws were nowhere to be seen.
“Oh, are Mother and Father Fisalis not coming with us tonight?”
“Mother was called to help Her Majesty with her stress, so she left before us.”
“Ah, I see.” Probably she was going there to chat with the queen and help her relax that way. Of course, I’m sure I don’t have to mention the source of said stress.
Despite how crazy they acted, the Aurantian siblings were technically Flür’s guests, so the royals would’ve still had to deal with them after we all left. Princess Orangé had made even a social pro like the queen slip up last time. I felt bad even just watching. I couldn’t imagine how anxious the queen herself had been.
And with that, we boarded the carriage.
“Have a nice time.”
“Please be very careful.”
Rohtas and the others saw us off, but what did they mean by that last little bit there?!