The Return Of The Exiled Villain

The musicians changed the piece.

The first notes were slower, clearer, and immediately familiar.

Conversations across the hall thinned as nobles turned toward the open floor. An attendant near the dais announced what everyone had already understood.

"The first dance."

Partners began moving into place.

The Emperor remained seated while Prince Aerion watched the floor with polite interest.

A space opened in the center of the ballroom, polished stone shining under the chandeliers.

Gray set his glass down and looked at Seraph.

"Shall we?"

Seraph hesitated for only a second, then placed her hand in his.

They walked onto the floor together.

A few nearby nobles paused mid-step when they realized who had taken the first position. The First Princess and Gray Vireux D’Aurélion.

The pairing itself was already enough to draw eyes.

Gray’s hand settled at her waist while Seraph’s fingers rested against his shoulder.

The silver of her gown and the black of his suit stood out sharply against each other as the music rose.

They began to move.

The steps came back at once.

Seraph led him into the first turn with a small, almost automatic pull, then caught herself and let him take control.

Gray followed the rhythm without looking at his feet as if he danced like this multiple times.

Seraph blinked up at him.

"...You still remember all of it."

Gray’s mouth curved slightly.

"You made me dance this often enough."

"Pfft..." A quiet laugh escaped her lips before she could stop it.

The sound was soft, but close as they were, he heard it clearly.

"I did not make you," she whispered.

"I only refused to let you stand in the corner every time the instructors brought the music out."

"That’s practically the same thing."

They turned again.

Her gown flared lightly around her legs.

Gray guided her through the next sequence with the same ease he had shown on the training grounds, except there was no coldness in it now.

The hall watched them, but for a moment the two of them seemed more occupied with the old memory than with the court.

"You learned it after watching once," Seraph said, still smiling.

"I spent weeks on the same steps. You stood there, watched the instructor, and then danced it as if you had been doing it for years."

"It was not difficult."

"It was for everyone else."

She shook her head, the silver earrings catching the light. Another turn brought her closer to him.

The nostalgia in her face was plain now.

This was not the tense girl who had asked him if they would survive the night.

This was the same Seraph who used to drag a younger Gray onto an empty practice floor and tell him that a noble who could not dance would look incomplete.

"I used to think you were only pretending not to care," she murmured.

"Then you would get the whole sequence right and look at me as if I was the strange one for being surprised."

Gray’s hand shifted slightly at her waist as the music lifted.

"You were surprised every time."

"Because it was unfair."

They both almost laughed at that.

Seraph lowered her eyes for a second, then looked back up at him; the nervousness from earlier had completely disappeared at this point.

After a while, the first piece of music finally ended.

Gray and Seraph slowed with the music, then stepped apart just enough to bow.

It was a small, formal gesture, the kind expected after a first dance, but there was still a trace of that earlier smile on Seraph’s face when she rose.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Gray offered his arm again and began guiding her off the floor.

They had only taken a few steps when a hand closed around his other wrist.

"Not yet."

Aurora pulled him back toward the open floor before he could answer.

The musicians had already started the next piece, faster than the first, with a clearer beat and less room to stand still.

"Aurora..."

"You danced with her," she said, already placing his hand at her waist.

"Now you dance with me. That is how a banquet works."

At this, Seraph covered her mouth with her fingers, a quiet chuckle slipping out as she watched Gray get taken away without any chance to refuse.

She did not look jealous.

If anything, she looked faintly entertained by how little choice he had been given.

Aurora did not wait for him to settle.

The second dance pulled them into motion at once.

Her wine-red gown flared as she turned, the fabric brushing against his legs. Unlike Seraph, she did not ease into the steps.

She used the full space, drawing him with her, close enough that the court would notice and far enough that it still looked proper.

"You’re popular tonight," she murmured, looking at him teasingly. "First the Princess, now the Headmistress. The Emperor must be thrilled."

"You didn’t ask."

"I don’t need to." Aurora smiled brightly.

"If I ask, you might say no. This way is faster."

Gray followed her lead for the first turn, then took the rhythm back. Aurora noticed immediately and let out a short, pleased breath.

"There it is. I knew you weren’t going to let me drag you around the whole time."

They crossed the floor in a clean line.

Aurora’s hand rested against his shoulder with familiar ease, as if this were another spar instead of a dance.

Every so often she leaned in just enough to speak without the nearest couples hearing.

"You look good when you stop pretending you hate this."

"I don’t hate it."

"Then stop making that face."

Gray’s expression barely changed, but Aurora still laughed under her breath.

The music lifted.

She turned under his arm, red fabric catching the chandelier light, then came back into step without missing a beat.

A few nobles watching from the edge of the floor began whispering.

It was one thing for Gray to dance with the First Princess.

It was another for the Headmistress of Clementine’s Academy to take the very next piece with him.

Aurora did not care.

"Seraph looked happy," she said.

"That’s rare for her in a hall like this."

Gray guided her through another turn.

"She remembered the old lessons she forced me to take with her."

"Ah yeah, I remember speaking with your mother about this. Were you even talented in this aspect? Such a terrifying man~" she cooed.

Gray rolled his eyes at her comment.

They moved past Maelis’s line of sight, then past Evelyn’s. Aurora kept her chin high the entire time, clearly enjoying the attention more than she would ever admit out loud.

When the piece began to close, she drew him a little nearer.

"Heh~, by the way, you still owe me an explanation for why you thought you wouldn’t need my help."

The last notes rang out.

Aurora did not bow as formally as Seraph had.

She only squeezed his hand once, satisfied, and let him go with a look that said she was not finished with him for the evening.

Gray had barely left the floor when he was stopped.

A circle formed around him before he could reach the side tables.

Silk, perfume, and practiced smiles closed in from every direction.

One girl in pale rose caught his sleeve. Another stepped in front of him as if the space had always belonged to her.

"Lord Gray, would you honor me with the next dance?"

"I have been waiting all evening. Just one piece, please."

"You danced with the Princess and the Headmistress. Surely you can spare a turn for House Relane as well."

A gloved hand lightly touched his arm.

"You won’t refuse me, will you?" the girl in rose asked, already leaning closer. "My father said you have excellent form."

Gray even felt a faint seductive magic coming from the girl, though it obviously didn’t work on him.

"Mine said the same," another cut in.

"I asked first."

"No, I did."

Gray looked from one face to the next, just for more voices to join the fun before he could actually answer any of them.

"Lord Vireux, it would be a shame if you sat out now."

"The night is still young."

"Just one dance. I won’t ask for more."

From a few steps away, Seraph covered her mouth again.

Aurora did not even try to hide it.

Both of them were watching the whole scene with open amusement, clearly enjoying the fact that he had walked into it on his own.

"Look at him," Aurora murmured, loud enough for Gray to hear.

"Surrounded already."

Seraph’s shoulders shook with a quiet laugh.

"He looks like he wants to disappear."

"Fuuh..." Gray exhaled slowly.

Another noble daughter reached for his wrist.

A third had already started speaking about how her family would be grateful, how a single dance would mean so much, how she had admired him since the Exchange.

Then a clear voice cut through the circle.

"Gray."

The girls nearest to him fell quiet first.

The rest followed when they saw who had spoken.

Evelyn stood just outside the ring of dresses and jewelry, calm as ever.

The Northern Duchess did not raise her voice. She did not need to. The moment her eyes settled on him, the air around the group changed.

"Dance with me."

Surprise passed through the noble daughters at once.

A few of them stepped back without realizing it. Even Aurora’s smile paused. Seraph looked from Evelyn to Gray, brows lifting.

Gray did not hesitate.

"Alright."

He said it a second later, as if she had opened a door he had been waiting for. The hand on his sleeve slipped away instantly.

The circle loosened.

Evelyn turned toward the floor without waiting for anyone else’s opinion, and Gray followed her out of the crowd, leaving the unanswered invitations behind him.

’...What does she want with me, though?’

Gray couldn’t help but ponder.