I could tell from how crowded the corridor we went through was with guards and attendants, as well as the noise there was in some apartments, that a large number of guests had arrived at the castle while we were in our room.

The famous room was on a completely different wing of the castle, and we only got there after about five minutes of walking.

As soon as we opened the famous room door, we were warmly welcomed by a voice. "Ah, you’re all finally here."

As I thought this was an ambush.

We were welcomed by Ramia's mother, who was accompanied by several attendants, including Leonore, and Luke, who was there holding Elliel in his arms.

"My Aunt, what are-" Started Mael, not expecting to see her, literally waiting for us.

"Come on, Mael. Don’t fuss over the details. " She said as she urged him in.

As we all entered the room, she closed behind us, as if to cut us off from our chance of retreat.

The room has everything one would expect from a ballroom, including a large free circular space in the center and people holding instruments in the corner.

"Aunt, could you please explain the meaning of this?"

"Didn't you two come here to assist Ramia with her dance lesson?"

"No-I mean yes, but what I really meant was, what are you two doing here?"

"We're here for the same reason you two are: to assist," Ramia’s mother said with a wink.

She then turned to Luke as if to deliver a message, which Luke understood, for he immediately approached Leonore and handed Elliel to her.

"You three, watch carefully."

Luke and Ramia's mother entered a corner of the room, and Luke extended his hand as if to ask for Ramia's mother's hand, which she graciously offered.

And as soon as she did, the musicians, who had been silent since the beginning, began to play waltz music.

When the music started, Luke and Ramia's mother walked slowly to the center of the room while still holding hands, and when they stopped, they took a salute-like position.

They then began to engage in a dance that my uncultured self couldn't describe in proper and appropriate words.

Despite the fact that I was no expert in the field, I could tell those were expert maneuvers. Their choreography was not only gorgeous and elegant, but there was something else about how the two of them danced that made it feel like a fairy tale. That thing, even I could tell, was their connection.

They had clearly done this dance more than once, because they were performing as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

After a while, I could tell from the music that their dance was coming to an end, and it did. They ended their dance with that stance where the girl is about to fall backward headfirst and the guy is doing everything he can to keep her from doing so.

We naturally applauded, for their choreography absolutely deserved it.

"That was fantastic." I honestly commented.

"Yes, Uncle, Aunt, your dance was incredible."

"Thanks, you two." Ramia said, before turning to Ramia, "I expect you to perform something as good as this tomorrow."

"That’s a little bit ..."

"Now, back to Ramia’s training, but first, Lenore, do it. "

"Certainly, Madam." She approached Ramia and said, "Please, young lady," she said as she led Ramia to the adjacent room.

They left us in a strange silence, but it was only for a short time before they returned.

Ramia, who had entered the room with the one she had earlier worn, now emerged wearing a long black dress with fire kindling motifs.

"How is it?" Ramia asked us.

"Eh, to be honest, it just looks weird. Indeed, the dress looked lovely on her, and it was that same gorgeousness that made it strange. "

"It looks very good on you. Right, Mael? "

"Yes,.. yes, it is as Ronandt said."

"Hum… is that so?"

"You see, I told you it looked good." Ramia's mother remarked. "Now, Ramia, could you please just do what your father and I did earlier?" It was at that moment that she looked toward us, " Mael."

"Guh," Mael couldn’t help but let out as a cry, knowing his fate.

Sorry, Mael, and best wishes to you.

Since no one was looking at me, I silently walked toward the most rudimentary furniture in a nobility's room: the sofa.

But as I walked toward it, I felt a strange and creepy gaze on my back.

"Actually... Ronandt, would you like to try to be her partner for this session?" I heard Ramia’s mother's voice, suggesting, behind me.

"Eh…I don’t think I’m..."

"This is just this humble butler's opinion, but I think it's a good idea. I doubt the meager pointers he received from me and his governess were sufficient," Syrius commented, before saying, "Please, Young Lord, accept Lady Renata's generous offer."

Syrius, you damn traitor.

It was true, I did indeed receive some pointers from Maa and him, but nothing extensive, just the most basic of the basics.

"Weren’t you the one who said earlier that he wanted a final lesson?" Mael added.

Even you, Mael.

"That was just-"

"Come on, you can do this. Remember what you said earlier, nothing is impossible with the help of the Seven. Have faith. " Ramia said, mimicking what I had said earlier in the afternoon.

Being pressured by almost everyone, I was left with no other choices. "Okay, I will try it but only once."

Just like Ramia’s parents earlier did, we went to the corner of the room.

I held out my hand just like Luke did.

"Please, spare my feet. In exchange, I will do my best to spare this beautiful dress of yours. "

"Why do you think it was made black for?" She said as she offered her hand."

Following the rhythm of the music, we moved slowly to the center of the room,

The dance itself is fairly simple; it mainly consists of drifting around the room without trampling each other's feet, some rotations here and there, and variations, with each having its own form of rotation.

Okay, it's not quite as easy as I make it sound, but I had to admit that the male partner had it easy in this dance. Some moves may appear complicated, but they are mostly derivatives of previous ones. It's almost the same move for the male partner over and over; it's only for the female partner that there are many different moves and variations, particularly the rotation.

So, while this dance was fairly repetitive, it was up to one and one’s partner to make it feel novel, just as Ramia's parents had done earlier.

To be honest, once we got to the middle of the room, I went into auto-pilot mode, or perhaps I should say I let Ramia handle everything. With the exception of some sharp pains in my feet from time to time, it, in my opinion, went pretty well.

When we were finished, the room erupted in applause.

"That was lovely, I told you Ramia that it wasn’t that complicated as long as you put in some effort."

"Young Lord, I wish Maa saw that dance, I’m sure, she would have been so proud of you," Syrius said while wiping nonexistent tears from his mask.

"I didn’t know that you had that much talent for dance." Mael teased.

"Please, spare me."

Seeing that Ramia’s mother and Leonore were about to ask me to make another round, I immediately went with a "Sorry, I am not used to this. This is all for me today," I announced as I headed over to the corner of the room where the sofa was.

"What a shame. Well, well... Come on, Mael. It’s your turn now. "

"My Aunt, I think-"

"Hey, come on, no excuse."

"Yes..."

Unlike our dance, Ramia and Mael were showered with pointers by her mother. She must have come up with pointers after watching our choreography, since from my sofa, I could hear my name being thrown here and there.

"Don’t they remind you of someone?" Luke asked while approaching me.

It seems that the question was not addressed to me but rather to Syrius, who was standing by my side.

"Yes, Lord Luke, they do remind me of someone."

"Who reminds you of whom? ’ I asked Syrius, but it was Luke who answered my questions.

"You three, you resemble us very much when we were your age. Is it right, Rufus? "

"Yes, it is, Lord Luke."

"Ramia has a personality similar to Phillip's: loud, passionate, energetic, and violent. Ah, that idiot,... I can't count the number of times Damien and I had to stop him from strangling that one annoying Bartholomeo child," Luke reminisced.

"Oh, I remember that. I must say that I'm very impressed that he's managed to become a decent doctor despite his personality."

"When he met Mael’s mother, one must say the bastard became a completely different person. I'm not sure if it was his passion for his research that sparked his love for her, or if it was the other way around, but these two are now inseparable."

Elliel, who was playing with a small rope coming from his bow tie between his father's thighs, didn't seem to mind the discussions at all.

"In some ways, I feel sorry for Mael being the son of these two. He would have been far better if he had been born as Damien's son. "

"Damien, what kind of person was he? I had only heard that he was the one who looked after Mael when he was a child, but that was pretty much all," I asked.

"Despite being the youngest of us, he was our trio's serious and collected elder brother, the polar opposite of the one who was supposed to be his elder brother. He was a good child. His only problem was that he was way too easily influenced by Philip, and even if he wasn't, he was frequently left with no choice but to deal with the mess left by his brother. Ah, I still remember how mad Mathilda was each time it happened. "

Having finished playing with his bow ties, Eliel curiously observed me from where he was. It was like he was using his father’s thigh as a trench, to shyly hide himself from me.

"His decision to join the Paladin Order caught both Philip and me off guard; he wasn't even seventeen when he announced it to us; apparently, he has found someone in the Paladin Order to whom he can relate on many levels. His habit of cleaning up after his brother didn't seem to have changed much, given the fact that he had taken five years off just to care for Mael."

I motioned for him to come over with a wave of my hand. He left his father and walked in front of me, albeit reluctantly.

I used the rope he was playing with to make a star pattern. He seemed to enjoy it, so I undid it and remade it at a slower pace so he could see how it was done.

"And you? What were you like, years ago? " I asked to relaunch our earlier discussions.

"Me...Let’s see…"

Instead of letting Luke narrate it, Sirius took the speech,"Younger, Lord Luke was a lot like you; he was quiet, but not as much as the Young Lord, and he was the type to make a mess behind everyone's back. If Lord Damian was an angel and Lord Philip was a devil, then Lord Luke would have been the devil disguised as an angel. To be honest, Lord Damien wasn't just cleaning up after his brother; he was also cleaning up after his cousin."

Are they implying that I'm making messes in the background?

"That was harsh," Luke added, his two cents.

"Truths hurt, yet they are still preferable to lies."

"Certainly."

Ramia and Mael's dance had ended without us noticing, and they were now approaching us.

"Thank you for today, Ronandt. I believe Ramia should be ready, if she doesn’t suddenly pull anything weird, for tomorrow."

"It was nothing."

"You can now go back to your rooms, and I'll send over something tasty to eat. I believe it is time for us to return to greet our visitors. Elliel? "

Elliel, who was in front of me and still trying to imitate a star with neckties, didn't seem to hear his mother calling for him.

"Elliel, I believe your mother called you," I made him remark.

It was only then that he, realizing he was being called, returned to his mother's arm.

"I'll see you three later, for dinner," she said, heading for the room exit, closely followed by Luke. As they left, Elliel waved goodbye with his small hand, to which I warmly returned the gesture.

***

After our business in the dance room, we returned to our rooms, or rather, Mael's room. Leonore entered the room not long after we did, bringing candy and chocolates with her. I was no child to be duped by candy, but hey, free candy is free candy.

We sat cross-legged on the bed, forming a triangle, and resumed our earlier game of rock-paper-scissors, but this time with Ramia, who had retrieved the clothes she wore earlier in the afternoon.

Given that I had lost the previous game, I was required to respond to one of their questions.

Ramia and Mael were trying to figure out what to ask when Mael hesitantly asked, "You said you were here just to meet Great-grandfather, but what are you going to do after that?"

Ah, that.

I couldn't quite muster an immediate response to that question.

"I'm not sure yet, but it all depends on my family; if they allow it, I may stay here for a while. To be honest, what happens after tomorrow is still somewhat vague for me. "

"Go ahead and ask them to let you stay." Isn't it fun to be here? If possible, I'd like to return to the Lower District, buy that sour-tasting fruit, and try that strange food the woman was grilling, and I'm sure Mael is eager to return to that tree as well, right?"

"Yes, I agree with Ramia."

True,

I admit that when Grandfather Emilien drove me from the manor to here, I was very stressed out by the abrupt change of environment; I didn't expect these three months to pass, and that was proof of how enjoyable my time in Edouard Castle was.

"I will do my best to request that from them."

"Yes, please do."

We then resumed our game, and this time the game settled with Ramia’s loss.

"Come on, bring it on." She said, puffing her torso as if there was anything to be proud of.

"Do you have any questions to ask, Ronandt? Because I don't. "

"Me too. It's fair to say that she doesn't have a lot of interesting things going on in her life to be questioned about.

"Hey!"

"Sorry Sorry, I was just kidding. A question... huh... okay then, why did you begin training with a sword?"

It seems my question took her off guard, since for a moment she remained dead silent.

"Great-grandfather," she finally muttered, after a while.

"What’s with your great-grandfather?"

"When Elliel was two, he received a sword as a gift from his great-grandfather. I wanted one too, so I began sword-training myself. "

There was no reason for someone to give a sword to a two-year-old boy, unless it was a noble custom: which consists of gifting a tool you are living off, in this case, a sword, to the youngest member of the family who happens to be the same gender as you.

This custom had no name, but it was a way for the older generation to express their hope that the younger generation would follow in their footsteps and, perhaps, even surpass them in the future.

"Weird, but I guess that’s a valid motive."

"Yeah."

"Rock-paper-sci-" Our game was suddenly cut short by the noise of the door suddenly bursting open.

At the sudden commotion, Syrius immediately drew his sword in the direction of the door, which immediately lowered when he saw that the one opening it was grandfather Emilien.

"Ah, here you were, Boy; come with us, we have to leave right away," Grandfather Emilien said, somewhat panicked and anxiously.

"Lord Emilien, what happened?" Syrius asked.

"Syrius, Ronandt must leave immediately."

"Why?"

"We have no time to explain. We will explain it to you later. For the time being, you must follow us."

I wasn't sure who he was referring to when he said "us." At first I thought it was him and Syrius, but when I saw the man behind him, I realized who he was talking about.

When I first became fully awake that night, I saw five people in that room: Maa, Luke, Grandfather Emilien, my mother, and finally this man.

I didn't see his face at the time, but when I saw him, I recognized him right away because of his mask and cloak.

He still wears them today.

"Grandfather, what happened?" Mael asked.

"Please, Mael and Ramia, can you two stay here until I return? I need to accompany Ronandt somewhere, and I'll be back soon; can you two do that for me?"

They all looked at me with a confused expression before "Yes, ..." they both reluctantly agreed.

"Ronandt, come with us, we can’t tarry here any longer."

"Yes."

I really wish I had been given the opportunity to give them a proper goodbye. But with how in a hurry we were, the best I could do was to give Ramia and Mael a last glance and, with a wave of the hand, I bid them farewell.

We began walking in very hurried steps toward a part of the castle I was unaware of, and strangely, the weird feeling that had been creeping since earlier in the evening got more and more powerful.

"Vicar Serana, Lord Emilien, What exactly happened?" Syrius ventured after we arrived at a location in the castle where he was confident no one would overhear.

"Our plans have changed; Ronand must leave the castle immediately. Two of the worst people he should never ever meet are on their way over here and are expected to reach this castle before Lord Armand. "

"Who?"

"The Medvedik cousins. The Archbishop Gregor Medvedick, in charge of the authority of Djeem the Accursed, and The Holy Paladin Dominik Medvedick, the Golden Storm. "