Damn it, Philip, you old fox! You're plainly putting me on the spot!
But with all eyes on him, Rudeus couldn't afford to lose face.
He sighed inwardly, put aside the helpless expression on his face, and donned a warm, gracious, impeccable smile.
Looking at the expectant faces below, Rudeus declared in a loud voice:
"Everyone, eyes on me!"
"Look at me, look at me!"
"I have an announcement!"
"I am Eris's fiancé-Rudeus Greyrat!!"
"I am the incarnation of the Primordial God!"
As he spoke, his body slowly floated downward, his bearing as sacred and solemn as a god descending.
The people below were ecstatic...
"Oh my god!!"
The crowd below went wild!!!
"Oh! You're amazing! You said you're a god!"
The crowd erupted, shouting in unison:
"Primordial God!!!"
"Primordial God!!!"
At this abrupt turn of events, Philip, Hilda, and Eris all stared with wide eyes.
Eris was about to explain, but the crowd had already surrounded Rudeus.
Hilda covered her mouth in astonishment and stared blankly across the crowd at the brown-haired boy in their midst.
Philip covered his face with a wry smile. He hadn't expected his little scheme to drag his daughter into it.
As soon as Rudeus landed on the first floor, he got an immediate taste of what it meant to suffer from being a celebrity.
"Oh! Are you Mr. Rudeus? Seeing you in person is even better than hearing about you. A true hero, and so young!"
"Mr. Rudeus, I am Baron Rosenberg from the north. Here is my card. I wonder if you might be interested in visiting my domain after the banquet? My eldest daughter happens to be the same age as you..."
"Oh, Master Rudeus, what miraculous magic did you use to bring about such a complete transformation in Lady Eris? Could you teach us?"
Countless splendidly dressed noblemen and women swarmed around Rudeus like sharks scenting blood, hemming him in on all sides.
The pungent scents of various perfumes rushed up his nose, and the groping hands and false smiles made waves of nausea rise in him.
To maintain his image as the "Greyrat family's child prodigy," he could only force a smile and talk nonsense to placate them,
while several noblewomen old enough to be his grandmother dragged him onto the dance floor, where he mechanically went through a few turns with them.
This was more fucking exhausting than fighting the Dragon God Orsted!
Just as Rudeus was nearing the limit of his patience and was even preparing to use Voiceless Incantation wind magic to blow all these flies away-
A fair, warm hand suddenly reached gracefully through the jostling crowd.
Though the movement was swift, it was perfectly natural and beyond reproach as the hand rested gently on my wrist.
"Everyone, I'm terribly sorry. Rudeus has an important matter to discuss at the moment, so I'm afraid I must ask you to excuse us for a while."
Eris's voice rang out at just the right moment, her tone steady, her noble manner of speech impeccable.
At some point, she had lifted her skirts and made her way into the crowd.
There was no trace of crude anger on her delicate, pretty face. Instead, she wore a flawless social smile that held not a hint of warmth.
Her long, fiery red hair fell smoothly under the banquet hall lights. Far from her usual irascible manner, she looked even more unapproachably regal.
She took a subtle half step forward, placing herself in front of Rudeus with a grace that brooked no refusal.
Her beautiful wine-red eyes narrowed slightly as she calmly surveyed the nobles seeking favor around them with a lofty, appraising gaze.
The nobles who had surrounded Rudeus paled slightly under Eris's flawless display of a noble lady's etiquette and the subtly sharp, oppressive presence of a superior.
None dared be rude in public to a daughter of House Boreas whose conduct was beyond reproach, so they could only force apologetic smiles and discreetly retreat.
Rudeus looked at the straight-backed figure standing in front of him, her etiquette flawless...
For a moment, he was a little dazed, but his tense mood inexplicably relaxed completely.
"Rudeus, you idiot, how can you be so weak?!"
"Do you have to dance with any disgusting person who asks you?!"
"And what was all that you just said?! Who's your fiancée? I... I haven't agreed yet!"
Eris turned to glare at him, looking a little indignant, but her flushed face and slightly trembling lashes betrayed her true thoughts.
"Oh, my lady, what else could I do?"
Rudeus smiled wryly, then turned his hand and took hold of her soft wrist.
"Take off your glove."
"Why...?" Eris was a little flustered by Rudeus's sudden action.
"I'm the only one who gets to hold Eris's little hand."
"What are you talking about... idiot," Eris said coquettishly, a blush spreading across her cheeks.
Rudeus bowed slightly, a gentle smile playing on his lips.
"Then, here and now... I wonder if I might have the honor of inviting Lady Eris, the most beautiful lady here tonight, to join me for this final dance?"
Eris looked at Rudeus, stunned for half a second. Then her face suddenly turned red to the tips of her ears.
"Hmph... S-since you're begging me like that, I suppose I can bring myself to accept!"
She lifted her chin with a haughty air and placed her hand on Rudeus's shoulder.
As if struck by inspiration at that very moment, the orchestra launched into a magnificent, stirring, and epic waltz.
Rudeus and Eris stepped forward together.
If Eris's dances with the others had been a one-sided rout,
then her dance with him now was, in the truest sense, an art in which their souls resonated.
Eris's physical ability and muscle memory had reached a perfect peak;
while Rudeus, relying on his extraordinary mental perception and mana control, could match every subtle hint of movement she made as if he could almost see the future.
Her skirts billowed like flames blossoming in the night sky;
their steps crossed like stars resonating in their orbits.
The two spun and leaped wildly in the center of the enormous dance floor.
At that moment, the false nobles around them, the clamor of fame and fortune, and even the luxurious mansion itself seemed to vanish from their world.
In his eyes, there was only that blaze of red, and in hers, only Rudeus, whose eyes likewise reflected her image.
Every turn and every meeting of their eyes was so perfectly in sync that it was as though they had rehearsed together for countless millennia.
As the final stirring note fell, Rudeus turned smoothly to the side and lifted Eris, holding her steady in his arms.
Her chest rose and fell sharply, and her wine-red eyes shone brilliantly as she gazed intently at the man before her, wearing a smile of immense pride mingled with endless feeling.
The entire banquet hall fell deathly silent.
Then...
"Bravo!!! Absolutely wonderful!!!"
Sauros's roof-raising roar shattered the silence.
Then deafening applause and cheers swept through the hall like an avalanche.
Even the most discerning and most caustic nobles from the royal capital had to rise to their feet and applaud wildly for the almost miraculous spectacle.
Amid the resounding applause and cheers, the birthday ball destined to be recorded in the annals of the Fittoa region finally-
Came to a perfect close.