"Isn't being unreasonable my role? And being flabbergasted is your role."
At those words, Esperanza couldn't help but chuckle. As her stiffly hardened lips relaxed, Cider added:
"And that's because you sent me off to the men, isn't it? Traitor."
This was another groundless attack. Esperanza blinked in bewilderment and retorted.
"You should have said something before coming if you didn't want that. I didn't know you disliked it."
Actually, she had noticed at the time, but how was she supposed to know if he was serious or not? When she said this with a straight face, Cider sighed.
"If I had said something, you wouldn't have betrayed me?"
She rolled her eyes. That was......
"I don't know. Probably?"
"How reassuring."
The conversation cut off around there. A lady laughed a bit loudly and said:
"You two seem very close."
There were about six or seven people in front of them. Most were conversing among themselves, but when the lady interrupted their conversation, they gave their attention as if they had been waiting.
Since Esperanza had her hand on Cider's arm, their arms had been overlapping the whole time. Though she wore heeled dance shoes, there was still a height difference, so Esperanza's nose bridge as she tilted her chin up and Cider's chin as he lowered his head slightly almost touched. In that state, they had been having their own conversation without even realizing this fact.
Esperanza Hunter. The lady the Count claimed was his ward. But was that really all? Who wouldn't have suspected otherwise?
"Close, hardly."
"Avondale, I never thought you'd become someone's guardian."
"It was unavoidable circumstances."
"Michael Hunter, was it? I didn't know you had an agent in Paolun."
"That's right. Do you have a business there?"
"No. But I also need someone to manage my technology and inventions according to colonial law. Mr. Hunter handled related work in Paolun."
That way, Esperanza Hunter's status could be roughly guessed. Probably wealthy gentry. If she had been selling Avondale's technology in Paolun, it was possible to guess that her inheritance wouldn't be small either. People who had been watching from a distance approached with a bit more goodwill.
"Esperanza...... what an exotic name."
"I think it's wonderful! I wonder why grandfather named me Mary."
The 'Mary' who said this was Mary Elizabeth Talbot, the Duke of Shodney's niece and a distant relative of the Queen. The rustic name was attached purely because of stuffy bloodlines.
"My name was given by my mother. She was from Salamanca."
"Oh my, I see."
"Come to think of it, Miss Hunter has an exotic appearance too."
Bullshit. This face was the product of customization to create a character that suited her taste, and the name was...
'I got it from a naming shop.'
Really.
Next to the Hunter Association building was a shabby naming shop, and she could only say they had chosen a good location. When novice Hunters who logged into the game without thinking with terrible names realized they absolutely couldn't proceed with the game with such names—that is, when their names appeared written in amazing cursive on their Hunter licenses—they would see that shabby but somehow more spiritually potent-looking naming shop right before their eyes.
Esperanza was one of those victims. Esperanza's original name, which they were praising as pretty, was 'Kind Sweet and Sour Pork,' the same nickname she used in the mobile game Cookie Run. As soon as the tutorial ended, she immediately ran to the naming shop and came out with a changed name.
She was really glad she didn't become Miss Kind Sweet and Sour Pork Hunter.
"You're thinking something strange again, aren't you?"
Cider asked, barely moving his lips as if muttering. Esperanza answered.
"Yes."
"......You actually answer yes to that?"
"I really was thinking something strange."
For example, the thought of Cider Claiborne calling her 'Kind Sweet and Sour Pork' instead of 'Esperanza' in that sweet, gentle voice of his.
"Oh my, it must really be true?"
"I'm telling you it is."
"Goodness, that Avondale......"
Again, those glances suggesting they were flirting among themselves. Cider shrugged and pulled his body back slightly. Those gazes only disappeared when George Byron led Esperanza to the dance floor.
"Miss Hunter is going to dance, so why aren't you doing anything?"
Lady Perth asked in a stern voice.
"Because I'm tired."
"Tired, my foot."
Of course, it didn't work at all. Still, Cider persisted earnestly. Lady Perth was his late godmother's sister, and perhaps because of that, she seemed to feel a strange sense of responsibility toward Cider, with whom she wasn't even that close.
The problem was that this responsibility manifested not as taking care of him, but as pushing him into the annoying high society quagmire. For instance, having to play the role of a charity worker rescuing wallflowers as Lady Perth designated.
"Is Miss Hunter a good person?"
"From what I've experienced living with her, she had no bad aspects."
"You've lived together enough to say you've 'experienced' it?"
Ah, this is why he hated snake-like old ladies. Cider smiled. Since he was in front of a tight-lipped old lady, he decided it was okay to sacrifice his and Esperanza's reputation a little if necessary.
"Since we live in the same house, there's no helping it."
"No fool would be fooled by such honeyed words. I know you're not the type to live rubbing shoulders with someone you don't even like, even if you're forced to take them into your house, Avondale."
Lady Perth prevented Cider from answering and continued:
"Whatever the opportunity, I welcome you growing attached to someone."
It's not like that. Even now, Cider could recite the reasons for the goodwill he showed Esperanza. Though he couldn't tell Lady Perth any of them, it was definitely not about growing attached or living shoulder to shoulder.
'It's not definitively not that. Just not that, to that degree.'
Anyway, it wasn't. Cider looked with displeasure at Esperanza spinning around holding George Byron's hand.
While he was suffering like this, what was so enjoyable about Esperanza dancing with someone like Byron?
"You look upset."
Esperanza, who had returned after a while escorted by George Byron, said.
"Indeed. Avondale, did something unpleasant happen?"
"It's not something you need to worry about. Now that you've danced, leave."
Byron seemed reluctant to leave Esperanza, but surprisingly departed cleanly.
"Byron isn't a very good person."
Though he himself wasn't a 'very good person' either, he said this shamelessly. Esperanza unexpectedly nodded readily.
"He seemed that way."
"Ah? He seemed that way?"
It wasn't that he had the boorish thought that she shouldn't have danced then. After all, a ball was a place for dancing, and precisely because of that, even Cider, who extremely disliked wasting time, especially socializing with people he wasn't interested in, danced at balls. To others it might seem like he barely danced, but he did dance anyway.
"He only talked about women."
"Aha."
For Esperanza, that was rather fortunate. It was easier to shake off someone who was just a rake who hit on any woman rather than someone who acted like Kendrick. Kendrick...... it was just really fortunate that he didn't come to this party.
"Shall we go home now?"
The purpose had been achieved more than expected. She had made her mark in high society, been introduced to various gentlemen and ladies, and maintained proper etiquette. It was time to return home sufficiently.
"No."
"Then?"
"There's one last dance song remaining."
The dance with George Byron had been the eighth out of ten songs, and since the ninth dance had just started, exactly one remained.
"......You don't dislike dancing?"
"I dislike it."
"Then why......"
"It's better to maintain appearances, and it's also Lady Perth's order."
That was true. Lady Perth had told Cider that since he had come to a ball for the first time in a million years, he should dance one more song before leaving. Essentially meaning to fill it up completely until the last song.
Though she hadn't said who to dance with, if there was a choice, there was no reason for it to be anyone else.
"If that's the case."
"You seem to like it, dancing?"
"I don't dislike it. If I had to say, rather than dancing, I like moving my body. Shooting, horseback riding, combat."
"There's something strange mixed in there."
"Horseback riding is a bit different."
The difference in perspective between a Count and a Hunter was this great. And for someone who liked moving their body, didn't she stay home too much? Cider smiled blandly and changed the subject.
"Do you know how to ride horses too?"
"I'm good at anything that uses the body."
"Well. You did seem that way. But with steam carriages available, there's no need to ride horses."
Said the Count who had bothered to maintain stables in the age of steam carriages.
Just then the song ended, and people on the dance floor greeted each other and came down.
"We're going home after this ends, right?"
"Are you tired?"
"That's part of it."
Esperanza trailed off. Physically, she was fine. It was just mentally a bit difficult. Like Cider, Esperanza also didn't like places with many people.
'Places with monsters rather than people would be better.'
An omniscient Hunter's perspective.
By the time the last song was about to start, most people were near the dance floor. Whether they wanted to dance or just watch.
"It seems like everyone's staring."
"They're probably not looking at us."
He said this deliberately, but it was half right and half wrong. The famous celebrity Count Avondale, who rarely appeared, and the ward with no connections that he had brought were giving gossips something to chew on and tear apart. But no less than that, Nine Holder's greatest gossip material was also on the dance floor.
"They were looking at Cordelia."
Though she wasn't like Cider who made a habit of not dancing, many people were paying attention to Cordelia because the man holding this girl's hand was supposedly good enough as a bridegroom that even Baron Mabelwood would approve. The expectation or anxiety about whether he might become Cordelia's new bridegroom instead of Dunbarton.
The lady curtsied first, the gentleman placed his hand on his chest and bowed, then the music began. The dance of spinning around in formation wasn't difficult. Befitting the last song, though it was somewhat slow, you could still feel sufficient liveliness.
"There's something I want to ask."
Esperanza, who had spun around and returned to her place, said.
"What is it?"
Cider, who had stepped back according to the steps, pulled Esperanza's hand toward him. The touch that lightly pressed her skin was skillful. Unlike someone who didn't enjoy dancing.
"Why did you make me approach Cordelia? Instead of Baron Mabelwood."