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Chapter 85 Part 4 – I’m!! Heading into battle!! When feelings and fingertips come into contact.

「…… You ……!!」

Viscount Brewer got so angry that he was at a loss for words and his mouth repeatedly opened and closed. I wish he would get a stroke and die.

「Oh, that’s funny. Are you switching from bulldog to goldfish?」

Without a moment’s delay, I threw another attack by laughing loudly.

「Ohohoho, sir, you have a good sense of humor. And a good understanding of your place. To think that you would downgrade yourself from a dog to a fish. I’d like a certain idiot viscount who’s persistently wooing Countess Rosenthal to follow your example.」

There’s no way he can beat a woman in an argument. Of course, the dance is still continuing. I’m not going to let something like this disrupt my breathing. This is mere child’s play compared to the time when I had to defeat multiple opponents in an argument while dancing the ‘Thunderbolt’.

「……!!」

In a state of rage, Viscount Brewer tried to forcibly push me into a corner while doing a reverse turn. That’s not something you should do at a first meeting. What bad manners. Normally at this point, you would move to the center of the room and do a fleckerl, right? At this rate, I would crash into the wall like a car that has failed to make a turn.

But it’s no use. Compared to ‘Thunderbolt’, this kind of dance with lots of rotation is just a game. Viscount Brewer’s face twisted in disbelief as I elegantly slipped past the approaching wall and continued to dance with ease.

「……!!」

Countess Rosenthal, who had been watching with anxiety, let out a small, alarmed voice. It was something that only she, an expert in dancing, could notice. Viscount Brewer skillfully changed his steps and reversed his step towards me. The high-speed rotation was a preparatory step for this purpose. After making everyone’s gazes unable to follow our movements, he set up a trap to make me stumble. Moreover, this situation and timing. I would have crashed my face into the Romalian-style pillar if I didn’t thwart his plan. I see that it is certainly true that Viscount Brewer is good at crushing women through a dance.

…… However. You picked a fight with the wrong person.

As a counterattack, I stomped on the back of Viscount Brewer’s foot. Viscount Brewer cried out from the pain.

「…… I wonder if it’s gout. You should pay attention to your eating habits.」

To avoid any unfairness, I stepped on the back of his left foot as well as his right foot. It was a small gesture of concern from me so that he can keep his balance.

It’s not just his movements that cannot be seen to those around us, but mine as well. Moreover, I’m wearing this long skirt that acts as a cover. It’s so advantageous for me that it makes me laugh. You should realize how foolish you were to set a trap for a superior opponent. And you should be grateful. If I wanted to, I could have crushed your bones with my heels, but I went easy on you, or rather, I went easy on your feet.

「The night is not over yet. As well as the discipline ……」

Arnold blinked his eyes as he watched me laugh. His golden eyes seem to pop out. His brown skin had turned pale.

「…… Scary …… I’ll definitely stop arguing with her ……」

Hey!! Don’t be so frightened that you break your character!! This provocation is half on purpose!!

And it’s not just Arnold. Because of Viscount Brewer’s shout, the majority of the red nobles stopped dancing and watched our dance. Well, I did do that on purpose so that the situation would become like this.

「We are now the center of attention. There’s no way to escape. I wonder which one of us will be publicly executed.」

Viscount Bulwer groaned when I further agitated him. His groan was mixed with anger as well as fear. It seems that he finally realized that he had been cornered when he intended to be one cornering others.

From that point on, Viscount Brewer began acting recklessly and unreasonably.

He pulled my hand and tried to throw me off balance. Then he blatantly attempted to trip me with his foot. He no longer bothered to put up a pretense of dancing. On the contrary, I didn’t lose my balance and continued to dance with ease. I held Viscount Brewer’s wrist joints, controlled his dorsal muscles with the flow of movement, counted his attempt to trip me up as steps, and incorporated them into the dance. Now, let’s break his heart little by little from here.

Viscount Brewer’s entire face was drenched in cold sweat.

He must think that this doesn’t make any sense. Far from being able to free his wrist from my grasp, even the angle of his arms was corrected in an instant and he was forced to continue dancing. He probably feels like he got turned into a marionette by some evil magic.

「Is that all you’ve got?」

In order to stir up his fear, I gave him a terrifying smile like that of a villainess.

What a fool. Why do you think I chose the waltz that requires close contact with the dance partner?

They say that a combat expert can predict their opponent’s movements just by grasping one of their hands.

I have mastered dancing to a certain extent.

Palms, shoulder blades, upper arms, the grip of each other’s hands, and the rest of the upper body in contact with each other. With this much body contact, I can see his next move even if I close my eyes. I can deal with anything he does.

Even when he tried to hit the back of my head against the pillar while taking advantage of the contra check, I could read his intentions from several minutes beforehand. So I continued to move at the same speed to get my eyes accustomed to it, then I deliberately moved in the opposite direction to distract his focus. After doing so, I changed the speed of the rotations. Of course, if I danced with the same tempo as before, the course would be slightly off. But the viscount did not notice. The position of me and the viscount were exchanged, and the Viscount was taken aback when he lost sight of the pillar that was supposed to hit the back of my head.

I was about to sigh. It was too easy. Father would never fall for this trap. This is like a chess expert playing against a beginner who can only read one move ahead. Let me have a little more fun, won’t you? I guess that’s impossible right. Viscount Brewer was so shocked that he forgot to breathe and he’s starting to get hypoxic. I guess it can’t be helped. Let’s finish this.

「From the moment you held my hand, or rather, from the moment you tried to crush me through a dance, your defeat was already decided.」

When I declared my victory, Viscount Brewer’s face twitched.
It looks like he had already lost the energy to yell at me.

The Atlas silk shawl I had borrowed from your mother glowed red as I spun. It’s proof that I’m making my favorite number of turns. The red nobles made a stir. This is the real reason why the Atlas silk was so popular in the future high society, although it was still too much for mother. It had the mysterious property of emitting a specific color when spun at a certain speed. Alisa specialized in blue and I in red. It was also a diploma of mastery of the art of dancing. I was praised as the Jewel of Hydrangea because of my mineral name ‘Ruby’, my red eyes, my red hair, and the red glow emitted by the Atlas silk when I dance.

…… Of course, when I manipulated Viscount Brewer’s joints, I did so secretly by concealing it behind the brilliance of this Atlas silk. Drawing the audience’s attention to something conspicuous and distract them from the main objective of the move. That is the basis of magic.

I was confident of my victory, and I had plenty of composure. The song is nearing its end. I smiled to reassure my mother and the others who were standing behind the gorgeous gold candlesticks lined up like a mountain of swords. I should not have let my guard down for that one moment.

「…… Become a skewer …… with these candlesticks!!」

My entire body was lifted up.

My whole body was pulled up. At the peak of the centrifugal force of the fleckerl, my feet floated. Viscount Brewer threw me into the air. Realizing that he could not possibly win the game, he abandoned the dance and made the forbidden move of overturning the board. At the area where I was going to fall, the tips of the candlesticks glinted like the tip of a spear.

Oh no ……!! I never thought that he would attempt murder in full view of the public. I cornered him too much with fear. He must have fallen into a state of mind where if he didn’t kill me, I would kill him. I should have been more vigilant when I saw Viscount Brewer’s face twitching with fear.