Moonlight Ball

The King and the Queen were being talked about behind their backs. In a nutshell, the Queen had entered the terrace with another man, and the King had broken down the terrace door, pulling the Queen out of another man’s arms, and had requested a duel. Until last night, Iris hadn’t been concerned about the King, she’d only cried about what to do during the ball. But today, Sidrain, famous for being cold-blooded, had hugged Rosemary in public and had requested a duel over her. It was all very bizarre.

Elaine knew Sidrain well. Sidrain’s dislike of Rosemary was intense. Nevertheless, the fact that he still slept with Rosemary, was a clear indicator that he was cold-blooded; he would have s*x with anything, including someone unclean, if necessary. And in fact, he may have preferred someone unclean over Rosemary. Rosemary would’ve thought that Sidrain was better than that, but not by far. That’s the kind of relationship the two had. How had he changed his tune overnight?

Elaine recalled the afternoon that Sidrain had broken down a fine door; it wasn’t the first time he’d done something like that. The tremendous noise had caused his disciple to faint. No one was surprised because Iris had often fainted after screaming in the tower. Iris didn’t like people touching her, so the monks told Elaine as soon as they had found out that Iris had fainted, and Elaine had gone straight to Iris’s room. And there had stood Sidrain, in all his glory.

He wasn’t supposed to have been there and Elaine hadn’t understood why he was in Iris’s room. The area where he resided wasn’t near her room and he couldn’t claim to have gotten lost since he’d lived there so long. Elaine knew that he’d been known for his cold-hearted personality since he was a young boy.

“Your Highness? Why are you here?”

“Are you a disciple?” Sidrain suddenly asked, and Elaine nodded.

“Yes, sir.”

“I broke the door, and she collapsed in front of me. I opened the door again, but I couldn’t touch her because she was a girl. Please check her. Is she hurt?”

Why did you break the door? He’d wanted to ask but Iris seemed to have been buried under the door, so he wanted to check on her first. But why on earth did you break someone’s door?

Elaine picked Iris up in one swift movement. At that moment, Sidrain’s eyebrows had wriggled. He didn’t seem to like something but had kept quiet. He hadn’t been able to comprehend why this man was so arrogant and rude and that he thought he could break a person’s door down. Even though he was a royal, and the Crown Prince, this was the tower and a place to be respected. Elaine had shaken his head in disapproval and hugged Iris who was then lying on the bed.

Sidrain had tried to squeeze in between them, and Elaine had roughly drawn the curtains around Iris’s bed. A thin layer of cloth had stood between Sidrain and Elaine.

“What are you doing?” he had asked.

“She’s a girl, as you said, Your Grace.”

“And you…! Never mind, just take care of her.” Sidrain seemed to want to say something further but shut up instead.

Elaine had looked at Iris, unable to understand why Sidrain was acting so weird. His disciple had been fine, except for a large lump on her forehead and a few scratches. Maybe she’d fainted in surprise. She’d often done that. He’d known that she’d been trying to break this habit for a while, but it hadn’t been easy for her.

As Elaine had healed her body and put her to sleep, trying to avoid waking her up unnecessarily, Sidrain, who’d been bowing his head, had suddenly looked up. Transparent red eyes, which seemed to be made by melting the finest rubies, had looked down at Elaine, “What about her?”

It had sounded like he was interested in her well-being, which was even more out of character for him, and had made Elaine feel uncomfortable. Elaine had answered obediently, with a frown, “I’ve cured everything else to the point of lumps and bumps, and now she is sound asleep, Your Grace.”

“You’re sure, right?” Sidrain had nodded when he’d answered and had looked as if he were giving it a lot of thought.

“She is my disciple, Your Grace.”

With one flick of Elaine’s finger, Iris had been restored to good health. He’d left her room thinking that she might have to use some magic to repair the wooden door. As he’d tried to close the broken door, he’d looked back and seen Sidrain standing in the middle of the room, wondering what on earth was wrong with him.

“Your Highness?”

He’d whispered to Iris, “I want to see your face.”

“She’s sleeping. Would you excuse her?” Elaine had pointed to the open doorway and Sidrain had left the room unwillingly.

The next day, Sidrain went to Elaine as soon as he’d finished his lunch. He’d been praised in the morning for perfecting mana control during the incident that happened the day before. Those who’d talked about Sidrain’s failure to control his magic, and that he might be deprived of his position, changed their words overnight, saying that he was also a prince and that his achievements were great. After listening to them, Sidrain had gone to Elaine and had said with a very nervous look, “I owe her an apology.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Iris.”