Standing and talking with the heir of the duke, calloused hands concealed by gloves, calloused face concealed by layers of make-up, calloused past and present concealed only by eloquence of speech and this boy's twin sister.
"Do you live in the city?" Len asked. We both resisted the urge to look at each other longer than deemed appropriate, watching the dancing and mingling of everyone else instead.
"No. I am just visiting," I said. "B-But, I'll be here for a while." I did not know why I added that.
I stole a glance at him and noticed he was looking at one woman in particular out on the floor. It was that pink-haired woman who had moved on to yet another dance partner. It would seem even Len could not help but be drawn to her. For the first time that night, I felt the slightest tug of disappointment.
The song ended and the gorgeous woman bowed to her partner and went off. I watched riveted as she approached Rin who must have slipped in some time ago. They chattered, the woman scanning the room, dwindling slightly on Len. Rin snuck me a wink. The pieces all fell into place.
"Her over there. She's your fiancée, correct?" I nodded toward the woman—Luka, I remembered.
His eyes fell down, embarrassed for some reason, as if having the most beautiful woman in the room as a bride-to-be was a tragedy. "Yes, she is."
"Do you love her?" Immediately, I wanted to slap myself upside the head, take a knife, disembowel myself, and die on the streets. What in God's name are you thinking, girl? I hadn't the slightest inkling of an answer. It was like a ghost from somewhere far away took hold of me and compelled me into dangerously personal territory. I did not need to know such affairs, but the ghost did.
Len sputtered heavily. I closed my eyes in expectance of a dismissal and scorning, but none came. Instead there was a surge of laughter. "S-Sorry, I just have never been asked that before."
I quickly recovered my wits. "Really? Not even your family?"
His face grew solemn. "No, not even them. It was arranged, of course."
"Oh. Yes, of course."
"Are you married or soon to be?"
"Me? No, definitely not. I'm not someone most would look at in that way." I shooed away the notion like a fly.
"I doubt that."
Against my wishes, my face heated to an unimaginable temperature. "You never did answer my question."
"Which one?"
"Do you love her? Lady Luka Megurine?"
"I don't think it matters."
"That is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard."
"I-It is?"
"Yes. Love not mattering to marriage is like water not mattering to the ocean. Wouldn't people be happier with someone they love in a small house than someone they barely know or maybe even detest but in a large house? Sure, they would not be living in that much luxury, but most people never even see the inside of a place such as this and live perfectly happy lives."
He looked at me wide-eyed like I was suffering from hysteria. Hastily, I added, "Or at least that is one way of seeing it."
"Wow," he said. "You're very…different."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
He smiled. "Good."
"You're very different as well."
"People tell me that a lot. Mostly my sister."
"Your sister invited me here today. She seems nice on the inside."
"'On the inside' being the key part of that sentence."
"I'm sure having a sister must be nice at times."
"You're an only child?" he asked.
"Yes."
"That's rare nowadays."
"Yes, well…" They did not exactly have the means to support another one, even if they were alive.
A song shift. I stole a glance at Luka, who eyed us suspiciously. Maybe she did not like another woman speaking with her fiancé despite her countless superfluous gestures to other men tonight. I thought men and women in high society were the other way around.
I was turning to Len to inform him that his bride-to-be was more than likely about to come over here and demand a dance when he blurted, "Would you like to dance with me?"
In equal alacrity, I replied, "Sure!" I was fully aware that I had no idea how to do this, but some ancient soul inside me said I could do it, that I knew how to and have done it a thousand times.
We stepped up to the edge of the floor. One hand raised in the air to meet his, the other resting on his shoulder as his was on my waist. Audibly, we both took a deep breath.
A woman's scream shattered the air, ripping a void in between all partners and pushing all our eyes to the back corner of the room. Already, people were gathering like moths to a flame around the still figure of a girl on the ground.
"She's dead!" a hysterical woman screamed, causing the room to gasp. "SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S NOT MOVING!"
"Everybody, quiet!" a man yelled. "I'm trying to hear her heartbeat!"
However, no one quieted down. I broke my petrified stance and rushed to the girl, just as the dignified began moving away in fear of being infected by death. Len shouted something as I went, but I could not hear him.
The man was still trying to listen for a heartbeat. "Just check her pulse!" I yelled above the unpleasant chattering. He did not respond. "Check her pulse!" He nodded frantically and placed two fingers on her wrist. He closed his eyes a concentrated. I looked down at the woman, older and awfully pale, but pretty nonetheless. Her red dress and short brown hair had fallen around her like Sleeping Beauty. A chipped wine glass was still clenched in her grasp.
"I feel it! It's there! She's alive!" the man announced to the stricken room. Sighs of relief spread through every person.
Miku was at the poor woman's side soon enough. With medical experience, she should be able to do something. "I have sent word to my father, Doctor Hatsune! He should be here, soon! Would everyone please clear the room!"
They did not have to be told twice. Half of the spectators were out the door in seconds, and I was swept into the crowd like the pull of the tide. I looked around, but Len was nowhere to be seen.