Chapter 59 - Dance Partners

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"F-Father, is this really necessary? Surely you need not bother-" Rean tried to question before Teo interrupted him.

"Hush now son. This is customary in noble circles, best to have you go out there now so that they get used to you now rather than later." Teo replied.

Rean was clearly scared to introduce himself to the rest of the nobility present. How could he not? In attendance was Gerhart Rogner: the lord of the Nortia Province, where the boy's family resided. Along with other noble families who also resided within the Nortia Province. It was a large crowd for the boy to introduce himself to, especially when he unlike the rest of them possibly had commoner blood.

"I know that look. Listen Rean, I know you're worried. Especially because of your situation, but just know that what they have to say does not and will not define you. You're a Schwarzer no matter what." Teo assured him.

"T-Thank you, F-Father." Rean replied before looking down.

With that, Teo led Rean inside Marquis Rogner's mansion. Even though Ymir was close to Roer, a blizzard that morning had delayed their arrival. Along with a last minute change of plans as a result of Elise catching a fever, causing Lucia to stay behind in Ymir to nurse her daughter back to health.

Rean quickly noticed that most of the older nobles' were staring at him and Teo with disgust. As his father led him down to Marquis Rogner so that he could introduce himself, he could hear the nobles whispering amongst themselves.

"So that's Schwarzer's bastard I've heard so much about." a nobleman quietly commented.

"It's no wonder why Lady Schwarzer isn't present. Nobles like that baron sully the rest of the nobility's good image." a noblewoman quietly noted.

"From what I hear the brat is actually unrelated to the baron, likely some commoners had dirt on the baron and blackmailed him into taking their mistake off their hands. Still you'd assume he would've taken that mutt in a servant or even a ward." another nobleman quietly added on.

"The fact that the baron has refused to have that thing blood tested to see where they originate from is suspicious. I shiver to think about the implications of what he's hiding. To think that potential commoner blood walks amongst us is a horrid thought." another noblewoman quietly said to themselves.

As Rean and Teo approached Marquis Rogner's chambers, where he was discussing matters with the other nobles, a nobleman bumped into them. Spilling their wine all over Rean.

Even though he was doing his best to look down, Rean could still sense the ire the nobleman was staring at him with. It was obvious that it had been done on purpose.

"Keep that thing on a leash." the nobleman complained to Teo before walking away.

In the end, this would be the last noble gathering the Schwarzers would attend.


7.17.1206 - Monday (Festival Day)

"Rean, is everything okay in there? Don't tell me the suit we got you doesn't fit." Alfin asked as she knocked on the wall next to the dressing room Rean was changing in.

Due to it being potentially offensive for Rean to debut Alfin into high society while dressed in his instructor uniform, he had been gifted a suit by the Arnors to wear for the occasion.

"S-Sorry, just thinking about… stuff. Don't worry, it fits great!" Rean answered as he finished buttoning up his vest.

It was a simple suit. Black pants with a black coat, with a red and black vest, along with a white dress shirt underneath, and a red tie.

"How do I look?" Rean asked as he pulled open the curtain to his dressing room.

"Stunning!" Alfin replied before giving Rean a thumbs up.

"Come on now your Highness, I can take criticism." Rean responded.

"My sister tells no lies, I assure you. You look simply amazing, Rean." Cedric assured Rean as he walked up to him and Alfin.

"I thank you both for the kind words." Rean replied.

"No need to thank us. If anything, I should be thanking you for agreeing to share Alfin's first dance tonight. What better partner for my sister than the Ashen Chevalier himself! Perhaps you can continue to be her partner even beyond tonight's dances, if you know what I mean. You'd be doing a favor not only for her, but for the entire Imperial family." Cedric commented, with a cheeky smirk on his face.

Rean watched as Alfin pulled out her paper fan and smacked Cedric over the head in response to his comment.

"Father, Mother, Olivert, and I warned you not to act like this is anything other than Rean doing us a favor for tonight!" Alfin yelled as she smacked Cedric a few more times for good measure.

"I'm joking! I'm joking! You people can't take a joke, I swear." Cedric responded.

"You're missing a punchline. Would you like my assistance?" Alfin threatened as she cracked her knuckles.

"I think it would be wise if I go address our guests tonight. Make your way to the center of the dance floor when I give you two the signal to step outside." Cedric replied before walking away.

"Shall we make our way closer to the door now, Rean?" Alfin asked.

"Of course, your Highness." Rean answered before the two began to make their way to the door.

"I'm sure there's someone else who you'd prefer to be dancing with tonight." Alfin commented.

"To be honest, I'd rather not get Towa involved with this side of the nobility." Rean bluntly replied.

Rean couldn't help but recall everything the older nobles had said about him and his family when he was first introduced to the nobility. As much as he wanted to show everyone how much he loved Towa, he knew that the majority of the older nobles present at these types of events would have a field day calling her the most insulting things they could think of. He wanted nothing more than to shield her from what the worst the nobility had to offer.

"Judging by that look on your face I take it you're concerned about Towa's honor. Elise has told me about your treatment, I don't blame you for being worried." Alfin assured Rean.

"Is it that obvious? Don't worry, I'll do my best not to show my discomfort with some of the crowd. By the way, where's Elise? She's usually by your side for events like this." Rean questioned.

"Don't mind her absence. She's occupied with something else at the moment." Alfin explained.

With that, Rean and Alfin began to wait for Cedric to give them the signal.


As the party went on, Old and New Class VII had made their way to the edge of the dance floor while they waited for Rean and Alfin to finish preparing for the main event.

"Say, where's Towa?" Sara questioned upon realizing that Towa had disappeared.

"I believe she said something about needing to use the restroom." Emma answered.

"You don't think she's going to spend the entire dance portion of the night hiding away in there, do you?" Fie asked.

"Can you blame her? Not sure how it must feel being able to overhear a bunch of nobles and press make assumptions about Rean's relationship with another woman." Alisa noted.

"They're seriously just dancing, why are they making such a big deal about it?" Elliot questioned.

"Leave it to nobles to make a big deal out of something so minor." Machias ranted.

"Considering Rean's history, I doubt that they're going to have anything positive to say about him." Jusis commented.

"You'd think they'd have some more respect for someone who's been turned into a national hero no matter their class." Gaius noted.

"I wonder how Gramps feels about this arrangement?" Millium thought to herself before turning to Osborne, who was busy speaking with Cedric.

"Hey wait, where's Elise?" Juna questioned upon realizing that Elise had disappeared as well.

"Schwarzer's sister? I think I saw her talking with Egret before walking away." Ash revealed.

"Did she finally have enough of all of your questionable comments about Instructor Rean?" Altina asked as New Class VII turned to Musse.

"Heehee. Nothing like that. We were just talking about one of our old friends from St. Astraia, and how they were able to attend tonight's event. Of course, they were running late so Elise had to go tell security to let them in." Musse explained.

"That's odd. His Highness only ever mentioned you and Elise being her Highness' friends from St. Astraia." Kurt pointed out.

"She belongs to a wealthy family in Remiferia, so you guys probably don't know of her. She graduated during my first year and returned to her family's mansion. Of course, with an event so big, she just had to come to support her friend." Musse continued.

Just then Elise returned, along with an unknown woman behind her. The mysterious women wore an elegant light blue dress with white edges, matched only by their light blue eyes and hair that went down to her shoulders. However, in true elite fashion she was holding a fan up to her head that covered the lower half of her face. The two made their way next to the Emperor and Empress, with the woman introducing herself to them as Cedric began to call for everyone's attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. To start us off, my sister, Alfin, will have the first dance. The way I hear it, people all across the empire have been awaiting this moment for years!" Cedric announced.

Everyone watched as Rean walked Alfin down to the center of the dance floor. The press took their pictures in rapid succession while whispers began to flood the room.

"Like me, she is now 17 years old, and this dance will serve as her debut into high society. Her first dance partner shall be a certain instructor at Thors Military Academy. None other than the Ashen Chevalier, Rean Schwarzer." Cedric continued.

Old and New Class VII were quickly able to hear the ongoing gossiping of the nobles and press standing near them.

"Oh, so he's the princess'-" one guest commented before getting interrupted by someone else.

"I hear he's only the son of a baron, but I suppose it's okay these days." a nobleman complained.

"He seems to carry himself well." another guest noted.

"Sure enough." Gaius quietly responded as he looked at the guests making comments about Rean.

"Yeah. They've been rumors going around about them like wildfire tonight." Elliot quietly admitted.

"Well, it's a huge honor, I guess." Alisa quietly joked.

"Yes, he shall be the princess' first." Laura quietly noted.

"Sounds dirty when you put it that way." Fie bluntly pointed out.

"F-Fie!? Don't just say that sort of thing where people can hear you." Emma quietly replied upon noticing some of the guests turning to look at them.

"Classy guys." Sara teased.

Altina stood silently before looking around for Towa. She was nowhere in sight, most likely she was still hiding in the washroom.

"He was drowning in fame before, and now everyone's talking like him and the princess are already married." Ash quietly commented.

"Yeah. Seems like everyone is reading way too much into this." Juna quietly noted.

"Well, to some degree, yes." Kurt added on before turning to look at Cedric.

"Heehee. However will this play out, I wonder?" Musse said to herself.
Musse quickly turned to look at Elise and the woman standing next to her.

"It's always nice to see a familiar face in an unexpected place." Musse thought to herself before the woman noticed that she was looking at her and raised her fan to cover more of her face.

"Is everything alright?" Elise quietly asked.

"I-It's nothing, just not used to so many people staring at me." the woman shyly answered before turning to look at Rean.

Alfin quickly turned to look at Elise and the woman and nodded at them. She then turned to Rean and winked at him before grabbing his hand. Which caught Rean by surprise, along with being able to sense Elise and a familiar presence standing behind them.

"To tell the truth, I'm actually already acquainted with Mr. Rean Schwarzer. He's the older brother of my dearest friend. In fact, another one of my close friends is here. First, allow me to introduce Elise Schwarzer. She is the Student Council president at St. Astraia Girls' school. And next to her is our former upperclassman who showed us the ropes during our first year at St. Astraia, Creha Rem Ordin. She actually came all the way from Remiferia to support me today, which is why she's so fashionably late." Alfin continued before letting go of Rean and bringing Elise and Creha to the center of the dance floor next to her and Rean.

"Haha. I wonder who's idea this was." Cedric thought to himself.

"Y-You're Highness, this wasn't part of the plan. I was only supposed to help get her-" Elise quietly protested as she stood between Alfin and Rean.

"Musse and I made some last minute changes to the plan." Alfin quietly explained with a mischievous grin on her face.

Rean turned to the girls as he began to realize what was going on, with a clearly blushing Creha hiding her face from him using her fan.

"And they both will be making their debut into high society alongside me tonight. Rean will dance with each of us in whichever order he pleases. Whoever he chooses, there will be no hard feelings." Alfin announced.

"Heehee. Very well played, Princess." Musse said to herself as people began taking more pictures.

"Wait, is that- Oh! Haha. Why am I not surprised that her Highness and her friends organized something like this. They really are something else." Alisa quietly commented as she and the rest of Old Class VII figured out what was going on.

It took New Class VII a few seconds before they realized what was going on, but once they did they all turned to Musse. Who did her best to act innocent.

"I see. Well then, you're a real lifesaver." Rean whispered as he turned to Alfin as she, Elise, and Creha waited for him to choose who he would dance with first.

With that, Rean bowed to all three girls. He couldn't help but sneak a few glances up at Creha, who's face had gotten clearly more red.

"I will respectfully take not only the hand of her highness, but also my sister's hand. Along with, ahem, Ms. Ordin's hand." Rean announced.

All Creha could do in response to Rean singling her out was to raise her fan to cover her blushing face from the crowd.

"Of course, this is my first time meeting with Ms. Ordin, so I will dance with her last. It might be a bit unorthodox, but please allow us Schwarzer siblings to have the first dance." Rean continued as he took Elise's hand.


Music played while Rean danced with Elise, which gave them enough privacy to talk amongst themselves. Thankfully since they had been given the same dance classes when they were younger dancing together had come naturally to them.

"So, this is what you three were planning this whole time?" Rean asked as he took the lead.

"Possibly, maybe, okay it is. But this wasn't part of the plan. I should've known her Highness would've done something spontaneous like this." Elise admitted.

"Haha. I see then, glad you came forward quickly this time. I was worried that I would've had to use my older sibling privileges again." Rean joked.

"Y-You better not! Unless you wish to make an enemy out of our parents' favorite child." Elise teased.

"Hmm? How in the world would I make an enemy out of myself?" Rean teased back before the two of them started giggling while they continued dancing.

With that, the two siblings continued dancing until Alfin signaled that she wanted to dance with Rean next. After letting go of Elise, the siblings bowed to each other as a show of good manners before Rean took Alfin's hand.

Of course, with Alfin being one of the Empire's greatest treasures, the pressure was on. If Rean valued his life, he couldn't make any mistakes while dancing with Alfin like he had done when he danced with Towa for the first time all of those years ago.

"I'm not sure if I should be thanking you, or getting in touch with Prince Olivert and have him tell your parents to ground you." Rean admitted as he danced carefully with Alfin.

"Oh please, consider it my way of thanking you for saving me during the Civil War." Alfin assured Rean.

"Still. Why the secrecy? I'm sure we would've agreed to this if you three just told us." Rean questioned.

"Considering what you yourself said earlier, I doubt that. Consider this our way of helping you two. Enjoy dancing with a stranger." Alfin responded before letting go of Rean and bowing.

That left one more girl left for Rean to dance with: Creha.

"Well then. Shall we, Ms. Ordin?" Rean said as he offered Creha his hand.

"I'd love to." Towa replied as she put away her fan and took Rean's hand.

Rean did his best to show Towa how good of a dancer he had become since their school days.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I don't think that we've had a chance to properly introduce ourselves. My name is Rean Schwarzer, although with everything going on you probably already knew that." Rean said as he and Towa danced in sync.

"T-The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Schwarzer. I'm To- Creha Rem Ordin." Towa nervously replied.

"I hear you made quite the trek from Remiferia to be here tonight." Rean continued.

"I came to support her Highness, nothing more. I was invited at the last minute earlier today." Towa replied.

"I hope you and the others know that traveling all the way from Remiferia to here takes at least two days." Rean pointed out with a smirk.

"How long did it take you to realize?" Towa asked.

"A few seconds, but I recognize those eyes and smile anywhere. Even with those blue contacts. Oh, and the height was a dead giveaway." Rean answered.

"I'm sure, Ms. Herschel wouldn't like that comment about my height." Towa replied.

"Is that what we're playing then, Ms. Ordin?" Rean responded.

"It is, but please just call me Creha. Although, if you'd like, feel free to treat me the same way you would treat Ms. Herschel in this situation." Towa informed Rean before laying her head on his chest as they continued dancing.

"To be honest, I'm not sure what I'd do if Towa were here right now. I'd want to dance with her, but I worry that certain parts of the crowd would be incredibly disrespectful of her." Rean admitted.

"From what I hear, you've never been one to care what others think. So why would you two care about what the other nobles have to say? You're both happy after all." Towa pointed out.

"This would be quite the event to publicly display our relationship. Still, probably not a good idea if we want to continue to enjoy our relatively quiet life teaching together at the Branch Campus." Rean commented.

"Well then, good thing Ms. Herschel isn't present at the moment." Towa reminded Rean.

"You have a point. Since she's not here, I might as well say everything I'm too anxious to say about her to her face." Rean continued.

"L-Like what?" Towa nervously asked.

"Well, whenever I gush about her she gets embarrassed and tells me to stop while her face gets red. Of course, without her here I can gush as much as I like. She's very hard working, she has a bit of a grip at night, she's been using this new shampoo that smells really nice, her hair's also really soft, she ties it all up with a really cute light blue ribbon, and she's very much the prettiest woman I have the pleasure of laying my eyes on. Oh Aidios, I very much do love her so much." Rean answered while Towa's face got more red with each comment he made.

"I-I'm sure she'd appreciate hearing that in private." Towa noted as she tried to calm herself down.

"If it's any consolation, I consider you to be the second prettiest woman in Zemuria." Rean teased.

"Looks like someone's a charmer." Towa replied as she looked up at Rean.

Rean suddenly noticed that Alfin and Elise were signaling him to wrap up their dance. He had forgotten that everyone was supposed to be dancing that night. Seeing as he had the entire room's attention, he figured that he would end this dance with a bang.

"Well then Creha, I recall you telling me that you wanted me to treat you as if you were my girlfriend. So don't mind if I do. I love you, Towa…" Rean whispered as he bent down and locked lips with Towa, catching her and everyone else in attendance by surprise.

"Heehee. My, it seems like someone decided to steal my spotlight. And here I thought tonight was going to be all about me." Alfin joked.

"Glad Rean finally built up the confidence to kiss Towa in public. Even if she is wearing a disguise." Jusis commented.

"Hey wait, since everyone else thinks that Towa is someone else right now, do you think this might cause issues for Rean later?" Alisa questioned.

"That sounds like a Rean problem." Machias answered.

"Haha. Probably not a good look to be kissing strangers while at a big event." Sara noted.

"Man, I can't believe Towa lost Rean to herself." Fie joked.

While everyone was focused on Rean and Towa, Musse turned to see Osborne's reaction. If her plan succeeded, he should be furious at the sight of Rean ruining the image of the Ashen Chevalier being someone any woman could aspire to pursue. To her surprise however, she could see the slightest sign of a smile on the man's face.

"Wait, is he happy!?" Musse thought to herself.

After a minute of bliss, Towa hastily separated herself from Rean. Which caused her wig to start falling off.

"R-Rean… I-I mean Mr. Schwarzer, ahem, thank you for dancing with me." Towa said before running off to hide.


Despite what just happened, Cedric and Alfin were quickly able to get everything back on track.

Even after his dance with Creha, lots of people lined up to dance with Rean. Even some of his friends took turns dancing with him so that they could tease him about kissing Creha earlier. Along with joking about how he better not get any ideas while dancing with them. It was clear that he was never going to live it down.

After a few minutes, Towa returned from the washroom. She was now back in her instructor uniform, instead of the light blue dress she had been wearing earlier. Luckily, it seemed that no one outside of her friends and students had noticed her absence. Along with the fact that Creha was now nowhere to be seen. For all they knew she had run off into the night after getting kissed by the Ashen Chevalier. Wanting to avoid the public eye, she kept her distance from the other guests.

Rean quickly noticed that Towa had returned and decided that it would be a great time to take a break from dancing. He politely excused himself once he was done dancing with Emma, and made his way over to Towa.

"Where have you been?" Rean asked before laughing.

"I was in the washroom. I hope I didn't miss anything important." Towa replied as her face began to blush slightly.

"I'm sure the tabloids tomorrow will fill you in on what you missed." Rean joked.

The two stayed silent, unsure of how to talk about what had just happened.

"I'm sorry. Musse told me that Elise needed help with something in the washroom, but when I got there she and her Highness revealed their big plan to have you dance in public with me by disguising myself as someone else so the press and tabloids don't harass us or our families. It would've been awkward to say no, so I sort of played along." Towa explained.

"W-Wait, why are you apologizing?" Rean questioned.

"I don't know. I guess I was worried that you'd be annoyed that I agreed to a scheme cooked up by Musse, her Highness, and your sister." Towa admitted.

"I'd never get annoyed at dancing with you! Granted, a part of me wishes we could have done as just us casually somewhere smaller. But I still loved dancing with, ahem, Creha earlier." Rean replied.

"I-I see. I-I'm glad you liked that." Towa responded.

"By the way, what was with the name?" Rean asked.

"Oh, Elise suggested that I should come up with a pseudonym to avoid people being able to connect the dots. Creha was actually my grandmother's name, and Ordin was her last name before she married my grandfather and changed it to Herschel. I didn't have much time to think, so I went with that." Towa revealed.

"I see. I'm surprised you didn't just go with your first name but use that clothing brand from Calvard that you like as your last name." Rean commented.

"I don't know, 'Towa Kokonoe' would've been too on the nose. Even with that light blue wig." Towa noted.

Seeing as everyone else was busy dancing, Rean decided to have some fun and gave Towa a quick peck on the cheek.

"R-Rean!" Towa responded.

"What? Everyone's focused elsewhere." Rean said in his defense.

"I know that, why was it only a peck on the cheek though?" Towa clarified.

"Oh. Well in that case…" Rean replied before bending over and locking lips with Towa once again.

It was a blissful feeling, just like the last. Neither wanted it to end. Alas, after a few minutes they let go of each other so that they could catch their breaths.

"I-I think that's enough for now." Towa commented.

"Yeah, let's save some energy for when we get back to Leeves." Rean noted.

"Are you sure you can wait that long?" Towa teased.

"I'll wait however long it takes to get back home with you." Rean assured Towa.

Soon all of their friends and students joined up with them, although Rean was quick to realize that Ash was now nowhere to be seen.

"Knowing Ash's track record, he's probably off to no good right now." Rean thought to himself, unaware of just how right he was.


Author's Note

Hope you all liked this chapter!

Were you fooled at first by Creha? Like with Towa's grandfather the name was inspired by two characters from Nayuta: Boundless Trails.

Welp, one more chapter to go before Cold Steel III Arc comes to close.