I Transmigrated as my Bias's Messenger Bird - Chapter 51
The Empress’s question made me break into a cold sweat. It wasn’t intentional, but these embellishments were definitely pearls. Even someone like me, who knew nothing about jewelry, could tell that they were pearls. But suddenly, she mentioned stones?
At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.
‘Rai’s brushing his hand on my neck…’
I turned my gaze to Rai, who was sipping his wine, nodding slightly at Mina’s words. Our eyes locked for a few seconds.
Rai descended from the platform and approached me. During the few seconds it took him to walk towards me, a strange silence spread through the hall. Once he was in front of me, he glanced at my eyes for a moment, then turned towards the Empress with a calm expression.
“Thank you for giving her your attention, Your Majesty.”
“…The Tower Lord is thanking me for what exactly?”
“Well, as Keisha standing here belongs to Mage Tower, it’s only proper for me, the Tower Lord, to express gratitude.”
I’m not sure why Rai suddenly acted like this, but thanks to him, all the attention in the ballroom was now focused on me. Nobles who had gathered to see Rai, the Emperor on the platform, Edin, and even Mina—all eyes were on me.
“I see. If I knew the elven exchange student belonged to Mage Tower, they would have prepared a special place for her.”
“No need for that. If the conversation is over… May I suggest commencing with the ball?”
Although Rai used formal language, there was a subtle coercive tone in his words. The Empress, who had paled upon hearing Rai’s words, whispered something to the Emperor.
After a moment of hesitation, the Emperor announced, “Alright. Since everyone seems to be gathered, let the ball begin.”
With that, the imperial orchestra began to play. As I stood there awkwardly, Rai led me to a corner of the ballroom. All eyes seemed to follow us.
In the center of the hall, some nobles paired up and began to dance.
‘He wouldn’t suggest dancing, would he?’
Standing in front of me, Rai crossed his arms as if deep in thought. Sensing the moment, I decided to initiate the conversation.
“Are you going to ask me to dance—”
“No.”
“Got it.”
Rai’s immediate response shut me up. It was a relief that he wasn’t, but the outright rejection stung my pride a bit.
Well, let’s ask something to satisfy my curiosity then…
“By any chance, the pearls on my dress… did you change them?”
Rai, who had been looking at me for a moment in response to my question, answered indifferently, “Yes.”
What? Really? How do I respond when he admits it so bluntly?
“Why?”
“Well, why do you think?”
Rai gave a mysterious smile. How would I know?
More than that, he was becoming more mysterious by the day. Where did the silent stroller go…? The person with an enchanting smile who went out for quiet walks—the contrast is too significant.
If he comes out like this…I can’t lose either.
“Did you come to rescue me…?”
Rai, who had been staring at my eyes for a moment after my response, still spoke with a mysterious smile.
“You sure dream big.”
“That’s right, isn’t it?! If it had been pearls, I would have never imagined what would happen… Did you anticipate that and come to my rescue?”
“The exchange student’s ignorance would have been blamed on Tower Lord, so I wanted to prevent that.”
“Oh…?”
Rai, with a solemn expression, crossed his arms and then looked at the nobles dancing. “In the Alucina Empire, there are some trivial and useless taboos. Pearls are one of them. If you’re going to stay here in the future, it’s good to know at least this much.”
“Pearls…? Why?”
“Just know it’s like the Emperor’s madness. There’s no need to try to understand it…”
Rai trailed off, concluding his statement. Since it seemed he didn’t want to elaborate further, I didn’t press for more details.
‘Oh, right, I need to find Alfie…!’
I remembered Alfie, whom I had forgotten for a while because of the Empress.
“Thank you so much for what you did, Tower Lord. I’ll go look for my friends now.”
“Right.”
I bid farewell to Rai and set off to find Alfie.
***
“Have you seen Alfie?”
“He was definitely in the ballroom earlier…”
Ren mentioned seeing Alfie at the ball, and it seemed he had arrived quite early. However, Alfie hadn’t been seen since about 30 minutes before I arrived.
“So, he disappeared after coming to the ball… Is there a place he might go?”
Just then, the music changed, signaling the start of the dance event. I remembered this event. Mina was the center of attention as she twirls in the ballroom with the Crown Prince.
In the middle of the dance, there were three action choices:
1. Lean on his shoulder.
2. Hold hands.
3. Smile.
No matter which option was chosen, it was a sweet event where affection levels would significantly increase.
It’s a bit of a shame that this is my best chance to see this in action, but if I’m going to move away from people’s eyes, now would be a good time to do it. I pretend to look around a bit, then open the door at the end of the ballroom and head out.
A long corridor surrounded the ballroom. As I walked along the extended marble corridor, I heard faint knocking sounds in the distance. It sounded like someone knocking on a door.
I followed the sound to a door and found the source of the noise.
“Hey…Is someone outside? Please let me out!”
Oh my god. It was Alfie’s voice!
