RLQ - Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Why Gaze
“Will you?”
Adele turned her head to look at him, following the melody.
Her eyes held the gorgeous color of a red rose. Perhaps some called this color the mark of a witch and a devil, but it was undeniable that they possessed a breathtaking beauty. The light of the myriad candles in the ballroom gilded them with a star-like gold, as if the devil and an angel resided within them.
Heinrich's breathing paused for a moment.
He became Adele's tutor when he was twenty-three. The first time they met, the princess sat behind a rose bush, and her first words were, "Do you like red?" The princess, receiving an affirmative answer, extended her hand and asked a second question: Everyone is avoiding me, will you?
Heinrich knew why everyone avoided the young princess—not long ago, the Queen had been executed for "using witchcraft to seduce the King and disrupt state affairs," and one piece of evidence cited was her ominous red eyes.
The princess's hand hovered in mid-air, ready to be withdrawn at any moment.
No, Your Highness.
No, I won't...
Heinrich instinctively wanted to answer this way.
“Once things are set, you should strive for the greatest benefit—that is your principle, isn't it?” Adele said. “Just like when you realized the riot was inevitable and joining the rebels would yield the greatest benefit... You could have informed me, couldn't you? My dear tutor.”
They spun with the dance music, the candlelight reflected in her eyes swallowed by shadow.
Her gaze became utterly unfamiliar to Heinrich.
It was as if... a originally vibrant and fresh rose had been tempered into metal. While it retained the exact same appearance as before, it had become cold and hard.
“Things are set. You should think carefully about how to gain the greatest benefit.”
She said indifferently.
Life is always full of absurdity. Adele ultimately learned cruelty and ruthlessness from him, only in a way he hadn't anticipated. Even he didn't know what emotion was in his heart at this moment.
“Congratulations, my dear student,” Heinrich said dryly. “You have finally learned to discard unnecessary things.”
The dance music was supposed to continue for quite a while, but it stopped without warning.
Everyone in the hall looked towards the orchestra. The Royal Music Director came forward with a pained expression, bowing repeatedly and apologizing, claiming that a clumsy musician had suddenly forgotten the next part of the score. Unfortunately, his pale face and the cold sweat dripping from his forehead made his words unconvincing.
“Since that's the case, how about a new piece?”
Dalton walked through the crowd, heading directly towards the Queen and Heinrich. He wore a smile, as if what was happening had nothing to do with him.
At this, the atmosphere immediately became strange. Everyone secretly glanced over, their eyes darting back and forth between Heinrich and Dalton.
Everyone knew that previously, the person the Queen trusted and favored most was her tutor, but now...
Heinrich held the Queen's hand, looking at him coldly: “It's not time to change dance partners yet, Mr. Dalton.”
“Although it was unexpected, it still counts as the end of a piece.” Dalton smiled nonchalantly, bending down and extending his hand to the Queen. “May I have the honor of dancing a piece with you, Your Majesty?”
Adele smiled slightly, withdrawing her hand from Heinrich's shoulder and placing it on Dalton's long, strong hand: “Of course.”
The moment she withdrew her hand, a ball of anger ignited in Heinrich's heart, burning and surging. Although he knew Adele was essentially using Dalton, this fact changed nothing...
When Dalton's hand wrapped around the Queen's waist, something strange happened: the musicians who had just "forgotten the score" suddenly regained their excellent memory. They even played a Lavolta duet, more complex and intense than the previous one.
Heinrich refused the hints from several noble ladies and young women, withdrew expressionlessly, and stood in the dimly lit resting area.
The Minister of Finance, knowing his poor dancing skills, also withdrew from the floor and deliberately stood beside Heinrich.
After the melody began, couples entered the dance floor, and the atmosphere became even more lively and ambiguous than before.
Dancing was one of the few things that could alleviate the oppressive atmosphere of the court. Men and women embraced in the intense melody, and the shimmer of jewels and fine clothes always created a lively and grand illusion. Especially when the embracing couple was young and handsome enough—the Queen in her red dress and the General in his red satin coat looked perfectly matched.
Dalton's dance steps were strong and powerful, carrying the aggressive ruthlessness inherent in him, like a battle saber drawn with a clang, each step treading on blood and gunpowder.
An ordinary noble lady would likely find it difficult to dance with him.
Only a woman fierce enough to set the world ablaze could command this blade.
Her skirt spun out in layers like a summer rose, the distance between the Queen and the officer fluctuating. She briefly allowed him close, then separated at the next note. One moment, the Queen in red was almost cheek to cheek with him, like passionate lovers. The next, she distanced herself without hesitation, like enemies who had suddenly turned against each other.
Capricious, mysterious, dangerously charming...
Tonight, she was the one and only Goddess Aphrodite.
Unconsciously, the others were pushed back by the surging atmosphere, giving them space. Both men and women were completely captivated by the dazzling beauty that could burn everything.
“Your tutor must be furious.”
Dalton watched her intently, without blinking.
He was the one closest to facing this overwhelming beauty directly. It came fiercely, conquering everything like a campaign on the battlefield.
“After all, I gave you what belonged to him.”
Adele bit a strand of black hair, looking at him in the gaps between spins, the corners of her eyes gilded with a bewitching brightness by the candles and the light from the jewels on her neck.
For a moment, a very brief but real moment, Dalton felt he was almost willing to be the Queen's blade, to point it at everyone she hated.
Regardless of the consequences, regardless of everything.
“Then I'll have to be prepared for the viper's fangs.”
He smiled, his gaze sharp as a blade.
In the resting area, the Minister of Finance heard Heinrich beside him let out a slight cold laugh.
The malice contained within that cold laugh was enough to shock all clergy.
He peeked at Heinrich from the corner of his eye, feeling only that this great noble, known for his cunning and schemes, was like a viper hidden in the darkness, sensing a provocation and slowly slithering and coiling its body.
Things were likely to get interesting from now on.
A shiver ran down his spine as this thought flashed through the Minister of Finance's mind.
The ball ended, and the peace talks officially concluded.
The nobles who had received forgiveness boarded their carriages and departed, their minds full of thoughts. Dalton, who had seized the opportunity, went to arrange the new defense personnel for the Summer Palace from now on—he didn't hesitate to remove all the gentry from the guard and replace them with his own musketeers. The Queen, accompanied by Madam Kelly, returned to her familiar room.
As she passed through a corridor, Adele suddenly stopped.
She thoughtfully glanced at a nearby stone door, then turned and instructed Madam Kelly to go back first, saying she wanted to take a walk here.
Madam Kelly didn't suspect anything, curtsied, and left.
Moonlight poured down, spreading like still water on the long corridor, giving the massive stone building a touch of melancholy amidst its grandeur.
“Aren't you coming out?” Adele asked calmly, addressing a shadowed area.
Silence.
She waited patiently. After a long while, footsteps that were easy to miss sounded, and the Archbishop, wearing a black monk's robe, emerged from behind the stone door.
Adele wasn't surprised to see him here. After all, as the Archbishop of the Imperial Capital, Rhodri also had a room belonging to him in the Day Palace.
The Archbishop stopped at a distance from the Queen, as if determined not to approach another step.
“Following someone is not behavior befitting a clergyman, Sir.” Adele slowly walked closer, looking at her Archbishop with interest—it was known that he rarely appeared here due to his aversion to "heretics."
“Dancing the Lavolta is even less behavior befitting a Queen,” the Archbishop retorted immediately.
The kind of Lavolta duet Adele danced with Dalton had always been detested by Old God Sect followers. Because it required the male partner to lift and spin the female partner with exquisite skill, it was passionate and sensual, and the Old God Sect believed this dance was the main cause of debauchery, decadence, and murder.
However, in fact, it had still become popular among the Roland upper class.
The nobles didn't dislike it, just as the doctrine opposed extravagance, yet they still adorned their clothes with pearls and jewels by the dozen.
“I didn't see you at the ball,” Adele ignored the Archbishop's accusation. She walked up to the Archbishop and looked into his steel-blue eyes. “You didn't attend the ball? Then how did you know I danced the Lavolta?”
The Archbishop realized he had once again fallen into the Queen's trap. He pursed his lips, saying nothing.
Beneath his hawk-like brow ridge, those steel-blue eyes became even more intimidating due to his displeasure. However, the Queen ignored it. She laughed softly and suddenly moved closer to him.
The fragrant net enveloped him again. It was this net that had inexplicably led him to the Summer Palace, to watch her dance with Heinrich, with Dalton. It was also this net that made him wait in the darkness, just to give her a warning... Damn it, what did it matter to him even if she died?
God! What was he doing?
“You were watching me?”
If this were a battle, the Archbishop would have already thrown away his armor and weapons.
Archbishop Rhodri stumbled back a step in embarrassment, but the Queen immediately took another step forward.
Her face was incredibly clear in the moonlight—her full forehead, thick eyelashes, petal-like lips... so perfect it could only be a gift from God.
“Then...”
The Queen chuckled softly, her voice becoming even gentler.
“Tell me, my dear Archbishop, why were you watching me? Why were you watching a... heretic.”
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