Dance Lessons

WINIFRED

"This is difficult."

"Agreed."

"I never realized just how easy so many things were for me. I used to complain about etiquette classes but by Oriel's hands, this is hard!"

"Agreed."

"Are you going to keep saying that?"

"You don't want me to agree with you?"

"No, that's not...never mind. I think I need help."

"..."

"Please don't choose now to be silent."

"Yes, Lady Freya."

"Gaaahhh! This is driving me insane! How does Lord Sebastian even do this?!"

"How do I do what?"

"Lord Sebastian! You're here! Please help me!"

"I was wondering how long it would take you to ask for help," Nathan chuckled, walking into the room. He came to sit beside me and looked around the room.

"I don't think an etiquette teacher should be this untidy, Lady Freya."

"I have dug through my mind to find anything that could help and I brought out these books to find something but...this is too frustrating! How is it that we have thousands of years of etiquette and don't have any resources for children that aren't able-bodied?!"

"Eugenics."

"What is that?"

"To put it simply, any child that was born with some kind of disability or doesn't fit the normal standard for a healthy child was killed at birth. The ones who weren't were cast out to live as orphans. Noble children need to maintain a certain standard and be considered different from Commoners. It's simply breeding out any form of imperfection in high society. It's a practice that has been happening for thousands of years. There are some things that just never change, I see."

Eugenics is an annoying concept. Claiming that one race or body type is superior to the other and therefore, the others are deemed inferior and shouldn't be allowed to procreate or even live is downright psychotic. It also held a huge chunk of hypocrisy as well.

"The Saintess is blind. In fact, all the Saintesses that lived have always been blind. Why is it so different that time?"

"The truth is, only a few of the Saintesses born were blind. When it came to their advantage, they always left the babies that were born blind to grow and become Saintesses. If they're blind, they can't escape and even if they did, they couldn't get far. For the others that weren't blind, well, they just took away their sight."

"That's horrible!"

"Oh, Lady Freya, you have no idea."

The book, the Advent of the Villainess, spoke of the horrors Winifred went through to become the Saintess. Anyone would go mad from living like that. So, even if he was an idiot, I would be forever grateful to the Prince for saving me from the Church. However, that also meant he knew about the kinds of treatment the Saintesses endured at the hands of the Church.

"Don't think too much about it and don't go digging. In fact, I have a better idea. Why don't you create a syllabus for blind children? It would likely be the first of its kind and someone in the future won't have to complain like you're doing now. At least, that's what I'm doing. It's a trial and error process but Winifred is learning well."

"I'm not a social experiment."

"I know you aren't."

"I suppose you're right, Lord Sebastian. But what shall we do before I put something like that together? She's not getting any younger and we have to recommend something for her education."

"We'll start with the basics. How about…dancing?"

"You want to give my legs good stomping practice?"

"If it'll help you get all that energy you reserve for resentment out of your system then sure. I have a theory that if you move around more, you'd find some kind of excitement."

"Theories have practical use. I think you can use your brain for other things, Lord Silver."

"No, no, I have time."

Damn this immortal bastard! It was decided that I would receive Dancing classes till Freya could come up with something for my etiquette classes. I don't know why Nathan thought it would be easier to dance when I barely had good balance to walk.

"You're dancing. More movement should give you a sense of balance."

"Are you even hearing yourself? Maybe stick to the things you do know."

"I'm even volunteering to be your dance partner. You can step on me as much as you want."

"I'll tell the guards I'm reporting a pervert."

"What's a pervert?"

That's it. I'm not touching this bastard with a ten feet pole.

"I demand to have Darryl as my dance partner instead."

"Does that mean you agree to have the dance classes?"

"Only if Darryl is my partner."

"Congratulations, Darryl. You have the honor of replacing me in the feet stomping competition. I'll recommend padded insoles."

If I flipped him off, I doubt he would understand what that meant.

Patience, Winifred. One man shouldn't affect you this much. You can just accidentally stab him in the eye with a fork.

"Lady Freya, please get on with it before she finishes planning my funeral. I know that look on her face."

"Alright. We'll start with the simplest steps for Waltz. Let's pray they're simple enough for Winifred."

"I'm blind, not stupid."

"Your retorts aren't helping, Winifred," Darryl whispered to me. I roll my eyes and let her position my body in his. I couldn't imagine how much worse this could get.

NATHAN

Seeing Winifred's face look so convoluted was just the highlight of my day. It was a direct contrast to the eager Darryl, taking it upon himself to lead the dance. Freya focused on instructing Darryl and indirectly got Winifred to move as well.

As I watched them, I finally figured out why I felt some affinity to Freya. When I was younger, a long time ago, I also was born without magic. In an age where even ants had magic, it was out of place and it felt as if I would die any minute.

I grew up to find out that the reason I didn't have any magic wasn't a particular fault of mine. It was just the fact that magic affinity wasn't obvious.

Chaos mana.

If magic was a color spectrum, Chaos magic was at the ends of those spectrum. It has no visible application and from outside, it may look like the user had no magic at all.

However, it had an easier use compared to dark magic. Chaos mana collected automatically and stored itself in the meridians. From the moment someone with affinity to chaos mana is born, it begins to collect in their body. However, unlike dark magic, only those with affinity to chaos mana could use chaos mana.

There were, however, huge downsides to having an affinity for chaos mana. One was the fact that it looked like they didn't have any magic on the outside and the other…an over-exaggeration of desires. It manifested in different people differently. For me, it was a desire for power. The thirst was mellowed out during the centuries I was stuck with no way to escape but I used to be quite the warlord back in my day.

It was obvious that Freya had chaos mana. I could see it swirling around her. Winifred probably saw it too and that's probably why she asked Freya to be her governess. But she couldn't see Freya, which meant that Freya's chaos mana hadn't developed enough for it to seep out of her meridians to her body.

People with Chaos mana were remarkably hard to find. I have met only two in my lifetime, Freya included. The first one was my master who taught me how to master my chaos mana.

I am not a generous person but neither was my master. Since I was already teaching Winifred, what was the harm of teaching Freya? Who knows? I could have an another ally, an especially powerful one.

I waited till the class ended and the children left to take a nap, more specifically, Winifred forcing Darryl to take a nap with her.

"Lady Freya, I know I suggested you make a syllabus but do you have any idea how to do it?"

"No. I was going to ask you how."

"I can help you. But, I'm going to ask for a small favour in return."

"A…small favour?"

"Oh, I'm aware that when I say that, people tend to go to the extremes. It's nothing that difficult. I know how to help you, beyond your syllabus. Are you willing to hear me out?"

"…I am."

"Great. Then I'll come to your room after midnight. We don't have to let anyone else know."

"I understand."

I'm glad she did. Winifred seemed to convince her easily, so I thought I would try my luck. Sure, I might be getting her into a centuries old battle she had no business fighting but chaos mana had to be released fr it to grow stronger. She'd thank me later.

I waited till Midnight and then teleported to her balcony. I wasn't worried about using my magic reserves for this. It was worth it. I knocked on the balcony door and waited. She opened it, absolutely stunned.

"How did you get up here?"

"I have my ways. May I come in?"

"Of course."

She let me in and I looked around. A few days ago, it was just an empty, awkward guest room. I heard something hit the ground and I turned back.

The thing that hit the floor was the velvet robe she wore. Underneath that, she was stark naked. Her pupils and cornea had blended into a magnificent black with hints of gold in them.

It finally hit me. Her desire…was lust.