The Hidden King's Stolen Wife-Chapter 174: Song & Dance II

Soleia’s eyebrow twitched, but she smiled and crossed her arms. "So... are you saying you’d be willing to entertain every woman that stretches out her hand to you for a dance?"

Rafael leaned suavely against the wall and shot Soleia a smoldering glance that only made her snort. "My wife will get the first priority for my hand. But there are a lot of women, and I’m only a poor helpless man. What if all of them gang up together to mob me?"

"You’ll live." Soleia smiled blandly. "If something happens to you, I’ll simply have to make do with Mister Jonathan from the bakery. He has nice hands and he has been practicing how to dance."

"Perish the thought. Soleia, you and I will be dancing for the entire event." Rafael immediately stood upright and grabbed her hand, staring intently into her eyes. "We might as well glue our hands together because I refuse to be separated from you."

Soleia swallowed when she was faced with his undivided attention. She didn’t expect him to take her words so seriously!

"The glue is an overkill," Soleia said instead. "But I’m glad you’re open to dancing."

Then she remembered Ralph’s upbringing. "Ralph, do you know how to dance?" Soleia asked, worried she might have touched on a sore point. "It’s alright if you don’t― I’ll teach you."

Of course Rafael would have known how to dance. He had been forced to attend the same lessons that his brothers had since his father would not have Rafael shaming him on the rare occasion he was trotted out for events to entertain the guests. Besides, he could have also reminded Soleia that most of the populace would not know how to waltz to begin with, hence her lessons for him would be useless.

But why would he give up such a good opportunity to be close to her? Who cared if the rest of the peasants didn’t waltz― as long as he was there, he would make all of them waltz to make Soleia happy.

However, if Soleia was going to teach him how to dance, then Rafael would be willing to forget every bit of knowledge he had! He now had two left feet.

"I’ll have to trouble you then," Rafael said with a rueful grin. "My father didn’t see the need for the bastard son to learn dancing, so you might be dealing with a few more trodden toes than you expect."

"That’s nothing," Soleia said. After all the suffering Ralph had experienced because of her, enduring painful feet was the least she could do for him.

"How do we begin?" Rafael asked innocently, knowing full well that dancing came with a lot of physical contact. He couldn’t wait to start. "Do we need music?"

"I’ll count the beats first," Soleia said, deciding to improvise. It wasn’t as though she could summon an orchestra at a moment’s notice, and her singing left much to be desired. "For a start, put your left hand on my waist."

"Really?" Rafael asked, pretending he hadn’t heard her.

Soleia grabbed his left hand and put it on the curve of her waist. "Like this." She then used her other hand to hold Sir Ralph’s right hand, lacing her fingers with his.

"Now, we’ll practice moving," Soleia said, as she tried to remain calm. She was here to teach Ralph how to dance, not to be distracted by the green of his eyes as he gazed at her with unlimited affection and no small amount of amusement.

"I move just fine, Princess," Sir Ralph drawled out mischievously.

Soleia cleared her throat, pretending she hadn’t heard his flirtatious comment.

"Now, you will take a step forward with your left forward, while I will be moving back," Soleia instructed, trying to remember how her old tutor had taught her.

It was more difficult to focus than she remembered― most likely because her tutor back then was an old woman, while her partner now was Sir Ralph, who was staring at his feet with intense focus. It was awfully adorable, but she didn’t want to bring it up and make him feel self-conscious.

"Let’s try it," Soleia said encouragingly. "On the count of two, we’ll move in unison. One―"

Sir Ralph moved... and ended up trodding on her foot. Soleia let out a tiny squeak of surprise. Thankfully, Sir Ralph hadn’t put much of his weight on his foot.

"I’m so sorry, Princess," Rafael said, sounding apologetic, but he was not sorry at all. His little misstep had brought their bodies closer together until they were almost pressed against each other. He made sure to keep a firm hold of Soleia’s waist― after all, wasn’t it one of her instructions?

"Forgive me?" Rafael murmured into Soleia’s ear.

Soleia swallowed as she met his eyes. Her heart began to speed up again. Sir Ralph’s very presence was awfully distracting. She could feel the heat of his palm through the thin fabric of her dress, like a hot iron branding her very person.

"Of course," Soleia said hoarsely. "Everyone makes mistakes when they’re still learning. Let’s try again."

Sir Ralph nodded, with determination in his eyes as he glared down at his own feet. They tried again, and Sir Ralph made it past the first step only to stumble upon the second. "Princess, I’m sorry."

"It’s fine," Soleia said patiently. "We’ll keep on practicing."

And they kept on practicing. Soleia had never met a man so terrible at dancing, but Sir Ralph seemed fully intent on winning that particular crown. She couldn’t help but infer that this was God’s way of evening things out― the higher powers had already blessed him with incredible magical abilities, smarts, and good looks. To make him a great dancer would simply be too much for a single person to handle.

No matter what, she was at least thankful that at least he hadn’t stomped all over her feet like a rampaging horse. If not, she would have to use a walking stick during the spring fair.

Finally, Soleia had enough.

"Sir Ralph, perhaps you might do better if you actually look at me while we’re dancing. You need to anticipate my movements," Soleia said. Sir Ralph had constantly looked at his feet while he tried to memorize the steps, but Soleia knew that tactic wasn’t that effective in the long run. It wasn’t as though Sir Ralph could stare at the floor for the entire duration.

"Alright then," Rafael hid a smug smile. This was going according to plan. Now, he had Soleia’s permission to stare at her for as long as he liked!

Soleia gulped when she realized Sir Ralph’s emerald orbs were staring intently into her eyes.

He gazed into her eyes as though they held all the answers he ever needed in life. Soleia’s blood instantly bubbled and boiled inside her veins, her body tingling when she felt Ralph slightly adjust his grip just a little tighter. He squeezed her waist, firmly holding onto her.

In the reflection of the light, Soleia’s eyes went to his hand at her waist, then to their matching rings. The shimmery layer that was cast over the accessory almost made it seem as though it was constantly moving like the steady stream of an infinite river.

"Like that?" he asked, his voice barely above a murmur.

Soleia’s throat felt immensely dry as she continued to stare into his eyes, captured by his gaze.

"Just like that..." she said in reply. Her heart skipped a beat when a small smile broke across Ralph’s face.

Teaching Ralph Byrone to dance was starting to seem like an impossible task, especially if she, as the tutor, couldn’t keep her feet on land and her head out of the clouds.

***

Orion stared at the scrolls of parchment Princess Nessa had brought to him, his eyebrows furrowing further and further the more he read through them. She, on the other hand, stood in a corner, leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest.

Finally, he broke the silence.

"How sure are you?"