I Opened The Birdcage Door

Chapter 19

***

I doubted my ears.

Was what I just heard true? Maybe it was a hallucination.

It was hard to believe the way he spoke to me, it was the first sweet tone I had ever heard. Ever since Sebastian said to me a long time ago when he handed me a handkerchief at the debutante ball.

Sebastian was staring at me without averting his eyes.

I pondered for a moment how to react, but I chose to ignore him.

I doubted whether what I had heard was true, and even if what I heard was true, I thought that in the end, I would be better to ignore him than make any reaction.

I got up and headed for the office door.

As soon as I opened the door and was about to go outside, he said.

“It looks good, you.”

“…..”

“To be able to walk again. And work as a duke.”

He came over to me and grabbed my wrist tenderly. His warm body temperature was transmitted.

I got goosebumps.

“You have gained more weight than before. I felt bad seeing you so thin before. You look much healthier now….”

“Where do you dare put your hand?”

A cold voice came out of my mouth. Sebastian stopped talking and looked at me.

I shook off his hand. It would be more accurate to say that I threw as hard as I could rather than hit it. Objectively, my strength wasn’t that strong. Even though he would have been strong enough to hold on against me, he was pushed back in vain.

His back touched the wall. He stood still and looked down at me.

I strode forward in front of him and looked straight up at him.

“What are you doing to me?”

“….”

Sebastian didn’t answer.

His expression turned cold again, unlike the lips that had just uttered friendly words. His body temperature was still on my wrist. Once again, goosebumps arose.

I looked firmly into his amber eyes. I suddenly thought. I think it’s the first time I looked at him with prickly eyes like this.

“If you are an escort knight, act like an escort knight. Don’t show unnecessary interest in me.”

“….”

I spoke coldly and left the room.

I suddenly thought. Does Bianca know that Sebastian has become my escort knight? Sebastian didn’t respond until I left the room.

***

A few days later, I was meeting a woman in the duke’s office.

“I am Emma Tristan, who will teach Your Excellency dance from today. Please feel free to call me Emma.”

“Emma, nice to meet you.”

Emma was a dance teacher sent by Usher. The middle aged woman was the older sister of the deceased empress, and to Usher, she was also his aunt.

At first glance, she seemed to have a different face from the previous empress, but if I look closely, I could see that she resembled the previous empress more than anyone else.

“I came here at a request from Prince Usher. He said that you wanted to learn to dance.”

“Yes. If you’ve ever heard my story, you’d know…… I had a major accident when I was young and my legs were not used for several years. And it got fixed now. That’s why it’s only at this age that I learn to dance.”

“It’s okay. Does age have anything to do with learning to dance? And you’re still young.”

Emma said in a friendly voice.

“Besides, dancing is not that difficult. The dance of the nobility is well-established, but in fact, the essence of dancing is simply shaking your body to the music.”

She smiled playfully, swayed her waist, and danced naturally. It was different from the restrained dance moves of a noble, and Sophie, who was standing next to me, smiled softly.

“But you have to learn aristocratic dance, too. In fact, that’s what you need more.”

After Emma stopped dancing, she placed her hand on her waist, with a relaxed smile.

“Then, shall we learn the most basic waltz first?”

***

Learning to dance was quite enjoyable. For me, learning to dance was like a time to realize that I could walk again. I learned only very basic waltz movements, but it was like a dream.

As I continued to memorize movements and receive instruction, it seemed that the feeling I had learned to dance at a very young age was somewhat revived.

“Right, left, right, left. That’s it. Left foot to right, right foot to left.”

Emma was a very good teacher. She encouraged me hard and led me to follow the dance.

While she was quite good at dancing, she seemed to have a very free spirit. She also had a moderate sense of humor. I liked her.

After dancing class, I had tea time with Emma.

A table full of desserts. I put down the teacup and said,

“Thanks to the cheerful teacher, today’s dance class was fun. Thank you.”

“It was an honor for me to teach the dance to the beautiful Duke, too.”

Emma said with a warm smile. Then I continued.

“I heard Miss Emma is not married. You’re still single.”

“That’s right. Since I was little, I was a bit rebellious. At one point, I became disillusioned with the sound of marriage that I heard every day piercing my ears. I ran out of the house that way. I worked as a tutor, traveling around noble families and teaching children. It’s not a bad life.”

I listened to Emma, then spoke.

“That’s amazing. The fact that you were brought up in a prestigious family, but you could give up on it all…. And working as a tutor for different families is hard for me to imagine.”

“I don’t really care about that. Because they’re kids. Kids are lovely, regardless of their status.”

That’s right. I smiled and nodded my head.

“Usher… So, I have heard that Miss Emma is like a mother to the Crown Prince.”

I had heard about Emma from Usher. He said she was like a second mother to him. Instead of the Empress, who passed away not long after she gave birth to Usher, Emma took care of Usher and often visited the palace.

I think I had seen her a few times from afar when I was a child.

“That’s right. Usher has relied on me a lot since he was a kid. I think he was lonely because he grew up without his mother.”

Emma smiled and nodded her head.

“Maybe that’s why I really liked it when Usher got engaged to Miss Aileen . . .”

“Yes?”

I couldn’t understand what Emma said as she spoke in a l small voice.

I tilted my head and asked, but Emma shook her head as if it was nothing.

“When I see Miss Aileen, I think of my dead sister.”

Emma was talking about the former Empress. She sighed a little.

“My sister was a typical lady who was very well-received in the social world. She also had moderate fantasies about marriage. She eventually became Empress of the Great Rosien Empire. Being weak was her fatal weakness.”

Emma said with a warm smile.

“So, somehow, I feel like taking care of Miss Aileen.”

Emma said so and looked at me warmly. For some reason, I felt a warm feeling that I had never experienced before blooming in my heart.

Then Emma quickly put down the teacup and stood up from her seat.

“I’ve got to go. It takes me a while to get back to where I live.”

“Ah, right…. I will see you off.”

“No, Duchess. It must be difficult because you moved a lot today, so don’t overdo it.”

I got up from my seat, but Emma dissuaded me, saying she was fine.

“Come to think of it, it’s a pity that you didn’t have a partner when we danced today.”

Emma took her bag and walked out of her seat, then said.

“Next time, I’ll bring a partner that suits the Duchess well.”

I looked at Emma for a moment, then smiled and nodded my head.

She was a nice woman.

***

After Emma left, I did the rest of my work.

After finishing work early and eating dinner, I decided to practice the dance I learned today for the rest of the time.

A waltz was a basic dance, but it was by no means an easy dance. For beginners, the steps were often twisted. I stopped dancing. It felt like my brain went blank.

“I’m sure I learned well.”

“Where should my feet go from here? Do I have to move my left foot?”

It was then. A voice came.

“Left foot to the right.”

“Ah, right…… .”

Only then did I remember. Unknowingly, a question surfaced as I was smiling and moving my feet.

I turned to the side. Sebastian was standing there. My escort knight in armor.

My expression hardened. Did he just say that? I was sure I clearly told him not to talk to me. But before I could say anything, Sebastian slowly approached me.

“Can I teach you how to dance?”

There was nobody around. I stepped back.

It was then that I realized the fatal flaw of the fact that he was my escort knight. He and I were alone, and that was not against the rule.

My back thumped and touched something. I felt the cold wall.

“I…”

Sebastian was right in front of me.

“Because I’m good at dancing.”