After having his appetite completely ruined by that bizarre cake, Lin Gui wasn't ready to give up just yet.
He used Levitation again to try a few other dishes that looked exquisite and tempting.
There were pancakes dotted with caviar, fruit tarts glazed with glass-like sugar, and meat jelly arranged like a work of art.
However, without exception, all of these foods had an inexplicably bizarre taste.
Either the spices were piled on too heavily, or bizarre ingredients that didn't go well together had been added in a pursuit of rarity.
The assault on his taste buds came in wave after wave, each worse than the last.
“Tsk, is there something wrong with the nobles' sense of taste?” Lin Gui grumbled under his breath.
In the end, he could only resentfully levitate a few pieces of white bread over to barely fill his stomach.
Then, with a face full of utter despair, he slumped back into his chair.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he prepared to resume his interrupted grand endeavor of sleeping.
Elvia looked at his stubborn, uncooperative attitude and finally couldn't take it anymore.
From her initial gentle pokes to annoyed shaking, she finally resorted to slapping his arm repeatedly, almost as if to vent her frustration.
“Hey! Wake up! Wake up!”
Unable to bear the annoyance any longer, Lin Gui finally reached out and grabbed her troublemaking hand.
Elvia's hand was fair and soft, but her palm and the web of her thumb bore thin calluses from years of sword practice, giving them a unique texture.
He helplessly opened his bloodshot eyes and asked wearily, “What is it?”
Elvia lowered her voice, carrying a trace of grievance and urgency that she herself didn't even notice.
“Listen, this is our wedding banquet! I dressed up so much to come here. No matter how useless you are, you should at least... dance with me, even if it's just for show!”
“Otherwise, everyone else will think we're a fake couple!”
Lin Gui cast a flat glance at her and said calmly, “They won't.”
“Huh?” Elvia frowned in confusion.
Lin Gui pointed a finger at the corner of her mouth.
“At least when you're with me, every expression you show—whether you're angry or speechless—is very natural.”
“It's not... that standard, flawless professional smile you usually wear.”
“Just from this alone, others can tell that my relationship with you is unusual.”
Elvia froze.
Then, a faint, genuine blush quietly crept up her cheeks.
She suddenly realized that, without her knowing when it had started—perhaps since she was poisoned and coerced, or perhaps during their journey together across the rift, experiencing several close calls—on that seemingly perilous road, she had actually let down her guard and opened her heart to two people she was supposed to be wary of, or even hate. She had lost her temper in front of him, grumbled speechlessly, been sarcastic and sly, and hadn't hidden her fear of death at all... All of this seemed to have become a kind of genuine self that was only shown among friends.
This thought caused a strange emotion to rise in her heart.
It was a bit of shyness, mixed with a bit of bewilderment.
She quickly coughed a few times to dispel these inappropriate thoughts and find another excuse.
“Anyway... I want to dance! This is my first time dancing!”
Lin Gui looked at her strangely. “How is that possible?”
His gaze swept across the dance floor.
“With your status and... well, appearance, you must have attended quite a few balls, right?”
“Look, there are plenty of young noble heirs staring at you right now, dying to come over and invite you to dance.”
Elvia smiled bitterly. “Those who would need to dance with me to build relations won't invite me because of factional reasons.”
“As for the mid-tier wealthy merchants, minor nobles, and knights, there's no need for me to lower myself to cater to them.”
“So... the dancing skills I practiced hard for years have indeed never been used in a formal setting.”
She looked up, her sapphire-blue eyes staring straight at Lin Gui with a rare, almost pleading expression.
“Are you... willing to be my first dance partner?”
As she spoke, she made an extremely standard and elegant gesture of invitation.
Curtsying slightly, she extended her hand.
In noble etiquette, a woman taking the initiative to invite someone to dance was extremely rare.
This action in itself attracted many surprised looks.
Immediately after, she leaned closer and lowered her voice, a flash of slyness and fierceness passing through her eyes.
“Besides, I want to crush that little bitch who's acting so presumptuously at my wedding banquet!”
“You must have been given a hard time just now, right? Don't you want to strike back?”
“She's exactly the kind of arrogant noble with her nose in the air that you hate the most!”
Lin Gui raised an eyebrow. Looking at the mixture of expectation, calculation, and indignation in Elvia's eyes, he suddenly found it quite interesting.
He stood up, the corner of his mouth curving into a faint smile.
“Alright, I'll fall for your provocation.”
He didn't return her gesture with standard etiquette.
Instead, he reached out directly and somewhat casually took Elvia's extended hand.
Only after being pulled onto the dance floor by Lin Gui did Elvia belatedly remember a crucial question.
She asked nervously, “By the way, what can you dance? The court waltz? Or...”
Lin Gui was stumped by her question. After a brief pause, he answered honestly, “None of them.”
Elvia instantly fell into despair, as if she could already see the scene of them being ridiculed by the entire room later.
“Don't panic,” Lin Gui said calmly. “I do know one dance, but it's not a court dance.”
“What is it?” A glimmer of hope rose within Elvia.
“Well, the Dance of Magic. Back in the Magic City, I saw some shrine maidens who knew Levitation perform it.”
“It left a very deep impression on me.”
“But I don't know magic.”
“It's fine. I'll use Levitation to guide your movements. Just don't resist and go with the flow.”
Just then, the crowd in the center of the dance floor tacitly cleared a space, leaving the focus on the two pairs of main characters today.
The Third Prince and Emily, and the newly entered Lin Gui and Elvia.
Charles and Emily smiled at each other and danced gracefully to the music, their movements standard and elegant.
Emily wore a proud smile on her face.
Her eyes were filled with even more disdain, especially when she saw Lin Gui's obviously awkward stance.
However, in the next moment, something that left everyone dumbfounded occurred.
Lin Gui didn't try to follow the beat of the music to perform any known court dance steps.
He merely wrapped his arm gently around Elvia's waist, holding her other hand with his.
Then, he simply chanted a spell under his breath.
The faint glow of 【Levitation】 quietly enveloped the two of them.
He didn't rely entirely on physical strength to move Elvia.
Instead, he skillfully utilized precisely controlled levitation force to guide and assist Elvia in performing spins, extensions, and leaps.
Elvia was a bit stiff at first.
But soon, supported by that gentle and stable magic, she relaxed and trustingly followed his guidance.
Thus, in the eyes of the crowd, they performed a dance that had never been seen before, yet was extremely spectacular to watch.
Elvia's white skirt fluttered like an elf dancing on the wind.
Sometimes she leaped lightly as if breaking free from gravity, and sometimes she froze in beautiful poses in midair.
Lin Gui's figure served as a steady pivot and guide.
The glow of magic flickered around them, blending strangely with the music to weave a magical and dreamlike visual feast.
This performance, which transcended the boundaries of traditional dance, shocked the entire room.
Those who had originally looked on with ridicule involuntarily opened their mouths wide, their eyes filled with astonishment.
Even the Third Prince and Emily in the center of the dance floor unconsciously stopped in their tracks, their faces filled with shock and disbelief.
As for Elvia herself, she had long forgotten her initial thought of ‘reclaiming her dignity.’
She was completely intoxicated by this wonderful dance of magic.
Letting go of her mind, she felt the wind brushing past her ears and her body feeling lighter and freer than ever before.
A pure and carefree smile blossomed on her face, breathtakingly beautiful.
However, as the true controller of this gorgeous dance, Lin Gui was currently suffering in silence.
Although he hadn't fully mastered the proficiency of his Levitation spell, dancing wasn't like combat; its intervals allowed Lin Gui to quickly interweave chants.
However, he had overestimated his ability to precisely control every subtle application of force with the Levitation spell under extreme exhaustion.
Maintaining such a ‘magical dance’ that required extremely high precision and continuous magic output was a massive drain on his mind and mana.
He felt his temples throbbing violently, holding on purely by sheer willpower.
Finally, after a spin that seemed simple but actually drained his last ounce of strength, this eye-catching dance of magic came to an end.
The surroundings fell silent for a moment, and then burst into involuntary, enthusiastic applause.
Many young people even cheered excitedly.
However, this applause quickly died down under the warning coughs of some older nobles on the periphery, though the shock and appreciation in everyone's eyes could not be concealed.
After the dance, Lin Gui let go of Elvia's hand almost immediately.
Forcing himself to maintain a calm expression, he nodded slightly to his surroundings.
Then, with somewhat unsteady steps, he quickly returned to his chair in the corner.
He sat down heavily and closed his eyes once more.
It was as if the person who had just stunned the entire room wasn't him at all.
Leaving only Elvia standing alone in the center of the dance floor.
Her cheeks were flushed from excitement and exercise as she felt the lingering, dreamlike aftertaste that had yet to settle, as well as the complex, unspeakable gazes from around her.
Rate on N.U.
