Hakushaku to Yousei Vol 3 Chapter 2

P. 47

They were so busy that she forgot about the where-abouts of the fairy queen’s ‘moon’ and the organization that was fighting against Prince. There were no incidents after that and as a matter of fact, Lydia had forgotten about the bad feeling she had right after that. 

Lydia didn’t have any dresses that were fit to let her attend formal settings in the first place. 

Lydia’s father was a university professor and had pretty good ties with people in the upper-class, but he didn’t favor glamorous social settings, so he didn’t stick his face out unless it was an invitation from someone he couldn’t possibly refuse. 

That’s why, there was all the more commotion and disorder in the Carlton house for doing something they weren’t used to.

From the afternoon, Lydia’s father went to the barber and cleaned and tidied up his usual straggly hair and was waiting for the tailor who was late as he repeatedly took off and impatiently wiped his spectacles. 

In the end, it arrived in the evening, but the housekeeper of the Carlton house was able to skillfully aid Lydia her dressing and they made it in time. 

She had her hair, that was normally left running down her back, done up fashionably and charming like a young lady. After she decorated it with a freesia hair ornamentation and pulled up her gloves that came to her elbows, she was ready. 

P. 49

“Nico, what do you think?”

Nico yawned and stood up.

It looked like he was going to attend the ball as well.

“It’s all right, since you’re young.”

“Are you planning to attend that many balls?”

“You aren’t listening to me, are you?”

“Hey, don’t you think the back is a little too revealing?”

Lydia snapped back into reality. 

“I think it is all right for you to enjoy this. This isn’t something that can be compared to the ball in the countryside, right? You would be able to brag about this to the country folk.”

There were balls held even in the countryside that was her hometown. They were small parties hosted by a middle-class family, but it was the subject of adoration of all the girls who had never left that country town.

But the one she was going to go to today was a true ball. A ball that was like a fairytale or out of a dream, held for peers and aristocrats. 

“You are right. It would be a waste not to enjoy it if I’m going.”

Nico said that only because he had been watching Lydia’s dance practice, so her skills must be worse than she imagined.

P. 51

“Then, maybe I should have Edgar reframe.”

“Oh, why not the two of you dance. You should unload your frustration that’s been piling up on the Lord Earl.”

What is that suppose to mean.

Lydia called out to him that she was coming and pulled the hem of her skirt up a little.

“Oh, good lord, looks like you could nearly stumble inside the house and not be able to get back up,” mumbled Nico, rolling his eyes around. 

The ones that were getting out of those carriages were ladies and gentlemen who all dressed in fine and elegant evening ball wear. They entered into the earl palace entry way like they were being swept in.

It was the hall that she was familiar with, but after it was covered with a new carpet and numerous lamps and decorated with flowers and clothes, Lydia felt like she might have wondered into a different world and moved her head about in a unladylike manner to look at everything around her.

Her father tapped her shoulder and when she finally turned her eyes back to him, she saw that Edgar was standing in front of them.

“Welcome, Professor Carlton, and Miss Lydia.”

“Good evening. …..Lord Edgar.”

P. 53

“Please take your time and enjoy yourselves.”

He needed to welcome the invited guests that came in one after another and didn’t have any time to spare on Lydia. She realized that it was impossible to get any more words out of him and surprised at herself who was apparently expecting to hear something more out of him. 

“Wear it on the collar of your dress.”

“Lydia?”

“All right, I’m going to go greet the Duke Masefield.”

“Why do I have to be so panicked?”

First of all, to be told to put a rose on her dress collar, maybe that meant that her dress was too simple and needed more décor. 

Using a window as a mirror, she tried to slip the rose, which had all its thorns removed, into her collar. 

Arranging the frills that ran along her collar, Lydia felt like a pair of eyes were looking at her and lifted her head up. A number of woman looked casually away in the other direction, or maybe that was a figure of her imagination.

She tried to look for any sight of her father, but then spotted Raven waiting as a server. He walked over to Lydia and held out a glass. 

“Oh, thank you….. Uh, Raven, is there something weird with my dress?”

Looks like she asked the wrong person.

“……Edgar told you to say that?”

P. 55

How is it that he can say yes.

“It isn’t at all strange.”

“Well, I am not the right person to ask about that. Since it is the first time for me to attend such a ball.”

“The Earl Ashenbert was friendly and invited me and so I came, but I’m worried that I’m out of place.”

It seemed Raven was busy as he went off to continue what he was doing, but Lydia felt something familiar with this man who said it was his first ball and was able to make a smile naturally.

He gave an obvious impression like he was an honest and good-willed young man. His light brown curly hair was let out to grow naturally but it appeared to Lydia’s eyes like he didn’t seem like the pretentious type.

“But, young miss, everyone has their eye on you. Don’t you have a promise to dance with the earl?”

He pointed at the rose that was pinned in the collar of her dress.

Now that she thought about it, Edgar’s buttonhole was also this flower. 

Was that what this meant?

It wasn’t like she wasn’t hoping that she wouldn’t be asked for that kind of thing.

She thought of throwing away this rose. But if she was asked and did dance with the fellow, then she might embarrass him. Edgar may have anticipated that and came up with this idea.

Lydia let out a sigh, thinking that reality was much more harsh than she imagined.

“Um, I am acquainted with the earl, but, it’s not like that. Because I’m not good in dancing, he must have done this so that I wouldn’t have to dance.”

When Lydia chucked, he also smiled.

“Are you, perhaps, the one who painted that Titania?”

“No, not at all. I always wanted to meet you. Ah, my name is Lydia Carlton.”

More like she could see them and hear them and was meeting them everyday, than like. 

“Oh, yes.”

“Fairies and gods from mythology are all sources of imagination to me. Since I’ve never seen them before, I’m able to create them freely in my imagination.”

P. 58

“Oh, yes. Because people have the mind’s eye, they are able to see what doesn’t appear to their eyes.”

It was just a simple conversation, but Lydia felt happy, like she was understood by somebody.

Before she had realized it, the orchestra was over in playing the prelude.

“There’s the earl. He surely does stand out.”

Of course, he needed to ask all the upper-class daughters and ladies of the distinguished guests, so in reality, he really didn’t have the time to be dancing with Lydia.

While she was watching everybody, momentarily, a new dance started along to the rhythm of a quadrille.

Lydia was a little envious.

“Would you like to dance?”

“If it’s this dance, it seems easy enough. And if we make a mistake, I’m sure it wouldn’t stand out that much.”

“If you aren’t going to only dance with the earl that is.”

“Um, Mr. Foreman, please go easy on me.”

P. 60

Sitting himself down on the stone hand railing that lead to the garden with a glass of scotch in one paw, the fairy cat Nico was humming a tune to himself.

To tell the truth, he preferred a whole freshly-caught fish after it was deep-fried more than fish roe or thinly cut fish slices, but he didn’t mind this either. 

Even the Carlton house hobgoblin was there.

Fluttering her honey-golden wings in a hurry, Marygold hovered around in the air above Nico. 

“Hey, hey, you still haven’t given up yet. It’s impossible to take the earl back with you.”

“But, the man that your queen fell in love with isn’t him, you know. He’s just a man who inherited the family name and yet you all are all right with that?”

But, he doesn’t even share the same blood. Even though he thought that, he kept quiet.

To tell the truth, Nico actually didn’t mind if this Marygold took away that criminal to the land of their fairy queen, so that Lydia would be released. 

But, Lydia was somewhat pitying Edgar. She was deceived and used a number of times, and even when she was made to do what he wanted her to do, she ended up pitying him for having such a sad past. 

If Edgar were to put in a situation where he was nearly taken away to the fairyworld, and it that was not his wish, then she was sure to do something to help him. 

“Tut, then that means we’ll be living in London for a while.”

The fountain water burst up in exploding waves. The surface of the water that circled around the bronze statue of the mermaid rose up like a black mountain. 

Marygold hid herself behind Nico’s tail and Nico rushed to jump into the bushes. 

“K-kelpie….”

Lifting up his rear, the kelpie kicked away the fairies that hadn’t yet escaped with its hooves, and shook its saturated mane, making the water droplets making it shine and sparkle, then lifted up its head to look up at the building.

“What, really?”

This is bad. Extremely bad. 

Since the first time he saw the rock that had mold growing on it, he had been having a bad feeling. He didn’t think that the aquatic horse would leave the familiar waters of its home and come all the way to London, so he denied that possibility. 

He apparently was influenced by his even further oddball younger sibling who took a human wife and relentlessly asked Lydia if she would become his bride. 

“…..Oh, no, I need to let Lydia know.”

The dance music quickly changed from one to another. From the beautiful music of the violin that streamed across the air of the room to the bouncing tune of the clarinet to the calm melody of the cello solo.

She introduced Mr. Foreman to her father and just when the talk was livening up between her and the Duchess who said she loved to hear about fairies, her eyes spotted a gray-haired cat that bobbed and weaved through the legs of the crowded people on his hind legs. 

Luckily no-one was looking towards their feet so it looked like no-one had noticed, but Lydia swiftly walked over to Nico. 

It seemed like he was in some sort of panic, but Lydia picked Nico up as it seemed like he was going to continue talking in his upright position. 

“Don’t talk like that in this crowd.”

She carried Nico in his dangling state all the way to the balcony and lowered him down as she hid in the shadow of the curtain on top of the hand railing. 

“More importantly, what was the matter?”

P. 65

“He?”

“You found out who was the culprit?”

“Lydia! There you were.”

From the neighboring balcony, a man was leaning out towards their direction.

Of course, all of that was very familiar.

He was the fairy that would periodically pay a visit to her Scotland home.

They were a species that naturally won’t communicate their thoughts with humans. They were an Unseelie court that would use their devilish good looks to trick humans and drag them into the waters to eat them. 

P. 66

Even if he was a devilish aquatic horse, he wasn’t all that dangerous once he left the river and when it pertained to him, she saw him more out of curiosity as a fairy doctor than of his true nature as a man-eater. 

Leaving in that state, Lydia came to London and the days she spent here all rushed by and so she had completely forgotten about Kelpie.

“I’ve come for you. Let’s go back home to Scotland.”

“Ho-How did you know where I was?”

“The hobgoblin in your house told me. Because you are hired by the Blue Knight Earl, you won’t be coming back for quite a while. So that’s why yours truly here came all this way for you.”

P. 67

Hobgoblins loved gossip and rumors much more than humans. In order to drive away the kelpie that they disliked, it must have been more than happy to tell him that Lydia was staying in London.

But, the kelpie wasn’t listening. He was rudely inspecting Lydia with his confused and curious eyes. 

This happens to be formal wear. 

For the time being, Lydia decided in a panic that it was best to hid him away from people’s eyes. However, Kelpie didn’t realize the situation and thoughtlessly pulled up her skirt to look into it.

In reflex, she gave him a hard slap of her palm. At least, Kelpie let go of her but she was sure that her action didn’t give him much damage.

“I don’t want to be told that by a savage kelpie.”

P. 68

“This is this kind of dress!”

The one who spoke to her as he came out to the balcony was Paul Foreman.

He slipped himself between Kelpie and Lydia.

Kelpie made an irritated look as he knit his manly brows. 

“You’re wrong, he isn’t the earl… More than that, don’t say something so rude!”

“Miss Lydia, he is your acquaintance?”

“Oh, what, so he isn’t the earl. Then don’t get in our way.”

“More importantly, Lydia, I found the moon. Now you’ll be mine.”

P. 69

P. 70

Oh, right. Marygold had said that he was the one who had stolen her ‘moon.’

“Don’t be ridiculous. The moon is hanging above us this very moment.”

On the palm of his hand that he opened, there was a ring that had a milky white stone attached onto it, but Lydia turned her eyes away.

“Don’t say that and just accept it.”

Kelpie tried to force it onto one of Lydia’s fingers.

“Stop it, young man…..”

“I said don’t get me my way, you little,”

“Shut up! ….ah.”

Huh? Said Paul and lifted up his hand in shock to see that he was wearing the ring.

“….It’s not coming off.”

“Whaat!”

Lydia desperately tried to push Kelpie back.

“What is all this commotion?”

“Would you mind letting go of my precious guest.”

“So you’re the Blue Knight Earl.”

The way he asked Lydia instead since he had no intention of having a conversation with someone who wasn’t invited was just the derogatory attitude of a noble.

P. 72

“I am the much feared, great ke…”

“K…., Kain is his name!”

“So, Mister Kain, do you have business with me?”

“Well, let’s see, there indeed is an overwhelming number of things here that you can pretty much throw away, but I’m sure back at your home, people must pick up and take anything that’s thrown out.”

“Why you little…!”

But Edgar remained as he was, without batting an eye and didn’t show any signs like he was going to evade his assault. The one who stopped Kelpie’s arm was Raven.

P. 73

“Hah, as you would expect from the Blue Knight Earl. You’re keeping such an tremendous thing as your servant.”

He narrowed his black pearl eyes and stepped back.

With that Kelpie twisted his limber body around and jumped down towards the ground from the balcony.

Everyone thought that his body sank down into the supposedly shallow

The guests of the ball were aghast and dead quiet at seeing such a shocking sight.

She remained frozen but felt Edgar beside take a deep breath.

“It’s all right, just keep smiling,” he said then turned to face everyone.

P. 74

Once he gave them a smile, a stir swept through the anxious crowd as they erupted into an applause.

I wonder what kind of contrivance they used?

Or maybe he was a magician?

As they whispered amongst each other, they returned into the hall again as they were lead into by the sound of the music, making the ball flow on again like nothing ever happened.

Worried by Edgar, Paul finally came to his senses and stood up straight. He fixed his necktie that was ruffled because Kelpie had grabbed it and messed it up and shook his head.

“I’m sorry you had to go through such an unpleasant experience.”

“Let’s dance.”

“As we promised.”

They passed in front of Paul who looked like didn’t understand the extent of what happened and wanted to ask questions and as she heard Nico whisper to her “Good luck,” Lydia walked out into the hall.

“Next is a waltz.”

“Edgar, it might be better if we didn’t….”

Looks like he noticed.

His ash mauve eyes gazed at Lydia as he peered down at her. He looked angry like he couldn’t believe what she was saying. 

P. 76

Their hands overlapped and his hand wrapped around her waist, which was to wait for the first sound of the waltz. But, compared to the other couples, Lydia became worried if they might be standing too close to each other.

“…If you’re too close, I’ll step on your foot.”

“I might bang into you and knock you over.”

“Didn’t you hear from Raven that my dance was like a weapon or torture?”

“Huh.”

“……Raven wouldn’t say something like that.”

He would chuckle like usual at Lydia who turned red, but right now his gaze seemed more seductive than usual.

For a moment, the hall went silent, and then a violin’s one phrase ringed throughout the air. 

They carried on like they were leaning up against the melody of the violin and Lydia was surprised herself that her body was moving naturally. 

It was the sensation like both of their breathing matched. It was as if she tightly tied to the music and him, like they had become one. 

“…….This isn’t usual. It’s because you’re a good lead.”

“Lydia, just like this, we’re able to beautifully make up for one another anytime. Don’t you think so?” he whispered at a close distance where his lips nearly brushed against her ear. 

But this wasn’t the result of her practice but Edgar’s technique. Whoever was his partner, he was able to make the two of them appear like they were dancing perfectly.

P. 78

“What are you planning now?”

The other half was just simply his character.

He pulled her body tight against his. Because they went around in repeatedly large circles, Lydia nearly went dizzy.

Before she knew it, they had entered and were standing in the back of the greenhouse that was connected with the great hall.

Unlike the room where the chandelier brightly lit-up everything, the lamps in the hallway that were placed with some space between them and the moon-light that shown through the transparent glass ceiling was able to relax her a bit.

She was breathing hard, like she was been running in a race. Lydia calmed herself by sucking in a gulp of air which carried the aroma of a southern tropical country. 

P. 79

“That dress, it looks beautiful on you. You look like a chiffon cake.”

“Yes, you look delicious.”

“Since the moon is watching, I’ll have to bear with just some caramel.”

And yet, she thought that they were showing the color of his heart and that made her more dizzy.

Lydia breathed in and out deeply to try to keep herself calm.

“About twenty.”

“But you are the most beautiful. This, I haven’t said to anyone.”

When she let that pass in a tone like she didn’t believe him, Edgar shrugged his shoulders a little and leaned up against a tree.

“Yes, he was.”

Lydia felt awkward and kept her mouth shut.

“So, he’s the one who proposed to you.”

If Edgar got involved in the mess between Kelpie, then things might turn out even more complicated.

“Are you saying that he isn’t in love with you?”

“But as for me, I’m not calm about this.”

“It isn’t like you are even in love with me.”

“Because, I just think so.”

“Mister. Kain, was his name? He was as handsome-looking as a Greek sculpture. Well, we can say he’s evenly matched with me.”

“I might lose in strength. But he doesn’t have intelligence, grace, a fortune or title. Most women would be smart and choose me. But you are not those type of women.”

“Yes, this is stupid. But isn’t love to compare things that would at once seem stupid and think about winning or losing.”

“You’re wrong, you just always want to be the center of everyone’s attention.”

A man with a dream, ahh, for some reason, women are weak against those types of men. Even if they were pore and worked hard, they would support each other and live a modest life and it is your ideal to be able to grant his wish, isn’t it?”

“But, you know, Lydia, an artist may appear pure and innocent but a lot of them are narrow-minded and unreasonable. You’ll be put through pain and toil.”

“I know, falling in love isn’t logical. That’s why, right now, I’m terribly uneasy. All my time tonight, ever since I saw you having a good time with Paul, I had feeling uneasy and can’t remain calm. After the fairy appeared, I’ve been stirred up even further. This insecure feeling, wouldn’t you say it’s love.”

“It can’t be helped that you are not able to believe in what I say. It might be that you are unable to let your guard down to a former criminal thief, but since love is logical, there’s hope for me. Even if you think I’m being brash, wouldn’t I have the right to tell you my feelings?”

All in all, it only looked like Edgar was enjoying a game of his to Lydia’s eyes.

The fashionable style among the nobles is said to be to enjoy the strategy and skills in dealing with the love between someone married that wouldn’t lead to either of them becoming serious. 

It was pleasant to feel that someone liked you and if both of the people in that relationship were able to feel like they got closely acquainted with another, then there was no trouble. 

That was fine in itself. If he would periodically flannel her, then even Lydia wouldn’t think bad of it and she would be able to do her job with a good heart for the sake of the earl family. She would also be able to feel closely acquainted with Edgar. 

For Lydia, who wasn’t a lady from noble birth, this was out of her capacity to handle. It was only going to confuse her. 

“Game?”

“In any case, I want you to stop! With those pretended words of yours.”

I’m so stupid for taking this so seriously. Even though she thought on one side, she was seriously become scared at being whispered this words about love and what else.

P. 84

It was in her neighborhood and a house where the family was well-acquainted with her parents and had invited them to tea before. She had played with the child of that house and the two of them enjoyed playing normally together. He had opened up to her and told her his worry but when he was with his other friends, he didn’t talk to Lydia. Most likely, he didn’t want to be poked fun by his friends for being friendly with the town’s oddball.

It was any other day it was normal, but at that time, Lydia was a little upset and wondered why he didn’t look over to her direction.

“That was a lie.”

Only, she regretted that she should of just went back home without speaking to him since she felt something was odd.

P. 85

But, remembering that now, she wondered why she felt a sudden fear arise in her.

She was brought back to reality by Edgar’s voice, but she kept her head down and he saw something wet drop onto her hand that she had placed on her lap. 

“Lydia, is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing! I-I feel quite thirsty so I’ll go get something to drink!”

Lydia prayed as she scrambled into the lounge where her father was.

Chapter end