CCP Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Wilhelmina Priestley.

She was merely standing behind her older brother Benjamin, wearing a green dress trimmed with black Touraine lace and pretending nothing unusual had happened.

But Cassian had seen it clearly.

Just moments ago, she had pushed Benjamin in the back without the slightest mercy, doing so at precisely the right moment.

Even after their eyes met, Wilhelmina showed no sign of embarrassment.

Instead, she gave him a sweet, knowing smile and silently mouthed the words:

Did you see that?

Cassian was dumbfounded.

He had to admit it. Wilhelmina’s merciless efficiency was remarkably swift, and remarkably clean. He could guarantee that kind of skill did not come from trying it only once or twice.

Better than expected.

The moment he reached that conclusion, Cassian naturally rearranged his facial muscles into an expression of polite apology toward those around him.

“Excuse me. It seems my companion has arrived. I’m afraid I must be going.”

“Your companion? Surely you don’t mean…”

After thoroughly enjoying the sight of Count Wilbright’s face finally showing genuine bewilderment for the first time, Cassian walked past him and extended a hand toward Wilhelmina.

“Shall we go, Miss Priestley?”

An undignified wave of shock swept through the crowd.

“What on earth…?”

“His prior engagement was… with Miss Priestley?”

Amid the gaping mouths and wide eyes of the people behind him, Wilhelmina leisurely stepped forward.

She moved with the gliding grace of a lady, gently laying her hand atop Cassian’s.

“Then, could it be…”

Someone among those standing behind them muttered stupidly,

“Are you saying the boatman on the Tess River was actually His Grace, the Duke of Clifford?”

“Keep your voice down! He’ll hear you!”

He did hear them.

But Wilhelmina did not so much as blink.

Pretending to escort her, Cassian lowered his voice.

“Should I say that it is my honor to have witnessed such an impressive display of skill?”

“You’re too kind.”

“With problem-solving abilities that remarkable, I assume you naturally have a plan for what we should do from here.”

“Of course.”

Following Cassian’s escort, Wilhelmina kept her gaze haughtily fixed straight ahead as she answered.

“We have to run.”

“You don’t mean you intend for us to make our way to the balcony together, in full view of everyone here?”

Only then did Wilhelmina raise an eyebrow and snap her gaze up at him.

“My apologies, Your Highness.”

The amusement vanished from her hazel eyes, which flashed like those of a bird of prey.

“Have you gone mad?”

“No.”

Even as he answered, Cassian made no effort to suppress the laughter escaping from his lips.

Perhaps because of that, Wilhelmina still looked thoroughly unconvinced.

“Listen carefully, Your Highness.”

“Yes, I’m listening.”

“First, never again use dangerous words in a place like this that will send the Windstor gossips into a frenzy.”

“The balcony?”

Instead of answering, Wilhelmina brought her shoe down hard on the toe of Cassian’s polished boot.

Very, very hard.

“And secondly.”

She did not need to say it aloud that if he spouted one more ridiculous suggestion, she would step on his instep next.

The warning came through perfectly well.

“There is only one way to have a private conversation while avoiding everyone’s eyes at a gathering like this.”

“And what might that be?”

Just then, the orchestra began playing a new dance.

Wilhelmina rolled her eyes elegantly and gave him a meaningful nod, as if to say See?

“Dance, Your Highness.”

Beneath the glow of magnificent chandeliers, men and women began pairing off and gathering across the floor to move to the waltz.

Half following Wilhelmina’s lead, Cassian blended into the dancers, and before long, he had no choice but to admit that her idea was excellent.

“People who are dancing are usually only interested in each other. Or…”

Wilhelmina gave him a sly, crooked smile.

“At the very least, they have to pretend they are.”

Ah.

Cassian grinned and nodded.

“I see what you mean.”

Though Cassian was unfamiliar with the particular social mechanics of such a peaceful and extravagant place as a ballroom, there was little to criticize about his dancing itself.

It was not particularly impressive,

either—but Wilhelmina was in much the same boat, so she hardly had room to complain.

“You have quite an impressive talent for using your brother as a human shield.”

Cassian finally spoke as they completed the first slow turn in time with the music.

“I had heard that the Priestley siblings were exceptionally close, but I never imagined you would have such an original way of demonstrating that affection.”

“And Your Highness was demonstrating in a rather original fashion that it had been quite some time since you last attended a ball.”

“I suppose I was.”

Cassian acknowledged it so casually that he did not appear to feel even the slightest embarrassment over his lack of experience.

“You’re admitting that far too easily.”

“There’s no particular effort required to acknowledge the truth. Speaking of which…”

Half-embracing Wilhelmina as her skirts whirled around them, Cassian leaned close and whispered low behind her ear.

“Would you be so kind as to pay me for the pleasure of watching my pitiful predicament?”

“What? Pitiful?”

Wilhelmina’s eyebrows shot up before she could stop them.

“I find your choice of words somewhat deceptive.”

“In what way?”

“In what way, you ask?”

She swiftly slipped out of Cassian’s arms.

The green silk of her dress brushed softly against his leg, curling around it like a fish’s fin before gliding away.

“You set up an enormous chessboard, using yourself as the bait, and then sat back to watch how I would prove my worth upon it, didn’t you?”

At her cutting redefinition of the situation, Cassian merely smiled at his leisure.

Wilhelmina gave him a sharp look for a moment before skillfully turning and finishing her thought.

“In any case, I think pitiful is a rather inappropriate adjective for a man like you.”

If he had truly wanted to escape the situation, that man could have done so a hundred times over.

He could have simply chosen not to show his face at this outrageous ball in the first place.

And yet, there was only one reason Cassian had deliberately endured standing amid that troublesome crowd.

He had wanted to determine whether Wilhelmina really was the useful piece she had claimed herself to be.

Cassian smiled faintly.

Then he nodded without resistance.

“I won’t bother denying it.”

Just as Wilhelmina lifted her hazel eyes, clearly preparing to shoot back another remark, Cassian suddenly pulled her sharply toward him.

“……!”

To everyone else, it would have looked like nothing more than a minor misstep caused by the abrupt turn of the waltz.

But Wilhelmina knew.

The movement had been entirely deliberate.

“I surrender.”

The moonlike eyes gazing down at her from such close range held a deep amusement.

“You were right.”

A soft shiver ran through her.

There was something almost strange about the composure with which Cassian admitted defeat.

Especially considering that most men would apparently rather bury their faces in the Tess River and drown than admit they had lost to a woman.

That effortless flexibility made one truth unmistakably clear to Wilhelmina.

This man was not trapped in the same prison of narrow-minded, paltry masculinity as all the other men she had dealt with.

Which, in turn, meant that he was far more difficult to handle than she had anticipated.

“I need you.”

That whispering voice…

Even though her constricting corset had been pulled tight enough to leave no room to breathe, with a dress layered over it besides, Wilhelmina felt as though she could pinpoint exactly where his fingers brushed against the seams sewn with stiff whalebone.

Perhaps it was because every one of her senses had become unusually heightened.

Whatever the reason, Wilhelmina could understand with startling clarity what the beautiful man smiling with crescent-shaped eyes intended.

Guided by that sharp intuition, she summoned her pride and smiled back at him.

“Your Highness’s strategy…”

Following the melody, the distance between the two of them opened once again.