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MLPBMH Chapter 25

My first dance to you (5)

Translator: Effe
Editor: Aurum

“Whoa…”

It’s all over the place. The people in this mansion did not leave Beth alone.

When she went to see the hall again, Claire was happily playing with Chelsea. Not only that, but a few young children seemed to greet each other. Beth looked satisfactorily and headed elsewhere.

Beth, who had contemplated the count and the countess, each who welcomed their guests, went out of the garden as she hoped to play a fool.

It wasn’t summer yet, but at night, the wind on the skin was chilly.

Perhaps because the little children were also brought in, the oddities that used to appear in the novel that Beth read in her previous life did not happen in the garden. Beth thought it was fortunate that she had no taste for staring at others secretly.

Except for a few people who sometimes come out to get some fresh air, the large garden was quiet which made it feel like she had a private garden. She heard the sound of grass shake and bump in the wind. She gently closed her eyes and then opened them as she felt the wind.

It felt good.

Recently Beth couldn’t afford not to work. Beth was the only one who really cared about Claire’s work, and had no one to protect her without confidence. It’s no lie that Claire was lovely and she wished her to be happy, but there’s no way she wouldn’t get tired.  Beth certainly overdid it.

Is there anyone who can’t get tired while they work? Beth, who found herself exhausted only after being alone, squatted down near a tree in a place with a lot of bushes to rest without being disturbed.

Now what’s left….

In the meantime, there were many things to do in the future. It was funny and sad that there was a lot to do besides the maid’s job. As her former life ended with overwork, it was funny to find out that she was doing it again. It was sad that this moment of resting alone without anyone actually felt good.

Yes, Beth was already tired. That Sasha, Emily or Jenny was bothersome, and she hated those who poured out affection even though they didn’t want to. She hated this world, which was an enemy to Claire, and she didn’t like that she was the only one on her side.

“…..”

Before she knew it, the sound of the wind made Beth fall asleep like she was dead. 

“….~…  ..~!!”

A loud sound echoed in her ears and in her head. Up until now, she heard the sound of the wind in the corner of the garden, but now she heard the sound of someone laughing, walking and playing.

Beth opened her eyes, “What?”

When Beth opened her eyes, the place she saw was a gorgeous street.  There, flowers made of paper fell from the sky.  Young children wore ridiculous masks, laughed, chatted and ran around.

Women wore white and red flowers in their hair, men in their chest pockets, and some even swapped the flowers. In the huge plaza, they danced in pairs, their clothes fluttered, and the spectators clapped their hands to the ringing music.

In that place, the only foreign presence was Beth, who wore a sloppy maid uniform. Beth stared at the scene as she blinked her confused eyes.

“I must be…”

She had fallen asleep in the garden, but she couldn’t understand why she was there. It felt like a dream, but it was so vivid and she didn’t wake up even when she realized it was a dream.

“… are you lost?”

Somewhere, she heard a young boy’s voice. No, it echoed in her mind. When she turned her head and looked far away, she saw a girl and a boy she saw for the first time. Claire and Arthur.

Yes, it was Arthur who asked if she was lost in front of Claire. She had never actually seen him, but, strangely, Beth saw him and knew that he was Arthur, the male protagonist of the original story. Her eyes immediately went to his hair. It was like gold, literally gold, dazzling blonde hair, like a descendant of a sun god. He was still a young boy, but she could easily imagine what he would look like when he grew up. 

Claire also stared at him with a bright face as if she didn’t dislike him. It’s just like Claire’s past, as Beth read in the novel before.

No!

Her heart pounded. Is this how it felt when a heart stopped? Beth turned around and ran toward Claire. Her complexion was paler than when she woke up in the snow in the middle of winter. Beth cried out, as if to beg. With a scream, in a longing and a painful expression, as if she poured out her heart.

***

Claire, please don’t like Arthur.

Don’t love Arthur.

He will eventually leave you.

He can’t make you happy.

Claire, don’t be happy with love that will disappear in a moment.

Love and happiness are not the same.

 ***

She ran vigorously through the distance that didn’t seem to end. No matter how much she ran, she couldn’t reach the child.  She couldn’t reach it even when she screamed. 

Beth had run out of breath and her legs were sore. Her eyes burned but she could not reach Claire. Beth didn’t understand why he was so committed to Claire.

Then, someone said to Beth. “Stop.”

Stop it.

It seemed to be a woman and a man. Is it a child? No, it seemed to be the voice of an old woman. The human voice was clear, but it seemed like a completely different entity.

“Stop running, kid.”

With the words, Beth’s head broke in pain.

“Ugh……”

Beth fell to the floor with the sound of a ringing metal, as if her brain was soaked in the ice and squeezed out. As if to laugh at her pain, the “human” approached with a whimsical slow pace, and squatted in front of Beth, where she sat down and looked down at Beth.

“A desire to know for no reason ruins a person.”

“……”

“Action without purpose leads to the wrong path.”

The voice seems to have a smile. 

“You know you remember and know everything.”

 Yes, it was a pleasant voice.

“I know all the futures of others, but I can’t even remember your past and future. That makes you not a person from ‘here’.”

Beth raised her head and pressed her hand against her throbbing head.

A character with black hair looked down at Beth. Obviously, even though she looked at it, it was difficult to see what it looked like. You can only know that it had on its face a smile.

“Do you want to be a person ‘here’?”

Beth couldn’t answer the question. Then, the world began to shake.

“Oops.”

The man who said in a relaxed voice, “What a difficult situation.”

As the world began to shake, the buildings that occupied the world disappeared one by one and turned into a white space. The white space gradually collapsed around Beth and where he stood, and left behind pitch-black darkness. He raised Beth up and said, “I can’t hear the answer.”

He tapped Beth’s forehead with two fingers. “This is a gift. Kid, if you want to change Claire’s story. . . . . “

He pushed her to the cliff where the darkness had settled, “. . . . come with me on ‘that day’.”

***

“Beth?”

As soon as someone woke her up, she escaped from her dream breathing heavily. The inside of her head was burning. The memory of what she had dreamed was ambiguous, and at the same time, she had a clear sense that something had touched her forehead.

Kedrick and Claire looked down at Beth with anxious expressions. Beth quickly regained her composure and looked at the two alternately.

“What’s going on, both of you?”

“No, just….”

When Beth asked, Claire wriggled her hands. Claire thought that she wouldn’t like it if she knew that Beth wasn’t in the banquet hall and came to look for Beth.

“I came to find Beth.”

Kedrick, who did not know of Claire’s concerns, replied coldly.

“….”

“……….”

Both Beth and Claire looked at Kedrick without saying anything.

“… why?”

“No… nothing…”

“Get up, Beth.”

Kedrick grinned and reached out, while Beth took his hand and stood up.

“Then.”

“… uh?”

“Why?

Kedrick, who opened his eyes as if Beth wouldn’t hold his hand, got into a good mood and smiled with his eyes wide and said ‘yes’.

There came the sound of music in the wind from afar. Claire glanced at Kedrick and Beth with big eyes and looked toward the shining hall with a look of interest at the sound of the music.

Beth and Kedrick smiled as they looked at Claire’s little back. Beth said as she dropped off her overlapping hand with Kedrick, “Kedrick.”

“Yeah.”

She didn’t remember the dream she had, but it was weird and the things she had forgotten… Some of Beth’s memories that disappeared after the memories of ‘her’ in her previous life came back.

Beth said as she fixed her gaze on the back of Claire, “I’m not going to like you.”

“….”

Whether Kedrick really liked her or approached to try to get something, Beth had no intention of entertaining him.

As Beth said so, a long silence wandered between the two.

Kedrick, who still has a gentle voice, replied, “It’s okay, Beth.” I wasn’t trying to win your love anyway.

“But get some love.”

“What?”

Beth turned her gaze from Claire and looked at Kedrick. He continued to smile and smiled with his back in the moonlight.

“Because you are the one who can.”

Beth’s left hand felt soft and warm. 

Claire looked up at Beth with her eyes open, “You know, Beth…”

“Yes, young lady.”

The sound of music rang through the air as Claire hesitated. She then spoke in a small voice, “I want you to dance with me…?”

Claire, who hadn’t learned anything, but was still young and didn’t have a chance to dance, was envious of those who were buried in the sound of the music and span around. Beth smiled and held Claire’s hands, “Well, it’s my first time dancing.”

“It’s okay, because it’s also my first time…!”

It wasn’t so bad to dance the crappy dance to the song, as they danced to the wrong beat. The garden was empty and Kedrick was the only one who watched, but the two were happy.

Well, Beth’s beloved lady had so much fun.

How funny would it be to talk about the dance of the day after 10 years? Beth thought and pushed away the memories of the past that emerged from the deep swamp.

The first dance she danced in her life, the first dance she did not give to a useless first love.

Claire, I dedicate this to you.

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