“What’s wrong? Suddenly so clingy.”
Ye Tang turned around with a smile and patted Cinderella’s head.
She thought it was unavoidable that Cinderella, who usually held back from acting spoiled due to all sorts of concerns, would suddenly become clingy like this.
After all, in the dance floor beside Ye Tang and Cinderella, Claudia—teased until her face was flushed red but with eyes full of sparkle—was stepping on Adrian’s feet with full vigor and spirit. Gloria, who was too short to keep up with Jack’s steps due to the huge height difference, was held by Jack like a ball of cotton with her feet off the ground as they danced together.
Cinderella had reached the age where the buds of romance began to stir, yearning for love. With her sisters having fine dance partners and looking like they were enjoying the dance so much, it was normal for Cinderella to feel lonely.
“Rela, will you dance with me?”
“Mother…?”
Cinderella was stunned. She understood Ye Tang’s words but couldn’t comprehend her meaning.
“There’s no law saying a lady can’t dance the gentleman’s steps, right?”
Taking Cinderella’s hand, Ye Tang led her into the dance floor: “I’ll dance the gentleman’s steps. Rela, dance however you like.”
“But Mother—”
“Come, Cinderella, one, two, three—”
Before the stiff-limbed Cinderella could finish her “but,” Ye Tang had already stepped out, and Cinderella’s body instinctively followed Ye Tang’s movements. Thus, the mother and daughter began to dance in the dance floor.
Two women: one tall and slender, with a snake of desire coiled around her neck, golden hair entwined with a crown of thorns made from obsidian and rubies. Her white limbs, set against the draping delicate black gown, were whiter than snow, creamier than porcelain, almost glowing with a luminous texture.
The other woman was still a child. Her young face had soft brows and eyes, emerald-green eyes shining with the pure gaze of a lamb.
The gown on the girl had nothing to do with luxury, and her ornaments were merely pearls that did not glow on their own. Yet the girl’s temperament matched the pearls perfectly! That warm, delicate smoothness felt like a spring breeze, like a gentle drizzle; the girl’s smile was like a sunshower, fresh and simple, touching the heart while cleansing the soul.
Led by Ye Tang, Cinderella danced faster and faster, and the orchestra playing the symphony seemed to intentionally adjust the rhythm to better suit the mother and daughter’s dance.
At first, the extremely nervous Cinderella had the presence of mind to notice the stunned, surprised, incredulous, and disapproving gazes from those around. But as her steps became smoother, with only Ye Tang in front of her, Cinderella could no longer notice or think to notice what others thought.
“What’s going on? How can women dance with women?”
“They say it’s some upstart from Soho District.”
“Commoners, after all—no manners or breeding.”
“Women dancing with women is too weird, isn’t it? If they want to dance, just find a man as a partner.”
“Tsk tsk, rushing to show off even in a place like this… As expected of commoners who don’t know restraint.”
The crowd whispered, interspersed with malicious speculations and insults toward Ye Tang. Fortunately, Cinderella could no longer hear them by then—Ye Tang’s dance skills were excellent; she led so well that Cinderella danced fluidly and naturally. Every spin, every dip, Cinderella did effortlessly.
Cinderella had never experienced such joyful feelings before, nor dared to hope for them. She was lost in the moment, immersed solely in this beautiful, brilliant instant.
Kim Hora was speechless for a long time. It wasn’t that she couldn’t think of cutting words, nor that she suddenly lost her sharp tongue. It was simply that everything unfolding was so far beyond her expectations that her mind was in chaos.
Cinderella’s stepmother wasn’t a pure villain? Cinderella’s sisters weren’t shameful, vicious side characters? Cinderella’s rich merchant father was a bastard who watched his daughter get bullied? The prince was actually a gold-digger?
What was all this? Was this really the world of “Cinderella”? No, rather—had she ever truly understood the story of “Cinderella”?
There were no such developments in the transmigration novels she had read!
In the transmigration novels she read, women were usually only two types: the female leads who got everything, and the stupid, dramatic female villains. The men were also usually two types: the handsome, powerful, wealthy winners of life chosen by the female lead, and the handsome, powerful, wealthy but unchosen beautiful strong miserable supporting males. All other roles were background boards, sometimes without even names.
But what was with this world?
The strategy of rising by clinging to men and seizing power through men, which worked in all transmigration novels, seemed nonexistent here. As a transmigrator, not only could she not use her advanced knowledge and insight to captivate various handsome men, she couldn’t even seize control of Cinderella’s body from Cinderella.
Worst of all, when she told Cinderella the plot she knew, Cinderella pointed out the unreasonable parts of the plot. And upon careful thought, she realized Cinderella’s points were all perfectly reasonable!?
In persuasiveness, she—a transmigrator who knew the original plot—was completely defeated by a native who knew nothing of the future. Then what was the point of her transmigrating here?
Did God just want her to watch the story of “Cinderella” head toward an ending completely different from the fairy tale she knew?
…How could she bear this, she who thought she had transmigrated to be the protagonist?
“Oh… looks like it’s time to make a move.”
Plenty of large shady trees grew around the palace. Fian, squatting on a tree trunk, whistled. Separated from Fian by the main trunk, Hope stood on another branch. Through the gap in the palace’s floor-to-ceiling window curtains, he and Fian could see Cinderella and Ye Tang.
“If this soul tries to seize Cinderella’s body again, this time I’ll tear her into fragments.”
Hope, dressed in a black tailcoat, adjusted his white gloves. His gaze was utterly serious.
“Before you tear her into fragments and end her suffering, let me give her a taste of pain first.”
Fian grinned: “She caused plenty of trouble for Cinderella and Anna Rochel.”
“Do as you like. But the final blow is mine.”
“Wah~ Hope is so scary…”
Hope rolled his eyes: “You’re the one preparing to torment her soul, and you say that?”
In the palace, Claudia, dancing with Adrian, and Gloria, still held by Jack, soon noticed the nobles’ gossip about their mother and little sister.
Claudia flung Adrian’s hand away without a second thought and turned to leave.
Gloria was a bit reluctant about Jack, but she still said to him: “Please put me down.”
“?”
Jack set Gloria down. Once her feet touched the ground, she curtsied to him, skirt in hand, and left.
“??”
Jack, who had thought Gloria was quite taken with him, was momentarily bewildered. Then Adrian came to his side and laughed: “Looks like we both got dumped.”
“—?! W-Who got dumped!”
Adrian shrugged: “Sure, sure, I know it’s your first time with something like this, so you’re not used to it. Don’t worry, Jack—you’ll get used to it.”
Adrian had a premonition that his friend would be dumped by the same girl many more times in the future.
Beside Ye Tang and Cinderella, Claudia and Gloria returned to the dance floor. The sisters danced with the elder taking the male steps and the younger the female steps, coordinating far better than when dancing with Adrian or Jack—back home when practicing social dances at Hedelin House, Claudia, Gloria, and Cinderella were used to practicing together in rotations, switching between male and female steps. So now, Claudia and Gloria danced even more smoothly than with strangers.
Seeing the eldest and second daughters of Hedelin House join their mother and little sister, Daisy couldn’t help but smile. When the piece ended, she refused the gentlemen inviting her to dance and said to Charlotte, who had been waiting nearby: “Come here, Charlotte.”
Charlotte had secretly envied Cinderella—her mother was the proud flower of high society, the guiding star illuminating Capital Vitril. If possible, she too wanted to dance a piece with her mother. But since their true relationship couldn’t be exposed, she could only be intimate with her mother within the bounds of a “niece.”…Dancing with her mother in public was something she only dreamed of, never truly hoping it could happen.
Charlotte never imagined her mother would reach out to her and say: “Come here.”
Her body moved faster than her mind. She rushed to her mother like a shot and grasped her hand. In that moment, her eyes grew hot…
Ye Tang and Cinderella were black and white, daylight and starry night. Their dance captivated the eyes and brought a sense of beauty.
Claudia and Gloria were twin angels sharing a pair of wings. Switching between male and female steps, they guided each other, chased each other.
Daisy and Charlotte were autumn of harvest and summer of youth. Daisy was the plump, sweetly intoxicating autumn; Charlotte was the vibrant summer full of possibilities.
Influenced by these six, many girls around began pairing up and joining the dance floor.
The first to join were, of course, the girls studying at Hedelin Medical Academy. Younger sisters pulled older sisters, older sisters invited mothers, mothers couldn’t resist their daughters—
Then came wives and daughters from merchant families close to Daisy or Ye Tang.
Older sisters lifted skirts to invite younger sisters, shy younger sisters asked mothers. Mothers let older sisters take younger ones to dance; after dancing with sisters, younger ones invited mothers—
“They’ve gone mad…”
Kim Hora said it, but a smile she herself couldn’t see appeared on her face.
She frowned, smiling like she was crying.
She gave up. Gave up becoming the crown princess, gave up becoming Cinderella, gave up becoming part of this world.
Heh… maybe it didn’t matter if she gave up or not. She didn’t belong to this world anyway.
In the instant she let go of her obsessions, the soul that had accidentally wandered into this world drifted away from Cinderella’s body like a kite cut from its string.
“Oh?”
“—!?”
Fian and Hope were shocked. They hadn’t expected that after building up power for so long, Kim Hora’s soul wasn’t trying to seize Cinderella’s body. Instead, it transformed from a misty, pitch-black state into a dim white mist and detached from Cinderella’s body.
Kim Hora didn’t know where she would go after leaving Cinderella’s body, or if she would die. She simply floated quietly, waiting to expend her last bit of power and dissipate into oblivion somewhere unknown.
For someone like her, perhaps this was already the most perfect ending.
Either way, she didn’t want to return to the twisted environment of her previous life.
That dance between Cinderella and her mother was etched into her eyes. The indescribable emotion and warmth from the depths of Cinderella’s heart was inscribed onto her soul.
Goodwill spread through her like poison. Kim Hora knew she could no longer easily harm others… She no longer wanted to be a despicable person like in her past!
But the world she originally lived in wouldn’t allow her to be kind to her own sex.
With such feelings, even if she returned, her own kind would cast her into hell. She didn’t want to harm others, nor be harmed. So quietly vanishing like this was probably best for her.
“You can’t think like that.”
“Want to disappear nice and easy? What about the people you hurt in the past?”
Two voices rang out one on the left and one on the right beside the ears of Kim Hora, who had curled up her body.
Kim Hora suddenly opened her eyes and saw two white pigeons carrying her as they rushed toward the sky.
“Wh-what!?”
The pigeons ignored the sound from Kim Hora. They flew higher and higher, soon kicking her down from the high sky.