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Felix Robain closed the door behind him. He sighed. It was a pretty long day as he had to guard both His Majesty, the Emperor Claude and Her Highness, Princess Athanasia to the young lady's debutante banquet. After reporting to Claude for the last time, he finally finished his work for the day.
He ruffled his styled up hair as he walked to his room. He always accompanied Claude as his guard to formal events, but he could never really grow fond of them.
As he passed by a balcony, he noticed a familiar figure standing outside under the stars.
It was a brown-haired lady, with her hair tied up, staring at the view in front of her.
Felix decided to approach the lady.
"Miss Lillian?" Felix popped next to her and called out.
Lily jolted a little when she discovered him already standing next to her. She was still in her work outfit even though it was already late at night, it meant that she was attending to the Princess just before this.
"Sir Robain!" Lily exclaimed as she placed her palm on her heart, trying to calm the poundings from the surprise down.
Felix chuckled and stood straight beside her. He looked around, above and below, but he didn't particularly see anything of note.
"What were you looking at this late?" Felix asked.
"Oh, nothing," Lily chuckled. "I was just getting some fresh air."
Felix nodded. The air did feel especially good that night. Even the moon was shining brightly and millions of stars were visible in the sky. It was as if they were blessing the Princess's debutante.
"Did you just finish tending to the Lady?" Felix asked while placing a hand on the railings and tilting his body towards Lily a bit.
"Yes. That's why I'm still in my uniform. Ah--" Lily realized something when she looked at Felix. The man grinned.
"Me too. I'm also still in my work outfit," Felix said while glancing down at his clothes. Unlike his usual uniform, he had to wear a fancier version since he was going to a banquet.
Looking at his grin, Lily smiled.
"How was the banquet?" she asked.
"It was the same as usual," Felix sighed while shaking his head. "But Her Highness looked very dazzling today. You should've been there to see it."
"I'm pretty sure she did," Lily said. Felix was pretty sure her eyes sparkled after he mentioned the Princess. The corners of his lips rose up as he saw how fond of the Princess the woman in front of him was.
"Then did you have a good time dancing, Sir Robain?" Lily asked again with a little tone of teasing.
Felix groaned and leaned his body onto the railings.
"You know perfectly well that I'm not too fond of it, Miss Lillian," Felix said, remembering all the invitations a few (very young) ladies extended to him earlier.
Lily chuckled.
"That's true. That's the main reason I was able to hide behind you in the past, after all," she said.
When they were both younger, way before Lily started working as a maid in the palace, they both attended the same banquet.
That night, for some reason, a lot of men asked Lily for a dance. Maybe because she just came of age, but she wasn't entirely sure about that.
At first she kindly welcomed a few of them, but as she started to feel overwhelmed, she excused herself and ran away.
The place that managed to hide her was behind Felix's back.
"Right, that time," Felix chuckled. "I was so surprised when you suddenly approached me, who was just standing there, and told me to stand straight in front of you."
Back then, Felix was too flabbergasted to even question Lily's strange request. Even though they knew each other's names, they weren't particularly close. Felix had a lot of questions popping up in his head regarding her sudden action, but he guessed why when he saw a few men looking around for Lily.
"You were very popular," Felix blurted out after reminiscing.
Lily's cheeks flamed red with his statement. She desperately shook her head.
"No, I'm sure they were just being polite," Lily said, placing one hand on her cheek, to cover it from Felix and to cool it down at the same time.
Felix smiled at her flustered reaction.
"Well, then, since it's been a while," Felix paused as he offered his hand to her. "May I have this dance, Milady?"
Lily stared at his hand with her mouth agape, then looked up at his face. He was grinning.
"Pfft," Lily burst into a laugh. She placed her hand on top of Felix's open palm and smiled. "It would be my honor."
Felix gave Lily's hand a light squeeze and when she took a step closer to him, he gently placed his right hand on her back while she rested her left hand on the arm supporting her back.
It had been a while since Lily last danced, but her body remembered what she must do.
With light steps, they began moving in a circling manner.
Step, step, step.
There was no music around, but their movements were in sync, as if the night wind blowing was the song accompanying them.
Step, step, step .
Lily looked up at Felix. Despite his initial declaration of disliking dancing, he was leading her quite well. Their gazes locked with each other.
Step, step, step.
One thing Felix noticed was that Lily's eyes, which were in the color of the clear ocean, seemed to look darker at night. It was quite an amusing fact that he unknowingly smiled.
Step, step, step.
"What are you thinking of, Sir Robain?" Lily asked while tilting her head.
"Oh, it's…" Felix looked up, pondering over whether it was appropriate to tell her the truth or not.
"It's nothing."
He decided it wasn't.
Lily chuckled, finding him silly.
"I bet you would've preferred to dance with some younger ladies in the debutante banquet instead," Lily said.
Hearing that, Felix squeezed her hand a little tighter.
"Oh no, I could never. They seemed like my nieces, if anything," Felix shuddered at the thought.
Step, step.
Felix let go of his hand supporting Lily's back, and twirled her. Both of them laughed at the silly antics they were doing.
He caught her back in his arms afterwards, their eyes locked on each other.
According to the usual protocol, they should've separated from each other after the twirl and curtsied as a sign of the dance ending.
But they didn't.
It was like they were frozen in place, in each other's arms.
Under the blows of the night winds, Lily couldn't help but notice that Felix's red hair looked like a dancing flame. It looked beautiful and powerful.
When her gaze fell on his grey eyes, she found an indescribable emotion in them. Longing? Passion?
His face drew closer to hers, and she should've avoided this, but it was like she was paralyzed. Or maybe she wanted it too.
Their noses touched each other, and…
CREAK.
Lily and Felix snapped out of their daze and turned their heads towards the door to the balcony.
There, they found a particular blonde-haired girl crouching down on the floor, pointlessly hiding behind the windows made of glass.
"Hehe," Athanasia said with a silly smile on her face.
"Your Highness?!" Lily and Felix said at the same time.
"I just wanted to get some milk," Athanasia said awkwardly as her eyes drifted everywhere. "Sorry to, uh, interrupt you."
At her words, Lily and Felix realized that they were still in each other's arms. In fact, Felix was circling his right arm around her as if he was trying to protect her and Lily was gripping pretty hard on his sleeves.
Both of them let go of each other immediately, and Felix raised both of his hands in front of his chest.
"I'm sorry!" Felix said while repeatedly bowing.
"No, I should be the one who's sorry!" Lily said, bowing just as much.
"Uhmm, I should go now…" Athanasia said while pointing to the direction of her room.
"Princess, wait! I'll accompany you!" Lily said. Then she glanced at Felix, seemingly reluctant to leave him alone just like that.
"Go ahead, I'll be staying for a while before going back," Felix said as he smiled. "Have a good night, Your Highness, Miss Lillian."
"Good night, Felix."
"Good night, Sir Robain."
Lily gave him a little bow before hurrying to Athanasia's side. The Princess looked up at her nanny's face and chuckled.
"Lily, your face is red," Athanasia whispered.
Lily gasped and covered her cheeks.
"Princess!" Lily whispered back, begging her to not bring it up.
After watching the two ladies disappear from his sight, Felix turned around and watched the night scenery again.
He then sighed and lifted his head, hoping the night wind would cool down his burning face