Work Text:
Despite her nerves, Sei thought that with what she’d been taught about etiquette and dancing everything would go fine at the royal family's ball. She knew everything she needed to, right? It was all just a matter of staying calm.
No, that would have been too easy. Just when she thought the worst of the night had been dealt with after successfully doing the opening dance with Albert -without stepping on him or falling over thank goodness-, Johan and Albert pointed out that unless she kept herself busy on the dance floor, she’d be the target of any single noble that wanted to get acquainted with her.
Even in a more casual setting Sei would have a hard time declining anyone that asked her to dance, but to do so under the watchful eye of all the nobles around that were keen of her every move? The social pressure was suffocating, and from her etiquette classes Sei knew it was considered bad manners to turn someone down too.
And here she thought she could get away with mingling with Albert and Johan.
To Sei’s relief not only did Johan step up to give a helping hand, but Yuri and Erhart had showed up to the ball too so no one could have much of a chance to approach her. It’d been tiring, but Sei was genuinely grateful.
Even after everyone saw her dancing with four different partners that didn’t stop two noblemen from approaching her, but Albert had whisked her away to dance once again before the first one could even greet her, and Sei actually turned down the second one under the excuse of being tired -which was true, after dancing so much on high heels-.
Knowing she wouldn’t be able to afford to decline someone’s offer again with that same excuse, Sei decided it was about time she called it a day.
“Allow me to accompany you back.” Albert offered, having overheard Sei mention to Johan that she was ready to hit the hay.
“Are you sure?” Sei spoke sheepishly. “If you were planning on staying here a little longer I wouldn’t want to force you to leave early just because of me.”
“We did tell you we don’t enjoy attending these events, didn’t we?” Johan chuckled. “If we actually do show up we try to leave as early as possible.”
“Precisely.” Albert laughed in fond agreement. “I had no intention of staying here any longer than necessary, at least not until you were ready to leave. I’m your escort after all.”
Sei felt her cheeks grow slightly warm. Was Albert saying that if she had decided to stay out late he would have stayed too just for her sake?
“Ah, I see.” Sei looked away demurely, suddenly not feeling strong enough to gaze directly into Albert’s gentle blue eyes. “Then in that case I’d really appreciate it, thank you Commander Hawke.”
“Of course.” Albert’s face lit up in delight, eagerly offering his arm for Sei to grab. She accepted it and smiled gratefully in his direction.
Ignoring the teasing look on Johan’s face Sei thanked him for his help and bid him goodnight. She did the same with Yuri and Erhart too -who all seemed eager to leave themselves now that Sei didn’t need their assistance anymore-, and gave her thanks alongside Albert to the King and the Prime Minister before finally leaving.
The moment they left the ballroom and were out of everyone’s sight Sei heaved a sigh of relief. Albert chuckled sympathetically.
“You did great.”
“Thank you.” Sei mustered a tired smile. The first thing she always looked forward to whenever she was done with whatever event that had required her to dress up in fancy dresses was getting into comfortable clothes, but right then, with every pained step that she took, Sei wanted nothing more than to take off her shoes.
With her free hand that wasn’t holding onto Albert’s arm Sei attempted to lean down and reach for her shoe, but stopped herself short when she remembered that she was not in Japan and she could most definitely not go barefoot like she’d done on a few weddings. Her etiquette teacher would be absolutely appalled by the idea.
“Sei?” Albert asked inquisitively, confused when Sei suddenly tried to lean down the way she did. “Is everything okay?”
“Y-Yes!” Sei straightened up her posture right away. Had she forgotten how embarrassing it’d been for both her and Albert when she let him walk in on her dipping her feet? She’d definitely rather not have a repeat of that if possible.
“Are your feet bothering you?”
“A bit, but it’s okay, don’t worry.”
Sei really hated to make Albert worry, so to ease any concerns that her carelessness had caused she swiftly placed her hand on her chest and closed her eyes.
“Heal.”
Her body glowed with a sparkling golden light, and when it dimmed away the aching on Sei’s feet instantly vanished. How was that not the first solution she thought of?
Sei smiled demurely at Albert.
“See? All better.”
“You really are amazing.” Albert chortled fondly. “My apologies, I’d completely overlooked how much you danced tonight. Perhaps it was greedy of me to take you out to the dance floor for a second time.”
“Wh– no! Of course not!” Sei tried to reassure with a quick shake of her head. Had Albert not stepped in she would have been forced to either decline two invitations to dance or accept the second nobleman’s invitation. She wasn’t very fond of either option to be honest. “I really appreciate what you did Commander, thank you. I admit I was a bit confused because I thought dancing with the same partner twice was considered rude, but I was relieved nonetheless.”
Her dancing teacher had long since warned her about it, but at the time Sei hadn’t given it much thought because she figured she could get away with dancing at a minimum and mingling during the rest of the event. Of course, she found out the hard way that that wouldn't be the case, but when Johan reminded her of that fact that very same night Sei begrudgingly accepted she wouldn’t be dancing with Albert again.
Because single noblemen aside, why wouldn’t she want to dance with Albert again?
It was wonderful.
“That is in part true.” Albert laughed sheepishly, giving away that he was aware he shouldn’t have done what he did. “But worry not, not only did you dance with three other partners after me, but our dance was the opening dance. Because we went to join the other guests I doubt anyone gave it much thought.”
Ugh, keeping up with etiquette and discerning the fine line between acceptable and inexcusable was such a pain. Albert had been raised to abide by it and was of course already used to it, so if he said it was okay then Sei had no reason to not believe him. That was at least a little reassuring.
“This is all so complicated.” Sei pouted with mild annoyance. “If I have to go through all of that again then I really hope I don’t get invited to another ball any time soon. Is there really no other way around it?”
There was no guarantee that Albert, Johan, Yuri and Erhart would all go to her rescue again whenever she had to attend a ball, so while Sei knew she had to mentally prepare for it, she dreaded finding out what that would turn out to be like.
“Well, actually…”
Albert’s voice softened, and the way his voice trailed off with a hint of hesitance made Sei gaze curiously at him. His cheeks had reddened, and a timid yet tender smile was curving up his lips.
His eyes met Sei’s.
“After an engagement is made official, one would be able to dance with their future spouse as much as they like.”
“Engag–?”
It wasn’t until it rolled off her tongue that Sei really understood what Albert was saying. Her eyes widened in bashful realization, and in her daze she actually stopped walking, prompting Albert to do the same.
They stared quietly at each other for only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity with that affectionate smile and glistening blue eyes directed at Sei. Her mind was reeling.
Why did he have to look at her with such adoration right after saying that sort of thing? Was Albert trying to make her burst with embarrassment? Because right then Sei felt like that would actually happen with how warm her entire face felt and how fast her heart was beating.
She had to say something. Anything.
The idea of accidentally casting the Saint’s Conjury made her snap out of her stupor.
“O-Oh! Is that so?” Sei tried to laugh nonchalantly, but her voice betrayed how nervous she really was. She cleared her throat and continued walking, bringing Albert alongside her as she was still holding onto his arm. “T-That makes a lot of sense, yeah, yeah! Now I get why you and the Director don’t bother attending in the first place.”
A soft chuckle escaped Albert’s lips, and while he tried to stifle it with the back of his hand he failed miserably. Sei averted her eyes meekly; Albert always seemed to enjoy teasing her, didn’t he?
“It’s much easier that way.” Albert shrugged. “Not so long ago I went through the exact same thing you did tonight, but because I’m not the first-born I could get away with skipping events.”
Sei tilted her head with curiosity. The exact same thing? Did that mean that there’d been a time in which noble ladies were throwing themselves at Albert? For how long? And what made it stop? He was still single after all.
“After my older brother Josef got married and had a child, Erhart and I weren’t as pressured anymore to continue attending social events. It was quite the relief actually.” Albert continued on explaining, chortling lightheartedly. “But because of your status as the Saint… I don’t think you’d be able to do the same I did.”
They came to a stop as they finally reached the doors leading to the reception hall, right where Albert had picked up Sei. He pulled his arm away from Sei’s hand, reaching to open the door for her, but stopped when he noticed the thoughtful look on her features. She wasn’t even looking directly at him.
“Sei?”
“There must have been a lot of women interested in marrying you, huh?”
It was only a murmur, mostly for herself, but Albert heard it loud and clear. His eyebrows rose with surprise.
“Well, I–”
There was a sudden stutter in Albert’s words, and it was quick to bring Sei out of her internal thoughts. She looked back up at Albert in alarm, realizing that not only had she’d been awfully rude by not paying attention to him, but that she’d also said something she didn’t mean to.
Albert’s cheeks had gone red, and the expression on his face had contorted into one of demure bashfulness.
“Sorry! Nevermind that!” Sei shook her hands aggressively in an appeasing gesture. Just where on earth had her mind wandered off to? She needed to keep it together! “I um, I h-had a lovely evening! Thank you so much for escorting me Commander Hawke! I hope you get plenty of rest tonight and I uh– I’ll see you soon!”
Sei bowed several times, desperate to diffuse the awkward atmosphere that had settled between them. Albert seemed to still be in a bit of shock, not moving or saying anything, so Sei dared to open the door to the reception hall herself and timidly walked inside.
“G-Good night.” She said while still peeking her head at Albert. To her relief, he mustered a small nod.
“Of course. Good night, Sei.” Albert replied absentmindedly and watched as Sei finally closed the door.
The sound of her footsteps walking away echoed through the hallways, and a delighted smile slowly curved up Albert’s lips.
For a second, Albert could have sworn that Sei seemed a little jealous.