"I had an accident when I was young, so his intellectual age is about 10. But how did you end up at the party when you said you couldn't leave the room?"
Alpheas looked at Erina, his feelings complicated. Despite the attention she was drawing, she greeted the crowd with an innocent smile, unbothered by the eyes on her.
Like many at prom, it seemed she was looking for a partner. But no one returned her smile. With a slightly awkward expression, she avoided sitting and only exchanged a few brief greetings. It was only possible because of her family's status.
Alpheas glanced at the other side of the table. As expected, the person there was avoiding attention, their face flushed. Unable to tolerate it, he shouted toward his wife.
"Didn't I tell you not to bring Erina? Get her out of here now!"
"Honey, calm down. Erina enjoys parties too. It'd be a waste to make a scene trying to send her away. If you leave her alone, I'll quietly take her out later."
"Ugh! I'm so embarrassed. What a disgrace to our family!"
Alpheas pouted. He understood the feeling, but he couldn't ignore the embarrassment about his daughter. After all, he was aware of the high status of first-class nobility. Alpheas himself was born into such a family and had even earned the chilling nickname "Mirhi's Light."
'It's just like looking at my old house. Nobles are all the same.'
Alpheas couldn't take his eyes off Erina, watching her as the music changed three times. What he noticed was that she was simply enjoying the party. She seemed content just greeting people.
But what about the mages around them? They were arrogant, seeing ignorance as a flaw. Alpheas could hear their laughter from the front, only to see them turn around and mock Erina behind her back.
"Clump. Hold on a second. No, take a drink," Alpheas said, passing a glass as he turned toward the ballroom. But before he could go further, Clump hurriedly stopped him.
"What are you doing? Don't cause a scene here."
"These lesser people are rejecting the lady's attention just because they've learned a little magic. As the most influential person in Bashka, I must step in and raise her status."
Clump grabbed Alpheas and turned him back around with a force that matched his size.
"Alpheas, that's wrong. Erina may see your sympathy as mockery. These people are enough. Don't make her feel worse."
Clump's usual dark eyes were filled with sincerity and justice now. Alpheas smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
"It's simple, really. Do you think I don't know that? I've never lied to a woman. All discrimination causes problems. Don't you know that saying? If you start caring too much, she'll end up in a cage. Leave it to me."
"Are you serious? Are you really going to do that?"
Alpheas, as he walked across the ballroom, turned back to Clump and gave him a confident smile that everyone recognized.
"Don't worry. I'm everyone's lover."
By the time Alpheas reached Erina, no one was near her. It seemed that everyone had quietly moved away. Yet, she was eating an apple, looking completely unbothered, as if this was just another day.
"Hello? This is a fun ball," Erina said, pausing to blink and look back at Alpheas. Just from her gaze, he could tell she had a simple intelligence about her.
But there was an innocence in her that reflected the emotions of others like a mirror. Perhaps this was why people avoided her.
"Ah! Hello! It's Erina!"
Erina greeted with a bright smile as if she had just realized something. However, her response was different from when she had observed from afar. There was a sense of fear, as if she was uneasy about something unknown.
'But... He'll be the first to speak to her.'
Alpheas bowed politely and greeted her with a smile.
"My name is Mage Mirhi Alpheas. I'm so captivated by your beauty that I couldn't resist introducing myself. Would you be my partner at the prom today?"
Erina stared at him blankly, her mouth still holding a piece of apple. Anyone could see that her expression clearly said, 'What just happened?'
Without another word, she lowered her head, turned away, and walked past Alpheas.
Alpheas was completely confused. To put it simply, he was at a loss for words. Was he acting too much like a normal person? After a moment, he snapped back to reality and quickly moved to block Erina's way.
"Wait a second. Maybe I was rushing things. Sorry, I just wanted to get closer to you, Erina-san."
Erina didn't respond. She just kept her gaze on the ground, her feet tapping nervously as she looked for a way out. But Alpheas wasn't ready to give up. He blocked every exit she tried and kept talking.
"Alright, if you don't want to dance, we can talk. Let's talk! I have a funny story to tell you. Are you interested in constellations?"
"I'm going to the room. Are you getting scolded by your mom?"
"Why would I be scolded by my mom? No one's scolding me. You came to the party, and now I'm asking you to be my partner."
"I told you not to talk to me. You said I was a bad person. I want to go into the room."
Alpheas felt frustrated and nervous. His usual charm was failing, and all he could think about was getting one last chance to make eye contact with Erina.
"I'm not a bad person! Look at my face. How is this the face of a bad person?"
Alpheas grabbed her by the shoulders. At that moment, Erina screamed, her voice rising in panic.
"Kyaaaagh! No!"
All the nobles in the hall turned to look. It was an ugly scene, and everyone saw Alpheas's actions as inappropriate.
"Mom! Help me! Mom!"
"Erina! Look at me! I'm not trying to hurt you!"
"Mom! Mom!"
Among the guests was Alpheas's rival, Sarov. He watched in disbelief as Alpheas made a complete fool of himself. He had always known Alpheas was reckless, but never this idiotic.
"First, he grabs all the girls from Bashka, and now he's trying to seduce a simpleton? This guy has lost his mind."
Most of the nobles felt the same. Even though Erina wasn't the brightest, she was the eldest daughter of the Bastard family. Winning her over would have secured a solid future for Alpheas.
Only Clump knew the truth about Alpheas's feelings, but even he had given up by this point.
"Ah, what a crazy bastard. You made this mess, so you clean it up."
Erina was struggling, nearly in a panic. If anyone else had been more compassionate, they would have stepped in. But Alpheas clung to her shoulders.
"Erina, wait. Look at me. Please."
"Mom! I'm scared, Mom!"
"Erina!"
When Alpheas shouted her name, Erina stopped moving. But she was trembling with fear, more than before.
"Just look at my face once. Please, I'm asking you."
Erina slowly turned her head, her face full of terror. She met Alpheas's intense gaze. His fiery eyes seemed to draw her in, and even her heart felt like it was heating up.
"How about now? See? Nothing's wrong. I'm not a bad person. I won't do anything you don't like. But this is a party. Don't you want to dance?"
Erina's face showed an excitement she couldn't hide. The sparkling light from the crystals, the music, and the buzz of conversation filled the air. She just wanted to laugh and have fun, like everyone else.
"Miss Erina, I want to be with you. Please be my partner tonight."
Erina didn't answer, but Alpheas didn't care. He grabbed her hand and led her to the center of the hall. She walked unsteadily, like a child taking her first steps, and for the first time in her life, she was in the arms of someone other than her family.
As the musicians resumed playing, Alpheas led her in a wild dance. The nobles watched in stunned silence. Even Erina's parents stood there, speechless. But Alpheas didn't care. Erina didn't care either. He lost himself in the music, as if they were the only two people in the world. The dance wasn't graceful, but it was full of passion. He spun her around, sometimes losing his balance and bumping into people. The more he danced, the more her laughter grew. After ten minutes, Erina was finally enjoying the party, for the first time ever.
In the garden, playful laughter echoed. Alpheas and Erina had almost run away from the party and were now racing through the forest. Alpheas, out of breath, reached the end of the garden and stopped to catch his breath. To his surprise, Erina didn't seem tired at all. She had more stamina than he expected.
He looked up at the star-filled night sky.
Erina, despite her quiet demeanor, was surprisingly talkative tonight. She kept the conversation going, making sure the atmosphere never cooled down. As time passed, Alpheas felt like he was listening to her tell a story. She listened to every topic he brought up, sometimes smiling as if she understood, and that made him even more excited. He kept talking, his words flowing like a waterfall.
Eventually, their conversation turned to a deeper topic.
"Do you think light is a wave or a particle?"
Sarov described it as a wave, but Alpheas was sure that wasn't right. However, he didn't think granularity was the answer either.
To be honest, he didn't know. The first step was admitting that he didn't know what he didn't know.
"Isn't it rare? Light has such strange properties. Interference experiments show its wave nature, but on the other hand…"
Alpheas paused, realizing he'd gotten too caught up in his explanation. He hadn't even noticed that Erina was the one listening to him. She was squatting on the lawn, gazing down the garden, but a beautiful smile still played on her lips.
"Haha! Did I talk too much? I think this is the first time we've had a conversation like this in a long while. I usually get tired of it."
"You're a good person," Erina said softly.
Alpheas blinked, surprised by the unexpected compliment. His heart rate suddenly increased, and his mind became clouded.
Why am I here? What am I expecting from this woman?
It was an unfamiliar world—a place where both the desire to move forward and the fear of what might come next made it hard to see clearly.
Alpheas turned away, as if to escape those thoughts, and continued speaking, pretending he hadn't heard her.
"Haha, it's embarrassing, but I'm supposed to write a thesis because I'm a mage, but I don't know much about it. I don't even know which direction to take with the research. What do you think, Erina? Is light a wave or a particle?"
Erina didn't seem bothered by Alpheas' response. She stood up from her spot, her gaze turning toward the stars in the sky.
"Light is beauty."
"Pardon?"
Alpheas asked, clearly confused. While it was understandable that he didn't know much about photonics, this answer was unexpected.
"The light is beautiful. Flowers are beautiful, too. We are beautiful as well. But the light you speak of... it doesn't seem beautiful."
Alpheas felt as if he had been struck on the head by a hammer. The words were simple, yet they carried an idea too profound for him to fully grasp.
"Yeah, that's true. But why is light so beautiful?"
To Alpheas, light was just a photon. But Erina, as though she understood everything, answered without hesitation.
"The light reveals the darkness. How would we see the night sky without light?"
The world went quiet, like the stillness of the universe.
Alpheas didn't respond. Thoughts flooded his mind like a waterfall.
Why separate the two? When you step back, everything becomes so clear.
Because it is beautiful.
Any contradictions fade away.
"It's beauty. You are so beautiful, Ms. Erina."
Erina turned her head, her innocent smile as bright as a child's. The moment he saw that smile, Alpheas made up his mind.
He would remember this moment for the rest of his life.
Alpheas knelt before Erina, then, in the most respectful gesture, extended his right hand.
"Please be my light."
That night, 40 years ago, his confession under the moonlight became a cherished memory for Alpheas, a memory more valuable than anything else. A soft smile appeared on his lips as the Abyss Nova curtain was lifted.