Dancing around Bonfire

Wendy and Nightingale's room...

"A dress? For us?" Wendy asked the maid while pointing the finger at her face with a surprised expression.

"Yes, His Highness mentioned that it is optional to wear them, however, I have never seen such beautiful dresses, not to mention its texture, I wonder what was used to make them but I doubt it was something cheap. If I were you, I would definitely want to show off in one of these dresses. Well, if you excuse me, I have to go to the others." The maid said with a smile before she lightly bowed her head and left.

"This..." Wendy was speechless and wore a slightly troubled expression as she unfolded her green dress, holding it in front of her while looking at the mirror.

"Hmm, His Highness chose quite a good color. I think it's going to suit you, however...As for me, I am not sure about wearing a dress..." Nightingale complimented the dress before looking down at her own dress. The color of the dress was very unique and she liked it however she really didn't feel like she could wear a dress.

"Don't be like that, Veronica. You were a noblewoman before becoming a witch, that dress is going to suit you no matter what." Wendy reassured her friend with a faint smile.

"So if I wasn't born a noblewoman, it wouldn't suit me?" She teasingly asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't try to bend my words against me, you are beautiful and among all sisters, you are the most qualified to wear such dress." Wendy said jokingly.

Nightingale just smiled before sighing. The two of them decided to change into their dress, helping each other with the zippers.

"Whoa, the green was a really great choice. I never knew His Highness had eyes even for this kind of thing." Nightingale said while standing behind Wendy holding her shoulders while she was standing in front of the mirror.

Wendy wore an insecure expression while resting her hand on her chest.

"I just wonder how did His Highness get my size right...This dress suits me perfectly..."

"...You tell me what you two did during your training." Nightingale said with a darkened expression but her tone was indicating that she was joking.

"Ah...Veronica, the color of your dress is even more beautiful than mine! It looks just like a night sky illuminated by the moonlight." Wendy turned around and hurriedly complimented her dress, trying to ignore her earlier comment.

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When everyone gathered at the dining hall, Roland and Anna were the last to arrive.

"Looks like everyone decided to try wearing the dress for tonight...even Lightning which is certainly...surprising." Roland said when he noticed that everyone wore the dress he provided to them.

"What is that supposed to mean?! If everyone dresses nicely, I will naturally follow!" Lightning said while puffing her cheeks.

"Well, please just don't use your power so no one can see...you know what" Roland said and everyone giggled which caused Lightning to faintly blush but she quickly recovered and acted as if nothing happened.

"Anyway, all of you are looking good. I am planning to hold a speech for the locals so in the meanwhile, you can go to the garden at the back, I have already prepared everything. I will return to you as soon as possible." Roland said and everyone went to the garden but Anna decided to stay by his side and even Abby and Airy had something to tell me since they approached him instead of following others.

"We would just like to thank Your Highness for everything. Our survival through Day of Adulthood or these nice dresses. Therefore...thank you!" Abby and Airy said in unison as if they were practicing it before bowing to Roland. They must have been pretty embarrassed since they instantly darted after the girls, not waiting for Roland's reply.

'They surely look cute in orange. Adding the fact that there are two of them looking almost identical..." Roland thought with a pleased smile.

"Anna, why are you still here?" Roland asked as it didn't look like she was planning to leave anytime soon.

"Ca-Can I follow Your Highness? I want to attend your speech." Anna asked nervously.

"Well, alright, let's go." Since he didn't have any reason to refuse, he let her follow him. He guessed that she was aware that she would draw a lot of attention to herself but still wanted to follow.

When he arrived at the podium, Carter and Iron Axe were already waiting for him there. He held a quick and simple speech since those were the best after victory. The long ones were more suited before the hard battle. Despite the shortness of his speech, everyone was chanting his title which made him slightly feel as if he had a club of fanatics. He was still getting used to this era as most of the things were still a bit embarrassing for him, at least, he got used to holding speeches.

His people lit several bonfires and Roland instructed Carter to explain a few dancing games everyone could play and also compete for larger portions of meat. Although there was more than enough for everyone, it made everyone more hyped to win. Some of the games were for one person but he also designed a few games especially for couples.

As he was watching over the people singing and dancing around bonfires with happy faces, he couldn't help but smile.

'Who would have thought making so many people happy would actually give me such satisfaction...It's almost comparable to the feeling I have during the life-and-death battles. It's really weird to compare those two things but both of them make me feel alive' Roland thought with closed eyes and a satisfied expression.

Roland opened his eyes and looked at Anna, thinking of going back to the girls but when he saw her staring at the bonfires with such a yearning look in her eyes, he decided to do something else.

"Anna, it's been a while since we spent some time alone if you exclude a few hours today which I doubt is enough to make up for all that time we have been busy." Roland said and Anna finally tore her eyes away from the bonfires and looked at Roland, nodding her head in agreement as she wanted to spend more time with him.

"Want to do something crazy?" Roland asked in a quiet voice with a naughty smile.

"?...Yes!" At first, Anna looked quite confused but after a few seconds, a determined look appeared in her eyes along with the same naughty smile.

"Carter, I am leaving now, make sure no one gets injured or gets into a fight over a woman or...meat" Roland said before hurriedly walking off while dragging Anna behind him, holding her hand.

"Ye-s, Your Highness...?" Carter doubted Roland even heard him and he found Roland's behavior a bit strange.

'Well, it's not like he isn't a strange prince anyway' Carter just shrugged off the odd feeling and continued maintaining the order.

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"Your Highness, what are we doing here?" Anna asked when they arrived at the nearest building that was still empty and no one was using it yet.

"Here, change into this. I will guard the door and then we will switch." Roland said, giving her new clothes but those clothes were...what locals normally wear. They were even slightly dirty, not too much but they didn't look new, still, Anna could smell a nice scent from them.

Anna didn't question further and changed before switching places with Roland.

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"I am done, how do I look?" Roland said and when Anna turned around, her eyes widened and she had to cover her wide open mouth.

"Your Highness, what happened to your hair?!" Anna asked as she was looking at Roland who was standing in front of her with spread arms in commoner's clothes however what shocked her the most was his short hair that had a slightly different shade of grey than before.

"Don't worry, I can make them long once again with magic, I practiced this before...don't ask why. I can also change the shade of my hair, making them look almost black. So...I am still waiting for my rating." Roland explained before hurrying Anna to give her opinion.

"Um...Your H-"

"No, no...You mustn't call me that. Use...Ren instead." Roland quickly interrupted her, he wanted to make this into a full roleplay.

"A-Alright, Ren. You look...quite wild, but not bad wild, it has its strange charm..." Anna said, blushing faintly.

"Well, changing the clothes didn't take away from your beauty either. Let's change your hairstyle a bit so fewer people recognize you in the dark. We don't have the entire night, An." Roland said, before helping her change her hairstyle while she was just silently looking down with a red face.

"Let's show those married couples how to dance and win those games!" Roland grabbed her hand, dragging her back to the town square.

At first, Anna was quite overwhelmed and couldn't absorb what was happening.

'His Highness is actually wearing a commoner's clothes to disguise himself and dance with the locals and...he chose me as his partner!' Anna's mind was getting overwhelmed with such thoughts but it didn't take long before...

"Haha!" After a while of dancing around the bonfire, she started laughing and all irrelevant thoughts got erased, she was just focused on Roland who was grinning at her while leading her. Roland usually wore quite reserved expressions and only faintly showed his emotions and thoughts outside, however, this was the first time, Anna saw him grinning so wildly.

'I feel slightly bad for the others but there are things they can use to entertain themselves...and Anna deserves this. Looking at her expression, she is really getting into it. I should also try to unwind' Roland thought before dragging her to a place with more space.

"Let's try something slower this time" He took her right hand into his left hand, put her left hand onto his shoulder and he put his free arm around her back.

"Just follow my lead, it's slow so you won't have trouble following me." Roland said and started something similar to modern Waltz. He wasn't exactly the best dancer but Waltz was one of the easiest dance styles so he was confident in leading Anna.

Two of them were so absorbed in looking into each other eyes, that they didn't even realize how everyone around them stopped dancing and formed a circle around them and watched them dance with great interest.

When Roland felt like ending the dance, he spun her a few times just for fun.

"Eh?!" However Anna didn't expect that and after a few spins, she lost her footing but halfway to falling on the ground, Roland caught her, looking at her with a naughty smile as if he planned all of this from the beginning.

Anna just let him held her like that since she was too busy looking into his eyes and Roland wasn't really urging her.

"Kiss!" A feminine voice resounded loudly which brought both of them out of their thoughts as they looked around to see everyone staring at them.

"Yeah, kiss her, man!" This time a male voice resounded loudly which resulted in more and more people joining out of fun.

'Is this what they call public pressure?!' Roland thought before looking down at Anna who was now fiercely blushing but she was still staring into his eyes with her hazy eyes.

'Hmm...His Highness told me to maintain the order but I guess there is nothing wrong with this even if they are a bit too loud. Plus, those two are clearly a couple so whatever, however...that girl looks a bit familiar. Ugh, why do I even care...just kiss already so the crowd can disperse!' Carter who was watching all of this unfold thought with folded arms.