Foot Trampling

"May I have this dance with you my lady?" he asked me.

The entire crowd gasped in shock as the prince knelt before me. Whispers and murmurs began among them.

My mouth slightly opened at a loss as to how I should deal with this. There were so many young girls he could have chosen from, why did he choose me?

I tried to understand what the prince was thinking as I looked into his eyes. Was this a joke to him? Was he messing with me like that day when he'd suddenly showed up at my house at the estate?

My eyes softened as they looked into his. The look he gave me reminded me of the look he'd given me before, back when we'd met in the imperial city for the first time. When he'd asked me to hug him so he could hide from the imperial knights who were searching for him to take him back to the palace. The eyes he'd given me then looked like they were just pleading with me to just go with it.

That was the look that made me curious about him. He often looked cold and withdrawn but it seemed like it was all a facade to protect himself from something. All eyes were on me and the prince as they tried to understand what was unfolding before them.

I thought of what I should do in this situation. It's not like I could deny the prince after he'd asked me publicly on the spot like this. No one could stop him from choosing to dance with me either. Actually, the prince dancing with a young noble lady wasn't even the proper tradition. Whenever a Crown Prince had a birthday they would actually dance with their mother or one of their sisters. However, the prince didn't have a mother or any sisters. So they were just improvising.

Technically he was free to choose anyone he wanted to dance with but he wanted it was just expected that he would pick a young girl around his age for courtesy's sake.

"Of course, it would be an honor, your highness," I accepted as I gave him a polite curtsy.

I took his hand which he had extended out to me and we headed for the dancefloor. The audience continued to stare at us;

"Is this seriously happening?" I heard someone whisper from the crowd.

"Who is this woman?"

"Why didn't the prince pick any of the young girls?"

"Isn't that General Kang's wife?"

It was embarrassing but I tried to block their whispers out and not focus on them. Looking down at the prince he kept that aloof, cold expression of his. We came to stand in the center of the open space and faced each other.

The place where I didn't want to look at all as I danced was the throne area where the emperor was seated and General Kang stood beside him. I didn't want to see what expressions they had on their faces.

Then the band began to play the music for the dance. The dance we would be doing was called 'the Calso' a common traditional dance in Turk, usually done at formal events across the empire. It was a slow steady footwork-type of based dance.

Typically the male was supposed to lead the dance as his arm went around the female's waist, however, since there was a clear height difference, Teon couldn't lead our dance. He also looked at me as if confused about how to go about it himself.

Seriously? You were the one who asked me. I thought to myself. No matter, I would be the one to lead then. I took both his hands in mine and then stretched them out in a comfortable position for both him and I, so he didn't have to worry about placing his arms around me.

Then we began to dance. I tried to keep a steady pace that was in tune with the music that played but I also wanted to make sure he could keep up with me as I had longer legs than him. After a few steps and I found he was keeping up I thought I'd managed to make it work. Then... he stepped on me.

'Ouch.' I thought internally to myself that really hurt. A couple more steps then he stepped on me again and again. I winced, holding in the pain.

He just continued to step on me. I was sure I was keeping a simple easy pace so what was going on? Stepping on me once every once in a while I could understand but he just kept going on.

"I'm sorry." I then heard him speak up. I looked down at Teon who didn't make eye with me and looked down as if embarrassed. "I can't dance." He explained to me.

What? He didn't know how to dance? How was that possible?

And wait, did he just apologize to me? The cold mean looking boy had apologized to me. I was taken aback for a moment. Just when I was beginning to think perhaps he was a sweet child, he stepped on me again. I winced.

I imagine if he had picked one of the many young girls in the audience that had anticipated dancing with him, he would have hurt them. They probably would have had to stop dancing altogether which would have been an embarrassing situation for the prince.

Is that why he chose me? So that he wouldn't have to hurt them? Did he choose me knowing there was a chance I wouldn't complain about it? I suppose I was the only other noble he knew aside from his father. There was no one else he knew since he'd been a commoner before.

Even if that was the reason the question still remained why didn't the prince know how to dance? I'm sure he was taught by his governess who was in charge of his education. He'd had an entire year to learn the simple dance, so why?

It was said that the Teon was troublesome to the servants that attended to him and often didn't listen to them. Perhaps he didn't pay attention during his dance classes.

However, if that was the case then why were they allowing him to dance? It was an embarrassing situation to put him in by making him dance when he couldn't. His governess should have let the Emperor know that he wasn't ready and they could have just skipped the first dance or figured something else out.

"It's alright," I whispered to Teon. "I'll handle it." I confidently reassured him.

He looked up at me giving me a hopeful look.

I decided to hold in the pain and find a way to dance comfortably with him. His footwork was terrible there was nothing I could tell him to make him improve in a second. I improvised to ensure that to those watching it looked like were dancing normally.

I searched the crowd for the governess. I found her standing in the corner her eyes were on us as well as we danced. She looked displeased. I narrowed my eyes at her what game was she playing at?

When the dance finally came to an end we bowed to each other respectfully then turned and walked towards the throne where the emperor sat. My feet which had been destroyed at this point somehow managed to continue moving.

We bowed before the emperor when we reached the podium and just as I feared, the looks the emperor and General Kang gave us were ones that made me lock myself in a box and hide. Whilst the emperor looked calm and collected in his seat one could tell from the look in his eye that he was furious.

In particular, he was staring straight at Teon. My goodness, he looked angry, if his eyes could kill Teon would be dead right now. General Kang on the other hand, whilst he did appear upset, looked confused more than anything. He looked from Teon then to me as if trying to make a connection. He looked like he had a lot of questions.

Emperor Arsen remained outwardly calm and collected and went on to give his blessing to us as he was supposed to. I got the feeling he didn't want to make a big deal out of this publicly.

When the prince and I got up and I turned round to get back to the crowd everyone was staring at us. All the mothers with their young daughters angrily eyed me. So many others seemed ready to bombard me with questions about why I had been asked by the prince.

" No," I said quietly to myself. I wouldn't be able to handle the crowd if I got back into it. Instead, I turned away and went towards one of the giant exit/entrance doors on one side of the ballroom. I needed some time to breathe and relax my feet before I was ready to go back.

As I turned to look back one last time I saw the prince head towards one of the exits on the other side of the room. I suppose he wanted a timeout as well. Then immediately, the announcement was given for the first round of dances. The crowd then began to assemble themselves for the set of dances about to begin.

Then I saw the emperor get up from his throne and head towards the exit the prince had gone out of.