The Law of the Silent Gentleman

Chapter 58 – Dance Together

“Thank you very much for your assistance, especially Giuliano. Without you, I am afraid that Fernando is still at large.”

After the trial, General Hean Suveta hosted Giuliano and his party for dinner, in the name of “repaying the savior”, but Giuliano understood that this was their last secret confrontation. During the banquet, Suweita kept saying words of gratitude. After the banquet, he ordered someone to send a box of gold, silver and jewelry to thank them for their kindness.

“No! We can’t accept it! I didn’t save people for a reward!” Antoine refused righteously, and Su Weita couldn’t say a word because of his awe-inspiring uprightness.

“That’s right, we can’t accept it. Besides, I have my own goals, and we each take what we need,” Giuliano said.

“But… you don’t want anything, it makes me feel very guilty.”

Giuliano thought to himself: You are not guilty, you are just afraid that you owe us favors. It is too beautiful to think of repaying the kindness with a box of wealth. But if we refuse to accept anything, Suveta will definitely pester us endlessly, so it is better to ask him for a reward, and we will not owe each other in the future, and each will go his own way.

“If you really want to thank me, can you do me a favor?”

“What’s the matter? As long as it’s within my ability, I will never hesitate to define it.”

“I would like to meet Fernando Infançon. I have many questions that perhaps only he can answer.”

Su Weita rolled his eyes: “I see, you must want to ask why he betrayed your family. Of course I also want to help you, but Fernando has been convicted and is now being held in the dungeon of Jackdaw Tower, unless he gets The Consul’s permission, otherwise even I would not be able to see him.”

Seeing the disappointment on Giuliano’s face, he quickly added, “But it’s not impossible. The Zenodia Navy ship was responsible for escorting Fernando to the place of exile, traveling between ‘Shirahama Island’ and Zenodia. Although it is not under my control, I can intercede with their commander and let you take a boat. The boat will take more than ten days to go back and forth, so you have enough time to ‘interrogate’ Fernando.”

This is also a good way. Giuliano worried that Suveta was dissatisfied that Fernando was only sentenced to exile and would find an opportunity to kill and silence him so that he would never be able to ask the truth again. Walking with Fernando can at least ensure that he lives to tell the truth.

After the banquet, Suweita enthusiastically expressed that he would send the carriage to send the guests away, and he had no reason to keep them at home.

In fact, the four partners have no reason to stay together anymore. Lei Xi wanted to stay in Zanodia to continue his career as a bard, so he returned to the Golden Trout Tavern. Antoine went to the scholars’ hotel to report safety to Theodora and Constantia, after all, he was the guard hired by the two in name. Giuliano and Enzo returned to the Silver Gull Inn.

Along the way, Giuliano tried his best to ignore Enzo, not talking to him, nor making eye or body contact, treating him as air. But Enzo exudes a strong sense of presence just by walking beside Giuliano, and it is impossible for people not to pay attention to him. Giuliano peeked at the other party from time to time, wanting to see if Enzo was always paying attention to himself like him, but to his disappointment, Enzo always seemed to be wandering, thinking about something.

Not thinking about me anyway. Giuliano thought gloomily.

Several times he almost wanted to go to Enzo to apologize, to confess his excessive words and deeds, and beg for Enzo’s forgiveness, but after thinking about it, he did nothing wrong, so why should he apologize? So no action at all. Now he regrets his inaction. If…he was willing to speak first…maybe their relationship would not be so stalemate.

As soon as they entered the Silver Seagull Hotel, they were startled by the cheers and laughter that came to their faces. The hotel seemed to have changed: from the inside to the outside, there were lights and festoons, and ribbons hung from the ceiling; before night fell, bright lights were lit; the tables and chairs were moved to the corners, leaving a large space in the middle; the rhythm The cheerful music lingered around the beams, and several couples of men and women were arm in arm, dancing the folk collective dances of the city-states of Yoder to the music.

They hadn’t been back for a few days, and Giuliano almost thought he was in the wrong place. He exited the gate and looked carefully at the signboard, “Silver Seagull Hotel”, that’s right.

“Oh, the two nobles are finally back! You have been missing for several days in a row, you miss me so much! If you hadn’t paid the rent in advance, I would have rented out another room!”

The proprietress of the inn was dressed up beautifully, waving a handkerchief sprinkled with inferior perfume to greet her.

Giuliano smiled stiffly: “Miss Boss, how busy is it today? Is there any happy event?”

“I’m sorry to say that today is my birthday. Our family insisted on throwing a birthday party for me, and even invited a band to add to the fun, so that all the guests in the store could participate. I’m so old, what kind of birthday do I have? Like a child…” The proprietress was full of complaints, but her eyebrows were beaming, obviously very happy.

“Happy birthday, I’m sorry we didn’t prepare a present.”

“What kind of gift do you want! Your blessing is enough! Today’s drinks are all free, please drink as much as you want!”

The proprietress happily went to entertain other guests. Giuliano pushed his way through the boisterous crowd to the bar, grabbed a free glass of sparkling wine and drank it down. People sang and danced to the beat of the drums, and every time the band played a section, everyone cheered in unison with “Ho!” The band is certainly not as skilled as the Poems of Frost (not even Giuliano himself), but they play and sing with such joy and confidence. Of course, the dance steps of the dancers are not as elegant as the gentlemen and celebrities, but the smiles on their faces are so sincere and hearty. Although the ball of the nobility is magnificent, it is a conspiracy of intrigue. The dance parties in ordinary hotels are simple and simple, but they can truly convey happiness into people’s hearts.

Someone takes Giuliano’s hand. The young man was taken aback, and soon realized that it was Enzo. Just when the music came to an end, the dancers in the center of the hall dispersed, and soon, the new dance partners made a pair again and entered the dance floor hand in hand.

“What are you doing?” Giuliano flinched. This was the first time he had spoken to Enzo since they broke up last time.

“I suddenly realized that I’ve never danced with you before.”

Giuliano’s heart skipped a beat. “What’s there to dance about…”

Enzo ignored his polite refusal and pulled him onto the dance floor. There were already four couples ready, and they were the fifth. The Yod city-states have open folk customs, and no one wonders why two men dance together, not to mention that this kind of group dance does not necessarily have to be a pair of a man and a woman.

Giuliano really wanted to shake off Enzo’s hand and run away, but the band had already started pretending to tune the strings, which meant that a new song was about to start. The proprietress lost no time in booing aside, and said to others: “I knew they were going to dance! Look, look! They are so right, they must look good when they dance!” Then she stared at them expectantly. Giuliano felt guilty for a while. He told himself that it would be too disrespectful to the proprietress to walk away now, after all, today is her birthday. He couldn’t help feeling a little thankful that it was the proprietress’ birthday, so he could find a good-sounding reason to continue dancing.

Five couples are divided into two rows and stand facing each other. The first is the rapid drumbeat. One row bows to the other, extending their right hands in an inviting gesture. Another row returned the salute and took the partner’s hand. The mandolin rang in due course. The dance partners held hands and turned half a circle, exchanged positions, and shouted in unison. The onlookers also applauded. They walked round and round arm in arm, gradually forming a big circle.

Then, the melody of the dance music changed suddenly, and the exchange of partners began. Giuliano’s partner is replaced by a man on the right, while Enzo is paired with a woman. The new pair circles around to the beat of the drum, sings in harmony, and then exchanges partners again. As Giuliano got farther and farther away from Enzo, he panicked for some reason and made several wrong steps and stepped on the feet of his new partner. Luckily the man he was paired with was drunk enough not to take it seriously. When changing to the next partner, Giuliano was even more flustered and almost couldn’t keep up with the rhythm. Why haven’t you exchanged partners yet? Is this piece that long?

After exchanging partners five times, Giuliano returned to Enzo again. A piece of music lasted less than ten minutes, but he felt like ten years had passed. At this time, the dance music reaches its climax, and the dance partners no longer exchange each other. One person puts his arms around the other person’s waist or shoulders, and rotates with the faster and faster rhythm. Giuliano and Enzo are no exception. Enzo wrapped his arms around Giuliano’s waist without hesitation, leading him to dance freely. Giuliano felt dazzled, and his body moved involuntarily, dancing with Enzo’s movements. Every dance step is just right, every pose is just right, as if they have been rehearsed countless times. The panic just now was gone, and Giuliano suddenly became one of the most experienced dancers. When did they become so tacit, able to cooperate with each other without any words?

The other dance partners and the surrounding crowd all turned into spinning trance shadows. Only Enzo was left in his eyes, with long platinum hair, facial features that were so delicate that they were not human, and those gray eyes, which showed a crystal clear blue in the shadows. The shadow of Giuliano was reflected in his pupils, as if there was only one person in his eyes.

The music ends in a rush of strings. The crowd applauded, the dance partners bowed politely to each other again, and left the dance floor hand in hand. Enzo did not let go of Giuliano. They were still hugging each other, panting from the quick twirling just now, their faces blushing. Giuliano pushed Enzo away in embarrassment until someone shouted “Hey! Band! Start playing the next song!”

The assassin grabbed his wrist: “Follow me.”

“where to?”

Enzo didn’t answer, but dragged him through the crowd and up the stairs. His pace was so fast that Giuliano staggered to keep up. The assassin’s destination was the albatross suite they were renting. The proprietress did not give it up to others, but kept it as it was, cleaned it clean, and waited for them to come back to check in at any time.

Enzo pushed Giuliano into the room and slammed the door behind him. The young apprentice broke free from him, rubbing his wrist. The assassin’s strength was so great that it left bruises on his skin.

“What do you want?!” he yelled angrily.

Without saying a word, the assassin bent down and drew a sharp dagger from his boot.

Giuliano’s throat tightened, “You…don’t come here!”

“I’m not coming.” Enzo turned the dagger around, held the blade himself, and turned the hilt towards Giuliano, “Hold it.”

Giuliano held out his hand hesitantly, then retracted it.

“Take it.” Enzo repeated, “Now I will do three things. If you don’t want to do it, just stab me with a dagger, and I will never fight back.”