Road to the Crown

15th April 1574

"Esteemed guests! Let's start the dance with something suited for the glory of our happy couple! Musicians, play the Belle qui tiens ma vie"

As soon as everyone took the proper position in a single column, Jan Bone himself stepped up to the task, most likely noticing the small problem that my military upbringing might create, ordering the musicians to play some kind of song.

And only then the system came to my help, with its crude and totally unhelpful approach. Thanks to it, I could learn that the music ordered by the governor was one of the greatest and most remembered examples of the 'pawana' type of dance, aimed to resemble the moves of a peacock. With its slow movements and alternating direction, even such newbie in terms of dancing like me could get used to it and escape the scrutiny of the nobles that considered themselves a proper aristocracy!

With the first few steps, I had no other choice than to allow Elia to take the lead. As soon as the music started playing, several voices suddenly joined it, with some of them even coming from directly behind me, indicating that some of the dancers joined in the tune as well. Yet contrary to my expectations, rather than making the first step as soon as the rhythm of the tune fitted, Elia joined the singing as well, waiting for the entire first part of the song to pass before squeezing my hand and steeping on the second opening tone.

Following her lead at first, just a few moments later I felt a strange force taking over my body as if I was losing the control over the host that I inhabited ever since the reincarnation. Surprisingly, this strange feeling was even stronger than when I fought the bandits all the way back on the road, swinging my body lightly to the sides with each step that we made.

After moving for exactly sixteen paces, the tune entered yet another part of the song, indicating the change of direction. This time, even without Elia's help, my body suddenly moved to the side, breaking any form of contact with my partner. After a light bow, we turned once again, joining with the other set of hands before moving sixteen paces back to where we started in the exact same tempo.

This slow and majestic dance went on for a while, only to end up with loud applause as soon as the musicians played the last tune. Yet there was no time to rest, as I could see the instruments still tightly held by their owners, as they prepared themselves to start yet another song.

"You lier… You told me you can't dance!"

Replying to Elia's accusation with a wry smile alone, I fixed my hold on her hand as the tunes for the Branle started playing. This time, almost double as fast as the previous dance, our bodies almost instantly started swinging lightly to the sides as we simply marched in half jumps forward, without any complicated stuff like reversing the direction of the dancing column.

As the mellow tune of the lyre entered my ears, my entire body synchronised to the rhythm of the dance, even allowing me to affirm the domination over Elia during this dance. Yet rather than being angry at me for doing so, she simply let go of her own caution and allowed herself to be moved around by the small pushes and pulls that my hand gave her, only to end up right in my arms perfectly in line with the last tune played by the musicians.

"God bless the newlyweds! God bless the commonwealth!"

As soon as this second dance finished, the cheering started all over, finally giving me the window of opportunity to excuse myself from the crowd and move back to the seats that were originally ours. Flaunting the need to rest for a bit against the people attempting to force us back into the dance, I poured some of the premium beer to our shared crystalline cup, allowing Elia to have a light sip before sating my own thirst.

Despite the two of us taking at least a momentary leave from the dancing, it didn't bother the rest of the guests, as even a greater crowd already joined in the rhythmic jumping in the middle of the open space of the campsite.

Yet even in this situation, there was a nice group of nobles mixed amongst the crowd of servants, making the best use of the open kitchen and enjoying the food prepared with the generous use of my spice. Sadly for them, the premium beer was moved around in the exact same barrels as the normal one, with only a small marking on its side, known only to the kitchen servants and myself, so that whenever required, I could serve it for me and the distinguished guests.

And we didn't need to wait for a long for such a necessity to arise.

"That was a great dance!"

For the first time since the festivities started, the second major figure of the entire event, Michal Cherrie approached me, even bringing one of the chairs with him, only to place it on the opposite end of my own table and shamelessly pour himself a cup from the barrel standing in front of me.

"Thank you, for your generous words, sir."

While I was happy that such an important person came to talk with me directly, I couldn't help but wonder whether his intention was to talk real business or just secure a stable supply of my beer.

"You see, I'm not one of the kinds to beat around the bush, so I will get straight to the crux of the matter. What would you want in exchange for building one brewery capable of producing this kind of beer on my lands? Speak out your mind, as I already checked your recent history. While I do realise the worth of keeping the monopoly on the recipe and production means, so I won't mind if the price turns out to be quite steep!"contemporary romance

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