I Quit Being The Male Lead’s Rival

Chapter 67. Between Love and Acting (5)

"I have pride in swordsmanship, so I wouldn't say that you want to learn from me."

"My teacher is Leslie."

I frowned after answering bluntly and fell into thought.

If Ian was good at everything, he was like the best private tutor in any field.

'I have to pull something out since I have nothing to do right now. Anything.'

I searched through the wish list in my mind, found a plausible one, and gave a quick reply.

"Yes, I want to learn something."

"What?"

"Dance."

At my words, Ian widened his eyes as if he was surprised.

I shrugged my shoulders shyly and gave an explanation.

"…The nobles just go to the imperial ball and dance. Back in the day, when I thought I was going to be a noble, I imagined myself doing that too."

"Why the ball?"

"Because I'm very athletic, so I think I can dance very well."

"…"

I spoke in a slightly dreamy voice.

"I think dancing is the prettiest thing you can do with your body."

In fact, even when I watched the opera, I wanted to dance even more because I noticed the movements of the dancers more than the songs.

"Anyway, I wanted to dance at least once. Since I am not a noble, I do not need to call a dance teacher."

"…"

At my words, Ian remained silent and only frowned.

I mumbled, cringing, wondering if I had been too friendly.

"Sorry. But I have no one else to ask but you."

"No."

At my seemingly absent murmur, Ian said with a very serious expression.

"I was thinking about the curriculum from basic to advanced, according to your level and physical condition."

In that way, my wish of 'I want to dance once' was transformed into a staunch goal of 'I want to master dancing' without realizing it.

I was trying to convince him that I wasn't going to go all out like that, but Ian slowly got up and held out his hand as if he had finished all his thoughts.

"Now, shall we begin?"

If I held this hand, I felt like I'd be on a path of no return.

"It's just me, so I'll do my best."

"Well… It's a burden if you do your best…"

"I think you were pretty enough just with the sword, but you want to look pretty in a different way, so I'll do my best."

I felt my ears getting hot at those indifferent words.

To ignore the strange excitement, I deliberately and casually put my hand on his hand.

To be honest, it was a rather absurd request in my opinion.

'I'm doing things that I can't do to Ian because of us acting like lovers.'

I thought my audacity was a bit harsh, but I was always audacious to Ian.

When I thought about it, it was a little comforting because there was nothing special about it.

"The basic steps are like this. Eight beats. Straighten your back."

At first, I was a little embarrassed because there was more contact than I thought, but I was able to concentrate easily again because I was moving my body.

"Don't have a gaze where you look as if you're about to slap someone. Be more subtle."

As I followed, the class almost turned into hard training.

"Smile without biting your lower lip. If you can't, at least don't clench your teeth."

In the middle, I had dinner prepared by Ian once, and the dance class was over only after 10 pm.

Ian taught harshly without taking a break, and I fully understood why the Knights of Wade were so tough.

"Tell me objectively."

I gasped and said as I learned all kinds of dances.

"If I dance like this, what level of skill will I have among nobles?"

Ian also taught without stopping, so he took a few deep breaths before answering.

"…Top 10%."

I was quite satisfied with the evaluation of the top 10%, so I answered with a bashful smile.

"That's good. I guess it's because we're close to each other since we've been together for a long time that I can learn so well."

"Don't be so reckless with controversial remarks."

"Where's anyone here to interpret those words? There are only the two of us right now."

Ian sighed once and went into the bathroom.

It was right after we were moving around, so I thought he went to wash up, but after a while, he came out looking the same.

"Check the bath water temperature."

"Huh? Why me?"

"Because it's your bath."

"By any chance… Did you just heat up my bath water?"

"Then are you not going to wash up?"

"Well, okay."

I quickly entered the bathroom and admired once again when I saw the bath at the right temperature.

I knew Ian Wade was good at everything, but I didn't know he would take care of himself so well.

'If he were born as a maid, he would have been able to get the highest salary…'

When I washed up with a really useless imagination and came out of the bathroom, there was even a glass of lemon soda on the table.

"I prepared something cool because I thought you'd be thirsty after taking a bath."

Ian spoke bluntly, and I muttered to him without realizing it.

"Wow, it's the best day."

"What?"

"I feel like I've found the sweetness of my life after eating unexpected cheap ready-made snacks by chance."

I spoke as much as I could, got a glimpse of Ian's face, and quickly added.

"Oh, I'm not saying you're cheap. It means it's unexpected. Well, in a way…"

I was speaking gibberish and clapped.

"It's so nice to be your lover."

Ian did not answer and hurriedly avoided my eyes.

Then he immediately headed to the bathroom and even stumbled unexpectedly.

~*~

(3rd person pov)

Ian carefully spoke as he watched Annabelle, who was all ready to sleep after washing up.

"If you don't like sharing a room, I'll go outside and…"

"Just sleep. It's okay. Who cares."

"We're spending the night in one room. It's okay?"

"I'm fine."

She hurriedly climbed to bed and blinked as she lay down.

Ian was even more speechless because he thought it was a little cute.

It was secretly bothering him that there might be a time she'd do this with another man.

"What? This is nothing?"

Annabelle was calm even at Ian's strangely stuttering words.

"Even if I'm sleeping, you're the only man in the world who can still touch my hair…"

She tapped her sword, which was close to her, and said.

"But, you're not going to touch me, so it doesn't matter."

"Even so, there's a saying that there's no one in the world you should trust…"

"Oh, I don't know, but I trust you. You're the most common-sense and gentlemanly person in the world."

Annabelle yawned.

"A man who doesn't even care about marriage until he becomes an adult wouldn't think strangely about a woman who is not a big deal to him."

Ian couldn't answer and froze.

And within five minutes, Annabelle stretched out of bed and fell asleep.

It was clear that she was getting a good night's sleep because he saw that her colorful breathing sounds were regular.

No matter how hard it was, a man and woman were using one room, but she didn't seem to be even a little wary.

Ian laid on the sofa and tossed and turned.

It was only after hesitating several times that he slightly looked up and peeked at Annabelle's face in the moonlight.

'Crazy. What am I looking at again?'

He quickly put his eyes elsewhere, but eventually couldn't stand it and gave another look at her sleeping face.

Her sleeping face was as calm as a baby and her chest was regularly fluttering.

'What do you mean to teach you how to dance…? I didn't know she would make such a strange suggestion.'

He was quite nervous because her body was familiar yet unfamiliar.

Of course, Annabelle was a natural when it comes to moving her body.

While dancing with her, he thought very strange things.

She was a commoner and had no occasion to go to a banquet.

Therefore, the beautiful dance, the sound of breathing from a close distance, and the sweet body that was close to his own…

It felt so good that he felt pathetic.

Ian tossed and turned once more, trying not to recall in detail.

However, the voice that keeps coming to mind was not erased just by tossing and turning.

"It's so nice to be your lover."

Ian sighed deeply.

"Whatever."

Then he muttered as if he was dumbfounded.

"It's just a play to keep me from sleeping."

"A man who doesn't even care about marriage until he becomes an adult wouldn't think strangely about a woman who is not a big deal to him."

Ian thought Annabelle knew him a little wrong.