The silence lasted a few moments. Kaiser stared at the lanterns dancing in the distance in the night breeze. Beside him, Irene waited, her head still resting against his shoulder. Finally, he spoke, his voice low, perfectly clear.
"It’s not that I didn’t want to give any news. It was simply impossible."
He turned his head slightly toward her, catching the faint scent emanating from her hair. A half-smile brushed his lips.
Irene slowly lifted her head, surprised. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.
Kaiser took a moment, his gaze lost beyond her, then began.
"A few months after we met, I decided to undertake a journey to settle some personal matters. Along the way, I was pursued by bandits. And then... against all odds, I found myself caught right in the middle of a rift."
He was slightly distorting the story, omitting Ruby’s presence beside him that day. At the evocation of that memory, his expression suddenly darkened. But when the image of Ruby, dead because of that damn half-elf, crossed his mind, rage twisted his features. He clenched his fists for a moment, then controlled his breathing, erasing any trace of anger before it could reach his face.
Irene, for her part, had paled as she listened. Her lips had parted, and her fingers tightened on the folds of her coat. Seeing her distress, Kaiser placed a reassuring hand on hers.
"Don’t worry, I survived the fall. My provisions allowed me to hold out. Tenebris was harsh, but I got used to it. To the point that I could even train on the local monsters."
Irene remained speechless for a long moment. Then she murmured, almost to herself.
"I knew nothing about all this... I thought you had simply chosen to disappear."
Kaiser looked at her gently. He gently ran his hand through her hair, stroking her head with a calm and soothing smile.
"That’s normal. Until today, we hadn’t spoken again. How could you have known?"
He let a small silence pass, allowing the distant hum of the fair to fill the space between their words. Then he asked in turn.
"And you? On your side, what happened?"
Irene lowered her eyes for a moment, seeming to gather her thoughts. She gently freed her hand from his to fold back a flap of her sleeve with nervous precision.
"A lot of things happened, indeed. Some nobles died under shady circumstances, which shifted alliances. And my husband..." She hesitated, her voice growing lower. "He got involved with an organization called Spectrum."
Kaiser nodded slowly, knowing what had happened. After all, Black Neon was responsible for most of them.
"I’ve heard of them. Even in the underworld, their name inspires fear. Madmen who adore demons."
She paused, her gaze fixed on her motionless hands.
"Since then, he’s no longer himself..."
At these words, only silence followed. The distant hubbub of the fair suddenly seemed muffled.
He stood up gently, looking ahead for a moment, toward the illuminated stalls and the anonymous crowd, then turned his head toward Irene. She was staring at him, her eyes still a bit veiled by their discussions.
"We’re not going to ruin our date because of past stories, though," he said with an open smile, extending his hand toward her. "They’ve already taken up enough space as it is."
Irene looked at him for a moment, then a smile slowly bloomed on her lips. She placed her hand in his, and her cold fingers naturally nestled between his, warm and firm.
"No, you’re right," she murmured as she let him guide her to stand up as well.
Their fingers remained intertwined as they turned together toward the lights of the festival, wanting to enjoy the moment.
They resumed their walk amid the crowd. Kaiser guided Irene toward a more lively section of the square, where a small group of musicians had set up on a makeshift stage. Four men and a woman played with fervor. The notes of a hurdy-gurdy, an accordion, and a drum intertwined to form a lively and catchy melody, whose rhythm irresistibly invited one to tap their foot.
Already, several couples were moving with ease in the center of a circle formed by the spectators. Children spun around on themselves, drunk with movement, while older people clapped their hands in rhythm.
Kaiser stopped at the edge of the circle and turned toward Irene, one eyebrow slightly raised.
"Do you dance?"
She let out a clear laugh, which dispelled the last shadows in her gaze.
"It depends entirely on who with."
Without waiting for a response, he gently drew her against him. His hand settled in the small of her back, the other closed around hers, and he led her into the cleared space at the exact moment the musicians started a new piece, faster.
Irene followed his lead without the slightest hesitation. She had always loved dancing, although the balls of high society had nothing in common with this scene. Here, no complicated figures or protocol bows. It was simply the pleasure of letting oneself be carried by the music, of turning, of moving with a light step, and of laughing when an uncoordinated movement made them cross paths awkwardly.
Kaiser made her waltz, spin, always catching her precisely at the right moment. At one point, he even lifted her slightly to avoid a couple drifting toward them, and she burst out laughing as she landed safely back in his arms. Her cheeks were flushed with effort, and her eyes shone with a vivid gleam under the edge of her hood, now slightly pushed back.
The musicians chained several tunes without the slightest pause. The crowd, growing larger, applauded enthusiastically at the end of each piece and demanded more. Irene and Kaiser danced thus until they were out of breath, until, on a finally slower melody, their damp foreheads brushed when they slowed the movement.
Irene then let her head rest against Kaiser’s shoulder, the time to catch her normal breathing. He gave off a scent that made him irresistible.
"You dance remarkably well," she murmured, her voice a bit breathless.
"You too," he replied simply, squeezing her hand slightly.
They left the dance floor when the musicians, for a well-deserved break, stepped down from the stage to quench their thirst. Kaiser approached a nearby stand and returned with two mugs of hot cider that he held; he handed one to Irene.
They then moved away from the bustle to reach a quieter spot, leaning against a large tree decorated with colored ribbons that swayed gently in the breeze. Irene took a first sip, savoring the beneficial warmth spreading in her chest.
"You know," she began, watching the ribbons undulate, "tonight, I really had fun. For the first time in a long while."
Kaiser nodded, his gaze remaining on her.
"That was precisely the purpose of the evening."
He then passed an arm around her shoulders, and she instinctively snuggled against his side. They remained for a long moment in silence, observing the joyful chaos of the fair continuing around them: children running with flickering lanterns, couples walking hand in hand, some merchants beginning to pack up their stalls.
Irene finally raised her eyes to her companion, a joyful expression.
"Thank you for all this. Really."
Kaiser tilted his head and placed a light kiss, as ephemeral as it was sweet, on her forehead.
"Thank you for coming," he said before suggesting, in a low voice. "Shall we head back?"
She nodded, a peaceful and grateful smile on her lips.
"Yes, let’s head back."