Song of Failure

Chapter 2.1

The troupe danced until dusk. By the time they were finished, the sky started to darken into hues of reds, oranges and purples. Though Jin was the main dancer and one of the main dancer's requirements was to have good stamina, he was utterly exhausted. The rest of the group seemed to be quite spent as well save for a couple few.

They packed up on the boat and landed ashore. It was getting late and there were less people on the coast, though it was still pretty crowded.

Suddenly, there was movement from one of the dancers; Dormund, another male in the group, moved in front of Leyya in a protective manner. All members stopped what they were doing and stared at where he was looking.

There seemed to be a man further up ahead leaning half into the shade, staring explicitly at them. Realizing that he was noticed, he straightened up and walked towards the group. The group straightened their postures in alert as he moved closer.

The man was quite young and had a pair of spectacles hanging along his nose bridge. His hair was dark and was tied up loosely to the side, resting on his right shoulder. The clothes he wore did not look simple and looked as if he was a noble. It was Ilmond.

Reyna glanced at the group and communicated with them through her eyes, then walked towards the man. The man stopped and the group saw their leader talking with the young and scholarly-looking fellow.

Their discussion looked quite serious. Rheb, who was walking beside Jin, whispered, "What do you think they're talking about?"

Fei, who was also walking alongside Rheb and Jin, overheard what Rheb whispered and asked her own questions; "More than that, who do you think that man is? Do you think the leader knows him? He looks like an aristocrat."

Jin stood silent. Rheb answered Fei's question, "Nah, we've been with our leader this whole time—we traveled alongside her so there's no one we shouldn't know that she knows. I've never seen this man in our past travels."

Just then, the man looked up and glanced at Jin.

The little girl nudged Jin, "Hey, hey, hey! Did you see that! He glanced at you!"

Jin took away his gradually bruising arm and secretly rubbed it, "Yeah, I saw."

"Do you think he took a fancy to you?" Rheb stared at the man questioningly.

"Iyah, that's Jin for you. Leave it to big ol' brother Jin to catch that kind of man. I bet he was smitten with you when he saw you dance." There was a playful tone laced in Fei's words, and the last few words were uttered in a singsong manner.

Jin rolled his eyes at the two people's antics. "I wouldn't disagree with what the two of you said." He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and gave the two a flippant smile, "I can be pretty charming."

The two started to hit Jin in annoyance.

"But! Wait, I wasn't finished yet. He's not my type." Jin chuckled, "He looks too stringent and uptight. I feel like I'll suffocate if I go any closer to him."

Rheb rubbed his chin, "You're right."

As Fei was about to open her mouth, they saw Reyna turn around and walk back towards them. There seemed to be a glint of pleasure and surprise reflected in her eyes.

"Change of plans." Reyna looked at the group. "We're heading to the royal castle."

"Huh!?"

"What?!"

"Are you kidding!?"

Gasps of shock and disbelief echoed within the troupe. Although some of them already visited different royal castles before in their travels, the opportunity to do so was rare to none. There were also some new faces in the team, therefore this might be their first time visiting a royal castle.