Episode 73

The annex I lived in always felt a little chilly, regardless of the season.

It had been hastily purchased, and since the situation hadn’t allowed for a perfect choice, I had ended up with a building in less-than-ideal condition.

Of course, part of the reason was likely that the Duke had no desire to provide me with anything better.

As summer faded, the chill only worsened. A draft seeped into my room at all hours.

“You’ll catch a cold, my lady.”

“I’m fine.”

Several servants approached me with quiet concern, but I dismissed them all.

It had been quite some time since I had returned from the summer villa, yet I was still troubled.

“This is a headache.”

On the final day of the villa gathering, the moment I saw the golden corsage inside my box, I had swiftly closed the lid, hiding it from prying eyes.

At that moment, only one thought ran through my mind.

‘Chris must not see this.’

I didn’t want to give him another reason to worry. He already had too much on his plate.

And just as I shut the box completely, my eyes met the Crown Prince’s.

‘…….’

‘Did he see?’

Even if he hadn’t seen the corsage directly, my expression, my hurried actions—closing the box too quickly—might have given him the answer.

The Crown Prince simply held my gaze and then… smiled.

That smile reached Chris as well.

A victor’s smile.

Something about it irritated me.

So I tightened my grip around Chris’s arm.

I refused to let that bastard look down on him.

‘Mindia?’

The Crown Prince’s face stiffened in an instant, but I simply smiled at Chris as if I were oblivious.

What mattered right now wasn’t that arrogant bastard, but Chris—the man who had rushed from that far-off relay city, handling everything swiftly just to come to me.

Considering the distance, he must have pushed himself to get here quickly.

‘I’m glad you came.’

Even if my actions were partly meant to provoke the Crown Prince, my feelings were sincere.

‘…I always wanted to visit a place like this with Your Grace at least once.’

‘…A place like this?’

Chris raised an eyebrow slightly as he glanced around at the lively, noisy surroundings.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

Chris watched me for a long time, his expression unreadable. His gaze was so intense and lingering that I started to feel self-conscious.

‘Well, he’s not someone who enjoys noisy places.’

Lowering my voice so others wouldn’t hear, I spoke softly.

‘Somewhere quieter than this, but open and beautiful like this place.’

As I said that, I looked up at the summer night sky.

The sky was embroidered with countless stars—silent yet explosively brilliant. The noise of the people around me no longer mattered.

Chris followed my gaze upward and smiled faintly.

That smile made me incredibly happy.

For a moment, I forgot all about the corsage and the worries that came with it.

But once the summer villa banquet ended and I returned to my annex in the capital, I could no longer ignore the golden corsage.

‘…There’s no way the Empress Dowager seriously intends to tie me to the Crown Prince.’

It was probably just a way to appease him.

The only fortunate thing was that the Crown Prince was likely the only person who knew the color of my corsage. Everyone else had been too busy cheering for Aria as she wore hers.

‘There won’t be any rumors.’

The Empress Dowager had never instructed me to wear the corsage.

In fact, it seemed like she had been watching closely, ready to intervene if I had put it on. She had given me the golden corsage, but clearly, she didn’t want anyone else to know about it.

‘They’re all making a fuss over something I don’t even care about.’

I sighed and turned to look out the window. In the distance, past the trees shifting with the changing seasons, I could see the Grand Duke’s estate.

“…Is something wrong?”

“Huh?”

“Marie, when did you come in?”

“I just got here, and I even greeted you… My lady, is something bothering you?”

I gave Marie a small, bitter smile.

“It’s nothing. I just… wondered if His Grace is dealing with something.”

Since returning from the summer villa, Chris’s visits had become noticeably infrequent—to the point that it bothered me.

“Oh, that’s…”

Marie hesitated—something she rarely did.

Her reaction confirmed it.

Something was wrong.

“I need to go see him.”

“Ah, my lady!”

Marie gasped in alarm and tried to stop me.

I waved her off lightly and walked briskly toward the Grand Duke’s estate. Marie hurried after me.

“My lady!”

“If there’s a problem, and it isn’t resolving easily, then I need to help.”

“My lady, this is—”

“So you do know something.”

“Uh…”

“And you were hiding it from me? That’s disappointing.”

Even as I spoke, my steps didn’t slow.

Marie grew more flustered.

“…My lady, this isn’t something you can hel—”

The moment those words left my lips, I found myself standing in front of the Grand Duke’s estate.

The gatekeepers no longer hesitated to open the doors for me.

“If people put their heads together, there’s no problem that can’t be solved.”

But I was worried—worried that Chris had somehow seen the golden corsage I had hidden away.

Was that why he had stayed locked inside the Grand Duke’s estate, avoiding me for days on end?

“I need to talk to him and figure out what’s going on.”

“My lady, perhaps you should step back for now—”

I ignored Marie’s words and pushed open the doors to the estate.

Flutter.

A single sheet of paper came floating toward me.

Instinctively, I caught it. It was stiff, loosely woven, and coarse—Northern paper.

“Hey, that letter is supposed to go—hngh!”

Jade, who had been directing an attendant with an exasperated expression, froze in shock when he saw me.

Without thinking, I glanced down and read the letter in my hand.

“To His Grace, Grand Duke Elzerian. If the rumors I have heard are true, please confirm them.”

“L-Lady—!”

“My lady, that is—!”

“There are now rumors spreading in the North that His Grace is engaged in a scandal with Lady Reinhardt.”

The moment I finished reading, both Marie and Jade fell silent.

I swallowed down a sigh rising in my chest.

“I expected it would eventually reach the North, but… how did it escalate into formal letters of protest?”

I glanced at the letters piling up in the drawing room, all from the Grand Duke’s vassals.

Jade looked increasingly guilty, his lips pressed together in a grimace.

“Well….”

“Well?”

“…I may have said something while we were in the relay city.”

Jade’s face screamed guilt as he confessed.

“I spoke with His Grace about it. Then I got a bad feeling and… I ended up chatting with the new Northern carrier pigeons’ manager.”

“Jade!”

Marie was the first to yell before I could even react.

I sighed deeply.

“Yes, I know we had to make our relationship official eventually. That’s why we were planning an engagement.”

“E-E-Engagement?!”

“Wha—?!”

Marie and Jade’s stunned reactions made me realize—Chris and I had only ever discussed this between ourselves.

But I didn’t have time to dwell on that.

“That doesn’t mean I wanted the news spreading all the way to the North.”

“My lady… I….”

The weight of the letters before me forced reality to sink in.

For too long, I had been lost in a dream.

A dream that had let me forget what I knew would eventually come.

“…Originally, this was supposed to end before the North even heard about it.”

The words left an unexpected sting in my chest.

The drawing room fell into silence.

Even the knights and servants who had been watching the commotion hesitated, unsure how to react.

“End…?”

“Yes. When the time comes, I will leave His Grace, and he knows that.”

“But His Grace—”

Jade, who had always been wary of me, now seemed completely thrown off.

I had expected him to be pleased by my words, yet his reaction confused me.

Even the other knights, who had grown accustomed to seeing me, looked somewhat surprised.

“Is His Grace in his office?”

“Yes, on the second floor—wait! My lady—!”

“I need to speak to him myself. He shouldn’t be worrying over this.”

“My lady!”

Before Jade or the knights could stop me, I rushed toward Chris’s office.

Flutter, flutter.

Even here, letters were overflowing.

Chris was hunched over his desk, a frown carved into his face as he sifted through them.

The moment he saw me, he slowly rose to his feet.

“Mindia.”

“Your Grace.”

The way he looked at me made the words I had prepared hesitate on my lips.

As I struggled to speak, Chris reached out, took my hand gently, and smiled wryly.

“You’ve come at the perfect time.”

“……”

“I was just about to write a letter to the North. Would you care to help me?”

Wordlessly, I let Chris lead me toward his desk and took the seat he offered me.

“But… this is Your Grace’s—”

“Right now, you need to see this for yourself.”

A slight nervousness settled over me as I looked down.

His elegant handwriting filled the parchment—likely a letter calmly explaining the situation and how our rumored affair had come about.

But I didn’t read it.

I knew that if I saw the exact words detailing how this was all just a contract, my heart would ache.

Instead, I spoke.

“Don’t tell all of your vassals, only the important and trustworthy ones, Your Grace.”

“……”

“You and I will end this someday. This is just… a temporary arrangement for mutual benefit—”

Even as I spoke, my fingertips tingled with an odd sensation.

The words were true, but why did my chest feel so tight?

As I struggled to force the rest of my sentence out, Chris interrupted.

“We are lovers, Mindia.”

His voice was steady, unwavering.

“We will be the most thorough lovers.”

“…Yes.”

“To each other, the only ones. Isn’t that right?”

I fell silent for a moment before nodding.

Because those were the exact words I had once said to him.

‘The only person I need as my lover is you, Your Grace.’

The words I had spoken myself.

Yet, recalling them now made my face grow warm.

Chris placed a hand on my shoulder and spoke in a calm, steady voice.

“I intend to honor our contract until the very end.”

As he said this, he gestured toward the letter he had written. Without realizing it, my gaze followed his hand.

“The reason I asked you to review my letter…”

“……”

“…Is because this could truly block any future marriage prospects for you.”

I slowly lowered my eyes to the letter Chris had written to his vassals.