“I am very pleased that Duke Tilbury came in person. I will be sure to convey the Arden Kingdom’s generosity to Emperor Abarus.”

Leon answered, a cold smile on his face as he looked at the gift box.

On the surface it was an ordinary exchange, but the reception hall was thick with a tension that felt ready to snap at any moment.

Duke Tilbury’s gaze kept finding Adela, seated beside Leon, and Leon stared only at Adela’s bracelet.

“If it would not be an imposition, might I have a brief private word with Princess Adela?”

“…What imposition could there be.”

Leon gave a short reply to the duke’s request and rose from his seat. Before leaving the reception hall, he made sure to catch Hardt’s eye.

“Princess Adela, if I remember correctly, there was a winter garden just next door.”

Claude rose and extended his hand, and Adela had no choice but to accept. Refusing a guest who came to the castle on official business would be a breach of courtesy.

She opened the glass door connected to the reception hall, and the flooding sunlight briefly turned everything white.

At the same time, the artificial scent of flowers turned her stomach, and the damp heat weighed her mood down.

“This place really does have quite a charm.”

Duke Tilbury moved through the flower pots as though he owned the place. The way his hands stroked the lush roses left an unpleasant feeling.

“……”

This space was something her father arranged to flaunt Valent’s wealth. In his lifetime, he never allowed entry here, and Adela never liked it either.

Perhaps because of that, she felt nothing at all.

“Did you have something to say to me?”

Being alone with Duke Tilbury made her uncomfortable, so Adela asked directly.

In her past life, he came much later than this and said nothing but foolish things.

‘Why has he come so early this time?’

The unexpected variable sharpened Adela’s eyes. The fact that Tilbury moved earlier than planned was a signal that other things might also unfold differently from her past life.

‘Given how quickly he moved, there is a possibility that the Arden Kingdom has already begun negotiations with Urcheka.’

While she was lost in thought, Duke Tilbury turned his body, dragging his bad leg.

“Adela, you haven’t forgotten that I am your fiancé, have you?”

“…?”

They broke off the engagement years ago, and now he was calling himself her fiancé. Adela blinked in surprise, and he continued in a warm tone.

“The broken engagement was a decision made unilaterally by our elders, and I cannot accept it. I intend to marry you and become the master of the Valent Kingdom in its time of turmoil.”

Adela had to hold back a laugh at how openly he revealed his true colors.

“The Valent Kingdom exists in name only now. I am no longer a princess either.”

Adela replied calmly, and he limped toward her and took her hand.

“My Adela, how pitiable you are.”

The damp, sticky touch landed on her hand and she shook it off without hesitation. Tilbury’s hand flailed in the air, but she didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow.

“Please let go. I am Count Fershtein’s concubine.”

“…What?”

The word concubine made Claude’s face flush red as he raised his voice.

“So the rumors were true? All that lofty pride, and now you’re doing something so base in the arms of the enemy!”

What a ridiculous thing to say.

Adela was never lofty in front of him.

He meant nothing to her her entire life. So he had even less right to show his anger now.

“If your business is concluded, I will take my leave. Duke Tilbury.”

Adela gave him a parting bow and turned away quickly. Standing beside Duke Tilbury made the winter garden, once her father’s pride, feel like a grotesque ruin.

* * *

Adela stepped out of the glass garden, crossed the reception hall, and was just opening the door to the corridor.

She was rubbing the hand the duke grabbed when a large hand suddenly shot out from between the red curtains.

“…Eek!”

Adela let out a small cry, then quickly steadied her breathing at the familiar scent.

It was Leon who pulled her into the dark space behind the curtain. Not a sliver of light reached inside, but even in the darkness his red eyes were strangely vivid.

“Leon, were you waiting here?”

Adela called his name, startled on instinct, and one corner of Leon’s mouth twisted.

“What did that bastard say? Did he ask you to go to Ardenian with him?”

“No, no.”

He said something along those lines, but it was better not to tell Leon.

“Were you glad to see your fiancé after so long?”

“I told you, we broke off the engagement.”

“The way he looked at you was far too intense for two people who mean nothing to each other. Why is that?”

Leon’s low voice, traveling through the chest pressed against hers, was chilling enough to raise goosebumps. In contrast, scorching heat radiated from every part of Leon’s body gripping her waist.

“We were simply old friends exchanging news.”

“Ah, friends?”

Leon let out a crooked sound and pulled Adela tighter against him.

“I have no intention of sharing what is mine.”

“…What are you…”

Adela protested in surprise at the arrogant words, but Leon was unyielding. He reached out and turned the bracelet he put on her wrist and said.

“You are mine.”

Adela felt a strange flutter of embarrassment and tried to turn her face away, but Leon caught her chin and held it in place.

“Kiss me, Adela.”

“If someone sees us…”

Before Adela could finish, the sound of a limping footstep and Tilbury’s unpleasant voice drew closer from beyond the curtain. Adela held her breath in tension, but Leon curled the corner of his mouth upward, looking almost pleased.

He wrapped one hand around Adela’s slender neck. His hot grip tightened over the wrist bearing the bracelet. Just as Tilbury passed in front of the curtain, Leon deliberately lowered his head and swallowed her lips.

“Mm, mmph…!”

Tilbury’s shadow passed by with only a thin layer of cloth between them. The terror of being discovered and Leon’s rough breath tangled together, and the feeling drained all the way to Adela’s toes.

Leon cupped the back of her head and kissed her hard. The closer Tilbury’s voice came, the more relentlessly Leon pressed into her lips.

Like someone afraid of having her taken away.

Tilbury’s silhouette wavered beyond the thin curtain, and Leon pulled Adela’s waist flush against him.

“…Hng.”

Adela, breathless, pushed against his shoulder, but he gave her no room and bit into her lips.

“Outrageous! The least she could do is grovel at my feet when I extend my hand, and she dares refuse me?”

Tilbury’s furious voice made Adela’s face burn with shame. In the old days, he would never have spoken to her that way.

And knowing Leon heard every word made her want to sink into the floor.

“…Hah.”

Leon pulled back for a moment and looked at Adela with low, settled eyes. Their heartbeats rang against each other through their pressed chests, resonating like an echo.

Tilbury’s footsteps faded.

Only then did Leon pull the curtain aside.

“Le, Leon…”

At the end of Leon’s gaze was his bedroom.