4.

The meal was thoroughly satisfying. For preparations put together in such a short time, it was a reception fine enough to be called nearly perfect. Beyond the food, it was clear that care had been taken from the entrance of the residence to every corner within. Bright flowers adorned the space, and the presence of Polseitz felt all the more real for it.

Adolf sipped his tea and smiled at Cleve, who was watching him with shining eyes.

“I would gladly come again. It was a most pleasant welcome.”

“I’m relieved to hear Your Highness is pleased. There must have been many shortcomings, so I’m grateful you looked upon it kindly.”

“Humble as well.”

The more he looked, the more Adolf felt that Cleve was a genuinely good person. Her face held no falsehood, and her emotions showed through clearly.

“It seems this visit isn’t purely to see a friend.”

At Eldrich’s words, Adolf waved a hand with a startled expression.

“Of course it is. It’s simply that seeing someone by your side is a novelty. And many people are curious.”

Cleve didn’t seem to follow his meaning. Naturally so, since she knew nothing of the rumors circulating in the capital.

“I’ll have to tell them to stop worrying needlessly.”

“We would be grateful for Your Highness’s involvement.”

Eldrich clearly knew about the rumors. Cunning.

“The truth is, I came all the way to the residence partly because I wanted to see you, but also because there is something I wished to ask the Duchess of Devonshire.”

“If it’s something I can answer, please ask anything.”

Cleve sat up with eager attention. Adolf barely managed to suppress a laugh at her reaction.

“It may be a question that makes you uncomfortable.”

“That’s all right. If Your Highness has come all this way to ask, I believe it must be important.”

“I feel more at ease hearing you say that, Duchess.”

Adolf set down his teacup and turned to Cleve.

“It concerns Viscount Seregei. I would like to hear your account in more detail, if that is agreeable.”

“Is Your Highness conducting an investigation into Viscount Seregei’s disappearance?”

Cleve, expected to be flustered, asked back instead, as though she had been waiting for exactly this.

“Cleve.”

Eldrich placed a light hand on Cleve’s knee.

“You don’t have to answer any question you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s been weighing on me too…… Your Highness, could you wait just a moment?”

“Take all the time you need. The tea is far from cold.”

“Thank you.”

Cleve patted the back of Eldrich’s hand lightly and smiled. Then she rose from her seat, gave a small bow, and left the reception room.

With Cleve gone, a sharp gaze fell on Adolf.

“You look ready to k*ll me with your eyes.”

“I was wondering what wind had blown you all the way to the residence, and it turns out it was the investigation into Viscount Seregei?”

“No, that’s secondary. Can’t I say I came because I wanted to see you?”

“Do you expect me to believe that? Since when have you had any particular need to seek me out?”

“Well, you were always nearby, so there was no need to seek you out. I also came to see how you were faring. This marriage does involve the royal family.”

“There has always been gossip circulating in the capital. The rumors about Cleve, and the questions about my marriage to her, are no different.”

“Ah, yes. Even seeing it with my own eyes, I can tell the rumors are malicious.”

“Does Your Highness believe Cleve harmed Viscount Seregei?”

“Do you think so?”

The answer was clearly no, even without hearing it. Adolf waved a hand at the sight of Eldrich’s hardened expression.

“It’s simply procedure. The duchess herself seems to have something she wants to say to me. Why are you the one making a fuss?”

“Your Highness.”

“Marriage has made you quite the devoted fool. When exactly did you fall so completely? I’m almost aggrieved that I didn’t notice.”

“That is a private matter.”

“So stiff. Still, now that I’ve come and seen the two of you together, it should be easier for you. The foolish rumors will quiet down soon enough.”

“That may be—”

“Don’t say you didn’t care. The duchess knows nothing of the rumors. You took measures to keep them from reaching her, didn’t you?”

Adolf rested his chin in his hand and looked at Eldrich. He was staring straight ahead with a blank expression, but he didn’t argue against the words.

“Even if a predator attacks, it doesn’t bite off only a finger. The cause of death was listed as anaphylactic shock, but the marks left on the neck have been nagging at me…… and then the third husband is simply missing.”

Adolf smiled, his eyes curving.

“Strange. If that pattern of coincidence were to extend to others, wouldn’t it throw the country into turmoil?”

When people grow uneasy, they look for something to blame. If the culprit was never found, or if something like this happened once more, that unease would turn toward the royal family.

“So a proper investigation must be conducted to ensure no further incidents occur.”

If there was a culprit, catching them was all that needed to be done. No matter how skilled a person was, they couldn’t have gone without making a single mistake.

“It may appear that everything was planned and prepared with meticulous precision, but being human, some small trace must remain.”

Adolf noticed Cleve descending the stairs and held his tongue.

❀❀❀

Cleve read the atmosphere between the crown prince and Eldrich. She didn’t know what had happened in the brief time she was away, but an awkward silence hung in the air.

“I wonder if this might be of help as well.”

Cleve held out the diary she had written down from memory. She had been adding to it little by little since meeting Lina.

“I’m not sure I should be reading a lady’s diary.”

“I wrote it like a diary, recording what happened that day. I added things as they came back to me……”

She had recorded everything in considerable detail, from the wedding to arriving at the estate. Even her conversation with Viscount Seregei before their wedding night was laid out in full.

Showing someone her private life was not an easy decision, but if it meant finding Viscount Seregei, she could bear this much.

Cleve’s voice trailed off as she touched the diary.

“No one else will read your diary. Only what is relevant to the investigation will be referenced, so there is no need to worry.”

“Thank you.”

Only then did Cleve’s expression ease, and she let go.

❀❀❀

The crown prince read through the diary with a grave expression. Cleve watched him with a tense look.

‘I hope this wasn’t a mistake.’

Cleve herself had been unsettled by what had happened to her former husbands. She wanted to understand why such terrible things kept occurring.

It weighed on her that she couldn’t be fully honest with the crown prince. But she couldn’t speak of causes of death that had never been made known.

The true causes were stranger and more brutal than the ones that had been covered up. Even if she told him, he wouldn’t believe her. That was why Seregei’s disappearance sat so uneasily with her.

Perhaps he too had……

“Duchess.”

“……”

Knock, knock.

The sound of tapping on the table brought Cleve back to herself. The crown prince had finished reading and was holding the diary out to her.

“This has been very helpful. Going by what you’ve written, you must have been quite shaken at the time. Thank you for recalling what must be a difficult memory.”

“Not at all. I truly hope the viscount returns. Oh! I don’t mean anything by that.”

Cleve quickly looked at Eldrich and waved her hand. She couldn’t have him misunderstanding.

“I only thought that if the viscount came back, the bad rumors surrounding me might die down……”

“I understand completely. There is no need to explain yourself.”

Adolf shifted his gaze to Eldrich.

“I’m glad to hear it isn’t that she misses a former husband. I was beginning to wonder whether my wife found me insufficient.”

“That couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Cleve shook her head, flustered.

Perhaps this really had been a mistake.

Eldrich sat forward in his chair and dabbed at the corner of his mouth with a napkin. The crown prince watched his movements with undisguised amusement.

“I’m glad it was of help to Your Highness. The sun will be setting before long, and the coachman will have a difficult journey. We cannot have Your Highness’s health suffer.”

The crown prince burst out laughing.

“What a way to show someone the door. You want to appear gentlemanly in front of your wife.”

“Your Highness.”

Cleve glanced at the crown prince uneasily. For people said to be close friends, there was an edge to their exchange.