“Ah, no need to be tense. This is simply how we are. It means we’re close.”

The crown prince waved a light hand at Cleve. He laughed warmly and rose from his seat.

“I have no intention of overstaying my welcome at a newlywed’s home, so I’ll be on my way.”

“A wise decision. If any trouble were to arise, I would be summoned to the royal court.”

“Well, your face doesn’t exactly look worried about that, but let’s go with that.”

“Rest is an important matter for a soldier.”

“I know, I know. Put away that look like you’re about to eat me.”

Cleve didn’t know what to do with herself during their exchange. It seemed a little childish for a conversation between a crown prince and a duke, and yet the duke seemed far too comfortable with the crown prince.

Fortunately, the crown prince didn’t take issue with it. If anything, he seemed to enjoy it, bringing up things likely to provoke him and keeping the conversation going.

❀❀❀

The crown prince and Eldrich continued talking right up until he boarded the carriage.

Cleve stepped back slightly and walked a little behind.

“Next time I’ll invite the two of you.”

“That won’t be necessary. Your Highness’s thought alone is more than enough.”

Eldrich refused outright. But the crown prince had apparently never intended to take his answer, and shook his head with a pat on his shoulder.

“There’s no need to refuse. Showing that the two of you are well will stop others from talking nonsense, won’t it?”

Before Eldrich’s expression could sour, Cleve answered quickly.

“……I, I think it would be an honor to our family if Your Highness were to invite us.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Enjoy the rest of your honeymoon, then. I’ll see you soon.”

“Yes, please travel safely.”

Eldrich bowed his head in farewell. He added nothing more. The crown prince finally boarded the carriage. The coachman closed the door shortly after. Cleve watched the carriage grow smaller in the distance before letting out a long breath of relief.

“……Weren’t you and His Highness close friends?”

“We are.”

“……I was starting to wonder if you had a different understanding of what close friends means.”

“Is that so? I thought we had quite a warm conversation. Apart from the unnecessary parts in the middle.”

“Unnecessary parts?”

“His Highness the crown prince really ought to get married soon. Don’t you think he takes a bit too much interest in me?”

“……Pardon?”

“I should keep more distance. His Highness has a tendency to be rather fond of me.”

Cleve burst out laughing at Eldrich’s words. Every now and then, he had a wonderfully absurd side to him.

She had completely forgotten what she had been thinking about, and walked back into the residence with him.

❀❀❀

Eldrich opened Cleve’s diary, left behind on the table.

No guilt showed on his face as he turned the pages of his wife’s diary in secret.

❀❀❀

[Third marriage. The morning of what may be my last wedding has arrived. As always, I dressed myself prettily and went to the ceremony to receive my husband.
The same rites, the same meaningless vows. The wedding ended with unease still sitting in my chest.
Viscount Seregei was a far gentler and more attentive person than my previous husbands. He didn’t smile at me or speak to me, but I was grateful that he did nothing to me at all.
He seemed to dislike being touched. He always wore gloves, and even when he took my hand or had to handle something, he never did so with bare hands.
I went to the viscountal residence and, as always, made myself presentable and waited for him. It wasn’t my first time, and yet the trembling never went away.
He said he would clean himself up as well and come to me.
He had a condition that made it impossible for him to sleep in the same room, so we agreed to use separate rooms. He went to his room, told me to wait, and said he would call for me when he was ready.
I sat quietly in my room and waited for him to call.
One hour. Then two.
Was his condition making it take longer? I had my doubts, but I waited.
Four hours passed, and unease crept in. So I went to his room.
I knocked, but there was no sign of anyone. I opened the door carefully, and cool air drifted out from an empty room.
Everything was arranged in neat, precise order. There was no sign of an intruder. Only the steam still lingering in the bathroom told me he had ever been there at all.
He had vanished without warning.
A day passed. Then two. He never appeared.
Not a single person in the viscountal residence knew where Viscount Seregei had gone that day.
Is it because I am cursed? Or…… did he leave because he found me unbearable.]

Eldrich’s gaze stopped at the last sentence. He read the underlined words over and over.

He tapped the diary with his finger.

Cleve must have wanted to help because she believed she bore some responsibility for Viscount Seregei’s disappearance. Reading the diary, Eldrich felt his mood sink.

“Hmm.”

He couldn’t take his eyes off the page. Viscount Seregei had not disliked Cleve. He had been pleased to have her as his wife. He had spent a long time working to obtain her, so of course he had.

In a previous life, Viscount Seregei had suffered from severe obsessive compulsions and had tried to control every aspect of Cleve’s daily life, from the largest things to the smallest.

What she ate, what she wore, how she slept. Everything stemmed from his preferences. Cleve had grown increasingly worn down by his obsessions.

She had even been monitored on how she bathed. Under the pretext of cleanliness, she had been made to wash and rewash even her most private places.

Her whole body wiped down and disinfected, Cleve had endured his pathological compulsions until she finally killed him and put an end to that hellish life.

It wasn’t widely known, but Viscount Seregei had kept women under his control and tormented them in that way. He had already had three mistresses who had never come to light.

In this life, Viscount Seregei had spent three full hours washing himself. Eldrich had realized the outcome would not change, and killed him.

Eldrich put the diary in the drawer.

He went to the bedroom where Cleve was sleeping. She had said she meant nothing by it, but after reading the diary, only the last line remained in his mind.

“Eldrich?”

Cleve turned at the sound of someone slipping under the covers.

“I woke you.”

“Mmh, Eldrich.”

Still half asleep, she burrowed into his arms. The warmth of him made her drowsy all over again.

“Cleve, did you mean it when you said you wanted to help with the investigation into Viscount Seregei?”

“……Yes, if he’s missing, there’s still, hope……”

Cleve murmured. She thought it would help Eldrich too. At the very least, he wouldn’t have to hear that he had married a cursed woman.

Cleve wrapped her arms around Eldrich’s waist.

“Did His Highness say anything else…… about the investigation? I didn’t know the royal family was handling it……. Mmh.”

“I see.”

His lips touched her forehead. Something in his low voice made Cleve open her eyes.

“Eldrich? Did something happen?”

“Mm.”

Cleve blinked slowly at the hand stroking her waist. The hand moved from her back down to her waist, then lower, and slipped inside her slip.

“Oh.”

The hand that had been wandering along the cleft of her backside closed around one side.

“I found myself wondering what would have happened if Viscount Seregei hadn’t disappeared that day.”

“Mmh, Eldrich, mm……”

“Cleve, do you think you would have been happy with Viscount Seregei?”

“That’s, ah!”

His fingers pressed firmly into the back of her thigh. A sharp, electric sensation made her flinch.

“He would have touched your body like this. And naturally, you would have grown wet right away.”

“Mmh!”

His hand settled over her underwear. He spread her closed thighs apart and pressed down through the wet fabric. His fingers had come in from outside and were cold, and goosebumps rose along her spine.

“No, that’s not, I wouldn’t……”

She had never wondered what her wedding night with Viscount Seregei might have been like. She had never imagined how her body might have responded.

Cleve believed her body responded the way it did because it was Eldrich. She had given her heart to him. Being held by him felt right.

The affection Eldrich gave her, the warmth of him, had made her into someone different. Pleasure bloomed under his touch, and anticipation surged.

That wasn’t something anyone else could give her. Her body responded because her heart belonged to him.

“It’s because it’s you. That’s why it feels good.”