It was not that she felt no nerves at all, but she had been through this once before, and the reception had brought them just the tiniest bit closer.

“I am a man, after all. The advantage of short hair.”

The easy reply that followed helped dissolve what remained of her tension.

“I envy that.”

Ines covered her mouth with her hand as she agreed, and Killian gave a light laugh.

Ines sat on the empty sofa across from Killian. Going straight to the bed felt a little awkward, but standing around was equally strange, so the sofa was the only option left.

“Are you not tired?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I said no, would you?”

“Hmm…… honestly, no. You look like you want to lie down right now.”

At Killian’s words, Ines reached up to touch her own cheek.

Of course, doing so would not reveal tiredness to her fingertips.

She brought her wandering hand back to her thigh and smiled sheepishly.

“I suppose I am a little tired, probably from waking so early.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better to lie down?”

“Ah……”

Her body was tired and she naturally wanted to rest. But……

While Ines hesitated, Killian rose from his seat first.

“Go ahead and lie down. I’ll just turn off the lights.”

The languid, almost coaxing tone seemed meant to tell her not to be nervous, but combined with what he had actually said, it only managed to stir the awkward tension of a wedding night.

“……Thank you.”

Ines parted her lips a few times, then finally got up.

She would have to go to the bed eventually anyway. There was no way she could spend the night on the sofa.

Ines carefully climbed onto the bed and pulled the deep navy duvet over herself. The posture, neither fully lying down nor sitting up against the headboard, was thoroughly awkward.

The bed prepared for the two of them looked very large at a glance, but once you were actually in it, it was not quite as spacious as it appeared.

Thud.

Killian turned off all the lights in the room except for the lamp on the side table, then approached the bed.

“Hmm, do you always sleep like that?”

He stopped without getting into bed and looked at Ines sitting there awkwardly as he asked.

The voice delivering the rather absurd question carried a trace of quiet laughter, making it immediately clear he was teasing.

“Of course not……”

“Then why aren’t you lying down?”

“……It felt a little strange to lie down by myself.”

At her murmured answer, Killian blinked. Then he gave a small laugh.

She knew it would sound funny, having been hesitating just a moment ago and now saying it felt strange to lie down alone, but there was something odd about lying down quietly by herself while he was still moving around.

“I’ll be more mindful going forward.”

“There’s no need to be mindful of……”

Ines was answering when she properly understood what Killian had said and looked at him with wide eyes.

More mindful going forward. That was premised on the idea that they would share the same bedroom again in the future.

By then Killian had climbed onto the bed, and like Ines, he did not lie down fully but sat back against the headboard. Then he looked at Ines.

She had still not managed to hide her surprise, so Killian could not have missed it.

Killian gave a knowing smile, then shifted slightly.

“Did you think there would be no occasion for you to share a bed with me going forward?”

One more thing she had come to learn about him anew was that he had a mischievous streak.

“……Why do you keep teasing me.”

“This time I genuinely wanted to know.”

Then why are you trying so hard not to smile……

A brief flash of indignation rose in her, but Ines swallowed it down and dropped her gaze.

“Just……”

“Just?”

“……I thought you wouldn’t want it.”

The restless feeling settled as she spoke.

“When you say I wouldn’t want it, do you mean I wouldn’t want you, Ines?”

Hearing it in his voice made her chest ache, but the meaning was right, so Ines nodded.

Killian was quiet for a moment, then asked in a voice stripped of its lightness.

“May I ask why you thought that?”

It was a strange question. Was the answer not obvious?

Ines had not expected Killian to ask the reason directly. She blinked a few times, then slowly opened her mouth.

“……It’s a marriage you didn’t want. It was as good as forced on you……”

“……”

“And I’m a princess, and if it weren’t for me, you could have married someone better……”

“Ines.”

The words Ines had been slowly stringing together cut off at Killian’s voice.

Ines lifted her heavy gaze. Killian looked somehow complicated, and perhaps just slightly, very slightly, displeased.

But why?

In truth, she had wanted to apologize to Killian for a very long time. Probably from the moment she had fallen in love with him.

Because she loved Killian, it weighed on her that someone who shone so brightly had ended up with someone as unremarkable as her, and yet she was so glad that he was her husband…… and so Ines had always felt sorry for him.

“……Ha ha.”

After a long silence, Killian ran a hand through his hair with a slightly impatient gesture and let out a hollow laugh.

Had what she said just now put him in a bad mood? She had not meant to ruin his mood.

Ines clasped her hands together out of habit to hide the nervousness she had reflexively swallowed.

Killian, who had been looking at her fidgeting hands with a sunken gaze, opened his mouth.

“I’m glad I found out now, at least, that you’ve been thinking this way.”

Her gaze fell.

Her heart ached instinctively, sensing that what came next would not be particularly positive.

She should have kept her mouth shut. Pretending to be vague instead of going and being honest for no reason would have been a hundred times better.

Only now did Ines realize that what she had said fell into the category of things that could wound Killian’s pride, and she regretted it, but as always, there was no way to take back words already spoken.

Ines kept her gaze lowered and waited for what would follow.

Even if she no longer received his warmth after this, it was a consequence she had brought on herself and would have to accept.

“To be clear, it is true that this marriage was not welcome, as you said. As you know, Rupert and the imperial house are not on particularly good terms.”

I will not deny the element of coercion either.

Ines pressed her lower lip tightly as Killian retraced what she had said.

Why had she said it like that.

But the self-reproach lasted only a moment.

“However, that is not a reason for me to keep you at a distance. Nor do I have any desire to. Because I do not dislike having married you, Ines.”

At the words wrapped in something between a sigh and a laugh, Ines’s eyes went wide.

She looked up without meaning to.

Contrary to what she had assumed, there was not a trace of anger on Killian’s face. Ines could not hide her surprise.

“……You don’t dislike it?”

At the careful question she asked after opening and closing her lips several times, Killian smiled with easy warmth.

“No. If anything, I like it.”

“……Why?”

At the question that slipped out again without her meaning it to, Killian gave a low hum and thought for a moment, then lifted the corners of his mouth.

“For one thing, objectively speaking, you’re beautiful.”

“……Pardon?”

“Your heart is kind, and you care for Rupert.”

“……”

“And from talking with you yesterday, I had the impression that you would take good care of me as a husband. At the very least, I don’t think I’ll be a sad husband who can’t get his wife’s attention.”

Killian shrugged in front of a thoroughly flustered Ines. The blue eyes meeting hers curved warmly.

“It is true that you are a princess and that this marriage carried an element of coercion, but that will not be the first thing between us. I will cherish and respect you as my wife, Ines.”

“……”

“So I would like you not to think that way going forward. I genuinely like having married you, Ines.”

Her eyes, which had been gradually filling without her realizing it, finally let a single tear fall at words that were kind to the very end.

Ines buried her face in both hands and wept without sound, and before long she felt careful arms wrapping around her.

That embrace was very warm, and very gentle.

Warm enough to slowly melt a guilt she had carried for a very long time.

* * *

“……”

The slender body that had been trembling intermittently went still at some point.

Shh, shh. From just below his ear, around the shoulder, came small, quiet breaths. Killian moved carefully so as not to wake the sleeping person.

Rustle.

He laid down the body that felt light enough to make him wonder if they starved people at the imperial palace, and the platinum hair he had noticed from the very first moment fell loose.