“……”

Killian slowly withdrew the arm that had been supporting her neck and looked down.

Ines, who had been silently shedding tears in his arms just a moment ago, was sleeping soundly with slightly swollen eyes to prove it.

Her sleeping face was unusually clear, but then, she was a person made of delicate and soft lines from the start.

‘Does her personality follow her face.’

Killian, in an uncharacteristic moment, had that thought, then let out a short breath. His mind was complicated.

The Second Princess, said to live so quietly she seemed almost invisible, had turned out to be unexpectedly resilient in person, and also more self-deprecating than he had anticipated.

It was strange that she held both qualities, which were not easy to coexist, and the latter in particular weighed on him. Especially after hearing what she had said just now.

Killian remembered the conversation he had with Ines on the day she arrived at Rupert.

‘……I understand if you can’t trust me, Grand Duke. I know you may dislike me. I know what lies between the imperial house and Rupert, and how this marriage came to be.’

Said almost in passing while she was telling him that the imperial soldiers would use sorcery to harm Rupert. The words I know you may dislike me. He understood the context, but the tone had been firm, as though stating a fact. Even though Killian did not dislike her at all.

What she had said just now was an extension of that.

Only the content had been slightly more detailed, and considerably more self-effacing.

He had already known that she had not been treated well at the imperial palace, that her life there had been rather unfortunate.

She had barely left the palace or attended events, living so quietly that almost no rumors reached the outside, but any noble with decent sources knew that the Emperor treated the daughter he had gotten from a maid as though she did not exist, and that the First Imperial Consort and First Princess were particularly unkind to her.

Her timid nature, low self-esteem in plain terms, or quiet and gentle nature in kinder terms, was probably the result of that.

But even accounting for the fact that she was someone accustomed to diminishing herself, the way Ines behaved in front of him was strange in a different way.

Some of it was habit from a lifetime of being suppressed, but in the eyes that looked at him, Killian had glimpsed fragments of guilt.

And beyond that, Ines was full of puzzling things.

The inexplicable goodwill she showed toward him and Rupert. The strange sense of familiarity. And what had happened during today’s ceremony.

‘……Just pretend to drink.’

What had been her true intention in drinking all of the holy water that the bride and groom were supposed to share equally, and passing him an empty cup?

It was too deliberate to have been an accident, and there had been no sign of panic. Her whispered words had been firm. Like someone who had planned it in advance.

He had considered asking her quietly during the reception, but seeing her smiling brightly despite looking tired, the words had caught in his throat and would not come out.

Of course he had no intention of simply letting that inexplicable incident go, so he had already given Theodore the order to obtain the holy water and the cup it had been in and have them examined.

“I simply cannot figure her out.”

Killian murmured quietly and looked at Ines, who was sleeping peacefully with a serene expression despite his own complicated state of mind, and swallowed a sigh.

Her pale, clear sleeping face gave no indication of what she was thinking, aside from the emotions that occasionally broke through unexpectedly.

But one thing was certain. Despite that opacity, she drew his eyes rather than making him want to keep his distance.

When she looked unbearably tense, he found himself saying something light. When her excessive self-deprecation became hard to watch, he said things that were unlike him.

Killian was not young enough to be unaware that he had a personal fondness for this puzzling princess.

What she was hiding, and why her eyes held longing when she looked at him. Living together, a day would come when he found out.

Killian looked at the sleeping Ines for a while longer, then quietly closed his eyes.

* * *

Since her return, except for when she had been bedridden, Ines had always slept lightly.

She had never been a heavy sleeper to begin with, but with so much on her mind, she woke often in the night. Today, however, was different.

Ines opened her eyes and blinked in a hazy state, not yet fully awake. As she did, her mind gradually cleared.

Yesterday she had held the wedding, there had been the reception, and before she fell asleep she had talked with Killian……

When she reached that point in her recollection, the embarrassing things she had done just before falling asleep flashed through her mind like lightning. Ines sat bolt upright without meaning to.

That is to say, she had said strange things in front of Killian, then deflated on her own, and then, at his kind words, had been unable to hold back and cried……

“……Ah.”

Ines let out a short gasp at the wave of mortification and covered her face with both hands.

She was grateful Killian was not beside her right now.

She was not thick-skinned enough to face him calmly after sobbing in his arms and falling asleep without even remembering it.

“Why did I do that……”

How was she supposed to face him now.

There were several reasons to be embarrassed.

For making a spectacle of herself. For now being his wife…… and because he had been so kind yesterday.

‘I genuinely like having married you, Ines.’

The words he had offered, as though he knew the guilt she had always carried in one corner of her heart, were words she had never expected or imagined.

At the same time, a question arose.

Had he not disliked her in her past life either? If she had not been trembling with excessive nerves, might she have managed a few words of ordinary conversation and not spent that first night in such silence?

But the answer to that was now something she would never know.

A faint regret came over her. Not that anything was ever free of regret.

Ines drifted in her thoughts for a while, then belatedly noticed the morning sun well up outside the window and pulled the bell cord beside the bed.

“My lady! Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

Cecile came in with a bright face.

“Yes, I slept well.”

“Let me get the wash water ready first!”

Ines let Cecile attend her, washed her face lightly, and changed her clothes.

As she pulled her arms through a light indoor dress after removing her chemise, Ines parted her lips a few times.

She wanted to ask whether Cecile knew when Killian had woken and where he was now, but asking that felt a little embarrassing.

‘……At this rate, no one would believe we spent five years as husband and wife.’

But since this time around their relationship was different from the start compared to those lost five years, perhaps it was all right to ask. Her thoughts went back and forth without settling, and Ines let out a faint sigh without meaning to.

What Ines had overlooked was that Cecile’s perceptiveness was beyond what she had imagined, and that when it came to Killian, her poker face crumbled easily.

So Cecile, watching Ines between tasks, quickly understood that she wanted to ask something. And she also understood who that question was about.

“His Grace the Grand Duke probably just finished training a little while ago.”

Ines, still hesitating, went wide-eyed at Cecile’s smiling remark.

A beat late she realized she had reacted as obviously as someone whose thoughts had been read exactly, but there was no taking back an expression already shown.

“……How did you know?”

She asked, unable to hide her flustered state, and Cecile smiled and said, just a feeling.

Ines was briefly stunned that her expression had been that transparent, but then thought that since she had already been found out, there was nothing to deny, and settled for a sheepish smile.

The preparations were done quickly. Her hair was loosely braided down, and she wore no makeup.

“If you feel a little cold, shall I bring a cardigan or a shawl? There are thicker dresses too, but those are for going out……”

It was not cold enough to be uncomfortable, but it was a little cool, so Ines nodded.

“Hmm, then just a thin shawl, please.”

“Yes!”

Cecile draped a beige shawl around her and chattered on.

“A seamstress is coming tomorrow with some ready-made pieces first, so just wear the shawl for today.”

“A seamstress?”

“Oh, yes! Did His Grace not mention it yesterday?”

Why was Killian coming up here?

Ines shook her head with a puzzled expression, and Cecile gave a somehow pleased smile.

“His Grace ordered a seamstress to come and have new clothes made for you, my lady.”