“Ah……”

Ines had sensed to some degree that Killian paid attention to her meals, but she had not expected him to watch so closely.

Putting herself in his position, she understood how he must have felt.

On the first day of their marriage, his wife had come back from reviewing the duties she would need to carry out, and throughout dinner had been picking at her food with a sunken expression, only to tell him carefully that she had something she wanted to discuss. From his perspective, of course it would have been on his mind.

On top of that, Killian was, for reasons she could not quite explain, far kinder to her than she deserved, which would have made it worse.

Only then realizing she had been thoughtless, Ines opened her mouth.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you……”

“Not at all.”

Killian smiled easily, seemed to think for a moment, then leaned forward slightly.

“So, Ines, you said you know the location of that large-scale long-distance transport relic.”

“……Yes.”

Killian stroked his chin with one extended hand.

It was not a story anyone would believe easily, so Ines opened her mouth without feeling discouraged.

“What’s more important is that the imperial house is also searching for that relic.”

“……The imperial house, you say?”

“Yes. The imperial house has related materials as well. Probably written later than what you found. It gives a rough indication of the relic’s location.”

Killian was quiet for a moment.

Ines did not expect him to believe her outright. She had no solid evidence to prove the truth, and the trust between them had not built up enough for her to demand blind faith.

That was why she had brought up the Emperor. Having said that the Emperor knew of the relic’s existence and was searching for it, Killian, as the one governing Rupert, could not simply ignore it.

It might come across as slightly calculating, but Ines had no other way.

“The fact that the imperial house is also searching means they have not yet obtained it.”

“That’s right. The imperial house doesn’t know where it is yet.”

“……And you know the exact location.”

That too was correct.

Ines slowly nodded, and Killian let out a shallow breath.

Ines swallowed without meaning to. If he asked how she knew, all she had was the flimsy excuse that she had come across it by chance while at the imperial palace.

But Killian said something different.

“The reason you’re telling me this is, again, because you want Rupert to come to no harm.”

Ines paused for just an instant, then answered without further hesitation.

“That’s right.”

“……”

“……You know this better than I do, but His Majesty the Emperor regards Rupert as a thorn in his side. He covets the wealth and vast resources Rupert holds.”

The first Emperor and the black dragon, ancestor of Rupert, had been close friends. And so the black dragon had willingly settled in the North to protect the Empire, and in return the founding Emperor had appointed Rupert as the Empire’s one and only grand ducal family and regarded them as allies of the imperial house.

After the founding Emperor died and the black dragon closed his eyes alongside his partner, a few hundred years of peace followed. The imperial family of that era held Rupert in high regard, and Rupert faithfully upheld what their ancestor had promised.

But as time passed, the past faded, and immediate gain began to take precedence over the will of those who came before.

The vast territory of the North, nearly half the Empire, and the abundant resources it produced were monopolized by Rupert rather than the imperial house. To those who had already turned their backs on the old faith, it must have been maddening.

And so at some point the imperial house began to view Rupert with wariness, and watched for every opportunity to take what Rupert had.

Three hundred years ago, seizing on the chaos of the period when sorcery ran rampant, they had stripped away the North’s autonomy and the mana stone exclusive distribution rights as though by force. Those were the very two things returned through this marriage.

“They gave back the autonomy and the mana stone distribution rights using our marriage as the pretext, but that’s……”

She could not bring herself to say aloud that it was because they intended to take them back again. The words alone would be an affront to Killian, and she had no desire to dredge up painful memories.

But Killian understood what she had swallowed immediately.

“I know. They gave them back intending to take them away again by some means.”

Ines lowered her gaze in quiet agreement.

The mood growing heavier was unavoidable. The imperial house was Rupert’s adversary, and Ines was a princess of that house.

Ines pressed her nails into her palm. Partly to steady herself, and partly because the guilt made her want to punish herself.

At the same time, she turned something over in her mind. Would it not be better for Rupert if she simply told him the truth about her return?

To redirect what the Emperor had taken back to Rupert, and to protect Rupert going forward, it would be a hundred times better for Killian to know everything about the future. After all, the only thing she could do was tell him and borrow his strength.

In truth, she had been turning this over since the moment she had resolved to protect Rupert. Assuming Killian would believe her about the return, there was no better way.

But even today, Ines could not bring herself to say it. Because if she told him everything, he would surely come to hate her. That was what she feared.

She should have told him everything on the very first day she arrived. If she had, she would never have been soaked in a warmth she had never received before, and she would not be sealing her lips out of selfishness even while knowing the best path forward.

“Ines.”

Ines slowly lifted her gaze.

Killian was not smiling, but he did not look displeased either.

“……I’ll tell you where the relic is buried first.”

He had seemed about to say something, but Ines got in ahead of him, knowing it was not quite polite.

Thankfully, Killian simply gave a quiet nod.

“The relic is in the Kingdom of Rudim.”

“The Kingdom of Rudim……”

The Kingdom of Rudim was an island nation to the south of the Cassian Empire, famous as a resort destination.

“Yes. It’s buried on the private grounds of the Guillaume family in the western part of Rudim.”

Ines borrowed a pen and paper and wrote down the address.

“I don’t know the precise location, but I’m certain it’s there.”

Killian took the paper and nodded.

“Understood. Then I’ll send someone to handle the rest.”

He would manage it on his own, in a way that would not attract attention, especially not the Emperor’s.

With the main point settled, the conversation lapsed.

Ines was running her fingertips together when Killian spoke.

“You seem reluctant to say, so I won’t ask how you came to know.”

“……Killian.”

“But if there ever comes a time when you feel you want to tell someone, I want you to tell me. Whatever it may be.”

Ines had been startled by the words I won’t ask, and at what followed she bit her lip tightly, then slowly nodded.

* * *

“Then sleep well, my lady!”

“Yes, you too, Cecile.”

Ines pressed down the tangle of thoughts and gave Cecile a small wave.

“It’s the same here……”

She had changed almost nothing about the decor or furnishings in five years of living here, so the bedroom looked much the same as when she had last used it before her death.

Ines let out a soft breath and lay down on the bed. The bed was wonderfully soft and the duvet warm, but lying there alone felt strangely empty. The reason was obvious.

“……How ridiculous.”

She had been sleeping alone all this time, and it had been only one night of sharing a bed with Killian.

She should have been grateful simply to be breathing and alive in this bedroom in Rupert Castle, and yet here she was, missing the warmth of a single night that had been little more than an obligation. Ines thought herself quite greedy.

Fortunately, the thoughts did not linger long.

Her tired mind slipped quickly into sleep.

‘The imperial soldiers leave tomorrow, so it should be tonight……’

With that thought, Ines’s consciousness sank completely.

* * *

“Right now……”

“……do it.”

Blurred noise crept into her sleeping mind.

Ines slowly lifted her eyelids. She blinked a few times in her drowsy state, and the sound that had woken her came through a little more clearly.

“……Sorcery……”

Through the haze, a single word struck her like lightning.

Ines’s eyes snapped open. She got up quickly and went to the window. The flickering light outside turned out to be torches carried by knights.

Sorcery and armed knights. There was only one thing that meant.

‘……So it is tonight after all.’

Ines picked up the shawl she had left on the sofa before sleeping and draped it back around her shoulders.