While they were talking, Ephnic suddenly extended his hand toward Lian and asked for the box. Then he took the box from Lian and held it out to her.

“Open it.”

Setting aside her hurt feelings for a moment, Hailey was swept up in bewilderment as she clicked open the small silver-gleaming box. Her heart felt ready to burst.

‘Will the Flame of Truth be inside?’

She swallowed hard from nerves, did her best to hide her trembling hands, and forced herself to look squarely at what was inside the box. But inside were five small flowers.

“…?”

The moment she saw those flowers, her heart, which felt ready to burst, seemed to plummet straight down. A rush of tears welled up from the very deepest part of her.

“These flowers…”

She knew them. She was certain of it.

‘The flowers that bloom in Luns County… the flowers only Ephnic and I know.’

More precisely, they were flowers that held their shared memories. Ephnic studied her expression for a moment, then at last took out the compass he kept hidden and set it down on the table with a thud.

“The Flame of Truth. You know those flowers, don’t you?”

“…Your Highness.”

Emotions she couldn’t clearly name mixed together and spilled out as hot tears. In childhood, Hailey and Ephnic played cruel pranks on each other without knowing the true horror of the flame.

‘Hailey, if you lie, I’m going to bring the Flame of Truth.’

‘You’d better be prepared too, Your Highness! I’ll sneak the flame into your mouth and make you confess everything!’

Back when the import of ‘Shobina’ was not yet widespread. Not knowing what the flame looked like, what it smelled like, or what it did to a person, they used to call it the ‘Flame of Truth’ whenever the other lied and stuff a red flower into each other’s mouth.

‘Your Highness told my brother everything, didn’t you?! That’s so unfair! Don’t lie!’

‘Hailey, didn’t you tell your sister first?’

‘I really didn’t. You can bring the flame.’

‘Really? Truly?’

‘Ephnic! Hailey! Both of you, come here this instant!’

‘Kyaaah!’

But after the day Hailey and Ephnic were walking together down a corridor and came across a criminal who swallowed the flame, neither of them ever brought up the flower again. Until this very moment. It was out of guilt for having used something that could cruelly t*rture a person as a tool for play.

“…You’re Hailey, aren’t you?”

The tightly wound thread of tension seemed to snap loose at his question. Ephnic came to this meeting having left open the possibility, from the very beginning, that she might be Hailey. Only Lian, who knew nothing of the truth, stared with wide eyes.

“Your Highness, do you know what you’re saying right now? And why is Miss Marianne crying!”

Lian flustered over Hailey, who suddenly burst into tears, and after watching the two of them for a moment, excused himself on the pretext of fetching a handkerchief. He was a perceptive man.

Hailey’s emotions surged and the tears wouldn’t stop easily. The events of the past several days swept through her mind like a dream.

“How… how did you know?”

After crying silently for a long while, Hailey finally looked up and asked the question she wanted to ask. She never expected anyone to recognize her this quickly. And yet Ephnic did.

“Are you crying or asking a question?”

Ephnic sat down beside her and quietly offered her his shoulder. His teasing tone made her want to scold him for resorting to such an extreme method, but at the same time she understood his position.

“Stop teasing me!”

Hailey cried out in a small, tearful voice. Ephnic smiled faintly looking at her, but something like sorrow also showed in his eyes.

‘He must be curious why I turned the compass out of nowhere.’

But instead of asking, Ephnic chose to talk.

“There are only a few Shobina flowers in our kingdom, so the quantity is fixed. They’re recorded separately in the management ledger, so I can see exactly who used one, when, where, and how.”

Hailey did her best to hold back her tears and listened to Ephnic’s calm voice.

“No one from the Schrant family ever laid eyes on that flame. And to begin with, the only person who would make a meaningful expression upon seeing this red flower was you. Does that answer your question?”

“Someone else could have swapped bodies with me, not necessarily me.”

“Ah, that… was honestly too easy to figure out.”

The cold manner he carried before was nowhere to be seen. He was back to being the Ephnic she knew, her brother’s friend, the princess’s younger brother, the boy from next door she grew up with. He explained that Marianne in Hailey’s body came to visit a few days ago. He said he nearly fell for it at first, but something felt off and he never showed her the compass.

“We practically grew up like siblings, you and I. You think I wouldn’t notice something off about the way she acted? Ever since I became Crown Prince, you never once called me ‘Your Highness.’”

Ephnic kept talking without pausing, deliberately. He was likely trying to guide her thoughts elsewhere and ease her tears.

“That aside, fine, I can accept that. But you never talked to me in that cutesy voice, did you? Even Lian was startled, you know.”

Hailey thought Ephnic’s voice sounded like a lullaby. Leaning against his shoulder, she felt a gentle vibration each time he spoke. Maybe because of that, her swollen eyes fell shut on their own.

This is the first calm I’ve felt in days. It feels like coming home.

“You saw Lian just now, didn’t you? Couldn’t tell even seeing it right in front of him. The man really is dense.”

“You’re the perceptive one, Your Highness. Though that quality does come in handy sometimes.”

Hailey let out a drowsy, teasing remark. She must have cried herself out thoroughly, because a laugh broke free on its own. Ephnic seemed to chuckle quietly at her playful tone.

“Right, I’m still not used to this face, but… you finally sound like yourself.”

“Thank you, Your Highness. Truly. For recognizing me first.”

Ephnic raised his large hand and rubbed Hailey’s face. Tear stains must have been left behind. His warm hand against her face made her swollen, burning eyes feel like they were melting.

Hailey closed her eyes and took in Ephnic’s calm, deep scent. Had she ever leaned on him like this before? Nothing came to mind right away.

“Hailey.”

“Yes.”

“There’s a reason I called you to the annex.”

She opened her eyes again at his steady tone and slowly lifted her head.

“Why?”

“This place is used for receiving guests briefly, but it’s also kept ready for outsiders to stay at any time.”

“Don’t tell me you’re asking me to live here?”

Ephnic looked at her blankly and shrugged as though there was nothing wrong with that. His expression said yes without a moment’s hesitation. But Hailey’s thoughts were a little different.

“I’m grateful for your consideration, Your Highness, but if I stay here… on what grounds would I be here?”

“Temporary lodging for a fallen noble, or inviting other young ladies as well and openly recruiting a Crown Princess.”

But Ephnic trailed off the moment he saw the shift in Hailey’s expression. She looked ready to unleash a torrent of words.

“Recruiting a Crown Princess. That’s an important matter with the kingdom’s future at stake, Your Highness.”

“…Are you going to lecture me?”

“And the temporary lodging for a fallen noble doesn’t quite add up either. Unless the Schrant family rendered some kind of service.”

There was no rebutting her, point by point. Ephnic knew it himself. That what he put forward couldn’t serve as real grounds. But he wanted her to understand that it reflected how much he cared about her.

“Then are you going to keep staying there?”

“For now, it’s better to stay as I am. My mother, my brothers, none of them should know about this yet.”

“Why?”

“Because they can’t hide their expressions the way you can, Your Highness.”

Ephnic let out a brief, helpless laugh at her absurd reasoning, but it wasn’t without logic. The Hersen family was famous for their golden hair and striking looks, but her eldest brother and the current duke, Cedric, was equally famous for his hot temper.

‘If he hears that I swapped bodies with Marianne, there’s no telling what my brother might do.’

“There will surely come a time to tell the family.”

“All right.”

Ephnic gave a quiet nod and fell briefly into thought.

“Hailey.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“But… why did you turn the compass?”