The moment heated fingertips touched her chest, she bit down on her lip. A frail force pushed against his chest without fail.

“I don’t like this. Stop.”

“What brother in the world.”

The man ignored her resistance and muttered.

Those red eyes came to mind. The intense gaze of a male desiring a female. Like Liam’s, which she had noticed once before.

“Looks at his sister that way.”

“What are you…… saying?”

“I found it unbearable.”

Cassian gripped his fist without meaning to.

“Those eyes.”

The fingertips that had stroked her hair as though she were his own kept flickering before him. The face that had smiled and pressed close to that man without a second thought came to mind.

A smile she had never once shown Cassian.

“And those hands.”

He wanted to lick every place that man’s hands had touched. So that only his scent remained.

Struggling in his arms, she protested in a small voice.

“You’re mistaken. And it’s a very unpleasant mistake.”

“I realize once again how petty I am. In truth.”

His lips, ignoring her protest, descended to her ear. A honeyed voice shaped words that were anything but.

“I could not help but see how that person looked at you, even from before.”

“……”

“I always wanted to k*ll the Duke of Blumir as well.”

At the quietly delivered truth, the soft body pressed against him stiffened in an instant. The hand touching his chest clenched once and opened. A slight trembling, as though startled.

“You wouldn’t know. You couldn’t even guess. When those two stood side by side.”

The emotion speaking of the past was more explosive than expected.

“There was a stranger air about them than even when she was at Astaire’s side.”

“Is that…… something I need to know?”

“Of course you don’t need to know. They would have nothing to do with you.”

Cassian spat the words out.

“But that brother of yours gives me a similar feeling.”

“What?”

“When you stand together, it seems as though you breathe only in a space that belongs to the two of you. Is that the kind of ambience siblings can have?”

At that question, Valentine realized something suddenly. The reason Lucifer had reacted the way he did to the vulnerable side she had shown toward Liam.

That was the greatest jealousy the demon had ever shown.

To Valentine de le Blumir, Liam de le Blumir had been that kind of existence. The one singular being that no one could ever beat.

Cassian was showing a similar reaction right now. Valentine pushed Cassian away with all her strength. This time he willingly stepped back and looked down at her.

Even having revealed the lowest, most base depths of himself, the eyes gazing at her were unchanged, clear blue. Like looking up at a sky without a single cloud.

It was laughable. What did Cassian believe in ‘Belle Laure’ that made him willing to expose his own abyss?

But whatever the case, right now.

“Th-then what you’re saying is……”

It was time to act shocked, to act as though realizing it belatedly.

“You want to k*ll Lu too?”

Cassian did not answer. At the silent affirmation, Valentine called out to him like a scream.

“Your Majesty!”

“……Belle.”

Unlike the woman’s scream, the man’s voice was closer to a plea.

“Please, do not make me feel that way.”

The woman staggered back two steps from Cassian. Before long her small body met the terrace railing. Violet eyes wavered, red lips wavered.

“I never knew…… Your Majesty was this cruel. I didn’t realize.”

“I don’t want to lose myself either. I don’t want to clash with you like this. I don’t want to do things you dislike. And yet.”

This was a terrible contradiction.

“You keep making me this way.”

Because the salvation he gained in that one moment had been so immense. Because no one else had known the meaning of the emptiness he carried.

Because she had drawn him out. From the black coffin that had kept him confined.

“This is coercion.”

The woman gripped the railing. The lace of her glove came undone.

“You’re not being patient and making an effort, you’re forcing me. If Your Majesty keeps doing this, I will……”

She stopped speaking and bit down hard on her red lips. For a moment the eyes looking up at Cassian seemed on the verge of tears.

“Have no choice but to run away.”

“Belle.”

“If you use Lu against me, I will swear eternity with someone else’s hand, not yours. The head chamberlain made a similar offer to me.”

A threat came from her lips as well. Only, Cassian furrowed his brow without meaning to.

The head chamberlain, meaning Baptiste, had made what kind of offer?

“……What did you just say?”

“I haven’t yet replied to the proposal letter I received from Marquis L’Isle-Adam. Even if not him, I’ll go to someone else Your Majesty values, someone you wouldn’t touch. If that can keep Lu safe. I have an obligation to protect Lu.”

Every word of it twisted his stomach more than expected. The mention of Baptiste’s proposal letter, and the concern for another man’s safety.

“So don’t use my brother as a hostage to threaten me.”

The woman, who had dared to make what was nearly a command, added one more word.

“I’m disappointed in Your Majesty. Very much so.”

Words that only further agitated the man whose impatience had begun to grow.

* * *

“A charity horse race, honestly, I was surprised.”

He was meeting with Baptiste as usual, but Cassian’s mood was nothing but sour.

“The timing is apt, and it’s efficient for moving funds…… Mademoiselle Sehera’s experience as Queen of Tristan was not wasted.”

The words Belle Laure had said, about receiving a proposal letter from Baptiste, kept circling in his mind.

When on earth had Baptiste……

Baptiste, who could not know of that twisted feeling, simply continued.

“If Your Majesty participates directly, it will lend the occasion more meaning. The nobles will bet generously. Myself included.”

“……I’m not particularly inclined.”

It was not a gathering he particularly wanted to attend, but he agreed that it would lend the occasion more meaning. He was an Emperor who had consistently held back from direct participation in hunting tournaments, jousts, and any other events, so the attention it would draw was certain.

Lumière had judged that horse racing was something that could move Cassian. This was what blood relations were, perhaps. She had put her mind to good use in several ways.

“Baptiste.”

Cassian, who had been absorbed in thought with his eyes lowered, called out to Baptiste. A strange air surrounded him.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“I have one question.”

“That phrasing makes me a little apprehensive. Even so, it is Your Majesty’s command, so I will gladly answer.”

Cassian finally lifted his eyes. The two men’s gazes met. Eyes that gave nothing away about what was being thought.

“Did you propose to Belle Laure?”

The words that followed were entirely unexpected. Maximilian de la Tour’s words swept past Baptiste’s ears.

‘What will bring me down is the opium, but what will bring you down is a woman. And the two things in this world that admit absolutely no compromise. Women and religion.’

……Surely not.

A strange chill crept eerily along Baptiste’s spine. He gave a bow of his head.

“Your Majesty. I wish for you to make a strategic choice.”

“That is not the answer I wanted. The facts are what matter, so answer yes or no.”

It was a rare show of firmness. Baptiste, who would sooner break than bend, did not blink.

“Yes, I did.”

Baptiste had not doubted for even a fraction of a second that Maximilian’s words would become reality. If Cassian and Baptiste were the kind of people who would fall out over a mere woman, the two of them would have been finished years ago.

“Is something wrong?”

“Something wrong.”

Cassian turned the words over as though by habit. A strange air drifted around him.

Before long, the Emperor gave a slight nod.

“Of course there is nothing wrong.”

A composed reply fell, no different from usual. The manner, the voice, even the eyes were unchanged.

Even so, Baptiste could not take his eyes off Cassian for some time. A bizarre sensation he could not put into words.

Before long, Cassian’s lips parted again.

“Only.”

“Yes?”

“If she were to choose you.”

The blunt words followed.

“I don’t think I would simply stand by and watch.”

At the statement that bordered on a threat, Baptiste’s mouth fell open before he could stop it.

Baptiste had entered service as the imperial prince’s attendant back when the Emperor was still Cassian de la Fleur. More than twenty years at his side. In all that long time, he had never once seen Cassian display his displeasure this openly.

He knew by instinct. This was not a good sign.

Even so, the sky Baptiste could only look up at and never reach remained chillingly clear.

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes.”

“I hope…… there will be no misunderstanding of any kind between Your Majesty and me. I have absolutely no personal interest in Mademoiselle Laure. You know well that I have no interest in such things.”