“What about our young lord? Any pretty ladies or gentlemen you’ve met in society?”

“Met anyone, please.”

“Really no one? Come to think of it, I never heard a single story about Elliot dating anyone the whole time we were at the academy. Are you completely uninterested in romance too, like Viola?”

“It’s not that…… I just haven’t had the opportunity.”

Lashes the same color as his hair curved in a gentle arc. Elliot Rehart had deliberately taken the shadiest seat farthest from the window, yet he alone seemed to shimmer in a way that made no sense. It was probably just an optical illusion from how fair his complexion was, but……

Rieta set aside imagining the reply that hadn’t come and quietly watched that polished young man. Whatever had become of the personality that had torn into her so sharply, Elliot Rehart responded to his friends’ teasing with unruffled warmth and not a trace of displeasure.

“What do you mean no opportunity. Is there anyone in the world who’d turn you down?”

“You flatter me, Dylan.”

“I’m not flattering you. You’re tall, you’ve got the looks. Setting all that aside, I’ve never met anyone as genuinely kind as you.”

“That’s true. You were famous at the academy too, especially with the underclassmen. Showing people the way, sharing your class notes… a few of them actually cried when you graduated, didn’t they?”

Is everyone drunk?

‘Or he’s running some kind of scheme.’

Whether they’d picked a day for it or were simply teasing their good-natured friend, the group heaped lavish praise on this handsome peer of theirs one compliment after another.

By their account, Elliot Rehart was a high-ranking noble without an ounce of arrogance, a model student whose thoughtful manner inspired countless others, and yet humble enough to earn the trust of adults as well. A perfect young man.

“Wow, truly remarkable.”

What absolute rubbish.

Lips bare of any color curved crookedly upward. She must have put too much tension on the right side, because a faint twitch ran through her cheekbone.

“Viola has such a wonderful friend?”

“Oh, he’s well known, very well known. Did Viola never mention Elliot? He wrote letters occasionally.”

“Mm, yeah. We had plenty of other things to talk about…… Speaking of which.”

The two of them were seated at the farthest end of the room, but it wasn’t too far to read expressions. Rieta also happened to have among the sharpest eyes in the tennis club.

Which meant she could catch the faint tension that flickered in those teal eyes.

“Lord Rehart, may I ask you something?”

“By all means.”

You can call me something less formal, he’d said, but Rieta ignored the hollow request and got to the point.

“That night, why did you arrive so late?”

“Hmm?”

“You got here after midnight, apparently. What were you doing? Were you somewhere, by any chance?”

“It’s less that I was somewhere and more that my business ran late.”

“Ah, business?”

“Right, the Rehart family runs a major enterprise. He’s always been busy during breaks learning the trade.”

Elliot Rehart had barely said a word before the friends around him jumped in to fill out the answer. Information that was completely useless to Rieta right now.

“Ahem, in that case, you could’ve left the next day.”

“I was eager to see my friends. I was in a hurry.”

“Do you happen to have a strong interest in sorcery? Witches and that sort of thing. The Night of the Witches was just recently.”

“It’s a distinct culture, so I respect it.”

He’s still playing dumb. Without any particular surprise, Rieta delivered her final blow.

“Is that so? Then why were you…”

“Oh, come to think of it, I haven’t seen the whole villa yet.”

The attack fell flat before it could even catch fire. The man cut off her attempt cleanly and, wearing his usual unbothered expression, said something completely beside the point.

“If you don’t mind, could I ask you to show me around?”

“What? Why would I…”

“That’s a great idea. Riet knows her way around since she comes every year.”

Why should I go to that trouble……

Rieta’s objection was swiftly buried under her twin’s enthusiasm. Viola, who’d been idly fiddling with the hem of her dress, went so far as to take Rieta’s hand and pull her forward.

“I’m leaving Elliot in your hands. Take your time looking around. We’re all going to be busy with play preparations anyway. Just the two of you, nice and cozy, alright?”

“Nice and cozy, what are you…”

“Use the chance to get to know each other better.”

The one person who knew the events of the previous night, even if only half of them, winked shamelessly and sent the two of them off. However she felt about it, Rieta could never quite bring herself to ignore her twin’s requests.

“I’ll start from here, then. As Lord Rehart probably knows, there’s a ramp in the center, and stairs at both ends, left and right……”

A cool breeze drifted in through the arched windows along the outer wall of the corridor. Rieta glanced over reflexively and found herself meeting those unreadable teal eyes, then looked straight ahead again.

“Miss Rieta, it seems there’s been some misunderstanding…”

“It’s not a misunderstanding. You lied.”

A troubled smile on those smooth lips. Before she’d known his true nature, it would’ve been more than enough to soften her. The impact of features deployed at exactly the right moment was that considerable.

But Rieta Sha wasn’t fooled.

“I’m not sure who you’ve mistaken me for, Miss Rieta…”

“You know better than I do that it’s not a mistake. What was it you said… half-wit, idiot, and I believe you told me to get lost?”

“Miss Rieta.”

“Yes, Lord Elliot Rehart.”

“……”

“If you’re going to keep pretending there’s been a misunderstanding, I’ll get on with the tour. If you go right from here…”

“……What I mean is, there’s no need to make things unnecessarily complicated.”

The fake emerald the witch had supposedly spent seven full moons crafting.

Elliot Rehart’s eyes looked like someone had laid a blue veil over a replica beautiful enough to deceive anyone. In the shadowed corridor where the sunlight didn’t reach, the man dropped the carefully maintained expression and added.

“We’re both in the same position here, Miss Rieta. Getting caught would be just as inconvenient for you as it would for me. Or shall I do what you did and tell on you? The viscount couple happen to be right here.”

In exactly the same tone he’d used the night he’d first berated Rieta.

The graduate who’d reportedly been known at the academy for his upright character and good nature held her gaze without blinking and carried on like a street thug.

“Let’s keep things pleasant between us, shall we?”

“Does Viola know you’re like this?”

“Why, are you going to tell her?”

“What if I did?”

“And she’d believe you?”

The dry counter made the corner of her eye twitch faintly. A truly good friend. Just like the others, Viola had shown Elliot unconditional trust from the start.

At their age, saying ‘he’s a strange one, don’t spend time with him’ to a twenty-year-old wasn’t going to accomplish anything…… but standing by and watching a suspicious character like him play the role of a dear friend was deeply unsettling all the same.

“Going around deceiving people and having the nerve to be shameless about it……”

“Deceiving people, like what, specifically?”

“Wh, what?”

“Mind your own business, Miss Rieta Sha.”

Precisely, and deliberately.

The man who’d taken care to stress the ‘Sha’ gave her an infuriating smile and turned his back. So much for the villa tour and all that, his departing footsteps carried not a trace of hesitation.

* * *

Unlike Elliot Rehart, who switched expressions with practiced ease, Rieta couldn’t manage the same. She’d stopped confronting him directly the way she had at first, but that was the extent of it.

Every time she laid eyes on Elliot, her face went stiff and she bristled, so even the most oblivious person couldn’t help but notice the charged atmosphere between them.

“Sweetheart, did something happen between you and Elliot?”

Which is to say, even Cardmon Obrion, who kept a step back from the younger crowd, had picked up on it.

Cardmon Obrion poured tea for his daughter, who had just come of age a month ago, and broached the subject carefully.

“Did you two have a falling out?”

“A falling out, well……”

“Elliot isn’t really the type to quarrel with anyone.”

“Do you know him well?”

“I do, of course. It’s been five, six years at least. I’ve also briefly met Elliot’s parents, the Count and Countess.”

“Oh, I see.”

“They’re a family with a deep knowledge of gemstones, so I’ve received their help in various ways.”

The Rehart comital family, owners of the kingdom’s largest mineral vein and great patrons of the arts. The father of three went on at some length about how the Rehart family had sponsored hundreds of artists alone.

“Their son Elliot is a remarkably mature and admirable young man too. Well, I suppose I should say young man now. He’s so devoted to the Count and Countess as well. Of course, they dote on their only son something fierce.”

“Ah, mature, you say.”

All an act.

‘I shouldn’t have asked.’

She had no desire to hear more about just how thoroughly Elliot Rehart had been deceiving everyone around him. Rieta wrinkled her brow openly and waved a hand in dismissal.