It’s because I haven’t been doing enough. Maybe I should have attended social events even when I was afraid. If I had gone out and said something about the Count here and there……

“Ilesia.”

Diego’s voice came suddenly and close. It wasn’t her imagination. He had moved to her side.

Diego reached out. His fingertips touched her cheek.

“Honestly, I don’t particularly like opera.”

“……”

“So your guess that I came here on purpose is right. But the reason is the opposite of what you’re thinking.”

“…… Pardon?”

“I came because I thought you would like it.”

“Oh……”

“This would be a first for you. Something like this.”

That wasn’t said to Ilesia. It was said to Ribeta. To her.

“I figured if I asked what you liked, you’d say you didn’t know. So I just brought you. Was it not enjoyable?”

“No, it was. It really was.”

“Good. Then I wasn’t wrong.”

Diego looked at her steadily and then said,

“I enjoyed it too. Not the opera, but watching you enjoy it. I’m glad I brought you.”

“……”

“Shall we go? The bows are almost done.”

Her heart, which had been quiet through the performance, began to beat hard again.

What do I do with this feeling…… I can’t control this pounding.

Her throat went dry all of a sudden, and the drink on the table caught her eye. It seemed to be what Diego had ordered. She had been so absorbed in the opera that she hadn’t touched a single drop, and it was exactly as it had been brought.

Ribeta lifted the chocolate-colored drink and drank it down in several large gulps.

“Wait, that’s—”

Something was wrong.

The moment she swallowed, her throat burned as though it were on fire. What is this…… She turned to Diego in alarm, and his face rippled and multiplied into two, then three, then four. At the same time, the room began to spin.

Ribeta set the glass on the table and immediately lurched sideways.

“Oh dear.”

She heard Diego sigh somewhere above her. I’m sorry. Whether she said it aloud or only thought it, she couldn’t tell.

Her head was spinning and burning, and Ribeta closed her eyes.

❀❀❀

“My lady! What’s happened to our lady? What have you done to her!”

“Quiet. She’s just drunk.”

“What? Drunk? You made her drink until she’s in this state?”

Diego had carried Ribeta in from the carriage and fixed Luna with a cold stare. The way Luna was speaking made him sound like a villain who had done something terrible to a helpless woman. Luna, however, paid no attention to that. She hovered anxiously over Ribeta, who was breathing in short, ragged bursts with a flushed face.

“When you should be treating her with the utmost care, how could you let her get to this state with alcohol……”

“Shut up. My head is pounding. If you have time to stand there talking, go get some cold water.”

“I never knew you could be this heartless and shameless, Diego!”

“That’s unfortunate. If you have complaints, resign. I’ll give you a generous severance.”

After thoroughly needling Luna, Diego carried Ribeta to the bedroom and laid her down.

“Ilesia, try to come around. Ilesia.”

“Mmm……”

Ribeta’s face was flushed and her breathing was unsteady. It had been a low-proof cocktail, but alcohol was alcohol. Downing it all at once was bound to do this. And it seemed Ribeta had quite a low tolerance.

“My lady! I’m here. From now on, this Luna will stand guard over you in Diego’s place.”

“Take her and get out, Luca.”

“Yes. Come on.”

“Let go of me, you! I am the one who guards the lady at closest range. I cannot leave her in the hands of a wolf like Diego. A doctor, let’s call a doctor. Mmph…… mmph!”

Luna kept shouting even as Luca dragged her away.

I’m going to lose my mind. Diego let out a breath and pushed his hair back.

“What on earth does it take to earn that kind of loyalty from Luna?”

It was baffling. Luca practically worshipped him, but Luna had always been dry and detached, doing her job well and nothing more. He had thought that was fine as long as she performed her duties, but seeing her like this with Ribeta was hard to believe.

This woman isn’t actually using magic, is she?

The absurd thought crossed his mind and he laughed at himself for it.

Well, he could imagine it. She had probably been showering Luna with unearned goodwill, the same way she had at the Sirente Exchange.

“Get up. Try to drink some water.”

“…… Hah, hah……”

Diego lifted Ribeta, but she could only breathe in shallow, ragged gasps and couldn’t even open her eyes. She was clearly in no state to drink anything.

Why did she drink something she can’t handle.

Unusually at a loss, Diego noticed the ring on her finger. He thought for a moment, then slipped it off. He wanted to make her a little more comfortable, and since he couldn’t undress her, taking off the ring was the least he could do.

He felt a gaze on him. Diego realized Ribeta’s unfocused eyes were looking at him. Their eyes met, and Ribeta smiled.

So beautifully.

The reddened corners of her eyes, her flushed cheeks, the sweet smell of alcohol, and those clear, bright red eyes that couldn’t quite focus.

All of it came toward Diego without hesitation. The lips that had been smiling so prettily parted.

“Please stop being kind to me……”

“…… Why?”

“If I fall more in love with you than I already am…… it will hurt too much……”

For just a moment, his heart dropped.

It came back to its place almost immediately. Quickly enough that he could have insisted the lurching sensation was an illusion. But Diego’s eyes sank darker.

You shouldn’t listen to what a drunk person says. By morning she won’t even remember what she said. It’s meaningless rambling.

So why did those words drag his heart down so forcefully and slam it into the floor?

He should call a maid. Diego moved to leave Ribeta’s side. But Ribeta reached out and caught his sleeve. It was something she would never do in her right mind, and that was exactly why he stopped.

“Diego.”

That desperate voice seized his heart once more and let it go.

“Can’t you love me sincerely……”

Red eyes, a trembling voice, lips that smelled of something sweet, all of it pleading. Not Ilesia Barea. The real Ribeta.

Diego clenched his fist hard.

Wasn’t this what he had wanted? For Ribeta to love him. To give him her whole heart and become incapable of ever betraying him.

He had played at tenderness, smiled gently, pressed himself close to stir her feelings, all for exactly this purpose.

A fierce thirst rose in him. It felt less like she was the drunk one and more like he was.

Diego leaned toward her.

What I’m about to do means nothing. This woman is my wife, and she is drunk. Helping a suffering wife is nothing more than a husband’s ordinary duty.

“D*mn it.”

His attempt at self-justification failed, and Diego muttered the curse under his breath.

He took a mouthful of the water he had meant to give her. Then he pressed his lips to Ribeta’s, who was breathing in short, sweet-scented gasps.

Ribeta’s eyes went wide, but she didn’t push him away. She gripped his arm and swallowed the cool liquid as it passed into her. What she couldn’t swallow spilled over and wet both their lips.

“Mmm…… hah.”

When their lips parted for a moment, Ribeta caught her breath. It was plain water with nothing in it. And yet it was unbearably sweet. The sweetest, most delicious water she had ever tasted, and she was sorry to feel his lips leave hers.

“A little more, please……”

Ribeta clung to Diego without hiding her longing. Alcohol breaks down reason and easily crumbles walls built carefully over time. All the restraints pressing down on Ribeta’s heart, the contract, the difference in their positions, the person she must not love, all of it crumbled, and her feelings seeped through the gaps in her fallen defenses.

The arms winding around his neck were white and slender. Hah. Diego let out a short breath that was almost a curse and pressed his lips to hers again. Instead of the cool water she wanted, their breath mingled together. When his warm tongue pushed into her mouth, she flinched and tried to turn her head away, but Diego didn’t allow it. One hand held her shoulder, the other held her jaw. He coaxed out her stiff, helpless tongue and wound it with his own.