The fragile lady from the count family with only illusory history and honor remaining clearly seemed useless. Though her appearance was delicate and dainty, she wasn’t a notable beauty. She had no special talents either.

Alisa feared the husband who was unexpectedly too good for her. Her blue-gray eyes always trembled slightly when looking at Rashid. Every time he met that trembling, Rashid gave a bitter smile.

‘You probably didn’t want this marriage either.’

Because she was told to, because the Emperor commanded and her father the Count wished it, she probably just followed. Because she would have had no right to say no, to say she didn’t want to.

Though she became a duchess, Alisa didn’t seem very happy. She tried her best to avoid meeting Rashid and always walked around timidly. People also subtly looked down on her.

For Rashid, that was rather better. If she had become luxurious and flaunted her position after becoming a duchess, he would have despised her like other people.

A being who loses their previous life in exchange for obtaining something the world admires but they never wanted, who must live according to a fate determined by others.

In that way, she was just like him.

So he felt a subtle sense of kinship. There were even times when they felt like comrades imprisoned in the same jail.

Though she was an utterly boring and worthless woman, the fact that someone shared the same pain gave Rashid a subtle sense of relief.

Affectionate feelings aren’t necessary between spouses. He had never thought they needed to exist.

Perhaps it would be fine to just live together with the feeling of enduring their given lives.

That’s why Alisa became a meaningful existence to Rashid.

* * *

The change appeared suddenly like a star falling from the sky.

His politically married wife suddenly went mad. Alisa had changed so much that he couldn’t help but think so.

She was really strange now.

After living quietly for a year after marriage, Alisa suddenly demanded divorce. Though anyone could see this was a marriage where he, the Duke of Penvernon, was at a disadvantage, Alisa said she couldn’t bear living as his wife.

He thought that could be possible. It was indeed too heavy a position for someone timid and weak like her to handle for life.

Since any duchess would do if she was just for show, it didn’t necessarily have to be Alisa Legentia.

But Rashid felt a strange sense of betrayal.

‘I thought you would endure until the end.’

She was preparing to escape to find her own world.

How dare she. Leaving me, alone.

Rashid discovered himself feeling disappointed inside. You’re trying to leave me too… Such emotions that he couldn’t even voice gradually rushed in like the tide.

He didn’t want to let her escape alone. He also wanted to avoid the Emperor’s annoying interference, so he refused her request using that excuse.

Then Alisa finally proposed a strange method.

“…… I think it will work if I become ‘someone who absolutely cannot be kept as a duchess no matter how hard you try.'”

It was absurd. Becoming a bad wife… is that how much she wants a divorce? What could be the reason she needs to go this far?

Another man perhaps? No other reason came to mind easily.

The title of duchess. Enough wealth to live luxuriously for life. A husband—himself—who had all the conditions that people praised. If it wasn’t because of another man, what reason could there be to give up all of that?

Thinking that way made him irritated. Though he didn’t crave her love, the situation didn’t sit well with him.

That a woman who should be his has another man in her heart.

Emotions that had been sleeping for years suddenly awakened. Things like deprivation, loss, inferiority.

Should I kill him?

Rashid recalled the man he had seen earlier. He was said to be a knight of the count family.

So that plain-looking, seemingly kind knight is her type? Or perhaps they’ve harbored feelings since childhood.

As soon as that thought reached him, his mood instantly soured. The displeasure was sudden and clear, like tripping over an unexpected stone.

While thinking it could be possible, he also felt deceived.

“…… What nonsense are you talking about? It’s absolutely not that, so come to your senses!”

Alisa jumped up and denied his suspicion. Her face was flushed red as she denied it. Just moments ago she had been deathly pale, as if afraid he might do something to her. She was truly an unpredictable woman.

He was a bit curious about how she planned to live after divorcing him, after leaving him. But he didn’t ask. Because such things probably wouldn’t happen. Even if her wish came true, after all, Alisa’s life without being a duchess had nothing to do with him.

So just for fun. Just to see what would happen. Just curious to see how she, with her changed face, would try to escape from him.

At first, it was just that level of emotion.

* * *

Alisa, who had boasted she would prepare for divorce herself, began to indulge in luxury.

At first she bought clothes and jewels, which seemed predictable. It felt somewhat cliché.

‘How boring.’

Just when he thought his momentary interest had been a passing whim, Alisa returned carrying an armful of books.

At first, he sought her out to understand what she was planning with such thorough preparation.

When he found Alisa reading a biology book, he talked about demonic beasts. She made quite a serious expression in response.

It was amusing to see her press her lips together and think so earnestly. As if someone like her pondering for days would make any difference.

“Are you worried about me, Alisa?”

Rashid recalled how she had said she worried about him that day when she woke up after returning from Camelli, and asked.

He asked expecting her to say no, the question spilling out purely on impulse.

For a moment, Rashid felt strange about asking such a thing. Impulse? It was a stimulus he hadn’t experienced since growing up to a certain age.

“What? Of course I am.”

Hearing his words, Alisa looked at him, seemingly wondering what nonsense he was talking about. As if her worrying about Rashid was the most natural thing.

She worries about him? Was she serious? But why?

Rashid couldn’t understand her answer even though he had asked the question himself. He was the Empire’s strongest flame swordmage, so there was no way a mere demonic beast could harm him. Even if demonic beasts killed everyone else in the Empire, he was confident he alone would survive.

And yet, worry?

Who was worrying about whom? That delicate and fragile woman, about a man with Dragon’s Strength flowing through his bloodline? Could that be considered proper thinking?

The fact that someone worried about him felt terribly unfamiliar. It was because this was the first time he had experienced it since becoming the master of fire. As someone who already had more than enough of everything, he wasn’t someone who needed others’ worry.

“Should I not worry?”

Alisa asked carefully while reading his mood. Rashid answered no.

Though it was strange that someone worried about him, it didn’t feel bad. Rather, it felt quite nice. It was rare for unexpected things to be welcome, but this was one such case.

So Rashid kissed her forehead. That too was an impulsive action.

* * *

Time passed, and at the Empire’s Founding Day ball.

The Crown Prince recognized Alisa among the many nobles. He deliberately approached and spoke to her, and many people witnessed this.

The Imperial Princess also acted friendly toward Alisa for some reason, and before she knew it, Alisa had become known as someone with impressive connections.

Some would be jealous, while others would try to stick close to her.

That didn’t matter either way. What disturbed Rashid’s mood was the fact that Castor had approached Alisa first.

He knew from his attendant who had followed her that she had encountered the Crown Prince in the library.

Since it was purely coincidental and an extremely brief meeting, Rashid hadn’t expected him to deliberately acknowledge Alisa.

He disliked it. But why? What reason did the Crown Prince have to act intimate with the Duchess?

Moreover, he was clearly someone wary of Rashid. He had adamantly opposed his marriage to the Imperial Princess, fearing Rashid might be given more power, and kept a close eye on him usually. He would surely become even worse than his father in the future, not less.

After exchanging greetings with various ministers while managing his unpleasant mood, he looked around the hall and caught sight of Alisa. Even among dozens, hundreds of people in splendid attire moving about, her presence particularly stood out.

While everyone else existed in similar worlds, she alone cast a colorful light.

Like a tail following a meteor, Rashid followed the traces of that light out onto the terrace.

The Crown Prince’s kiss still bothered him somehow. He rubbed her hand as if erasing his trace. Then Alisa asked curtly while pouting her lips.

“Don’t tell me, are you jealous right now?”

Jealousy? Like worry, that too was an utterly unfamiliar emotion.