‘Me, jealous of the Crown Prince?’

It was nonsense.

But he couldn’t confidently say no. The words wouldn’t come out.

That knight fellow was already irritating enough, and now she was hanging around with the Crown Prince too, while singing about wanting to divorce him. Wasn’t this absurd? What did he lack compared to them?

Rashid unknowingly made a sullen face. Many things displeased him.

At that moment, Alisa brought up the story of Scarlet Avellaine.

‘Is she acting this way because she heard about me from Scarlet Avellaine?’

If it was Scarlet, she would surely have exaggerated her past relationship with him. His thoughts reached the point of wondering if Alisa was being curt because she had heard that story.

That made him feel a bit better. Thinking that Alisa was taking jabs at him because she cared about that almost made him smile.

The reason he went so far as to swear by God Morea to prove his innocence wasn’t solely to protect his family’s and his own honor.

He just wanted to let her know. That now, there was no other woman but her. Though it wasn’t just about the present.

“I meant you should feel comfortable since we’ll be divorcing soon anyway.”

Alisa retorted primly. Finding that quite cute, Rashid smiled and pulled her shoulders into an embrace.

Alisa’s small, delicate body fit perfectly in his arms. Her clear, bright fragrance cut through the night air and reached Rashid.

Like walking through a garden blooming with thousands of flowers, like passing through a forest bearing fragrant fruits, a fresh and sweet scent permeated his collar.

* * *

“Your Grace, Duke Penvernon.”

Scarlet greeted Rashid with an alluring smile. Rashid stepped inside without hesitation, walking straight. His black cloak swayed softly with each movement.

The reception room of the Avellaine mansion was lavishly decorated to welcome the long-awaited guest. Scarlet too had taken great care with her appearance and looked more beautiful than ever.

She welcomed Rashid, intoxicated with a sense of victory. Finally, such a day has come, as expected. Scarlet’s red lips drew a long arc.

Being by Rashid’s side made her feel proud. Though unlike the rumors in the social circles, she knew he hadn’t treated her as a special lover. He was simply a man who didn’t particularly reject women who approached him, and didn’t feel the need to deny rumors.

Scarlet knew very well that for him, women who harbored feelings for him weren’t worth paying attention to.

“Have you finally felt like visiting me?”

But what did that matter? Someone would have to become his wife eventually. She thought it would be her. Not that insignificant woman, but herself.

“You made me wait too long.”

Scarlet gently stroked Rashid’s arm.

“I heard my wife met with you.”

“Ah, you heard?”

Scarlet laughed lightly as if it were nothing. She even found it amusing that Alisa had run to tattle about it. After all, her husband was here visiting me now.

“Miss Avellaine.”

“I don’t like that title. Call me Scarlet.”

Rashid silently grabbed Scarlet’s wrist that was leaning on his arm and removed it.

“Don’t try any foolish acts.”

“…… What?”

Scarlet’s blue eyes shook greatly, tinged with confusion.

“I mean don’t say unnecessary things to my wife.”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

Rashid’s gaze sharpened. Finding it difficult to meet that gaze, Scarlet hurriedly lowered her head.

“Respect my wife.”

“Your Grace, I……”

“I’ve made myself clear.”

Rashid cut off her words.

“So.”

He bent down to whisper in Scarlet’s ear.

“Someone as wise as you wouldn’t ignore this warning, would you?”

At that moment, Scarlet’s body froze from the pressure he exuded.

She couldn’t understand what this situation was at all.

This man who was always like a carved ice… Even when he smiled, like wearing a mask, she couldn’t know the true feelings lurking beyond. Though each of his actions overflowed with elegance and dignity, at the same time they always felt like a mirage.

It seemed the real Rashid Penvernon would never show himself to anyone.

But his current appearance was clearly different from before.

‘Do you love that woman? Is that why you’re doing this?’

Scarlet forcefully swallowed the words that had risen to her throat.

Rashid Penvernon loves that shabby woman? Even asking such a question hurt her pride.

But she had to acknowledge it. The fact that she had gained a different status from herself, and that she was special to Rashid Penvernon.

“I understand…… That wasn’t my intention. Just……”

“Don’t forget my words.”

Rashid ignored Scarlet’s words, glanced at her once, and immediately left. It was a swift movement, as if there was no need to stay longer after achieving his purpose.

After he left, Scarlet collapsed onto the couch.

‘You’ve changed.’

You’re doing this to me for your wife’s sake. Deliberately, troublesomely, you came to warn me.

Worried that I might shake your wife’s heart. That I might confuse her. That’s why you came to find me.

“Ha……”

A bitter laugh escaped.

A man like ice containing fire within. She thought not only her but no one would ever become the sun that could melt that cold surface. That’s why she believed no woman could ever possess him.

But now it’s different. Though she didn’t want to admit it, her sharp intuition was telling her so.

That he had already become someone else’s.

“This is absurd. What could that woman possibly be……”

Scarlet laughed like a sob. Though she was angry and dumbfounded, she had to acknowledge it unwillingly.

Rashid Penvernon now belonged to that nobody of a woman.

* * *

He would never forget the memory of walking with her along Granrose’s main street after the Imperial Palace banquet ended.

Saying she felt unwell, Alisa leaned on him. Rashid smiled slightly at the weight transmitted through her hands firmly gripping his arm.

While Alisa threw stones at the statue that was said to grant wishes, Rashid felt as if he had become an ordinary person. Both she and he felt like lovers, and somehow that made him quite happy.

Her smiling face then. Her lips pressed together in concentration. Her light movements. Her pink hair swaying softly. Her sparkling eyes. Her joy after hitting the target with the stone—his eyes were drawn to each and every one of her actions.

The last stone that left her hand flew in a long arc toward the statue of God Morea.

However, it seemed her wish wouldn’t come true. The stone fell into the fountain with a plop.

“What a shame.”

Alisa pouted her lips in disappointment.

“What wish did you make?”

“That’s……”

Alisa fumbled with her words at Rashid’s question.

“That I’d succeed in getting divorced soon?”

Then the words she blurted out sharply pierced his ears.

“Is that true?”

“No.”

When he asked if it was true, she immediately said no. That made him feel relieved again. At the same time, a short sigh escaped.

Rashid found it amusing how his mood swung back and forth at her every word.

As Alisa spun around saying they had walked enough, she stumbled and fell.

Rashid swiftly caught her body.

Suddenly he felt spiteful. What was this woman that she could shake him like this? Why did he alone have to taste such confusing feelings?

That spite moved Rashid’s body.

Though his thoughts were long, the time it took for his lips to meet hers was very short. A soft sensation touched his lips. While kissing her, Rashid thought it was like holding a flower petal in his mouth.

“Why, wh, why, what……”

Alisa stammered with a bright red face. Finding the pink color that dyed her face pleasing, Rashid smiled.

And so, the days of being made to smile because of her continued.

The moments he spent with Alisa increased and the time he spent thinking about her gradually grew longer.

Alisa acted as if her previous gloomy and powerless days had never existed. 

That was fascinating. Like a chrysalis that had become a butterfly, she overflowed with vitality as she began to flutter her wings. She had the energy of someone who had determined their direction and was moving forward.

So it felt good to be with her. Even the times spent bickering in arguments unlike himself were enjoyable.

Meanwhile, following late summer, sunflowers bloomed in Penvernon’s garden. The yellow flowers followed the sun’s path until early autumn to share in its light.

Moving his gaze from the flowers to the sun, and from the sun back to the ground, Rashid’s eyes caught Alisa.

She said,

“I’ve prepared lots of sweets that you like too.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You like them, don’t you?”

About Rashid Penvernon that he didn’t know, or hadn’t felt the need to know.

The image of him that Alisa had quietly observed and told him about felt somewhat unfamiliar. Strange and awkward. Rashid reflected on himself through her words.

Things he liked, or disliked, preferences and tastes, reasons and grounds….

Like walking with difficulty through deep darkness, Rashid saw a boy at the end of his introspection. With black hair and golden eyes, he knew who that young-faced boy was.

The boy smiled.

Rashid watched that bright smile with a hardened face.

* * *