The steward bowed with an elegant posture. The maids stopped as well, which told her she would have to meet Kahar alone.

“Do I go alone from here?”

“Call if you need anything. We will wait nearby.”

The steward answered and gave her a look urging her to go into the garden. A nudge to hurry.

Meliciel lifted the hem of her dress slightly and began to walk. She took wide strides to keep from tripping over the high heels and the dress.

The garden was neatly arranged with tall ornamental trees that made a striking impression. The trees formed walls like a maze, and it looked easy to get lost.

Fortunately, not far from the entrance, she spotted the familiar back of a man by the fountain.

Meliciel took one more deep breath. Kahar was already suspicious of her because of their previous encounter.

He probably thought she was a woman who approached him on purpose. For a womanizer, the fact that he sharpened his instincts rather than simply welcoming a woman who came to him confirmed her belief that Viviana’s death left a deep mark on him.

Did losing Viviana finally bring him to his senses?

Meliciel walked a little faster. She was still dizzy, but thanks to the mage temporarily helping bring down her fever, she could still keep her head clear for now.

What if he suddenly changed his mind?

No.

Even if Meliciel approached him deliberately, Kahar would not take back a marriage he spoke of with his own mouth.

She tried to shake off the tension with that thought. She hated to admit it, but she was always nervous around Kahar.

He must have heard her footsteps, yet he did not pull his gaze from the stream of water rising from the fountain.

Wearing a thin shirt with a jacket draped carelessly over his shoulders, he looked a little rough, but the dignity soaked into his back could not be hidden.

It was midday, the hour when the sun, having reached its peak, began to slowly tilt. Meliciel, who was shielding her head with a parasol, tilted it slightly to show her face first.

“We meet again. I am Meliciel Chloe.”

He slowly turned at the small but clear voice of a woman. Brilliant black hair shifted, and jewel-like blue eyes turned toward her.

He seemed to simply look at her for a moment, then his lowered eyes curved pleasantly.

“Is this a coincidence?”

The same question she heard before came again.

“Or a revolting string of fate you engineered.”

Kahar’s lips curved upward. He was smiling, but it was a smile that did not allow her to lower her guard easily.

She could not underestimate Kahar. He was a Grand Duke who held the power that formed the empire’s foundation.

She could not begin to fathom how much blood he saw, how much he endured, and how many decisions he made to hold that position.

She was about to gamble against this dangerous man. To stake her hope of surviving on him.

All for the sake of meeting the child again.

On the chance that if she bore a child with his blood, that child might return to her.

On the chance that her star, wandering as a soul, might be able to shine.

Her grip on the parasol tightened.

“I’m sure you were surprised.”

“Ah, what remarkable empathy.”

Kahar tilted his head a little further and closed the distance toward Meliciel.

She was startled by him suddenly narrowing the gap, but Meliciel steeled herself.

“When I was told the Grand Duke named me as his choice for marriage, I was equally surprised.”

She did not look away and met his gaze directly, and he let out a low scoff.

“Then explain yourself.”

“It was a coincidence.”

“Every single one of our meetings was a coincidence?”

“Yes.”

Meliciel gripped the parasol tightly and continued.

“But in a way, it feels like fate.”

The space between Kahar’s brows creased in a way that was almost attractive.

“It seems our youngest lady has not quite woken from her dream.”

He seemed to be dismissing Meliciel as a girl confined to her sickbed, given to unrealistic fantasies.

“And yet the Grand Duke chose a bride without even knowing her face.”

“So.”

“It isn’t very convincing for someone who doesn’t take the reality of marriage seriously to fault someone for dreaming.”

“Are you aware that this brazen attitude of yours is getting on my nerves?”

He tilted his head slightly and let out a languid breath through his parted red lips. Meliciel did not bother to answer and waited for his reaction.

To her silent question of whether he was going to call off the marriage, he answered as though he conceded.

“Ha, fine. I’ll chalk it up to a remarkable coincidence. That way it’s easier for both the lady and myself.”

The tone that offered to treat their encounters not as deliberate approach but as coincidence came across as arrogant.

But his attitude was not what mattered. The conclusion that she would marry him was the priority.

“I would be grateful if you did.”

“Yes. Of course you would.”

Kahar straightened up and stepped back from her. He did not take his eyes off her.

“So inconsistent.”

Meliciel looked quite different from when she ran into the forest. Back then she was in a disheveled state, and now she was dressed in every luxury imaginable, like a victim of excessive packaging.

Even so, he recognized her without difficulty. This woman resembled Lani.

A faint smell of medicinal herbs came from her, so he deliberately moved close to smell it directly.

He wanted to check whether her body was still unwell. Whether she had not fully shaken off her illness.

But when he drew close, instead of a stronger smell of medicinal herbs, a sweet and fresh scent came from her.

An unpleasant sense of familiarity stirred in him. The scent’s similarity to Lani’s put Kahar in a bad mood.

Surely she did not know of Lani’s existence and mimic her scent as well. Lani’s existence was not known to the world.

Even so, the unsettled feeling about Meliciel did not clear.

Of all the places, that market, of all the places, that forest. What were the odds of the two of them meeting like that?

Either way, it did seem like she approached him on purpose…….

But what could he do about it now? He had no desire to go back and dig through Duke Dexter’s list of daughters again in search of a marriage candidate.

Meliciel seemed to use some trivial form of magic, but even that felt too bothersome to pursue.

He preferred to return to the Grand Duchy and spend his energy planning to lead the knight order in suppressing the barbarians and raiders.

The strong sunlight made Meliciel narrow her eyes. Her long lashes caught the light and shimmered like fish scales on water.

Kahar swallowed a dry breath and looked up at the glaring sky with something like resentment.

“The weather is not cooperating. Let’s walk a little.”

“If you’re in a bad mood, you can go back inside.”

Meliciel pursed her full lips and calmly pushed back.

“If I go inside. I’ll have to keep looking at that dull face of yours.”

“Do we have to keep staying together?”

“And yet this is our official first meeting as the woman who will become Grand Duchess. You’d have me just confirm your face and leave?”

“…….”

“You seem to want to make me out to be trash. That’s even more exhausting.”

Kahar extended his hand as he spoke. Meliciel stared at the hand reaching toward her.

He must mean for her to take it. But her arm would not move.

A man who extended his hand to any lady. The Kahar in her memory showed his manners to any woman.

The Grand Duke took a woman’s hand and dragged her all the way to his bed, or rather they did not even make it to the bed and finished things on the terrace. The carriage the Grand Duke and some young noblewoman shared rocked in an embarrassing manner.

All of it was part of the rumors Meliciel heard while at Kahar’s side. Was his reach now extending here as well?

If so, this would be a gain. Either way, she needed a connection with him, needed to share something with him, for the little star to return.

But she felt that if she took this hand, she would remember the warm smile and the warmth he once showed, and her body went rigid and refused to move.

How much her heart ached from Kahar’s ambiguous tenderness.

The night she learned that his smile was equal to everyone, Lani had to fold away a feeling that never even began.

It was a feeling she should never have allowed herself to have in the first place. He was poison.

So now she would not hold even the faintest expectation of Kahar. Kahar was a means to an end.

What Meliciel wanted from him was only a child.

Firming her heart like that made the sorrowful memories seem to blur a little.

“Don’t expect your ignorance to be fully excused just because you spent so long in a sickbed.”

“I’m sorry. This is my first time with something like this, so I feel awkward.”

“Ah. And I suppose someone else is worn smooth?”

Kahar sneered as though he knew his own reputation, and Meliciel, not wanting to lose, added her own words.

“Rumors are generally grounded in credibility……. Ah!”

Kahar suddenly wrapped his arm around Meliciel’s waist. Her body was pulled sharply against him, and she lost her balance and tipped toward him.

Kahar tightened the arm around her waist and caught her.

“……Wh, what are you doing?”

“Don’t treat me like some groper.”

Kahar clicked his tongue softly and pressed his fingertips into her slender waist. The tingling sensation seemed to press through the dress, and Meliciel’s breath stopped.

“You made the first move. You went ahead and shed tears at the market to tug at a man’s heartstrings, and now this is terrible?”

Her face burned, but she had no excuse and nothing to say, so she closed her mouth.

“Let’s go.”