The memory of falling into the water flashed through her all at once as Meliciel opened her eyes. She rolled out of bed the moment she woke.

Meliciel looked around, scanning her surroundings in the dark room.

“Hah, hah…….”

She was half out of her mind, like someone just pulled from the water.

“Don’t, don’t come near me.”

She stammered, on guard, warning or pleading toward an unseen enemy.

“No. Not the child……!”

The surroundings were strangely quiet.

“Hah…….”

Only after closing and opening her eyes several more times did Meliciel’s reason return.

Where am I?

The soft feel of carpet under her bare feet, the cool air, the moonlight coming through the half-open window. All of it felt unfamiliar.

She spun around to check the bed she just climbed out of. No one was there.

But this was a space she never visited before. Then she heard footsteps, and she hunched her shoulders hard and stared at the door leading to the sitting room.

“……Who’s there?”

The figure that appeared in the arched doorway was a tall man. A loosely tied navy robe with gold thread winding along its edges.

One look at the robe with its dense embroidered pattern, and she felt she could guess who the face hidden in the darkness belonged to.

“Your savior?”

Kahar came forward, sweeping his damp hair back. A pleasant scent came off the man, like he just finished bathing.

“I wonder if you were having a good dream.”

“This place…….”

“My quarters. The place Duke Dexter gave me.”

Even Kahar, it seemed, was not quite the sort of trash who would leave someone to die after they fell into a lake.

Was she supposed to call him her lifesaver, as he put it?

But the man smiling faintly made her feel too uncomfortable for that.

“I don’t know if you remember, but I pulled you out of the water myself.”

Kahar mimicked lifting something with both hands.

“The water was cold as ice.”

Kahar said something between a joke and a serious remark and reached for a wine glass.

Seated at the round table, bringing the rim of the glass to his lips, the man had his legs spread carelessly, as though manners meant nothing to him.

He noticed Meliciel’s gaze and spoke.

“Don’t even think about drinking. Our physician gave very strict orders to be careful about everything you eat, drink, and put on your body for a while.”

“……Thank you for helping me.”

“Yes. You’re welcome to bow and scrape.”

Kahar picked up a ripe piece of fruit with his fingertips and put it in his mouth. His cheek puffed out as he chewed the flesh, and she stared at him again, almost entranced.

“Hungry? Ah. I suppose you should eat first.”

Then he smiled, and she came back to herself.

“No. I should be going. I’ve imposed on you enough.”

Meliciel gave a slight bow and frantically looked for the door.

She was about to pass through the arched doorway Kahar came from and find the door to the outside, when she suddenly noticed what she was wearing.

A thin nightgown. But even if she left like this, she could find a maid right away and it would not be too embarrassing.

But what if she did not leave like this?

What if she stayed in Kahar’s quarters until daylight?

“…….”

Word that she spent a night with Kahar would spread far and wide through the ducal castle. Maids and those above them alike loved this kind of gossip.

And that rumor would serve as the best possible grounds for securing her position as Grand Duchess.

Meliciel turned away from the door and came back into the bedroom. Kahar was tipping the wine bottle without even looking at her.

“Is the lady going to keep me company for a drink?”

Meliciel shook her head.

“Since I’m already in your debt, may I go a little further into it?”

“You’re openly thinking of using me as a crutch to lean on.”

Kahar saw through her intention in an instant, as though her calculations were nothing but a shallow trick.

“Yes. Please let me stay here for one night. If it doesn’t bother you…. I’ll be quiet.”

“Well, a single night doesn’t mean much to me, so I’m not sure it’s worth anything.”

He was saying one night meant nothing to him. Truly as shallow as could be.

Meliciel clenched her fist. Lecher. Womanizer.

“Then can you give me a firm promise that you will marry me?”

Kahar went quiet again. He was the one who held the upper hand.

Meliciel sat down quietly in the chair across from him. His gaze landed on Meliciel’s flushed cheeks, then on her bruised neck.

Only when his eyes darkened did Meliciel realize her wounds must be showing. The spell would have worn off by now.

“Oh…….”

“Was that Duke Dexter’s doing?”

“No.”

“Then.”

Meliciel closed her mouth for a moment, wondering how much to say.

“I would hate for someone to think that position is trivial just because I want a ghost-like Grand Duchess.”

“That’s why I fought to keep it. These wounds are proof that I did.”

She looked at him with a fairly clear gaze.

Kahar wet his throat with the remaining wine and studied Meliciel. The blue bruises against her pale neck, and the slightly exposed fullness beneath, drew a strange sensation from him.

Must be the wine. Though he was not even drunk.

“So you’re saying those wounds are a badge of honor?”

“I am ready to hold this position. So please make the promise.”

Did our Lani ever have this kind of boldness?

Lani was accustomed to compliance. Fortunately, it seemed the only thing Meliciel shared with her was her face. Meliciel was remarkably brazen.

In this world, no one except the Emperor openly showed Kahar their desires and boldly demanded something in return.

“You speak as though it’s already yours.”

Right. If it were Lani, she would have swallowed the pain alone in a situation like this, without showing a thing.

This woman was not Lani. He knew that, and yet, not even drunk, why did they keep overlapping in his mind?

Just then, he noticed Meliciel gripping her dress tightly with both hands. Lani used to clutch her own clothes like that when she was nervous too.

Thinking Kahar was taking too long to decide, Meliciel slowly closed her eyes and opened them again.

Her deep green eyes reflected him.

“I know about the Grand Duke’s illness.”

Kahar’s eyes narrowed.

“The killing sickness. I thought you were fully cured a year ago, but there are still aftereffects, aren’t there? That day in the forest, you were struggling because of those symptoms too.”

Kahar’s head tilted slowly. His sharp, unsettling gaze showed he was trying to read Meliciel’s intent in bringing up a closely guarded secret. Trying to gauge her true purpose.

“So.”

But she had nowhere to retreat either. She could not let herself be led around by Kahar and miss her chance.

Losing Kahar meant losing her reason to live. Her purpose was Kahar’s child, so she had to hold onto him even at the risk of danger.

“You had a lover, Grand Duke.”

“Keep that mouth open any further and I’ll have to arrange another funeral.”

“I’m not afraid of dying.”

“There are plenty of things worse than dying.”

Kahar smiled and continued with a cold menace.

“Others have found that out. They beg to be killed instead.”

“I’m afraid of you too, Grand Duke.”

Kahar set down the wine bottle and let out a short laugh. Then he laughed out loud, hahaha.

Each time he laughed, firm muscle gleamed dangerously through the gap in his open robe.

It looked like a glimpse into Kahar at the edge of an explosion, and it frightened her, but Meliciel did not back down.

“You never forgot her. She stayed with you.”

That was when Kahar’s laughter cut off.

“Even for the sake of the woman you can’t forget, you need to marry. How long are you going to go on like this…….”

“Fine. Fine.”

Kahar set down the wine bottle and cut her off.

“Life was getting so dull, but you’ve made it interesting. Now I’m curious how far you’ll climb and how much you’ll manage to irritate me.”

Kahar’s expression as he whispered softly was unreadable.

It was a far sharper reaction than when she spoke of the killing sickness. Incomparably so.

So he truly never forgot Viviana.

But his attitude only deepened her resentment. Viviana was the woman who took her child from her.

Her anger toward Viviana only grew fiercer with each passing day and never faded, so Meliciel found herself adding words like someone running out of control.

“So please promise me you’ll marry me. Isn’t it better than being bored and restless like this?”

“My lady.”

Kahar rose from his seat. Then he looked down at her.

“If you want it that badly, then fine. I’ll meet your expectations.”

“Is that a promise to marry me?”

“However.”

Kahar paused to collect himself. Meliciel saw his fist clench, very tightly.

“I don’t know where you heard what, but don’t breathe a word about that woman from now on.”

“…….”

“Because I don’t know what I might do.”

“I won’t.”

“Good. I’ve received your threat, loud and clear.”

After Kahar left, sorrowful moonlight filled the table. Meliciel felt a deep exhaustion and buried herself in the bed.

It was a strange night. Strangely sorrowful, and strangely reassuring all at once.