By the next morning, Meliciel was visibly lighter in body. The doctor came by near dawn, and she made great improvement after that.

Of course, that did not mean she was fully recovered. Her fever broke and moving around became easier, but the bruises and her low stamina required long-term treatment.

A servant came to the bedroom to see to Meliciel’s morning and even drew her bath water personally.

She was tense the whole time, worried the servants might barge into the bathroom off the sitting room, but fortunately the one who came to help with the bath was a woman.

“Good morning, Miss. I am Ann, assistant to the Grand Duke’s personal physician, Dr. Huby.”

“Oh…….”

“I will be helping you bathe from now on. Please feel at ease with me.”

“……What about the other maids?”

“His Highness gave firm instructions that no one from the ducal house is to enter, so they cannot come.”

He might simply want his quarters staffed only with his own people. Meliciel did not think too deeply about Kahar’s intent and let it pass.

Ann helped Meliciel bathe in silence. She thankfully did not say anything unnecessary, so Meliciel was able to wash in relative comfort.

When she came out from the bath, Kahar was in the bedroom. He wore a smile that made it seem like his anger the night before never happened.

“I hope the meal and bath were comfortable.”

“Yes. Thanks to you.”

“It’s good to have tea after a bath.”

Kahar gestured toward the table. The steaming tea looked like it would make her body, freshly cooled from washing, feel stuffy all over again.

Meliciel simply looked away, and Kahar asked, “Worried I put poison in it?”

“Hardly. I’d think the Grand Duke would simply take off my head directly.”

“You know me well.”

Kahar smiling pleasantly was unsettling in a way that was almost irritating.

He came closer and reached out his hand. Then he carefully pulled her robe more closed so her chest would not show.

She was wearing a thin chemise underneath and had not paid much attention to how she was dressed…….

“Let them in.”

Kahar called toward the outside, then turned back to Meliciel.

“Time to get ready.”

“Get ready for what……?”

“We’re leaving for the Grand Duchy now.”

The door opened at that moment and servants came flooding in. Meliciel took a slight step back toward the bed at the momentum of it.

They moved in unison, opening the lids of the boxes they brought and arranging the contents neatly on display. There appeared to be more than ten boxes.

“What is all this?”

“Yours. Pick one for now. You need to put it on and go right away.”

Even at a glance, the dresses were clearly high quality. Lavish and brilliant jewels hung from them like fruit on a tree, incomparably more extravagant than what the maids dressed her in to meet Kahar…….

“In your condition, you won’t be able to use the underground carriage or a transit stone, so we’ll be going through a travel portal. It should take about five days to arrive.”

Kahar rattled on about the journey, apparently unaware of Meliciel’s astonishment at the dresses.

“We’ll rest along the way, but if your condition worsens, you must say so.”

Kahar looked at Meliciel with an expression that asked why she was not picking one already.

“I’ll take this one.”

The dress Meliciel reluctantly chose was made of thin fabric suited to the season. It covered her arms and calves, and showed a little more skin than the other dresses.

She was worried about the sheer material, but it looked the lightest of them all, so she chose it without deliberating.

“Everyone out. I’ll help the Grand Duchess change.”

Meliciel’s eyes lost their footing and wavered.

“Pardon?”

“There are no maids among my party. I can’t very well leave you to a manservant, can I?”

Kahar was smiling at her with what seemed like genuine amusement.

“Ann, Ann is here!”

Meliciel took a step back and Kahar came forward with his hands clasped behind him.

“The assistant went to pack the luggage.”

“Call her back. Or I’ll just put it on myself.”

“It would set a good example for us to be seen getting along well. Wouldn’t that be proof of the promise you’re so fond of?”

Meliciel was left speechless by Kahar’s shameless words.

Kahar was right in front of her, smiling only with his mouth. Meliciel opened her tightly pressed lips.

“Please leave.”

Kahar burst into a low laugh at the cheeky answer. He meant to frighten her a little, but her reaction was endearingly guileless.

Meliciel watched Kahar with her deep green eyes full of wariness, tensing herself in case he really was about to grab at her clothes.

It was a different manner from those who used to look for any chance to undress in front of Kahar.

“If the Grand Duke won’t leave, I’ll be the one to go.”

No particular hidden motive came through from the woman glaring at him sharply, brow furrowed like a threat.

The thought crossed his mind that she might genuinely not have approached him on purpose, but it was too late for that to matter now.

The night before, her careless mention of Lani’s traces layered new anger on top of the old.

Meliciel Chloe, soon to be Meliciel Diozart. He found himself curious how far she would climb.

Toward her, trying by any means to stir up the dull, colorless world that existed without Lani, he felt antipathy and anger, and then interest.

Kahar said plainly.

“If you need help, call anytime. I’ll assist you with great care.”

He gave a small nod and stepped back out of the bedroom.

After Kahar left, Meliciel pressed her hot eyelids and felt a deep headache coming on.

She knew he was not an easy man, but somehow he seemed even stranger than before.

The thought of living alongside Kahar from now on brought a wave of suffocation.

She did not need to know the inner workings of a man so twisted by his inability to forget Viviana.

***

Meliciel finished getting ready quickly. Ann returned, saying she went to pack the luggage, and helped her into the dress with ease.

When Meliciel asked, Ann said she never went to pack anything, and only then did Meliciel realize Kahar was simply teasing her in a low manner.

Ann said respectfully.

“Considering the travel time, I kept the makeup and accessories to a minimum.”

“Thank you. It must have been a bother, having to look after me on top of everything…….”

“Not at all! It is an honor.”

Ann waved both hands, flustered.

Meliciel looked at herself in the mirror. The dress being simple did not make it plain.

Small jewels were set into it lavishly, and the fine material wrapped smoothly against her skin, making her feel she could not move carelessly.

For Meliciel, who originally lived as a commoner, expensive clothes and jewelry were uncomfortable and intimidating things.

“You look beautiful, Miss.”

The word beautiful felt like something said to someone else, and Meliciel pulled her lips together awkwardly.

Then she smiled a little.

“Oh my.”

“What?”

“Ahem, I’m sorry. I only knew you were beautiful, but when you smile you’re so adorable…… No, you may go out now.”

Ann flushed red and bowed her head deeply.

Adorable, she said. Meliciel’s appearance must be genuinely pretty. Words she never heard once in her entire life as Lani.

Or perhaps it was just flattery.

“……Thank you.”

Meliciel finished speaking and took an awkward step forward. But the moment she stepped out of the bedroom door, the sight before her made her stop short in surprise.

Knights stood in a single line along both sides of the corridor. They wore navy uniforms and red capes, standing rigidly at attention with their eyes fixed straight ahead.

In the roughly five months she spent as his ward’s shadow, had she ever seen this many knights gathered at once?

Kahar was notoriously impatient with subordinates and preferred to go about alone.

Could this be some kind of ceremony or ritual?

Meliciel felt a tension rise in her and clasped both hands tightly.

“Good day, Grand Duchess. I am Barix, and I will be serving as your escort going forward.”

So they were her personal guard.

She did not know the details, but she understood well enough that a Grand Duchess could not move about alone.

“……It’s good to meet you.”

“It is an honor to serve you, Grand Duchess.”

Meliciel’s earlobes burned as she realized the tremendous title of Grand Duchess referred to her.

It was the moment she understood in her bones what she was daring to reach for.

“A total of thirty knights will rotate in close escort of the Grand Duchess. Personnel will be supplemented for outings and official appearances.”

Barix had short hair and a large scar on the back of his hand. He carried a great sword on his back, and his face alone made him look tremendously fearsome.

Even without supplementing the numbers, his face alone seemed like it would be highly effective anywhere.

“I look forward to working with you.”

“The honor is entirely mine. I will brief you on the details once we return to the Grand Duchy.”

“Yes.”

“Shall we go outside now?”

Meliciel walked slowly, trying to take in the faces of the knights standing on both sides. They were people she would be entrusting her life to from now on, so it would be good to at least remember their faces.

To think she now had her own escort. I really am telling a great lie.

She was not the real Meliciel, so she was deceiving everyone.

But from the moment she opened her eyes in this body until now, the thought of the emptiness in her lower abdomen made her feel there was nothing she could not do.

Meliciel walked as confidently as she could.

I can do this. I have to.