With Kahar walking ahead, Meliciel gritted her teeth and tried to match his pace. With him here, no serious accident would happen.

He was the Lion of the Battlefield, Grand Duke Kahar de Diozart himself. He wouldn’t be brought down by a rain like this.

“This way.”

Where Kahar pointed, an opening just wide enough for one person came into view. The surrounding area was made of rock.

“Is it a cave?”

“Yes. Watch your step and follow me in.”

“Yes.”

He went in first, so Meliciel held onto the wall and waited. She was just about to step up through the entrance, which had a slightly raised threshold.

Kahar grabbed Meliciel by the side and lifted her up in one swift motion.

“Eek!”

Then he set her down inside the cave without a second thought.

“You’re the slowest person I’ve ever seen. It’s almost impressive.”

Meliciel’s ears burned.

“I have a weak constitution.”

“Right. I’ll have to look after you carefully. If I take my eyes off you for a second, you’ll probably disappear somewhere again.”

Meliciel bit her lip and shot back.

“I tried my best to keep up.”

“Maybe I should shed a tear out of gratitude.”

That mouth. That mouth!

“It’ll do for waiting out the rain. Rest, even if it’s just for a bit.”

He was right. Inside the cave, there were traces of a fire and a large pot, along with a small blanket and a water cup.

“Forest keepers use this place sometimes. I come here occasionally too.”

Kahar, staying in a place like this. He was aristocratic from head to toe, and yet it suited him perfectly.

Cough, cough. Meliciel covered her mouth with the back of her hand as she coughed.

“Take your clothes off first.”

“……Yes?”

“If you stay in wet clothes, you’ll fall ill again.”

Kahar quickly got a fire going. Warmth began to spread through the cave almost immediately.

“What are you doing? I don’t think you missed that.”

“Surely you know why I asked, Grand Duke.”

Refusing to back down, Meliciel took off her cloak and spread it wide against the wall to dry.

Then she began wringing out her soaked dress. But her hands were too weak, and only a few drops came out onto her palms.

“At this rate, I’ll be clearing out a corpse before the wedding.”

“……”

“So our youngest little duchess won’t get to fulfill her grand dream of becoming the Grand Duchess after all.”

He was clearly going to tease her to the very end. Meliciel steadily wrung out even her wet hair.

But her grip was, as expected, too feeble to squeeze out much water. Even if she wrung everything out thoroughly, it would take quite a while for the soaked clothes to dry.

In the end, taking off her clothes and letting them dry, as Kahar said, was the more effective and sensible choice.

Meliciel cleared her throat and spoke.

“I don’t think you’re a particularly vulgar person, Grand Duke.”

“Particularly. Vulgar?”

“Well, maybe a little……”

Meliciel muttered and brought her hands to the sash at her waist.

“I’m going to undress, so please don’t look.”

Kahar exhaled a low breath and said nothing. Meliciel turned her back and began to undress.

Whether it was because they were already past the point of modesty, or simply because she was too cold, the decision came faster than she expected.

Her fingertips trembled slightly, but Meliciel pushed through the embarrassment and started removing her clothes.

Wet clothes, however, were no easy thing to take off. It took far longer than usual.

Crackle, crackle. The sound of the fire continued. The sound of rain was barely audible from inside, so the occasional soft rustling stood out all the more.

Once again, she was alone with him in an enclosed space. Meliciel pressed down on her toes, trying to shake off the suffocating feeling.

“Did I run out in my sleep like a sleepwalker?”

“Yes. I’ll let Huby know, so get that properly checked too.”

“Then you haven’t slept this whole time, Grand Duke?”

“It’s a habit.”

Was he unable to sleep because he was thinking of Viviana?

But if Kahar hadn’t come after her, she might have been swept away by the rising floodwaters by now.

“……Thank you.”

When she finished speaking, Meliciel picked up the blanket and covered her bare body. She gathered all her clothes to one side, calmly hung them out to dry, and stole a glance in his direction.

Kahar sat leaning against the cave entrance with his back to her. Fortunately, there was no sign he peeked.

“Get some sleep. The rain will stop by morning. We have to leave for Sheldon right away.”

“Yes.”

“If you’re not feeling well, you can stay here longer.”

He was a little strange at night. How to put it. Docile, maybe.

His dark voice seemed to have lost some of its edge.

Then Kahar suddenly rose to his feet, and Meliciel startled and stepped back.

He began to take off his top. He tossed his outer coat aside, and when he removed his shirt, a torso as solid as sculpted stone was revealed.

Kahar tossed the shirt in his hand toward Meliciel.

“Put it on.”

“……What about you, Grand Duke?”

“I’m not the type to get sick like some people.”

A lie. He was very ill once.

“Why? Feeling the urge to blab about my illness again?”

That mouth, honestly.

“Because I’m not ready to be a corpse yet.”

Meliciel held the shirt, still warm from him, and hesitated for a moment. Wearing the shirt was a better choice than wrapping herself in only the blanket.

Meliciel pulled on the loose shirt and covered herself with the blanket again. She laid her tired body down on the floor.

“Would you like to share the blanket?”

Kahar looked over at her like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Come over here if you’re cold.”

“Is that a come-on?”

What good would it do to try something like that on a man who had been with countless women and still couldn’t forget Viviana?

But someday she would have to share a bed with him. That was the only way she could meet the one she wanted again.

“……And if it is?”

So she impulsively tested him.

“I’m not interested.”

She expected that answer, but it came more decisively and quickly than she thought. Her chest ached, and Meliciel pulled the blanket up over her face and closed her eyes.

Ron’s face came to mind.

She clearly saw Ron in her dream just now.

There was a time in the past when she was nearly taken by raiders. Ron deliberately drove the carriage off a cliff to cause an accident.

That was how Ron put distance between them and the raiders and let her escape.

Ron, who lifted her up to the cliff and met death in her place.

The death of someone precious hurts too much. That was why she wanted no one to leave anymore.

As Meliciel slept, clear tears streaked the corners of her eyes.

So please, come back to me.

My child.

***

Maybe it was a mistake to approach her to check her fever.

After pressing his hand to her forehead, Kahar impulsively touched her disheveled hair.

She had no fever, thankfully.

The moment her skin grazed his fingertips, Kahar’s eyes grew hot, like he breathed in a gust of warm air.

It was a sensation he didn’t expect. It burned like a warm wind, and yet he couldn’t pull his hand away.

Kahar carefully swept back the hair swimming softly between his fingers and touched her cheek.

The long lashes resting over her eyelids trembled faintly. She immediately furrowed her brow, reacting as though Kahar’s touch displeased her.

Whatever dream she was having, whether she was still searching for that person called Ron or Lan inside it.

Meliciel’s slightly lowered brows and barely parted lips. His gaze was drawn to the unknown, where a glimpse of red tongue seemed to appear and disappear as she breathed in and out.

Unable to rein in his drifting gaze, Kahar didn’t know how long he sat there looking at Meliciel.

“Don’t go…… Ron.”

Meliciel slowly extended her arm and lightly caught Kahar’s neck. She was still dreaming.

“Don’t go……”

“Mixing me up with some guy.”

Meliciel’s fingers slid slowly down his nape where his pulse beat.

Just as the strength left her hand, he caught it, and at that moment Meliciel lifted her eyelids.

“……Ron?”

The emerald eyes that trembled finely steadied quickly. The moment he thought even that resembled Lani, Kahar couldn’t help but furrow his brow.

Lani, who kept her thoughts to herself so often that he rarely knew what was on her mind.

But it didn’t take long to learn that she was shyer and kinder than anyone.

Lani always looked him straight in the eye, yet whenever Kahar whispered something tender, she was quick to look away.

“……Grand Duke.”

“You need to get better at recognizing people.”

Half-asleep or not, wanting to know or not, she kept glancing at the wrist he held.

“Was I trying to go somewhere again?”

Maybe she was on her way to that person called Ron or Lan.

“Don’t make me want to know what man you were with in the past.”

“……Pardon?”

“If you want to keep him alive, stop mixing us up from now on.”

Kahar lowered his head and brought his sharp nose down beside Meliciel’s cheek.

He pressed his nose to her ear and buried himself in her nape, where a sweet scent clung.

“I’m not particularly forgiving.”

“G, Grand Duke.”

A scent so like Lani’s that hot tears nearly welled up instantly. A sweet, fresh, lemon-like scent.