Lani’s distinctive scent, not the kind that came from perfume. Why was that scent coming from this woman?

Every time Meliciel’s body drew close, Lani came to mind, and then Lani faded away.

“Did you do that on purpose?”

“Grand Duke……?”

Meliciel’s voice was thin as she asked back, clearly at a loss. She squirmed, seemingly wanting him to let go of her hand.

She admitted to the come-on, yet she showed no intention of taking advantage of this perfect opportunity.

Kahar lifted his head and faced her. Deep green eyes and pink hair.

Her features were elegant, as though to prove she was born a duchess of noble standing.

No matter that she was an illegitimate child exposed to *buse, she was still Duke Dexter’s blood.

Objectively, she looked highborn and beautiful.

And yet, wearing a shirt that gaped open and lying beneath a man’s arm while chewing on her lip, she looked provocative.

“Let go of me.”

Meliciel was busily pushing Kahar away. The moment he realized that faint shove was genuine and not a ploy, his head cleared.

“Have I finally lost my mind?”

Right. The fact that he smelled Lani’s scent on another woman only meant how desperately he longed for Lani.

Kahar exhaled a low breath and pulled away from her. At the same time, he pushed himself to his feet.

Heat flooded his entire body, like he was trapped in a desert. He strode toward the cave entrance and laughed bitterly at the tight, aching pull below his navel.

He was feeling a desire for Meliciel.

***

Lani was in the middle of continuing the dream about Ron she started earlier.

“Lani, go up first!”

“But Ron……!”

Ron was barely managing to push Meliciel’s body up the cliff face. He strained with everything he had to support her from below, urging her to climb.

The wrecked carriage was visible far below. Her heart grew frantic at the thought that Ron might end up the same way.

“Hurry……!”

The raiders, now alerted to the commotion, would close in from below the cliff. If that happened, there would be no chance of escape.

“The moment you’re up, run down the side path. Follow it all the way down and you’ll reach a village. Go to the temple and there’ll be someone to help you.”

“Ron……!”

She wanted to tell him no. To tell him they should live together. But Ron pushed Lani away with everything he had.

When Lani climbed up to the top of the cliff and desperately reached her hand down to Ron, he was smiling sadly.

“Go. Now.”

That was the last she ever saw of him.

She must have called Ron’s name out loud. Then she opened her eyes and saw Kahar right in front of her.

She never saw that kind of sadness in his eyes before, and it caught her gaze and held it.

She thought it might still be a dream, and felt it was a little wasteful to wake from it…….

She reached out her hand, and felt Kahar’s warmth. In the same instant she startled and tried to push him away.

Meliciel was not Viviana. She was not Lani, whom Kahar took and discarded whenever he pleased.

She didn’t want to be swept away by him like a fool…….

“Let go of me.”

“Have I finally lost my mind?”

Who was that meant for? Could it be that those sorrowful eyes were longing for Viviana?

He rose and disappeared toward the cave entrance, and Meliciel couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night.

***

Morning came, and the sky cleared up like none of it ever happened. Somehow knowing to come, several members of the escort and a number of servants came out to meet them.

Meliciel rode a hand carriage back to her quarters.

Kahar didn’t return to the treehouse even after she finished bathing and freshening up.

Meliciel finished eating and completed all her preparations, and when she stepped out the door, a carriage with white wheels was waiting.

“His Highness the Grand Duke sends word that you are to travel the rest of the journey by carriage.”

“A carriage, all of a sudden? Why?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know the details. I apologize.”

The servant smiled awkwardly.

Kahar, who threw himself into tormenting her like a child, now seemed to have lost interest.

“His Highness departed ahead of you.”

“……When?”

“He returned to his quarters in the morning and left almost immediately after. He said you may take your time.”

There were several puzzling things about what the servant said, but Meliciel climbed into the carriage without a word. The carriage lined with soft fur was incomparable to the back of a warhorse.

The wheels began to roll smoothly. It was a brighter day than usual.

She was one step closer to the Grand Duchy.

***

Meliciel met Kahar again a few days later. She came across him at a rest stop before a meal.

Kahar’s eyes met hers as she sat at a small table, and he barely glanced at her before walking right past.

Meliciel let out a stunned breath. The suspicion she nursed since the night in the cave, that Kahar was avoiding her, hardened into certainty at that moment.

She couldn’t read him at all, and it was nothing but frustrating.

Selfish. Arrogant.

“My lady, are you done already?”

“I’ve eaten enough. I want to rest in the carriage now.”

Meliciel left without touching her dessert.

She never skipped a meal but always made sure to have her dessert, so Ann’s expression turned serious when she left it untouched.

“What will you do if you collapse again? Master Huby said you need to eat well, and then eat some more.”

“But I don’t have an appetite.”

A pair of deep blue eyes swept briefly over the empty seat she left behind.

***

The carriage set off again and ran without stopping. White snow lay scattered across the northern mountain ranges, as though in denial of summer.

Ann, who boarded the carriage to attend to Meliciel, turned out to be more talkative than expected.

She seemed more at ease now, and the stiffness from their first meeting was almost entirely gone. She was cheerfully explaining one thing after another to Meliciel.

“This is actually quite warm by our standards. The outskirts of the territory are below freezing more often than not.”

“Even in summer?”

“Yes. When true winter comes, living creatures can’t even get close. That’s part of what keeps this great Sheldon safe.”

Meliciel already knew the scale of the Grand Duchy well enough, but listening to Ann, the Grand Duke’s power came back to her with fresh weight.

Meliciel cracked open the carriage window cover slightly and took in the scenes rushing past.

The sight of the Grand Duchy blanketed in snow held her gaze.

As the carriage bearing the Grand Ducal crest and the knights rode past, the residents bowed their heads in respect.

Meliciel clenched her fists and endured the awkwardness. She didn’t like deceiving innocent people about who she was.

I’m not the real Meliciel. I’m nothing but an orphan abandoned even by a ruined tribe.

“My lady, did you hear me?”

“Hm?”

“We’re about to pass through the castle gate.”

The castle walls were so vast they were hard to take in at a glance. The carriage kept going long after it passed through the gate.

After entering the inner castle, they passed through a long garden. Only after passing through another iron gate guarded by stone lions did the carriage come to a stop.

They finally arrived at Sheldon’s Grand Ducal Castle, said to rival the imperial palace in scale.

The carriage came to rest at the main castle, the very heart of the Grand Ducal Castle. This place was some distance from Od Castle, where Lani used to stay.

Being brought to the main castle the moment she arrived felt strange. In the past, she could only come here as a shadow, and only when Kahar summoned her.

“You may step down.”

Ann got out first and stood to one side. Meliciel steadied her breath, then stepped down from the carriage with Barix’s help.

Barix, the head of the escort, continued to stay close and assist her.

It was deep in the night, when everyone should have been asleep, yet quite a few stewards, servants, and maids were out to greet their new mistress.

“Good evening. I am Chayden, the head butler who will be serving you going forward.”

Someone approached and greeted her.

The man with long blue hair was a bit young for a butler. Meliciel had actually crossed paths with him several times before.

During her time living as Kahar’s shadow, she encountered many of the people around him, and Chayden was one of them.

He was the head butler of the Grand Ducal Castle, forty-two years old. Extremely meticulous and unbending by nature.

Her assessment of him over that time was that he was a man who valued principle above all else, consistent and methodical in everything he did.

She noticed his hair, grown longer than she remembered over the past year.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Meliciel Chloe.”

“Please speak informally. There are many eyes here.”

Meliciel caught the hidden meaning in his words with a sharp instinct. It was a reminder not to underestimate the position she was about to hold, not to let herself fall short of the dignity expected of a Grand Duchess.

In other words, it was a warning. A thorough instruction not to let anyone look down on her.

“……I’ll be in your care going forward. I may be clumsy, but I’ll do my best to learn quickly if you teach me.”

“Yes. I will do my utmost.”

She addressed him informally with some awkwardness, then tilted her head slightly to look around. Luminescent flowers glowed brilliantly, putting the night to shame.

The faces of the servants stealing glances her way were full of curiosity.

Meliciel was hit with the feeling that she truly returned here, along with a small measure of fear and a sense of not knowing what lay ahead.

“His Highness arrived this morning and is currently in a meeting with his vassals.”

“I’d like to take a brief look around.”

Quick-witted Chayden gestured for the servants to step back. She put some distance between herself and Chayden as well.

She stopped walking at one corner of the garden. Fortunately, no one followed too closely.

Barix and Ann were somewhere nearby, but this much was fine.

She needed a moment alone. Meliciel closed her eyes and stood facing the main castle, Kahar’s residence.

First as a divine painter. Then as a ward-maid shadow.

And now she arrived here as a Grand Duchess-to-be.