“……Yes. I’ll stay in my room quiet as a mouse.”

“Meliciel.”

“What difference does it make anywhere else? I might run into you. I suppose I should stay in my room.”

Meliciel’s voice trembled. Kahar understood her feelings to some degree.

She must have felt humiliated in front of the maids.

He heard the argument with the maids over the pot, so he knew the situation well enough.

But even he couldn’t handle the greenhouse items carelessly. It was a greenhouse for Lani, one of the things she left behind.

He couldn’t spend it to protect Meliciel’s pride.

“I’ll call Barix for you.”

Kahar turned away coldly and headed toward the path out of the forest.

When he stayed at the Grand Ducal Castle, he visited Od Palace almost once a day.

Today too he stopped by to revisit the traces and memories of Lani, and Meliciel was there.

“Another worthless coincidence.”

Kahar looked down at the damaged cactus and the dirt-stained ball of wool.

What is this? Am I holding onto something like this because I can’t let go of you?

Lani would have just handed it over. She would have pushed it toward Meliciel without a word.

Foolish and stupid, too kind for her own good.

Giving everything to someone like me, you fool…….

My partner.

Kahar tilted his chin toward the sky and closed his eyes.

“D*mn it.”

Meliciel’s tearful eyes were lodged in his mind and wouldn’t leave.

He turned and walked back the way he came, quickly.

“Hic, hic……”

Meliciel was sobbing. Absurdly, she cried like a child, too miserably.

Tears streamed down her face like a child robbed of candy.

Strangely, his chest ached. Like Lani’s soft-hearted nature rubbed off on him, he found himself drawn into her feelings.

Lani, is this a betrayal of you?

If I said I wanted to comfort a woman who isn’t you, would you smile that lukewarm smile of yours and tell me to go ahead, foolish as ever?

“Hic, sob……”

Meliciel spotted Kahar and pressed her lips tightly shut. He strode toward her.

“Can’t I even cry freely?”

Meliciel glared at him through wet eyes.

“You’re exhausting. Truly exhausting.”

“Like you’re any different, Grand Duke……”

Peck. Soft lips touched and pulled away.

“All of a sudden, what is……”

Peck. Soft lips pressed and pulled away again. Kahar gently rubbed the corners of her red eyes with his fingertips.

“Hah, stop it.”

“Right, this sort of thing should be done properly.”

“Don’t be sarcastic.”

Meliciel knocked his hand away.

Kahar held out the cactus, carefully wrapped in the wool cover, and Meliciel blinked.

“I’m lending it, not giving it, so handle it carefully.”

“……Really?”

“Take it before I change my mind.”

With that, Kahar lifted Meliciel up into his arms.

“What are you……”

“Better for me to be the one who made you cry than to leave you crying alone.”

He started walking. His heart felt about half lighter than when he walked away from her moments ago.

***

Between the riding and the crying, the strength she worked so hard to recover was completely spent.

Meliciel woke late and drank a warm cup of tea.

Her stomach was unsettled, so instead of a proper meal she ate a little fruit and a small tart topped with tangy lemon cream.

The food was left and all the maids were gone, so the room was quiet. Still, it was a peaceful time.

A crisp knock shattered the calm.

Knock, knock.

“Yes.”

She assumed Belita was back, but the one who appeared was Kahar.

He was impeccably put together, even in the morning. Dressed in deep grey, he approached slowly.

Meliciel, still in her nightclothes, pulled the sheet up to cover herself.

“What is it?”

“Come out for a moment.”

“Where?”

“It’s time to make a proper introduction.”

As he spoke, Kahar glanced around the room, picked up a large blanket, and brought it over.

Then he wrapped her up in it.

“What are you doing?”

“For your sake, since you’re so easily embarrassed.”

Meliciel blinked in bewilderment, and he lifted her into his arms and stood.

“Huh?”

Meliciel naturally wrapped her arms around his neck. Being held by him was becoming far too natural.

“Good. Stay like that.”

Meliciel had to swallow a rising wave of flustered breath.

“You’re taking me to make introductions looking like this? To whom?”

“Everyone.”

Kahar’s explanation made no sense at all. In the end she gave up hoping for a kind answer from him and clenched her hands inside the blanket.

“If we’re making introductions, I’d rather go properly dressed. This is embarrassing.”

“It doesn’t need to go that far. Bear with it for a moment.”

He gave that blunt answer and headed for the large hall at the center of the main castle.

She heard from Chayden that the central hall, which connected to several sitting rooms, was sometimes used for small gatherings.

That wide hall was packed with maids, stewards, and servants.

Surely everyone didn’t mean all of them?

Meliciel lowered her head slightly and looked at the assembled staff, then asked quietly.

“Grand Duke, don’t tell me the people I’m being introduced to are……”

“The servants you’ll be seeing often here in the main castle.”

Kahar stepped to the front and they bowed their heads even lower.

“All of you, lift your heads and look at the Grand Duchess’s face.”

Hundreds of gazes flew at her all at once, and Meliciel grew even more flustered.

Her state of dress aside, being held in Kahar’s arms was hardly a normal appearance.

“Please put me down.”

She whispered softly, but he was not the type to listen. He opened his mouth calmly.

“Commit the Grand Duchess’s face to memory. Engrave it in your minds so you make no mistakes.”

Grand Duchess. Kahar introduced her as the Grand Duchess. Meliciel felt a small measure of relief.

Kahar acknowledging it openly in front of so many people meant this marriage was unlikely to be overturned.

Because of that, Meliciel could wash away a little of the anxiety that still lingered.

“Meliciel, show them your face.”

“……”

Looking more carefully, the maids from the Od Palace pot incident were there too. Their faces were noticeably pale.

“There were foolish mistakes despite my prior instructions. It must never happen again.”

Kahar’s purpose was to show Meliciel’s face to the staff.

“As you can see, the Grand Duchess is frail. If anyone’s mistake causes her further harm, they will be held accountable, and if the offense is serious, expulsion will not be off the table.”

Everyone answered yes in unison.

“If you don’t understand, you may think of Meliciel as me.”

The first to be surprised by those words was Meliciel herself, who was looking for any chance to slip out of his arms.

What Kahar said meant he was giving Meliciel a position equal to his own.

“No one is to restrict or go against her actions. I am the only one who may do that.”

Everyone answered yes again.

“I don’t want to hear any nonsense reaching my ears again.”

A weary sigh slipped from Kahar’s lips.

But as time passed, both of Meliciel’s cheeks burned hot.

Come to think of it, this looked exactly like…… she went and tattled to Kahar.

Didn’t it look like she told him everything in detail and Kahar came to scold the servants?

Being held in his arms made it feel even more that way.

“Put me down.”

She said it nearly in tears, but Kahar didn’t even pretend to hear.

He surveyed the hall with a stern look, then turned back the way he came. He walked with long strides toward Meliciel’s bedroom, just as he arrived.

“Why won’t you put me down?”

“A newborn calf would walk better than you.”

“You don’t really think I can’t walk?”

“I’m not free enough to stand around watching you toddle.”

Toddle. The increasingly unkind choice of words gave Meliciel a faint headache.

“Why did you arrange something like this all of a sudden?”

“It’s easier for me too if the servants don’t run amok disrespecting the Grand Duchess.”

So in the end it was for his own convenience.

“Servant matters will be handled by Chayden, but if any trouble comes up, speak to the head maid or Chayden.”

Kahar seemed to have said everything he meant to say. Only when they reached her bedroom door did he set her down from his arms.

He set her down carefully, but the moment Meliciel’s feet touched the floor, she swayed.

“See. Can’t even stand properly, and yet.”

Meliciel shot him a mild glare, hesitated a moment, then reached out. She pulled Kahar into a hug and pressed her cheek to his.

“I can’t give you a kiss of thanks, but…… thank you for just now.”

Whatever Kahar’s intention, what just happened would perhaps become the starting point of what she wanted.

She must have appeared as a Grand Duchess-to-be under the Grand Duke’s protection.

It became a moment that could establish Meliciel’s position more effectively than anything else.

“It was something that needed to be done eventually.”

She didn’t expect him to do what needed to be done, which was why she was surprised.

“It’s also a minimum obligation.”

Please keep that word, Meliciel thought.