Dafwin quickly took those fingers in his. They were weak and delicate beyond measure. The texture was nothing like his own, with calluses built up all over his fingers.

Dafwin moved tensely toward the door. He was pretending to be composed, but inside his chest was a wreck, like a balloon that burst.

It all happened in less than three minutes of meeting her.

He fell for Meliciel Chloe at first sight.

Of all people, a woman on the verge of marriage.

***

Meliciel’s pace was slow, as always.

She worried about her sluggish feet, but fortunately the artist Dafwin was a considerate gentleman. When she couldn’t walk fast, he moved very slowly, matching her pace.

Even so, Dafwin would occasionally malfunction like a broken doll. He lurched along, swinging the same arm and the same leg at once.

Dafwin’s clumsy gait was strange, but Meliciel let it go, thinking he probably wasn’t used to slowing down.

He looks very young.

She expected someone as old as Valt when she heard “painting teacher,” but Dafwin looked to be in his late twenties at most.

Stealing glances at his thick lashes, Meliciel quietly marveled to herself as she observed him, thinking what a remarkably beautiful person he was.

Would the paintings he made be just as beautiful?

Meliciel, carrying the guileless curiosity of an artist, was passing through the entrance of the main building and descending the long staircase when she saw it.

A group of Bliber Knights was crossing the garden and approaching this way.

Kahar stood at their head. Whether he was returning from a hunt, he wore silver armor over his breastplate and a cape that fell to his waist.

When she watched him leave the garden earlier, there was no armor to be seen, and she thought she could faintly smell blood.

Kahar’s horse slowed and eventually stopped. Through the black strands of hair above Kahar’s head as he sat in the saddle, the red afternoon sun shone lazily.

The sun here sometimes burned with intense color, but it was never as hot as it looked. Perhaps that was why, facing Kahar backlit against it, she felt her skin go cool instead.

Kahar looked over Meliciel, then Dafwin holding her hand, one after the other. His blue eyes were unsettling, like a sleeping sea.

“Ah!”

Distracted by Kahar, Meliciel missed her footing on the stairs. In that instant, Dafwin wrapped his arm around her waist and kept her from falling.

She quickly grabbed Dafwin’s arm and steadied herself.

“Are you all right, my lady?”

“Yes. Thanks to you……”

“Take my hand.”

“Thank you, Teacher Dafwin.”

Meliciel straightened up with a slight flush in her cheeks. Dafwin was still watching her with concern, so she gave him a small smile.

“I’m really fine.”

“I heard you are not in the best of health. I hope going out isn’t too much of a strain.”

“A quick outing is fine. I just made a mistake because I was looking somewhere else.”

“From now on, I will keep a closer eye.”

Dafwin comforted the lady quite gracefully. He straightened up and looked at the man seated on horseback.

Grand Duke Kahar de Diozart, whose presence blazed with force from the moment he appeared.

Dafwin knew Kahar returned from the moment he stepped outside the entrance. He was a man who overwhelmed others with sheer presence, without any intent to show off.

The monster of the battlefield, Kahar.

But since they never had any real connection, this was essentially their first proper face-to-face.

If not for his teacher’s orders, he would never have had occasion to exchange greetings with Kahar. He let out a small sigh at the fact that he became the Grand Ducal household’s painting teacher just to curry favor.

Swallowing his reluctance, Dafwin took the young lady’s hand again and stood. Then he slowly dipped his head toward Kahar and raised it.

“My greetings. I am Dafwin Shane of the Imperial Arts Company.”

“Yes, I’ve heard. Marquis Shane’s pride is quite something.”

“The Marquis has a deep love for his children.”

Dafwin received the jab without expression. He found himself wondering whether Kahar grew up receiving proper love himself.

Someone raised on proper love wouldn’t look at people with that kind of crooked eye.

“So. Do you intend to turn the Grand Duchess into an imperial artist?”

Kahar tilted his head slightly.

“I understand my teacher has a personal connection with the previous Grand Duke. That is how I came to be asked, and why I am here.”

“So the Grand Duchess was sacrificed for the sake of networking.”

It was a jab at why a painter of Dafwin’s renown came all this way just to be a Grand Duchess’s painting teacher.

The Imperial Arts Company had a keen interest in the ancient relics and artworks held by the Grand Ducal household.

The Grand Ducal family owned the most documents and historical records related to the ruins the director was researching.

Kahar could hardly be unaware of the director’s desire to strengthen ties and extract information.

Dafwin looked straight at Kahar.

“She is to become the wife of the Grand Duke himself. How could she be allowed to learn painting from just anyone? His Majesty the Emperor must have taken particular care.”

Dafwin answered without flinching. It was a fairly audacious counter, aimed squarely at Kahar, who married by imperial decree.

He wondered if he crossed a line, but Kahar lost interest in Dafwin shortly after.

His blue gaze moved to Meliciel. Meliciel in her sky-blue dress was elegant, like waves draped over her entire body.

She looked somehow precarious, and unsettling, like she might dissolve into sea foam at any moment.

Kahar grew curious about where the pale-faced Meliciel was going, having bothered to come outside.

“So where are you headed?”

He asked Meliciel directly, but she quietly looked down and avoided him. It wasn’t his imagination.

Kahar asked again.

“Seeing someone off?”

Meliciel turned her head slightly to the side. Her pressed lips made it clear she had no intention of answering his question.

Kahar’s lips curled faintly, then he raised a hand and touched the corner of his own mouth.

So she’s going to avoid me.

He had some idea why, but it was a kiss she consented to. She said to do whatever he wanted, and now she was embarrassed?

Either way, she was a woman who looked simple but was anything but.

“Are you off to join the Imperial Arts Company, dazzled by its glory?”

He tried mocking her on purpose, but Meliciel pressed her lips together even more firmly.

“I suppose that’s just the sort of thing you’d insist on doing.”

“……”

Meliciel glanced up at him, and the moment their eyes met, she startled and quickly looked away.

She was fighting in her own way. She couldn’t afford to exchange words with Kahar right now.

This was step 4, which meant she had to maintain distance.

There was no reason to answer his questions either. In the past, Kahar ignored her far more than this, and there were many eyes watching, but if she weighed all of that, she would never accomplish anything.

She steeled herself.

“Meliciel Chloe.”

Kahar called her name outright. His intent was to make it impossible for her not to answer.

“Ahem, Grand Duke.”

Just then, Chayden, sensing the tension between the two, stepped forward quickly and spoke.

“The young lady is going to the village. She is heading out with Lord Dafwin to purchase painting supplies.”

“There are more than enough painting supplies right here.”

There was almost nothing the Grand Ducal Castle lacked. If anything, things unavailable elsewhere could be found here.

“Rather than expensive supplies, it will be more meaningful for the young lady to choose them herself.”

Dafwin answered on her behalf, then said “well then” and pulled her hand to escort Meliciel forward.

Meliciel, who stood frozen like a stone statue, finally moved. A white carriage waited to one side with its door open.

With Dafwin’s help, Meliciel walked toward the carriage without once glancing in Kahar’s direction.

Her heart was pounding and she felt vaguely guilty for no reason, but turning a rude lecher into a gentleman required drastic measures.

It was the moment Meliciel stepped onto the footboard and was about to climb into the carriage.

Thud.

A loud sound accompanied a revolting smell that pricked sharply at her nasal passages.

“What is that?”

Meliciel turned her head, and Kahar, who dismounted, was already at the carriage entrance.

“Isn’t this my first hunt since you came to the Grand Ducal household? I ought to give you a gift.”

“……!”

Following Kahar’s chin gesture, Meliciel looked to the side, and a great wave rose in her eyes.

On the ground lay an enormous black bear, limp and sprawling, the size of ten adult men combined. At a glance, the black bear looked even bigger than the carriage.

“Wh, why would you……”

In the end, Meliciel couldn’t hide her shock and let the question slip out toward Kahar.

But Kahar, the black bear’s owner, was perfectly composed. He looked at Meliciel and Dafwin behind her and said:

“A gift. To keep in mind.”

“Is this how people give gifts?”

“Reasonably. Quietly.”

Oh. Understanding gathered in Meliciel’s wide eyes. He was telling her to keep his warning in mind.

It was a warning thoroughly in Kahar’s style: don’t stir up trouble by making a fuss over learning to paint and getting on his nerves.

Meliciel drew a small breath and let it out.

“I don’t want it.”

“What?”

“I’ll decline. I won’t be accepting the gift. That’s all right, isn’t it?”

She watched Kahar’s brow slowly crease and turned away. Then she finished climbing into the carriage.

“Let’s go.”

Dafwin, climbing in alongside her, gave Kahar a small nod of farewell before closing the door.

When the carriage set off, Dafwin smiled without a sound. The two of them seemed to be on poor terms……

That pleased him. It felt like discovering a gap.