So that’s how it looks to other people.

Johann had stepped in for her more than once, so it wasn’t surprising others read it that way. And it was true that his beautiful smile in front of people, thrown out as part of playing the devoted husband, had made her heart drop more than a few times.

It wasn’t only in front of others, either. Even when no one was watching, he did things that made her second-guess herself.

The moments that unsettled her most were the quiet, private ones. The careful way he dried her wet hair and ran his fingers down the nape of her neck. The way he kissed the sweat from her forehead after a breathless night, even while catching his own breath. The hands that were always reaching for her, gentle and unhurried, so different from the flat tone of his words. They kept finding their way into somewhere she hadn’t left open.

Liz swallowed the words she had been about to say. That it was only appearances.

“Don’t you feel the same, my lady?”

“About what?”

“You look like a girl falling in love when you watch the duke.”

“……!”

Liz’s hand stilled over the cheese-topped cookie she had been reaching for.

That can’t be right.

She had just been thinking how strange it was that Johann acted like a real husband. The idea that it went the other direction, that she was the one behaving differently, hadn’t crossed her mind.

Her heart gave a small, unsteady flutter. She tried to dismiss it as nothing more than gratitude for someone who had taken her side, but her heartbeat kept rising without her permission.

“You really do seem like a wonderful match.”

Judith smiled as she said it, and Liz had no answer to give.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

“Mm……”

Liz had a habit of kicking off her blanket in her sleep. Johann smiled quietly and pulled it back up over her. She had spent the entire day roaming every deck and corridor of the ship as though it were her own backyard, and for once, exhaustion had won. She had fallen asleep unusually early.

Her sleeping face was something close to a painting. The hazelnut eyes that were always bright and lively were hidden beneath closed lids, and the dense lashes below them caught the light in a faint gold. The determined expression she had worn when he first met her in Bergen was gone entirely. What remained was simply peaceful and unguarded.

She hadn’t quite filled out the way he hoped, but the effort he put into feeding her had paid off. Her cheeks had a healthy glow to them. He was reaching out to lightly touch the soft, peach-tinted curve of one cheek when the door opened carefully and Maribel came in.

“My lady, your tea……”

Before Maribel could finish, Johann raised a finger to his lips and gave her a firm look. Maribel startled, set the cup down quickly, and retreated.

Johann turned off the lamp on the side table and slipped out of the room. Greta was waiting in the corridor and bowed her head.

“How does Liz seem to you?”

“Well…… there are no signs yet, Your Grace.”

“……I see.”

Johann’s eyes narrowed. A little over a month and a half remained before the return to Bergen. Too early to be anxious, but not so much time that he could afford to be careless.

“With respect, the physician who examined her previously did say she is not constitutionally inclined toward easy conception. It may be best to allow more time……”

“She’s been taking the medicine properly.”

“Yes. She has been given an herbal preparation known to warm the womb each evening after dinner.”

Johann gave a short tilt of his chin to dismiss her. Once Greta disappeared, Kyle stepped out of the shadows where he had been waiting and approached.

Johann walked out onto the deck. Cold night air passed over his face. He stared at the black sea stretching endlessly before him.

“News from Bergen?”

“From the moment the article appeared naming the Clairmont daughter as your bride, the retainers have been converging on the capital.”

“Left barely breathing and they’re already crawling back out to sniff around.”

Johann gave a cold, short laugh and gripped the railing hard. Something creaked under his hand.

“To those who failed to block Your Grace’s succession, this marriage has apparently given them exactly the pretext they needed. Those who hold tradition above all else will never accept a baron’s daughter as mistress of the house.”

“This is why I should have finished them all off back then.”

The casual brutality of the remark made Kyle swallow quietly. Johann’s eyes went dark and still, deeper than the sea at night.

“It’s almost aggravating that I couldn’t deal with all of them at once.”

“Even for Your Grace, moving against nobles without grounds would risk turning the royal family against you. The suffering the royal house endured when the second prince executed palace staff without cause is not something to be forgotten.”

It was a rigid society of rank, but killing without legitimate cause was forbidden. Even when Johann had displaced his elder brother, the rightful heir, and taken control of the family, he had been forced to stop at bankrupting the retainers who supported his brother and having them expelled from the capital.

They had been waiting for their chance ever since, and they would use Liz’s birth as their weapon.

“Their noise isn’t worth my attention. But if Liz carries an heir, they’ll have no choice but to keep their mouths shut in front of her, at least.”

Resolve hardened in Johann’s eyes. He would not let the retainers disrupt his life again. To protect Liz, he intended to root out the family’s entrenched enemies completely.

Kyle bowed and withdrew. Johann pushed the bedroom door open quietly.

Liz was still sleeping soundly, breathing in soft, even rhythms.

“When you find out the truth, you may resent me for it. But for now, this is the best I can do.”

He spoke gently and pressed his lips to her pale cheek.

“Mm……”

A small sound. She shifted, then burrowed into his warmth without waking. The heat of him slowly unknotted the tension still held in his body.

He brushed his thumb lightly over the thick fringe of lashes lying against her cheek, then leaned close and whispered into the ear of his sleeping wife.

“I finally have you.”

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

“Oh……!”

The passenger ship’s door opened, and Liz reached the bottom of the long staircase and stopped, breath caught.

An unfamiliar city stretched out before her in every direction. She bounced down the remaining steps and wove through the bustle of disembarking passengers, drinking in the view.

Port Orestes, the liveliest harbor city in the Raybon Kingdom. Seeing in person what she had only ever read about in books and newspapers made something in her chest rise with excitement.

“We’re only here for a day, so don’t get too carried away.”

“……Did you have to say it like that. I know.”

Liz stuck out her lower lip, but her eyes were already sliding toward the ships moored at the docks. The Eternelle was continuing on to Simond, but somewhere among all these vessels there had to be one bound for Bergen.

“I can tell exactly what you’re plotting. Don’t waste the effort.”

He was infuriatingly perceptive. Liz kept her face blank.

“I’m not plotting anything. It’s just strange to feel solid ground after three weeks.”

She pressed the toe of her shoe into the pavement like a child taking a first step. Bergen would still be in spring right now, but here the sun was fierce enough that summer already seemed to have arrived. The thin clothes on passing gentlemen and the light dress of the workers hauling cargo made the shift in seasons feel real.

“It’s already summer here.”

Liz was looking up at the sky when a wide-brimmed hat was pressed down over her head. Johann settled it into place and said without much inflection, “The sun is stronger here than in Bergen. Walk around without a hat and your skin will be red inside half a day.”

“……Oh, thank you.”

Liz murmured a shy thank-you and tied the ribbon under her chin to secure it. Nearby, Greta and the attendants were loading luggage into a carriage.

“Those are the mistress’s things. Handle them carefully on the way to the hotel.”

She had heard they would be staying at a hotel for the convenience of the day’s stop. Going straight there felt like a waste, though. She needed information, and she needed to find some way to slip away from everyone.

“Johann, are we heading straight to the hotel?”

“Of course not. We came all this way.”

She had fully expected him to go off and attend to business. Instead, Johann took her hand without hesitation.

“A date comes first.”

His face broke into a grin. Liz’s expression, by contrast, became quietly complicated.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

They stepped into the city.

The shopping district of Port Orestes was lined with its most celebrated landmarks and fine restaurants. Shops with brightly colored awnings stretched along both sides of the street, and smooth, precisely laid stones paved the ground beneath their feet. The air carried the salt of the sea alongside the sharp fragrance of exotic spices and something sweet from tropical fruit, and the whole street hummed with energy.