Could it really have been an accident in the rain, something that happened purely by chance? Or had she crossed paths with bandits or robbers?

But neither explanation sat easily with her.

The Astrael mountain range was northern land that people rarely ventured into by nature. On top of that, with rain pouring down, there was even less reason for anyone to have been passing through.

With each possibility eliminated one by one, Luna felt in her gut that things had gone in a wrong direction.

When she had learned that Adelia had left after swapping bodies with her, the only thing Luna had wished for was one thing.

That she had finally taken hold of the freedom she had so desperately longed for, and was living safely and well somewhere.

This was not the way she had wanted to encounter news of her… Adelia’s very survival was now uncertain.

Of course, what she had done was by no means a small thing.

She had upended both their lives without any consent.

But Luna believed that Adelia had never acted out of malice.

The Adelia who had taken in a parentless orphan and cherished her like a sister could never have done something like that.

That was precisely why Luna’s heart was so devastated.

Adelia, who had vanished leaving only questions behind. And her own body, which she could no longer find. The helplessness of being able to do nothing pressed in on her like something tightening around her throat.

In that moment, something flashed through Luna’s mind like a bolt of lightning.

Luna took out the silver hairpin the headman had given her and looked at it again.

The hairpin resting in her palm was of a distinctive design.

Filigree work, the technique of twisting and bending fine metal wire to weave intricate patterns. It was not something that could be completed without the hands of a truly skilled craftsman.

Flowers and vines wound around each other across the silver pin, intertwined.

She had barely a moment to admire the beautiful, intricate craftsmanship before something odd caught her eye.

The pointed tip of the hairpin was bent ever so slightly out of shape. It was not the kind of deformation that could come from ordinary use.

It could not have twisted like that without being driven hard into something solid.

Unless it had been used in a moment of crisis for a purpose other than ornamentation.

Luna felt at last as though she had found a thread to pull.

Perhaps this hairpin could tell her more about what had happened to Adelia.

The damaged hairpin and the missing brooch.

Something out of the ordinary had happened to her. There was no doubt about it.

Now that she knew Adelia might be in danger, she had to find out where she was. All the more so if Adelia had met an unjust end.

That, she felt, was the respect owed to her, and the burden that remained hers to carry.

Luna slowly rose to her feet. The shock had not yet faded, but what she needed to do was clear.

She crossed the room in a few quick strides and began rifling through the pile of invitations stacked up there.

The invitations scattered this way and that with a rustling sound.

Before long, a black invitation caught her eye. It held a lustrous sheen that made it look out of place at a glance, unmistakably more luxurious than the rest.

Luna unfolded it carefully and read it through, then took out a sheet of parchment and began writing a reply without hesitation.

* * *

Demian had ridden out alone and was on his way back from the Astrael mountain range.

His rich brown hair swept in the wind, and his bright eyes held steady. He was an attractive young man with a gentle, refined look about him.

When he had heard from the Marchioness of Lutenberg about Luna’s disappearance, Demian had found it impossible to believe.

His father had served as the personal physician to the Marquis of Lutenberg’s household for many years, and through that connection Demian had naturally come to walk the same path in medicine. By that same tie, the years he and Luna had spent crossing paths under the same roof had grown to nearly ten.

That she had stolen the household heirloom and fled…

The Luna he had watched at close range all those years was not someone who would ever do such a thing.

She had always been a clear, upright child with no greed in her.

That was why Demian had needed to see it with his own eyes.

To confirm whether Luna had truly come here.

‘The Grand Duchess of Valenstein stopped by here a few days ago and asked all sorts of questions about the missing woman. She looked just like the likeness of that maid who disappeared. And the horse that woman rode in on, well, it took right to the Grand Duchess.’

The headman had told him that Lady Adelia, now the Grand Duchess, had come by not long ago.

She had always been unusually fond of Luna, so he could only imagine how great a shock the news of her disappearance must have been.

Demian’s gaze dropped and grew heavy.

He kept turning over questions that had no answers.

Why had Luna come here? Where had she gone?

Had there been something about Luna all along that he had not known?

Had she truly vanished like a mirage? And would he never be able to see her again?

What had all those days and nights of effort been for?

He believed that one day he and Luna would be together, and had pictured that happy future as something that would naturally come to pass.

A suffocating weight pressed in on a corner of Demian’s chest, and the rims of his eyes grew red.

Even so, Demian shook his head slowly, as though trying to throw the feeling off.

Nothing was certain yet. Luna’s body had not been found.

So he could not let go of hope.

He steadied himself with that thought and moved on.

* * *

Caesar had returned from his trip to the distant region earlier than planned.

In the past he would have had no particular reason to hurry, but this time was different. He had pushed through the accumulated work as fast as he could and moved quickly.

As a result, he had managed to return a day or two ahead of schedule.

The moment Caesar arrived home, he dealt with the backlog of work and then went straight to find her.

In the dining room, only the quiet sounds of cutlery and servants pouring water into glasses drifted through the air.

Caesar looked at his wife, whom he had not seen in some time, and spoke.

“You liked the wine last time, didn’t you?”

Luna blinked, looking briefly startled, then nodded and answered.

“Pardon…? Oh, yes. It was wonderful.”

“The Delvain region I visited this time had quite a few decent local specialties.”

Caesar said this and drew a small box sitting at the edge of the table toward him.

When he lifted the lid, a deep violet glass bottle came into view. A decorative weave of silver thread was wrapped around the neck, and red liquid swayed inside.

“While I was in the area I picked up a few bottles of liquor fermented from black cherry and fig. The aroma is quite distinctive.”

At Caesar’s nod, the servants poured the liquor he had brought into glasses. The red wine fell in rippling waves into the wide, rounded glasses and a subtle fragrance drifted up.

“Thank you.”

Luna offered her thanks and took a sip of what he had brought.

It seemed like a fine drink, but she could not quite make out the distinctive aroma or the taste he had described.

“Oh, and I happened to see a scarf while I was passing by and picked one up as well. Apparently it’s fashionable right now, and the material seemed decent enough.”

“Is that so? I’ll make good use of it. Thank you very much.”

Caesar spoke of it as though it were nothing, but the reality was different.

The item, with the famous sights of Delvain embroidered across it in delicate detail, was something he had stood in a long queue outside a well-known boutique to obtain.

The same was true of the locally made liquor.

He had gone out of his way on the long journey to stop at the Maredia market, known for its fine wines, and had personally selected the one that looked to be of the best quality.

But Luna, who had no idea of any of this, offered him only a polite word of thanks.

She simply assumed, in a general way, that a servant must have arranged it.

“Nothing happened while I was away?”

“I stayed in the manor the whole time, so what could have happened. You seem quite taken with the place you visited.”

“The scenery was pleasant. If there’s time later… it might be nice to go together.”

For Caesar, it was something he had said with considerable resolve.

It was the first time he had ever suggested going somewhere with someone, the way one might speak of a shared future.

But Luna seemed not to notice the weight of it at all.

She let it pass without much thought and answered him evenly.

“That sounds nice. If the opportunity comes.”

Looking more closely, he noticed that Luna kept cutting the same spot on the meat on her plate, over and over.

Her gaze stayed fixed on the food and barely moved. She looked like someone whose mind was somewhere else entirely.

Caesar watched her quietly.

The mood had settled into something heavy.

He felt he ought to say something, but he could not quite work out what to ask.

Reading another person’s feelings was not something that came naturally to him.

The feelings of a woman felt all the more difficult.