She had thought she had finally caught hold of a lead, and yet it felt as though she had ended up right back where she started.

Unable to shake that bitter feeling, Luna boarded the carriage and before long found herself near the Grand Ducal residence.

Feeling suffocated, she stepped down from the carriage intending to take a short walk, and spotted a somehow familiar silhouette in the distance.

Luna stopped and narrowed her eyes.

The moment she confirmed the face drawing closer, her heart dropped.

The owner of that familiar silhouette was none other than Demian Elliott.

The son of the Lutenberg household’s personal physician, and Luna’s longtime friend.

Having spent more time with Luna than anyone except Adelia, he was the worst possible person to run into while hiding her true identity.

Her mind went completely blank. The instinct to flee flashed through her, but it was already too late.

They were standing face to face in the middle of a wide open road, with nowhere to look away.

Demian approached and greeted her with a polite bow.

“Hello. Lady Adelia, or rather, Your Highness the Grand Duchess Adelia.”

“Oh…? Oh, right, Demian. It’s been a while. You’ve been well? But, what brings you all the way out here?”

Luna answered his greeting as casually as she could manage. Her voice trembled slightly, and she could only hope Demian hadn’t noticed.

Instead of answering, Demian looked at her face for a moment before continuing.

“I had some business to attend to.”

“Ah, I see. Well, then I’ll head in first.”

Tense, Luna wanted to get away from this spot as quickly as possible and turned to go immediately.

“One moment.”

But a low, subdued voice stopped her in her tracks.

His tone, which should have been familiar, felt somehow different. That brief utterance carried a strangeness she couldn’t quite put into words.

Luna made a deliberate effort to turn her head naturally and look at him.

“What is it?”

“You haven’t asked… about Luna.”

“Oh……”

Adelia and Demian, meeting for the first time in a while.

Though they were not particularly close given the gap between a mistress and the son of a servant, Luna was the common thread between them.

Luna had been someone precious to both of them, so simply exchanging greetings and parting without a single word on the matter was, in truth, a strange thing to do.

Catching herself, Luna hastily added by way of explanation.

“Ah… actually, I heard about it from my mother. I was quite shaken by the whole thing. Luna stealing the family heirloom and a horse and running off like that.”

Demian looked at her with a meaningful gaze and said,

“Then Your Highness must have felt betrayed by Luna. Wanting nothing to do with mentioning her. I understand.”

Luna made a deliberate effort to nod with a composed expression.

“That’s right. I had always treated her so well. I thought of her like a sister, so it was quite a shock at first. But… setting everything else aside, I do think it’s truly a shame that things turned out the way they did for her.”

Demian looked at her face in silence for a long moment.

While enduring his gaze, her fingertips tensed without reason. It felt somewhat like being interrogated, but the worry directed at her made it all the heavier on her heart.

After a brief silence, Demian opened his mouth again.

“Then let me ask just one more thing. Were there any strange signs from Luna, or anything suspicious about her behavior?”

Luna dropped her gaze as though lost in thought for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth.

“Every now and then, she would ask about the Marquis family’s heirloom brooch. How much it was worth. I trusted her too much and told her in detail. I shouldn’t have.”

“I see.”

A short reply came back.

It was both unfair and painful, but Luna had decided it was better to make herself look like the wronged party.

It was the more advantageous choice in every regard.

That way, she could definitively cut off the grief of those left behind, and any attention that might otherwise turn toward her.

The face she found herself looking at, Demian’s face, was noticeably more gaunt than before.

It weighed on her, but it was something that needed to be done, for Demian’s sake as well.

Luna opened her mouth one last time to drive the nail in.

“Demian. That girl may have simply faced the consequences of what she did. She betrayed the Lutenberg household that had taken her in since she was a child. Meeting an end like that was ultimately her own fate.”

Even as she said it, a bitter feeling rose inside her. But knowing this was the best approach right now, she added the words she had no choice but to say.

“So forget about Luna now and live your own life. Becoming a fine physician and living well… that’s probably what she would have wanted for you too.”

When she finished speaking, a brief silence fell.

Demian lowered his gaze very slowly, as though turning her words over one by one, then raised it again and said,

“I……”

“Yes?”

“If there is even the slightest chance of a way, I will search for it to the end.”

“There’s no need to go that far……”

“It would be too sad if everyone forgot her. So please don’t worry.”

It was quiet, but utterly resolute. Luna had no idea what exactly she wasn’t supposed to worry about.

Before she could ask, Demian turned and walked away.

There was no hesitation in his retreating steps, and his expression had shifted to something more determined than before.

At first, he had thought it nothing more than an absurd hypothesis.

Even if the handwriting and painting style resembled each other, a soul changing bodies was impossible by any rational measure. He had wondered if grief over losing Luna had driven him to some kind of delusion.

But actually meeting Adelia and speaking with her had begun to shake that conviction.

No, if anything, his suspicion was growing sharper by the moment.

The way her expression had frozen the instant she saw him, clearly tense. The way she had tried to leave quickly.

Unlike her usual self, who always led with emotion, she had been far too composed. And the things she had said, that Luna had received her punishment and he should forget her, as though she wanted him to give up.

It was also far too strange that someone as stubborn and emotional as her was not searching for Luna to the very end.

She was clearly Lady Adelia, and yet why did Luna keep overlapping with her in his mind. No matter how he thought about it, it was a preposterous idea.

He knew it couldn’t be, and yet once the suspicion had taken root, it would not leave his head.

Right. He would simply find out for himself. It would not be too late after he had confirmed everything with his own eyes.

Striding forward, Demian’s hands had already curled into tight fists at his sides.

* * *

“My lady, an invitation has arrived.”

Luna took the invitation from Marchioness Rosfeld’s art salon, gave the outside a cursory glance, and pushed it aside without opening it.

Since presenting her painting at the marchioness’s salon, the response toward Luna had been warmer than she had anticipated. Riding that wave of enthusiasm, Marchioness Rosfeld had begun sending invitations on a regular basis.

But after visiting Edgar’s former home, Luna had lost all motivation.

The marks that could only come from strong external physical force. Ever since hearing those words, the thought that Adelia might have been attacked by an assailant kept circling through her mind.

In the midst of that growing unease, she was also aware of Caesar’s eyes on her, watching her constant state of distress.

For now, she planned to send a reply to Marchioness Rosfeld’s invitation citing illness as her excuse. It was one of those things she had to do even when she didn’t want to, if only for the sake of appearances as the Grand Duchess.

Luna opened the drawer and took out parchment and a quill pen. Her fingertips, still for a moment, began to move slowly, as though reluctant.

Scratch, scratch.

A short sentence took shape on the paper. With no intention of going further, Luna set down the pen.

She placed the finished letter in an envelope and held it out to Noah, who was nearby.

“Deliver this to the marchioness.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Luna let her gaze fall blankly.

It felt as though something had been almost within her grasp, only to scatter into the air at the last moment. The broken hairpin of Adelia’s sitting on the side table kept nagging at her.

“Noah.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Any news on what I asked about?”

“There have been no reports of anything resembling the green brooch you described.”

The only thing left to rely on now was finding the brooch that had gone missing near the Astrael mountain range.

If it had been lost there, it was possible it had been swept out to sea. And if it had fallen into the hands of robbers or attackers, they would eventually try to exchange it for money.

The same held true even if someone had simply found it. If it had washed ashore and been discovered, there was a good chance it would end up in the market.

So Luna had taken precautions in advance.

She had written to the Marquis household to obtain a detailed drawing of the brooch’s exact form, and on that basis had quietly set Noah to making discreet inquiries.

Even if it was the faintest of possibilities, she had no choice but to lean on it now.

Lost in thoughts with no end in sight, a short knock cut through them all at once.

Knock knock―

“My lady, the new personal physician has arrived.”

A personal physician? She hadn’t heard anything about this. The unexpected announcement sent Luna hurrying to throw on an outer garment before stepping out of her room.

When she arrived at the reception room, Demian was standing there, of all people.

“Demian? Wh, what are you doing here?”

She had thought there would be no more occasions to cross paths with him, so why? The bewilderment showed plainly on her face.

“I mentioned I had some business to attend to……”

She never could have imagined that the “business” in question was an interview for the position of personal physician to the Grand Ducal household.