“Avoid cold foods as much as possible, and keeping your body warm is……”

“You nag just like my mother.”

“Now that I’ve taken on the role of House Valenstein’s personal physician, it’s only natural.”

Luna paused for a moment. The image of Demian from her days as a maid, lecturing her to take care of herself, overlapped with the one before her now.

The fact that she was hearing the same nagging even now that she had become Adelia left her with a strange, faintly bitter feeling, as though he had stayed the same while only her own circumstances had changed.

Demian opened his mouth again.

“Is life here at the Grand Ducal residence… to your satisfaction?”

It was a question of a different nature than the ones before. Luna paused her pen and composed her expression before looking up.

“Yes. As you can see. More than satisfied. He treats me wonderfully.”

“I see. I asked just to be sure. Stress can directly affect the body’s balance, so understanding one’s mental state is important as well.”

Just then, a maid brought in the brewed medicine, and Luna put it in her mouth along with the pills, swallowing it all down with water.

As she moved to tidy up the papers, her fingertips slipped slightly and the envelope nearly fell.

“Careful.”

Demian naturally reached out to catch it, and in doing so took hold of her hand.

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Just then, a knock came from outside the door.

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess, it is nearly time for you to go out.”

Noah’s voice prompted Luna to set down the pen she had been holding.

“Would you head back now? I have a schedule today and need time to get ready.”

Demian nodded and said, “Yes. Of course.”

As Luna left the room with the maids to prepare, Demian’s gaze lingered briefly on the desk where she had been sitting.

Among the pile of invitations was a single reply letter.

He moved toward it naturally and quietly slipped the letter bearing her handwriting into his br*ast pocket.

Then he stepped back from the desk and bowed his head politely.

“Then I will take my leave for today.”

His eyes shifted for just a moment with a meaningful light, but the change was too subtle to catch. With a brief farewell, Demian quietly left her room.

* * *

Luna boarded the carriage a step behind schedule. Whether from the rush, her breathing had grown short and labored.

Caesar was already seated inside, waiting quietly for her.

Today was the day the expansion construction of Saint Lumen Orphanage was set to begin. They had received an invitation to come celebrate together, and so they were heading to the orphanage.

“I’m sorry for being late. I had to take my medicine……”

Caesar gave a light nod and looked at her with a curious expression.

“The physician is quite diligent. He’s already brought the medicine.”

It was normally something that took at least a few days. The medicinal herbs had to be selected, dried, compounded, and then decocted.

And yet it had been far too fast. Almost as though he had prepared it in advance.

Luna spoke with a neutral expression.

“I thought it would take a few days, but he must be very quick with his hands. He brought everything, the decoction to take after meals and the pills as well.”

“I see.”

Not long after she settled into her seat, the carriage began to move slowly. The sound of the wheels grazing the gravel came through in a steady rhythm.

Caesar, gazing out the window, spoke at an unhurried pace.

“You seem to have known that physician for quite some time.”

Luna glanced to the side for a moment before answering.

“We’ve known each other for a long time, but there was never any particular connection between us. I only occasionally saw Demian’s father when I was unwell. He was close with a maid I was fond of… but with me, not so much……”

Caesar fell back into silence. The fingers resting against his chin moved almost imperceptibly. He seemed to be turning something over in his mind.

“Could it be… the maid you mentioned before? The one called Luna.”

The moment her own name passed through Caesar’s lips, Luna froze as though her breath had stopped.

Her name was common enough that several girls at the orphanage had shared it. It was the kind of name that was just as easily forgotten.

And yet Caesar had remembered the name “Luna.” That fact struck her as strangely unfamiliar, and somehow a little unexpected.

Luna steadied her expression and answered him.

“I beg your pardon? Oh… yes. That’s right.”

“Given how generously you’ve supported the orphanage, it seems you were quite fond of that maid… where is she now?”

Luna’s eyes shifted almost imperceptibly at the unexpected question.

Normally, if a mistress was fond of a servant, she would keep them close even after marriage. It was easier to bring along those who had served her for a long time from her family home than to train someone new.

But Luna had brought no one. That was partly because there had been no opportunity, and partly because it was the obvious choice for keeping her identity from being discovered.

Recalling that, Caesar’s question was not entirely without reason.

Momentarily at a loss for words, Luna dropped her gaze and said nothing. Where to begin, what to say, and what to conceal; a chain of thoughts wound endlessly through her mind.

Then, in the midst of that deep contemplation, a sudden idea flashed through her.

The news of Luna’s disappearance, or rather Adelia’s, was already an open secret at the Lutenberg manor, and something Caesar could find out without much difficulty.

What if she simply told him the truth about her whereabouts and asked for his help?

Caesar could perhaps become her most powerful ally. Searching for Adelia’s whereabouts on her own might be far less effective than borrowing his strength.

Her reasoning was that if she told him the maid had stolen the family heirloom and fled, he might actively lend his assistance.

After hesitating for a long while, Luna began to speak to Caesar with some reluctance.

“The truth is… she left the Lutenberg manor just recently. I suppose life there didn’t suit her.”

Luna paused to collect herself, then opened her mouth again.

It began as a careful, tentative story.

The things Adelia had done after becoming Luna, and the fact that she had ultimately gone missing.

When the story ended, only the sound of the wheels rolled quietly through the carriage.

Caesar listened to the end without a word, his expression unchanged.

When the last words fell, a brief silence passed before his lips slowly parted.

“That must have been a shock. It sounds like she meant a great deal to you.”

She couldn’t be certain whether confiding in him had been the right choice or the wrong one, but the Caesar she had come to know was not the bloodless, tearless person the world made him out to be.

He understood loyalty, and he did not turn away from those who were vulnerable. Luna studied him carefully before speaking.

“…So I was wondering. Could you help me?”

Caesar gave a short nod. It was an answer without the slightest hesitation.

“Re, really?”

“Yes. Why do you look so surprised?”

“Ah, it’s just… I didn’t think you’d agree so easily. I thought you might say I was wasting time on something pointless.”

“You seemed to care for that maid a great deal. I thought you should at least know how it ended for her. Whatever the reason, a bond that precious is something you’re lucky to encounter even once in a lifetime.”

Having already read Luna’s feelings from her expression and manner alone, Caesar said it in a composed tone.

He could seem like the most cold-blooded of men, and yet at moments exactly like this, he would show an unexpected consideration. It was always Luna herself who ended up caught off guard.

In any case, the irony of him setting out to search for her was not lost on her, but knowing it would be far easier than wandering alone, she felt a weight lift from her chest.

Keenly aware of his gaze fixed directly on her, Luna cleared her throat for no real reason and quickly changed the subject.

“By the way… the weather is lovely.”

“It looks like rain.”

“Oh, d, does it?”

Luna’s gaze drifted here and there, and her fingers fussed needlessly with the hem of her skirt.

A very faint smile crossed Caesar’s lips as he watched her fidget.

Pfft―

Caesar was still looking at Luna’s face with that meaningful expression.

“We’ve arrived.”

The coachman’s voice came from outside the carriage.

“Let’s go.”

Caesar extended one arm toward her. Luna looked up at him for a moment, then smiled faintly, placed her hand on his arm, and stepped down from the carriage beside him.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Demian Elliott’s room.

“Demian, it’s time for dinner.”

His mother’s call came through from beyond the door.

But no sound came from inside the room. Mrs. Elliott hesitated for a moment, then flung the door open and spoke to him.

“Why have you been skipping meals so often lately? How can you see patients properly like this? You’ve been… very unlike yourself lately, Demian.”

Demian, seated at the desk by the window, turned his head a beat late and answered her.

“I’m fine, Mother.”

His voice was low and subdued, and his expression equally heavy. The unfamiliar look on his face made Mrs. Elliott’s own expression slowly stiffen.