“……Then what do you want.”

Lacy said nothing, her hand still held in Rafez’s. And the longer she stayed silent, the less inclined his hand seemed to let her go.

Even his eyes — persistent, unyielding — refused to let hers slip away.

“Don’t call me by my name, don’t call me Grand Duchess. Then what on earth do you want?”

“……Don’t call me anything.”

“Ha — do you think that makes any sense?”

Rafez let out a short, disbelieving laugh.

“We’re standing face to face right now, and we’ll keep crossing paths — and you’re telling me not to call you anything.”

“Then can you call me Lennon?”

But Lacy’s next words made him question his own ears.

“What did you say?”

Those wavering eyes had steadied again, fixed on him with quiet resolve. Eyes like deep darkness — impenetrable.

“……Let go.”

Lacy wrenched her hand free and opened the door. And then she was gone.

What had he just heard.

Lennon.

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess, is there something you need——”

Karin approached Lacy the moment she came back downstairs, having barely been in the room at all. But Lacy was in no state to respond to anyone.

“I’m fine.”

Lacy walked past Karin and out of the estate entirely.

“Is something the matter, Karin?”

Graine, still sitting alone in the sitting room with her tea, called out. Karin stepped back inside.

It had been Graine’s doing, as Rafez had suspected — she had instructed Karin to show Lacy to Rafez’s room. In her mind, husband and wife ought to share a room.

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess has just stepped outside.”

“Stepped outside — has she gone to look at the garden?”

What Karin had seen of Lacy didn’t suggest someone going for a garden stroll — but she didn’t say as much.

And Graine knew it too. Rafez had just gone upstairs, and Lacy had come right back down. Something had happened, without a doubt.

But she feigned ignorance and spoke again.

“Ah — now that I think of it, dinner preparations must be coming along well. A turn around the garden and then dinner — that would be just right.”

* * *

Rafez was confounded.

But standing there and thinking it through, he came to realize — the one more confounded right now was Lacy.

Those wavering eyes.

He had seen it clearly — those dark eyes of hers, unsteady.

He had kept pressing Grand Duchess on her, and so now she was telling him not to call her that either.

“Ha.”

A laugh escaped him. She was a truly difficult one to read. Every time he pushed, the result came out differently.

If things had started differently — from the very beginning, from the day they married six months ago — would it have come to this?

There was no way to know. Back then, Lacy might have been even more guarded.

“Then can you call me Lennon?”

Lennon. Lennon.

A name he had never once let pass his lips. She already bore the Felista name — and she was asking to be called Lennon.

“Lacy Felista — is that not your name now?”

That memory surfaced without warning.

He had attached the Felista name to a woman who was asking to be called Lennon. What that must have felt like for her — he couldn’t begin to imagine.

She had shut her mouth after that and never said another word.

Come to think of it — that made sense.

Just as Rafez had despised the name Lennon, Lacy must have despised the name Felista just as much.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Karin stepped inside.

“Your Highness, dinner is ready. Please come down.”

Where had Lacy gone, running out of the room like that? The thought came to him first, even as he followed Karin.

“The Grand Duchess…… where is she?”

And absurdly — he had no choice but to call her Grand Duchess again.

“She went out to the garden, Your Highness.”

Boom——

Before Karin had even finished speaking, a crack of thunder split the air.

Rafez stopped mid-step and turned toward the sound. Rain was driving in through the wide-open doors of the estate.

“The Grand Duchess is in the garden?”

Rafez looked at Karin with an expression that said surely not — and Karin, apparently just as startled, couldn’t bring herself to answer.

“That can’t be right — she’s been in the garden this whole time? You didn’t see her come back in?”

Graine, stepping out of her room at just that moment, asked in surprise as well.

With both of them pressing her, it only made it harder for Karin to confirm what she knew to be true.

“Yes…… I didn’t see her come back inside.”

And the moment Karin’s words landed, Rafez bolted out of the estate.

“Rafez!”

Graine’s voice was already beyond his hearing.

The rain began to fall in earnest. The one saving grace was that the Grand Duchy garden was not as vast as the capital estate’s.

Scanning through the downpour, Rafez’s eyes found a figure with dark hair.

It was her.

“Lacy!”

Lacy turned and looked at Rafez.

A rain-soaked man came running toward her. Lacy had nearly failed to recognize him. The rain was already heavy enough that she was thoroughly drenched — and who could have imagined he would come searching for her in weather like this?

Looking at Rafez, soaked through, Lacy felt a laugh rise up before she could stop it.

“Pfft.”

“……You’re laughing?”

Rafez was taken aback at the sight of her smile. It was beyond him. What on earth was there to laugh about right now?

“Never mind that — let’s get inside.”

He collected himself and grabbed Lacy’s hand, pulling her back toward the estate.

In the cold rain, the only warmth was in their joined hands.

“Your Highness!”

Everyone stared in surprise as Rafez and Lacy came in soaked to the bone. Graine was left speechless.

“The Grand Duchess is far too wet. Prepare a bath at once.”

“Ah — yes, Your Highness.”

Karin had the servants and maids bring towels at once.

Rafez wrapped one around Lacy’s head first.

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess, please follow me to the bath.”

Lacy was led upstairs by a maid, and Graine handed a towel to Rafez, who remained behind.

“You’re soaked through as well, Rafez.”

“Let’s hold dinner for a moment. I’ll go wash up first.”

“All right.”

With Rafez gone, Graine stood alone and looked out at the rain still falling hard.

The Grand Duchy was not ordinarily a place of much rain. It was mostly warm and clear, and when winter came, snow would fall — and the snowflakes were so beautiful that many people came to holiday here.

And yet here was this sudden downpour.

“……This isn’t just any rain.”

“Pardon?”

Karin, standing nearby, asked — but Graine only shook her head.

“It’s nothing.”

And turned away.

“I’ll have dinner first. Prepare the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess’s separately in their room.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

* * *

Thud.

Washed and changed, Rafez returned to the room. Dinner had been laid out on the table — two sets of cutlery, Lacy’s included.

“Your Highness.”

Lacy came out of the bathroom door.

Rafez was momentarily caught off guard — but thankfully, Lacy was perfectly presentable.

“Are you all right? Getting caught in the rain like that — you could come down with a cold.”

“I’m fine.”

Silence settled over the room.

It was Lacy who broke it first.

“Are you all right, Your Highness?”

“……I’m fine. Sit down — it looks like dinner has been prepared for us.”

Lacy hadn’t moved a single step from in front of the bathroom. Rafez gestured toward the table with his eyes.

Lacy started toward it — then changed course, stepped in front of Rafez, rose up on her toes, and placed a towel over his head.

At that, Rafez could do nothing but stand there and stare at her.

A towel draped over his head — he must have looked quite ridiculous.

Just standing there, dumbstruck, without a word.

“Water is dripping.”

“Ah.”

Lacy stepped past him and took her seat. Only then did Rafez reach up and dry the remaining dampness from his hair.

“It’s because it isn’t fully dry.”

“You’ll be the one catching a cold, Your Highness.”

He collected himself and sat down across from her — and Lacy picked up her fork and helped herself to a grape first.

Lacy, eating a meal in front of him.

“Is something the matter?”

When Rafez sat without touching his food, only watching her, Lacy paused mid-chew and asked.

“Ah — no. Nothing.”

This was the first time they had sat down together for a proper meal. Before, Lacy had never touched a thing.

Since getting caught in the rain, something about her seemed to have loosened considerably. She had laughed at him — and now here she was, sitting across from him and eating without any sign of strain.

“……Lennon.”

At Rafez’s word, Lacy went still.

She looked at him, her expression gone rigid.