When Lacy had placed that towel over his wet hair — he had been so caught off guard then.

So this was how it had felt.

“……What are you doing right now?”

Lacy asked, her hand still held in his.

Every time she looked at Rafez, he hadn’t seemed unwell — and yet the rumors kept circulating, and even here at the Grand Duchy he hadn’t denied them, so she had thought she ought to check.

“Feel for yourself. Do I seem sick to you?”

“It doesn’t feel like you have a fever.”

“There you go. You have to find out for yourself.”

Rafez wasn’t ill.

Lacy withdrew her hand and rubbed it against her skirt absently, then asked again.

“But why haven’t you told anyone what’s actually wrong?”

“Why would I bother clarifying a rumor I started myself?”

“Pardon? But still — at least your parents——”

“Mother’s worrying is nothing new. But more importantly — are you concerned about me, Lennon? I find I don’t mind that at all.”

Lennon. And Felista.

It felt as though, just as Rafez had said, the names had simply settled into place between them now.

“I did no such thing.”

“Even so — it’s not as though the truth is hidden from everyone anymore. I’ve told you, after all.”

Rafez turned away from Lacy and took off his coat. Her eyes followed him.

“So — will you tell someone eventually?”

“Tell who?”

“Anyone. Your mother, perhaps. Or when you’re back in the capital.”

“……I’m not sure.”

Click — the sound of the door opening, and then closing again.

Rafez turned around. Lacy was already gone.

She had said she wasn’t concerned about him — but that hardly mattered to him anymore. She had called him Felista in the end, and she had asked after his health.

All this time, it seemed they had both been trying not to let their family names weigh on them.

Even after Rafez had come to recognize Lacy as Grand Duchess — as his wife — he had been trying to see her apart from House Lennon.

But now he understood. That approach had been wrong.

* * *

“Your Highness the Grand Duchess.”

Lacy, coming down the stairs to put some distance between herself and Rafez, came face to face with Karin.

“The Former Grand Duchess would like to have tea with you. She is waiting.”

Where Karin led her was not the sitting room from the day before. It was Graine’s own room — the Former Grand Duchess’s quarters.

A wide room with a cozy-looking sofa came into view. Even with the curtains drawn halfway across the window, warm sunlight was finding its way through.

“Lacy, you’ve come at just the right time. It seems the rain has stopped outside and the sun is coming out.”

As Lacy took the seat across from Graine, the maids prepared their cups.

“Today it’s a different tea.”

Graine poured the tea, and Lacy lifted her cup and breathed in the scent.

“Peppermint.”

“That’s right — it’s good for colds. Are you all right after getting caught in the rain yesterday?”

“Yes, for now.”

“‘For now’ is right. There’s no cause for relief just yet. You may feel fine and then have symptoms appear come evening. That’s why I had plenty of peppermint prepared. Make sure to drink some in your room tonight as well.”

“……Thank you, Former Grand Duchess.”

A sip of the warm peppermint tea — it felt as though the fatigue was easing with it.

“Is it still so difficult, I wonder? Changing how you address me. You’re welcome to use my name. Just as I call you Lacy.”

A warm person.

And yet — no one’s true heart could ever be known. That was the nature of nobility. Lacy was well aware of it. She was the same way herself.

Especially when that person was the Former Grand Duchess of House Felista — the house of her enemies.

It would be natural to be hostile. But even without hostility — how could one know what lay beneath?

She had lost her own son.

“I’ll try, Graine.”

But at the very least — she couldn’t ignore the sincerity that showed on the surface.

They were enemies. But she was also her mother-in-law now.

At Lacy’s answer, Graine’s expression shifted from surprise to quiet joy.

“Yes, Lacy…… Thank you.”

After their tea, Lacy and Graine stepped out into the garden.

It was an entirely different world from the day before. Sunlight glimmered, and the green leaves of the plants gleamed with a fresh luster.

“To be honest, yesterday’s weather puzzled me as well. The Grand Duchy doesn’t get much rain as a rule. Thunder included — that really was something we haven’t seen in quite a long time.”

Graine, perhaps sensing that Lacy had opened up a little, grew even warmer. The way she shared little stories and bits of conversation felt genuinely like a mother-in-law with her daughter-in-law.

And so Lacy, just for a moment, was able to forget everything and let her thoughts go still.

“By the way — what exactly is wrong with Rafez? Is he truly unwell?”

Lacy only smiled without answering. Then, as though something had come to mind, she added——

“Perhaps he caught a cold from getting caught in the rain yesterday.”

“Oh, Rafez doesn’t catch colds easily. I’ve never once seen that boy come down with one. How else would he have endured the northern battlefield? I hear it’s bitterly cold up there, with heavy snowfall.”

Ah — come to think of it, Rafez was a war hero.

Lacy felt as though she had somehow forgotten that fact for a very long time.

“I don’t know how long you’ll be staying in the Grand Duchy — but tomorrow, if there’s nothing pressing, what do you think about visiting the farm?”

“A farm?”

“Yes. I’ve been wondering how the orange harvest is coming along this year. If we picked a few, we could make a cake with them — that would be lovely.”

An orange farm. It did seem like it might be better than staying cooped up in the estate — but she couldn’t help worrying that she was gradually coming to know the Grand Duchy a little too well.

“Are you feeling warm? Your face looks flushed.”

“Pardon? I’m fine — cough!”

The moment she spoke, her throat tickled suddenly. She had been perfectly fine just a moment ago.

“Lacy, are you sure you’re all right?”

Graine reached out and took Lacy’s hand. Her hand was warm.

No — not just warm. It was——

“It seems you have a bit of a fever.”

“Cough, cough. No, I’m just warm.”

Every breath through her nose tickled her throat on the way down, and Lacy had been holding it in — but the moment she spoke, the coughing started.

“Let’s go inside for now. Karin, please take the Grand Duchess to her room.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

It did seem to be a cold after all.

Lacy was brought up to her room and settled into bed — not quite lying down, not quite sitting up, but propped at an angle with the covers drawn over her. One moment she felt feverish, the next a chill crept in.

Strange. She had been perfectly fine just this morning — and only now the cold was making itself known.

* * *

“Welcome back, Your Highness.”

Karin greeted Rafez as he returned from his business.

The Grand Duchy estate had its own butler — Leo — but he remained constantly at Louis’s side given Louis’s poor health, and so his role differed somewhat from Mollys’s at the capital estate. As a result, it was Karin the head maid who handled much of the day-to-day affairs here.

“Dinner——”

“Never mind that. Though I have to say — it still feels strange. Karin calling me Your Highness.”

“You’ve been hearing it for days now, and only just noticing?”

Karin was young for a head maid.

She was someone who had looked after Rafez often when he was a child. Back then, it had been Karin’s mother who was head maid — and now that role had passed to Karin.

“Just as I became head maid, you simply became Grand Duke, Your Highness.”

“I suppose so.”

He had thought, in some vague and distant way, that it would be good to come back to the Grand Duchy. His body had long since grown up — but he had still missed this place where he had spent his childhood.

Now that he was actually back, the feeling wasn’t simply pleasant.

He realized, with a strange freshness, that all of it had become the past — something that had simply gone by.

Even stepping back into his own room, looking at the worn furniture, he had felt an odd sense of displacement — as though he were standing in a space that belonged to another time.

Rafez shook his head and cleared the thought away.

“And the Grand Duchess?”

“About that — it seems she may have come down with a cold, Your Highness.”

“A cold?”

“Yes, Your Highness. She’s been coughing, and it seems she has a fever as well. Ah — I was just about to bring her the peppermint tea——”

“I’ll take it up.”

“Pardon?”

Just then a maid came out carrying the peppermint tea — and before Karin could say a word, Rafez took it from her and headed straight for the stairs.

Karin watched him go in silence, then caught herself and followed after him, opening the door for him since his hands were full.

The room was dim, lit only by candlelight.

Rafez set the tea on the table and looked at Lacy, propped at an angle on the bed with her eyes closed.

Surely she hasn’t died?

Seeing her so still, the thought flashed through his mind before he could stop it.

He reached out and placed his hand on her forehead — and the feverish warmth told him she was alive. Rafez let out a quiet breath of relief. Then caught himself.

She has a fever. Being relieved about that is hardly the right response.

“She’s running quite a fever. She shouldn’t be lying like that — let’s get her properly settled.”

“Ah — yes, Your Highness.”

With Karin’s help, Rafez carefully laid Lacy down properly.

“Mmm……”

It seemed as though she might wake — but whether by luck or otherwise, the fever had pulled her into a deep enough sleep that she only stirred slightly.

“I heard you were out on business last night, Your Highness — but not tonight, I take it? As it happens, the Grand Duchess asked earlier whether another room could be arranged, so I’ve had the room next door tidied up.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Pardon? Ah — with the Grand Duchess being unwell and all, I thought it might be better to sleep separately……”

Karin sensed instinctively that she had said the wrong thing.

She wasn’t sure why — Rafez’s expression and eyes were difficult to read in the darkness — but that single question, what do you mean by that, sent an inexplicable chill through her.

“She has a fever like this. How could I leave her alone?”

“If that’s the concern, you needn’t worry, Your Highness. We’ll check on her regularly——”

“That’s enough.”

Rafez cut her off cleanly.

“You may go. And don’t mention the other room to the Grand Duchess again.”

“Ah — yes, Your Highness. Understood.”

She had been cold — but she was no longer cold. She was warm. She wanted to go back to sleep.

Warm. And solid.

She was just closing her eyes again, on the edge of drifting off —

Lacy’s eyes flew open.

Solid? What is?

Coming back to herself, she felt something firm just beside her head. She had been leaning against something.

Surely not. It couldn’t be.

What are you thinking, Lacy.

She told herself it couldn’t be — and yet she had to check. She had to know what that solid thing was.

As carefully as she possibly could, Lacy lifted her head.

The tiniest movement felt dangerous — as though it might wake someone. Even as she told herself there was no one there to wake.

If there was someone lying beside her right now. If she had been leaning against a person.

Who would that person be?

Bit by bit, it came into view. It was a person. Undeniably.

A jaw. Lips. A nose. Long lashes. Hair catching the sunlight, gleaming a warm brown.

He was not awake — thankfully. But Lacy already knew who he was.