“Dan, come in. You must have had quite a journey. Mary too.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Mmm! This soup is wonderful, Father!”

Mary took a spoonful of the steaming potato soup and smiled — and Louis, watching her, smiled in return. Mary was like a daughter to him. A child who had always brought laughter and light to a house that had no daughter of its own.

Rafez, observing all of this, could only wonder what exactly was happening.

Sitting with Mary on one side and Lacy on the other — the situation was deeply uncomfortable. The word Father in particular was something he had heard from her since he was very small, and yet somehow it sat strangely with him now.

“Lacy, is your cold all better now?”

“Ah — yes. Graine.”

“That’s a relief. I was worried.”

In the midst of it all, Graine had been keeping an eye on Lacy’s complexion — and Lacy’s response to her question was yet another surprise.

Not Former Grand Duchess — but her name.

Both Rafez and Louis looked up from their meals.

But Graine carried on with the conversation as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

“Do you remember what I mentioned in the garden the other day? I’d like you and Rafez to go and have a look.”

“Where, Mother?”

Something from the garden? Rafez had no idea what she was referring to.

“The orange farm. You’ve come all the way to the Grand Duchy — it would be a shame to spend the whole time cooped up in the estate. I’d love for you to take some time and see a bit of the Grand Duchy while you’re here.”

“Ah — that sounds lovely. The Grand Duchess is feeling better now, and the weather is fine. Let’s get ready and head out soon.”

Rafez had confirmed it before Lacy could get a word in. Lacy only looked at him without saying anything.

“Lacy, you’re all right with this?”

“……Yes.”

Graine asked Lacy directly one more time, and only then did Lacy answer quietly. Going out alone with Rafez wasn’t something she particularly wanted — but staying behind at the estate in the current situation seemed even less appealing.

“Why not bring Mary along as well——”

“Count, when were you planning to head back to the capital? I hear trade affairs have been keeping you busy lately — isn’t that what brought you here?”

“Ah — yes, Your Highness.”

Graine cut Louis off and spoke first, and Dan gave a careful nod.

“You work so hard, Count. Dealing with the Imperial family, making the journey all the way out here to deliver news. And raising Mary so well on top of it all. Mary truly — every time I see her, she looks all the more lovely to these eyes that never had a daughter.”

“You flatter us, Your Highness. Ha ha.”

Louis watched to see what Graine would say next.

“If you’re planning to stay a while longer — since you’ve come to see Mary after all this time, I was thinking I might introduce her to some suitable young gentlemen. What do you say?”

“Graine——!”

“Mary is of marriageable age now. I’m sure there’s a fine match out there for her.”

If you’re planning to stay a while longer.

That was the heart of what Graine was saying. A way of telling them not to remain at Rafez’s side.

Dan understood perfectly. Sending Rafez to the orange farm was also part of it — to have him alone with Lacy.

Lacy was undoubtedly not the daughter-in-law House Felista had welcomed with open arms — and yet.

“As Your Highness says, I do have pressing matters and will need to head back before long. You’ve always been so kind and attentive toward our Mary — I’m sorry for imposing. Please forgive us, Your Highness.”

Dan stepped back, exactly as Graine wished.

“Well, that can’t be helped then.”

Graine smiled, took a sip of water, and only then said,

“Breakfast is simply wonderful this morning.”

* * *

Whether it was thanks to Rafez and Graine joining forces, preparations for the outing moved with remarkable speed — and Lacy soon found herself changed and downstairs before she knew it.

What she had come to feel since arriving at the Grand Duchy was that things kept happening, and she kept being pulled into them against her will.

But perhaps that was only natural. In the Grand Ducal house, Lacy was someone who could do nothing of her own accord.

Someone for whom simply being alive might be considered fortunate.

Lacy was startled by her own thought, and went still.

“Are you leaving now?”

Mary’s voice brought her back.

“You seem to be settling in well — that’s a relief. I’ve been telling Rafez every time I see him to look after you properly. Maybe all that nagging is finally starting to show results——”

“……Are you running away because you don’t want to marry someone else?”

But at Lacy’s words, Mary could no longer hold her smile. The number of times Lacy and Mary had actually spoken was very few — and in particular, Lacy had almost never said anything to Mary of any real substance.

For the first words out of that Lacy to be this — it felt as though Mary had been struck.

“Wh — what did you say?”

“Why not be honest? Is it so difficult? Everyone already knows anyway.”

The Lacy Mary knew was someone who said little. Someone whose inner thoughts were impossible to read. Perhaps that was why, every time Lacy stayed silent, Mary had unconsciously felt at ease.

A scarecrow who can’t even speak, after all.

“If I were to be honest — are you sure you could handle it?”

Mary fixed Lacy with a sharp look. And in response, the corner of Lacy’s mouth lifted just slightly.

“At least that would be better than the hollow pretense you can’t even pull off.”

Hollow pretense? The words hit somewhere that stung, and Mary’s face flushed.

She was about to say something more when——

“Is something amusing? Grand Duchess.”

Rafez came out and noticed the slight upturn at the corner of Lacy’s mouth, and looked at her quizzically. Then his eyes shifted to Mary — whose face, for some reason, had gone a shade of pink.

“Something the young lady said struck me as funny.”

“Did it? What did she say that was so amusing?”

Rafez was genuinely curious. Lacy and Mary were hardly close — so what on earth had they been talking about to produce this reaction?

“Did something happen with you?”

But Lacy drew her gaze away from Mary and redirected the conversation toward Rafez.

The exchange he’d had with Louis in the room came back to Rafez, and he simply shook his head.

“……Nothing of consequence.”

* * *

“What do you mean by that, Your Highness?”

Rafez questioned his own ears. He wanted so badly to believe he had simply misheard.

“Why so startled? Everyone already knows you and Mary were meant to be married.”

“Is that the same as saying to take her as a mistress? And this is the first I’m hearing that we were meant to be married.”

To Rafez, Mary was truly a friend. Nothing more.

At times she even felt like an older sister — given that Rafez had no sisters of his own. Mary was a year older than him, though he had never once called her that.

“Every noble in the empire knows it — and you say you’re hearing it for the first time?”

“How can two people be meant to be married without the parties themselves knowing? If anything, Mary was the one who had marriage discussions with my brother.”

“Yes, the talks were with Derpel — but you are the Grand Duke now. We need a stronger bond with houses that can be a source of strength for us.”

Rafez pressed his fingers to his temple and let out a long breath. He felt feverish, his head growing heavy.

“Father, I am already married.”

“Which is precisely why I’m suggesting a mistress.”

“That’s——”

“I genuinely cannot understand why you’re so angry. Mary has been coming and going at the capital estate regularly even now — and yet you’re saying you can’t take her as a mistress? What is your reason?”

“Mary comes occasionally as my friend, nothing more!”

“A friend. That’ll go over well in social circles, I’m sure. Do you really think others see it that way?”

“If that is the problem, I will bar her from the estate from this day forward.”

“Rafez!”

Louis was caught completely off guard by Rafez’s answer. He hadn’t expected any great enthusiasm — but he had never anticipated resistance this firm.

Rafez had always been reasonably accommodating of Louis’s wishes, and Louis had simply assumed this time would be no different.

“Do you have any thought for Mary at all? You call her a friend — and if you suddenly distance yourself from her, do you have any idea what kind of rumors will spread?”

When asked why he had brought Lacy to the Grand Duchy, Rafez had said simply that it was because of the spy in the estate. But it seemed that wasn’t the whole of it. There was clearly another reason behind this level of resistance.

And yet — to give not even a thought to Mary, who had been at his side from childhood until now.

A brief silence followed.

“……I cannot take a mistress.”

But at the end of it, Rafez said it with the same unwavering firmness — and walked out of the room.