Rain was falling from an overcast sky.

On the road back from the Grand Duchy to the capital, each drop seemed to rouse a sense of reality she had nearly forgotten.

The long, straight path leading to the capital manor stretched ahead of them. As the carriage passed the rows of trees standing sentinel like knights on either side, Lacy broke the silence.

“Why did you bring me to the Grand Duchy?”

“……What is this, all of a sudden? Didn’t you already know?”

She had thought she did.

During their stay at the estate, she had come to sense, at least in part, what he intended — and it had not felt like a mere passing fancy.

That he was changing.

Whatever the reason might be.

But just when she had been so certain of it, the conversation with Louis on the eve of their departure had shaken that certainty. Louis had made it clear that Rafez already knew about the mistress — and yet he had still brought her here, still

— had said nothing to her of it.

“To make it known — that you are the Grand Duchess, and that you are my wife.”

Rafez answered without hesitation, asking nothing further. In all of this, it was Lacy who was most adrift, and he knew it.

Even if she could not open her heart easily, even if she found herself caught between being a Princess and being a Grand Duchess — Rafez intended to press forward. To keep pressing.

Because unsettling her first was the way out of this trap called marriage.

And there was another pleasure in watching her, apart from all of that. The more he looked, the more he found himself wanting to look. She was that sort of person.

“I see.”

After a long silence, Lacy gave her answer — and at that moment, the carriage drew to a stop.

The door opened. Servants stepped forward with umbrellas, and Lacy and Rafez descended.

“Your Highness. Your Highness.”

Mollys received them with the same unhurried composure as ever, as though he had seen them only yesterday.

“Mollys. I trust you’ve been well.”

“Perfectly so, Your Highness. Was the journey to your liking?”

“Of course.”

Rafez and Mollys exchanged a few words with easy smiles.

“And did the journey suit you as well, Your Highness?”

“……Of course it did.”

At Lacy’s answer, not only Mollys but Rafez himself turned to look back at her in surprise.

“Was that such a surprising answer? I only said the same thing he did.”

“Ah — no, not at all. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed yourself.”

As they stepped inside the manor, Glen, Siz, and the rest of the household staff stood waiting to receive them.

“Siz. It’s been a while.”

Something about seeing Siz again after the time apart felt unexpectedly welcome, and Lacy smiled with her eyes.

“Your Highness, welcome back.”

Siz appeared briefly startled, but composed herself quickly and offered a proper greeting.

“I’ll head in first, then.”

Lacy felt another smile threatening to surface at the reaction, but she turned to say a brief word to Rafez before heading upstairs to her room with Siz.

“What exactly happened while you were away?”

Mollys, who had been watching Lacy go, turned to put the question to Rafez — but Rafez only smiled and said nothing.

In truth, Mollys had worried a great deal when Rafez announced he would be taking Lacy to the Grand Duchy. Anyone in this household would have felt the same. On top of everything, Lacy had been made to leave even Siz behind. It must have been uncomfortable. Difficult.

“The matter I gave you — what came of it?”

“I’ll brief you inside, Your Highness.”

At Rafez’s words, Mollys collected himself and followed him to the study.

“Have a look at this first.”

Once Rafez had taken his seat, Mollys placed a document before him. Even at a glance, it appeared to be quite old.

“……A contract?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Siz, as you may recall, came to us after a period of service at a viscountcy in the northeast.”

“That’s right — Viscount Bilt’s house, if I remember. Nearly ruined — hardly qualifies as nobility anymore. She’d apparently served as a governess of sorts there, which is why I assigned her to Lacy.”

“Upon investigation, it appears that viscountcy has been receiving support from Marquess Jin’s house for over five years.”

“Marquess Jin?”

House Jin was a family close to House Lennon — nobles of the pro-Emperor faction.

“Yes, Your Highness. And Siz has been with House Felista for over five years as well.”

“That is strange. There’s no question about it.”

He had never once suspected Siz. She had been vetted before being assigned to Lacy, and had served House Felista for over five years. And now — Siz was a spy?

“And Marquess Jin’s house, of all places — that makes it stranger still. And Marquess Jin — that’s Pierre Jin’s family.”

“It is, Your Highness.”

But one of the reasons Rafez had suspected a spy in the first place was that Lacy’s second death had been by poison. The image was still vivid in his mind — Lacy bleeding, dying, and Siz frozen in place beside her, clutching her in that final moment — and yet Siz had killed Lacy?

That couldn’t be.

That Marquess Jin’s house had used Siz to kill Lacy? The combination made no sense. Even if House Lennon had been the one to order it through the Marquess.

The more he turned it over, the more absurd it became — and yet beneath the confusion, something uglier stirred.

Pierre. That man had met Lacy at the tea party. Mollys had reported it to him that very day — the two of them, speaking alone together.

And now it turned out the man had planted a spy. Right at Lacy’s side.

If Siz truly was his spy — had the two of them already been passing information behind Rafez’s back, without his ever knowing?

“A spy planted five years ago? Ha.”

A hollow laugh escaped him before he could help it.

“……I have no excuse to offer, Your Highness.”

Mollys bowed his head. He appeared to be carrying genuine guilt over the matter — but this could not be laid at his feet. He had been run off his feet at Rafez’s side all this time, and the fact that he had uncovered it at all was worthy of commendation, not blame.

“No — if anything, I want to know how you found it.”

“Glen had kept all of the maids’ old contracts together. I found them in her room, and conducted the investigation from there.”

Glen. Loyal, steadfast Glen — who had served House Felista for so many years. She had found the poison and brought it to Rafez. She had kept records of every maid in the household.

That must be precisely why she had been the first to go when it all unraveled.

“……I see. Keep a close watch on Siz going forward. What she does, who she meets, where the information is being passed — all of it.”

“Understood, Your Highness. Ah — and what shall we do about Miss Mary’s room? The Grand Duchess’s room is currently unoccupied, so preparations have been made, but——”

Mary’s room?

“I beg your pardon?”

Rafez could not make sense of what Mollys was saying. Mary’s room. What did that mean — and what did it have to do with the Grand Duchess’s room?

“She has occasionally used one of the guest rooms in years past, but now that she would be coming to the manor proper, I found it difficult to judge which room would be most appropriate.”

“What are you talking about. Coming to the manor — who? Mary?”

“Yes, that is what I was told……”

Mollys trailed off, realizing something had gone wrong.

“Explain yourself clearly.”

“Were you not already aware, Your Highness? The former Grand Duke gave the order — that Miss Mary was to be brought in as Your Highness’s mistress, and that we were to make preparations accordingly.”

He quickly produced a letter from inside his coat and held it out to Rafez. Rafez tore it open — and the handwriting was unmistakably Louis’s.

Louis had written ahead and sent the letter to the manor before Rafez had even arrived in the capital? And framed it as though it were already decided?

He couldn’t begin to make sense of what was happening.

“……This is news to me, and it will not be happening. Send the lady-in-waiting outside in immediately, and have her go to the Grand Duchess to ask where she would like to take dinner.”

“Ah — yes. Of course, Your Highness.”

Mollys read the room and hurried out.

It seemed Louis intended to push this through regardless of Rafez’s wishes. In that case — had he already spoken with House Valerian? Had Mary herself agreed to this?

Mary — the very person who had always urged Rafez to take better care of Lacy. That Mary was going to come in as a mistress?

Rafez shook his head, bewildered.

“Your Highness.”

Just then, the door opened and Nain stepped in with a bow.

Nain ran an intelligence guild — his charge was to investigate matters of importance to House Felista and manage information concerning trade, warfare, and the Imperial family. He had been stationed at the Grand Duchy, but Rafez had brought him up to the capital for this particular investigation.

“……Find every spy in this manor. It doesn’t matter who planted them.”

Rafez held out the list of household staff.

Even if Siz was a spy, he had no intention of assuming she was the only one. The Imperial family, House Lennon, House Schkotz — even allied houses — any of them could have planted informants to track the movements of House Felista, a family that rarely showed its face in social circles.

Once a door had been breached, who was to say how many had slipped through?

And now, it was time to find every last one of them.