“We greet Your Majesty.”

Rafez and Lacy bowed their heads to Gloff.

“Oh, Grand Duchess. Is your health all right? Did your visit to the Grand Ducal territory go well?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Thanks to your concern.”

Gloff first took Lacy by the shoulders and examined her face.

She had grown thinner, but for now, she still seemed all right.

Only then did he let out a sigh of relief and turn his head toward Rafez.

“It has truly been a long time, Grand Duke. Seeing you after so long, your face seems positively radiant. So, where exactly were you ill that you could not even show your face all this time?”

Unlike when he had spoken to Lacy, every word Gloff spoke seemed packed tight with suppressed irritation.

“I was simply…”

“He caught a cold.”

“Hm?”

And yet.

Just as Rafez was about to answer, Lacy spoke first.

At the unexpected reply, Gloff looked at her.

“What did you say?”

“The truth is, His Highness had caught a very severe cold.”

Rafez was the one more flustered by Lacy’s answer.

He could not understand what she was saying.

A cold?

Rafez had even told her before that he had never once caught something like a cold.

“A cold?”

Gloff also could not hide his bewilderment at Lacy’s answer.

From what he had already investigated, he had heard that there was nothing wrong with Rafez. That was why he had intended to make him pay for daring to neglect affairs of state before the Emperor under the excuse of feigned illness, but…

“Yes, a cold… How did that happen? It is not even the season when influenza is going around.”

“The truth is, I caught a cold first.”

“You, Grand Duchess?”

“I was in the garden when the rain suddenly began to fall… and I caught a terrible cold. His Highness was nursing me, and it seems he ended up catching it from me.”

It was enough to make one doubt their own ears.

Who had nursed whom?

Rafez had nursed Lacy?

“Because the weather in the capital kept raining and clearing over and over, we ended up deciding to visit the Grand Ducal territory for a short while.”

Lacy’s words fit together strangely well.

It was simple, yet impossible to doubt outright.

“Is that true?”

Gloff turned his head back to Rafez and asked with a grave expression. Even knowing Lacy had no reason to lie, he could not bring himself to believe it was true.

Rafez was already flustered as well, but without showing it, he soon nodded.

“That is correct.”

“Ha. I see. So that was what happened.”

A hollow laugh escaped Gloff.

Rafez Felista had nursed Lacy Lennon, and because they had been together, he had caught her cold.

No matter how many times he chewed it over, it was a fact that only made him laugh in disbelief.

Because of that, everything that had been in his mind—punishment and all—was wiped completely blank.

“…I am very pleased.”

“Pardon?”

“When I told you to marry, you refused so fiercely, yet in the end, seeing the two of you getting along so well like this makes me truly happy. Very pleased!”

Gloff quickly changed his expression and smiled with satisfaction.

Rafez could not understand this Emperor.

He must have been flustered. And yet, there he was, smiling and rejoicing so quickly, as though he meant it from the bottom of his heart.

That mask was horrifying.

“Very well. Then are you fully recovered now, Grand Duke?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Even so, you should have told me where you were ill. Why make people worry like that? Do not do it again next time.”

When Gloff patted Rafez on the shoulder with a good-natured smile, Rafez had no choice but to lower his head.

“There will be a meeting tomorrow. I will have the details sent to your mansion. Then I shall see you tomorrow.”

“…Understood.”

The moment he said he had recovered, it was back to work again.

That smile of Gloff’s looked genuinely pleased at the thought of putting Rafez to work.

* * *

After they left the Emperor’s presence and began walking away, Rafez was the first to stop.

No matter how much he thought about it, he could not understand.

Why had she done it?

Why had she told such a lie?

When the sound of footsteps behind her stopped, Lacy soon stopped as well and turned back to look at Rafez.

Rafez was staring at her with a grave expression.

“…Your Highness.”

“What are you thinking?”

The moment Lacy called him, Rafez spoke at once, as though he had been waiting for it.

Lacy had taken the fact that she had caught a cold in the Grand Ducal territory and twisted it into an excuse before the Emperor.

Thanks to that, even the Emperor had let the matter pass.

But no matter how much Rafez thought about why Lacy had done it, there was nothing in this that benefited her.

“Why? Did you not like the excuse I gave? Because I made someone who has never caught a cold even once into a person who had?”

“That is not it.”

“Then what is it? What is the problem?”

Instead, she looked as though she was the one who could not understand him.

Rafez could not easily open his mouth because he could not properly think of what to say.

Frustrated, he bit his lip lightly, then spoke again.

“…I don’t know what you were thinking when you did that.”

“Ah. So you find it strange that you received my help? Or perhaps you think I want something from you.”

Rafez had not thought that far, but now that Lacy said it that way, he thought that might be possible too.

“Is there something you want?”

“No. What I meant by that was…”

Lacy fell into thought.

In truth, it was not as though she had defended Rafez for some clear, precise reason.

Only, from the moment she heard what Rafez said in the carriage, despite thinking it was a good thing, there had been an inexplicable discomfort in one corner of her heart.

She thought it was right to watch and see what happened, yet at the same time, she also felt she could not simply leave things that way.

Why had she done that?

Lacy herself did not know the reason clearly either.

“You nursed me, didn’t you? I simply told the truth. And the trip to the Grand Ducal territory was quite enjoyable too, regardless of what reason you had for going there.”

Rafez had sensed that Lacy’s reaction was better than he had expected, but hearing her directly say that her time in the Grand Ducal territory had been enjoyable was another fresh shock to him.

“And besides, the current incident has not been resolved yet. There is no need to start something with the imperial family right now, is there?”

“…That is a matter for the Grand Ducal House.”

“I am the Grand Duchess, aren’t I? And you said you would not divorce me.”

Lacy stepped closer to Rafez.

Then she asked again.

“Will you divorce me?”

For some reason, Lacy’s eyes seemed to come alive as she asked about divorce.

As though she was enjoying this situation.

It was a question with a fixed answer.

One she had asked while already knowing what answer Rafez would give.

Rafez knew all of that, and yet he still had to give her that answer.

“No.”

“That’s right. You said you would take me hostage.”

Lacy nodded as though it was nothing.

“Does that not make you feel bad?”

“Well. What do you think? Was it something you said to make me feel bad?”

Rafez could not give a clear answer to Lacy’s question.

When he had called Lacy a hostage, he had meant it.

He had intended to keep hold of Lacy and somehow continue digging into the ducal family through her.

But when he had said it so openly to Lacy back then—

“Looking at you now, you don’t seem pleased. What you said isn’t wrong. I suppose there was some part of me that wanted you to feel bad.”

“I see.”

“Because you seemed so composed. Because it felt as though I was the only one shocked. Because it felt unfair. I think that was why.”

Lacy started to speak, then closed her mouth.

At his words that he had wanted her to feel bad, she had actually meant to tell him she had not felt offended.

But Rafez now seemed to be pouring out his true feelings.

“I wanted to see your black eyes waver.”

After saying only words whose meaning she could not understand, Rafez smiled an unreadable smile, passed by Lacy, and walked away again.

* * *

“Rafez! Lacy!”

The moment they entered the mansion lobby, Mary came running toward them.

Mollys, who had been standing beside her, also greeted them.

“You have returned, Your Highness, Your Highness.”

“I had just arrived and heard you had gone to the Imperial Palace, so I was wondering whether I should wait. But you came back right then. The timing is perfect, isn’t it?”

“…What brings you here?”

Rafez’s expression hardened when he saw Mary.

Because Louis had unilaterally tried to bring Mary in as his mistress, seeing Mary’s face had become all the more uncomfortable for him.

Even though Mary visiting the Grand Ducal House had originally been a frequent occurrence.

“What do you mean? I came because I wanted to see you, of course. Since you came back from the Grand Ducal territory, I thought it was about time you called for me.”

“I’m tired. I’ll call you next time, so come again then.”

Rafez turned his head away from Mary.

Even her words that she had wanted to see him now sounded as though they carried a different meaning.

“Tired…? Are you still ill? I heard you went to see His Majesty today.”

Mary showed concern, but to Lacy, who was silently watching the two of them from behind, something else was visible as well.

Hurt.

And disappointment.

Rafez and Mary had been close all this time, and there had been nothing between them that could be called an obstacle.

Whatever their feelings for each other might have been, it meant there had been no reason for them to grow distant.

But what about the distance visible now?

“I had caught a cold.”

“What?”

“While nursing Lacy.”

And as Rafez answered Mary’s question, his eyes were meeting Lacy’s.