Of course Mary knew.

Rafez had never once caught a cold before.

And now that Rafez had caught a cold?

So he had set everything aside and even taken sick leave?

And while nursing Lacy, of all things?

“What are you saying right now…”

Mary was not the only one surprised.

He spoke as though he disliked it, though?

Lacy, who had been looking at Mary and realizing the woman’s feelings for Rafez, could not understand this action of his most of all.

She did not know exactly what kind of person Mary was to Rafez, but she was a friend he had known for a very long time, and at the very least, someone precious to him.

Was it really all right for him to say this to Mary?

“I still have some traces of the cold left, you see. I’m tired. So will you leave for today? I’ll visit the count’s estate within the next few days.”

But Rafez tossed out the words as though it did not matter, and before Mary could answer, he took Lacy, who had been standing quietly, by the wrist and led her upstairs.

All Mary could do was watch the two of them disappear before her eyes.

* * *

“…Let go of me now.”

“Ah.”

At Lacy’s words, Rafez seemed to realize it only then and released her hand.

“My apologies. If I hadn’t done that, Mary did not seem as though she would leave.”

“Why are you trying to avoid her? It’s only natural for the young lady to come to the Grand Ducal House.”

“Natural? Was it?”

Rafez asked back as though he truly had not known.

Lacy found that even more absurd.

Was he really asking because he did not know how often Mary usually visited the Grand Ducal House?

Considering that even Lacy, who rarely left her own room, had run into Mary several times a month, Mary must have met Rafez far more often in reality.

After all, she would naturally have come to see Rafez.

“Was that why you were upset, by any chance?”

“What if I was? Will you tell her not to come to the Grand Ducal House anymore?”

“I should at least tell her to come less often. If she comes too frequently, then unpleasant… rumors like now may arise.”

Rafez seemed to hesitate for a moment at the word rumors.

After his conversation with Louis back then, he had ordered someone to look into the rumors circulating in society, and among them, he had learned that there really were rumors about him and Mary.

He did not feel good about the existence of such rumors, and he thought they were damaging to the image of the Grand Ducal House as well. But more than anything, what bothered him most was whether Lacy had heard those rumors too.

After all, there was no way the ducal family would not know about them.

“I don’t know what rumors you mean, but Lady Mary was supposed to enter this mansion anyway, wasn’t she?”

“That will not happen. Absolutely not.”

Rafez declared it at once.

“How can you know that? People never know what will happen. We didn’t know we would end up like this either.”

“What… do you mean by that? That we ended up like this?”

“Mm, I mean I never thought we would face each other like this. That we would talk like this. Or that we would stand in the same room together like this.”

Lacy was right.

He had never imagined he would marry the daughter of Duke Lennon’s family, his enemy.

But he had also never once imagined that facing her like this and speaking with her would become natural.

Natural?

He was not entirely certain about that yet.

“So, there is something I want to ask about what you said earlier.”

“Go ahead.”

“When you said you wanted my eyes to waver… I don’t understand what that meant.”

Even as Lacy spoke, she felt confused.

She was not even sure whether she had heard him correctly earlier, or whether it was right for her to ask this question now.

But in this state of confusion, she could not think about anything else at all.

“I don’t know exactly either.”

“Pardon?”

But Rafez’s answer only bewildered her more.

He did not even know the meaning of his own words?

“Are you joking right now?”

“No. That was certainly sincere. I do not lie.”

Lacy could feel that much as well.

Rafez was not someone who enjoyed deceiving others or making up different words.

“I don’t know exactly either. Why I want you to waver and be confused. Why I want to see you like that.”

Rafez’s hand took Lacy’s again.

Her cold, dry hand seemed to gradually lose its chill under Rafez’s warmth.

It was a beautiful hand—thin, long, and straight. Yet what made it painfully sad was the fact that it only looked that way because she had been unable to put on weight.

Rafez tried gripping that hand with strength.

It must have hurt, but Lacy gave no reaction, as though she was enduring it. She only looked at Rafez.

“…Would it be easier to understand if I called it revenge?”

The shock I suffered because of you. That pain that pierced my heart. The confusion whose reason I could not understand. If I want you to feel even a little confusion because of me.

As he called it revenge, his gaze was rational and calm.

Was there anyone else who could speak of revenge so calmly?

And yet, rather than the savage vengeance of someone holding a blade and threatening to kill at once, this man’s words, quiet as a still lake, felt even more frightening.

Because it seemed as though the surging waves hidden beneath that lake might come crashing in.

* * *

The next morning.

“The war has already ended. Are you saying we must still waste precious time like this because of the war?”

“Ended? Do you truly think so?”

“Small clashes are still breaking out in the border regions even now, so what are you talking about?”

“How can such minor skirmishes be called a war?”

“The war is already over. His Highness the Grand Duke ended it, did he not?”

“What sort of thing is that to say? His Highness the Grand Duke ended the war? The one who ended the war was His Majesty the Emperor!”

The conference room was already noisy with the quarrels of several nobles.

From the moment Rafez heard the voices spilling out into the corridor, his heart had already returned home more than a hundred times.

He missed that brief time when he had been able to rest.

“It is true that His Highness the Grand Duke ended the war! Are you denying that?”

Rafez had already entered the conference room, but with the atmosphere so overheated, no one seemed to notice him. The imperial attendant who had guided him there was also watching the mood and could not easily announce Rafez’s arrival.

If they had time for such pointless arguments, how much better would it be if they discussed actual policy instead?

Whether someone insulted him or refused to acknowledge him, Rafez only thought that all that energy was a waste.

“How can you insist the war ended just because he won a few times?”

“Yes, I merely won a few times.”

At Rafez’s low voice, the atmosphere froze in an instant.

Count Florant, who had boldly spoken the last words, stiffened at once and seemed to struggle to turn his rigid neck backward.

Rafez waited for him.

When their eyes finally met, Rafez gave him a faint smile and only then stepped forward.

“How many times was it? Shall we count? Once when I first went as support, twice in the gorge, and then five battles against General Feleb, all victories. After that, I believe I fought countless times before taking Benerlov. I probably gave up counting the days after the five-hundredth day.”

Rafez casually folded his fingers as he counted, but once he ran out of fingers to fold, he gave up counting and lowered his hand.

“No matter how good my memory may be, I cannot possibly remember every single time I won. Judging from that, it must not have been merely a few times. Well, perhaps it was only a few dozen. Wouldn’t you agree, Count?”

Rafez spoke with a kindly smile, but to those listening, it was the sort of smile that sent a chill down their spines.

“Pardon? Ah, yes. Well, my memory is not very good either…”

“Yes, that can happen. I understand completely. I cannot remember it all myself, after all. How could a count of such advanced age possibly remember so many things?”

Count Florant had been about to let out a sigh of relief when Rafez smiled and let the matter pass, only for his heart to nearly stop again at the next words.

“But I am still young, and my memory is rather good.”

By then, the smile had vanished from Rafez’s lips.

“I will make sure to remember you for a very long time, Count Florant.”