Mary’s flustered expression was visible even to Rafez.

“Hey, that’s… well, of course! Wouldn’t it be stranger if I didn’t know what you like and what you usually eat? We’ve spent so much time together since we were children… If you put it that way, I’ll be hurt, you know?”

Mary quickly regained her composure and spoke while giving Rafez a light tap on the shoulder.

Her words did make sense.

Perhaps the only reason it felt strange now was because of what had happened recently.

“Are you done with your work? If you have time, come hang out with me for a bit. Lacy, I’m borrowing Rafez for today, okay?”

“What?”

Then, without even giving Lacy a chance to answer, Mary grabbed Rafez and hurried out of the kitchen.

Lacy simply watched the scene unfold in silence.

Even if Mary had given her time to respond, Lacy would not have stopped her anyway.

To Lacy, this situation looked like nothing other than Mary running away.

There was no particular reason to suspect her.

And yet Mary’s behavior was making Lacy suspicious.

“The count’s young lady seems very strange today.”

“…I’m not sure. She has always been like that.”

A coldness that was subtly different from the way he treated Mary.

Glen greeted Lacy, then walked past her and left.

Lacy watched him go, then smiled silently and nodded.

* * *

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Dragged out into the garden by Mary, Rafez shook off her hand.

How could she suddenly pull him away like that in front of Lacy?

Besides, until he had sorted out his thoughts, he especially did not want to face Mary alone.

“I’m hurt. I mean it.”

“About what? Why?”

“It’s only natural that I know everything about you. You would know everything about me too.”

“I don’t know about that. I don’t know what you like.”

At Rafez’s words, Mary was rendered speechless.

She had known her feelings were one-sided, but she had not realized the difference in the amount of interest they had in each other was this great.

“You said you wouldn’t push me away. You said you would give me a chance too. Even if you refuse to take me as your mistress because of this marriage, because of your honor…”

That day, the day she had finally opened her heart to him at the count’s estate, Rafez had been unable to hide how flustered he was.

He had seemed not to know what answer he should give, so Mary had asked him for one thing.

Not to push her away.

Not to turn away from her because of a marriage he had never wanted, but to look at her just once more.

Gathering her courage again, Mary took Rafez’s hand.

Rafez unconsciously tried to pull his hand away, but when his eyes met Mary’s, he could not bring himself to do it.

“Rafez.”

“…Then why have you been lying to me all this time?”

“What do you mean? I’ve never lied to you. I may not have been able to express my feelings, but…”

“No. You lied to me.”

Rafez spoke with certainty.

“Why did you tell me every day to pay attention to Lacy, to take care of her? You told me that no matter how forced the marriage was, we were still husband and wife.”

At Rafez’s words, Mary’s expression stiffened.

That had been something she did to make herself look good in Rafez’s eyes.

So that she could stay close by his side without being suspected.

So that it would seem as though she had no feelings for him at all.

But now, that very action had come back to her like poison.

“Rafez, that was…”

“You said you’ve liked me for a long time. Then were all those things you said to me until now nothing but an act?”

An act.

The word felt as though it had pierced her heart like an arrow.

Lacy had said the same thing to her before.

Even then, that indescribably awful feeling had tormented her so much that she had been unable to sleep for days.

“At least it’s better than putting on some unnecessary act.”

Lacy’s unpleasant smile seemed to surface in her mind again.

“That’s not it! I did it for your sake. Because I liked you, because I was thinking of you…”

Mary shook her head hard, denying it.

She did not want to hear those words from Rafez too.

No one would ever know how suffocating it had felt every time she told him to take care of Lacy.

“Because you liked me? No. I could never say something like that to someone I liked.”

Rafez could not understand it.

She liked him, so she had no choice but to let him stay married?

He could not accept such a thing.

“If I had been you, I would have told me to get divorced.”

Rafez shook off Mary’s hand again, turned around, and went back into the mansion.

When he had first heard Mary’s confession, he had been unable to understand it. It had been far too bewildering.

But because he had never been in her position, he had not been able to reject her rashly from the start.

Yet even now, thinking about it again, he still could not understand her.

How could she claim she liked him, yet live that way all this time?

“Why are you back already?”

When Rafez flung the door open and entered, Lacy, who had been sitting on the sofa, looked at him in surprise.

“I said everything I needed to say.”

“What about the young lady?”

“She probably left. I don’t know.”

Rafez dropped heavily into the seat across from Lacy.

It was strange for him to say he did not know when he had just been with her, but Lacy asked no further.

“Your Highness, the physician from the Grand Duchy has just arrived.”

Just then, Mollys entered, greeted them, and spoke. Rafez’s face brightened.

“Really? That’s good. For now, tell him to unpack in the guest room and rest.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“A physician?”

“You’ve seen him before. I called the one who examined you.”

“Why did you call him…”

An inexplicable, uneasy premonition wrapped around Lacy.

The physician had not simply come for a brief visit. He had even packed his luggage and was settling into the mansion.

For whose sake?

“You know,” Rafez said, looking at Lacy with a gentle smile rather than giving her an answer. “I understand you a little now too, Lennon. I know you’re quick-witted.”

To Lacy, that smile looked nothing but unpleasant.

“Even when you ask while pretending not to know, I know you’re asking because you already do. I know you’re reading everything inside me.”

Lacy had always been a person whose inner thoughts were impossible to grasp.

No matter how deeply he looked into her eyes, all he could see was pitch-black darkness.

But though she always seemed quiet and almost without presence, he had come to realize that in truth, she was already reading what was inside other people.

When she had exposed Siz as a spy.

When she had noticed that Rafez possessed poison even though he had not told her.

She was someone who, after hearing a single sentence, would trace through every circumstance that had led to that sentence being spoken.

“…This is pointless.”

Lacy did not deny it.

“How do you know that? He’s the Grand Duchy’s physician. Do you think he can’t cure even one illness of yours?”

“Then why do you think the ducal family’s physician couldn’t cure me?”

“We don’t know that. Every person has a different field of research, and the Grand Duchy and the ducal family have especially different environments. Why won’t you consider the possibility that you can live?”

“Why do you want to save me?”

She could not understand.

Why he wanted to involve himself so deeply in her death.

Why he was trying so hard to keep her alive.

“That’s obviously…”

“Yes. If I die, the ducal family and the Imperial Family will hold you responsible somehow. There’s also the marriage contract we wrote. But is that all?”

At Lacy’s question asking whether that was all, Rafez felt as though she had struck a vital point.

“Not things like using me as a hostage.”

Lacy was relentless.

“You said you know I’m quick-witted. You said you know I’m reading what’s inside you. Is there another reason you’re trying to save me? Do I look pitiful to you because I’m going to die soon?”

Pitiful.

It was not exactly wrong.

The more he came to know her, the more sorry he felt for her.

But could that word explain the whole reason?

“If I simply want to keep seeing you alive, is that a problem?”

The truth was, he did not really know.

Even Rafez himself did not clearly understand what that reason was.

“…Pardon?”

“Pity. Yes, that might be it. And beyond that, I think it could even be compassion.”

“Compassion?”

Lacy repeated the word to make sure she had heard him correctly.

She had thought compassion was a warmer feeling, something beyond simple pity.

Rafez felt compassion for her?

Was that really what he was saying?

“Yes. It certainly isn’t a normal emotion. The thought of you dying makes me angry.”

“That’s because if I die, the consequences…”

“No. I’m just angry. When I think that I won’t be able to see you again, I get even angrier.”

Lacy had decided to face Rafez.

She had accepted reality.

But seeing him speak to her like this was still something she could not get used to, no matter how firmly she had resolved herself.

Even though she had vowed not to waver, she could not help but waver again in front of him.

“Ha. I never thought I would be the one saying this, but… give me time.”

Rafez let out a deep sigh and roughly swept a hand through his hair.

His once-neatly arranged hair became disheveled, revealing his forehead.

“There’s no way to know how far a feeling that changed from anger to compassion will continue to change.”

“…”

Lacy silently looked into his eyes, which seemed to burn with blue flames.

“When I come to know the end of it, I’ll tell you.”