“Why, why are you laughing?”

It wasn’t a hollow laugh, nor a sneer… It was an unfamiliar laughter.

“Your actions are truly unpredictable.”

He muttered, his voice still tinged with laughter. It seems you’re the unpredictable one, not me.

After laughing for a while, Ilion silently put the tissue in the trash bin this time too. Then he immediately started putting on his coat.

“Are you going out?”

“I have something to take care of briefly. You should rest a bit more.”

“When will you be back?”

“Well. It shouldn’t take too long.”

“Then please take me to the night market in the evening.”

“No.”

Why? When I looked at him with an aggrieved expression, he burst into laughter once again.

“Don’t think about going out until your cold is better. Don’t worry. I’m planning to stay here for a while. I’ll let you enjoy the festival when your cold is gone.”

“Then will you take me to El Corsa too?”

“Yes.”

Today, Ilion was strangely agreeable to my requests.

“Oh, and…”

He was about to leave when he turned back to me as if he had forgotten something.

“Thank you for yesterday.”

Ilion’s expression looked somewhat relieved. To the point where I wondered if he was capable of smiling so gently.

After he left, I was left alone, blankly staring at the door where he had disappeared.

To hear a thank you from Ilion… I should feel discouraged and sorry, but my feelings were strange.

For some reason, my face was flushing, and my heart started beating wildly.

“T-This is, well. It’s because of the cold. It’s because I caught a cold.”

I fanned my unnecessarily flushing face, muttering excuses to no one in particular.

Hoping that the sound of my pounding heart would be hidden in my voice.

***

“Hello, Mrs!”

“Hey, you fool. What’s with calling her Madam? You’re showing your lack of education! I’m sorry. Please understand, this guy is uneducated, Madam.”

“Ha… ha…”

You’re both wrong. I’m not married yet. I’m not a Mrs or a Madam, I’m not married yet!

Today’s destination was the office of the Celestine Guild.

Ilion went into the inner room to talk with the local guild master for a moment, and I was being served tea outside.

The two people who had rushed forward to serve me tea were now looking at me with sparkling eyes.

“Finally, the Duke is getting married…”

“I thought those journalist bastards were spreading false rumors again. The Duke getting married… I… I thought our Duke would never be able to marry…”

“What are you doing acting so shamefully in front of the Madam.”

The man who had called me Madam hit the other on the back of the head, scolding him.

Please, both of you… I’m not married yet, so don’t treat it as a fact, okay?

“But, you thought so too. Did you ever imagine the Duke would appear at a hotel with a woman in his arms?”

“T-That’s…”

Unable to deny it, he trailed off. Well, even I would have been skeptical if I heard Ilion had done such a thing.

“Come to think of it, I was curious… How did the Duke get a hotel room when he had no money?”

I understood why we went to the Grand Porto Hotel since it was the closest to the prison… but I still wondered how someone without money could stay at such a hotel.

“…Um, perhaps you haven’t heard?”

He cautiously asked in response to my question.

“Heard what?”

“About the commotion when the Duke appeared at the hotel front desk…”

“At first, the hotel staff thought some beggar was lying, but fortunately, the manager recognized the Duke. Then rumors spread about the woman who came with him.”

“It’s a small town, so when something like that happens, rumors spread quickly.”

I see. No wonder everyone at the hotel was glancing at me when we left.

“Fortunately, it was revealed that you were the Madam, so the rumors subsided without much misunderstanding.”

“Indeed, how could they gossip when the Madam is ill? We should take care of the Madam’s health first!”

Please stop with the Madam…

“Hey, you two. Stop talking nonsense in front of Madam and get back to work.”

Just then, the guild master came out from behind and dispersed the two.

I’m telling you, I’m not a Madam!

“So, are you planning to return today?”

“Yes. I’ve talked with the lord and got a definite answer.”

“I’m glad the matter was resolved well. It’s all thanks to the Madam.”

I hadn’t done anything worth being credited for, unlike Ilion.

“I just followed the Duke…”

I smiled awkwardly, uncomfortable with the praise.

“You don’t need to be so modest.”

“Pardon?”

“This matter was easily resolved thanks to you.”

I thought he might be saying this to mock me, but judging from Ilion’s expression, that didn’t seem to be the case.

And that question was only answered when we arrived at El Corsa.

That day at lunch, we visited El Corsa once again.

As soon as we revealed ourselves as the Duke of Celestine, the waiter’s attitude changed completely. To think we could enter so easily…

Feeling somewhat wronged, I glared at Ilion.

And a moment later.

“…Your Grace.”

“……”

“Please explain.”

“…Well, is an explanation necessary?”

How can he be so shameless?

I stared blankly at the restaurant where plates were flying. Not figuratively, but literally, plates were flying.

“What on earth…”

“Duke Celestine, how…”

“…Looking at Baron Dubier, it seems to be because of you, Your Grace?”

Just as we entered the restaurant and were waiting after ordering food, Baron Dubier appeared before us.

He smiled and joked good-naturedly, saying he was sorry for not recognizing us earlier and asking how we had deceived people so perfectly.

But Ilion’s attitude was cold, and before he could finish his tea, the guards rushed in and started dragging Baron Dubier out.

As a result, plates were flying.

It seemed we would have to give up on the meal at this rate.

“What did you discuss with the lord?”

“Well, I only talked about monster subjugation in the northern region?”

From helping with Ilion’s work, I knew that the Celestine Knight Order was assisting with the defense of the northern region.

Could it be that he threatened the lord with that matter?

“Was that baron behind all this?”

“Yes. The punishment we received that day was too severe for just dining and dashing. It couldn’t have been a coincidence, so I could only think that the baron had done something. When I investigated, it came out quickly.”

Such a clever guy.

“I’m grateful to you. Thanks to you, the matter was resolved quickly.”

I came to interfere with Ilion, but ended up only helping instead.

“More importantly, don’t you need to go after him?”

“…Who?”

Ilion asked, nodding towards Baron Dubier being dragged away. I was already disappointed about not being able to eat crab, and now he was adding fuel to the fire.

“…Why should I?”

When I made a disgusted face, thinking there was nothing to gain by following except going to prison, Ilion replied.

“Wasn’t he your type?”

“……”

I once thought it was his good point that he didn’t hold grudges. I take that back.

***

“Oh my, Miss, what is all this?”

I handed Lily an enormous amount of crabs and said.

“A gift.”

“Oh my, where did you get these?”

“The local merchants gave them out.”

In the end, we had to return without even tasting the special crab dish.

The restaurant had become a mess, and with the unsettled atmosphere, they hurriedly chased out the customers and closed.

I made a fuss in front of Ilion, saying I couldn’t go home feeling so wronged, and he reluctantly headed to a nearby fish market.

And just then, the shop owner who recognized us loaded us up with crabs, saying we didn’t need to pay.

It was because the rumor that Baron Dubier had been arrested had spread among the merchants in less than an hour.

“Did you two have a good time?”

“Good? Don’t even mention it. We were locked up in prison.”

“What? Why?”

“It’s a long story to explain.”

Lily made a puzzled expression.

“Oh, Miss. A letter came from your family…”

“Okay. I got it. I’ll open it later.”

I responded casually to Lily’s words and went straight up to my room, lying down on the bed.

“Ah, I’m dying.”

A groan escapes my lips without realizing. I’ll never follow Ilion out again.

My original goal of tormenting Ilion ended in failure, I didn’t even get to taste the crab dish, and on top of that, I was locked in prison and caught a cold.

It truly was the worst week ever.

I had underestimated the power of my own misfortune.

However, unlike my tired body, my mind kept recalling the events with Ilion and the Saintess.

Since the day after we got out of prison, I had been thinking about Ilion’s curse so much that I could hardly think of anything else.

The spots looked more serious than I thought, and it seemed he hadn’t received the Saintess’s blessing.

I finally understood why he had no interest in the Saintess.

Because things had gone wrong from their first meeting.

Because I couldn’t refuse the Emperor’s dance that day, Ilion must have been paying attention to me. So he probably didn’t have time to talk calmly with the Saintess.

I vaguely thought things would work out, but it seems I was too complacent. Now that I knew, I had to somehow put things back to the way they were supposed to be.

I carefully recalled the story of the original work.

A few days after the banquet, Ilion has a reason to visit the Imperial Palace. That day, Ilion meets the Saintess and has a longer conversation with her while drinking tea in the garden.

I’m not sure exactly when that is, but it probably doesn’t matter much.

The Saintess, who had nothing to do in the palace, always came out to the garden to drink tea at a regular time.

So even though it was a bit delayed, to restore the original story, I needed to find her as soon as possible.