‘Again?!’

“Ah.”

She was so startled that she almost let out a scream-like exclamation but ended up biting her tongue. Iella glared at the door with a pained expression as a tangy taste spread in her mouth.

There was one more person who had begun to change differently than expected. That was the emperor, Helios.

He was the opposite of the others whose contact or meeting frequency had decreased. From the day after her outing with Chase until now, he had been sending the chief chamberlain to the secondary palace every day to summon her.

However, she had not responded to any of those summons yet. Though she felt uncomfortable, there was no problem.

Recalling what she had heard before, this attitude was actually more like Ailexia.

Considering how the chief chamberlain had withdrawn without much comment upon her refusal, she wasn’t wrong.

‘Vanessa also said I was doing well.’

Iella cleared her throat with a “Hmm hmm.” She planned to refuse this time as well.

Since he always seemed to come when she was alone, as if playing a prank, she had been very troubled and her heart had pounded when she first refused, but now she seemed to have gotten used to it and felt nothing special.

She only wondered why the emperor kept doing something that yielded no results.

But the moment Iella opened her mouth, a statement like a bolt from the blue dropped.

“His Majesty said that if he receives the same answer this time, he will come personally next time.”

This time, it seemed the emperor had no intention of backing down.

* * *

The place Iella was reluctantly guided to was some training ground.

Slightly relieved that she was heading outside rather than to an enclosed indoor space, Iella suddenly became perplexed. The knights lined up on one side all stared at her at once.

Iella’s face turned pale. She felt like she would suffocate under the pressure of dozens of pairs of eyes.

‘Why did he call me here? Perhaps… to threaten me with a sword?’

It didn’t seem unlikely that the tyrant who had killed his own blood would hesitate to kill Ailexia. He might have been lenient so far, but this time he might be looking to end it.

‘Was I refusing too much? Maybe this was a test for Ailexia, or no… he might have been creating additional justification to kill her…’

Iella bit her lip firmly. This time she had nothing to say. It wasn’t Ailexia’s mess but the consequence of her own choices.

“Please wait here for a moment.”

Unaware of her feelings, the chief chamberlain stopped at one spot. Iella, who had been staring at the ground the whole time, raised her gaze and blinked at the sight before her.

Under a cool-looking tree shade, a place to sit and watch the training ground had been prepared. And in quite a luxurious manner too. There was even cool iced tea with ice on the table.

‘…Is this meant to be my last rest?’

Iella’s face lost even more color as she looked at that space. It seemed like nothing but a final rest, like a last supper.

If not that, there was no way the emperor would do such a thing, show such consideration to Ailexia.

No, what consideration? Perhaps the chair was even coated with poison.

“Lady Ailexia?”

“Ah, ah. Yes.”

When she just stood still, the chief chamberlain called out with a puzzled voice. Iella awkwardly nodded, barely moving her stiffly frozen neck.

But she didn’t sit down and just stood quietly beside it.

In truth, even if there really was poison, it would affect Ailexia’s body, not her. She would feel pain to the point of death, but after that, she would open her eyes again in her original body.

But that wasn’t a complete solution. Returning to her original body was still a temporary phenomenon.

‘Unless the sorcery is undone, I’ll eventually return to Ailexia’s body.’

But what if that body was dead or lying in a sickbed due to poison? Then her plans would be disrupted.

Moreover, no one would want to return to a dead body. The real Ailexia might refuse to return to normal after seeing that.

That was absolutely unacceptable.

“I’ll stand here on my own, so you can go now.”

Fortunately, the chief chamberlain withdrew immediately. Iella confirmed that the chief chamberlain was moving far away, then let out a small sigh and looked ahead.

She had noticed the sound of clashing swords since entering the training ground, and now she saw Helios and one knight engaged in a duel. He seemed quite focused and apparently hadn’t noticed her arrival yet.

Thanks to this, Iella could observe him carefully for the first time.

‘…I can see why he’s popular.’

His fine golden hair boasted an even more dazzlingly brilliant light under the sunshine, and his blood-red eyes, which had only seemed frightening before, were now a beautiful ruby-red, perhaps due to the sunlight.

Add to that his dark eyebrows, distinct eyes, a high, sharp nose bridge, and lips with rich color. He was perfect, like a masterpiece created by a god.

His body also had all the elements that would make women’s hearts flutter—clearly defined firm muscles visible even through his lightly worn shirt, thick thighs, and prominent veins on his forearms revealed by rolled-up sleeves, along with large hands with prominent knuckles gripping the sword.

Despite the critical assessment of him as a tyrant, the reason he was popular among unmarried women was clearly due to his appearance.

‘Handsome… he really is handsome.’

Iella was now focused on examining Helios, momentarily forgetting the situation. That’s how perfect his appearance was.

While being Ailexia, she had met Allen and the Grand Duke, and even her friend Aster had a sufficiently handsome face that she had admired, but Helios was no less impressive.

At that moment, her eyes met with Helios as he deflected his opponent’s sword.

It happened so briefly that she thought it might have been an illusion, but those red eyes had definitely looked at her. And then he smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth.

‘Why, why is he smiling?’

It was a splendid smile that would normally make one’s heart flutter, but not for Iella. She immediately became anxious.

And for good reason—there was no way the emperor would smile at Ailexia without any reason!

Iella looked around, checking if there was something she hadn’t noticed. But even after looking for a while, she couldn’t find anything unusual.

Frowning slightly, Iella stepped out from under the tree shade into the sunlight, just in case. At that moment, a large shadow engulfed her as if swallowing her.

When she looked up, Helios was standing in front of her, the duel apparently over. Through his unbuttoned shirt, she could see his smooth chest glistening provocatively with sweat.

Startled, Iella averted her gaze obliquely.

“Asha.”

Helios, who had swept back his sweat-soaked hair, called her. No… did he really call her?

‘Asha?’

Iella was confused by this unfamiliar form of address. Wondering if she had misheard, she glanced at him and saw that he was wearing a fresh smile.

Iella became even more perplexed.

‘The atmosphere……’

The coldness that always emanated from him wasn’t felt today. Rather, it somehow seemed to have softened gently, like the weather just welcoming spring.

It was inexplicable.

“Asha.”

Then, he called her again with that incomprehensible form of address.

Since it came from right in front of her, making it impossible to have misheard, Iella realized that it was indeed a way of addressing Ailexia.

Then where did that form of address come from? Iella racked her brains.

‘Asha, Asha…. Is it a nickname for Ailexia?’

But only reasons that seemed absolutely implausible came to mind. Why would Helios call Ailexia by a nickname…

While Iella was struggling with this, Helios handed the training sword to the chief chamberlain and wiped his sweat with a towel. Only then did Iella realize that he had been holding a sword.

The thought that she could have died right there if Helios had just swung the sword made her snap back to reality.

“Should I have asked you to wait indoors?”

“No. Rather, please tell me why you’ve been summoning me.”

Iella answered firmly to Helios, who was handing the towel to the chief chamberlain.

Whether it was Asha or whatever, the form of address wasn’t important. What mattered to her was getting away from Helios.

“There was that unfortunate incident at the tea party the other day. I called you because I wanted to make amends.”

“…It’s fine. Not necessary.”

“At least give me a chance to make amends. As your host, I need to save face at least that much.”

“From the beginning…!”

But after hearing his reason for calling her, a surge of emotion welled up. Who created that unfortunate incident in the first place…!

Iella bit her lip to calm her automatically raised voice, then spoke again in a softer tone. Determined to argue this point no matter what, she put on a fierce expression.

“From the beginning, it would have been fine if you hadn’t fed it to me.”

“I know. I was wrong.”

“That’s right, you were wrong… what?”

But that lasted only a moment, as her contorted expression slackened limply. Iella couldn’t discern what she had just heard.

As Iella looked at him with a dumbfounded expression, Helios reached out and gently tucked her hair behind her ear before withdrawing his hand.

In that brief moment of contact, Iella witnessed excitement and anticipation flashing in Helios’s eyes before disappearing.

“Yes. Truly.”

Helios, who had murmured incomprehensible words, softened his gaze.

“I shouldn’t have done that.”