“And he’s clearly going to be the male lead, so there’s no way he’s the villain.”

“I see.”

Dante stroked her hair gently and listened to what she had to say. He whispered that he wanted her to read quickly so she could tell him what happened next.

But losing herself in a story in the warm spring breeze was no easy thing. On top of that, her stomach was full, and Dante was right beside her, leaving Lionette completely unguarded.

Her head began to nod as she read, then dropped entirely. Dante laid Lionette down with her head in his lap and tucked a leaf into the book to mark the page. Every time he watched her unwind beside him like this, he found her endearing.

Lionette opened her eyes about thirty minutes later. She blinked herself awake.

A large tree and someone’s big hand filled her vision. That large palm was spread above her face, shielding it completely from the sunlight.

The owner of that hand was obvious without even looking. Lionette remembered whose arms she had been in before she fell asleep. She slowly lifted her head, and Dante met her eyes with a smile so lovely it looked painted on. He said nothing, and only the spring breeze passed between them.

Soon even that small movement of air had no room to pass, and their lips met. The kiss began with a soft, ticklish sound and gradually deepened until they were moving against each other’s tongues.

Dante pressed her until she was running out of breath, and only let her go after she tapped his shoulder a few times. Lionette caught her breath in his arms.

Their small picnic ended with that dreamlike kiss.

Even after the picnic was over, Lionette often found herself drifting back to that day.

More precisely, the image of the little child refused to leave her. The count and countess with their young child had looked like a truly warm family. Even just watching them walk away, she could tell how happy they were.

If a child like that were at home, Siegfried would probably never run short of laughter. The Siegfried estate wasn’t a cold place as it was, but it was calm and still, and that was the truth.

A child…… what would it feel like to have one?

Lionette closed her book and sank back into thought.

It wouldn’t be all good. Even raising a cat took effort, so how much more troublesome would a small child be? But if that child gave her love, and she watched them grow day by day, quietly receiving love in return……

That would be a whole different kind of joy.

Lionette opened the fist she hadn’t realized she had clenched.

So Lionette had been envious of that count couple. She was certain that was why the image kept coming back to her, because she envied a couple so happy together, raising a child who looked just like them.

But Dante…… Dante didn’t seem to want a child very much.

Did Dante not want to see a child between them? Even if they got along well enough, it was a relationship that had been forced together, so some reluctance made sense.

Lionette nodded to herself and asked, casually.

“Do you not like children?”

Dante seemed to turn something over in his mind at the question, then gave a short answer.

“I’m not good with them.”

That did seem likely. Lionette couldn’t help but nod in agreement to some extent. Dante was clearly a good husband and a good person, but the weight of his presence and the way he carried himself would make him seem endlessly intimidating to a child’s eyes. He murmured that he had never even held a nephew before, then changed the subject.

That night, Lionette dreamed of walking side by side with Dante, a child who barely reached their knees between them, all three holding hands. The child had platinum hair just like Dante, but the eyes were the color of summer green, like Lionette’s. A perfect little angel.

Dream-Dante played with the child without any trace of the man who had said he wasn’t good with children. Holding the child’s hand wasn’t enough; he lifted the child up and held them, even hoisted them up onto his shoulders for a piggyback ride. The child’s bright laughter rang through Siegfried. Lionette knew it was a dream, but she called out to them anyway.

“Mama!”

The child came running and threw themselves into Lionette’s arms. Such a small child, and impossibly warm. Something swelled in Lionette’s chest, and she held the child and spun in a slow circle.

When she woke from the dream, Dante’s arm was wrapped around her waist. This was Lionette’s reality. She knew it, but she found herself lost in thought anyway.

She had indirectly heard from Dante that he had no wish for a child, so why had she dreamed something like that? Lionette curled in on herself, seized by the feeling that she had committed some grave wrong behind Dante’s back.

Dante, now awake, looked her over and asked.

“Why are you sitting there in a daze?”

“Oh, I just had a dream…….”

“A nightmare?”

Dante pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and asked, but Lionette shook her head. She didn’t want to worry him.

But Dante had no interest in children whatsoever. It was the same every time the topic came up. He would respond to some degree, then steer the conversation elsewhere.

By the third time, Lionette had realized this man found the subject uncomfortable, and she gradually stopped bringing it up.

She didn’t want to do things Dante would dislike. And there was no pressing reason for them to have a child right now anyway.

Maybe Dante’s feelings would change with time…… Lionette decided not to think about it any further.

Weren’t they a happy enough couple as it was? Lionette thought so. And she believed she herself was quite content with the relationship they had.

That had been true right up until the woman appeared, claiming to be Dante’s betrothed from before birth.

***

“My lady, today it might be better if you didn’t come out…….”

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, that is…….”

This was how it started. She had woken up and was about to take her usual walk through the garden when the butler stepped in her way. It had never happened before, and Lionette found her eyes going wide before she could stop it. The butler hesitated, then added:

“There is a guest.”

“Since Dante isn’t here, I should be the one to receive…….”

“No, well, that is. The guest is here for the master.”

The butler held firm even as he fidgeted and watched Lionette’s expression carefully. He seemed to be gauging the mood of the small duchess, worried she might flare up and demand to know how he dared block her path.

Lionette hesitated for a moment, then nodded. She trusted Dante to explain things to her himself.

Lionette had a reputation among the ducal staff as an easy duchess to serve. Quick to read the room, she grasped that showing her face outside today would not be a good idea, and shut herself in her room. The butler, perhaps feeling guilty, sent a servant to the bookshop to clear out the new arrivals shelf.

But even those novels did little to move her. That was true even though one of her favorite authors was among them. Her attention was entirely fixed on what lay beyond the door, on Dante’s guest.