There was a party member assembly today.

Kailen had been riding to the assembly hall where the session would be held when he found himself stuck below Silvani Hill, on the old government office street.

At the entrance to the street lined with buildings, his car had slowed to a stop, blocked by a procession of demonstrators with flags and pickets mixed together.

Deciding it was better to move on foot than sit still and waste time, Kailen opened the car door and stepped out.

After walking some twenty minutes with Collen and arriving in front of the assembly hall building, a boy approached Kailen and held out a newspaper and a magazine. Asking him to have mercy and buy a copy.

He was a perfectly ordinary boy selling newspapers and magazines on the street. Kailen looked down at the worn sleeves and the timid, grimy face, and told the boy he would take one magazine. He was reaching into his inner pocket for his wallet when it happened.

The boy, who should have handed over the magazine with a word of thanks, suddenly drove a knife into his abdomen. Had Kailen not instinctively caught the boy’s head in that split second, the blade might have lodged itself in the center of his abdomen and caused serious damage to his organs.

“……”

Looking back on that cold, sharp pain, all he could feel was disbelief. He desperately wanted a cigar and reached out of habit toward the inside of his chest, only to realize he had no jacket. Kailen said, irritably.

“Cigarette.”

“All I have are cheap ones.”

Kailen gestured that anything would do, so Collen pulled the tobacco from his pocket and rose from the sofa.

“Ah, I’m sorry, but you really should refrain from drinking and smoking for the time be……”

The nurse who had been tidying the bloodied gauze rushed to stop him, but Kailen already had the cigarette between his lips and was tilting his head slightly toward the flame Collen offered.

“……”

The nurse’s eyes met Kailen’s as he drew deeply on the cigarette, his cheeks hollowing with the pull, and she quickly lowered her gaze. She decided it was better to simply finish her work quietly and leave as soon as possible rather than add any unnecessary remarks, and her hands moved faster.

Rattle, Kailen drew back the curtain and opened the window halfway, and pale smoke curled up from between his lips.

“So what did they do with the boy?”

Collen, who had lit the cigarette and settled back onto the sofa, muttered in a tone thick with reluctance.

“Well, given the commotion…… the central police that showed up took him away on the spot.”

Needlessly efficient.

“Making a fuss over one kid…… Tell them not to handle him roughly.”

Thirteen years old. Not an age that could simply be dismissed as too young. And even if he were a child, he had committed attempted murder, so a strict interrogation was warranted. Yet Kailen’s instruction was to just keep the boy and not do anything more, and Collen’s mouth twisted in annoyance.

Ha, since when did you have a heart as wide as the ocean? You could stand to look after the people under you a little more carefully in the first place…… Unbelievable.

Lately, Kailen had been snapping at the slightest provocation, making no effort to hide his sharp temper. Well, he had not been openly snapping, but that was precisely what made the people around him more uncomfortable.

The moment he walked into the branch building, the air around him felt strangely colder, as though the temperature had dropped. And yet today, after getting stabbed in the side, he was the picture of composure. Collen, who had suddenly taken a strong dislike to the sight of him, said sarcastically.

“How very magnanimous of you.”

But Kailen showed no reaction to Collen’s jab. He simply said what he had to say, indifferently.

“Tell Egon too. This time, no nonsense, make sure his people are properly managed so no useless articles go around.”

Collen swallowed his irritation at the unrewarding response and answered.

“……Well, Egon Hafter will do whatever you say without question. But Egon doesn’t have a monopoly on every media outlet in Krauben. Articles will probably still come out, even if scaled back.”

“After everything I’ve pushed his way, and that’s all he can manage. Pathetic.”

Is there a single person in this world who actually satisfies you?

Collen swallowed the words and pulled a cushion toward him, closing his eyes. He planned to catch some sleep before the doctor returned with the medication.

Kailen, cigarette half-smoked, clicked his tongue.

The face of the boy who had stabbed someone without a shred of fear, then stood there trembling with the knife handle still in his grip, reminded him of his wife, Adeline, who would shake and tremble and yet still talk back to him, word for word.

* * *

“Head housekeeper, have you seen this newspaper article?”

Mrs. Lien, watching the maid fuss over the newspaper in her hands, frowned.

“I believe I made it quite clear that you are not to carry newspapers or magazines through the hallways of this household?”

The maid’s hair nearly stood on end under the head housekeeper’s cold gaze, and she mumbled out her excuse. She was certain that once Mrs. Lien saw this article, she would understand why she had done it.

“Yes, I know that very well, ma’am. But I thought you really needed to see this article, so I brought it…… In any case, I’m sorry for breaking the rule. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

Mrs. Lien skimmed the headline of the newspaper the maid politely held out and spotted a familiar name. Alisha Melcher. The woman who had been dispatched from the palace and served as Adeline’s lady-in-waiting during the time when the fugitive William sat on the throne.

“……This once only. Do not bring newspapers outside the quarters or the lounge from now on.”

It did seem to be no ordinary article, as the maid had said, so Mrs. Lien took the newspaper. She had just begun reading the opening of the article about Alisha Melcher turning herself in to the police, and was about to head to her office to examine it more carefully, when the bell rang announcing that the master’s car had passed through the front gate. Mrs. Lien tucked the newspaper somewhere out of sight and hurried toward the entrance.

Kailen walked in alone, and his stride gave no indication that he had just come from the hospital. Because of this, neither the head butler nor the head housekeeper, nor anyone else, had any reason to suspect that Kailen had been stabbed.

The master of the house, returning after a long absence, looked much the same as before, except that he had lost some weight recently, making his jawline and the bridge of his nose appear a little sharper.

“So, what is she doing right now?”

Kailen handed his coat to the head butler and asked Mrs. Lien as he climbed the stairs.

“As I mentioned before, she still has not come out of the bedroom.”

“I see.”

The head housekeeper carefully took Adeline’s side, saying that with so many difficult circumstances piling up all at once, it was only natural to feel overwhelmed, and who could blame her.

“Please be mindful of my lady’s wounds and consider turning a blind eye for the time being. I will look after my lady more closely……”

The head housekeeper gently advised him to leave Adeline alone for now, but Kailen walked straight toward the mistress’s bedroom door with long strides. Unable to stop him in the end, Mrs. Lien had no choice but to step back.

* * *

Click, the sound of the drawing room door closing came from behind her slight back. Adeline, who had been holding a pen at the desk, looked up at the clock on top of the wardrobe.

Four in the afternoon. It was not yet time for the servants to enter the bedroom for cleaning. Adeline let out a quiet sigh, set down her pen, and rose from her chair.

“I would appreciate it if you kept to the scheduled times from now on.”

“Did that come into existence while I was away?”

Adeline flinched at Kailen’s low, quiet voice and turned around. Her husband, whom she had not seen in a long while, still wore that composed expression. She herself was in such a wretched state that she was afraid to look in the mirror.

Only now……

In one way, she felt relieved. She thought that if he had appeared and held her during those days when she could not tell night from day, lying in bed the whole time, she might have crumbled again at that meaningless tenderness.

Adeline watched blankly as the husband she had once been devoted to like a zealot approached, and let out a hollow, self-deprecating murmur.

“Yes, my new rule applies to you as well, without exception. I don’t want to see anyone right now, so please leave my bedroom.”

But he paid no attention. His expression was perfectly calm, as though he saw no reason whatsoever to follow her wishes, being the master of this house.

Without so much as a twitch of his brow, Kailen’s gaze moved to the letter paper on the desk behind her. When his attention shifted to the half-written letter, Adeline grabbed the paper and crumpled it in her grip.

“……Don’t look at it without permission.”

But Kailen had already spotted Leopold’s name on that white sheet of paper.

“If it was a private letter, you should have hidden it properly.”

She had expected him to react sharply about Leopold, and since the letter was addressed to Oscar, she had anticipated raised voices. But Kailen’s gaze rested briefly on the white bandage wrapped around her wrist, and then his characteristic low, measured voice came.

“Faust. Kailen Faust.”

Adeline stared up at him as he spoke the name slowly, as though turning it over in his mouth, and her brow furrowed. Somehow the conversation felt oddly off, even more disjointed than his usual way of speaking.

“……What are you talking about, out of nowhere?”

“That is my real name.”