I shed tears and shook my head.

“I…… I.”

“You don’t have to say it.”

“……”

“I’m sorry. You were already suffering, and I went and took your energy……”

“No!”

I shouted. David startled and his eyes went wide.

“I felt full.”

“What?”

“I’m fine like this.”

The words were completely at odds with the state of my body, but it didn’t matter. My heart truly felt abundant.

Where energy had been taken from my body, his love had filled it completely.

Just this once……

I wanted to fall asleep beside David.

I whispered to him.

“Stay by my side until morning comes.”

David lay down beside me and pulled me close from behind.

※※※

I slept until very late. David was careful not to touch my skin, holding only my clothing throughout.

How heartbreaking that must have been for him.

Much later, when I opened my eyes, David was gone. In his place was a note. I slowly read David’s pressed, deliberate handwriting.

[A morning meeting came up suddenly. May your mornings always be radiant.]

‘Radiant’ described a state of brilliant, shining light, or the glow of countless lights. It also meant something magnificent, or a feeling joyful and bright. It was a word that held every emotion David wished for me.

I looked out at the sunlight through the wide-open window and thought to myself.

Ah, this morning truly is radiant.

※※※

Dressed lightly for the slightly warm weather, I made my way to the grand ducal castle’s courtyard where the new administrative officials had gathered.

Achilles followed behind me in silence, but his expression was somehow a little off.

I glanced at him briefly.

What is it?

Why does he look so miserable.

It was puzzling, but not something I was particularly curious about.

Nearing the courtyard, I found thirty new administrative officials standing in neat formation. Their eager, fresh-faced energy reminded me of the interns I used to work with.

The way they used to follow me around like chicks chasing a mother hen. They had been so endearing.

“Ha ha!”

My sudden laughter made the officials stir a little. At the first meeting I had been so firm and commanding that this side of me seemed unfamiliar to them.

Then one official raised his hand high. I nodded for him to ask.

“Teacher! Did something good happen?”

I had standardized my title to Teacher.

The official with the short hair and an open, friendly face smiled warmly.

His name was…… Michael, I believed.

A young man whose name suited an angel well.

I looked up at the sky.

“This morning was quite radiant.”

At my words, Michael suddenly ran forward. The way he moved was not ordinary.

Achilles immediately stepped in front of me with a sharp expression. It was a quick, precise movement. He seemed to be guarding against Michael’s approach, but Michael had only moved to the front row.

Michael, who had moved closer to hear me better, radiated a distinctive enthusiasm.

I felt my face flush slightly at Achilles’s excessive reaction.

These were young people barely in their early twenties. What kind of trouble could they cause. Well, with spirited young men and women together, there might be some mutual attraction or perhaps a scuffle, I supposed.

I clasped my hands behind my back and spoke to the bright-eyed officials.

“Today you’ll move to your respective departments and meet your assigned mentors. You all know the breakdown: the Treasury, the Foreign Affairs Office, the Interior Office, and the Military Division.”

“Yes!”

“I’ll be working with the officials assigned to the Treasury, drawing on my own strengths.”

The first meeting had covered basic training for all the new officials, so now it was time to move into more advanced work. I had thought it would be a nuisance, but my body felt more energized than expected.

People really do need to work to live.

It was funny to still think that way, given that I had lived and died as a workaholic.

“Wow!”

“Lucky them!”

The new officials looked at those assigned to the Treasury with envious eyes. I smiled briefly and led the officials in the left row. I planned to head to the Treasury office together.

Among the Treasury officials was Michael. He came to my side and spoke with particular ease and boldness.

“Teacher, how on earth did you grow Dia into such a large company?”

A student eager to learn anything deserved an extra helping.

I gave a brief explanation of financial statements and company financial management. Michael listened with the focused intensity of a baby bird waiting to be fed.

“…… That’s how it works. Even if I take a loss for a while, if I’m confident I can pull in much larger returns later, I invest.”

Michael nodded in agreement.

“Right. There might be things I lose out on right now. But if I pull it off…… I could really become very rich.”

The boyish-looking young man wore a dreamy, entranced expression. It was amusing to wonder what exactly he was imagining.

I gave him a light tap on the back.

“Already thinking about making it big! This one has questionable motives.”

“Ha ha ha! Do I?”

Michael scratched the back of his head with a pure smile.

Walking alongside the officials, we arrived before long at the place where the grand ducal castle’s Treasury officials worked. Stepping inside, I was genuinely surprised.Everything was spotless, with the desks and chairs gleaming, as if they had known I was coming.

But…… was it really possible that a place managing the grand duchy’s finances had no documents scattered about?

The Treasury minister came forward with a broad smile. The new officials behind me swallowed and quickly bowed their heads.

“Miss, you’ve arrived. I’ve already assigned mentors, and they should follow your instructions well.”

“Of course they should. I have something I absolutely need to obtain.”

“What do you mean by that……”

I answered the Treasury minister’s puzzled expression with a smile.

The new administrative officials bowed politely to the minister and filed cautiously inside. Perched awkwardly on the small sofas, their faces looked deeply uncomfortable. I gathered the mentors and gave them a word of caution.

“They’re fresh out of the shell and don’t know anything yet, so don’t be too hard on them.”

The mentors fidgeted in front of me, whatever was going through their heads. I tilted mine, and they barely managed to answer.

“Yes! We will follow your every word without question.”

“W, we’ll show you what we can do!”

The unusual nervousness and stiffness was a little odd. I was the Grand Duke’s fiancée, but that shouldn’t be enough to make them this frightened.

Something’s off here.

※※※

“Aren’t you being a bit hard on the Treasury people?”

The chairman, leaning on his cane, spoke to David.

David kept his gaze fixed out the window and simply smiled. Before Roa went to the Treasury office, he had given the Treasury officials strict instructions: Follow Roa’s word without question.

He had delivered the order with such a stern expression that the Treasury minister and many others had barely been able to breathe properly for a while.

David wasn’t dismissing Roa’s abilities. He simply wanted her to work with a little more ease, since the matter had come about through the chairman’s suggestion and his own handling of it.

And he was also worried about the severe nightmare Roa had suffered the night before.

David couldn’t take his eyes off Roa as she walked among the officials with her hands clasped behind her back, explaining things earnestly. She looked so endearing when she was absorbed in teaching.

She appeared completely fine on the outside, and yet she had begged so desperately to be forgiven……

Something had clearly happened in her past.

It had to be connected to the Seraphina marquisate, with whom things were so strained.

David clenched his fist at the thought of them.

He wanted to erase her pain entirely, as though it had never existed. Even if he couldn’t touch Roa’s skin with bare hands, he could stand silently behind her and watch over her.

Just let me do that much, David murmured to himself with desperate sincerity.

※※※

Michael came to my side far more often than to his assigned mentor. The mentor was no one else, and there was no stopping him from coming to me.

Michael was a child with extraordinary warmth. There was nothing to dislike about him, and before I knew it, he had become my most cherished student.

“I’ve genuinely never met anyone with a personality like yours. It’s remarkable.”

I stared at him with genuine wonder, and Michael rubbed the back of his neck. His face was damp with sweat in the hot summer weather.

“It’s called being smart! I don’t see a single person here who would dare refuse your orders, Teacher.”

“Sorry to say, but I think you picked the wrong side.”

“What? Why?”

Michael’s eyes went wide. He looked like he couldn’t understand.