“No. I want to look around the castle today. It’s going to be my home from now on, so I should at least know the layout.”

“Then shall I call another servant to give you a tour?”

I shook my head at Dorothy’s suggestion.

“It’s fine. I’d rather go around quietly with just you, without anyone fussing.”

“Oh, there’s nothing to fuss about when it’s a servant giving you a tour. The servants here are all dying to do something for you, miss.”

“Still, I’m most comfortable with you.”

“Hehe. Honestly, I was hoping you’d say that.”

Dorothy said it with a little pout. I let out a small laugh and stepped into the gallery connecting the east and west wings of the castle.

Along both sides of the gallery hung portraits of the Obellian dukes and duchesses through the generations.

“This must be the first duke. That means he’s one of the divine, right?”

“…….”

I couldn’t even answer Dorothy. I stood rooted to the spot, staring at the portrait.

The painting was old and not particularly detailed, but it was more than enough to make out the face.

Carnesis. It was him.

Seeing his face stirred something that clawed its way up from inside me, a roiling emotion that seized me without warning. My chest burned, the way it had when a blade had been driven into my heart.

I clenched my fist so hard my nails dug into my palm.

“Miss?”

Dorothy called to me in puzzlement when I said nothing. I exhaled a long breath and tried to steady myself.

“Yes. It seems so.”

I answered without any feeling, but inside my head, I crossed out the first hypothesis.

The first possibility I had considered, that Carnesis had killed the real Carlisle Obellian and was impersonating him, the portrait had confirmed to be false.

The divine being from the founding myths was Carnesis, and he had been changing his face and pretending to carry on the Obellian line all this time.

Why? Changing his appearance was not difficult, but there was still much else to manage. It would be a nuisance.

What could possibly be worth all that trouble, keeping him in the human world?

“They say all the divine are beautiful, and it’s really true! No wonder the duke is so handsome.”

Dorothy exclaimed in a thrilled voice, oblivious to the turmoil inside me.

“Rosidis Tepez Obellian. Even the name is wonderful!”

I scoffed inwardly. That was not his real name.

For the divine, their names carry power within them, so they rarely reveal their true names to anyone but those they are closest to. Some among the divine use a false name their entire lives, sharing their true name only with their parents and their partner.

Rosidis was one of the false names Carnesis had used.

“But there’s no portrait of the first duchess?”

I followed Dorothy’s words and looked at the empty space beside the duke’s portrait.

He hadn’t remarried after killing me? But to continue the Obellian line, he would have had to remarry a human woman at some point.

“You’re right. That’s strange.”

It struck me as odd, but I didn’t dwell on it and moved on. I had no desire to look at Carnesis’s face any longer than necessary.

Second generation, third, fourth……. I passed the portraits of the Obellian dukes and their duchesses one by one.

Had he really changed his face over and over and taken so many wives?

If so, had those wives known who he truly was?

If they hadn’t known, how had he hidden the fact that he was one of the divine from them, changing his face and carrying on the Obellian line all the while?

Every small new thing I learned only gave rise to more questions.

“Oh. It’s the duke.”

I had been walking deep in thought, and before I knew it I had reached roughly the middle of the gallery. Carlisle’s portrait hung there. Just like the first duke’s portrait, the space beside it was empty.

I stood looking at it for a moment when a low voice reached my ear.

“That is where your portrait will hang.”

I startled and stepped back two paces in the opposite direction from where the voice had come. It was Carlisle.

“My. It seems I’ve frightened you.”

I frowned slightly. I hadn’t wanted to run into him like this, without warning.

But I couldn’t very well stay focused on sensing his aura at all times……

“Yes. You make no sound at all when you move.”

Dorothy was watching me again with that worried expression. She was probably puzzled by the fact that I showed no courtesy to Carlisle alone.

“What brings you all the way here? You would have no reason to come to the west wing.”

“I was just looking around the castle. I’ve been too busy to explore until now.”

I answered and quietly edged a little further from Carlisle.

“It seems I make you uncomfortable, young lady.”

Carlisle remarked, watching me slowly put distance between us. I gave an awkward smile.

Why bother pointing it out? He didn’t seem particularly interested in me, so what did it matter?

“I’m just a little shy around new people.”

I let my eyes drift for a moment and changed the subject.

“Now that I think of it, I noticed the portrait of the first duke. I thought all portraits of the first duke had been lost, yet here one is.”

Among the works known to the public, there were countless paintings depicting the founding myths, but not one artist among them had ever accurately rendered the face of the first duke, Carnesis.

No records of him had survived, so each artist had simply painted him from their own imagination.

“It is the only one in existence. Many artists over the years sought to capture the first duke’s likeness, but the first duke refused them all.”

You are the first duke. Going to all this trouble to talk about yourself in the third person.

If I let my guard down even slightly, a sarcastic remark would come flying out.

“Why did the first duke not allow his face to be made public?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but he probably did not want the people of the empire to deify him. This empire belongs to the emperor, after all.”

I tilted my head, puzzled. His answer didn’t feel like the truth.

That he would show that much consideration for humans? That was entirely unlike him.

“You are the first person outside the Obellian family to see this portrait. Though of course you will soon be one of the Obelllians yourself.”

Carlisle began walking at an unhurried pace. I stood still, and Dorothy nudged me to follow. I trailed after him, reluctant, and spoke.

“It’s an honor to have seen it.”

Saying something I didn’t mean at all twisted the corner of my mouth.

Carlisle stopped in front of the first duke’s portrait, his own portrait. I was looking at the empty space beside it when a question came to me.

“Was the first duchess’s portrait lost?”

“I’ve heard the first duke left instructions for that space to remain empty.”

The answer came without a moment’s pause.

“Is that so? For what reason?”

“Well. The first duke was one of the divine…….”

Carlisle slowly shifted his gaze up to the empty space.

“Perhaps he had a divine wife of his own.”

You dare bring up a divine wife? I was speechless. I hoped he wasn’t talking about me.

He might have remarried another one of the divine after killing me. Difficult as that would have been.

Marriage among the divine carries a weight far greater than human marriage. It involves sharing one’s true name with the other and making a vow that stakes one’s very soul.

The divine regarded living by that vow as a matter of honor.

Remarriage was therefore exceedingly rare. Making such a solemn vow twice was something the divine found unacceptable.

I myself had held that vow sacred, which was exactly why I had severed it the moment I realized his betrayal.

Even if Carnesis’s story had been told as a simple bereavement rather than him killing me, remarriage would still have been difficult.

“Perhaps he wished to preserve his respect for her.”

His eyes as he looked at the empty space were cold. The way he looked at it, it was like he was staring at someone he despised.

I frowned, more confused than ever.

‘Why is he looking at it like that? Surely he’s not actually talking about me?’

“According to the stories passed down in our family, the divine love only one partner for their entire lives.”

I nearly choked. The question of whether he had then murdered that partner rose all the way to the tip of my tongue.

“If that is true, he would not have wanted to give that space beside him to anyone other than her.”

I reined in the anger churning inside me and thought for a moment about how best to respond. I settled on something generic.

“If that’s true, then what a romantic…….”

The rest of the words wouldn’t come out, and I paused.

“……person he must have been.”

Carlisle turned to look at me and smiled, a dark, joyless smile. The cool, sunken eyes and the shadow across his face sent a chill through me.

I found myself stepping back without thinking, and my foot caught on the hem of my dress. I stumbled, nearly falling, and Carlisle caught me by the waist.

“Oh…….”

His face, suddenly close, was too close. I looked into his eyes, which held the shifting depths of a deep sea, and swallowed.

How had no one looked into those eyes and questioned what he was? A human living out a few short decades could never have eyes like those.

“Excuse me. Are you alright?”