Even as Anna helped Yuria get ready, she kept a close eye on her. Since coming to the Castoria manor, her lady had been visibly unsettled. For someone who had always pursued perfection, it was out of the ordinary. And the cause was entirely one person.

Valen Castoria. What kind of man was he, to shake someone as composed and rational as her lady this way? Anna was more sociable than she looked. She had quickly grown close to the other maids who had been territorial since their arrival, and had already made herself a few allies.

Gathering information would not be difficult. She knew that if she could get to Valen’s closest attendant, a man called Equus, she could pull out whatever information her lady needed. Burning with private resolve, Anna carefully braided Yuria’s hair up.

“Please don’t be too upset, my lady. We can’t say for certain that the young lord has a lover.”

Yuria wasn’t upset at all, but she put on a performance of being hurt. Like a wife who had just caught her husband in the act.

“I just hope it isn’t true. I thought that after we married, at least, he would only have eyes for me.”

Poor dear. Anna murmured as though lamenting, and fastened a necklace around Yuria’s neck.

“Do you know what the best revenge is? Make him fall completely for you, and then betray him the same way. There’s a whole line of men desperate to spend time with you, my lady.”

“But I only love Valen. I don’t want to meet anyone else.”

Because his family is the only one that can pull Bellaris out of its financial crisis. No matter how many fine men came calling, none of them would have Castoria’s wealth. Not even the crown prince.

Anna let out a long sigh.

“Then there’s nothing for it. I’ll do my very best to make sure the young lord has eyes only for you, my lady.”

Yuria would have liked nothing more than to seduce Valen and keep him close, if she could. It would make things easier than lying awake worrying about which woman he might be seeing. But Valen had not the slightest interest in Yuria. That had been true for just over a decade, and it would likely go on being true.

“Thank you, Anna. I really don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“It’s what I’m here for. Oh, and my lady, why not visit the study today?”

“I was planning to. He practically interrogated me yesterday about why I hadn’t come.”

Anna’s expression shifted into something peculiar. Why were the young lord’s words and actions always so contradictory? By anyone’s reading, this was how a man in love with his wife behaved.

“Have a good visit, my lady.”

Anna saw Yuria off as she left the room. Taking her farewell, Yuria hurried downstairs to where the Duchess would be waiting.

The day flew by in a blur. Yuria went through the remaining rooms of the manor and received a full briefing on her new duties as the young mistress, and she worked hard to commit every last detail to memory so she could carry out each task carefully and flawlessly.

By the time she was nearly drained, the Duchess finally released her.

“You’ve worked hard. It will get busier with village festivals and events and the like, but what I’ve shown you today covers the basics.”

Ordinarily the task of introducing the manor fell to the head maid, but Duchess Castoria had apparently insisted on doing it herself, wearing down the staff until they relented. Whether that was simply her nature, or some form of watchfulness toward Yuria, who had come from the Bellaris family, she couldn’t say.

“Then I’ll go look in on Valen for a bit. The study is the one place I haven’t visited yet.”

The Duchess had deliberately left it out to give the two of them time alone. She had been thinking that with Valen’s workload so heavy even during the newlywed period, they had too little time to themselves.

“Go on. I’m sure Valen will be glad.”

Yuria wasn’t entirely convinced of that, but she made her way to the study all the same.

She knocked, and a voice told her to come in. Inside, Valen sat at his desk going over several ledgers. He slowly lifted his eyes from the papers and fixed them on Yuria.

“You came.”

He said it in a voice that carried little emotion.

“You said it yourself. That it was strange I hadn’t come here.”

Yuria looked around the study. It was a tidy room, very much like Valen. Every book sat flush on the shelf without a single spine jutting out, and even the desk was clear of clutter, with everything in its place.

Valen set down his quill, rose from his seat, and walked toward Yuria. He stopped just a few centimeters away and looked her over.

“Nothing happened?”

“Nothing at all.”

“Good, then.”

“Is that really all you called me here to say?”

Valen’s eyes went slightly wide.

“I didn’t call you here. You came on your own.”

At a loss for words, Yuria fixed a sharp look on the space between his brows. Is he trying to get a rise out of me?

“Then I’ll be going. You look like you have plenty of work.”

She turned to leave with a blank expression, and her wrist was suddenly caught. Remarkably, the only person in this place who could have stopped her was Valen.

“Don’t go.”

“Why?”

Valen’s own expression stiffened, as though he surprised himself by saying it. Yuria had never seen him this flustered before.

“You just got here. Just… sit for a while.”

“I believe I made myself clear yesterday. No unnecessary contact when it’s just the two of us.”

Valen’s hand slowly released her. Yuria felt the warmth he had left on her wrist and found herself puzzled by how completely their positions had reversed. Up until the wedding, she had been the one desperate to catch his attention.

“Alright. Then just talking is fine, isn’t it?”

“Talking?”

“I know almost nothing about you. If we’re going to convincingly play a happy couple, we need to know each other well enough for that.”

It was a fair point. She needed to know enough that she wouldn’t be caught off guard if someone asked her something.

Yuria knew as little about Valen as he knew about her. Then again, the two of them could count on one hand the number of real conversations they’d had. And that was entirely thanks to Valen and his habit of avoiding her. Whether he was finally coming to his senses and trying to make up for it, she didn’t know, but she decided to go along with what he said.

Valen pulled a chair around to the other side of his desk for her, and she sat without protest. She looked into the eyes of her inscrutable husband and waited for him to begin.

“The fact that we don’t know each other… that’s largely my fault. I’m sorry.”

“I won’t argue with that.”

It was the truth.

“So let me get to know you, starting now.”

It was a strange thing to hear from Valen’s mouth. Yuria blinked and found herself nodding before she knew what she was doing. But now that the conversation was actually supposed to begin, the words didn’t come easily. What on earth does he want to know about me?

When Yuria said nothing, Valen was the one to open.

“What’s your favorite color?”

Ah, so we’re starting with the simple things. The out-of-nowhere question nearly made Yuria burst out laughing, and she barely managed to hold it back.

“I think it’s a fairly important question. When I give you gifts, or choose clothes and jewelry, I should at least know that much, or people will grow suspicious.”

Seeming to notice her expression, Valen explained in an even tone. She had never imagined he could be this unexpectedly earnest.

“Fair enough. I tend to prefer deep blue.”

“Because it’s your family’s color?”

It was. Strictly speaking, Yuria preferred white, but she had spent years deliberately wearing clothing and accessories in the deep blue that represented her family, in order to reshape people’s assumptions about Bellaris, so that was naturally how she appeared to the outside world.

It felt a little dishonest, but for the sake of keeping up appearances, it was better to let him think so.

“That’s right.”

Valen’s brow shifted in a way that suggested he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the answer, but he said nothing more.

“Is that all?”

When he went quiet for a long stretch, Yuria asked. Valen had been tapping the tip of his index finger against the desk, and now he seemed to have thought of his next question.

“What do you usually do when you have free time?”

Yuria had almost never had anything resembling free time. Her days had been packed full with the lessons expected of a proper lady and the training required to become the young mistress of Castoria. On top of that, there were the endless social invitations to attend to.

So she had to think for quite a while before she could find an answer that fit.

“I read, or I looked out at the sea.”