The corners of his eyes curved faintly, like a predator that had spotted its prey, and Blair felt very much like a rabbit standing before a beast.

What is that look. Why does he keep doing that.

“Your leg has healed completely, it seems.”

Kalintz rose slowly as he spoke. His low voice pulled Blair out of her daze, and she bowed her head in greeting.

“Yes. Mediang says it’s all thanks to your emergency treatment, Your Highness.”

“Mediang is a wise man. He always says the right thing.”

He seemed to be in a good mood. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

“Shall we walk a little.”

At Kalintz’s gesture, the knight who had escorted Blair to the garden withdrew promptly.

“You really didn’t have to go this far. What am I, that I need an escort from the prince’s own knights……”

Blair murmured as she fell into step beside him.

“What are you talking about. The most talked-about person in the palace deserves at least this much.”

“Th, and whose fault is that!”

Blair flushed and snapped back.

He wasn’t wrong. Wherever she went these days, eyes followed her.

What had happened at the riding competition had spread far and wide, and the name Blair Mervish had been on more lips than anyone else’s for the better part of a week.

And now, to make things worse, the queen had just presented her with a necklace made from the Leaves of Tamira. The attention was only going to get worse from here.

Kalintz paid no mind to any of it and let out a short laugh at the sight of Blair’s reddened ears.

“By the way, do you remember this place?”

He had naturally shortened his stride to walk beside her, and now he asked.

“Pardon? Remember what?”

At the unexpected question, Blair looked around properly for the first time. Tall hedges, well above her head, lined the path on either side. They were at the entrance to the maze garden.

“Um…… which memory might you be referring to?”

A memory surfaced without warning, and Blair looked away from him as she asked in a small voice.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You eavesdropped on me and Ernst here once. And got caught.”

“…… That was entirely accidental.”

“Sure, let’s say that. Anyway, you remember what you heard that day, don’t you.”

How could she forget. She had nearly jumped to a very wrong conclusion about the nature of the relationship between Sir Werner and the prince.

But she couldn’t very well say that out loud.

“The…… wig, I remember that. You were forcing Sir Werner to wear it.”

“Right, exactly. I often put a wig on Ernst and have him pretend to be me. Do you know why?”

“……”

The conversation was heading somewhere ominous. She was about to look at him to figure out what he was getting at, when a low whisper slipped into her ear without warning.

“I disguise myself and go outside the palace walls often. Without anyone knowing. Like you.”

Blair startled at the sudden closeness, his warmth and breath right beside her, and tried to step back quickly, but her foot caught wrong.

Kalintz’s hand moved fast and caught her firmly by the waist.

“Careful. Unless you want to end up in my arms again on your way to see Mediang.”

“You pushed your face right up to mine without any warning, of course I was startled!”

Blair yelped with a red face and pried his arm away from her waist.

“And what do you mean, sneaking outside the palace walls. Are you bringing that up again?”

Blair put on a deliberately serious expression and pressed on.

“I’ve told you, that isn’t me. How would I even get outside the palace walls. The north gate especially has double the guards—!”

Blair was pouring out her grievances when she caught herself and stopped short with a look of sudden alarm. But words already spoken couldn’t be taken back.

“The north gate. I never mentioned the north gate.”

Kalintz crossed his arms and looked thoroughly amused.

“No, the lake is to the north, so naturally I said north gate—”

“Ernst told me. The lake isn’t even on any map. So how exactly did you know it was to the north, Miss Blair?”

“……”

Completely cornered, with no more excuses left, Blair simply pressed her lips together and glared at him. He had been smiling since some time ago, and showed no sign of stopping.

“Haah. Fine. Let’s say I’m the person you ran into at the lake.”

“Not let’s say. You are.”

“All right, fine! So. What exactly do you want to do about it?”

Blair couldn’t make sense of it. He already knew, just as he had before, that she had snuck out of the palace and gone to that lake. And yet he kept circling around it like this, playing word games. Which meant he had something else in mind.

“Nothing grand.”

Kalintz said it with the smile still on his lips.

“I was just curious. I also happened to overhear things at that lake that day. That you find the frons and palace life utterly unbearable.”

Blair stood rooted to the spot.

“So I’ve been very curious about the reason. You hate the princess consort selection enough to call it a ‘wretched thing,’ and yet you’re afraid of being expelled from the palace. You’re a frons with not a shred of interest in becoming princess consort, and you fight so hard to stay invisible. Why.”

“……”

“If my guess is right, there’s only one answer.”

Kalintz took a deliberate step toward her. Then he added one more word.

“The Withered Garden. Am I right?”

Blair’s heart pounded like it might burst. How did he know. What do I do now. He knows everything. Is it all over.

Her mind went white, but she fought desperately to keep her expression still.

“The Withered…… what? What’s that?”

“……”

“Your Highness. I’m not sure I follow what you’re saying, but whatever it is, it isn’t me.”

Blair denied it with everything she had.

Kalintz stared into her eyes for a long moment, then burst out laughing. A full, open laugh, mouth and all.

Blair was at a complete loss.

“Wh, what is it all of a sudden? Have you lost your mind? Ah. That last part was a—”

“Ahaha, Miss Blair, you are genuinely something else.”

You’re the one who’s something else.

Blair swallowed the words she couldn’t say out loud and watched the still-laughing prince with a mildly pained expression.

“Ah, I really do have a good eye for people. I like that shamelessness too, very much.”

After laughing for a good while, Kalintz swept his hair back with a satisfied look and turned to Blair, who was standing there with a thoroughly disgruntled face.

“Blair Mervish. I have a proposal for you. Ah, it also happens to be my wish from winning the wager. The riding competition wager.”

“That’s a complete stretch, isn’t it? It had already stopped being a proper race by then!”

“Nobody said the race was over, so it wasn’t over. And the fact that I crossed the finish line first is simply the truth.”

The logic was so absurd Blair couldn’t even find words for it.

“Ha. Fine. Let’s say that’s true. So. What is it.”

Blair asked in a tone that said she’d hear him out.

What came back was a bombshell she could not have anticipated in her wildest dreams.

“That wretched princess consort position.”

An ominous smile settled on the corner of the prince’s mouth.

“I’d like you to take it.”

The bad feeling, as always, had been exactly right.

“……Pardon?”

“Two years. Stay as princess consort for just two years, and I’ll guarantee you the life you want for the rest of your days.”

“Pardon??”

Blair heard the words clearly. She understood each one. The meaning refused to land.

What did I just hear. He’s asking me to become princess consort? For two years? Is he actually out of his mind?

If she opened her mouth right now, nothing would come out but something arrestable, so Blair stood there with her mouth hanging open, unable to move, blinking.

“That face says you’re wondering what kind of nonsense this is.”

“……I have never entertained such a disrespectful thought. Your Highness.”

“You only call me Your Highness when you’re lying or in trouble.”

“That is not the case. Your High—ha.”

Blair couldn’t even finish the title properly and exhaled in frustration.

“Haah…… I genuinely don’t know what to make of this. Two years as princess consort, what kind of impossible wish is that?”

“Nothing impossible about it. Think of it as a contract. We each get what we want.”

Blair studied Kalintz’s expression carefully. The laughter was gone. He had turned entirely serious.

“What is it you want? Marriage to me can’t be the real purpose.”

“On the surface, it is.”

Something flickered in Kalintz’s eyes.

“You seem like exactly the right fit for me, Miss Blair.”

His gaze had the intensity of a predator that had decided on its quarry, and Blair swallowed involuntarily.