The feeling was not entirely pleasant, and Blair’s pace quickened without her noticing.

She glanced up without thinking and caught sight of a grand, ornate carriage passing through the main gate of the central palace.

“That’s Marquis Lorentz’s carriage.”

Kalintz, somehow already at her side despite her having walked ahead, said it quietly.

“He must have rushed over after hearing about Olivia.”

“……His precious daughter was dragged off to the dungeons. Of course his heart would sink.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“Pardon?”

A cold smile crossed Kalintz’s face.

“Marquis Lorentz dotes on his children in appearance only. In reality, he sees them as chess pieces. He’s no different from Duke Brienne.”

He swept his dark hair back and added.

“Olivia Lorentz had no interest in me. A woman like that wouldn’t buy poison out of jealousy. She simply wanted the princess consort’s crown. Badly enough to want Anais dead. That kind of blind hunger for power is usually cultivated from a very young age.”

Blair thought back to what Olivia had said earlier.

When asked why she wanted the position of princess consort badly enough to go that far, Olivia had said it didn’t matter what she herself wanted.

“Because her father wants it. Her family wants it.”

“Exactly. She was simply raised that way. A good match, a prestigious family or a royal union to elevate the family’s standing and power. That became her desire and her purpose.”

Something bitter settled in Blair.

“Olivia may have been right to tell me not to act so superior.”

It was all she had ever known. Of course it would feel natural to her.

“That it shaped her into someone so twisted is also undeniable.”

Kalintz added with a faint smile.

“So what do you want, Miss Blair?”

“Pardon?”

At the unexpected question, Blair looked at him with wide eyes.

“You asked Olivia what she truly wanted. I’m asking you the same.”

“Ah, that. Hmm…… I’m not sure.”

“True love?”

“Pardon?”

She turned to him with a raised eyebrow, ready for something strange, but his face was unexpectedly serious.

“……It’s not limited to any one thing, really. I just…… want to live freely.”

“Freely?”

“It’s not some grand ambition. I just want to decide my own life. Not a life where I’m dragged around by my parents and my family, valued and judged like something at auction. It’s my life.”

Blair meant it with everything she had. It was a resolve she had made firmly after losing her sister, and then Allen.

To get there, she first had to avoid the marriage her parents were pushing her toward, and get away from them.

Her plan to shut herself away in the Withered Garden and figure out the rest later seemed to have gone up in smoke, but.

“Anyway, if I’m living like that, true love could…… happen too, I suppose. So what you said isn’t entirely……”

Blair stopped mid-sentence. Kalintz was staring at her without moving, completely fixed on her face.

He was always steady and composed, but right now he looked strangely vacant.

“Your Highness? What’s……”

A gust of wind swept through the garden. A blade of grass carried on it drifted down and settled softly on top of Kalintz’s head.

“Pfft.”

He had been wearing that dazed expression for a while now, and with a piece of grass sitting in his hair on top of it, he looked exactly like some neighborhood troublemaker. The small laugh that escaped her spread into a bright smile.

“Your Highness, right here.”

Blair tapped the top of her own head with her finger.

“……Hm? What?”

Kalintz still looked faintly dazed. That blank expression made Blair forget for a moment that he was a prince, and she stepped forward on instinct and reached out her hand.

“Here, there’s a blade of grass in your hair…… ah, there—”

Tap.

Just as her hand was pulling away, an unfamiliar warmth closed around her wrist. She looked up at Kalintz with startled eyes.

His dark amber eyes were looking down at her with an intensity she had never seen in them before. It was an expression she had never once seen from him. Something like surprise, something like tension.

But whatever it was, it was not good for her heart. The longer he held her wrist and her gaze, the faster her pulse climbed.

“Um…… Your Highness……”

Her heartbeat was speeding up so much she was afraid it would travel through her wrist and reach him. She twisted her hand slightly and called his name.

“……Oh.”

Kalintz released her hand belatedly. Then he covered his face with one hand and turned his head sharply away.

“Sorry.”

“Pardon? Ah, yes.”

She wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for, but Blair answered without thinking. Something about this moment felt like it needed to be moved past quickly.

Fortunately, Kalintz recovered to his usual self before long.

“You shouldn’t go reaching for a royal’s head like that, Miss Blair.”

He wasn’t quite as relaxed as before, but his tone and expression had returned to normal.

“Ah, I thought Your Highness hadn’t heard me, so my hand moved before I could think. I apologize. It won’t happen again.”

“……No need to make such a thing of it.”

A brief, awkward silence followed.

They had wandered quite deep into the garden without noticing, and came to a stop in front of a small pond.

“There’s a pond here.”

“I think this might be the place I fell in as a child.”

“Pardon? You fell in the water?”

Kalintz looked over the pond and nodded.

“It wasn’t an accident. I’ve been through quite a few rough things.”

The kingdom’s only prince fell into a pond, and it wasn’t an accident?

Kalintz said it so matter-of-factly that Blair had no idea how to respond and just blinked at him.

“Strange things happen in the palace. What you went through today, Miss Blair, is one of them.”

Blair swallowed.

“Could something like this…… happen again? If I become princess consort, I mean.”

She had nearly been framed for murder simply because people thought she might become princess consort. She was a little worried about how many more schemes might come her way once she actually was.

Kalintz looked at her for a moment, then spoke.

“I can’t promise it won’t happen at all. I’ve been through quite a variety of things myself.”

He gave a faint, sardonic smile. Then his expression turned serious.

“But this much I can promise. I won’t let you get hurt. Not ever.”

His gaze was unwavering and steady, and Blair felt something strange stir in her.

She had only really spoken with him for less than two months, but strangely, when he said something, it settled her.

“Well. You do seem to have a temper, which is a little worrying.”

“……Excuse me?”

“See. The way you glare at me like that. That alone tells me you’re not ordinary.”

“Please. That’s only because I’ve gotten a little comfortable around you…… oh.”

The moment it left her mouth, Blair realized how it might sound and quickly bit down on her lip.

“Comfortable? With me?”

But Kalintz didn’t look offended at all. If anything, he looked amused.

“Well…… we have been seeing each other often lately.”

Even if it had started entirely from his one-sided interest.

“Either way, that works out well. We’re going to be seeing each other every day from now on.”

“Pardon? Every day?”

“Have you already forgotten? We’re going to be living as husband and wife for two years.”

“Still, people don’t usually meet every single day…… do they?”

Even looking at the king and queen, most of their time was spent handling business in their respective palaces or managing their own schedules. They shared official appearances and dinner together a couple of times a week, and even that was skipped when things were busy.

“If it’s fine for people to see us as a couple in a political marriage, then yes, that would be fine.”

Kalintz said it with an ominous smile.

“But everyone will think we’re the result of ‘true love.’ We’ll need to meet those expectations. Otherwise we’ll be found out.”

Palace life going forward was not going to be smooth.

❀❀❀

Back in her room, Blair was met with Lucia’s blazing, eager eyes.

“Miss! Goodness, what happened!”

She looked absolutely beside herself, and the words came pouring out like a storm.

“When did the two of you become like that?”

“……Like what, when?”

Blair had a rough idea of what Lucia was getting at, but answered with deliberate blankness.

“Oh come on, I already heard everything! On the day Miss Anais fell ill, you were out on a date with His Highness the Prince!”

“What? No, a date, that’s not…… haah. It wasn’t like that.”

Blair was exasperated at how quickly the story had been exaggerated and blown out of proportion.

But Lucia paid no attention and continued in an even more excited voice.