On top of that, even Tilda and Olivia had dressed more carefully than usual, to say nothing of Selina, which only made Blair stand out more by contrast.

How strange. This isn’t how this was supposed to go……

Blair was rattled by the flood of stares, the pointed ones in particular, but forced the corners of her mouth upward and kept her composure.

A moment ago, Selina had been called out in front of everyone for her elaborate outfit. Now she was glaring at Blair with eyes that looked ready to shoot sparks.

“I didn’t realize it myself, but Miss Blair is quite thoughtful. I was genuinely surprised to see her come before the luncheon even started and take such care with the table arrangement.”

To make matters worse, Queen Rhea chimed in beside her with more praise.

“Oh, I really didn’t do anything so remarkable, Your Highness.”

She wanted to shout that everything she had done was to avoid being noticed, to beg them to stop paying attention to her, but all she could do was smile awkwardly and deflect with modest words.

Blair looked to the other frons, hoping someone would draw the attention away from her. But Selina, Tilda, and even Olivia all sat in tight-lipped displeasure.

Olivia in particular wore an expression so cold it was almost frightening.

She’s completely different from yesterday. Appearances really don’t tell the whole story.

At least Selina and Tilda were easy to read. She had sensed it yesterday too, but there was something unsettling about Olivia. The thought even crossed her mind that Olivia might genuinely be connected to Anais’s death.

Blair pushed the stray thought aside and waited for the attention on her to fade.

Fortunately, the conversation soon moved on.

Selina laughed as though nothing had happened and kept finding ways to put herself forward. Olivia, too, navigated the conversation with practiced ease.

Things had returned to their usual flow, and Blair had just let out a quiet breath of relief, when the head chef began bringing out dessert.

She was admiring the desserts, too beautiful to eat, when the chief chamberlain appeared with a flustered look on his face. He leaned in and murmured something to King Rubens, and a look of surprise crossed the king’s face as well.

“……That one? Now?”

King Rubens raised his eyebrows as though he had heard the most peculiar thing in the world.

“He never shows his face otherwise. Well, no matter. Tell him to come in and join us.”

Blair and the other frons exchanged puzzled glances, wondering who on earth had arrived.

With everyone watching, the dining room door opened and a man walked in.

“Oh my……!”

“The, the prince?”

Even Blair couldn’t hide her surprise this time.

The sole heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Eiron. The man destined to be paired with one of the frons gathered here. Kalintz Einhart.

“I was passing by on my way back from the training grounds and heard lively voices, so I came to see. I hope I’m not intruding.”

Kalintz spoke in a perfectly courteous tone.

“Intruding? Not at all. Come, sit.”

“It’s been a while, Your Highness. I was beginning to worry you’d forgotten our faces.”

Selina flashed her signature smile and addressed Kalintz with easy familiarity. He responded with nothing more than a silent nod of acknowledgment.

He was always like that. His eyes and manner carried the air of someone with little interest in anything the world had to offer. His hair, dark as deep night, and his amber eyes holding a strange, elusive light reminded her of some kind of animal every time she saw him.

“Oh, should we shift seats?”

Queen Rhea spoke up. By rank, Kalintz ought to sit beside the king, directly across from the queen. But Selina was currently in that seat.

“If everyone moves one seat over, it works out perfectly. Come this way, Your Highness.”

Selina leapt at the chance to sit beside the prince, making a show of rising from her chair.

Kalintz didn’t move.

“No, I……”

He cast a languid gaze along the table, then let it come to rest somewhere.

His dark amber eyes were fixed on Blair.

What is this. Is he looking at me?

The look lingered far too long to be a passing glance, and Blair’s eyes wavered. Something flickered in Kalintz’s gaze as he looked at her, a brief, strange light.

“I’ll take this seat.”

Still holding Blair’s gaze, Kalintz pulled out the chair directly across from her.

“It happens to be empty, as well.”

The corner of his mouth curved in a faint, odd smile.

Blair had no idea what to make of any of this.

Kalintz had never shown much interest in the princess consort selection to begin with. He attended only the required royal engagements, met with the frons only when obligated, and even then had found excuses to slip away more often than not.

And yet here he was, not only appearing at a meal where all the frons were gathered, but sitting down to join them. It was impossible not to find it strange.

What made even less sense was why he had chosen the seat directly across from her.

And staring at me like that, no less.

His behavior was beyond baffling, and Blair’s green eyes flickered with unease.

He settled into the chair with complete indifference to everyone watching.

“……Sit wherever you like.”

The queen looked back and forth between Blair and Kalintz with a mildly bewildered expression. The other frons were equally puzzled.

Selina, whose offer had just been turned down, flushed through several shades of red and purple. Olivia held her dessert fork and stared at Blair. Tilda’s mouth had fallen open in undisguised disbelief.

“It has been a while, Miss Blair Mervish.”

Kalintz spoke to her with easy nonchalance, as though the stares around him didn’t exist.

Did he eat something strange today? What does he mean, it’s been a while?

The fact that he even remembered her name was remarkable in itself. They had barely exchanged a real conversation. Unlike the other frons, who had done everything they could to catch his eye, Blair had been closer to actively avoiding him.

‘And what was that? You’ve caused me worry too? Has he lost his mind?’

Blair recalled what he had just said and let out a quiet, incredulous scoff. The two of them were simply not on terms that warranted that kind of petty needling.

‘Awful man. I wasn’t wrong about him back then.’

She sat down at the tea table, propped her chin in her hand, and thought back to the first time she had seen him.

❀❀❀

That day, Blair and the other four frons had entered the palace for the first time to be presented before the king, the queen, and the prince. Kalintz had been seated beside the throne, looking down at them all with flat, expressionless eyes.

Neatly kept dark black hair against amber eyes holding a mysterious light. He looked like a lone star suspended in a pitch-black night sky.

Allen and I used to watch the stars together all the time. There was a star that color, that dark gold, and we gave it a name…… what did we call it……

Caught in a sudden memory, Blair drifted into her thoughts. She had been lost in that old, distant time for quite a while when a woman’s whisper reached her ear.

“Keep staring and you’ll put a hole right through the prince.”

She turned to find a woman with brown hair and striking features smiling with amusement.

Blair gave her a look of genuine confusion, and the woman tilted her eyes toward Prince Kalintz.

“Honestly, even I was a little taken aback. I didn’t expect him to look quite like that.”

Only then did Blair realize she had been staring at the prince’s face while lost in thought. She offered a belated, awkward smile.

“Oh…… yes, I suppose so.”

She didn’t bother making excuses. There was nothing particularly worth defending, and the prince’s looks were an objective fact no one could dispute.

Dark hair set against golden eyes. Even brows and a perfectly straight nose, lips neither too thin nor too full. A sharp jaw leading down to a prominent throat. A firm upper body and long legs beneath a fitted formal uniform.

He looked like a sculpture shaped by the hand of a god. A flawless face.

His looks really are something else.

Even the other frons, Anais Brienne among them, were blushing and stealing glances at the prince.

Kalintz himself, however, looked entirely unmoved.

His every small movement was as polished as something lifted from an etiquette manual, fitting for a prince, but there was no feeling behind any of it.

Blair was just beginning to find his manner off-putting when it happened.

“……Haah.”

A quiet sigh escaped him.

Wait. Did he just sigh?

Blair stared at him with an incredulous look. His face was as blank as ever, but his eyes were full of unmistakable boredom. And beneath that, a faint, barely-there contempt.

What a disagreeable man.

She was quietly cursing him in her head for his condescending air when the woman beside her, who had been admiring the prince’s looks, spoke up.