She held her breath behind the corner, tense and still.

“You were flustered, I suppose, and your old habits came out. I’ve told you countless times, when you hold a knife, your wrist must not droop like that!”

For a moment Blair doubted her own ears.

Was she really calling it disgraceful just because of the angle of a hand holding a knife?

“Do I need to wrap your wrists in bandages again to correct it?”

Good heavens. Blair clapped a hand over her mouth without thinking.

“And that tone of yours. I have told you a hundred times over not to show your emotions in front of others. That is the most basic of basics.”

“There was a reason. Not that you would care.”

“Quite right.”

Vivian said it flatly.

“Whatever the reason, what matters is that you behaved poorly.”

Kalintz’s self-deprecating laugh drifted over.

“And how many glasses of wine did you drink during the meal? I must have told you any number of times that you must keep to the exact number and intervals.”

Number. Intervals. Blair had never once seen anything like that in any book of royal etiquette.

“You kept sipping away like a drunkard. You’re not some street ruffian.”

Vivian said it with genuine revulsion.

“His Majesty drank several times more than I did. I wonder if you noticed that.”

“Is he the same as you? You are the heir to the throne. You haven’t even become king yet, and if you carry on this carelessly—”

“Well. If drinking during a meal is enough to disqualify someone from becoming king, then the wine is not the problem.”

Kalintz cut Vivian off with a contemptuous laugh. She raised her voice in outrage.

“Don’t you dare say such things! If he actually decides to pass the throne to Lina—!”

“Then that is what will happen.”

Smack.

It happened in an instant.

The sharp crack rang out, and Blair moved on reflex.

But Ernst was quick. He caught her wrist from behind.

“Not now. Please.”

He shook his head in a low voice, and Blair bit down hard on her lip.

“Your hand is still quite strong.”

Kalintz said it with a mocking lilt, as though it had barely registered.

“Don’t play games with me.”

Vivian’s voice dropped into something cold.

“Don’t tell me you…… actually think it would be fine for Lina to become queen.”

“And if I said yes.”

“What?”

“Are you planning to strangle Lina again. Like you did before.”

What is this. The words were a shock, and Blair froze with wide, stunned eyes.

Vivian went silent, apparently caught off guard, then began to breathe roughly.

A moment later came a dull, muffled sound, like something swung hard and caught.

“I cannot allow a second time.”

“Let go of me! How dare you, to your own mother—!”

It seemed Vivian had tried to strike him again and Kalintz had stopped her.

“You would not want to leave a mark. It is, after all, the face of the heir to the throne.”

Kalintz said it in a flat voice and then fell silent, waiting without a word until Vivian had spent her fury.

When the sound of Vivian’s heaving breath finally began to quiet, Kalintz spoke again in a low voice.

“Ernst will escort you to your chambers.”

“!”

Blair swallowed a sharp intake of breath. When had he realized they were here.

“Ernst. Please see to my mother.”

He gave the order with perfect ease.

Ernst shook his head with the air of someone who had long since given up, then walked around the corner with unhurried steps.

“Allow me to escort you, Lady Vivian.”

“……That habit of yours, skulking around like a rat, never changes.”

“Ha. I am, after all, His Highness’s escort.”

Ernst answered Vivian’s sharp jab with easy composure.

“Until later, then. Your Highness the Prince.”

The sound of Ernst’s and Vivian’s footsteps faded quickly.

Unlike them, Kalintz had not moved a single step. He simply stood there.

The heavy silence from beyond the corner made Blair hold perfectly still as well, barely breathing.

How long passed. A faint sigh from Kalintz reached her.

“How long are you planning to stay there.”

Does he see through walls.

Blair pressed her lips together and slowly moved forward. She rounded the corner to find Kalintz standing with his arms folded, waiting.

“Have you considered working as an informant for an information guild someday, Blair.”

He tilted his head slightly as he said it.

“……I really wasn’t trying to eavesdrop on purpose.”

Blair said it with a slightly aggrieved expression.

“If someone else had overheard a conversation like that, it would have been a disaster.”

“Ah. You were keeping watch?”

“Something like that.”

“The most shameless answer I’ve heard all day.”

Kalintz let out a hollow laugh. He still did not look particularly pleased, but his voice was noticeably more at ease than when he had been speaking with Vivian.

“Let’s go. With no one keeping watch, who knows who might interrupt us if we linger.”

At Kalintz’s dry remark, Blair pressed her lips together and followed after him.

They arrived at the room quickly.

Blair hesitated at the door, unable to go inside. She had wanted to ask if he was all right the entire way back, but had not managed to say a word.

“What are you doing. Go in.”

“What are you going to do now?”

Kalintz gave her a look that said she asked the strangest things, but answered anyway.

“I want to soak for a bit. I’m a little tired.”

He rarely looked worn down, but right now he did, just a little.

“Yes. Me too, then.”

Blair pushed down the feeling of sympathy and turned the door handle. Kalintz also told an attendant to prepare a bath and went into his room.

“Your Highness, did something happen at the banquet?”

Lucia, helping Blair with her bath, asked as she watched her looking unusually preoccupied.

“……Lucia. What comforts you most when you’re having a hard time?”

“Pardon? When I’m having a hard time?”

“You know. The things that help when you’re feeling low.”

Blair had rarely comforted anyone in her life. Looking back, it was always she who had been comforted, by Allen or her sister.

“Hmm……”

Lucia rolled her eyes in thought, then said,

“When things are really hard, just having someone listen is already a great comfort.”

“Without doing anything?”

“Yes. If they quietly hear me out and then just hold me gently, that alone is so reassuring.”

Just holding gently.

Blair briefly imagined holding Kalintz and rubbed her warming cheek for no reason.

“But why do you ask all of a sudden?”

“There’s just someone who could use a little comfort.”

Lucia had no trouble guessing who that someone was. She gave a warm smile and added more scented oil to the bathwater.

After finishing her bath and heading to the bedroom, Blair was thoroughly taken aback by what she found.

“……No, Your Highness.”

On one side of the bedroom, a screen decorated with fine fabric had been set up. Steam was rising gently from behind it.

“Why are you bathing in here?”

“It seems your maid and my attendant don’t get along very well.”

A disgruntled answer came from behind the screen.

“I asked for a bath to be prepared and they seem to have thought we were going to soak together, so they set up this ridiculous thing.”

Just as he said, it seemed Lucia and Kalintz’s attendant had failed to communicate.

“Still, even so, in here—”

The sound of water splashing made Blair trail off in embarrassment, and Kalintz let out a small laugh.

“Can’t very well waste the effort.”

He raised his arm abruptly above the screen. Between his fingertips was a damp rose petal.

Water dripped from the petal and ran down his forearm in a thin line.

“I…… I understand, so please put that arm down. I’ll come back in a little while.”

“It’s fine. I’m almost done anyway.”

With a splash of water, he rose. Blair let out an involuntary yelp and spun around.

“Don’t just stand up like that without warning!”

“There’s a screen.”

Does he not realize how tall he is.

Blair had clearly seen his chest and the upper part of his abdomen, and yet he said it without a shred of shame.

Every sound from behind her had her full attention.

Why did the sound of him toweling off his hair seem so loud. The glimpse she had caught of his lean torso kept drifting back to her.

What was the name of Kalintz’s attendant again.

She was making a mental note to give them a firm talking-to through Lucia when a cool, clean scent of soap drew close.

“Why are you so stiff. I’m not going to eat you.”

Kalintz, now in a robe, passed by her side. He seemed thirsty and poured a full glass of water and drank it. His throat moved as he swallowed, his jaw and neck clean and sharp.

Why does even that have to look so good.

Blair found herself glancing at him without meaning to.