“Hmm. It seems there’s another couple to rival us, Jake.”

Countess Roman made a small sound through her nose and casually laid her hand over her husband’s and began stroking it. That alone was already quite something, but Count Roman went a step further and pressed his lips to her hand.

Good heavens, in the middle of a banquet……

Blair looked around the table with a bewildered expression. But Grand Duke Clovitz, Duke Brienne, and the other diplomatic envoys did not seem to notice at all.

Kalintz murmured as though answering her unspoken question.

“Valia is quite free in how it expresses affection.”

At that, Blair suddenly remembered Tilda saying something similar.

It had been about Ariela laughing and touching Kalintz’s arm during the Founding Festival banquet.

“Oh. Right.”

The thought of Ariela surfaced again, and Blair felt a displeasure she had not intended. A childish question hovered in her throat, asking whether he was that easy and familiar with Ariela too.

……Whatever. Why should I care.

No matter how many times she tried to rein in the feelings drifting toward him, it never quite went the way she wanted.

“What’s wrong.”

Why is he always so perceptive.

Kalintz had an uncanny way of noticing whenever she was in a bad mood, and that alone made a foolish hope bloom in her, against her better judgment.

“Nothing.”

Blair drank down the wine beside her in frustration.

“Drink slowly. Valian wine is strong.”

Aged with distinctive spices, it was indeed much higher in alcohol than ordinary wine. But Blair thought that was fine and took another sip.

“All the better.”

It was exactly what she needed to soothe the restlessness that kept building because of Kalintz.

The night deepened, and the banquet grew warm along with it.

When the last dessert had been served, Grand Duke Clovitz offered his closing remarks.

“The official banquet will be held tomorrow evening. Many honored guests from other countries will be attending, so please enjoy yourselves freely.”

The Grand Duke rose from his seat, and the others followed one by one, bringing the banquet to a close.

“Shall we…… Blair?”

Kalintz had just started to rise from his chair when he noticed Blair with her head hanging low, and his brow furrowed.

“Oh, are we going?”

Blair drew out the words slowly and lifted her head. Her cheeks were flushed a soft red, and her eyes were slightly unfocused.

“……You’re drunk.”

At Kalintz’s murmur, Blair rose slowly from her seat and shook her head.

“I’m not. Not that much.”

“You look very much like you are.”

Kalintz let out a small laugh and held out his hand.

“……”

Blair blinked and stared at the hand extended toward her.

It’s just an escort.

It was nothing new at this point, so why did she keep wanting to give it meaning.

“I’m fine. I can walk on my own.”

Blair tried to keep the pleasant buzz under control and stepped past him.

“Formal speech one moment, informal the next.”

Kalintz shook his head and murmured, but surprisingly followed behind without much fuss.

Once they left the brilliant outdoor hall, the surroundings fell quiet.

Blair breathed in a deep lungful of the night air to clear her head and looked up at the sky. The full moon, blurred softly by a halo, looked exactly like how she felt inside.

“Haah.”

The buzz had not faded, and neither had the restlessness. Blair let out a small sigh and glanced back at Kalintz, walking a step behind her.

“Hand?”

Their eyes met, and he held out his hand again with a playful look.

Why does he keep smiling like that. It confuses people.

“I said I’m fine. And stop smiling like that.”

“Like what, exactly.”

“You know what, the kind that…… makes a person’s heart—!”

Blair caught herself just barely, but the words had already spilled out.

“……That came out wrong.”

“I don’t think it did.”

“I must be drunk. Why am I like this.”

“You said you weren’t.”

Blair spun around and walked quickly away, pretending she had not heard.

The rush of embarrassment and the thickening haze of wine made her steps unsteady, but Blair gritted her teeth and kept moving.

But it lasted only a moment. Kalintz caught up in a few strides and took hold of her shoulder.

“No, I said I’m fine, why do you keep—”

“I didn’t say anything. Just slow down. You look like you’re going to fall.”

The suddenly close distance made Blair glance away.

“And this way. Not that way.”

Kalintz took her hand naturally and led her toward the annex where they were staying.

A short while later, they opened the door to the guest suite and were greeted warmly by Tilda, who had been reading in the sitting room.

“You’re back! How was the banquet…… Your Highness? Are you all right?”

Tilda’s eyes went wide at the sight of Blair, who was visibly drunk, and she rushed over.

“I’ll take care of her.”

At Kalintz’s words, Tilda nodded silently and stepped back.

Stepping into the bedroom, Blair paused slightly at the faint, sweet scent drifting through the air. It was coming from the figs Lady Miller had left earlier.

“Blair.”

“Oh, I’m fine, I said……”

She was not fine at all, in truth. The humid night air of Valia was making her more drunk, not less. And then there was Kalintz’s breath, close by.

It was, in many ways, a difficult night to sober up in.

“You don’t look it at all.”

“No, I keep saying I’m fine, why do you keep—eek!”

Blair had tried to push Kalintz away slightly and instead felt her own body tipping.

She squeezed her eyes shut against the sensation of the floor rushing up at her.

Then, a moment later, a firm embrace wrapped around her entirely.

“If you’re not drunk, then was that on purpose. This too?”

Blair’s cheek met a solid chest and she looked up in surprise.

He was half-lying on the bed, watching her with a low, heavy gaze.

Blair looked into Kalintz’s sharp gold eyes beneath her.

The position made it look as though she were pinning him down. She tried to push herself up quickly, but for some reason she could not look away from his gaze, which had the intensity of a predator’s.

“No answer. I’m really going to misunderstand.”

Kalintz’s low voice resonated quietly.

“No, I just missed my step…… it wasn’t on purpose…!”

Blair finally managed to speak and scrambled to explain herself, shifting her weight. But Kalintz tightened the arm around her waist, making clear he had no intention of letting go.

“That thing you said earlier. What did you mean.”

“Wh, what?”

“About being shaken.”

He had been laughing a moment ago. Now there was not a trace of it on his face.

“I said that came out wrong, just now—”

“You may have missed your step, but I don’t think those words came out by accident.”

Kalintz said it with his arm still firmly around her waist.

“Or are you saying that when you’re drunk, you tell anyone that they make your heart waver?”

“……What? Anyone?”

At that, heat flooded Blair’s head.

She had been trying so hard to bury these feelings and pretend they were not there.

The flutter she felt around him. The hope that kept quietly growing. Even the petty jealousy. She had wanted all of it to pass like a cold.

Sometimes the things he said and did confused her, but she had not let herself dig deeper. It was a contractual relationship that would end once they each got what they wanted. It was better for both of them not to let it go too deep.

She had told herself that dozens, hundreds of times. Building a sandcastle she knew would crumble, over and over.

And then a slip of the tongue had let the truth out. To be told it was just drunk ramblings she would say to anyone, of all things. The injustice of it was almost unbearable.

“Do I seem like someone who would say that to just anyone?”

“No.”

The sheer audacity of that confident answer left Blair speechless.

“Then why—!”

“Because you keep pretending you don’t know, pretending it isn’t there.”

“That…… I have my reasons.”

“Which is why I’ve been pretending not to notice. All this time.”

Pretending not to notice. What does that mean.

Blair stared at him, unable to make sense of it.

“You kept getting confused and flustered. And you never even thought to ask me directly. So I waited. It seemed like you needed time.”

Kalintz’s searching gaze bore down on her.

“But do I really have to pretend I didn’t hear the truth you let slip when you were drunk.”

There was no escaping that suffocating look.

“I don’t intend to.”

Was it her imagination. The arm around her waist seemed to tighten. Blair became acutely aware of how close their bodies were.

“……Could you just let go for a moment—”

“Blair.”

But he clearly had no intention of letting go.

“At Lake Rafen, I told you to think carefully about why I was comforting you. Do you remember?”

How could she forget.

That day she had told him about Allen’s death. The hand that had stroked her hair. The warmth of being held. The gentle words that had comforted her. And then—

‘Just so you know, this isn’t because we share the same fate, like someone once said. And it certainly isn’t humanitarian goodwill.’

The expression on his face when he told her to think carefully about why he had done all of that. She had been so shaken by that look.