“……When did you wake up?”

Kalintz only gave a slight shrug without answering. The sight of his bare skin showing through the robe made her look away in embarrassment, and she heard a quiet laugh.

That laugh threatened to make the back of her neck flush all over again, so Blair quickly said what she had prepared.

“About…… yesterday. I was far too drunk. I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

The faint smile on Kalintz’s lips hardened immediately.

“I don’t remember much, but…… if I did anything that could be considered a mistake, I apologize.”

Blair dipped her head slightly as she spoke.

After a long silence, Kalintz let out a cold, disbelieving laugh.

“Ha. I didn’t expect to hear something like this.”

“……”

“Blair. Weren’t we done pretending not to know, pretending it isn’t there, as of yesterday.”

Kalintz’s voice dropped low with something like anger as he pressed her. Blair could not bring herself to meet his eyes and looked away.

“Claiming you don’t remember because of the wine. You can’t actually think I’ll believe that. And a mistake, on top of it?”

“Whatever you think, my answer is the same.”

Silence settled heavily between them. She glanced up to find Kalintz’s expression rigid, holding back his anger.

“……Fine. Understood. You don’t remember. Even looking like that.”

Kalintz’s gaze moved openly over the marks on her, and Blair shrank slightly.

She had expected he would not believe her. Even to her own ears, it was a shameless lie.

But she had no other choice. All she could do was cover the truth with the flimsy excuse that it had been a mistake.

Because what had happened last night had to pass as a drunken mishap and nothing more.

Knock knock.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Tilda came in carrying tea.

“Your Highness, I brought the tea you asked for, good for a hangover…… oh my.”

Tilda drew in a sharp breath at the sight of Blair in her negligee, or more precisely, at the marks blooming all over her.

But only for a moment. Sensing the cold air between the two of them, Tilda stood with an awkward expression, unsure whether to set out the tea or not.

“The tea should be brewed very strong. It seems Her Highness the Princess Consort drank so much she can’t remember a thing.”

Kalintz delivered the cutting remark and walked past Blair out of the bedroom.

“……Haah.”

She had expected something like this, but seeing Kalintz’s cold demeanor in person still drew a sigh out of her.

Tilda glanced again at the dress on the floor and the marks on Blair’s body. It was clearly a passionate night, so why was there a freezing wind blowing through the room.

Unable to make sense of it, Tilda simply brewed the tea in silence.

❀❀❀

The first banquet prepared for the Grand Duke of Valia’s birthday was, of all things, a masquerade ball.

“A masquerade for a birthday banquet. Valia really is something else.”

Tilda said it as she laid out the elaborate masks.

“I’ve only seen one in Eiron.”

Just as she said, masquerade parties were not considered particularly formal affairs in Eiron. The reasoning was that they were parties where people hid their faces and identities.

In practice, there were often married guests who got up to inappropriate things at masquerades, and some quarters criticized them for encouraging a licentious atmosphere.

“You’re right. It’s different from us in many ways.”

Blair answered somewhat absently. Her head was full of how to handle things with Kalintz.

“Still, it sounds like fun. When else would we get to do something like this.”

Tilda, with no way of knowing what Blair was feeling, admired the masks cheerfully. Lady Miller, standing beside her, asked quietly,

“Which mask will you wear, Your Highness?”

After a brief pause, Blair picked up a mask decorated with emeralds.

“I’ll take this one.”

“That one covers most of your face.”

What she had chosen covered not only her eyes and nose, but also the lower half of her face with translucent lace and silver thread.

“Well, it is a masquerade.”

Blair actually had a reason for choosing it. Covering her face meant she could move around without drawing attention to herself.

It would be a good opportunity to observe Duke Brienne without being noticed.

With luck, she might be able to find out what he was scheming. Though identifying the duke behind a mask would have to come first.

“Is that what you two chose?”

Blair looked back and forth at the masks in their hands.

Tilda had chosen a small mask that covered only her eyes, while Lady Miller had chosen a plain grey mask that covered her entire face.

“Lady Miller, you could have chosen something a little more elaborate.”

Her mask was a common design with nothing distinctive about it.

“This is sufficient for me, Your Highness.”

Considering Lady Miller’s preference for going unnoticed, it was not particularly strange, and Blair gave a nod.

Once they had finished dressing for the masquerade, the hour of the banquet drew near. Tilda glanced at Blair with a careful look and murmured,

“It’s about time His Highness the Prince arrived……”

But the person who came was not who she expected.

“Oh…… Sir Werner?”

Tilda’s startled voice came from the door. Ernst stood outside wearing a moderately elaborate mask.

“What brings you here, Sir……”

“I’ve come to escort Her Highness on His Highness the Prince’s behalf. He said he may be a little late due to an important matter.”

“Pardon?”

Caught off guard, Tilda looked at Blair, at a loss for words.

“Is it because of me?”

Blair asked, thinking of Kalintz walking away in barely contained anger. But Ernst shook his head.

“No, nothing like that. He stepped out briefly to look into something related to alchemy.”

Alchemy. The word made something prickle in Blair’s chest.

“With that woman? Ariela?”

“Oh…? You know her?”

“Wait a moment. His Highness the Prince is with her?”

Tilda’s brow furrowed just as sharply.

“You know Miss Royce too?”

Ernst looked back and forth between the two women with a surprised expression.

“……Ha.”

Blair felt a flash of heat and let out a short, humorless laugh. But she quickly reminded herself of her own situation and brought her feelings back down.

I’m the one trying to pretend last night never happened. What business do I have being jealous.

Blair was grateful the mask hid her frown as she made her way toward the banquet hall.

❀❀❀

The banquet hall was packed with people in brilliant finery.

There were masks adorned with every kind of jewel, and some guests wore masks shaped like animals, lions and foxes among them.

“Wow…… everyone is so dazzling. That must be a wig, right?”

Tilda pointed at a woman with lustrous silver hair piled high and marveled.

And it was not only wigs. Several guests had used hats or hoods to conceal their identities even more effectively.

This is going to make it hard to find Duke Brienne.

From the moment she entered the banquet hall, Blair had been scanning the room for anyone with a similar build to the duke. But with everyone’s faces covered, it was difficult to tell who was who.

She was beginning to think masks were not entirely a good thing when the grand doors on the second floor of the banquet hall opened.

“His Grace the Grand Duke!”

Grand Duke Kazhar Clovitz appeared to the cheers of the assembled nobles. He waved in response to the welcome and then began to offer his remarks.

“He doesn’t seem very concerned with hiding his face.”

Just as Tilda said, Grand Duke Clovitz was wearing a mask that covered only his left eye and cheek. It seemed more decorative than concealing.

“If he’s going to give a speech like that anyway, everyone will know who he is. No point in covering up too carefully.”

Blair thought it was at least a relief that the Grand Duke was easy to identify. If Duke Brienne proved difficult to find, she would have to keep a close eye on those he was likely to speak with.

People like Grand Duke Clovitz and Count Roman, for instance.

Blair was deep in these calculations when a vaguely familiar voice reached her.

“At Valian masquerades, it’s an unspoken rule that high-ranking nobles and royalty show their faces to some degree.”

She turned to find a man of distinctive build standing behind her. He wore a mask that covered only both eyes and the right cheek, and the skin left exposed was notably dark.

“……His Grace Remarque?”

Blair called out to him in surprise before she could stop herself.

“Ah, is it rude to reveal someone’s identity like that?”

Calling out someone’s name openly at a masquerade was generally frowned upon, but Rashid seemed unbothered.

“It’s fine. My skin color means anyone can tell who I am just by looking at my hand.”

Fair enough. There would hardly be another Armos Islander invited to Grand Duke Clovitz’s birthday banquet besides Rashid Remarque.

Blair nodded in agreement, then lowered her voice and asked,

“But how did you know it was me? Am I that obvious?”

Her face was almost entirely covered, and red hair was common in Valia, so she had assumed she would not be easily recognized.

“……I recognized you immediately, but I cannot say whether others would.”

That was the same as saying others might too. He was a peculiar man, that much had been clear from the start.

“I should have covered up more.”

Blair murmured, worrying that Duke Brienne or Count Roman might recognize her too quickly.