A deep longing colored the Grand Duke’s voice.

“Every year when the magnolias bloomed, she would spend the whole day outside, coming home drunk on the fragrance. Just like her mother, who went before her.”

Grand Duke Clovitz murmured, looking at a small frame on the bedside table. Over his shoulder, the portrait showed a woman who looked exactly like Queen Rhea, holding a newborn in her arms.

“Queen Rhea resembles her mother greatly.”

“Ah, yes. That’s part of why I cherished her so much. I could have given her everything in the world and not thought it a waste.”

A heavy regret seeped out at the end of his words.

“And then, in a single moment of mistake…… it became something that could never be undone.”

A mistake. Blair caught the deep despair that crossed the Grand Duke’s eyes as he said the word, and spoke carefully.

“Do you regret it.”

At that, the Grand Duke’s brow furrowed. His face said he had not expected to be asked that.

“Hm. Even my own retainers do not dare ask me that.”

“……Forgive me. You seemed to miss Her Majesty the Queen so very much.”

Blair looked around the room as she spoke.

The furniture, the decorations, even an old quill pen with every last feather frayed and split. The room must have had no occupant for over twenty years, yet everything remained exactly as it was.

As though waiting for Queen Rhea to return someday.

“Miss her, you say.”

Whether he had read Blair’s thoughts, the Grand Duke let out a sigh like a lament and spoke.

“Even in my dreams, her face grows faint now.”

The Grand Duke set the small frame back down and continued.

“Do I regret it? Yes. I would turn back time if I could. All of those choices were nothing but my own greed……”

Deep lines carved themselves into his brow. Blair listened in silence, then slowly opened her mouth.

“Queen Rhea is a strong person.”

Blair looked at the Grand Duke as she spoke.

“She is gentle and warm, yet she cherishes and protects the people she calls her own. I have not spent a long time with Her Majesty, but that is how I have come to know her.”

Grand Duke Clovitz drew a deep breath, visibly moved, and looked up at the portrait above the fireplace.

“And yet it seemed the wounds Your Grace left on Her Majesty still run very deep.”

“Of course they do. That is why she has never once replied to my letters.”

“I am not sure it is my place to say this, but if you wish for even a small chance at repairing your relationship with Her Majesty……”

Blair looked into the Grand Duke’s grey-blue eyes, so like Queen Rhea’s, as she spoke.

“Willer Brienne. You must cut ties with him first. I imagine Your Grace already knows this.”

“!”

Grand Duke Clovitz looked slightly startled when Blair mentioned Willer Brienne so directly, but he soon let out a quiet sigh.

“If it were that simple, I would have done so long ago. But……”

The Grand Duke trailed off, his face heavy with worry.

“I do not know what passed between you in the past. But Your Grace, is your alliance with him truly the most important thing to you right now?”

He said nothing.

“I offer this only with the humblest of intentions, as it is my limited view that it is not.”

Rhea Clovitz. His only daughter, forced to take the Einhart name. More than anything else, Grand Duke Clovitz wanted his daughter’s forgiveness.

After a long silence, the Grand Duke turned and looked at Blair.

“You have a remarkable ability to see through people and circumstances. My daughter must be very fond of you.”

“I have always felt it is more than I deserve.”

“You knew I missed Rhea deeply, and you came prepared with words to persuade me.”

He added with a small laugh,

“I think I understand now why Willer acted so recklessly this time. He has grown impatient too.”

“……I won’t deny that I had a plan to persuade Your Grace.”

“Ha! You are far bolder than you appear.”

The Grand Duke’s face as he said it was not one of displeasure.

“But the reason I say all of this is not purely for my own sake. I do not wish for more people to suffer because of that man. Including Queen Rhea.”

“What do you mean? Why would Rhea……”

The Grand Duke seemed to know nothing at all of how Queen Rhea had lived since coming to Eiron.

“Her Majesty was prepared to give her life to protect Princess Lina. Because of Duke Willer Brienne.”

“What? What are you saying?”

Grand Duke Clovitz’s eyes shook deeply.

“I cannot tell you the details myself, but Her Majesty has been fighting her own battle. From the moment she set foot on Eiron soil, and even now.”

That Willer Brienne was the root cause of it all was something no one could deny. Shock, fury, and something like self-reproach rose and tangled across Grand Duke Clovitz’s face.

“I will save the tea for another time. I hope that when that time comes…… Queen Rhea might join us as well. The tea she pours is truly wonderful.”

She meant it sincerely. If the Grand Duke genuinely repented and sought forgiveness, perhaps a reconciliation with Queen Rhea was not impossible. Perhaps the day would come when she could set foot again on the Valian soil she loved.

“……Yes. Thank you.”

At the Grand Duke’s words, Blair bowed her head in respect and took her leave.

❀❀❀

From that day on, the relationship between Grand Duke Clovitz and Duke Brienne shifted in a subtle but unmistakable way. Whatever the specifics, a crack had clearly formed between them.

“Remarkable. It’s only a matter of time before Grand Duke Clovitz cuts Brienne off entirely.”

“It turned out exactly as Her Highness said it would.”

Ernst added his voice to Kalintz’s admiration.

“Our Princess Consort sees right through everything!”

Tilda, who had been quietly listening from beside them, chimed in with enthusiastic praise for Blair.

“It wasn’t so much anything I did. The Grand Duke’s regret ran very deep.”

Blair murmured with a slightly awkward expression.

“And we still have to wait and see what decision he ultimately makes.”

“True. He and Duke Brienne must have leverage on each other, so it won’t be simple.”

Blair nodded, thinking back to the Grand Duke’s hesitation.

“Oh, by the way, any word from Ariela?”

She had been working on altering the formula of the Leaves of Youth sent to King Rubens, and tracking down the alchemist who had used forbidden alchemy to create the mutant.

“Finding her whereabouts hasn’t been easy.”

Kalintz’s mercenary company in Valia had been mobilized to search, but no lead had emerged.

“It won’t be easy to find someone in a capital this large. We’re short on people and time.”

If Duke Brienne caught wind of their search before they found anything, it would be a disaster.

Blair thought for a moment, then spoke.

“Tilda. Could you bring Lady Miller?”

“……That woman?”

Tilda’s brow furrowed immediately. She too was seething over Lady Miller’s betrayal.

“Are you planning to use her to find something out?”

“If we start asking around for the alchemist’s location, we’ll draw suspicion.”

Ernst asked, and Kalintz rubbed his chin and murmured in agreement.

“We need to send her in with information that will deflect suspicion. Something Duke Brienne doesn’t know, but will find very interesting.”

At Blair’s words, Ernst’s expression went rigid.

“That’s not what I think it is, is it?”

“I think it is.”

Kalintz murmured, looking at Blair, who had gone quiet. Ernst’s jaw dropped in disbelief. Tilda, sensing she was the only one out of the loop, darted her eyes back and forth trying to read the room.

“……Your Highness?”

Blair called his name with a look that asked whether it was all right to speak in front of Tilda. He opened his mouth himself.

“In other words, you want to leak it to Duke Brienne through Lady Miller. The fact that ours is a contract marriage.”

A brief silence settled over the parlor.

Then came the sound of a teacup falling and shattering, and before long the sweet scent of Tilda’s beloved milk tea spread through the room.