* * *

Rainer’s coat snapped sharply as he crossed the corridor. In place of the frock coat he wore within the palace, he was dressed in full military uniform.

The servants passing by held their breath — unsettled by the unfamiliar attire and the unapproachable aura that came with it.

“Your Highness. The Imperial edict has not yet been issued. Searching the Duke of Belheim’s residence would, legally speaking——”

The voice of the guard officer following behind him made Rainer stop. He turned.

Those cooled, frost-edged eyes settled on his adjutant.

“So — you’re suggesting we wait until the edict comes down? When Belheim burns every last piece of evidence, who answers for that?”

“But we lack the justification. If this goes wrong, it could escalate into an outright confrontation with the ducal house——!”

“Justification.”

Rainer let out a derisive sound and pulled the corner of his mouth into a sharp smile.

“Did you just say justification?”

“Y — yes……”

“If the pretext is hollow, all one needs to do is manufacture one.”

He moved on.

“Let me think…… Ah, yes. Was Belheim not, until recently, implicated alongside the republicans? In connection with the attempted assassination of the Princess.”

“Your Highness, that was——!”

“A man freshly cleared of charges, only to find himself entangled with them again — the picture isn’t unflattering. No, if anything, it could hardly be more natural.”

A cold wind cut like a blade as he stepped out of the building.

“Say that intelligence was received — that one of their spies had just slipped into the Belheim estate. And that witnesses have been secured.”

Rainer adjusted his black leather gloves and looked down at the small group of guard officers gathered quietly around him. Preparations were complete.

“The moment is now. While Belheim is inside the palace with his attention drawn to his wife — that is the opening.”

If this chance was lost — if things went wrong on Judith’s end — there was a possibility he would never be able to pull her free from Belheim’s grip at all.

“……Anyone who interferes is to be detained on my authority.”

Rainer’s coat whipped in the gusting wind.

“The rest proceed to the Belheim estate. A few will come with me to the townhouse.”

* * *

Judith’s room. Bathed in the warm afternoon light filtering through the window, Lorenz sat installed in the unoccupied room as though he owned it. A faint herbal scent drifted around him, and a thin smile played at the corner of his lips.

He sat with his legs crossed at the tea table, the picture of elegance, idly turning the leaves of the plant on the windowsill between his fingers.

Tending the leaves with that careful touch, Lorenz slowly turned his head at the sound of the door opening. He found Judith and Sabine — and with a fleeting smile, rose from his seat.

“I have missed you, my lady.”

His voice was warm.

“Without you there, the estate has been far too quiet. It seems I truly cannot do without you beside me for even a single day.”

Lorenz tilted his brows in a show of wistful longing and smiled with gentle sweetness.

Whether she had read the coldness concealed behind that composed smile, Sabine quietly tugged at Judith’s sleeve and whispered:

“Your husband — he really is as warm as people say. And yet somehow the feeling is a little……”

“……Lore!”

Before Sabine could finish.

Judith, who had been standing motionless in the doorway, suddenly rushed toward Lorenz and buried herself in his arms.

At the abrupt physical contact, Lorenz’s body gave a startled jolt and he stepped back — but Judith paid it no mind and pressed her face against his chest.

“When did you arrive. Without even a word.”

With a coy little sound, Judith looked up at Lorenz with eyes curved into a smile.

The calm, composed bearing that was her usual self was nowhere to be found — she seemed almost like an entirely different person.

“Duchess……?”

Sabine, who had been standing beside her just moments before, looked on in open shock. Judith hung on Lorenz’s arm and smiled with her eyes as she said:

“Sabine, I’d like to be alone with my husband — would you give us a moment?”

“……Pardon? Oh, that is——”

As Sabine flustered and floundered, Judith gave a slight tilt of her chin toward Rita, who stood like a shadow near the doorway.

“Rita, would you take Sabine out for a little while?”

“Yes, my lady.”

Quick to read the room, Rita dipped her head properly and guided Sabine by the arm.

Being led out in a daze, Rita gave a tiny fist pump just before the door closed — visible only to Judith — leaving behind a silent word of encouragement before disappearing.

Click.

The door shut. The sound of footsteps in the corridor faded gradually into the distance.

Judith lifted her head slightly from Lorenz’s chest and pouted.

“Why did you take so long to come?”

“……Erika.”

He answered, drawing his arm naturally around her waist.

“That Rainer kept manufacturing reasons to delay the investigation.”

Judith gave Lorenz’s arm a light push and stepped back from his hold. Then, with a petulant expression, she folded her arms and shot him a sideways look.

Lorenz, unbothered by her manner as though well used to it, moved calmly toward the tea table and lifted the teapot.

The soft, clear sound of tea filling a cup rang through the quiet room.

“Are you settling in here? Is everyone treating you well? No one’s giving you trouble, are they, Eri?”

Lorenz held out a cup, steam rising warmly from the surface. But Judith didn’t spare the tea so much as a glance, and tilted her head with a crooked air.

“……What am I, a child?”

“Ha ha, you rather are, aren’t you.”

Lorenz laughed low and took a quiet sip from his own cup.

“But.”

He set the cup down, a lingering trace of amusement still on his face, and ran his gaze over her.

“You seem particularly sharp today. Did the palace food not agree with you? Or perhaps…… you’ve made yourself ill from missing me?”

“……Please. Are you going to keep treating me like a child?”

Judith shot him a look and fired back — and Lorenz broke into a low laugh, closing the distance between them.

He draped his arm naturally around her shoulder and tapped her cheek lightly with his fingers.

Pain flared at her shoulder blade, but Judith made no show of it.

“I said you rather are. You take a great deal of managing, and your temperament is anything but ordinary. Though I suppose that’s part of your charm.”

“You do have a way with words.”

Judith made a show of trying to shake his arm off, but Lorenz only tightened his hold and pulled her closer against him.

Ugh……

As the weight bore down on her shoulder, a sharp jolt shot through her head for a moment. Judith pressed her lower lip hard between her teeth. It wasn’t the pain that had her attention — it was something else entirely.

“Eri. Did you not miss me?”

Lorenz bent his head and murmured against her ear.

The body heat transferring from where their sides pressed together made Judith’s muscles go rigid.

At a moment like this, I should be leaning in a little more……

Erika, as Rita had described her, would certainly have done so.

But once her body had gone rigid, it refused to cooperate no matter what she told it.

“I still haven’t heard it from you. That you missed me.”

“……I’ve been busy. Attending to the Princess, learning palace protocol. This is the first time I’ve been thrown out into the world like this without you, so I haven’t had the presence of mind to——”

“All excuses. I was so lonely without you.”

Lorenz’s voice dropped lower, heavier, thicker.

“I couldn’t sleep well at night either. Without you sleeping beside me.”

He slid the hand from her shoulder down and curled it slowly around her waist.

“Wasn’t it the same for you? Sleeping alone — the bed must have felt so wide.”

Lorenz cast a glance toward the door leading to the bedroom on the far side of the room.

“Th — that’s……”

“Eri. It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”

Before she could answer, Lorenz shoved her roughly against the wall. His arms came down on either side of her, and in an instant her entire field of vision filled with his chest.

“……Lore? Wait, what are you——”

“With you right here in front of me like this — should I be holding back?”

Judith’s mind went white. Her fingertips trembled.

Erika wouldn’t push him away. Erika would……

But Judith was not Erika.

His breath reached the line of her jaw, and her heart beat with a sick, unpleasant rhythm.

She moved to push his shoulders back — but Lorenz didn’t budge. Instead he pressed closer, relentlessly holding her gaze captive.

“C — calm down. We’re in the Imperial Palace right now. And it’s the middle of the day…… What if someone walks in.”

“Eri. When have we ever concerned ourselves with that.”

Lorenz smiled — thin and unpleasant — and roughly tipped her chin up.

Then, giving her no chance to say a word, he pressed his lips down hard onto hers.