“……Complete rest?”

Judith doubted her own ears for a moment.

Was it because of the chandelier accident yesterday?

No — she had come away with nothing more than a few light scratches. To be put on rest under the pretense of injury over something that minor was absurd.

“I’m not some critical patient, so why on earth——”

The protest died on her lips.

A fragment of last night’s memory, scattered and faint until now, drove itself into her mind like a blade.

Hot breath tangled together in the darkness.

A rough, insistent hand pressing into the inside of her thigh.

And the suffocating heat of him, refusing to let her go, driving her further and further until she lost herself entirely.

‘Oh.’

The flush that swept across Judith’s face was instantaneous.

If that was the reason behind the order for complete rest, she had no grounds to argue.

No — she could not argue.

That would be digging her own grave.

‘This man is truly……’

Judith bit down hard on her back teeth, trying to hide the color creeping up her ears.

Shame and embarrassment and a peculiar sense of transgression churned together in her stomach.

Her subordinates were watching. She could not let anything show.

Judith forced her expression into order and reached for the drawing room door handle. Her grip tightened.

The moment the door swung open, Dorothea’s bright laughter and a wave of warmth spilled out to meet her.

“Hahaha! Really? You actually did that, Oppa?”

The drawing room was peaceful, entirely oblivious to the storm raging inside her.

Rainer was sunk deep into the sofa, legs crossed, drinking coffee.

Beside him, Princess Fiorenza held a teacup, and behind her, Dante stood like a shadow.

At Judith’s entrance, Dorothea’s eyes went wide and she leapt to her feet.

“Oh! Judith!”

At that, Rainer turned his head slowly.

He set down his coffee cup. With a perfectly composed expression, he looked Judith over from head to toe — taking in the color flooding her cheeks.

Then his lips curved into a slow, unhurried arc. His dark red eyes were rich with playful warmth.

“Judith! Are you feeling better?”

Dorothea came running with a worried look on her face.

Behind her, Theodor — who had been helping himself to cookies — also shot to his feet at her appearance.

“Sis! Are you unwell? Why do you look like that?”

“……I am fine, Your Highness. Theo, why are you even here. I am perfectly all right.”

“No you’re not! Oppa said so himself. He told us you came down with a bad fever from the shock of yesterday’s accident.”

Dorothea raised her hand and pressed the back of it worriedly to Judith’s cheek.

“Your face is red…… Are you sure you’re not ill?”

Her face was red, but not for the reason Dorothea thought — a fact Judith could not bring herself to say aloud under any circumstances.

She cleared her throat and gently deflected Dorothea’s hand.

“I am truly fine. And I cannot sit here resting when there is work to be done.”

“What work?”

“The aftermath of yesterday’s attack in the ballroom has yet to be fully addressed, and the security review needs to be redone in connection with it. Beyond that, there is always more work to be found if you look for it——”

As Judith delivered her stiff report, a soft clatter of a coffee cup being set down came from behind her.

“No need to concern yourself with any of that, Captain.”

It was Rainer.

He was leaning back against the sofa at a languid angle, watching Judith with unhurried eyes.

“The duties have already been redistributed to cover your share. I have put you down as off duty for today.”

“But Your Highness, the on-site investigation——”

“The moment the culprits were apprehended, they talked. The chain of command is clear all the way up to whoever was behind it, so there is nothing complicated left to investigate. There may be some paperwork remaining on the stragglers, but there is hardly any need for a patient to go in and help with that.”

Before Judith could get a word in response, Theodor cut in.

“No, but why is it your decision to make? Why is the Grand Duke arbitrarily rearranging our sister’s schedule?”

“The prerogative of a direct superior. Any complaints?”

“Ha! Being a direct superior makes it all fine, does it? If you unilaterally cut her off from her duties like this, do you think that actually makes Sis feel at ease? She’ll only worry about what people think and make herself worse.”

Theodor huffed and pushed back, but Rainer simply laughed under his breath as though mildly amused and shrugged.

Judith swallowed a sigh and jabbed Theodor in the ribs.

“Theo, be quiet.”

“Hey! I’m just taking your side, Sis.”

Judith managed to quiet her noisy brother and turned back to Rainer — at which point he tilted his chin toward the empty sofa across from him.

“Don’t stand there. Sit down. Her Highness the Princess is going to strain her neck looking up at you.”

“That’s right, Judith. Come sit down. Please?”

With Dorothea joining in, Judith had no more room to hold out.

But she could hardly drop herself down onto a sofa in the middle of a gathering of royalty and her superior.

She let out a short breath and moved to take her place behind Dorothea rather than on the sofa.

“If you insist on my presence, I will remain here as her escort.”

“……Stubborn as ever.”

Rainer clicked his tongue and shook his head. But he did not press her further.

With his tacit acceptance, the conversation that had broken off resumed.

“(So you watched the fireworks all the way to the end?)“

“(Yes, every last one. They were truly beautiful. Though did you not retire rather early, Your Highness?)“

Princess Fiorenza propped her chin in her hand and asked with a teasing air.

Dorothea pushed out her lower lip in a small pout.

“(I couldn’t help it. Once the tension wore off I was so sleepy…… I heard the final finale was absolutely stunning — did you see it, Judith?)“

“Ah……”

Judith found herself at a loss for words.

The last firework.

When that last firework had burst, she had not been watching the sky at all — she had been watching the man in front of her.

What had blazed red was not the night sky but his eyes, and what had shattered was not gunpowder but her own reason.

“(……I did not see it.)“

Judith managed the answer, and Rainer’s lips curved into something subtle and knowing.

It stung. His gaze was unmistakable and relentless, moving over her from head to toe.

Rainer was responding to Dorothea’s chatter with halfhearted agreement — while keeping his eyes fixed on Judith the entire time.

From the neat row of buttons fastened all the way to her collar, to her neck, to her pressed-shut lips.

As though tracing the marks he had left the night before, that slow, deliberate gaze traveled over her — and Judith’s throat went completely dry.

‘……Would you please stop looking at me.’

Judith fixed her eyes somewhere in the middle distance and swallowed.

Now that the tension had broken and her reason had returned, facts she had been too scattered to register before began pressing themselves into her mind one by one.

‘……Wait.’

When she had woken that morning, she had been lying in her own quarters.

Washed clean, and changed into soft sleep clothes.

Setting aside the matter of how she had been carried there while unconscious — who exactly had washed her and changed her clothes?

‘Surely not.’

Judith’s train of thought came to a dead stop.

Would the man who had refused to let her go until the small hours of the morning really have called in a lady’s maid to see to the rest?

“Don’t hold back. I have no need of that mercy.”

There was no way.

Which left only one answer.

Wiping down her limp, insensible body. Putting her underclothes back on. Fastening every last button, one by one. All of it——

‘He’s out of his mind……’

The image grew unbearably specific before she could stop it.

She felt as though her face might burst. The shame was enough to make her want to bite through her own tongue.

Theodor beside her caught sight of her reddening face and began fussing — “Sis? Do you have a fever?” — but the words didn’t reach her.

Judith was staring blankly into the middle distance, her composure quietly falling to pieces, when——

“(……Speaking of which, Grand Duke.)“

Princess Fiorenza, who had been watching the scene unfold with an expression of undisguised interest, set down her teacup and spoke.

Her gaze moved between the dazed Judith and Rainer, who was watching Judith as though he meant to consume her whole.

“(When you leave for Rosenbaum — will Captain Grein be going with you?)“

“……Pardon?”

Judith snapped back to herself.

Rosenbaum. What was that supposed to mean.

She asked on reflex, and Fiorenza turned to look at her with a peculiar smile at the corner of her lips.