“(……I am to go to Rosenbaum?)“

Judith repeated it back with a blank expression.

Fiorenza’s bombshell brought the air in the drawing room to a sudden standstill.

The first to react was Theodor. He snapped the cookie he had been eating clean in half and shot to his feet.

“Hold on — what does that mean? Why would Sis go there?”

“I intend to bring her as my personal adjutant.”

Rainer set down his coffee cup and answered as though it were nothing — the same tone one might use to remark on the pleasant weather.

“Securing the coastal defenses and rebuilding the territory in the empire’s west will require an officer with thorough knowledge of the local terrain. The central city of Rosenbaum is Altmeer. Where would I find a more suitable candidate than a captain who was born in Altmeer and lived on the Rosenbaum estate?”

He was not wrong.

Altmeer was Judith’s hometown — the place she knew better than anywhere. And the Rosenbaum estate had been the Duchy of Belheim, belonging to her former husband Lorenz.

Few people had as thorough a grasp of its administrative structure and geographical particulars as Judith did.

“B-but, Oppa——!”

Dorothea clutched Rainer’s sleeve with a distressed look.

“Judith is my escort. She has only just been reinstated — how can you take her away immediately?”

“Your Highness the Grand Duke. It is not possible right away.”

Judith spoke up, her expression troubled.

“When the new year begins, there is a charity event scheduled — visiting civilian sanatoriums and orphanages with Her Highness the Princess. As the officer in charge of her escort, that is a duty I must see through.”

“That’s right! If Judith isn’t there, I won’t go at all!”

Dorothea cried out, throwing her weight behind Judith’s words.

An official schedule — and a charity event with the imperial family’s image at stake, no less.

However unreasonable Rainer could be, surely even he could not dismiss this.

But Rainer did not so much as blink.

“That event proceeds as planned. The departure is three days after the new year regardless.”

“……Three days after?”

“That’s right. In the meantime, the Princess’s escort duties can be transferred to Captain Schmidt. I won’t stop you from accompanying her to the charity event.”

Rainer ruffled Dorothea’s hair and brought the matter to a firm close.

Dorothea’s lower lip pushed out. She understood in her head that his reasoning was sound — her heart simply refused to follow.

“Still…… it’s not fair. Judith and I have only just gotten to be together again.”

“Your Highness.”

At that, Wilhelmina — the head lady’s maid standing behind Dorothea — stepped quietly forward.

She pushed up her gleaming spectacles and spoke.

“Please do not be too disheartened. Captain Grein is not leaving permanently. Once the foundation of the estate is established, she will return to the capital. It is simply a temporary posting.”

“But Wilhelmina……”

“His Highness the Grand Duke surely has his reasons. This is for the good of the realm — please allow yourself to yield, Your Highness.”

Wilhelmina’s calm persuasion coaxed Dorothea into a sulky nod.

The matter seemed to be settling — but then Theodor, who had been listening from beside them, let out a derisive snort.

“For the good of the realm? That’s rich. He just wants to monopolize Sis — does he think no one can see right through him?”

“Theo……!”

“Am I wrong? Look at his eyes. He’s absolutely itching to gobble her up.”

“……!”

Itching to gobble her up.

At that blunt, doubly loaded turn of phrase, Judith’s face flooded with heat.

Because it overlapped, rather precisely, with the image of Rainer the night before — devouring her as though he intended to strip her down to the bone.

Judith broke into a cold sweat and pulled her brother’s arm down.

“That was too far. Apologize.”

“No! Did I say anything that wasn’t true?”

Theodor huffed and pushed back — but Rainer met the provocation with complete composure.

He propped his chin in his hand and regarded Theodor with something like genuine interest.

“Perceptive. Siblings do tend to resemble each other.”

“What? Are you actually admitting it?”

“No reason to deny it. A commander coveting capable people is a virtue of leadership.”

It was slippery, crafted language.

By blending the professional — coveting talent — with the personal in that seamless way, even Theodor found himself without a foothold.

Theodor let out an incredulous laugh, then narrowed his eyes as though a thought had just struck him.

“Fine. I’ll grant, for the sake of argument, that this is official business. Then where will Sis be staying when she gets there?”

“In the main residence, naturally.”

“The main residence? That old manor up on the hill?”

Theodor’s brow drew together.

“That place has been without a master since the search and seizure — there’s no way it’s been properly maintained. Don’t tell me you’re planning to put Sis up somewhere covered in dust.”

“Nothing to worry about. It was always intended to pass into my ownership from the moment of confiscation, so I sent a caretaker and put construction work underway quite some time ago.”

“Construction? Ha. Your Highness, if you’re going to lie, at least make it convincing.”

The look in Theodor’s eyes shifted.

The emotional resistance of moments ago fell away, replaced by the keen, precise reasoning of someone who knew his field.

“The estate was only confiscated a fortnight ago. Add a week for the journey and you have twenty days at most — and you’re telling me construction was completed in that time? In the middle of winter, no less?”

“…….”

“The hill where the Belheim manor sits has soft clay soil. If you poured wet foundations in this weather, the ground would settle and collapse before it could even cure. You intend to put Sis in the middle of a structurally unsound construction site?”

It was a sharp observation, worthy of an architecture student.

Winter construction. A narrow window of time. The soil composition.

If Theodor was right, the place would be unfit for habitation.

But Rainer, far from looking flustered, let the corner of his mouth lift with something like interest.

“The clay is only at the surface. Dig down three meters and you hit solid granite bedrock.”

“……!”

“And who said anything about wet construction? The annex extension beside the main building used dry steel-frame methods. The materials were sourced through the nearest port the moment Belheim was arrested.”

Theodor’s mouth fell open.

With dry construction, there was no curing period required — so it wasn’t impossible.

But the timing was the problem.

“Immediately after the arrest…… that would have been before the verdict was even handed down, wouldn’t it?”

“The criminal evidence was clear — confiscation was only a matter of time. Why hesitate when the outcome was never in doubt?”

Rainer shrugged.

“A building left without a master becomes a ruin in no time at all. Tending to what will be mine is only natural.”

Theodor chewed his lip, visibly galled.

There was no angle left to argue — not logically, and not technically.

He fumed — and yet, unable to suppress the curiosity of an architecture student, muttered under his breath.

“……I want to see the blueprints later. I’ll verify the structural calculations myself.”

“Any time.”

Without his quite noticing, the upper hand had passed entirely to Rainer. Judith stood there in a daze as the room somehow transformed into an architectural debate.

Rainer took a sip of coffee and wrapped things up with quiet finality.

“In any case, the manor’s facilities are every bit the equal of the palace here in the capital. Nothing to worry about.”

He set down his cup and turned his gaze away with an air of indifference.

But for the briefest instant, his eyes met Judith’s.

He said nothing. His expression was calm and composed.

But Judith saw it.

For just a moment, his red eyes dropped to her lips — and then away.

“……I will go and fetch the duty log. I left it with the adjutant waiting outside.”

Judith rose and made her escape.

If she stayed tangled up in this topic with him any longer, she would only get drawn in further — that much was obvious.

She turned sharply and reached for the door handle. Behind her came the soft sound of fabric shifting.

“I’ll come with you. I have something to pass along as well.”

There was no room to say he needn’t bother.

The drawing room door closed, and a brief silence settled over the corridor.

The moment the door shut, Judith seized the opportunity and steered Rainer into a deserted corner of the hallway.

“I will ask you directly. ……Who changed my clothes last night?”

Judith’s voice trembled, just barely.

Rainer feigned ignorance and raised an eyebrow.

“Who knows. Who would you prefer it to have been?”

“Anyone but Your Highness. A lady’s maid, or someone else——”

“That’s unfortunate. Wrong on both counts.”

Rainer leaned down toward her ear.

The cool scent of him hit her in a wave, and Judith’s shoulders went rigid.

“I couldn’t leave my woman in someone else’s hands. I washed and dressed you myself — down to the last strand of hair.”

“……!”

“No need to look so shocked. Don’t you remember? You were quite cooperative — even lifted your arms for me.”

He laughed, low and satisfied.