On a morning bathed in warm sunlight, Delia awoke at her usual hour.

She pulled the bell rope beside her bed and washed with the water a maid brought in. Afterward, she changed into an indoor dress in the dressing room.

As she fastened a necklace around Delia’s neck, the maid, Sarah, spoke in a slightly excited voice.

“The weather is especially lovely today, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It feels as though winter has finally passed and warm spring has come.”

Though the air was still somewhat brisk, it was enough to make one feel the arrival of spring. Smiling faintly as she gazed out the window, Delia’s expression soon clouded with worry.

“My lady? Are you feeling unwell?”

“I am fine. I have made you worry for nothing.”

Delia reached for a small frame resting atop the vanity.

Black hair reminiscent of the night sky. Intense eyes capable of captivating anyone who met them. A sharp nose and jawline, as though sculpted by a master artisan.

The man in the portrait was her husband—Kallius Hildebrandt.

Even now, after becoming a married man, he was so strikingly handsome that women continued to cast longing glances his way.

Gently brushing her fingers over the face within the frame, Delia murmured in a faint voice,

“He loves spring as well… It feels wrong to enjoy the season alone.”

“My lady……”

A week ago—

While attending a party at the Imperial Palace, Delia and Kallius were attacked by an unidentified assailant.

With Kallius’s skill, subduing a mere assailant would have been effortless. But matters changed when Delia was at his side. While protecting her, Kallius had fallen from the terrace and was now hovering between life and death.

“What is there that I can possibly do now?”

Thanks to the renowned physicians she had summoned, Kallius’s wounds healed quickly. And yet, the time he remained confined to his sickbed only grew longer.

Watching Delia weaken day by day, Sarah let out a sorrowful sigh. She gently held Delia’s hands and offered her comfort.

“My lady, you are already doing more than enough.”

“Even so… compared to the fact that Kallius risked his life for me……”

“Please do not worry. With His Grace the Duke’s strength, he will rise from that bed in no time.”

Before marrying Delia, Kallius had served as the Emperor’s guard knight. Recalling the monstrous stamina he possessed, a faint smile touched her lips.

“He surely… will, won’t he?”

The thought of him waking and smiling at her again made her heart race.

Yes. The worst had not come to pass.

All Delia had to do now was act as she always had—and welcome Kallius when he returned to her.

“Thank you for comforting me.”

“I will always stand on your side, my lady.”

Delia pressed her warm lips to the portrait that held Kallius’s image. Rising from her seat, she returned the frame carefully to its place.

“It is about time I went to see Kallius.”

“Shall I accompany you, my lady?”

“No. I would like to spend some time alone with him, for once.”

Kallius had always disliked having others enter his bedchamber. Even while he lay unconscious, she wished to respect him as much as she could.

Before leaving the dressing room, Delia checked her reflection in the mirror and then made her way out.

Today—she hoped he would open his eyes.

As she walked along the corridor, receiving the servants’ greetings, Delia’s brows knit in confusion.

The servants, who had looked as though death itself loomed over them after Kallius’s attack, seemed unusually elated today.

Tilting her head at the strange atmosphere, she suddenly heard a voice brimming with joy from beyond the door to Kallius’s chamber.

There was only one reason cheers would erupt from the room of a bedridden patient.

Clutching at her trembling heart, Delia gripped the handle and turned it with force.

Creeeak—

As the door swung wide open, her gaze fell upon a man standing bare-chested.

Eyes that seemed capable of drawing one in. Firm muscles honed through real battle. Even in the disheveled state of having just risen, the decadent aura surrounding him left no doubt—

It was Kallius.

“Kallius!”

Delia ran toward him at full speed. Feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath his skin, she finally believed that he had truly awakened.

Her eyes reddened as she rested her head against his solid chest.

“I was so worried. I kept thinking—what if you left me like this, never to return…….”

The warmth she had longed for calmed her anxious heart at once.

What brought her back to reality, however, was an exceedingly cold voice.

“I am so dumbfounded I cannot even laugh.”

At first, she thought she had misheard. After all, throughout their marriage, Kallius had never spoken in such a threatening tone.

“I heard from my aide. They say you even held a wedding ceremony with me?”

“K-Kallius?”

“Ha. It is so absurd I cannot even laugh. To think I married you. You dare to hold your head high when your family once sought to harm mine.”

It felt as though a bucket of icy water had been poured over her head. The sudden turn of events left her unable to think clearly.

Kallius shoved Delia away. He brushed off the places her hands had touched, as though wiping away something filthy.

“Was I blackmailed? Why would I hold a wedding with a woman I do not even love?”

Her heart pounded violently. The way he looked at her—as though she were something repulsive—made it feel as if her entire world were collapsing.

“Have you… forgotten me?”

At her desperate question, Kallius merely frowned in silence.

At last, her trembling body gave out, and she sank to the floor.

Rising from the bed, Kallius strode toward her at an unhurried pace. He seized her chin and twisted one corner of his mouth upward.

“You look as though you have been betrayed. How laughable.”

“……”

“I will never love you. Not now, and not ever.”

In the eyes of Kallius—who had lost all memory of the past—there was nothing but undisguised contempt for Delia.

Before leaving the bedchamber, he looked down at her, crumpled on the floor, and declared in a voice devoid of emotion,

“Therefore, we shall divorce.”

“……”

“My past self must have been a fool—to take as my wife someone who is of no help to me.”

Where had it all gone wrong?

At the sight of her husband, now a stranger, her stomach churned. Delia stared at Kallius’s retreating figure with a shattered expression.

In that instant, the dam of feelings she had built with him over the years collapsed without mercy.