Having shared lunch with the King and Queen, Annabella decided to take a leisurely stroll on her way back to her chambers.

“The rose buds are already coming up.”

In the palace garden, roses that would soon burst into brilliant color were drinking in the sunlight. The weather was clear and the breeze pleasantly cool — a perfect afternoon for a walk.

“If you’d like, shall I cut a few stems and arrange them in a vase?”

At Hilda’s suggestion, Annabella shook her head.

“I prefer roses as they are. If I want to see them bloom, I can simply come here myself.”

In the past, she might have thought nothing of it — decorating her room with flowers in a vase. But having come to understand the feeling of being cut down before one could properly bloom, she no longer wished to lay careless hands on living things.

“Oh — there’s a little path here.”

At the far edge of the rose garden, a narrow path wound its way into a grove of dense trees — tight and slender, but lovely to behold.

“I’d like to walk alone for a while. Go on ahead to my chambers, all of you.”

“Yes, my lady.”

The delegation led by the Crown Prince would be arriving at the palace soon. Knowing that Annabella’s heart must be unsettled — having gone so far as to put on the smallpox disguise for it — every last one of her ladies-in-waiting obeyed at once.

“The rose was the Empire’s symbol.”

Annabella murmured softly as she set off down the path. The memory surfaced of her past life as Crown Princess, when rose motifs had covered everything around her without exception.

And yet she felt no hatred for roses now. What Annabella had despised was never the rose itself — it was the cruel Imperial family, and her wretched husband Alexis.

“If only this ordeal passes without incident — then I will be free…”

Alexis had set his eyes on her half-sister Delilah, just as he had in her past life. But that fact, strangely, only put Annabella’s heart at ease. There was no longer any reason to feel jealousy toward those dreadful people.

Lost in thought, she walked on — and then stopped short.

“What a coincidence.”

Cedric’s low voice resonated from just ahead, where he had come to a halt as well.

“To think there was someone else who favored this path besides me.”

Cedric was dressed in plain clothes, just as he had been at their first meeting. Yet even such ordinary attire could not conceal what was extraordinary about him. The bright clarity of the day made it all the more apparent — the clean line of his nose, the compelling curve of his lips, the strong set of his jaw, all rendered in sharp relief by the sunlight.

“Please, go ahead.”

Annabella stepped slightly to the side to clear the way, but Cedric didn’t move from where he stood.

“What is a refined young lady doing walking a path like this alone, without her ladies-in-waiting?”

Just as he had at their first meeting, Cedric pressed her with questions in that persistent way of his.

“I simply wanted to walk alone for a while.”

From beneath the veil, her blue eyes met his directly. But the veil obscured her gaze from his view. Annabella found herself oddly glad of that fact.

“If you won’t go first, then I will pass.”

“We’ve come across each other by chance — that’s a kind of fate in itself. Why not stop for a moment?”

Fate, he said.

Their first meeting had certainly left an impression — but to Annabella, Cedric still appeared to be nothing more than a somewhat roguish and formidable man. And yet every time they happened to cross paths, he detained her like this and pressed her with questions. She could not fathom why —

“Why are you wearing a veil?”

It was a question that had been on Cedric’s mind since the audience chamber, but Annabella did not answer readily.

“How I choose to dress is my own affair.”

She was not simply a demure young lady — that much was clear. Cedric found the fact strangely amusing, and compelling. Annabella, who was perfectly mannered one moment and sharply pointed the next, was different from other women from the very first impression.

“We’re already past the stage of strangers — why not lift that veil for a moment and talk?”

“I only wanted to walk alone. If you don’t mind, I’ll go ahead and pass.”

Annabella gave him no opening whatsoever. Cedric found that irritating — and at the same time, it stirred something in him, a desire to break through. He had no particular reason, no right — and yet he found himself wanting nothing more than to lift that veil and see what lay beneath.

“And if I do mind?”

The moment he posed the question, a pleasant breeze swept through and sent the veil billowing for just an instant. In that brief gap, Cedric caught a glimpse of the reason she wore it.

“You’ve put on a smallpox disguise.”

“Yes.”

Since he had already glimpsed what lay beneath the veil, there was no point in hesitating.

“Did it look convincing? As though I had truly suffered through smallpox?”

The King and Queen had fretted that even with the disguise, their granddaughter remained lovely. Annabella wanted to take the opportunity to hear how it appeared to another pair of eyes.

“It was only for a moment — but the pockmarks were visible enough that it did seem like smallpox.”

Cedric’s words offered her some reassurance.

“Though the area around your lips was still quite unmarked.”

When had he been looking at her lips. At his words, Annabella felt heat rising in her cheeks.

“I’ll take note of that.”

Since Cedric showed no intention of stepping aside, Annabella was the one who had to turn around. She was just about to put a proper end to the conversation and do exactly that when Cedric gave a quiet, deliberate ahem.

“Why are you so determined to avoid the Crown Prince?”

At the mention of the Crown Prince, Annabella’s expression hardened. She was truly glad she had worn the veil.

“Every woman vies to become Crown Princess — and yet you go so far as to wear a disguise to keep him away. I’ve always wondered why.”

Indeed, at this very hour, countless young ladies were likely locked in fierce competition, dreaming of the possibility of becoming Crown Princess. Delilah, of course, was among them.

“Because I have no desire to be Crown Princess. I only wish to live in peace in this kingdom.”

“That doesn’t seem to be the only reason.”

“As his fiancée, I had occasion to observe His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince from a distance several times.”

She had already accepted Cedric’s help regarding the delegation — this was not a topic she could keep avoiding. Better, then, to draw a clear line here and now.

“I came to understand that he and I are far too different. I have no wish to court my own misery.”

At that, Cedric let out a short, quiet laugh.

“You are remarkably clear-headed, my lady.”

Cedric knew all too well what sort of man Alexis was. And yet to think that a young lady barely twenty had seen through to the truth without being blinded by the allure of the Crown Princess’s position — he found that genuinely impressive.

“That was the right choice. The Crown Prince is the most contemptible and base person I have ever known.”

There was a trace of anger beneath the low, measured voice. Whatever the reason, Cedric seemed to despise Alexis every bit as much as Annabella did.

“I am grateful for your help.”

“I only did what needed to be done.”

Tracking the Crown Prince’s movements was Cedric’s work regardless of whether Annabella was involved. Though it was equally true that he’d had no particular reason to come all the way here himself.

“It was a small way of repaying the King and Queen of Elaise for their support.”

Cedric offered a convenient excuse. It was unlike him — but the words had come out that way before he could think.

“Thank you.”

Annabella lifted the skirt of her dress with graceful ease and dipped in a farewell curtsy.

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

With a swift turn, she stepped away from him. She retraced her steps down the narrow path and grew smaller in the distance. He had half a mind to follow and exchange a few more words — but beyond the path lay the inner palace, and he could not simply intrude.

“She really is… an intriguing young lady.”

Cedric murmured, one corner of his mouth curving upward. For some reason, the image kept floating before him — her curtsy just now, poised and unhurried, overlaid with the glimpse of her face when the veil had briefly lifted.

“That veil hardly seems sufficient.”

To conceal that face entirely, she would need a helmet rather than a veil. But —

— the smallpox disguise was certain to offend Alexis’s fastidious sense of beauty.

“What a shame I won’t be there to see that wretch’s face when he catches sight of the pockmarks.”

The low murmur said one thing, but meant another. What he truly regretted was the way Annabella had turned on her heel and walked away without a backward glance.

“Well… it’s none of my concern.”

Another words that missed the mark of his true feelings. And with that, Cedric turned and walked away — reluctantly.

***

When Annabella returned to her chambers at a rather brisk pace, the ladies-in-waiting who had been waiting offered their quiet greetings.

“You’re back, my lady?”

Hilda was the first to approach, looking her over with a careful eye.

“Why are you so out of breath?”

After turning away from Cedric, she had hurried along at such a quick clip that she had arrived quite winded.

“It’s just… it’s been a while since I walked alone…”

Not wanting to give Hilda cause for unnecessary worry, Annabella told a small lie.

“Please sit and rest a moment. I’ll bring tea.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Annabella sank into the plush sofa and steadied her breathing. Agatha came forward and gently removed her veil.

“It must have been stifling. Walking quickly in a veil makes you short of breath in no time.”

“Yes… I suppose that must have been it.”

Annabella exhaled in relief as the suffocating veil came off. And yet the image of the man she had crossed paths with moments ago still hovered vividly before her.

“Agatha — does the Grand Duke of the North visit this palace often?”

“No. He’s rather elusive by nature… Come to think of it, it has been quite some time since he last stayed here.”

That was something she hadn’t known.

“His Highness the Grand Duke stays in the detached palace, which is some distance from here — so truthfully, even we don’t know much about his comings and goings.”

“I see. Well… I’m sure he has his reasons.”

Annabella drew a firm line with the murmured words, as though pressing down hard on thoughts that kept trying to rise to the surface.