The expressions on the royal couple’s faces were nothing but fond as they watched Annabella finally find her way out of the maze garden after a full hour.

They had waited at their leisure, a tea table set up outside, passing the time in quiet conversation — and even that, the waiting itself, had been happiness enough.

“I found it!”

Annabella burst out with a triumphant cry, platinum hair streaming in the breeze, a stray leaf caught in it. Hilda stepped forward at once to tidy her up.

Just then, the chamberlain approached from a distance and leaned in to murmur something in Milton’s ear.

“Ah, that’s right…… I had forgotten all about it.”

“What is it?”

“It seems Cedric has come to pay his respects.”

“Oh my, I had forgotten as well.”

Annabella’s expression turned curious, and Grace smiled.

“There is a young man called Cedric — four years your senior. He is the rightful master of a grand duchy that has since fallen.”

“Annabella is still young, so she likely wouldn’t know anything about that business.”

“That’s probably so. I’ll go receive him alone — everyone wait here. And in particular, Grace — don’t go spiriting our Annabella away and monopolizing her.”

Grace offered nothing in reply but a quiet smile. She was already looking forward to showing Annabella her dressing room and jewelry collection.

***

The moment Milton stepped into the audience chamber, the announcement rang out that Cedric had arrived.

“Show him in.”

Cedric entered shortly after, dressed in a knight’s attire, and offered his greeting.

“I present myself before His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of Elaise.”

“Rise. Bring a chair for Cedric.”

To offer a chair in the audience chamber was a privilege. It was that measure of regard that Milton held for Cedric.

“The Queen is not with you today, I see.”

“My granddaughter is visiting. Grace has got hold of her and is absolutely determined to keep her all to herself.”

That was rather more true of Milton himself — though Grace was certainly no less guilty.

“It has been some time. Have you been keeping well?”

“Yes.”

Cedric was a man who radiated a danger more raw and untamed than any wild beast. And yet he was rational and shrewd, and knew how to conduct himself as the occasion demanded. It was precisely that quality which had won Milton’s deepest respect.

“Are you still engaged in that perilous work?”

“I am simply doing what is right.”

Had things gone as they should have, it would have been Cedric sitting on the throne — not the narcissist who now held the title of Crown Prince. But the current Emperor had usurped the throne from his own elder brother, and in doing so had twisted Cedric’s fate beyond recognition.

After his father’s suspicious death, all that remained to Cedric was the title of Grand Duke in name alone. On a barren stretch of land where nothing would grow and there was no one left to govern, the authority of a Grand Duke carried no light whatsoever.

“By rights, your cause is just — but I want you to be happy. The Emperor is a cunning man. He does not move on principle and justice as you do, and that puts you at a disadvantage.”

“Even so, I must press forward.”

The current Emperor was a treacherous man. He had announced that his father and elder brother had died of the same illness, and promptly seized the throne for himself. And when certain nobles came to learn the truth of it, their mouths too were sealed——

And so they had been silenced.

Even so, Cedric’s mind was set on nothing but standing against the Emperor. The resolve of that quietly spoken man was simply unbreakable.

Milton had been on close terms with the late Emperor, and had received from him a personal request — to watch over his son and grandson. But his son had been robbed of the throne by his own brother, and that son’s son was now devoting his entire life to reclaiming it. It was little wonder Milton’s heart felt heavy, as though he had failed to keep his promise.

“Every lord of the western territories has pledged their support to me.”

“The current Emperor has treated the western lords harshly enough that it was only a matter of time. And if the current Crown Prince ascends to the throne, that discrimination will only grow worse.”

There was no one left who did not know that the two of them — father and son — were usurpers. And so, until the day history could be rewritten, they would go on insisting upon their own legitimacy. Crushing all opposition with force and power.

“The kingdoms of the east likewise have no love for the current Emperor. The south is no different. That is how far the Empire’s standing has fallen.”

As befitted a nation that held dominion over the central continent, the Empire had once commanded overwhelming power and prestige. But the act of usurpation — something that should never have been done — had made it impossible to escape the condemnation that followed. All the more so when the ones doing the condemning were the rigid, conservative rulers of neighboring kingdoms. That was how grave a crime usurpation was — the worst of offenses, and the most contemptible of acts.

“And yet at the same time, there are rumors that you have been gathering those who share your cause. ……Do you think the Emperor doesn’t know?”

“It makes no difference if he does. I became Grand Duke of the north by lawful right — and however few subjects I may have, I am still a sovereign. We are simply two sovereigns exchanging views. What grounds would the Emperor have to object to that?”

“Please — only take care not to do anything too dangerous.”

“Thank you for your concern.”

“We think of you as family. It is a promise made to a dear friend…… If something were to happen to you, what do you imagine that would do to us.”

“How could I not know the warmth that lies in both your hearts.”

Cedric bowed his head in quiet acknowledgment.

“Right then, enough of that. As it happens, the Queen and my granddaughter are in the middle of their tea — will you join us?”

Cedric would have preferred to decline, but one look at the worry written plain across Milton’s face, and he gave a reluctant nod.

***

Out in the garden, where the weather was fine, the two women seated at the tea table had not run short of conversation for a single moment.

Just then, Milton came into view not far off, hands clasped behind his back, with a tall, striking young man at his side.

“Oh my. He’s brought Cedric along.”

“Ah, the one you mentioned earlier — the rightful master of that fallen grand duchy…….”

Annabella trailed off mid-reply to Grace’s words. Her gaze fixed on one point and refused to move.

The man following behind Milton was none other than the very same man who had saved her in the forest.

So that was why he had carried himself with such arrogance and ease.

And hearing the word fallen — something clicked into place. Now she understood why there had been that air of danger about him. He was like a solitary black falcon without a perch — proud and untethered.

“Sit down, no need.” Milton waved a hand and gently stopped Annabella, who had moved to rise in greeting. The sharp-eyed head lady-in-waiting brought another chair at once, and as the royal couple settled in side by side, Annabella and Cedric found themselves seated beside each other, facing them.

“Cedric Farrel.”

“Cedric Farrel.”

The moment he spoke his name, a breeze moved through the garden and lifted the dark hair that had been falling across his brow.

His complexion was fair in a way that seemed almost at odds with the rest of him, his eyes unfathomably deep, his nose sharply defined — altogether powerfully and strikingly handsome. It was unmistakably the same man she had seen by moonlight.

“Annabella, daughter of House Lates.”

“That wretched Duke of Lates…….”

The name alone was enough to draw an unguarded grumble out of Milton.

“Their Majesties’ granddaughter, as well.”

Annabella added the one line, and Milton’s face immediately broke open into a broad smile. He truly was a man who wore his heart on his sleeve.

That was precisely why Annabella liked the King. It was proof, at least, that he was not a man who hid what lay within.

“I thought as much. You resemble Her Majesty the Queen greatly.”

At those words, Annabella managed an awkward smile while Grace was openly delighted.

“My daughter took after me very much as well, in her time.”

“And yet she takes after me just as much.”

Milton was not a man who could bear to lose at anything — and that extended to matters of affection.

“She was even a darling child who used to beg me to carry her on my shoulders well past the age of ten.”

It was only since coming here that Annabella had come to truly understand what a family’s love felt like. Every candid, unguarded expression — free of formality and the strange distances she had known — each one of those was love itself.

“Surely you only said so — you didn’t actually carry her?”

At Annabella’s guileless question, Milton fell silent. Good heavens — it seemed he truly had given a princess of ten years old a piggyback ride.

It was a peculiar image to conjure, and yet for some reason Annabella found herself envying her mother’s childhood.

“How fortunate that Cedric is here — I may be able to ask a small favor.”

“Command me in whatever you will.”

Cedric answered without a moment’s hesitation, and Milton laid out Annabella’s circumstances and the plan in full.

“That bas—— pardon. The Crown Prince is even more cunning than his own father.”

Unexpectedly, there was common ground with this man. Annabella knew the Crown Prince’s cunning all too well herself.

A man cruel enough to destroy a child in her own womb. A man who had carried on with her own sister and made sure she could see every moment of it, piling humiliation upon humiliation — the sort of man no punishment could ever be enough for.

“A marriage like that would be a source of regret for a lifetime.”

“Indeed — which is precisely why I will never send my granddaughter to him.”

“And I have no wish to go.”

Annabella added her own quiet plea, and Grace reached over and took her hand as if to say —

— you need not go anywhere. It was a warmth that said exactly that.

“I have acquaintances across every corner of the continent — I am well placed to spread word when the time comes. Tell me when, and I will see to it.”

“This child was due to leave the day after tomorrow. Before that, I intend to send an envoy to the ducal estate with word that she has contracted smallpox and cannot travel.”

“Then we need only let it slip that the news has leaked around that time. That man — the Crown Prince — is the sort who would cast aside not only a fiancée but a wife the moment he heard the word smallpox.”

That too was precisely right. Had he not turned his back on Annabella — frail as she was, exhausted by pregnancy — and brought Delilah into his bedchamber without a second thought? That was the full measure of his fidelity.

“Cedric can be trusted. I’ll leave it in your hands.”

“I will do my utmost.”

Annabella’s eyes settled on a man who was the Crown Prince’s complete opposite in every way.

The sword worn at a slight angle, that low voice that seemed to growl beneath its surface — in all her life, not one man she had ever known had carried himself quite like this.