That was what she had thought. That everything had fallen apart now.

With no way to prepare for the inheritance through the trial in advance, and no way to freely dispose of the Feron who may or may not be real.

Karin spent a rather bleak stretch of time. That was certainly true, at least until the Valstar family’s lawyer arrived with a document sent from the imperial household.

“This is……”

Feron’s name, written clearly.

And below it, a description of a transfer.

Because the position of head of household had been left vacant until now, by her own choice, naturally. Either way, that was why Karin had been managing Feron’s affairs from his office.

She shoved the mountain of documents she had been working through to one side and stared hard at the transfer deed.

Transferor. Feron Difon Valstar.

Transferee. Karin Difon Valstar.

Below that, a list of the assets being transferred ran on and on.

To put it plainly, one could say that everything in Valstar except Feron’s title had passed to her.

Not inheritance. Transfer.

Meaning not something she would receive upon Feron’s death, but right now, to her…

A sudden dimness fell over her vision, and she shoved back her chair and stood up.

Valstar’s sunlight made little difference whether the curtains were drawn or not, but Karin pressed herself close to the window, leaning on even this faint sliver of light.

She read the text before her eyes one more time.

“My, my lady…!”

Her vision had blurred even then, and she was just about to hold the document up to a candle when the head butler rushed to stop her hand.

“You’re holding it too close. The flame could catch……”

“Head butler.”

“Yes.”

“Feron has become a pauper.”

The head butler’s face went white as he looked at Karin’s blank, unreadable eyes.

He could not bring himself to take the document from his mistress’s hands, and barely managed to fix his bleary gaze on the front of the paper.

His heart dropped at the word “transfer,” but seeing his other master’s name written as the recipient steadied his nerves.

He had feared, much as the lady had, that the master who had returned might have been siphoning off assets. But that did not appear to be the case.

“Um…… my lady. I actually had something I wanted to tell you……”

Karin read the head butler’s expression and knew what he was about to say. She looked at the family’s lawyer.

“You may go.”

Since it was a document sent from the imperial household, Karin stamped it with the Valstar seal as acknowledgment of receipt and placed it in the lawyer’s hands.

Once the lawyer had left, Karin asked the head butler.

“Am I misreading this situation? What does Feron stand to gain by transferring all his assets to me?”

The head butler considered the question with a grave expression.

Karin looked over the documents once more alongside him, her face equally serious.

“Nothing, my lady.”

“Right? That’s what I think too. He’d have to be out of his mind to……”

“My lady.”

“……”

“I’m afraid it will be difficult to keep the master in the guest room much longer. The retainers who have heard of his return have been requesting an audience, and I can no longer delay……”

“I know.”

The head butler had phrased it as “difficult,” speaking indirectly. But no one understood better than Karin that Feron could not be kept this way any longer.

The emperor had met with Feron in person and publicly confirmed his survival.

Feron had become the master of Valstar once more.

Though with only a modest share of it.

‘Was that why his meeting with the emperor ran so long?’

Karin thought back to the day she and Feron had entered the imperial palace.

After turning her back on the crown prince’s nonsense about becoming his mistress, she passed the time in a garden near the audience hall.

And when she finally came face to face with Feron much later, she had said:

“Lucky you.”

“……”

“I don’t know if this is what you had in mind, but either way, things have worked out in your favor.”

She had said that and returned to the carriage ahead of him. She had not seen what expression Feron wore as he walked behind her. He had not even tried to claim his own innocence.

‘And after all that, he goes and does something like this……’

Karin set the transfer deed down on the desk and fixed her eyes on the head butler. She asked one final question to confirm an answer she already knew.

“You also believe Feron is real, don’t you?”

A resolute voice came from behind the old man’s tightly pressed, lined lips. His firm gaze carried genuine conviction.

“Yes, my lady.”

“……Right. I understand. You may go.”

She sent the head butler out, and after pacing around the desk for a while, Karin moved. Her destination was the guest room where Feron would be.

***

“I’m coming in.”

A brief knock. A short wait.

She had not expected an answer, so she pulled the door handle open without a second thought.

What kind of behavior would he greet her with this time. The Feron who had returned always defied her expectations, so Karin stepped into the room with mild curiosity. But he was nowhere to be seen, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

“……Fe……”

She was about to call his name when she heard the sound of water. Karin’s steps turned toward the bathroom.

Splatter. Something pouring.

The unfamiliar sound made her quiet her footsteps. She did not know why. It just felt like the right thing to do.

She pushed open the slightly ajar bathroom door and stepped inside, then clapped a hand over her mouth at the sight that met her eyes.

The basin, filled with black water.

Water…… was it actually water? The things submerged beneath the clear stream pouring over them seemed to ripple faintly. Karin stared in disbelief, and her gaze landed on Feron, bent forward over the basin.

He had just finished rinsing his mouth clean and was bracing himself against the basin with his arms. Then he watched her through the mirror on the wall.

Thud.

She could almost hear her own heart drop. Her mind went numb in an instant, dizziness following close behind.

Karin could not move. She could not make a sound. She could only stand there holding her breath, watching as he approached.

Why are your eyes like that?

She could not get those words out. Her body only trembled.

He came to stand before her and picked up the towel on the shelf, unhurriedly drying himself off.

Once he had wiped his hands clean as well, Feron dropped the towel to the floor. If there was one small mercy, it was that the towel pulled her gaze away.

Karin looked at the crumpled white cloth and took a slow, deep breath. Even that came out uneven, broken into small hitching sounds, the kind that would have drawn pity from anyone watching. And that guess was not entirely wrong.

Feron stepped toward her without a word, and his hot hand brushed along her jaw, which had turned askew.

Hot was not simply a figure of speech. The temperature itself was just brutally, overwhelmingly hot.

Hot. Too hot. Even more than before…

The unrealistic heat, enough to make the very air around him boil, burned her mind completely white.

Karin could no longer think. She did not know how to describe what she was feeling.

The hand that had been carefully tracing her jaw wrapped around her entire cheek, and slowly guided her to turn and face him.

Karin had no choice but to follow wherever Feron led her, like a doll that had just been given life.

And then she saw his eyes.

Darkness filled the space where the whites should have been. The clear irises watching her were a murky ash gray.

Karin had never seen eyes like that in her life. Not on a person, not even on an animal.

Instinctive terror pressed down on her entire body. Strangely, not even a scream came out. Instead, the moment she looked at him, her breath cut off.

“……Ugh, hhk.”

Everything around her fell away and only his eyes remained. She felt herself being pulled into them. Karin grabbed at her own throat.

‘I think I’m actually going to die.’

Feron covered her eyes, twisted in anguish. With complete darkness came a faint sense of relief. Feron’s other hand wrapped around her back, which had gone rigid.