“So I have no choice but to keep seeking confirmation, don’t I?”

To the shocked and frozen Mel, Genoa spoke kindly with what seemed like a practiced smile.

“So if you want to resent my personality, princess, it would be right to resent that child rather than me.”

“……”

While Genoa probably didn’t know that Mel was that ‘Mel’, his words made Mel’s mind complicated.

Was he saying that what she had done had come full circle back to her?

‘But I, I didn’t betray you. I……’

Mel felt everything surrounding her become heavier. She wanted to throw off this luxurious dress, these beautiful jewels, even this deal with the man looking at her.

After taking a deep breath she had been holding, Mel decided to try defending her past self from a third person’s perspective as much as possible.

“Wouldn’t betraying Duke Ivanstein be tantamount to suicide?”

“Indeed.”

Genoa nodded in agreement without hesitation. Mel quietly felt relieved seeing that he wasn’t wary of her interest in the slave.

“Then why would a slave who had nothing but their life choose to betray you, even throwing away that precious thing?”

“……”

“Haven’t you ever thought that was strange?”

At Mel’s question, Genoa slightly raised his eyebrows in surprise. It seemed she had pointed out something he hadn’t considered.

“Well…”

His  voice was as deep as the weight of his thoughts.

“Why did she……”

As Genoa mumbled, trailing off his words, Mel tried hard not to be conscious of her pounding heart. However, the fingers that were clutching the hem of her dress were trembling. Perhaps sensing Mel’s gaze watching him while holding her breath, Genoa soon emerged from his contemplation with a clean expression and smiled.

“But does that matter now, princess?”

“Are you saying it’s not an important issue?”

“That’s right. Because she’s dead anyway.”

“……”

At Genoa’s answer, Mel limply released the dress hem she had been clutching.

“Well, what problem could a passing slave be to the noble Duke Ivanstein?”

Mel said this while emptying the remaining drink in her glass. Then she placed it down on the tray of a passing servant with a clank.

“So I keep getting put on your testing ground, and each time I should resent that child. Is that right?”

Mel glanced quietly at Genoa before turning away abruptly. As she moved, the nobles who had been fidgeting anxiously wanting to speak to her from a distance all began to move at once.

Watching their behavior with amusement, Genoa crossed his arms as he observed Second Prince Rudrich approaching the princess again among the nobles.

“Bane.”

“Yes.”

Though Genoa had merely quietly called his name, Bane, who had been suppressing his presence, immediately appeared and answered. Having heard the entire conversation between Genoa and the princess, Bane’s expression was dark.

“Did I know too little about Mel?”

When he learned that Mel had died while trying to escape after betraying him, there was a regret in Genoa’s heart that was even greater than sadness. I should have created reasons why she couldn’t escape. Then she would have died for me. I should have made her unable to even dream of escaping.

That was the only thing Genoa had regretted. But being immersed in such regret, he failed to question what he should have.

“I never thought about it.”

“……”

“Why did Mel choose to risk her life to escape, even knowing she would die if she did?”

The Mel that Genoa knew had an extraordinary attachment to life. She was a child who knew how to make choices to survive no matter what, which was why Genoa never expected her to run away as soon as he was dragged into the testing grounds.

“If she had just waited quietly in a safe place, I would have come to get her.”

“She detested Ivanstein. So she must have been watching for a chance to escape…”

“No, Mel doubted me. Whether I could survive, or if I did survive, whether I wouldn’t become a monster.”

“My lord.”

Bane’s voice cracked as he called out to Genoa. Unlike Genoa’s calm face, his face was twisted in pain.

“It’s already past history.”

“Ah, yes.”

Genoa nodded as he watched First Prince Rihast making his entrance in the distance. As he entered the party venue, Rihast looked around as if he was searching for him, then hesitated when he spotted Rudrich and the princess together. While quietly observing this scene, Genoa continued speaking.

“Looking at the princess reminds me of her.”

“……They do look quite similar.”

“It’s not just because they look alike.”

At the end of Genoa’s gaze, the princess was exchanging initial greetings with First Prince Rihast. Her posture as she bent slightly at the waist in an elegant greeting was perfect. So perfect that he felt guilty for thinking of that slave from long ago while looking at her.

“I feel comfortable when I’m with the princess. Because I can see right through what she’s thinking.”

“……”

Bane nodded heavily.

Indeed, Genoa tended to let his guard down somewhat in front of the princess. Genoa, who never easily gave anything without corresponding benefit, even in small actions and words, would make trivial jokes to the princess and subtly enjoy her bouncing reactions.

“Mel was like that too. Clear and transparent. Maybe that’s why I let my guard down more.”

Genoa thought that was why Mel’s existence remained so significant to him, because she was someone whose inner thoughts he thought he completely understood.

“I wonder if I’ll let my guard down with the princess this time too?”

“……It wouldn’t be bad to be careful.”

“I suppose so. But you know.”

Genoa watched as the princess brightly smiled and extended her hand to Rihast. Rihast, who took her hand with a sour expression to dance, probably had no idea that the princess holding his hand felt like throwing up right now. This was the princess’s inner feelings that only Genoa could see.

“I think it might be fine as long as I don’t repeat the same mistake.”

“My lord?”

“The princess keeps making me think that way.”

If he created reasons why she couldn’t escape. If he carefully spun a spider’s web for each step the princess took. If it was so transparent that the princess herself didn’t even realize she was caught in it…

“Because it’s fun having her around.”

Wouldn’t he be able to enjoy this pleasant entertainment for quite a while?

Genoa thought this as he smiled brightly at Bane. Even while knowing that Bane’s stomach was turning over at least twelve times.

“Bane, I think it’s better not to give the princess the second document.”

“……She’ll be disappointed.”

“We can give it to her when things become more certain.”

Genoa took out the document he hadn’t given to Mel in the carriage earlier and handed it to Bane. Bane’s face looked disgruntled as he received it.

“Burn it.”

There was no hesitation in his commanding voice. Bane knew his master wouldn’t reverse his order. He stared blankly at the princess’s face as she began dancing with Rihast, unaware of anything, then bowed his head to Genoa and turned around. His adjutant Michelo followed behind him.

“Captain, Captain. Let me burn it, you should stay by our lord’s side.”

“No. I must do this myself.”

“What is it?”

“……You don’t need to know. While I’m away, you stay by our lord’s side.”

“Yes, yes.”

Michelo briefly cast a curious glance at the document before turning cleanly and heading toward Genoa.

“……”

Left alone, Bane looked at the document in his hand as he slipped out through the back door of the party venue.

[It seems there was a dropout among the party. The number changed after passing through the forest near the border. Awaiting search orders.]

Genoa had said he would decide whether to give this document to the princess after seeing her reaction.

“My lord, what are you planning to do by getting what the princess wants before she does……”

The order to burn this document instead of giving it to the princess meant that Genoa intended to obtain what she wanted before she did. Though he didn’t want to know his intention, Bane could guess it, and he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.

“Is it because the princess resembles Mel after all?”

The presence of that small child that still lingered heavily in Genoa seemed to choke Bane’s throat.

“This…… quickly, in the tree hollow in front of my quarters……I must deliver this to the young master quickly……”

“Sir Bane…… lastly, please tell the young master……I was grateful……”

“But, I don’t want to die, please save me, huk, please save me, Sir Bane.”

The last memory of Mel, her voice, grabbed at each of Bane’s steps as he walked.

Mel died then. She had to have died. Bane thought this as he forced strength into his legs.