“…All right.”

Ailie still had no idea what Benate’s intentions were.

But that did not mean she had to break with tradition. She knew better than anyone how undignified Benate had appeared before the regression when he had rejected her so utterly that he had cancelled the ritual itself.

It was far easier to accept this inexplicable whim of his than to cause unnecessary trouble and endure an uncomfortable journey to the temple.

‘This is something I do as the Empress of the empire—not as your wife.’

Ailie carefully placed her hand in Benate’s.

She could feel his body heat through his glove. It was neither warm nor ice-cold. His hand was much less cold than she had imagined.

Once the two of them had boarded the carriage, the other attendants climbed into the carriages behind one by one. Before long, the carriage began to move. It was noticeably more comfortable and far quieter than the one they had used during the holiday. However, she still disliked the ostentatiously gleaming exterior, which was flashy enough to make bandits lick their lips.

Ailie cast a sideways glance at Benate, who was seated opposite her.

His pale blue eyes were calmly fixed on the scenery beyond the window. He did not look as though sharing the confined space with her was unbearable.

In fact—

‘He doesn’t seem to be in a bad mood.’

Was it just her imagination? Benate’s expression seemed gentle in its own way.

He wasn’t smiling, but his face was no longer fixed with cold indifference. This was unexpected. She had assumed he would remain distant the whole time.

But was he really going to keep staring out of the window like that?

The temple was not far away. At most, the journey would take three days. However, she could not bear to spend all three days alone with Benate in such a confined space in silence. Sitting stiffly with her mouth shut would only make her feel tense and uncomfortable.

She didn’t have anything in particular to say, but—

After studying his profile for a moment, Ailie finally spoke.

“It’s been a very long time since we last travelled together in a carriage, just the two of us.”

She couldn’t even remember exactly when that had been. It had been that long ago.

Before their marriage. Perhaps when she was around sixteen. There had been a grand festival in a western kingdom. After years of civil war, the land had finally found peace, and the kingdom had invited distinguished guests from across the continent to celebrate.

The Emperor had been invited too, but was unable to attend. Instead, he sent his crown prince and his fiancée in his place.

“When we went to the Kingdom of Picus.”

“Oh… you remember?”

“I do. It was decided in great haste, so I wasn’t sure I’d be able to travel with you.”

Benate said smoothly, as though it were only natural that he remembered.

“But you agreed without hesitation, didn’t you?”

He remembered. In fact, he remembered in great detail — more than he had expected.

He was right. An imperial carriage had come all the way to the Erdei estate back then. As the invitation had been arranged at such short notice, she hadn’t received one, but Ailie felt it was only right for her to attend as the Crown Prince’s fiancée.

She had accompanied him on that long journey without bringing a maid.

Yet Benate said nothing the entire way to the Kingdom of Picus.

‘Not a single word.’

If he had openly rebuffed her or made it clear that he disliked her, she might have given up much earlier. But he hadn’t; he had simply been indifferent.

At the time, Ailie hadn’t realized that something was amiss.

She was swept up in her determination to become a worthy empress and her love for the character of Benate in the novel. He was taciturn by nature, she thought, so it would be unreasonable to expect him to be warm simply because she was his fiancée. She understood everything. Or so she believed.

Perhaps their relationship had gone awry even then.

“It’s weighed on me all this time—that I never thanked you.”

It was then.

Benate suddenly said those words.

Ailie’s eyes widened. Confusion rippled through her pale, rose-colored gaze.

An unexpected emotion surged up belatedly — something like resentment.

It was an old matter. So much time had passed that she could barely remember which kingdom they had visited. She had never intended to dredge it up now.

And yet—

“…I didn’t go with you because I wanted thanks.”

Her voice was low.

“Then what did you hope for?”

“I just wanted you to say something to me.”

Back then, all the young Ailie wanted wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

All she wanted was for him to speak to her, even just once, after she had accompanied him on an unplanned outing without complaint. She just wanted him to respond — even perfunctorily — to something she had said.

Even that small wish was denied by Benate.

And yet, after all this time, he claimed that he was bothered by the fact that he hadn’t thanked her.

There had been plenty of opportunities.

‘We spent a full ten days together in that carriage.’

The blue eyes looking at Ailie wavered visibly.

“You didn’t say a single word. Not once, during the ten days we spent in that carriage.”

The moment she said it, Benate shifted inside the moving carriage, as though about to stand up, but then he sat back down again. He covered his mouth with one hand, his neatly drawn brows knitting together.

He looked as though he had just heard something shocking.

Ailie narrowed her eyes.

Why was he reacting like that? After all, it was him who had ignored his own fiancée back then.

“That’s… strange.”

Benate muttered, shaking his head as if deeply unsettled.

“What is strange about it?”

She didn’t remember every detail of the trip, but she was certain her memory was accurate. If Benate — who was so unlike himself — had spoken to her even once, she would have remembered it clearly.

And yet, out of the blue, he was now calling it strange.

“Ailie.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“This all feels wrong—suspicious. It doesn’t make sense. You may think I’ve lost my mind for saying this, but it can’t be helped. I know the Empress wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

Benate spoke in a disjointed rush, his brows drawn tightly together.

What had he found so strange, suspicious and unsettling?

Ailie’s pale, rose-colored eyes remained calm as they met his.

“What are you trying to say?”

“…Do you not remember? That during the entire journey to the kingdom, there wasn’t a single word spoken.”

That had been Benate.

“As though you weren’t there at all—no response to anything said.”

That had certainly been—

“It was you, Empress.”

…It should have been him.

***

Meanwhile, four people were chatting idly in another carriage.

Despite their different positions, Breni, Liton, Sirion and Ricciardo were all close to the Empress. Naturally, they found common ground, and that shared bond easily translated into relaxed and comfortable conversation.

“We were planning to look around the newly opened high-end dress shop with Her Majesty,” said Breni. “You know — the one famous for its cashmere shawls that everyone in the capital has been talking about lately.”

“Is that really what’s in fashion now?”

Liton asked, genuinely perplexed. As someone who spent his days training, he was understandably out of touch with such trends.

Breni nodded emphatically, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, and immediately launched into an enthusiastic explanation.

“Of course! Any young lady with even a little interest in clothes knows about it.”

“I suppose the Deputy-Commander is rather far removed from ladies who care about fashion.”

“Lord Alvaro…”

In response to Ricciardo’s teasing remark, Liton groaned. Sirion chuckled softly at the exchange — he had already closed the book he had been about to read, clearly intrigued by Breni’s story.

“Anyway, the finest fabric has just arrived. It was such a rare chance. I really thought that if we missed it, there wouldn’t be another like it.”

None of the listeners were particularly interested in shawls, but all three nodded earnestly along. They were eager to find out how Breni’s story would end.

So, did Breni and the Empress make it to the shop?

“But just then…”

“Just then?”

Liton couldn’t help prompting her when she paused for effect.

Breni held up a palm toward him—wait a moment—her gesture practiced, like that of a seasoned storyteller.

“Just then, His Majesty sent word. He wished to dine with Her Majesty.”

“Ah…”

“Oh no…”

“That’s unfortunate…”

All three listeners reacted at once.

No matter how firmly engaged Breni was elsewhere, it was only natural for the Empress to prioritize an invitation from the Emperor. There was no helping it.

Still, it was a shame. Having already heard so much about how precious the cashmere shawl was, each of them felt the loss in their own way.

Breni pressed her lips together briefly to gauge their reactions, then burst into laughter.

“Don’t feel too bad—it’s not over yet.”

At her words, expectant gazes latched onto her again.

“But actually, Her Majesty apologized and suggested we go again the next day. And wouldn’t you know it—by sheer luck, even better fabric had come in.”

“Really?”

“Yes! As expected of Her Majesty—she has the best instincts!”

Breni said this proudly as she pulled out the cashmere shawl that she had been hiding in her bag all along.

Of course, Ailie — meticulous as she was — would never simply ignore an engagement she had broken the previous day. It was, in every sense, a happy ending waiting to happen.

Only then did Ricciardo break into a bright smile, while Sirion applauded lightly. Liton, apparently curious as to why the shawl was so fashionable, stared at it intently.

“Would you like to touch it?”

“Ah… is that all right?”

“Yes. If you touch it, you’ll understand how fine the fabric is. It’s incredibly soft.”

“…Hmm. I’m not sure I can tell.”

Liton frowned deeply as he offered his blunt assessment.

No matter how expensive or luxurious cashmere might be, to a man who had spent his entire life training, it was nothing more than slightly soft cloth. Realizing at last that there was no getting through to him, Breni shook her head in dismay.

Fearing that the two of them might start arguing in the carriage, Sirion suddenly spoke up in an uncharacteristically bright voice.

“Come to think of it, I’ve heard that Their Majesties have been sharing dinner quite often lately.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Ricciardo tilted his head, a faintly puzzled expression crossing his face as though he didn’t quite understand. He quickly returned to a neutral expression, however, and none of the others noticed.

“Yes, they dined together yesterday as well.”

“I see.”

“Isn’t it the Empire’s greatest pride? Their love.”

At her words, Ricciardo quietly rested his chin in his hand and gazed out the window.

It almost felt as though his thoughts were visible in those pitch-black eyes.

Surely not.

“…Is that so?”

Sirion echoed the same words under his breath. His mouth felt stiff as he forced an awkward smile. He was also puzzled by Breni’s remark — he had personally witnessed the two of them arguing not long ago.

However, Breni continued as though her conclusion were self-evident, calmly explaining the reasoning behind it.

“Otherwise, why would His Majesty bring up a tradition that doesn’t even exist?”

A tradition that doesn’t exist?

The three of them widened their eyes.

“I happened to stop by the library yesterday and read about it. It’s true that the ritual is meant to declare the couple’s love to the gods, but nowhere does it say that they must travel together alone the entire time.“

This information was recorded in an ancient volume which is carefully preserved in the imperial library. As the Empress’s lady-in-waiting, Breni had been fortunate enough to gain access to it.

Ailie may have been participating in the ritual for the first time, but Benate, raised from birth as the heir to the throne, could not possibly have been unaware of this.

“It’s just an old story saying that doing it that way once deeply moved the gods. Nothing more.”