Chapter 26

“There were…… two?”

At Kina’s slightly surprised expression, Dave nodded vigorously again. He handed one of them over to her. Kina examined the necklace he had given her. Since there were two, she could find no reason to refuse it.

“I’ll accept it gratefully. But in return, I’d like to repay you with something next time. Is there anything you need?”

“It’s okay.”

He seemed pleased simply because Kina had accepted it. Though he was blunt, if one looked closely, he was unexpectedly easy to read. There was something childlike about how awkward he was at expressing emotion. That easily broke down Kina’s wariness.

“I’d like to at least help you draw water, but I’m dressed like this today…….”

“It’s okay. You should hurry and go.”

Dave too wanted to protect Kina’s pretty dress.

“Thank you.”

Holding the necklace in her hand, Kina said that. Perhaps because she had been comforted by him, her gloomy mood had improved a little. A faint smile lingered briefly on her face before disappearing.

“See you again, Dave.”

Kina lightly shook the necklace once more before getting into the carriage and leaving. She did not pat his head the way she had before. But she still smiled gently and prettily at him. Dave looked at the necklace matching Kina’s and smiled like a child.

* * *

Kina returned once more in the carriage of the House of Graize. From the very moment she entered the mansion, she could feel a stir, as if Raon had already arrived.

“Madam. Master has returned.”

“Really? When did he arrive?”

“He just arrived.”

“Really? I’m a little late, then. I’ll quickly change clothes and come back down.”

As Kina headed to the second floor to change clothes, she ran into Raon, who was coming down after changing his own. Kina stopped reflexively and greeted him.

“There is no need to greet me.”

“Ah……. It’s become a habit. I’ll change quickly and come back down.”

Ordinary wives did not offer their husbands such polite greetings. Kina was trying to hide her embarrassment and go upstairs when—

“I heard you stopped by the Imperial Palace.”

“Pardon?”

Having climbed several steps, she was standing on the same staircase as Raon. When he came closer to Kina, the distance between them quickly closed.

A faint trace of magical force could be felt from Kina.

“Are you coming from somewhere else?”

It was a force Raon had grown sick of seeing on the battlefield. Because of that, even the slightest trace showed clearly to his eyes. And moreover, it was very strange for that force to be visible on Kina.

“No. I merely went for a short walk.”

Kina took a step back, away from Raon as he approached. There was something unusual in his expression, but she herself could not guess the reason at all.

“May I ask where you took that walk?”

“I just…… walked around the shopping district a little.”

Did that mean she had passed near where they had been in the capital? Compared to the powerful magical force he had seen on the battlefield, this was far too faint, so it was not an impossible possibility. Thinking he should search the shopping district once, Raon stepped back from Kina by one pace.

Kina carefully examined Raon, who had suddenly fallen into thought. Her gaze started at his face, then moved past his neck and hands, all the way down to his legs. Fortunately, he seemed to have no visible wounds or injuries. Quietly relieved, she raised her gaze again, only to meet Raon’s eyes as he stood looking at her.

“……Then I’ll go change and come back down.”

Startled like someone whose wrongdoing had been discovered, Kina quickly hurried up the stairs. Only after closing the door did she let out her breath.

Raon stood there, watching Kina’s retreating back as she hurried upstairs.

“Madam worried greatly that you might have been injured, Master.”

Gerard, standing at the end of the staircase, said that with a pleased smile. In truth, starting from the very day after she heard Raon would be returning, Kina had repeatedly urged the physician to prepare in advance all kinds of medicine good for injuries and wounds.

“……I see.”

Thinking of the medicine case that was nearly used up, Raon smiled faintly. Fortunately, it seemed Kina had adapted well to life in the ducal residence.

*

Only after Kina changed clothes and came back down did their dinner begin, and it was quiet. For people meeting again after so long, it was excessively bleak.

“I returned safely.”

It was only after that silent meal had ended and they had come up to the second floor, at the very moment they were turning the doorknobs to enter their separate rooms, that the words were spoken. Standing in front of the Duke of Graize’s room and the Duchess’s room, which were placed on either side of the couple’s drawing room, the two met each other’s gaze.

“It is thanks to you, Madame.”

His voice was calm. Kina froze where she stood, one hand still on the doorknob.

“Then.”

Leaving her like that, Raon opened his door and entered his room first.

“……Madame…….”

Looking at the place where Raon had stood, though he was already gone inside, Kina murmured the word. Unlike her dazed face, her heart was pounding as though she had been running.

It was the story of the first night the two spent together in the ducal residence of Graize.

* * *

Raon explained the chain of cause and effect behind what had happened on the battlefield, which he had organized in the meantime, and drafted an agenda for revising the law regarding the authority of the lords, then handed it to Chris.

“The lords will resist.”

The documents he presented contained the results of the investigations into the rebels. Raon had organized the twisted lives they had suffered under those lords. Of course, there was no way of even guessing how much of the rebels—those who had died and those still prepared to die—was represented by the people recorded in those papers.

“It was a moral duty they should naturally have upheld. And the consequences of that have now reached even the Imperial Family.”

“So in the end, there is no choice.”

Chris let out a long sigh and shook his head.

“We’ll proceed.”

“I will make preparations.”

Now that the flames had spread as far as the Imperial Family, reform had to be carried out. At that moment—

“Her Highness the Crown Princess has arrived.”

Unlike Raon, whose face hardened, Chris calmly ordered that she be allowed in. Bersha, her face slightly shy, entered the Crown Prince’s office.

“……I greet you, Your Highness.”

Raon rose and greeted her a little late. At the sight, Chris sighed, and Bersha smiled as though it was so very like Raon. As soon as the office door closed, Bersha pulled a chair closer and sat near Raon.

“Raon. Did you sleep well? If you feel unwell anywhere, don’t forget to get examined.”

“I am all right.”

“Since you’re here anyway, how about being examined by the Imperial physician today? Chris, that’s fine, right?”

The moment she met him, Bersha poured out one concern after another about Raon’s health, then rather boldly asked Chris. One might have expected that to irritate him, yet Chris instead smiled as though pleased. To his eyes, Bersha simply still looked adorable.

“There’s no reason not to. Do that.”

“It is all right. The House of Graize has its own physician.”

As soon as morning had come, he had already been examined, given how much Kina had pressed the physician.

“But it’s still not the same as the Imperial physician, is it?”

Bersha also knew the physician of the House of Graize. But she wanted to see Raon’s condition with her own eyes, right beside him. Since she could not openly care for him, she had to do it like this instead.

Because Raon no longer told her many things the way he used to. Bersha felt hurt by that, but she thought it was only because Raon had not yet adjusted to the suddenly changed nature of their relationship.