“It’s all right. This isn’t the situation for that… and you’re not well either.”

Count Merlin embraced Estelle and gently patted her back. A sharp pain spread through her compressed chest. Estelle barely swallowed the groan that was about to escape and pulled away.

“…I’ll be going then.”

“Yes, take care.”

Estelle straightened her trembling posture and turned around. Her physical condition was still not good enough to stand for long periods.

When the knight opened the carriage door and her eyes met Lexion’s, who was leaning against the backrest, Estelle hesitated.

Why is this person… here?

Lexion tapped the seat beside him as if telling her to get in quickly.

“……”

After hesitating briefly, Estelle boarded the carriage with the knight’s escort. She tried to sit opposite Lexion, but he stretched out his long legs to block her way.

“What are you doing so childishly?”

Estelle looked at him incredulously at his childish behavior.

“Miss Estelle makes me childish.”

Lexion tapped beside him again, and Estelle finally sat down, pressing herself against the opposite door.

“What brings Your Highness here?”

“As you can see, I came to pick you up.”

“Weren’t you supposed to be at a banquet?”

“I left early. I need to comfort the heartbroken Miss Estelle. But… you seem fine, unlike what I worried. Or is this an act too? You endured the pain well.”

Estelle frowned as she became aware of the wound tightly wrapped in bandages. It would take more time to heal completely.

“It’s bearable. I can’t worry Father.”

“The filial Miss Estelle seems fine even though her mother has passed away.”

“I wasn’t on good terms with Mother.”

Lexion silently stared at her as if asking her to tell more. Estelle turned her head away, reluctant to speak, but under his persistent gaze, she sighed and opened her mouth.

“It’s nothing special. I’m an illegitimate child born because Father wanted a child. Mother couldn’t bear children… so she didn’t like me. It’s common among nobles.”

Compassion reflected in Lexion’s eyes, though what he was thinking wasn’t clear.

“You must have been lonely.”

Estelle didn’t welcome his sympathy.

“Not at all. Father gave me enough love, and I didn’t feel any particular lack.”

“That’s why our Miss Estelle seems to feel so much loneliness.”

“Are you even listening to me? I said I wasn’t.”

Lexion smiled cryptically.

“You didn’t let me go because you were lonely.”

“When did I…… Ah, forget it.”

Estelle cut off the conversation, thinking he was just teasing her.

“Estelle.”

“……”

“Estelle.”

“Ah, what is it?”

“Even though you say that, you look depressed.”

“Even if there’s no affection, she’s my mother, so it’s natural to feel bad.”

“Shall I kiss you?”

Estelle’s expression turned incredulous at his perverted suggestion that ignored time and place.

“Is that… something to say right now?”

“You never know. It might make you feel better.”

“How could kissing Your Highness make me feel better? If anything, it would make me feel dirtier.”

At her sharp response, Lexion chuckled as if finding it amusing.

“I worry about my future wife speaking so recklessly. This will make it difficult to maintain the imperial image.”

“Since I will never marry Your Highness, that’s an unnecessary concern.”

“Estelle, you never know about these things. Aren’t you afraid you’ll be embarrassed to face me later if you’re so certain?”

“Your Highness, please don’t even dream about it.”

“Don’t say that, think about it carefully. If you marry me, you won’t need to humor those bastards for the sake of the Saintess’s duties. A life that’s no different from being a sacrifice to the Guardians can’t be good. If you become mine—”

Lexion stopped unnaturally and gave a gentle smile.

“Ah, just imagining it makes me like it more. Anyway, if that happens, I can claim legitimate ownership over those bastards.”

“I told you I don’t need that.”

“Miss Estelle, you seem mistaken, but they aren’t gentlemen like me. I’m saying they might force you to kneel like a dog and violate you. Is that really what you want? Well… if you prefer that, I could try too.”

“I’d rather die. I don’t have even a speck of desire to marry Your Highness.”

“Above all, there’s something else good for you in marriage.”

Lexion whispered playfully.

“The fact that Miss Estelle will get ‘the man she loves most in the world.'”

“……”

Estelle bit her lip with a displeased face.

She was so disgusted with him using a line from her diary, which he obtained through Laura, as if it were some great weapon that she wanted to hit him. That diary was a past she wanted to erase, written during the time when she was crazy about him.

“Do you feel no shame about stealing and looking at someone else’s private belongings?”

“Why are you considered a stranger? You’ll soon be my wife.”

“Ha……”

After letting out a laugh of disbelief, Estelle recalled something a moment later. She surreptitiously glanced at Lexion. It wasn’t a good time to bring this up, but she had to leave the palace in two days to go to Jeff’s territory.

“Your Highness… I have something to tell you.”

“Go ahead.”

“Actually, it’s a difficult request……”

“Hmm, a request.”

Lexion had an intrigued expression, like a predator eyeing its prey. It seemed unfamiliar to him that a word like “request” would come from the mouth of someone who seemed like she would never bend.

“…Before I leave, I want to see the holy relic in the palace.”

“Holy relic?”

“Yes… I know it’s an unreasonable request, but please.”

Estelle clenched her fist so tightly that her nails dug into her palm. It was natural, as this was important enough that she would have to turn back time again if he refused.

“I’ll grant your request.”

Lexion nodded lightly, making her tension seem pointless.

“Then what will you do for me, Miss Estelle?”

It was a response suggesting it wouldn’t be free, but Estelle had anticipated this much.

“I’ll do anything.”

“Ah. Miss Estelle.”

Lexion twisted his lips with a troubled expression.

“Isn’t that… a very dangerous statement? You don’t know what I might demand.”

“……”

He was an arrogant and shameless man, but he valued appearances. He was a man who would do obscene things to claim his ownership in front of others and would confine and force irrational acts if refused to the end, but he maintained a gentlemanly line up until pushed to the limit.

“Anything except marriage is fine.”

“…How can you say that when you look at me?”

Lexion made an expression as if he had heard insulting words.

“Do I look like a shameless man who would exploit your request?”

Did he even know what he was saying? Estelle frowned at his incomprehensible standards.

“I was thinking of something like an active kiss from you, Miss Estelle.”

“……”

Ah, right, he wasn’t a shameless man. He was just a perverted s*x maniac with a slightly disturbed mind.

“Instead of that… hit me. I’ve raised my hand against Your Highness before.”

“Ha, Estelle.”

Lexion scolded Estelle for speaking so recklessly.

“You don’t really have such tastes, do you? I don’t have a hobby of using violence against women. I despise such bastards the most.”

At this point, Estelle snorted. His violence became extremely lenient in s*xual matters.

“Then what do you want? I don’t have anything.”

“Why do you think that? Aren’t you the only Saintess in the Empire who holds the leash of the Guardians?”

“You’re deceiving me. I’m the one on a leash. Your Highness treats me like a tool too.”

“Would I have proposed if I viewed you that way?”

“I, I’m just a doll that relieves Your Highness’s boredom. Treating me carelessly and teasing me as you please.”

Lexion smiled slightly at her complaint-like grievance. This woman truly had no idea what would happen if he really did as he pleased.

“Estelle, were you that hurt by my teasing?”

“I’m not hurt, I’m just saying. It doesn’t make sense for me to dream of marriage, but… if it were possible, I’d want to marry someone I truly love.”

“So that’s why you won’t marry me?”

Estelle looked straight at Lexion. Her violet eyes behind the veil shone with a light that was close to conviction.

“Your Highness doesn’t really have feelings for me when proposing marriage.”

“……”

Lexion found the look she occasionally showed both interesting and curious. Where did that groundless faith come from? When he first discovered her, she had arrogant eyes that seemed to know him well. That wasn’t an illusion. That’s why he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“…I don’t know what this grand feeling you speak of is, but I really like you, Miss Estelle. I don’t think it’s strange to express this emotion as love.”

His red eyes scanned her black dress, which had no hint of sensuality. The mourning clothes buttoned up to the neck looked so strict it was suffocating, but that made it feel more decadent. It made him keep imagining her skin under the tightly wrapped cloth.

“Even now… I can only think about laying you down.”

Estelle snorted.

“Your Highness, that’s exactly what a shallow feeling is. Men are often ruled by their lower body, and they mistake that feeling for affection.”

Estelle dismissed him firmly, and Lexion laughed softly as if finding her amusing.