His half-siblings had treated him no better, handling the younger sibling who shared no blood with them the way one might handle something filthy and contaminated.

So he had assumed that watching them fall in battle, face execution, and be driven into exile would leave him unmoved. They were less than strangers to him. It was only natural.

But when it actually happened, that was not how it felt.

He felt no pity for what had become of his family, but hostility toward the one who had brought them to that end boiled up inside him.

For the entire two years of their marriage, Heliones had dreamed of killing Lucian’s family and destroying her homeland. He had quietly and steadily planned and prepared to do exactly that.

He agonized over whether someone harboring such terrible intentions had any right to lay a hand on Lucian.

No matter how much a family had tormented someone their whole life, family was still family. No one else could presume to decide that Lucian felt not even a shred of feeling for hers.

Heliones was afraid of how Lucian would look at him once he destroyed Rodencia and killed her family.

What he feared most was that those cold, empty eyes, which had held nothing, would ignite again with hatred directed at him and him alone.

“Will she hate me?”

Heliones asked in a voice that sounded like it had slipped miraculously from the lips of someone already dead.

“That would almost be better.”

“?”

Count Fonta let out a sigh and moistened his dry lips for no particular reason.

“Based on everything so far, if I were to make a reasonable inference, I would say Lady Lucian appears to feel nothing for Your Majesty. No emotion, no interest.”

Watching his lord, who was not merely accomplished but outright perfect in every way, look so deflated was painful, but an accurate diagnosis was the only way to treat the illness.

Count Fonta bowed his head apologetically, having dared to speak so plainly to his lord, and waited for Heliones’s response.

‘Ah, is he going to pile a mountain of tedious work on me again?’

He was already regretting having said anything, and had just conjured up the faces of his gentle wife and their twins waiting for him at home, when Heliones’s unexpected reaction gave him a sudden flicker of hope that he might make it home early after all.

“Then isn’t that better? I can build the relationship from scratch!”

Heliones’s unhappy childhood had made him a man of extraordinary caution. He was someone who always moved by anticipating the worst outcome rather than the best.

And yet here was this.

“Start over like we’re meeting for the first time! Go to the theater together, go on a picnic, have tea, give gifts!”

Right. He had clearly picked up a few things from listening to others.

For the sake of the Frianc Empire, rebuilt after its fall, it was certainly better for the emperor to be hopeful than despondent, but this was skipping several steps.

“Yes. It’s a fine plan. But before that.”

“Before what?”

“Shouldn’t you first find out whether Lady Lucian has any interest in that?”

“?”

“A man who drags a lady to the theater, drags her on picnics, makes her drink tea, and presses gifts on her when she has no interest in any of it is generally called a shameless person who forces his feelings on others.”

“What?”

If there was one title that suited Heliones least of all, it was “shameless.” His character was like a perfectly laundered white cloth without a single stain.

“Test the waters first, Your Majesty. Gauge her reaction and decide from which point to begin.”

“Test the waters?”

“Yes. Is Your Majesty’s birthday not coming up soon? Drop a hint that you would like to be celebrated.”

“Won’t that seem a bit pathetic?”

“That is why I said to drop a hint. Something along the lines of your birthday approaching soon and hoping she might attend the banquet. If Lady Lucian dresses up and comes to the banquet, there is still hope.”

“And if she doesn’t come?”

“Well. Then you’ll have to crawl up from the very bottom.”

* * *

The morning was busy from the start. Elren had said that since I would be attending the tea party, it was simply a matter of putting together appropriate attire for a social gathering, but this had gone far beyond that.

The scene looked like the capital’s most fashionable boutique had been transplanted wholesale into the parlor.

There were already more than ten casual outfits hanging in the second-floor dressing room, plus the clothes I had brought from the Gertil ducal estate. Why did I need new ones?

I was only attending to put needless rumors to rest, not to show off my wardrobe.

“I think just this one piece will do.”

Still, out of respect for Heliones’s gesture in sending a designer, I chose one item in good but inexpensive fabric with a simple design.

“You’ll need an evening gown as well.”

“I don’t need an evening gown. I have nowhere to wear one.”

“I absolutely must fit you for one! I was given explicit orders! I have my orders to follow!”

The outfit for the tea party was already more than enough, and now an evening gown on top of that. Where did anyone think I would wear it?

But I could not simply send away a designer insisting she had her orders. I had no choice but to sit back down and begin choosing fabrics and designs.

“This ivory silk chiffon would suit Miss Lucian’s red eyes beautifully.”

“Yes.”

“This lace took the artisans six hundred hours to make. It’s the finest quality. What do you think about adding just a touch of it along the neckline?”

“Yes.”

She clearly had an eye for it, being a designer sent from the imperial court. Without needing much direction, she recommended fabrics and trimmings that worked together effortlessly. The one thing that nagged at me was the cost.

I had never been in a position to indulge in luxury freely, but having lived as a princess and then as the wife of a titled man, I at least knew how expensive certain things were.

Having the dress made exactly as the designer recommended would result in a cost that went beyond extravagant into outright burdensome.

After the designer left, having forced an evening gown fitting on me as well, I sent away Hanna, whose eyes were sparkling, and called for Elren.

“Is my presence in the capital a source of discomfort for him?”

“Why would you think that?”

“I wondered if he might be concerned that my going about too plainly could reflect poorly on His Majesty’s reputation.”

Nothing else explained it. Why else would he go to such lengths for a divorced former wife?

“How would a mere servant like me presume to know His Majesty’s mind? Only that…”

“Only that?”

I looked up at Elren, who had stopped mid-sentence, and found him wearing a gentle smile.

Having reached this age without ever having a grown man look at me that way, I felt an inexplicable prickling at the tip of my nose and looked away.

“He is simply making sure Miss Lucian is comfortable during her stay.”

“Ah. I see.”

Comfortable? I was thoroughly uncomfortable. But I said nothing.

Who else would smile at me with such warmth? If he said it was so, then perhaps it was.

Late in the afternoon, Heliones appeared at the townhouse again without warning.

He had already given his permission, but I wanted a final confirmed answer, so I held out the tea party invitation that had arrived that morning.

He glanced at the name on the envelope and frowned briefly, but nodded.

“Duke Balthar’s townhouse is renowned as a pinnacle of refined elegance. The cooks there are among the most celebrated in the capital. I’m sure you’ll have a pleasant time.”

“Is that so?”

That was permission, wasn’t it?

“Did you meet with the designer?”

“Yes. Thank you for the consideration.”

“Consideration? I was the one who brought you to the capital. Providing suitable outerwear is the least I can do.”

“I already have plenty, so it really wasn’t necessary. But thank you all the same.”

More than two years had passed since the divorce, and now he had suddenly called his former wife away from a perfectly good life under the pretense of sorting out paperwork, and was keeping a watchful eye on her whether he meant to or not. Perhaps he did feel some guilt about it.

Was that why he was going to all this trouble? Honestly, it was not the most pleasant situation, but there was no need for him to go this far.

After exchanging a heavily weighted round of thanks, the familiar awkward silence descended again.

By now I would have been more surprised if words came out of Heliones’s mouth right away, so I waited patiently and politely for his lips to open, as I had grown accustomed to doing.

“Well, in a fortnight it will be my birthday…”

Ah, right. His birthday fell around this time of year.

When we were still married, Heliones had said he disliked grand affairs and never held a separate banquet. We had simply shared a formal dinner together in the garden.

Even past mid-June, the evenings turned quite cold once the sun went down. Heliones would eat in silence, then take off his jacket and drape it over my shoulders without a word.

Two moments of warmth on my shoulders. That was the sum total of what I remembered about Heliones’s birthday.

“I’m thinking of holding a banquet at the imperial palace this time.”

Of course. Was this not the first birthday of the emperor who had restored the empire? A banquet was the least of it. A parade and a festival would not have been out of place.

“I was wondering if perhaps you might… attend…”

The way he was drawing it out told me everything. The divorce papers were apparently not going to be finalized in time.

Nothing good could come from a princess of a fallen nation and a former wife making herself conspicuous on such an auspicious occasion.

Even so. Did he really need to ask? Did he honestly think I would go? My former mother-in-law would be there, after all.