Just as I was trying to clear away the questions that lay before me like a foggy haze, the front door opened and Heliones appeared. Since I was the one who had requested the audience, it would have been proper for me to go to him, yet here he was at the lodgings so quickly. I felt a pang of guilt.

“I greet His Majesty the Emperor.”

The designer and boutique staff caught sight of Heliones and startled visibly, quickly bowing their heads. I offered him a polite bow as well and waited for his response.

“Please raise your heads.”

At Heliones’s command, everyone in the drawing room, myself included, lifted their heads.

“The fitting just finished. Please wait a moment.”

Feeling sorry that I had summoned him only to be unable to speak right away, I hurriedly gathered up the heavy layers of my skirt.

“It suits you. Well.”

“?”

What did I just hear?

I turned my head, wondering if I had imagined it, and there stood Heliones with his smooth, marble-like face flushed a deep red.

What had come over him? He had never once said anything like that during our years as husband and wife.

In any case, I was glad it suited me. This was a banquet at the imperial palace, after all. No good words would come from the Emperor’s ex-wife showing up in shabby clothing.

“Thank you.”

But I was in more of a hurry over the more pressing matter than over Heliones’s unexpected remark, so I gave a slight bow and went straight upstairs to change.

* * *

Heliones had not been himself these past days. His absence from Lucian’s lodgings in the days leading up to the birthday banquet was not simply because her words about not calling her “my wife” had stung him.

A strange tension had been building among the kingdoms that had cooperated in Rodencia’s fall, and Heliones had been kept busy analyzing the stream of new intelligence that arrived almost daily.

The decisions never stopped coming. How to coordinate things so war would not break out among the allied nations, and if it did break out, which side to support.

Wanting to resolve the situation as much as possible before the birthday banquet Lucian would attend, Heliones had been spending these past few days drafting foreign policy while cutting into his own sleep.

Then, around noon that day, word came from Lucian. She, who had almost never been the one to request a meeting even during their time as husband and wife, had reached out first.

Heliones handed off all the remaining documents to Count Fonta and went straight to Lucian’s lodgings.

When he entered the drawing room, he found Lucian dressed in more elaborate clothing than usual.

Lucian was beautiful regardless, whether in a sleeping robe or bundled in a thick winter byrne, so he had never paid much attention to what she wore.

He was always too busy stealing glances at her face whenever they met. There was no room for clothing to register.

But after listening to Count Fonta and reflecting on his own words and actions, Heliones had steeled himself and, for the first time in his life, paid another person a compliment on their clothing.

‘It suits you. Well.’

D*mn it. 

Despite all that resolve, what actually came out of his mouth was nothing more than this. Still, for Heliones, it was a significant step. His face burned so hot with shyness and self-reproach that he half wondered whether it was still properly attached to his head. His hands clenched naturally into fists.

But Lucian, upon receiving the compliment of a lifetime, left nothing behind but a flat “Thank you.” and disappeared upstairs.

Even Heliones, as poor as he was at reading emotions, could feel it clearly in that moment.

Every person around him was wearing a gentle smile on the outside while hiding a face of sorrowful pity within.

* * *

I couldn’t keep His Majesty waiting any longer, so I hurried back down to the drawing room.

The boutique staff had already left, so I dismissed Elren and Hanna as well and remained alone in the drawing room with Heliones.

“I was told you had something to say.”

“Yes. The matter I originally intended to raise wasn’t particularly important, but something rather serious came up a little while ago.”

“Something serious?”

“Yes. Let me start with the lighter matter first. That painting hanging over there was a gift from Princess Nelia. She may use it as an opening to approach you at tomorrow’s banquet.”

“Ah, I see. But is that not a painting by an artist you are fond of, my w… Lucian?”

“?”

If an expression could make a sound, it would have been something like: huh?

How on earth do you know which artist I like? Come to think of it, you also knew which gemstones I favored.

Does the Frianc imperial family carry some kind of divine beast ability too? Something like mind-reading?

He must have read my expression, because Heliones ran his tongue briefly over his lips and spoke in a quieter voice.

“There were works by the same artist hanging in the Gertil ducal residence. You used to spend hours standing in front of them, did you not?”

Ah, that’s right. There had been times I was so captivated by the style that I forgot to eat and lost myself in the paintings.

But to think Heliones had noticed. Then again, with the princess of an enemy nation living under his roof, it wouldn’t be strange at all for him to have monitored her every move.

“Yes. He is an artist I love. But I absolutely did not beg for it! Princess Nelia simply sent it on her own. Returning it would have been rude, so I had no choice…”

“Yes. I understand how it came about.”

I was relieved he didn’t press me on why I had met Princess Nelia or why I had accepted the painting. The story that followed was far more complicated, and I couldn’t afford to ramble on before getting to the more important matter.

“And earlier, when I went to the cathedral, I ran into Roned.”

At the name Roned, Heliones’s face, which had been slightly subdued, sharpened in an instant to the look of a soldier on the eve of battle.

“He’s always said rather strange things, but today he said something stranger than usual.”

Heliones said nothing, gripping his fist tight, and fixed his gaze on me.

I hadn’t sought out Roned by any means, but I had slipped out of the cathedral without permission, and that guilt had my body trembling more and more for no good reason.

“He said something about the revival of Rodencia…”

“All movements within Rodencia are under full surveillance. There is nothing for Lucian to worry about.”

“Ah, right, of course. It’s just that he said something strange…”

“Something strange?”

Do I really need to say this? But leaving it unsaid would nag at me.

In truth, I had lived thinking that even if a movement to restore the royal family arose within Rodencia, it would have little to do with me. And indeed, over the past two years, no one connected to such a movement had ever approached me.

What value could there be in the lone surviving princess of a fallen kingdom, one seen as the cause of its ruin, and known to be barren on top of that? What Roned said earlier was probably nothing more than the ravings of a fanatic.

“What did he say?”

I shouldn’t have brought it up. Even nonsense could land with weight when Heliones heard it. I should never have said anything.

“He said I have some role to play in rebuilding the Rodencian royal family. I could let that go, but then he said he was prepared to die for it… It left me unsettled.”

In that instant, the air in the room felt like it had frozen solid. Heliones sat perfectly still without a single movement, yet it was almost possible to see a cold frost spreading slowly around him.

“It is probably nothing to worry too much about! No one other than Roned has approached me, and Roned always talked like this back in our homeland too.”

Had I given him needless information on top of an already complicated situation? Still, I didn’t want to keep even a small secret, in case it might make me look like a spy. Secrets have a way of coming to light eventually. I had laid everything out honestly, so now I had to wait for Heliones’s response. Whether he would trust me, or take it as some political scheme. I kept my trembling shoulders braced with all the tension I could manage and waited for his words with my head bowed, like a defendant awaiting a verdict.

I knew he was not the kind of person to suspect me without cause, but knowing something in your head and feeling it in your heart are two different things.

I was not born a non-ability user by choice. My whole life, I had been condemned and tormented for something I had no power over.

The memory of those helpless, unjust days, when I had wished morning would simply never come, kept pushing me toward distrust of others.

Suddenly, Heliones rose from his seat. He walked toward me slowly. His large hand, along with his dark shadow, came to rest above my head.