What a strange thing. At events like this, I used to be so on edge that I couldn’t stand having someone merely stand beside me, let alone speak to me. And yet here I was, taking steps toward someone of my own accord.

You really do learn something new every day.

“You’re here? I just arrived myself.”

Nelia, her glossy brown hair falling beautifully around her, smiled brightly and looped her arm through mine without a second thought.

Her attention had felt like a burden at first, but I had grown quite comfortable with it, and I let her take my arm without thinking.

True to what we had discussed, the four of us had set aside corsets and petticoats for the night and wore flowing gowns instead. We gathered in a little cluster and, the way women who know each other well always do, kept ourselves busy trading compliments.

“You’re always beautiful, but tonight I could just stare and forget myself!”

“And the gown suits you perfectly! I thought an actual goddess had walked in.”

In the past, even an exchange like this would have made me bite my lip with anxiety, but tonight I offered sincere praise to the women who had stood by my side, not out of mere courtesy.

As we chatted on one side of the ballroom, the intervals between the names the attendant called grew longer, a sign that the procession of arrivals was winding down.

Delmir never appeared, not until the line of carriages outside the hall had finally cleared completely. Nor did Duke Balthar or the rest of his household.

“Ah, it seems she decided not to attend today after all.”

Giselle glanced at me and Elise, reading our mild disappointment, and let out a small sigh that said she felt the same.

“Well, it can’t be helped. Even I would find it impossible to come to the imperial palace under these circumstances.”

Elise gave a bitter smile and shook her head, as though resigning herself to it. Considering the scene at the plaza outside the imperial palace, it was understandable that anyone bearing the Balthar name would find it difficult to attend tonight’s event.

Then, to the sound of a grand fanfare, every gaze in the hall turned toward the center. At the familiar music, I stopped talking and waited with a composed expression for the emperor to appear.

Heliones descended slowly from the second floor, making his way down the staircase in a formal uniform of white with elaborate golden embroidery.

He held his shoulders broad and his chin high with a cool composure, and the sight of him was so like a god descending to earth that not only I but everyone around me held their breath and watched.

I had seen that face just yesterday in the palace garden, but Heliones in moments like this was a little different from his usual self.

Of course, he was a flawless beauty even on ordinary days. The moonlight itself seemed taken with his looks; even on overcast nights, a soft, halo-like glow seemed to linger around him alone.

But at official events, Heliones carried something overwhelming about him. There were people who, when those cool eyes and that sharp jawline turned their way, looked utterly enraptured, the way someone might look upon receiving a god’s blessing.

Is this what it means to be a born ruler?

Come to think of it, Lewian had also been a striking beauty, but he never inspired this kind of reverence.

People had simply cast their eyes down in feigned submission, doing their best not to meet the gaze of a cruel crown prince.

Heliones moved into the center of the hall, receiving greetings one by one.

With him at the center and everyone bowing their heads on either side, he stood alone and unmoved, like a tree that does not sway in a parted field of grass.

“You came?”

When my turn finally arrived, I had no idea what expression I was wearing.

Heliones greeted me with the same face he always wore, that of a benevolent yet dignified sovereign, but I truly could not tell what my own face was doing.

Ah. Why am I like this? I just saw him yesterday. There’s nothing new about this. Careful not to let the sound of swallowing carry, I drew the pooled saliva down slowly and returned his greeting.

“I am honored to be in Your Majesty’s presence.”

“The four of you, dressed in matching gowns, look just like goddesses from mythology. Thank you for gracing tonight’s event.”

At Heliones’s greeting, Nelia answered with the bright, open smile particular to young women.

“We’re nowhere near as radiant as Your Majesty, but we did our best.”

Pfft. Whatever Heliones was thinking at that moment, one corner of his mouth curved upward. It lasted only an instant, but I caught it, and strangely enough, my heart, which had been beating along steadily, gave a sudden lurch.

Ah, there I go again. What am I thinking?

He is not mine. We were married for two years, and he never once came to my room in all that time. Harboring foolish hopes over a man like that would be nothing short of stupid.

I only need him to be a friend I can talk to comfortably. That is enough.

Whether it is Nelia or someone else entirely, I should simply pray that a perfect sovereign finds a partner worthy of him.

Just as I was pressing down the feelings that kept trying to overstep their bounds, an attendant announced Delmir’s late arrival.

A silence deeper and heavier than the one that had fallen when Heliones appeared settled over the ballroom. People who had been laughing and chattering clamped their mouths shut the moment they saw Delmir and her group.

No one openly insulted or looked down on them. Even amid a legal dispute, House Balthar remained a family at the center of power, and the families of Whitney and Dylan were long-established noble houses as well.

But people ignored them completely. The attendant had clearly announced Delmir, yet not a single person turned toward the entrance of the hall.

Not a greeting, not even a glance. Everyone simply ignored her arrival.

However she had managed to obtain a gown, Delmir wore something that looked like the costume of a fairy of light.

The silhouette of chiffon and organza layered over a full petticoat made her look so light she might float up at any moment, but in reality the weight of the atmosphere seemed to be taking its toll; Delmir’s shoulders had dropped just slightly.

Heliones, as the host of the event, could not in good manners ignore a guest. So he offered Delmir the same greeting he had given everyone else.

Delmir received the emperor’s greeting with her usual composure, but the tension in her fingertips told me she was quite on edge.

Before long, the pleasant hum of the ballroom resumed.

The hall, which had held its breath through the strange scene of someone who might as well not exist making an entrance into a silent, invisible spotlight, returned to the mood it had carried before Delmir arrived.

Even so, I found I couldn’t stop glancing at Delmir, and she was moving through the ballroom with considerably more ease than she had shown at first, contrary to my concerns.

Ah. Setting aside how I feel about her, that takes real strength of spirit.

Unable to say anything outright, Elise and I exchanged a look and quietly let out somewhat deflated smiles.

“I thought I might go blind from across the room. Is it not a disaster, having goddesses of light this radiant roaming about in a pack?”

A familiar, skin-crawling voice reached me all at once. I pressed a hand to my lurching heart and turned to find Roned wearing a soft smile that suited his striking face perfectly, though to my eyes that smile looked nothing but unpleasant.

Wasn’t the humiliation from last time enough? Why is he approaching me again?

He was the heir to the great House Iledn, so his attendance at a national event was understandable, but why seek me out specifically to acknowledge me? Had he still not come to his senses?

I stared at Roned in silence, my guard fully up. The three young ladies beside me, knowing what had passed between us, kept their mouths shut and pointedly ignored his greeting.

“I behaved poorly the last time we met.”

“……”

“I wanted to explain, as I thought there may have been a misunderstanding, but I never found the opportunity.”

A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding? He had blanketed the grounds around his villa with flowers bearing my name.

“The Rodencia columbine is a flower that holds a special place in my heart as well. Every time I visited my mother’s homeland, I would lose myself looking at them. And among them all, the ones that bloom near the royal palace are truly a breathtaking sight, are they not?”

That much was true. Looking out from within the Rodencia royal palace, built atop seaside cliffs, a field of red columbines spread out beyond the walls, and behind them lay the vivid blue of the sea. I had not traveled widely, but I could say without hesitation that that sight was the most beautiful thing I had ever committed to memory.

“I developed the flower with that landscape in mind. I spent a long time deliberating over what to name it, and after Rodencia fell, I thought of Lady Lucian, the only member of the royal family who remained. She was one of the only two people in Frianc who shared that landscape with me.”

“……”

“I was too embarrassed to give it my own name, so I gave it Lady Lucian’s instead. If that caused offense, I offer my sincere apology.”

Roned delivered a clean, unadorned apology and bowed his head deeply toward me.

Honestly, having my name attached to a flower had been startling and uncomfortable, but not something that made me angry. What had truly angered me was his attempt to link me to the revival of Rodencia.

If Roned no longer mentioned any revival of Rodencia and was apologizing for that unpleasant experience, there was no real reason not to accept it. There was nothing to gain from making more enemies.

“Let’s just call it the Rodencia columbine, the way it always was. It’s changed a little from before, but Rodencia is still there, isn’t it?”

At my answer, Roned made no effort to hide the feeling that welled up in him, and he broke into a bright, unclouded smile as he extended his hand toward me.

Ah, that’s strange. Why does this silver smile feel familiar?