Louis, who gave up the Rossetti name, was now Louis Carter, and he left for a quiet province in the east with his wife. She would never see him again. Anais would spend her life in the capital, after all. She would have to marry too, according to her father’s wishes.

Her heart gave a dull, stinging throb. Her hands folded in her lap tightened on their own. Anais steadied her breathing and opened her mouth.

“Because I’ll be getting married soon.”

Killian paused, then raised an eyebrow slowly.

“Married?”

“Yes. When I go back, I’ll have to marry. I wanted to enjoy myself before that. In the most open city in Fiorenza, just one season. My life felt too precious to waste.”

The lie came out smoothly. It wasn’t entirely a lie, which made it easier.

“I’d certainly be the right man for that.”

He said it and smiled that fine smile of his. The moment she heard it, Hazel’s words crossed her mind. That Grand Duke Visconti never slept with the same woman twice.

“But Killian, you don’t see a woman again after sleeping with her.”

The woman saying something so absurd looked perfectly serious. He burst out laughing, and she tilted her head. All the while she kept eating steadily. It was late, so she must be hungry. She didn’t seem to eat a large amount, but… anyway, she was a woman worth watching. Killian swirled his wine glass and took a sip.

“I wonder how my reputation got to the capital like that. I’m sorry to disappoint, but it’s not quite that extreme.”

If a woman he slept with was satisfying, why would he not see her again? That rumor must have come from the women it ended with after one night. Last night with Anais was a deeply satisfying night for him, and he had no intention of letting it end at one.

Anais, who answered his question and was working through her tomato sorbet, smiled at his reply.

“That’s a relief, then. I think it would be wonderful to spend the whole summer with you.”

It was too straightforward, yet the soft, clear quality of her voice kept it from sounding that way. Perhaps because her voice carried no particular emotion. A curious thing.

“And you? What do you think?”

“I’m all for it. There is no reason to refuse when such a beautiful lady offers to be my lover all summer long.”

At first the women who slept with him were satisfied with just that, but they all eventually wanted to mix hearts as well. When the king of Fiorenza brought up Grand Duke Visconti’s marriage, some even came all the way to his villa and caused scenes.

A relationship with a set end date… it was a first for him too, but if Anais kept her word, it would be a clean, uncomplicated farewell. He had nothing to lose, only to roll around freely with a woman who suited his taste.

He spent his childhood in the royal palace in the capital, and the moment his brother Valerius inherited the throne, he came south to Solean. Killian knew. Women like her were rare even in the capital.

The woman, who finished eating without a sound and left no trace of it, smiled softly.

“Shall we get up, then?”

An unfamiliar impulse knocked at his chest. He didn’t want to send her away today either. If she went up now, she would finish getting ready and leave. Back to her own villa.

Sharing a meal the morning after spending the night together was the extent of what he considered consideration. He could send her off and look forward to the next time.

Yet his mouth moved on its own.

“Ana.”

“Yes?”

“Do you like wild roses?”

The out-of-nowhere question made Anais laugh.

“They were blooming at your villa yesterday too, weren’t they?”

“That’s right.”

“This isn’t that same villa from yesterday, is it?”

She realized it on her way down to the dining room, guided by the maid. This wasn’t the villa where the grand party was held yesterday.

So Killian carried her here himself while she slept. And she slept through it all without knowing, tired enough for that. She couldn’t remember the last time she slept that deeply. It was so long ago the memory was gone.

“That place I left for the guests who attended. This is a different villa.”

Which meant this place, at least, was theirs alone. That suited her too. No small number of gentlemen and ladies at that party last night would have spent the night together, and she had no particular desire to run into any of them.

“I’d like that. Shall we go see the wild roses together?”

Quick to catch on too. The corners of Killian’s lips curved. He liked the woman in front of him more and more. The part he liked best was that she promised to leave when the season ended. Killian laughed again and rose to his feet.

The wild roses had an especially rich scent. The fragrance that struck at the tip of her nose was said to grow even deeper after dark. A thick, sharp rose scent unlike anything artificial filled the night air completely.

She walked with Killian hand in hand. It was an escort she wasn’t used to, but she decided not to think about it. The man seemed to enjoy small contact like this. As if to prove it, his lips kept finding different spots on her face throughout the walk.

Lost in her own thoughts, Anais didn’t notice the violet gaze that clung to her persistently. Perhaps she already adapted to the way he looked at her without realizing it.

Deep in thought, she was walking without holding his hand anymore. Killian followed behind her with his hands clasped behind his back. There was no heaviness to the woman’s step, light and fluttering like a dance.

“Anais.”

“Yes.”

At the end of the garden path, he stopped the woman walking with that easy, flowing step. Anais turned slowly. She suited the night garden. She was a woman who suited the capital, where autumn and winter were splendid, far more than the south, where summer was splendid.

“Stay one more day.”

“Why?”

She stopped and came closer to ask. Her scent, layered over with rose, was fragrant. He wondered what her skin would smell like wearing the rose. Feeling a rising thirst, Killian answered.

“I was thinking of waking a little earlier tomorrow and going out to the sea in Solean with my lady.”

“Is that really the only reason?”

The woman asked shyly, a flush rising on her face. Her rosy cheeks called to mind the woman he saw last night. Killian’s throat moved roughly.

“Yes. But the biggest reason is that I want to be with you tonight too.”

The honest answer made Anais smile and nod. It was a yes.

Killian pulled her by the waist and took her lower lip between his, drawing it in. Her toes must have lifted because her arms came up and wrapped around his neck. Anais’s mouth and tongue were warm and soft. She wasn’t forward, but she responded to him now. A little more familiar than yesterday.

She almost never pulled away.

When he moved, she followed. She was honest about her desire. And yet she felt shy about that, without being ashamed of it. That was what he liked most.

It felt like it would be the most memorable summer of his life.