“Saying it’s not ‘that level’ of emotion. Does that mean you might come to like me in the future?”

Alkaid’s heart beat loudly for a moment.

It was true that he had made Spica misunderstand to approach him more deeply. However, he hadn’t expected her to recover this quickly and ask so directly.

Spica didn’t stop there. She gathered her courage and said.

“I…… think I like you, Commander.”

Spica honestly admitted it.

It was already a settled matter in her heart, so all that remained was the confession.

It was also greed.

She didn’t want to grow distant from Alkaid or lose his kindness. She wanted to truly become his special person, not just excessive self-consciousness.

“No, I like you. I don’t want to just remain as an adjutant……”

Spica’s words were cut off. Because Alkaid pressed her lips firmly like he was determined to cut off his patience. The soft flesh was distorted painlessly and became more red.

Spica blankly watched the finger that left her lips disappear into Alkaid’s mouth.

She should have scolded him asking what dirty thing he was doing, but she couldn’t. Because his pupils began to change to a deeper color and shine bewitchingly.

‘Sweet.’

Alkaid didn’t like sweet things. However, whether it was because he had already heard Spica’s breathlessly sweet words, or because her taste was mixed in,

Right now, he didn’t hate it that much.

No…… rather, he wanted to taste more. If only he could lick that small mouth, the hot and soft flesh, and suck out all the remaining sweetness.

However, Alkaid slowly lowered his visor. Spica was flustered by the desire being contained behind the cold steel.

“Why, why?”

The distance between the two was close, the result of gradually approaching each other.

If Alkaid bent his waist just a little, he could suck in her lips instead of his finger — that close.

“Spica. For beast-humans, night is when self-control disappears.”

Alkaid said while suppressing his boiling greed. Though he was the one who had imprinted, she had to be the one to chase after him, trample the fallen fence, and dirty him with muddy feet.

He checked the time. It was about time for the banquet’s main character to show himself.

“Let’s go out.”

Even while moving as Alkaid escorted her, Spica’s heart was complicated.

To be precise, she was bewildered because embarrassing thoughts kept coming to mind.

‘Does he mean he’s holding back because his self-control disappears? That…… he might do something more than kissing?’

Thinking about it that way, saying he didn’t like her was also ambiguous.

‘There’s no way he would, you know, rub lips like that if he hated me.’

Even now, look.

Alkaid was standing right next to Spica. She could even feel his determination not to let anyone approach.

People were glancing at the two of them and whispering.

The gazes toward Alkaid that couldn’t be felt within the knight order. He must clearly be feeling the dark emotions mixed with fear, terror, and jealousy, yet he seemed unbothered.

‘Isn’t this also a kind of scar.’

There’s no one who doesn’t get hurt from the beginning.

Spica, whose heart ached in one corner, tapped Alkaid’s arm. She felt his gaze coming her way, but pretended not to know and looked only forward while asking.

“But you know. Why don’t you stay at the ducal family’s townhouse and sleep at Mrs. Hudson’s place instead?”

“Mrs. Hudson is my nanny. After she retired, I gave her a house as a gift, but I was worried about her renting to strangers.”

It was an explanation that slightly twisted the facts, but Spica didn’t notice anything suspicious so his words just passed by.

She was just upset that she hadn’t even thought of Alkaid when she heard Mrs. Hudson’s words.

‘So she called him young master because she was his nanny. Well, if she saw him when he was a baby, he would continue to seem like a child.’

Moreover, there was a bigger problem.

“Then you knew who the person in the next room was even before I told you?”

“I didn’t say anything because you seemed like you’d be uncomfortable. We wouldn’t run into each other at home anyway.”

Surely entering that house wasn’t inevitable either. Spica narrowed her eyes and glared, but the helmet facing her was only shameless.

Spica’s expression became even more dissatisfied. They say humans are animals that don’t know satisfaction, and she was exactly that. Once she saw his face and talked, she couldn’t stand wanting to see his expression.

Spica slyly raised her heels. When Alkaid leaned down like being drawn to her, she whispered.

“I won’t ask you to kiss me, so can’t you just show me your face?”

Alkaid burst into laughter, completely disarmed by the unexpected surprise attack.

A Winterhold laughing out loud? The people around simultaneously widened their eyes and stepped back one step each, but that wasn’t his concern.

He was feeling pleasure and annoyance at the same time. Because he learned how bold Spica became after acknowledging her own heart.

‘That rabbit bastard saw this first.’

Alkaid still remembered vividly.

The place, time, and temperature when he first discovered Spica. And even the face of the fiancé who was by her side.

He had encouraged the guy who was quite fickle, living up to his looks, and made women notice him everywhere he went, so Lepus’s gaze naturally turned only outward.

‘Maybe I should have just arranged an accidental death instead of such cumbersome methods.’

Alkaid regretted it slightly, but he knew his own personality best. He couldn’t tolerate that guy remaining as a sad memory rather than a wound to Spica.

* * *

The Crown Prince gave strength to Alkaid just like he had notified in advance.

“Even if there are differences in status, these are children around my age who suffered. That’s why it feels even more regrettable.”

There was no one who could stubbornly refuse the Crown Prince who argued like that. Moreover, wasn’t this the ‘Fifth Anniversary of the Investiture Banquet.’

Spica looked up at the young face without a trace of laughter and thought.

‘He’s completely different from when I saw him before.’

He seemed like a different person from the child who smiled mischievously saying “Alki, sister” in the knight commander’s office. Of course, he didn’t seem like a child then either.

The Crown Prince was thorough and didn’t even give a single eye greeting toward Alkaid until the end.

“Well then, it would be uncomfortable for him to be mixed among young people too. I’ll go in now.”

Whether because of his age — in the opposite sense — the Crown Prince left his seat early.

The banquet hall’s atmosphere finally began to come alive in earnest.

Couples paired up with each other and entered the dance circle. Spica watched them and suddenly turned her head to the side. Alkaid was looking at her.

“Dame Atrain.”

“Yes.”

“Now I……”

When Alkaid was about to ask for something. An unwelcome voice cut off his words and wedged between the two.

“Lady Atrain. Can you talk with me for a moment?”

Spica’s pounding heart was coldly thrown to the floor.

It was a name that automatically came to mind without even looking at the face — Diblin Sobek. The voice that jumped from nightmare into reality was calling her at this very moment.

She felt like the blood in her body was cooling. But she didn’t feel breathless like before.

〈No matter what happens, I will gladly stand before you.〉

True to that resolve, Alkaid’s broad back was before her eyes.

After glancing back to check Spica’s condition, he asked Diblin.

“What’s the matter.”

“Do I have a reason to tell you that? In the Second Knight Order, do you need the knight commander’s permission first to speak to a member?”

“You’re talking nonsense. I simply have business with you. Follow me.”

“Wa, wait a moment.”

Spica urgently whispered while grabbing Alkaid’s hem. She was moving to an angle where Diblin couldn’t see her without even realizing it herself.

“I’m really grateful that you’re diverting attention, but I think she’ll look for me again tomorrow or the day after. So……”

“She won’t.”

“What?”

“Enjoy the banquet with peace of mind. I’ll be back soon, so don’t worry.”

Alkaid’s voice was quiet like always, but Spica was already feeling the murderous intent circling inside his helmet.

“I’ll be back.”

The familiar tone that came in made the strength smoothly drain from her hands. Alkaid, who briefly grabbed and released that hand like brushing past it, moved his steps. Diblin, who had been staring at Spica piercingly, also followed behind him.

When the two disappeared, the gazes of surrounding people focused on Spica who was left alone. Spica flinched and felt around her face.

‘Should I say it’s fortunate I’m wearing a mask? Is this His Highness the Crown Prince’s foresight?’

They were just curious about Spica. The young lady whom the notoriously arrogant Lady Sobek tried to call aside and the Young Duke Winterhold, whose sociability was no different from a beast, protected like guarding a cub. It was a calculation that it wouldn’t be bad to get acquainted and become friendly.

But the eyes of those timing when to approach looked like this to Spica:

‘Tomorrow at the tea party, I’ll put you on the table instead of tea food.’

‘Perfect material that salon gossips would love!’

‘How should I cook that young lady to hear news of the two ducal families.’

Sa, save me.

Did Spica’s inner voice reach them? One knight approached, cutting through the people who were gradually narrowing the encirclement(?).

He was dressed in the dark green uniform of the First Knight Order.

‘Who is it?’

When Spica reflexively clenched her fist tightly, the other person waved his hand like telling her not to do that.

“It’s me, Mizar. Long time no see.”

“Senior?”

“I’m glad to see you too, hey. Shall we eat?”