Khalid’s peculiar ways were always frustratingly unclear in their intent.

But this time, Khalid had not hidden his meaning, and Asilri understood him at once.

[Why stay cooped up somewhere stifling. We can just go out.]

[……Are you serious?]

[Of course. I have never been anything but serious with you.]

To put it plainly, Khalid had seen straight through her.

How he had known that she had been quietly suffocating under the weight of everything piling up, she could not say.

The temptation, carrying her small, unspoken wish, was dizzying.

Asilri felt herself waver toward Khalid for the first time, but barely managed to pull her reason back into place.

She should have refused. That was the right thing to do.

What good could come from spending time with a man so thoroughly indifferent?

But Khalid spoke to her as though he had anticipated even her cold refusal.

[It doesn’t matter if you say no. It won’t make our contract disappear.]

[……What do you mean?]

[I mean that later, I may make you an even harder offer to refuse.]

A temptation with clear intent was a trap closing around her.

The man who had seemed incapable of humor was smiling with a mischievous edge, and she could not have found it more aggravating.

No, perhaps it would have been a relief if aggravating were all she felt.

Asilri knew that those once-cruel hands could turn unbearably enticing.

In the end, she had taken Khalid’s hand and come out to the capital.

‘……It’s been a while since I’ve been to the capital.’

She had been drawn out by Khalid’s hand, but leaving the estate after so long was not unpleasant.

Moving along at his will while feeling her heart ease, she was afraid she might fall into a foolish misunderstanding.

That Khalid had done this to pull her away from a place heavy with painful memories.

If that was the case, then Khalid……

“Asilri!”

While she was lost in thought, an urgent hand pulled her toward it.

Caught off guard, Asilri was simply swept along.

By the time she came back to herself.

“What were you thinking about so deeply? You nearly got hurt.”

She was tucked fully into Khalid’s broad arms.

Khalid had pulled her close before, but today the distance between them was noticeably shorter.

Asilri moved to push against his chest out of habit, then stopped and went still.

The situation had finally registered.

“There are a lot of people, so be careful. You’ll get swept away if you’re not paying attention.”

Khalid placed her at his side with a look of concern.

The crowd was so thick she had nearly been separated from him by the surge of people.

‘……That wouldn’t have been so bad.’

Asilri entertained the dangerous thought Khalid would never know about, and felt no great disturbance over it.

Because she had known from the start that it was impossible.

This was a dangerous man who had held the Ernst Empire in his grip and shaken it.

It did not occur to her that a man like that would fail to find her in the capital of all places.

Never mind the capital. This was a man who would track her down even if she fled to the other side of the continent.

Asilri rationalized to herself why she could not run from Khalid.

‘Truly, what is he thinking?’

Asilri looked at Khalid in silence.

Her gaze was heavy with tangled thoughts.

But Khalid chose to read her look as something else entirely and let out a short laugh.

“Quite a dangerous look you’re giving me.”

The murmur had barely faded when Khalid moved quickly.

Khalid pushed his face toward hers, and only then did Asilri show a slightly startled expression and step back.

The sight of her retreating like a frightened rabbit was endearing enough that Khalid considered pulling her back.

But he held himself back, not wanting to see that already pale face go any whiter.

“Don’t let your guard down. I never know when I’ll want to unsettle you again.”

Khalid said it simply because he liked seeing Asilri react to him.

But Asilri took his words in a slightly different sense and flinched.

She was already being moved by every small thing Khalid did, more than enough.

“……Is that a threat?”

“Hardly. I’m simply.”

Khalid caught her slender waist and pulled her firmly into his arms.

A steadfast hold that said he would not let her go no matter what.

“Worried you might be in danger.”

“……I wish you wouldn’t say things like that.”

Asilri pouted with a disgruntled expression but did not push his arms away.

Khalid wanted to say one more thing to her, but held his tongue, afraid she would push him away if he did.

In the meantime, Asilri lifted her head from within his arms.

“So, what did you want to do?”

“What?”

“You must have had something in mind when you said you wanted to get out of somewhere stifling.”

At her question, Khalid fell uncharacteristically silent.

Come to think of it, he had said something like that when he brought her out.

But that had only been to match her mood, because she had looked so worn down.

That excuse had lost all meaning the moment he stepped outside with Asilri.

Khalid wore an unusually flustered expression and delayed his answer.

Asilri caught the opening and pressed in.

“You didn’t come out here without thinking, did you?”

“…….”

“Surely not.”

The composed poker face had long since cracked.

The sight of him fidgeting, seemingly at a loss for what to say, was simply amusing.

As Asilri’s eyes narrowed, Khalid managed to open his mouth at last.

“……Is there somewhere you want to go?”

But it was worse than saying nothing.

Khalid had forced out an answer, but Asilri shook her head coolly.

“Don’t try to push it onto me. You’re the one who brought me out here.”

At Asilri’s firm words, Khalid began to waver in a way that was entirely different from usual.

It was so absurd she could not help but laugh.

A man who had never seemed to waver at anything, and here he was coming undone over something this small.

Asilri forgot she had been pressing him and let out a light laugh.

Khalid too paused in his search for something to say.

He had been caught by Asilri’s lovely smile.

‘Had he ever seen her smile so freely.’

No.

Not once, he answered himself without hesitation.

The certainty settled heavy on Khalid’s face.

Asilri, mid-smile, caught the change in him and went still.

In the meantime, Khalid settled on what to give her.

“I may have nowhere I want to go.”

Khalid snatched her hand and pressed a brief kiss to the back of her white hand.

“But there is plenty I want to do.”

With you.

Khalid answered with an infuriating smile.

In an instant, the tables had turned.

Now it was Asilri who had nothing to say.

If she could not answer here, she would no doubt end up moving entirely at his will.

Asilri stood frozen, blinking, and Khalid broke into a helpless laugh.

“Scared, are you?”

“……!”

The light words dissolved the precarious mood.

Khalid looked directly into Asilri’s eyes and asked.

“If you don’t mind where we go, will you follow me?”

Khalid asked it so casually that Asilri nodded without thinking too deeply.

Just as he had said, perhaps today of all days it was all right to set the heaviness aside.

“This way, then.”

Asilri decided to follow where Khalid led.

* * *

They say that people who know how to enjoy themselves do it well.

In that sense, Asilri and Khalid were not a particularly well-matched pair.

One was a man who had spent more than half his life on the battlefield, and the other was a woman who had lived practically confined within the walls of a vast estate.

That their outing turned out to be a quiet one was, in a way, an outcome that could have been foreseen.

All they did was stroll through the capital and breathe.

And yet the greatest irony was that neither of them showed the slightest sign of boredom.

By the time darkness had settled and night had come, Asilri slowly lifted her head and looked up at the sky.

Khalid followed her gaze and murmured to himself.

“……The moon is out.”

“It’s not a full moon.”

Asilri answered without looking at him.

So she did not see what expression he wore.

“Yes, if it were a full moon.”

……Things might have gotten a little dangerous.

The meaning behind the quiet murmur was plain.

Only then did Asilri turn and look at Khalid.

Khalid received her heavy gaze without flinching.

He noticed her lips beginning to part and waited, expectant, for the words about to slip through.

But Asilri did not open her mouth in the end.

“……Asilri?”

Khalid, unable to bear the silence, called her name, but she did not respond.

And he noticed that the gaze that had seemed to be on him had shifted, just slightly, off to the side.

Khalid furrowed his brow faintly and turned to look at where her eyes had landed.

“……Ah.”

Only then did Khalid understand what had stolen Asilri’s gaze.

Just as Asilri had done, Khalid too said nothing for a while and only blinked.

It was a place neither of them could fail to recognize.

Asilri asked him without looking his way.

“……Do you remember this place?”

“How could I not?”

Asilri’s question had carried a certain carefulness, but Khalid’s answer came without a moment’s hesitation.

Only then did Asilri turn and look at him.

But Khalid, unusually, did not look at Asilri and kept his gaze fixed straight ahead.

The sight of him sunk in deep thought felt strangely unfamiliar.

Was Khalid recalling the same moment.

[I told you not to be alone. That it was dangerous.]

The days not long after Count and Countess Bliché had died.