What a fine ending it would have been if they had vanished like dew on the execution grounds.

Iela made no effort to hide her disappointment as she lamented aloud, and the maid Mary, seated across from her as a conversation partner, nodded readily.

“Lord Bahar clearly said to handle it, and Anton Mivela said he would.”

“That is exactly right.”

“Capital punishment is a relic of a bygone era, he says. I cannot understand what that is supposed to mean. How different can now be from then, really? The only thing we have over people of the past is that we live a little longer.”

“You are absolutely right.”

“In a world that says wine grows more valuable the longer it ages and that tradition exists to be preserved, to suddenly declare that execution alone is a cruel product of a bygone era.”

“I think so too.”

She was a somewhat half-hearted conversation partner, but Iela did not hold it against her.

This was, after all, a seat she had been placed in for the sole purpose of agreeing with everything Iela said.

Had she brought in a trained parrot and sat it down instead, she would have had no complaints whatsoever. It did not matter if the maid, now reduced to the same standing as a parrot, realized it.

In Iela’s view, theirs was not a relationship that could be wounded by something of this magnitude, and even if the tiniest scratch did appear, money would surely heal all.

Human relationships run on money.

If a relationship failed to become satisfying even after money had been spent, that simply meant not enough had been poured in. Of this, Iela had not the slightest doubt.

“Is Lord Bahar still in the annex?”

“You are absolutely right, ah, yes. It seems he is still here. He has cleared out the entire top floor and will not allow anyone near, so it is difficult to confirm whether he is truly there.”

“Even after coming all this way, he cannot give up his madman habits.”

“That is exactly right.”

The maid cast an anxious glance at the closed door, but did not forget her duty and remained faithfully committed to her role as the parrot.

“This way I cannot go and retrieve my earrings.”

“You are absolutely right, earrings?”

“The earrings in the main castle. Did I not say we would go get them and run away together?”

“Ah, I think you might have said something like that…?”

Mary tilted her head with an ambiguous smile. To offer an excuse, she had not forgotten that promise.

It was simply that Valentin’s brutally savage violence from the night before had deflated her spirit entirely.

Add to that the sight of her mistress with eyes shining like a girl in the throes of her first love, and she had been fervently wishing to abandon the idea of a group midnight escape and slip away on her own.

Paying no mind to the maid’s evident discomfort, Iela continued.

“It is only natural to want to run away when Lord Bahar is that frightening and I simply cannot find it in myself to live as his wife, is it not?”

“…You are absolutely right, but.”

“Yesterday’s spectacle was witnessed not only by me but by the knights as well, and above all, Anton Mivela was present. A frail woman like me being so terrified that she begs for the marriage to be called off is entirely plausible.”

“That is true, but…”

“The responsibility lies entirely with Lord Bahar, so it would only be right for him to provide a generous settlement. I think that is a far more responsible attitude than simply running away. I was grateful for the suggestion of a midnight escape, but given how things have turned out, I am afraid I must decline.”

“Yes! You are absolutely right!”

The maid affirmed in a bright voice, and so overwhelmed with relief that she visibly pressed a hand to her chest.

Watching that display, Iela smiled with a touch of mischief and said,

“So will you go and convey my wishes?”

As the maid’s face instantly went dark as death, Iela added,

“Tell him that I am trembling with fright and ask him not to come calling without warning.”

Valentin, who had appeared without notice the night before, had ignored the bewilderment of everyone present and attempted to force his way into Iela’s bedchamber.

Since she had come to the annex precisely to put distance between them, Iela refused firmly.

Anton, beside himself with anxiety over Valentin’s gradually souring mood, had clung to her almost pleadingly, but the outcome was the same.

Iela retired to her bedchamber alone, and the entire top floor of the annex was hastily cleared out for Valentin, who would not return to the main castle no matter what anyone did.

The only ones who suffered were the knights who had been using the entire annex as their quarters.

“You have to earn your pay. Did you think you could pocket the gold coins I gave you for nothing?”

The sum was far too large to readily offer to return.

It did seem, somehow, like an excessive reward for the small errand of fetching a single pair of earrings.

Mary chewed her lip and worked out a plan to navigate this predicament.

“What are you doing, get up at once.”

But the merciless urging left her mind going completely blank. Just as she stood there unable to move forward or back, fortune arrived without warning.

Knock, knock.

A polite knock sounded at the door. The maid leapt to her feet and, making a great fuss about needing to receive a guest properly, opened the door.

“Oh…”

Her gaze was briefly stolen by the tall, beautiful man standing at the door, but the moment she recognized who he was, she stumbled backward in fright.

“Iela.”

“Lord Bahar.”

Valentin, completely ignoring the maid’s strange behavior, crossed the threshold.

Iela waited in her seat, just as she had the day before, watching the man press hard at his temples as though suffering from a headache.

Valentin crossed the room in long strides and flopped against her shoulder without invitation.

“It is too noisy here.”

“Is it? I rather think it is quite quiet. I heard that even the morning training was cancelled because of Lord Bahar’s arrival.”

To be precise, it was because the knights who had been driven out by Valentin were forced to sleep in tents and were in poor condition as a result.

Mayer, who as captain had been guaranteed a private room and was spared the cold, had returned to his room, opened the purse with trembling hands, and come face to face with a pile of copper coins. The combination of betrayal and his own foolishness had sent his blood boiling, and he had officially cancelled training.

“My troubles are dealt with now. Let us go home.”

Home. To Iela, home was wherever Diana was.

The two-story townhouse Philip Lorid had purchased to show off would have been nothing more than a building without Diana’s touch.

What Iela felt toward the main castle now was the same. That was not her home.

It was a place she would pass through briefly, still the same cursed lord’s castle she had once looked at from a distance with nothing more than passing curiosity.

“What will happen to Peter Carpenter from here on?”

Valentin did not press her on the change of subject. Having no particular desire to hold a conversation with her, he answered the question readily.

“His access to Valita has been revoked. Mivela will spread the word appropriately. That anyone who dares set foot in the lord’s castle uninvited will face harsh punishment.”

“Harsh?”

“Well.”

Iela stared at Valentin with dissatisfaction at how indifferent he seemed, then brought up a different question.

“And the knight?”

“Permanent exile.”

“His entire family likely lives in Valita. Will there not be considerable resistance?”

“Mivela will handle it.”

“You place a great deal of trust in Anton Mivela.”

“I gave him the authority to handle such matters.”

The tone was cynical. Yet his expression was at ease. Iela gave him a slight push.

The relaxed atmosphere sharpened in an instant, and a long arm wrapped around her waist.

“No.”

A commanding tone, one he rarely directed at her. Iela tilted her head and met his gaze.

“Lord Bahar is remarkably generous with me.”

“Because you are special.”

“I have often been told I am peculiar, but special, now. I had that kind of delusion myself during the years when I was particularly sensitive.”

It was not an outright lie. Past twenty, she had shed the delusion that she was special, but in its place the conviction that other people were excessively foolish had only grown stronger, so in the end the ailment acquired during those sensitive years had been only half cured.

“I do not particularly wish to be special to Lord Bahar.”

“Is that so?”

“Are you not curious why? Lord Bahar is the undisputed lord of Valita, and not the sort of lord scraping to keep a nearly bankrupt domain afloat, so you are wealthy on top of it all. You are the kind of husband any woman would dream of. And yet I do not wish to be special to Lord Bahar.”

“If that is how you feel, that is fine with me.”

At the answer that came without a moment’s hesitation, Iela’s brow furrowed. She felt she was beginning to understand the nature of the faint unease she had been feeling all along, and the mild discomfort that came with it.

She thought of the blue rose once more. A flower that was precious, yet in the end was cut by human hands.

Valentin had always been kind to her. But judging from how he treated Anton, and from the violence he had unleashed the night before, his true nature was anything but gentle or benevolent.

Being treated as an exception was not unpleasant, and she had at times enjoyed showing it off herself, but.

‘It was a generosity that came from not regarding me as a person at all.’

Thinking this, Iela let the corners of her mouth lift.

“Lord Bahar.”

At her whisper, those languid eyes turned toward her. Even that breathtaking face she could now appreciate without much feeling.

If he was going to treat her as a possession, Iela had only to regard him as a sculpture on display in a gallery.

“I am so glad Lord Bahar’s troubles have been resolved.”

“If it pleases you…”

“Yes. Lord Bahar is someone who finds everything good as long as I am pleased. Which is precisely why I say this. We ought to hire a few more servants for the castle. I am the mistress of the house in name, and I have no wish to leave the infamy of a cursed castle unaddressed.”

“I was under the impression that matter had already been settled.”

The lowered voice carried unmistakable irritation.

“In truth, Lord Bahar’s permission is not required. I am the legal mistress of this house, having sworn before God and witnesses, and besides, Lord Bahar has said it himself, time and again, like a refrain. That I am also a Bahar.”

“Iela.”

“To confess, I did suspect that Lord Bahar was a little mad. But what does it matter if one is somewhat mad? Lord Bahar indulges my whims so readily.”

Eyes that resembled the dark depths of the sea appeared and disappeared beneath thin eyelids in a slow, repeated blink.

Watching Valentin’s composure waver, Iela brought her words to a close.

“Even if Lord Bahar is truly cursed, as the rumors say, that is all right with me.”

Eyes that no longer blinked fixed themselves on Iela.

“As long as Lord Bahar’s feelings do not change, neither will mine.”

It was a cleverly crafted play on words. Iela was fully prepared to strike from behind the moment his attitude of treating her as a possession showed any sign of change.

How thrillingly delightful it would be to turn away and leave a prey floundering in the trap of love.

Even if Valentin never changed, it would not be a losing proposition.

He had declared that whatever she did was fine, and so she had no intention of declining anything any longer.

The agreed divorce could wait for now. It would not be too late to put it back on the table after she had made this man, who did not even see her as a person, suffer to her heart’s content.

Iela had lived a life of striking back twice as hard when wronged, and launching a preemptive strike without hesitation at the mere hint of trouble, even before any wrong had been done.

There was no reason for that to change simply because the other party was Valentin.

“Have you come to like me a little more?”

At Valentin’s question, asked in a voice that trembled in a way unlike him, Iela did not try to guess, or rather did not even attempt to guess, at his meaning, and answered with a smile.

The man who smiled brightly in return was extraordinarily beautiful, but Iela only narrowed her eyes and regarded him as one would admire an inanimate object.

It was, truly, a splendid case of two people sharing the same dream in entirely different ways.