If it was a coincidence, an illustrator might add a detail like that to make a drawing look more sensual.

And if it was not a coincidence, then someone who had genuinely seen his body was collaborating with the queen’s side.

Wait.

A flash of realization cut through Andrea’s mind.

There was someone. One person who had seen him undressed.

Every single day.

……Raul?

Andrea’s silver-grey eyes narrowed to a predator’s focus.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Riley was walking along the sunlit cobblestones, enjoying the sound of her own footsteps.

Today was not a manuscript day, but she had slipped out for a short while because she wanted to see for herself how the fully undressed scene of Alain, drawn at the cost of her soul, was being received.

‘Would it be somewhere like an outdoor stall in one of the back alleys?’

It was an outing for shadowy reconnaissance, but the scenery along the way was genuinely lovely and the weather was fine.

Tennetcy was a beautiful city.

The road running along the river in the distance, glittering in the sunlight, the plane tree-lined streets and the shops, the elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen.

Somewhere nearby, the scent of wisteria drifted on the air.

She wandered slowly from alley to alley, looking for wherever 『A Ballad of Flame and Loss』 was being sold. Unexpectedly, it was nowhere to be found on the newspaper stands.

She could not find a single copy along the main road, but she enjoyed looking at the shop windows of general stores and dressmakers, so she walked patiently from one block to the next.

She had been walking in the sunshine for several blocks when a carriage passing beside her gradually slowed and drew up alongside her.

‘What is this?’

Riley saw the noble family’s crest engraved on the carriage door and was about to walk on.

But the window opened, and the person inside came into view.

It was Parnelli.

Riley stopped short, then composed herself, gave a brief nod, and tried to continue past.

She would have, if Parnelli had not called out to her first.

“Raul!”

And so, without much choice in the matter, Riley found herself seated across from Parnelli inside a quiet coffee house on a calm stretch of street.

“……What is it you need, Director?”

The unexpected meeting made Riley uncomfortable enough that she spoke first.

But Parnelli only continued to study her with a look of quiet curiosity.

“I don’t have much time to sit here.”

She said it flatly, a second time, and Parnelli seemed to surface from his thoughts and begin.

“You…… Raul, was it. Do you…… remember me?”

They had seen each other just days ago in the drawing room at Eli Palace, so he could not be asking about that. This man was clearly referring to four years ago.

“……I remember.”

Riley answered coolly, making it clear she had no particular interest in him and had not been thinking of him.

Parnelli looked faintly impatient, but chose his words with care.

“……Then why are you at the crown prince’s palace, Raul?”

“Because I work there.”

“Since when?”

“Four years ago.”

She had no idea why she was answering his questions so readily, but she was curious enough about his intentions to let it continue.

Why now, after all this time?

The man was dressed in a fine suit and silk cravat, carrying a faint trace of cologne, and looked every bit the polished nobleman.

Riley noted it inwardly without feeling much. But Parnelli’s expression had grown somewhat serious.

“How exactly did you manage to secure a position as a palace attendant?”

Parnelli had no way of knowing the circumstances under which Riley’s mother Marietta had come under the Queen Dowager’s care, and so the question genuinely puzzled him.

Becoming a member of the court required considerable connections, and securing a position as a personal attendant to royalty was directly tied to one’s advancement in life.

He wanted to know how an orphaned boy had risen to this position in a single step.

Riley felt no particular need to explain herself.

Parnelli had declared himself no father of hers, and when she had told him of her mother’s death, he had shown not a trace of grief.

So her voice came out sharp.

“Why should I tell you anything about my situation?”

The cold reply made Parnelli flinch.

The person sitting across from him was no longer the naive boy of four years ago.

Even so, he let his true intentions slip through without meaning to.

“Well…… I’m not sure how you got there, but you seem to be the crown prince’s closest personal attendant?”

“As you saw.”

He stroked his chin at that and moistened his lips with his tongue.

“It seems you’ve earned a great deal of His Highness’s trust in a short time.”

The probing continued, and Riley’s brow furrowed.

“What is it you want to know?”

“Do you handle most of the reception duties for high-ranking officials who visit?”

Riley sensed he was trying to extract something and cut the question down sharply.

“Why do you ask?”

Caught off guard by the blunt response, Parnelli fell back on the melancholy expression he habitually wore whenever things turned against him.

“Well…… it’s less that I want to know and more that I’ve been thinking of you from time to time…… and was simply curious. So there’s a possibility you could become the crown prince’s chief chamberlain someday?”

The strangely clinging quality of it put Riley in a foul mood, and she shot back coldly.

“Why would someone with no connection to me be curious about any of that? I don’t believe I’m obligated to answer.”

Riley’s composed, unapologetic response left Parnelli visibly flustered.

Those delicate, fine-featured eyes of his seemed to quiver slightly.

Was this what her mother had fallen for?

The shallowness was written all over that hypocritical face.

Unaware of what she was thinking, Parnelli arranged his expression into something deliberately somber and measured.

“……We did have a connection in the past, and finding ourselves working together on the palace renovation came as a surprise, so I only meant……”

His voice trailed off vaguely, but Riley tilted her head with an air of genuine puzzlement.

“What connection did we have, exactly? It was all a misunderstanding on my part. Nothing more than a small incident.”

Parnelli hesitated and seemed about to say more, but Riley deliberately scraped her chair back and stood up.

He looked faintly startled, and that expression struck her as resembling her own face in a way that only irritated her further.

“I’m sorry, but I have my own errands to see to. If you have business to discuss, please come to the palace and we can speak then.”

Parnelli was thoroughly taken aback.

A direct personal attendant to royalty was not, in truth, someone he could treat carelessly.

“I…… I see. Then I suppose we’ll speak at my next visit.”

He looked faintly put out, then asked again.

“Or perhaps we could find a separate time to meet before then?”

Riley made a point of bowing with exaggerated formality.

“I’m afraid I’ve been rather busy lately. I’ll take my leave first.”

She said it in a tone that was essentially showing him out, and left before he could respond.

She had no desire to spend another moment with someone who had coldly rejected the small, desperate hope of a child seeking affection, and who had insulted her mother in the same breath.

Outside, the weather was still bright and clear, but her mood was thoroughly sour.

“I need to find that magazine and cheer myself up.”

When the mood turned heavy, something crude and stimulating was exactly what was needed.

And if she was lucky enough to spot a young lady sneaking a copy under her arm, she could follow her and compare impressions.

Riley straightened her bow tie and set off toward the street she had originally been heading to.

She moved with deliberate energy, trying to shake off the unpleasant, sticky feeling that the conversation with Parnelli had left behind.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Inside the carriage on his way back, Parnelli sat deep in thought.

The truth was, the moment he had seen young Raul four years ago, he had known instinctively the boy was his.

He had heard from Mina that she was with child, and beyond that, the resemblance was simply too close to deny.

But seeing those drooping eyes and those distinctive pale violet irises mirrored back at him had only made him uneasy.

He could not afford to be held back by the only daughter of a declining, obscure viscountcy.

So he had cut the boy off without mercy, that boy with his eyes full of longing for some kind of affection.

And then he had forgotten about him.