Hmm…… not too bad at all.

The blonde hair and lavender eyes she had gotten from Parnelli seemed to suit each other rather well.

Her nose and lips took after her mother, giving her a bright, youthful impression.

Even so.

Riley said that to herself, but felt her heart still beating uneasily.

The events of the afternoon had unsettled her more than she expected.

‘You’d better have an answer ready.’

A weighted remark in every sense.

An answer to what? Whether she had ever seen him as a man?

Of course…… of course…… she had…… hadn’t she……?

The words stopped.

Because honestly, she had seen him as a man.

Anyone with eyes would know that His Highness Andrea was the most handsome man in the kingdom.

Those features, somehow both languid and refined, and that unhurried, arrogant bearing.

What woman could fail to be drawn to that?

She had even had the privilege of admiring his beautifully sculpted physique every single day, free of charge.

But setting all of that aside, when Andrea had appeared at the moment she thought she had been left alone in the world, he had been her salvation.

With that salvation wandering around looking the way he did, how could anyone keep their heart intact?

Even so, she had always tried to tell herself that what she felt was simply the pride of serving a superior employer.

But now, looking honestly into the depths of her own heart, the truth that surfaced made Riley feel even more unsettled.

Hmm…… come to think of it, was it a little different when I followed His Highness to evening parties?

After being caught drawing Captain Alain, she had attended social gatherings diligently at Andrea’s request, to familiarize herself with the faces of the nobility.

There she had seen with her own eyes Andrea in the company of ladies who suited him like figures in a painting.

Honestly, she had felt a strange bitterness at those times.

A hollowness too.

Perhaps it was the awareness that despite always being together, they ultimately lived in entirely different worlds with entirely different stations.

It was then that she had faced the reality that Andrea might soon take a crown princess.

She had asked herself whether she could stay by his side and carry out her duties as before.

Just imagining it told her the answer.

She would feel as though something of hers had been taken.

She could genuinely wish them happiness, but her heart would ache with a peculiar sense of loss.

Picturing some future crown princess standing beside Andrea, or the two of them sharing an intimate moment in the bedchamber, Riley felt a sorrow so sharp it brought tears to her eyes, and the corners of her eyes went red.

It was only then that she realized she had never truly let go of Andrea.

Just as Andrea had not let go of her.

The moment she noticed that secret feeling she had buried deep and ignored, it rose to the surface and lapped at the edges of her heart.

Riley lifted her fingers to her lips again.

Come to think of it, she had thought she would never see him again after leaving the palace, and yet seeing him this often had actually made her happy.

Having him around the way he always used to be was good too.

And……

It had startled her, but the kiss that afternoon…… had not been unwelcome at all.

Could it be…… me……?

Riley cupped her own cheeks in her hands and jumped to her feet.

Do I have feelings for His Highness?

But the cry inside her, ‘and what if you do,’ quickly demanded she pretend she had not just realized that.

Don’t go kindling hope for something hopeless.

What if she burned herself completely to nothing?

She had a feeling that the moment she took a step forward, she would not be able to contain her heart, her wanting.

But there was a question weighing on her even more than these fears.

When had His Highness begun to feel this way about her?

Saying it started the moment her identity changed felt somehow off.

Everything was a mystery.

Her heart was already fluttering with a giddy confusion, and the moonlight spilled down to the edge of her bed, and sleep would not come until dawn.

Riley ended up lying awake through the entire night.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

At that same hour, back at the palace, Andrea was also stretched out on the sofa and unable to settle.

Thinking of Riley sleeping somewhere too far to come running if he called made him restless and dissatisfied.

I really should not have let her go.

He could have given her a new name and a new title and let her work inside the palace as a maid.

But even he could see how forced that would have been.

Everyone knew Raul’s face. If she suddenly appeared in a skirt and announced she had always been a woman, it would cause a stir and rumors of something improper between them would start to circulate.

But leaving her to work in men’s clothes as before was equally unacceptable.

She had seemed to get along closely with the other attendants, slipping in and out of rooms and sharing a drink now and then, and how was he supposed to keep watching that.

The mere thought made a vein flicker faintly at Andrea’s temple.

Either way. Reckless creature. There are plenty of men like Roso out there these days.

Going around with that guileless face and easy warmth, she would have charmed even ordinary men with no particular inclinations.

He himself was the first example of that.

He was not gay, and yet he had reached the point of admitting he could not stop thinking about Raul, and eventually arrived at a place of resigned acceptance.

There was no reason other men would not do the same.

Above all, even if his reason had not known, his instincts had clearly been aware all along that Raul was a woman.

That was why he had been drawn so helplessly.

Right.

Separating her from the palace had been the right call.

And he intended to restore the bankrupt Spencer viscountcy to Riley.

Riley de Lamol Spencer……

Andrea murmured her full name to himself, and the corner of his mouth curved.

Thinking back on her today made the smile deepen.

She had always loved dressing up, and now that she was finally wearing clothes that suited her, she looked more radiant and fresh than he had ever seen her.

She was the only one who did not know it, and her obliviousness made her all the more endearing.

That was why he had kissed her without thinking today.

Andrea touched his fingers to his own lips, as though trying to recall the sensation.

He had thought he would have to follow even Roso’s frivolous advice if it meant making Riley see him as a man again, but he had not expected himself to have so little patience……

He could wait endlessly when setting traps in the middle of political intrigue and power struggles, and yet in the business of courting one woman, he had been this rash.

Fortunately, Riley had seemed startled, but his instinct told him she had not disliked it.

She went red in the face, after all.

Lying sprawled in the dark room with a pleasant looseness, Andrea laughed low.

He should have known she was a woman from how often she flared up!

A low, warm sigh escaped him.

The sweetness of that breath when he drew those soft, yielding lips against his……

Every muscle in his body had pulled taut, and heat gathered low in his abdomen.

He had had to grip Riley’s shoulders to hold back the urge to push deeper, to s*ck at that tender flesh, to swallow down that sweetness.

He had sensed that the moment he pushed deeper, the beast inside him would go wild.

The truth was, from the moment Raul became Riley, even small things had been enough to stir him.

The white nape of her neck. Her slender arms. The exposed upper curve of her chest. A waist he could circle with one hand.

It was not as though he had never seen a woman before.

There had been moments when his body responded without his permission, and it had been inconvenient.

Hah, I’ve lost my mind.

Andrea reached out and drummed restlessly on the nightstand, then glanced down at himself without thinking.

What had been aching for a while had already lifted the front of his trousers. He muttered something close to a curse and raked a hand through his hair.

His body reacting just from the thought of her.

The absurdity of it stirred a pointless guilt, and his mood soured slightly.

He pressed his palm to the back of his neck, feeling feverish, but an association came to him unbidden.

He remembered that Riley had always massaged the back of his neck when she attended his baths.

Recalling that she had also kneaded other places without a trace of self-consciousness, Andrea felt the tension below pull even tighter.

His silk trousers were on the verge of tearing.

“D*mn it……”

Andrea groaned low and slipped his hand inside his trousers, slowly dragging it up along the hot, rigid length.