The atmosphere at the party was unusually bright. Every gaze in the room was fixed on the great noble who was rarely seen in the imperial capital, Grand Duke Lionel.

Ladies hoping to introduce their daughters of marriageable age were in a state of barely contained excitement, and there were plenty of gentlemen shifting restlessly in their seats, eager to speak with him about business matters.

Meanwhile, the man who had swept up all the attention by making a rare appearance in social circles, at least until Lionel arrived, wore a peculiar smile.

His name was Kaian. He was someone who knew exactly what that Grand Duke, standing there wrapped in his splendid and dignified air, had been doing up until the previous night.

Amid the densely packed nobles, the gazes of the two men clashed like thorns stabbing at each other, then drifted apart.

While Lionel had been spending time with the emperor, or rather before that, Kaian had kept himself quite busy as well.

As though they knew every habit Kaian had developed through a life rougher than that of the man before him, who was a great noble to his very bones, the palace ladies-in-waiting had instructed him with grave solemnity.

Things one must never do in the emperor’s presence.

Words that must never be spoken to offend the sovereign.

The manner of conduct that must be clean and loyal.

‘It wasn’t unpleasant.’

The time was unfamiliar. No missions requiring him to kill anyone, no need to live one life by day and another by night.

It was a lavish and indulgent stretch of time.

Kaian had always known his own appearance was devastatingly beautiful, but under the care of the palace ladies-in-waiting, he witnessed for himself how he transformed into something that truly gleamed like a cut diamond.

It was when he showed his face in social circles again that he came face to face with the large-framed man who had appeared in the social season like a comet.

Once more, Kaian’s gaze turned toward the Grand Duke.

“……Hmm.”

Kaian’s expression was strange.

One thing was certain: it was nothing like the gazes of the other nobles, which were packed with reverence for the Grand Duke.

‘I don’t like him.’

The one who had so brazenly flung his hostility toward the emperor without restraint. And yet, the same man who had coveted the very first turn to resolve the emperor’s curse.

His feelings toward him were, honestly, not good.

Kaian knew the full circumstances, which made it all the worse. The man’s eyes, unable to hide a deep satisfaction, fouled his mood in an instant.

Then the Grand Duke opened his mouth.

“I am well aware of what you are all curious about. You must be wondering why I left my domain to show my face this social season and accepted Her Majesty the Emperor’s invitation.”

The nobles’ eyes lit up. Was this not the same Grand Duke who had, even in private settings, referred to the emperor with such disrespectful terms as “that woman”? Yet in today’s words, there seemed to be a glimpse of genuine respect for the emperor.

“It cannot go on forever, the two pillars of the empire standing in opposition to each other. It seems a great many things will change going forward.”

Kaian inwardly scoffed at the Grand Duke’s words, delivered with a pretense of composure. The man who, right up until he had shared a bed with her, had not hesitated to say he would kill or harm the liege Kaian served, suddenly changing his position did not look good to him at all.

Was that not cowardice?

Just as Kaian was narrowing his eyes at that thought, someone tapped him on the back, not rudely. He turned around to find a palace lady-in-waiting. A discreet exchange of glances followed, and Kaian realized the time had finally come for him to be summoned to Iberis.

Watching the dusk settling into darkness, he licked his well-groomed lips in what looked like nervousness. He said his farewells to those around him with a composed air, moved away from the gathering, and deliberately passed behind the Grand Duke in a manner that seemed almost incidental.

And then.

“The first is always remembered in full.”

The low, weighty voice stopped Kaian in his tracks. The nobles, who had been keenly watching the Grand Duke’s demeanor, murmured at the remark whose meaning they could not decipher.

Kaian smiled gently.

He looked straight at the Grand Duke with a gaze that held not a trace of fear.

“Experience is something that accumulates, and memories are something that fade. If something better comes to cover what came before, does the earlier thing not lose its meaning?”

At Kaian’s soft words, Lionel’s eyes turned raw and savage. Regardless, Kaian closed the distance slightly and whispered just low enough for the Grand Duke alone to hear.

“Especially, something that is beautiful in form and sparkles like a jewel tends to be remembered far longer. Would one not come to treasure and cherish it?”

At Kaian’s bright smile, gleaming like a jewel, it was not the Grand Duke but the surrounding nobles who let out admiring gasps.

Lionel, by contrast, took on the air of a man about to reach out and seize the other by the collar. Kaian naturally stepped back from the energy that bordered on killing intent, narrowed his eyes, and looked at the other man with contempt.

He had no intention of calculating and evading, of hiding his true feelings behind a false face the way the Grand Duke did.

To an assassin who had had no future, she had been a lamp of life that shone in full, a light. There was no reason to feel warmly toward someone who had thrown stones at that sun.

“Then I will take my leave.”

Kaian slipped away like water and followed behind the lady-in-waiting. The heart that had briefly stirred found its quiet again. But his fingertips were trembling.

In there, inside that splendid palace.

‘You are there.’

Waiting for him.

* * *

Creak. The door opened. Watching the figure who entered without a sound, unable to hide that he was an assassin, Iberis pulled at the corner of her lips.

The man, whose gleaming face was as striking as ever today, stood at the door like a doll, seemingly unable to bring himself to approach.

He appeared to be nervous, somehow.

Considering what was about to unfold, it would not be a bad idea to open the way forward. Iberis gave a light wave of her hand to the blond man, Kaian, whose shoulders seemed oddly stiff in a way that did not suit him.

“Did you receive the medicine?”

She had given the man waiting there the freedom she had promised him.

She had loosened the leash that had bound one who could have flown free, had cut the life of his target for revenge before those hands could be stained with blood, and had gifted a dying body with an antidote to extend his life.

It was the basic gift owed to the man who had willingly pledged to become the emperor’s antidote. If he saw through the three nights that would follow starting today, that man would be able to live fully as a son of the Marquis Tessa household.

‘Though he did claim he would become my lover.’

After this night passed, that wish might well change.

Iberis wore a strange expression and waved once more the hand she had let dangle over the side of the bed. Come here. It was a gesture that might have been used to call a well-trained dog, and yet the man seemed to read her meaning, for his eyes curved with a playful gleam as he approached.

“Of course I received it well. You have kept me alive once again, Your Majesty.”

“Hmm.”

“Then may I repay you now by offering my entire self to Your Majesty?”

“You still have a way with words.”

“Would it be hard to believe if I said I have been waiting for this moment alone?”

As insolent as ever.

He had seemed nervous just a moment ago, yet he wore his easy mask with practiced ease, as though that had never been. He had been trained as an assassin to blend into any setting, so it was to be expected, but the face and gaze that stared at her with singular intensity seemed to carry something genuine mixed within.

“Kaian.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Your guild has been dismantled. Have you heard that news as well?”

Judging by the way the corners of his eyes curved just a little more, it seemed he had picked up information even while confined to the palace.

Iberis watched with quiet pleasure as he drew closer, his gleaming face a thing to behold, and observed intently whether any trace of dissatisfaction lurked in those eyes.

“Are you not bitter that you could not take revenge with your own hands?”

“They were already a target that held no meaning for me.”

He had plainly lived for revenge, yet he offered sweet words again. By all reason, she should not be able to trust him fully, yet looking at those eyes that shone with a strangely truthful light, she found herself weakening.

‘Right, it was that way from the start.’

Otherwise, would there have been a moment when her heart had softened enough to help a clumsy assassin?

“You truly do not seem displeased.”

At last the man made contact with her outstretched hand. Kaian, who had come forward slowly on his knees like a dog that had surrendered, brought that pale and clear face of his willingly to rest against her hand.

The smooth texture of his skin was as fine and soft as a woman’s, and she found herself marveling at it. A smile rose of its own accord, and the man, who had been watching that change with relentless attention, smiled back in kind, pleased. That too was lovely.

“You seem to have been born the wrong s*x.”

“I was born exactly right. Otherwise, how could I have shown such intimate devotion to Your Majesty?”

He had expressed the need to share bodies in rather refined terms. But the s*xual tension it carried was not unpleasant, and Iberis curled her lips.

It was because the traces of the insidious curse were easing, if only slightly, at the gesture of him pressing his cheek against her hand with a subtly clinging warmth.

A special man. A special bloodline.

The fairy bloodline, born through atavistic inheritance.

“You have quite a bit of charm.”

She smiled faintly and toyed with the face resting in her hand, and his manner was quite docile. A mischievous impulse took hold of Iberis, and she caught the man’s sharp jaw and drew it toward her slightly.