Ivnen’s fist, clenched without her realizing it, trembled quietly. But she did not look away from Bjorn until the very end.

And then she saw it — a subtle shift rippling across the face of the man who had always stood apart in his solitary composure, making her feel wretched by comparison.

Unbelievably.

“……Divorce?”

The lips that had been pressed firmly shut began to move, very slowly.

“Did you just say divorce to me, Ivnen?”

Ivnen nodded in place of an answer. Her gaze fixed on those blue eyes, rippling as they held her reflection.

“You don’t want this marriage any more than I do, do you?”

“……”

“All I’m saying is that we each take what we need, and then part ways. Cleanly.”

Yes. This was all it needed to be. At least from now on, she would never again do something as foolish as begging for love from Bjorn like a beggar.

……But why did he look as though he were thrown off.

Ivnen couldn’t understand it.

Not at all.

No — perhaps even this is my imagination.

Bjorn Balder — cold and composed as the world always said, and yet gentle and warm beneath it. Taciturn, perhaps, but attentive enough to never let even small things pass him by, considerate to a fault, simply someone who didn’t know how to give or receive love — yet always carrying a quiet warmth.

That was the man Ivnen had believed Bjorn Balder to be, before she drank the poisoned flower tea.

But the Bjorn she had believed she knew no longer existed anywhere in the world. So whatever expression he wore, whatever she thought she felt from it — it was perhaps wiser to believe all of it was an illusion.

“Give me your answer now, Count Bjorn.”

“……”

“Or is there something more you wish to ask of me? Speak freely. I’m not so narrow-minded a person.”

The only thing she could think of that Bjorn might be reluctant to part with was one thing.

His mistress.

Bjorn had never loved her. His love was confined to one single person in all the world — a mistress whose name and face Ivnen had never known.

Even Bjorn had not been so brazen from the very beginning. During the three months they had spent as an engaged couple, he had in fact done his best by Ivnen.

And it was precisely because of those three months that she had committed the foolish mistake of giving him her whole heart.

In any case, once they had gone from an engaged couple to husband and wife, Bjorn had begun his infidelity openly. Ivnen still remembered it with perfect clarity.

Are you planning to bring your mistress into the estate outright?

He very well might. From someone as shameless as you.

Well — there was no reason she couldn’t allow it. No, if anything, she would welcome it. At the very least, she would finally get to see the face of that wretched mistress he had sheltered so obsessively that she had never once caught a glimpse of her.

But Bjorn said nothing about his mistress.

“All right. We’ll do that.”

He simply offered a short answer in a very low voice.

“One year from today, we divorce. Ivnen Balder.”

“……”

“But for as long as you carry the Balder name, I would like you to do your best as the Countess. That is the only thing I ask of you.”

“Then we have nothing more to discuss.”

Ivnen slowly closed her lips. Then she stared at Bjorn’s face, as though urging him to leave.

Whether he read her intent or not, Bjorn turned slowly — and Ivnen watched his back in silence.

But he stopped dead in his tracks after only a few steps.

He turned back to look at Ivnen and asked.

“How long has it been?”

“……Pardon?”

“That you’ve been thinking this way.”

The blue eyes that posed the question felt somehow unbearably cold, and Ivnen faltered for just a brief moment without meaning to.

“That you’ve been doing these calculations.”

“……”

“I’m asking you right now, Ivnen.”

The tone that seemed to demand an immediate answer made Ivnen’s hand go stiff.

“Does it matter so much?”

But she let none of it show, meeting Bjorn’s gaze head-on as she spoke.

“Whenever it was that I began thinking and calculating this way — nothing about our arrangement changes. You know that as well as I do.”

“……”

“I’m tired. I’d like you to leave now.”

Bjorn’s slightly parted lips pressed shut. She had worried about what she would do if he pressed further — but unexpectedly, he said nothing more and simply turned and walked away.

And left, with Ivnen still in the bedroom.

“……”

Left alone, Ivnen’s heart pounded wildly. Her fingertips, cold as ice, trembled faintly.

No. Even so — I did well.

She had said everything she had prepared, and made no mistakes. Bjorn’s reaction nagged at her a little, but he had given her a reasonable answer and agreed to the arrangement, so there was nothing more to be said.

And besides — he had promised to grant her a divorce, which meant he wouldn’t be killing her anytime soon.

Ivnen believed that without a shadow of doubt.

“Ha……”

She sat there motionless for a moment, then buried her face in both hands. And stayed that way for a long, long time.

* * *

The interior of Balder estate had a somewhat peculiar quality compared to other noble houses.

To be precise — it was the study that stood apart. Studies were ordinarily positioned at the outermost part of the first floor, but Bjorn’s was not.

At the far end of the first-floor corridor, past a set of large double doors, lay another corridor — long and winding. Long enough that even at Bjorn’s brisk pace, it took considerable time to traverse.

At the end of that corridor, a door appeared — ornate with jeweled adornments and fitted with several locks.

That was the study.

Bjorn had never spent much time at the estate to begin with. Even less so after taking Ivnen as his wife.

And yet this was the one place within Balder estate where he spent any meaningful amount of time.

Here he worked. Here he slept. Here he rested — and here, from time to time, he whispered words of love without end.

In absolute, solitary loneliness.

Tonight — the first night of their marriage — was no different. The night had deepened without regard for anything, but he still sat alone before his large desk, holding his silence.

“I won’t be expecting anything from you. So don’t trouble yourself over it. I have not the slightest intention of disappointing myself and burdening you in the process.”

……How long had it been?

Since Ivnen Balder had been capable of wearing that expression, speaking in that voice, looking at him with those eyes?

“Do as you please in all things. You may go on seeing whatever woman you have in mind, and you may speak ill of me wherever you like — I don’t mind.”

No — at the very least, as far as Bjorn could remember, Ivnen had never once behaved the way she had today. All of it was a first.

Especially those golden eyes, which had felt as cold as if they had frozen solid.

“Co — Count. Our miss seems quite nervous.”

Come to think of it, it had started at the ceremony. That was when Ivnen had first felt different from usual.

The eyes Ivnen had turned on him then had looked almost like——

And on top of that……

“Exactly one year from today — we divorce.”

Divorce.

Divorce?

A crease formed on Bjorn’s brow as he turned the word over and over without end.

……Something was clearly wrong.

Something that should not be happening was happening.

Could it be……

No.

That can’t be.

“……”

Bjorn’s blue eyes wavered, adrift. And before long, his gaze drifted to the corner of the desk — to something piled there in abundance.

Love letters. Written for someone.

Written that very morning, with his whole heart.

Ivnen’s guess had been right.

Bjorn had kept a mistress from the very start of their marriage.

And not just any mistress — one he loved with a devotion that could only be called the love of his life.