Lyden flipped her dress hem up sharply, as though scolding her for it, and leaned his upper body toward Aeril.

The situation unfolded so suddenly, like an accident, that Aeril could only stand and watch it blankly, like a spectator.

“……!”

She was too flustered to make a sound.

She did not say a word until the tips of his black shoes had slipped both of her white shoes off her feet.

“There, look.”

The dress hem that had been pushed up to her knees fell back down to her feet.

Lyden gave a quick tug at Aeril’s hands, which she had been clenching tight with nerves.

He positioned Aeril in front of his own vanity mirror.

Aeril felt the soft texture of the rug seeping between her toes, which had swollen from standing in heels for so long.

“Is this something you chose to wear yourself?”

Lyden’s question came from close behind her, pressing against her back, and Aeril looked into the mirror.

The front of the dress, which the necklace had been holding in place, was slowly sliding down under the weight of the fabric itself.

Aeril, only now seeing her own reflection with her upper chest fully exposed, looked away from the mirror and answered quietly.

“…… Yes.”

“You should look at me directly when you speak.”

Lyden reached from behind and lightly lifted her chin before it could drop.

He watched Aeril in the mirror, unable to meet his gaze even there, and pulled her hand again. He pressed their bodies together and wrapped his arm around her waist, like he was about to dance with her.

“If you were trying to seduce me with your body, you should have been more deliberate about it. Did you think that would be enough to sway me?”

Being turned this way and that made the pain along her spine worse. Aeril narrowed her eyes without thinking, and he spoke like he was annoyed.

“Shouldn’t you be pleased that I’m playing along like this? Look at your face. Does that look like the face of someone who is truly willing.”

Lyden pushed her back in front of the mirror and pulled Aeril’s shoulders toward him.

Her body turned abruptly, and Aeril stumbled. Lyden bent her back at the waist.

“Ugh……!”

“I told you not to do anything foolish. If this really is something you chose to wear yourself……”

Lyden’s sharp gaze on her slowly narrowed.

He carefully pulled Aeril’s bent back upright and held her against him, speaking in a low voice.

“It’s your back. That’s where you’re hurt.”

Aeril found herself naturally drawn into his arms, her forehead resting against Lyden’s chest.

“The smell of medicine is overwhelming. Why? Did the Duke beat you and tell you to sleep with me?”

He stepped away from Aeril and opened the window. Aeril followed his movements with her eyes, then sniffed the air around herself.

That was strange. All she could detect on herself was the sharp, stinging scent of perfume.

“Are you wondering how I smelled it?”

He came back to stand in front of her and took her hand.

“I used to be a troublemaker myself, so I know it well. There were barely any days I wasn’t wearing medicine.”

The closer they moved to the window, the stronger the scent of the sea grew. A damp gust of wind swept through and passed over Lyden’s hair.

His loosely pinned golden hair fell forward across his face. Perhaps it was the soft shadows that fell over him, but his already sharp eyes looked even deeper than usual.

A person who suited the sea. Someone who would shine alone even on a night sea that swallowed the darkness whole.

That was how Lyden looked to Aeril. And the feeling was the same as when she had been submerged in the deep waters of Tiahi, watching the light scatter and dance.

He was beautiful. She wanted to reach out and hold it.

And so these words broke from her lips without warning.

“Tonight—there was a part of it that my father asked of me, but…… it is also true that I came because I wanted to.”

Aeril held his gaze steadily and continued, choosing her words with care.

“What……?”

“You said you would give me one more chance if I were not the Lady of House Ronz.”

He had likely said it without much thought, but it had not been that way for her.

Aeril’s eyes trembled faintly as she looked at Lyden.

“If I truly am the half-wit you spoke of…… if that is the case, then for me as well……”

“Interesting.”

He cut the moment down with a single word and pulled one corner of his mouth up at an angle.

“I already know you’re a half-wit. That is precisely why I showed you this much consideration.”

The clumsy feeling she had not yet managed to bring out still squirmed inside Aeril’s mouth.

But as Lyden’s casual hand swept down her shoulder, Aeril had no choice but to swallow even that small feeling back down.

“Even so, the fact that your background includes the ducal house does not change. Nor does the fact that the Duke intends to use you to expand his power.”

He watched the quiet ripple that stirred in the water-colored eyes looking up at him and let out a short breath through his nose.

“I do apologize for keeping you standing so long tonight. I have many things I need to keep in mind. And doing so was better for you as well, my Lady.”

When Aeril did not look away from him, Lyden explained once more.

“It gives you an excuse, doesn’t it? Not that you failed to seduce me, but that I simply despised House Ronz to begin with.”

He offered her meaningless kindness again without hesitation, then said his farewell with cruelty.

“But this consideration ends tonight. As I said before, I despise House Ronz deeply. And you are a member of House Ronz, which I despise.”

“Your Highness, I……”

“So from now on, do not follow me without a thought. Do not cross my path. Do not speak to me. Not ever.”

He finished his quiet warning and let the cold expression fall from his face.

Then he began undoing the buttons of his shirt and turned his back to her.

“You can see the sea well from here, can’t you?”

At Lyden’s question, Aeril shifted her gaze past the window.

“Take your time looking and then go back to your room. This is my apology for doubting you earlier. I wonder if this counts as making it up to you.”

He pulled his shirt off entirely and tossed it carelessly onto the bed, then headed toward the bathroom.

“In return, I hope you’ll be gone by the time I come out.”

Thud. The bathroom door closed, and Aeril’s gaze dropped to the floor.

The sea he had given her as a gift carried the yellow light spilling from the hall, flowing across the water like the Milky Way.

But Aeril was not in a pleasant enough mood to enjoy it. She picked up her shoes, which lay scattered on the carpet.

“…… I will take my leave now, Your Highness.”

She offered a farewell that would not reach him and quietly slipped out of the room.

Rather than resent him for not hearing out the courage she had gathered so desperately, she accepted his final consideration with gratitude.

Aeril decided she would no longer want more from him.

* * *

The ship was in an uproar. It felt far too loud to be the lingering excitement of the early morning hours.

Aeril squinted at the window, which had begun to grow faintly light, and could not sleep at all with the noise coming down from the floor above.

She was not a light sleeper by nature, yet every sound that fell near her head reached her sharp and clear.

Footsteps? No. Did something fall? That had only happened once.

By now she had left her bed entirely and lay staring at the ceiling. The floor above was where the royal family stayed—it was not a place sounds like these should be coming from.

A sound of something scraping persistently.

‘Did a rat get in……?’

Aeril stood rigid in her slippers and rubbed the goosebumps rising on her arms.

She had actually encountered a rat once before, and the sight of its body—larger than she had expected, with a long tail like an earthworm—had made her shudder involuntarily.

She had been told to never go near them, with their dark bodies covered in all manner of filth.

If the source of this sound really was a rat, and the scraping was loud enough to carry this clearly, it might have crept into her room rather than the floor above.

That thought alone made it impossible to stay inside any longer. Aeril fled into the corridor and shut the door behind her with a thud.

Then she pressed her ear to listen.

“It really is a rat……”

The cool corridor was perfectly quiet, as though it knew nothing of the commotion.

A gentle sea breeze and a thin layer of mist painted a picture of peace.

The rat had likely come aboard with the cargo and made its way up through the pipes.

“……”

Aeril wrapped her arms around herself and headed toward the central staircase to report it to the guards.

She was walking carefully so as not to disturb anyone sleeping, just stepping into the lobby, when—

Splash. Splash.

The sound of something disturbing the water’s surface drifted from somewhere in the distance, and her steps slowed.

She had read somewhere that dolphins lived in certain waters around Tolaite.

The memory surfaced suddenly—something she had once seen in an informational pamphlet—and Aeril moved toward the window.

The thoughts about the rat that had filled her mind had already washed away like a distant wave.

‘Where. Where is it?’

Aeril moved to the railing to find the direction the ripples had come from and leaned her body out.

But her hair kept blowing across her face and blocking her view. On top of that, the thin mist layered over the water made it even harder to find the source of the ripples.

The tightness in her chest was so strong she almost wanted to throw herself into the sea and look for herself. Aeril pushed her hair to one side, gripped it in her hand, and leaned her upper body further out.

Splash.

A faint ripple stirred once more. It came from behind her. The ship must have shifted slightly as it moved, creating a small gap.

‘Just a little more……’

Aeril leaned out to a dangerous degree and narrowed her eyes.

She had never seen dolphins even in Tiahi, which made her all the more curious.

‘That is.’

But what came into her view was neither a dolphin’s tail nor a fish leaping powerfully through the water.

Lyden’s golden hair.

No. Was it just the light reflecting again?

For that to be the case, the light would not have spread through the hazy mist like that. And light does not create ripples.

The moment that thought reached her, Aeril threw herself overboard without hesitation. Her body plunged into the sea and vanished into the mist. A loud splash rang out, and then a deep silence settled.