A large hand wrapped around the tender body that was collapsing from exhaustion. He was a man who never tired, and at night, he drove her to her limits.

“Uh……”

“Relax your body and focus.”

He whispered in a soft voice. When the soft thing that had been persistently licking her lips detached, the whisper that sent chills down her spine tickled her cheek.

Then Flora relaxed and accepted him. She preferred his warm embrace to the overflowing pleasure.

However, the scene that entered her vision in the morning was always the back of the duke leaving the bed without looking back even once.

* * *

Today, too, Flora, who had opened her eyes alone in an empty bed as usual, let out a deep sigh.

Strangely, her heart was troubled. What kind of relationship was this?

A person’s disposition is roughly revealed at the first meeting. The head maid and Celine were like that, and so were the other soldiers.

But the duke was different. His attitude, where favor and indifference coexisted, confused Flora.

The man who embraced her more passionately than anyone at night wore the face of a cold master when morning came. Though his expression seemed nonchalant, to her, it felt as if she were blocked by some unknown thick wall.

Moreover, a few days ago, he brought up something new.

‘I’ve told the butler, so reduce your maid duties from now on. You’ll occasionally accompany me in what I do.’

‘What kind of work?’

Flora carefully asked as she attended to the duke’s clothes.

Now that she had no complaints about living as a maid, the mention of other work felt so sudden.

‘Nothing special, just trying to give you something that looks decent.’

The delicate touch buttoning up paused momentarily. Flora, who resumed her halted hands, carefully smoothed down the neat collar of the uniform with her hand.

The imperial emblem embroidered on the uniform shimmered. The dark blue uniform, crisp and sharply angled without a single wrinkle, suited him very well.

‘……May I ask what kind of work it is?’

‘Now that it’s known you’re my guard, I think you should show your face during the day too. We can’t say you only guard at night, can we?’

She knew. No matter how many days she had spent with him, the difference in status was clear.

She had already appeared twice at official occasions, and at the tea party, he had openly called her a guard. To prevent unnecessary rumors from spreading, they needed to maintain a plausible appearance.

‘Besides, the nobles who saw your skills at the imperial palace are being quite bothersome.’

‘……That must be troublesome for you.’

Flora remembered Baren’s troubled expression at the recent imperial tea party and answered somewhat weakly.

Then Claude, who was staring at her face, reached out and cupped Flora’s cheek.

‘Why. Do you hate it?’

‘It’s not that.’

Flora quickly shook her head.

‘It means you can follow me wherever I go from now on.’

Her half-lowered eyelids quickly rose, revealing blue eyes filled with expectation.

Claude smiled slightly and playfully tapped her cheek with his fingertip.

Something inside her chest tingled at that gesture. Even when it was sometimes difficult to understand his attitude, she quickly felt better when he made light physical contact like this.

‘I’d like that.’

It wasn’t bad waiting for Claude to return to the mansion, but being able to accompany him wherever he went was good. Especially since his returns had been getting later and later recently.

However, the vague expectations she had felt at the time were now replaced with complicated thoughts as she was left alone like this.

“Does this mean I no longer need to perform night duties?”

Although she might feel disappointed about facing mornings alone, she didn’t want her position to be changed completely.

Perhaps he was being neglectful of her due to his busy work. After all, even after being away from the mansion for a while, he had sought her out as soon as he returned. That alone was quite a meaningful action for Flora.

She stopped her thoughts from digging deeper and headed to the dining hall.

In the staff dining hall, late breakfast was still being served. As usual, Flora quietly took a spoonful of mashed vegetable soup while listening to the work assignment discussions.

Whether the butler had given some instructions or not, the maids didn’t ask about her recent outing, allowing her to finish her meal comfortably.

* * *

At some point, the nature of the noble council meetings began to split dramatically.

For instance, some people had begun to casually make remarks that implicitly represented Verseum’s position.

Marquis Bishrom was at the center of this, but today, even he kept his mouth tightly shut without offering a single opinion. He only glared at Claude sitting across from him.

‘Not a single scratch on that handsome face.’

He hid his desire to click his tongue, but inwardly he was seething with anger.

He had been confident that he had made perfect preparations and the timing was flawless. However, except for one person, none of those he had sent survived the duke’s hands.

They had been completely annihilated without even being able to properly challenge the duke’s martial prowess.

He clenched his teeth, recalling what Ian had said. If even Ian, renowned in the 12th Division, said such things, it was impossible to gauge just how skilled the duke really was.

‘How far does he intend to dig?’

Rather than dwelling on the plan that had collapsed so futilely, it was now time to prepare for the aftermath. Having been attacked right after noticing suspicious signs and taking action, it was only a matter of time before they discovered he was behind it.

Because of this, Bishrom, who found the ongoing meeting unimportant, was lost in thought. He glanced at the duke and their eyes met directly.

At that moment, the duke suddenly smiled. Since no amusing topic had been mentioned, it must have been a smile of mockery.

The moment he saw that handsome face with a hint of a smile, Bishrom immediately realized his premonition was correct. He tightly clenched his fist, struggling to suppress his anger.

Despite the psychological warfare between the two men, the meeting remained stalled on one agenda item.

“Regarding the royal marriage, it will be officially announced as soon as Verseum’s civil war is concluded.”

“……”

“Your Majesty……, are you listening?”

Miguel’s face turned awkward with embarrassment.

The emperor, arrogant due to his noble bloodline, didn’t even pretend to listen to his words. As always, he only wore an expression suggesting everything was tedious.

“I’m listening, so don’t repeat yourself. If I say I hate it, you’ll start nagging again, won’t you!”

“N-nagging? This is an issue that could develop into a diplomatic problem, so we need to be extremely cautious……”

“Enough! Everything you’re saying now sounds like nagging to me.”

An elder senator tried to object to the emperor’s undignified manner of speech that was absolutely inappropriate for an imperial family member, but the emperor blatantly turned his head away.

The senators who were about to step in groaned at the emperor’s evident distaste.

However, Claude had no interest whatsoever in whether the emperor showed an indifferent attitude despite the Senate’s request. Whom he married had absolutely nothing to do with Claude.

He was simply responding to Bishrom, who had been glaring at him since earlier, with a feeling that made him want to laugh.

With such poor control over his expressions.

Judging by his face full of discomfort, it seemed certain that Bishrom was the one who had sent the assassins.

Of course, he must be panicking by now. It was quite entertaining to see the face of someone fretting about losing the political position and power they had built up over time.

He observed him with his usual lofty smile, as dignified as ever. It was a pleasing sight to see the very person who had sent assassins twice now rolling his eyes nervously instead.

Then he suddenly recalled one puzzling point.

If Flora truly had some kind of deal with the marquis’s side, why was the marquis trembling like that?

Judging by the marquis’s expression, who seemed to hate that he was still alive, he appeared unable to contain his anger at the mere fact of Claude’s survival.

If that was the case, his assumption that there might be a close relationship between Flora and the marquis didn’t hold up.

‘It would have been easier if she had changed her mind and targeted me in that situation.’

If Flora had suddenly turned her blade on him, it wouldn’t have been easy for him to remain unharmed like this.

It made more sense to place the man Flora had spoken with and the marquis on different sides.

Feeling as though he was getting lost in a labyrinth with each additional assumption, he clenched his fist. The messenger bird that was supposed to come from the west was taking too long.

* * *