Tervan and Rachel returned to Viola’s side after finishing their dance. Rachel picked up a glass of wine from a passing servant.

The wine’s full-bodied texture and proper acidity lingered heavily on her tongue, creating an exquisite sensation. Rachel quietly moistened her lips while observing the steady line of well-wishers approaching Viola across the room.

Tervan remained silently by Rachel’s side throughout. Though his occasional glances in her direction felt somewhat burdensome, he made no attempt to engage her further. He had become noticeably quieter since their dance earlier, his usual animation replaced by a contemplative reserve.

Rachel thought this was for the best. It had been somewhat awkward to respond whenever Tervan tried to speak to her.

In a situation where they weren’t conversing, there was nothing uncomfortable, so Rachel decided to view this positively.

“Here, Viola. Happy birthday. This is the gift you asked for.”

Edward, who had briefly disappeared after arriving at the ballroom, reappeared before Viola.

He held out a small gift box to Viola.

“Thank you, brother!”

Judging by how Viola’s face lit up, it seemed to be a gift they had discussed beforehand.

Edward watched contentedly as Viola expressed her joy, then looked up to check on Rachel. Then he slowly approached her.

“Rachel, I saw you dancing with Tervan earlier.”

“Yes. Tervan asked me to dance, so we danced once.”

Rachel nodded and answered Edward’s question.

When his name was mentioned, Tervan’s gaze naturally shifted to the two of them.

“If you don’t mind, would you like to dance with me as well?”

Edward extended his hand toward Rachel.

Rachel briefly looked up to meet Edward’s eyes.

As always, his kind and gentle gaze was directed squarely at her.

“If you don’t want to, feel free to refuse. It’s fine.”

Edward whispered softly to Rachel, clearly not wanting to pressure her.

Rachel looked at his hand for a moment, then shook her head and placed her hand in his.

“No, it’s not difficult at all.”

When Rachel agreed, Edward’s smile deepened. Then he carefully escorted Rachel to the dance floor.

Tervan stood rooted to the spot, staring intently at them.

The two dancing figures on the dance floor looked remarkably well-matched.

“Rachel is quite popular today.”

Viola observed Edward and Rachel dancing with wide eyes.

Tervan glanced briefly at Viola who had approached him, then fixed his gaze back on Rachel.

“Tervan.”

Viola called Tervan in a small voice.

“What?”

“How did you and Rachel reconcile?”

He wondered what she was talking about, but it seemed Viola was curious about how Rachel and Tervan had managed to reconcile.

Tervan took a sip of the wine he was holding, and a bitter taste spread in his mouth.

“We haven’t reconciled.”

“What?”

Viola’s eyes widened at Tervan’s words.

“I apologized to Rachel several times, but she didn’t accept it. Well, she did accept it, but… it felt like she accepted it reluctantly because she didn’t want to talk anymore.”

Tervan recalled the times when he repeatedly offered apologies to Rachel. Even as she finally accepted his apology, Rachel showed an attitude that seemed weary of it all.

At the time, he thought he was satisfied just with her acceptance, but when Rachel maintained the same attitude even after accepting his apology, he grew increasingly anxious.

So when they fell down the slope of Mount Rodoman, thinking it might be his last chance, he asked if they could go back to how they were before.

If Rachel had refused even then, Tervan would never have had another chance.

Fortunately, Rachel agreed to try to return to how things were before, as Tervan had asked.

Rachel called this reconciliation, but in Tervan’s mind, this wasn’t reconciliation at all.

The reason he felt this way was because Rachel’s heart still seemed frozen.

“Right now, we’re just pretending to have gone back to how we were before. Because of me.”

“…”

Viola let out a small sigh at the complicated situation between Tervan and Rachel.

To Viola, Rachel and Tervan were her closest friends.

Seeing the two of them unintentionally drifting apart and their relationship becoming strained made her feel dejected.

Tervan became aware of Viola when her breathing grew rougher.

“Still, things are much better now. Don’t worry.”

“…Really?”

Tervan nodded a beat late in response to Viola’s fragile voice.

“That’s a relief, but I hope you two can quickly go back to being close like before.”

That was Viola’s wish.

Just a month or two ago, they had been friends without any problems. But seeing them grow apart during that time made her heart heavy and distressed.

Tervan maintained his silence for a long while. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he turned to Viola.

“Come to think of it, Viola.”

“Yes?”

“Before… You mistakenly thought that I liked Rachel.”

“…Ah, that’s right.”

Viola affirmed with an uncertain voice.

At one point, she had thought that way. But now it seemed her misunderstanding had been correct.

Especially considering the current state of their relationship.

Thinking about how Rachel might have been hurt by that misunderstanding, Viola’s voice naturally grew quieter.

Tervan noticed Viola’s voice losing strength and awkwardly opened his mouth.

“Why did you think I liked Rachel?”

Tervan asked carefully.

When Viola had previously thought that way, he dismissed it as her misunderstanding.

But now that he had somewhat recognized his own feelings, he couldn’t simply dismiss Viola’s words as a mere misunderstanding.

Perhaps he had revealed his feelings for Rachel without even being aware of it himself.

“Why do you want to know? You don’t like Rachel anyway.”

Viola pouted. Since Viola had also hurt Rachel by misunderstanding the relationship between the two, she didn’t particularly want to recall those times now that the situation had been resolved.

“Just. I want to know.”

When Tervan persisted, Viola gave him a sidelong glance.

“I won’t tell you. It was just my misunderstanding anyway.”

As Viola maintained her stubborn attitude, Tervan finally spoke with difficulty.

“…It wasn’t a misunderstanding.”

“What?”

Viola blinked several times in surprise at Tervan’s words. She looked up at Tervan, doubting her own ears.

Tervan glanced at Viola, then took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

“I’m saying you weren’t mistaken. Rather, I was the one who was mistaken.”

“Goodness. That means…”

Viola couldn’t finish her sentence and gaped. If what Viola had sensed about Tervan wasn’t a misunderstanding, there was only one answer.

Tervan glanced at Viola once, then gazed at Rachel dancing in a cheerful atmosphere with Edward in the distance.

Unlike when she danced with Tervan, Rachel bloomed with laughter.

The stiff attitude she had shown while dancing with him was nowhere to be seen.

Tervan could barely contain the jealousy he felt seeing Rachel’s smile directed at someone other than himself.

He barely suppressed the urge to grab Rachel right then and question her. His fists clenched involuntarily from the effort.

“It seems I do like Rachel after all.”

Tervan admitted it himself.

Viola covered her mouth with both hands, surprised by Tervan’s unexpected confession.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“But… why now of all times?”

The problem was that this realization came after Rachel and Tervan had already drifted apart.

Viola wondered why Tervan had only become aware of his feelings now, when Rachel had already been hurt as much as she could be.

And Tervan felt the same way.

“I’m shocked too. I thought I didn’t.”

After finishing his words, Tervan bit his lower lip firmly.

“But every time I see Rachel with His Highness the Crown Prince, and when I see her smiling like that while dancing with Edward… what can I do when I feel like I’m going crazy with jealousy?”

Viola moved her gaze to where Tervan was looking. At the end of it was Rachel.

Viola let out a small sigh and bit her lower lip.

Though they were her friends, she had no idea what to do about Rachel and Tervan, who had drifted so far apart.

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only just realized it myself.”

Having said that much, Tervan closed his mouth for a moment. After a brief silence, he opened his mouth with a sigh.

“For now, I’ll have to see how things go. Rachel doesn’t love me anymore.”