Ella dipped into a slight curtsy and offered her thanks.

“Thank you, Your Majesty. Your Majesty the Empress. And……”

Ella looked directly at Zikhart.

“Thank you as well, Your Highness.”

With a smile like a flower in bloom, one that made it impossible to look away.

***

Ella left the reception hall still in Zikhart’s company.

He seemed intent on following her all the way to the crown princess‘s palace, continuing his escort without pause.

“The glass greenhouse in the crown princess‘s palace is the largest in the entire palace.”

“Is that so.”

“There are already many rare plants inside, but please feel free to arrange it to your taste, Miss Meriella.”

Trying not to let her discomfort with her ankle show while walking had made her entire body go stiff. Having to respond to all this pointless chatter was grating on her nerves as well.

‘Does this man have nothing to do?’

That was the thought Ella eventually arrived at.

She stopped walking and looked up at Zikhart.

“I intend to look for places that need consecrating along the way. So why don’t you go on ahead, Your Highness?”

“Are you starting already? Wouldn’t it be better to begin once the chapel is ready?”

“But the sooner I start, even by a day……”

“I want to reduce your sacred pain even a little.”

Zikhart ran his hand over Ella’s hand on his arm.

“Please wait until the chapel is finished.”

His tone was soothing, almost coaxing.

Ella had just resigned herself and started walking again when a small figure appeared briefly through the garden thick with vivid red roses.

Something about it felt familiar and unpleasant at the same time.

The closer that figure came, the worse her feeling grew.

‘Of course it’s you.’

Hair the color of roses swayed and shimmered as it moved.

At the entrance to the rear garden, Ella came face to face with the red-haired crown prince’s consort.

“Welcome to the palace, Miss Meriella.”

Dienne approached them as though she had been waiting for exactly this moment.

“Dienne.”

Zikhart was visibly caught off guard.

His green eyes wavered helplessly. His posture had a stiffness to it, like a husband caught in the act of something he shouldn’t be doing.

That description wasn’t entirely wrong. Dienne, for her part, was struggling to keep her expression composed, like someone who had just caught a straying husband in the act.

She dismissed the maids trailing behind her and took her place at Zikhart’s side.

“Your Highness, I sent a servant to find you…… it seems we must have missed each other.”

“Did…… we?”

At his flat answer, Dienne pulled her lips into a smile.

“Yes, I thought we might have tea, but I realized only later that today was Miss Meriella‘s arrival day. I felt terrible for not being there to receive her and came out on impulse.”

She turned her head toward Ella and dipped into a slight curtsy.

Perhaps because the crown prince was present, Dienne was showing Ella the deference befitting a crown princess.

“I apologize, Miss Meriella. I have been terribly remiss.”

“Not at all, there is nothing to apologize for.”

Ella deflected her’s lie without missing a beat.

Dienne put on a touched expression.

“How gracious you are, Miss Meriella.”

Words she didn’t mean, even for a moment.

Despite what she said, Dienne’s eyes were full of hostility toward Ella.

“As an apology, I would love to offer you tea. Would you come to my palace?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m afraid it will have to wait.”

Dienne’s lips twitched at Ella’s refusal.

“I feel I should look over the palace grounds. I can’t rest easy while malevolent energy remains, so I hope you’ll understand.”

“Miss Meriella.”

Zikhart called her name as if to stop her.

“I believe I told you to wait until the chapel was ready.”

“Your Highness……”

“I’ll have the restoration of the chapel expedited. Please do as I say.”

It was less a persuasion and more a command.

Dienne, who had no idea what was going on, could only bite her lip at Zikhart’s firm tone.

Ella caught every bit of it.

‘How amusing……’

Over something this small.

She decided to push a little further. She was curious to see just how far Dienne could hold herself together.

“I came at the chief god’s calling, but I too wish to finish this quickly. Only then can I guarantee the safety of the imperial family and your wellbeing, Your Highness.”

Ella pressed a kiss to her own fingertips. The fingers that left her lips moved slowly and came to rest over his left chest.

Zikhart’s eyes widened slightly.

Ella’s palm felt a strong, rapid pulse drumming beneath it.

“Solea Leoni. May the chief god’s blessing be upon Zikhart Estrada.”

A saintess’s benediction.

Perhaps it was the warmth in her voice, or the languid look in her eyes.

Sacred as the rite was, it felt nothing like it.

“……Meriella……”

Zikhart couldn’t look away, held captive by the soft, luminous pull in those pale blue eyes.

Ella’s provocation had hit its mark precisely. She gave a faint smile.

“I’m all right, Your Highness. Please enjoy your time with your consort today.”

As she withdrew her hand, a look of emptiness crossed his face. Pretending not to notice, she turned her gaze to the crown prince’s consort.

The skirt fabric crumpled in trembling hands. The sight of those golden eyes gleaming with fury was quite something to behold.

‘As expected.’

You never disappoint, Dienne.

Ella smiled, her eyes curving, and offered a farewell.

“Please invite me again sometime, my lady. Be well.”

Zikhart couldn’t take his eyes off Ella as she walked away at an unhurried pace.

***

Dienne felt uneasy.

‘……Zikhart.’

She had always told herself that this man’s wandering eye was a passing thing and didn’t matter.

She had grown up learning that for most noble men, that sort of thing wasn’t a flaw. She had seen it plainly through her own father, the Duke of Orpen.

The problem arose when it didn’t end at a single encounter.

When he gave not just his body but his heart to someone else.

Dienne knew better than anyone what kind of ripple that could cause.

The former Duchess of Orpen, Dienne’s own mother, who had left for the Seiji Empire after the divorce.

Dienne could never forget how much her mother had suffered because of the Duke of Orpen’s mistresses.

‘I will not become like my mother.’

The last mistress, an opera singer, had strutted around as though she were already the duchess herself, emboldened by the duke’s trust. No one had dared say a word to the young mistress who had captured even the duke’s heart.

The young mistress who monopolized his love seemed to want for nothing in the world.

At least, that was how it had looked to young Dienne.

‘Why do you think I chose the position of consort……’

Dienne wanted to be loved. If she couldn’t have both rank and love, she had decided that being the most loved was better than holding the highest position.

That was the choice she had made.

The highest position could be reached later.

But…… something was going wrong.

‘That common-born saintess has changed.’

Her eyes, her air, something was subtly different.

She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what, but it was certain that the change was threatening her love.

“Your Highness.”

Dienne took Zikhart’s arm.

“Yes, Dienne.”

His eyes as he looked at her still held warmth.

Only after confirming that did Dienne finally feel relief.

‘Right, Zikhart loves me.’

A man who placed such importance on status, whatever he felt toward a common-born saintess could be nothing more than curiosity.

It had been the same at first, when the national marriage was decided. But that interest had faded quickly.

‘He was so indifferent to her.’

He was simply intrigued by the changed saintess right now, that was all.

Just as any noble might have their eye caught briefly, Zikhart’s gaze had lingered for a moment.

Pushing down the unease rising in her, Dienne leaned her head against his shoulder.

“Walk me to my palace.”

***

“Finally rid of him.”

Ella dismissed the servants trailing behind her and stepped into the rear garden of the crown princess‘s palace.

Walking in the sun in the stifling saintess’s robes was no easy thing, but there was something she needed to see for herself.

“……Was it here.”

The stone pergola at the very back of the rear garden.

The large chestnut tree rising tall beside it caught her eye immediately.

White petals drifted down like snow on the breeze.

Ella walked slowly toward it.

“I finally made it here.”

Her eyes held longing, and her voice carried grief.

She folded her knees and sat beneath the tree blanketed in white petals. She brushed them aside to reveal bare soil beneath.

Ella placed her hand over it.

“Hello, Lariel.”

As if in answer to her greeting, petals rained down in a cascade.

Marian’s voice came drifting through them.

‘I’ve been thinking about names…… if the baby is a girl, I want to take one character from your name and one from mine.’

Marian, stroking her slightly swollen belly with a joyful smile.

‘Lariel. Yes, Lariel would be lovely. What do you think? Isn’t it beautiful?!’

It was the moment Marian, who had been dark for so long after her marriage, had found her smile again.