Chapter 3

“Brother, I’m sorry, but I’m a little tired. I want to rest now.”

At Lizette’s frail voice, Graham replied in a gentle tone.

“Go lie down in bed. I’ll leave after I see you fall asleep.”

It would be meaningless to insist that she wanted to be alone. Lizette did not want to fall asleep while Graham watched her, but she forced herself to lie down on the bed. Rather than putting up clumsy resistance, it was better to obediently do as he said and send him away quickly.

As Lizette lay down on the bed, Graham gently pulled up the blanket and covered her.

Graham’s breathing could be heard right beside her. Lying next to him, Lizette shut her eyes tightly. Afraid that if she opened them, she might even meet Graham’s gaze, Lizette repeated only shallow, careful breaths.

‘I feel like I’m going to die.’

The way Graham kept softly brushing back her hair was horrifying. It felt as if the ground beneath her feet were giving way without end. At that moment, for some reason, the blunt advice Killian had given her suddenly came to mind.

―If it had been another man, he would have taken the sight of you now as an opening.

Contrary to his refined speech, those red eyes full of concern passed through her thoughts. Why was it that, compared to the false gentleness Graham was giving her now, Killian’s dry concern had felt far more sincere?

‘Should I have told him.’

This suffocating reality stirred up regret. Lizette turned over in her mind whether her choice not to be honest with Killian had truly been the right one. If she had used a different approach, would the result have been different too? If she had frankly told him of her circumstances, would his answer have changed? Lizette repeated such assumptions now, though they meant nothing anymore.

In the end, even until the moment Lizette drifted off to sleep, Killian’s red eyes would not release her heart.

* * *

“Miss, would you like to go out to the garden at least?”

It had already been a week. Since Graham had struck the maid, Lizette had not stepped even a foot outside her room.

At Neris’s question, unable to bear watching any longer, Lizette silently shook her head. At even one small action of hers, arrows not even nocked to a bow would fly toward others. That guilt left Lizette unable to move at all.

Now even Neris’s affectionate worry felt burdensome. The way she had visibly grown thinner in the mere span of a week proved how exhausted her heart was. Trying hard to ease Neris’s concern, Lizette deliberately changed the subject.

“You know, Neris. Duke Killian rejected me.”

At Lizette’s calm confession, Neris jumped in place in shock.

“My goodness!”

“And quite decisively, too.”

At Lizette’s words, sounding neither wholly like a joke nor wholly serious, a question at once followed in Neris’s mind.

“……Miss, perhaps, do you know?”

“What?”

“Today, that gentleman is…….”

Before Neris could even finish speaking, heavy footsteps came pounding from the end of the corridor.

Bang!

Throwing the door open as though he meant to break it down, Graham appeared.

“Lizette, Lizette!”

Unlike usual, he could not hide his agitated expression and repeatedly called Lizette’s name in an urgent voice.

“……What is it, barging in without even knocking?”

Though she showed her discomfort, Graham paid it no mind at all.

“Someone from the Imperial Palace will be bringing an invitation shortly.”

Only then did Lizette realize why Graham was so worked up. Graham had prevented Lizette’s debutante all this time with one excuse after another.

If the invitation had come in writing as always, refusing it would not have been difficult, but this was the first time the Imperial Palace was directly sending someone. He seemed greatly on edge over this unexpected development.

“Until now, I have handled things on my own, but today, you will have to answer in person.”

“I’ll get ready and go to the drawing room.”

“Lizette, I trust that your answer will not disappoint me.”

“I know what answer I should give. You don’t need to worry.”

At Lizette’s voice, heavy with resignation, Graham gave a short nod, looking satisfied. Without saying anything further, Graham left Lizette’s room. The moment the door closed, the air in the room sank heavily.

“Miss, the gentleman you just mentioned…….”

“Neris, could we talk about it later?”

Lizette shook her head as if pleading. She was tired. So tired that she wanted to disappear from this world just as she was. Perhaps that feeling had reached Neris as well, because Neris said nothing more and instead brought out a neat dress and helped Lizette change clothes.

Seated before the mirror, Lizette looked at her own face. The face in the mirror was paler than it had been a week ago, and fatigue had settled into her eyes. Feeling Neris’s hands arranging her hair, Lizette made herself a brief promise.

That today, she would not make a mistake. When the maid’s pained face from a week ago rose in her mind, Lizette’s expression hardened on its own. She absolutely could not do anything that would displease Graham. Because she was not the only one who had to bear the fragments of the anger he unleashed.

Once ready, Lizette stepped out into the corridor. The mansion was bustling. The servants hurried busily throughout the mansion to receive the guest said to be coming from the Imperial Palace. Within that noise, however, when she reached the front of the drawing room, a strange silence descended.

Pausing before the drawing room doors to steady her breathing, Lizette placed her hand on the handle. But the calm she had gathered was shaken to its roots the moment the door opened.

“Ah…….”

An impossible gaze was directed at her. Red eyes she could never forget.

‘……So this is what Neris was trying to tell me.’

At the appearance of someone she had never expected, Lizette froze in place as though rooted there. Killian had the corners of his lips slightly raised in a subtle smile, while Graham looked somehow uneasy.

‘Why did they dress her up like that.’

It was only natural to show proper courtesy to a guest from the Imperial Palace. Neris had merely taken care with that in mind, but even that displeased Graham.

Graham newly realized that he did not want to share even a single strand of Lizette’s hair with others.

“Lizette, don’t just stand there blankly. Come in and sit down.”

At Graham’s voice, Lizette came to her senses and moved her feet. The man she had thought she would never meet again, and the person who had made her seek out that man, were now together in one place. Lizette felt as though a heavy air were surrounding her.

“I apologize for being late. I am Lizette Trianne.”

After greeting them with due courtesy, Lizette sat down across from Graham. Her heart pounded mercilessly, afraid that Killian might make some slip of the tongue.

Afraid that Graham might somehow find out that she had met Killian.

That was when it happened.

“So you are still hiding that pretty face.”

Beneath the veil, Lizette’s eyes trembled violently. She caught the instant Graham’s eyes turned cold. Killian’s greeting was, to anyone listening, clearly that of someone who knew her face beneath the veil.

“…….”

Killian’s gaze swept in turn over the faces of Lizette and Graham. This situation was deeply bewildering for Lizette, but Graham seemed no different.

“First, let us discuss official business.”

Killian’s voice was firm, as though he had no intention of hearing any objection.

“His Highness Crown Prince Verdict has sent Her Ladyship an invitation to his birthday celebration. It seems he was rather displeased at being refused every year, so this year he ordered me to receive the answer directly.”

From inside his coat, Killian took out an invitation bearing the Imperial seal and placed it before Lizette. The red wax seal gleamed under the sunlight. It was only a small envelope, but its weight was not light.

Graham’s gaze was cold, and the meaning of Killian’s eyes was difficult to grasp as well. Looking at the sealed invitation, Lizette could not say a word. Right now, Killian was not asking the Trianne Marquis family for an answer, but Lizette herself.

Tap tap.

Graham’s fingers lightly drummed against the drawing room table. It was not the sort of action fitting for such a place, but Graham’s movement was so natural that, depending on how one saw it, it might seem like nothing more than a simple habit. But Lizette immediately recognized it as a signal urging her to refuse.

“Young Master, you seem to have a childish side to you.”

“……!”

At Killian’s low voice directed at Graham, Lizette flinched in surprise. Graham too asked back in a startled voice.

“What do you mean by that…….”

“When one is with others, exchanging signals that only the two of you understand is the sort of thing children do. Ah, if I am mistaken, then I apologize.”

“……It is fine.”

Unable to say either that it was true or that it was not, Graham said it was fine, though his expression had stiffened completely. After glancing sidelong at Graham like that, Killian looked at Lizette’s face. At the eyes of the man whose thoughts she could not read, Lizette’s mind became confused.