Chapter 5.1

I went to work, left Leo with the maid in the annex, and came back out.

Duke Kabyl’s strange behavior at the lake yesterday bothered me, so I decided I absolutely had to ask him about the necklace today.

Given his usual unpredictable nature, it was possible it was simply a reward for a job well done. I mean, it was strange for him to just give a meaningful gift and then go home without a word, wasn’t it?

As I finished organizing my thoughts, I spotted the Duke walking in the garden.

“Are you out for a walk?”

“Ah, you’re here?”

“Yes.”

“And Leo…?”

“I just left him with Betty.”

“I see. Would you like to walk with me then?”

“Yes.”

Fortunately, he was the one to suggest a walk. However, despite that, he was silent for a long time, and I waited patiently.

But since the path didn’t go on any further, I cleared my throat, timing when to speak to him. Just as I was about to say something, he spoke first.

“Do you know that the Emperor of Quinze-Nouais has changed?”

I didn’t.

“About five years ago, a civil war broke out.”

‘So that’s what happened that day. Then is Adrian safe?’

“It was probably… the last day of the Founding Festival.”

In this Eastern Continent, only royalty and high-ranking nobles like Duke Henry Kabyl would know about the news from Quinze-Nouais. It wasn’t easy to get news from a continent across the sea, especially when they barely knew when the Emperor of Turk changed.

I thought I had taken it calmly, but I must have swayed. I saw him grab my arm.

“Are you alright?”

Despite thinking that it had nothing to do with me anymore, my body was unable to handle the memories of the past.

“Ah… I just felt a little dizzy…”

The events of that day unfolded before my eyes like a movie. The last person I saw at the Imperial Palace was Sebastian’s back.

“The new Emperor of Quinze-Nouais is said to be the former Emperor’s illegitimate son. Still, as a noble son of the imperial family, he had enough justification.”

I felt dizzy again at the familiar name of the empire. Adrian was the only one in Quinze-Nouais who could become the new emperor. Thankfully, there was a bench nearby, and I barely managed to walk over to it.

“Then… what happened to the former Emperor and Crown Prince?”

My voice was so shaky that I could hear it.

“They’re probably dead. No former royalty can survive when the imperial power changes.”

Crown Prince Sebastian’s face flashed through my mind.

He was dead? He was supposed to be the male lead of this novel… And in that story, it was Adrian, not Sebastian, who was supposed to be dead and gone by now.

The flow of the novel had completely changed.

“So you’re saying the current emperor is Aurelian… Quinze-Nouais.”

“You do know his name, after all.”

“…I just happened to know.”

He parted his lips at my words and took a deep breath.

“Does that mean it has nothing to do with you?”

“That’s… impossible. How could I have anything to do with the Emperor of Quinze-Nouais? But why did you suddenly bring up that story?”

“Ah… no, there’s no particular reason.”

I quickly collected myself. As the Duke said, he might have just mentioned it because it crossed his mind.

I shook off the thought and went into my office to work. It was only that evening that I remembered what I had actually intended to ask him about.

 

***

 

“Ah, Lady Taylor. The Duke has ordered that you go home early today and that you won’t need to come to the ducal estate for a while, as he’s giving you some time off.”

Ten days had passed since I received the necklace at the lake. Since that day, the Duke, who wasn’t overly friendly to begin with, seemed to have grown even more distant.

“Suddenly? Why?”

Gary shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, to thank you for all your hard work?”

“Didn’t you say a letter arrived from the Turk Imperial Family two days ago? I thought it would be even busier now.”

“I know, it’s not exactly the right time for you to be resting, My Lady.”

“That’s what I think too. Why would he do this when things are so busy?”

“Exactly. So what should I tell him? That you won’t be taking the vacation?”

I tugged on the sleeve of Gary’s coat as he was about to leave.

“Oh, don’t be so hasty. The Duke must have his reasons, so why would I refuse?”

Since things were this way, I thought it would be nice to take the child to the beach. I had been feeling guilty for not being able to spend time with Leo because of all the recent work.

“That’s true. And from the Duke’s mood earlier, it seemed like he’d make you take a vacation even if you didn’t want to.”

“He’s not trying to fire me, is he?”

“Not if the Duke is in his right mind.”

“Hmm, if that’s the case, there’s nothing I can do.”

“Yes, and you also need some rest, My Lady. You’ve worked so hard.”

I smiled softly at Gary’s words. Even if the boss was a tyrant, wasn’t a good senior colleague what made work life bearable?

“So how long should I be on vacation for? Three days? A week?”

“The Duke said he will let you know the exact period later. He also said your salary would be paid correctly during that time.”

“Wow.”

“Yes, at this rate, it seems like it’s time for the Duke to thank me for my hard work, too.”

I chuckled at Gary’s words.

“When I come back from my vacation, I’ll strongly advocate for a vacation for the butler as well.”

“Please do. The Duke agrees with anything you say.”

“Pardon?”

“Oh? Nothing. Please go home. It is the Duke’s order that you leave the ducal estate as soon as possible.”

After acting so cold, a sudden vacation gave me a strange feeling, but wasn’t a vacation always a good thing? I hadn’t even been able to swim at the beach since I arrived at this territory, so I planned to spend this vacation with my family to the fullest.

Afraid the Duke might change his mind, I quickly gathered my child and went home. And in the evening, Sally also returned home. It was a perfectly beautiful ordinary day.

“What should we do tomorrow?”

“I know, right? I don’t know why he gave me a vacation, too. But I’m so excited that I won’t have to do laundry for a while.”

Sally’s pretty green eyes sparkled as she spoke.

“But something feels off. A sudden break.”

“I know. He asked me earlier how long I had been serving you.”

“The Duke?”

“Yes, it’s almost the first time he’s spoken to me first.”

“Really?”

“Yes, when I told him we’d been together since we were children, he told me to take a vacation too.”

I was a bit puzzled but let it go.

“Oh well, we’ve been working so hard, let’s just have some fun.”

“Yes, but I wonder how long the vacation will be.”

“I’m not sure, but tomorrow is definitely a day off, so let’s go to the beach.”

“Okay.”

I said it with a carefree attitude, but the unfinished tasks were still on my mind.

“I should have tidied up the contract for next week before I left.”

“Oh! Speaking of which, a huge number of people burst into the ducal estate this evening.”

“Huh? Who?”

“I don’t know. But it doesn’t seem like it’s a bad thing. Betty said that the guests arrived earlier than expected and there was so much to prepare.”

Sally’s words bothered me.

If people had arrived so suddenly, the staff would be shorthanded, and there was no one who knew the inner workings of the mansion better than I did.

I also saw the vision of Gary’s pitiful face, looking dazed when entertaining guests.

So I headed for the ducal estate.

I considered just ignoring it, but it was only a matter of time. In the end, my choice wouldn’t have been different.

Inside the mansion, torches were burning as brightly as day, even though it was evening. But there was no sign of the external guests that had supposedly arrived so suddenly.

I entered through the back door that led to the main building. If I went through the front entrance, I would likely run into guests and have to cross the corridor, so I usually used the back door. As I got closer, I saw a familiar knight standing guard at the door.

“Kane, are you standing guard here today too?”

“Yes, we have many guests.”

“Who came?”

“I’m not sure. I think someone from Quinze-Nouais came… a merchant, maybe? I don’t know.”

The knight guarding the back door didn’t know any more than I did.

However, it was a common occurrence for merchants from Quinze-Nouais to come and go. I entered and headed for the Duke’s office.

I thought about looking for Gary to help, but the mansion was too quiet, so I decided to finish my work first.

If there were guests, the Duke would likely be in the reception room or the banquet hall. I tidied up the work I hadn’t had time to finish, making it easy to check later.

I organized the tasks to be handled in order and arranged the Duke’s schedule for next week neatly. After about two hours, all the work was done.

Feeling much more at ease, I stretched and went outside.

The ducal estate’s situation had improved a lot, so there were quite a few maids and servants residing there.

But perhaps all the servants and maids were mobilized for the guests, as there was no one on the second floor where the office was.

To get from the second floor of the ducal estate to the front entrance on the first floor, I had to pass through the reception room.

I was going to give Gary, the butler, a few instructions on my way out, so I quietly headed down to the first-floor entrance.

When I was almost at the bottom of the stairs, I started to feel the presence of people near the reception room.

‘So someone really did come?’

The guests seemed to be inside the reception room, and I saw knights with emblems I had never seen in the ducal estate.

‘Knights? Not merchants?’

Even though I hadn’t seen it in the ducal estate, the emblem was quite familiar.

The knights were wearing ivory uniforms with diagonal red sashes and black cloaks with a blue tinge. An instinctive feeling of familiarity washed over me for a moment.

‘Familiar?’

I shook my head and closed and opened my eyes, unable to believe the situation.

But no matter how many times I did it, the familiar lion emblem didn’t change. It was something that could never be seen in the Kabyl territory of the Turk Empire.

And then, my eyes met directly with a man standing in front of the door.

He was the one who recognized me first.

“Cl… Lady Claire?”

“Ce… Cedric?”

“My Lady!”

As I looked at Cedric, who was shouting as if a thunderstorm had struck, I was frozen in place as if nailed to the ground. My body was in an awkward position, with one foot on the last step, unable to go up or down.

A million thoughts rushed through my mind. No, I couldn’t think at all. But before my worries and thoughts could even form a coherent shape, the reception room door opened, and Duke Henry Kabyl and a man with silver-gray hair appeared at the same time.

Unbelievably, the Duke was frozen like a statue at the sight of me, and Adrian—no, Aurelian Quinze-Nouais, the current Emperor—stood there with no change in expression even after our eyes met.

Fortunately, Butler Gary came in front of them, and I was able to disappear from Adrian’s line of sight.

“I will guide you to your quarters.”

There was no reply to Butler Gary’s words.

“I tried to prepare, but as we were short on time, it might be a bit uncomfortable for His Majesty the Emperor.”

The Duke spoke to Adrian in a polite voice. But still, no voice came from Adrian. I started to wonder if I had seen him wrong. But then.

“No need to worry.”

Adrian’s voice, which sounded both familiar and unfamiliar, was heard. That voice, which echoed through the ducal estate, was much deeper than it had been when he was nineteen.

Soon, Butler Gary stepped aside, and I had no choice but to reappear in front of Adrian.

“Ah, this is Lady Tess Taylor. She is currently my aide.”

The Duke, who had spotted me, came to my side and introduced me to Adrian. But a bell was ringing in my head, and I couldn’t properly show my respect.

“Ah, Lady Taylor. This is His Majesty, the Emperor of the Quinze-Nouais Empire.”

I finally came to my senses at the Duke’s calm voice, lifted my skirt, and curtsied to the Emperor.

“I greet His Majesty, the Emperor of Quinze-Nouais.”

Adrian, who received my greeting, walked toward me. My feet were stuck to the floor as if someone had tied them down, and I couldn’t move.

He nodded slightly, accepting my greeting. Then he stopped right in front of me and stood there without any movement.

A moment later, after what felt like an eternity, I realized that I was blocking his way. As I moved to the side in surprise, Adrian walked past me and up the stairs.

I also saw Owen’s face, who was standing behind the Emperor and only just now noticing me.

But as Adrian moved, Owen also walked past me without a word. The same was true for Cedric.

It was only after they had all disappeared up the stairs that my dazed mind returned.

‘Did he… just pretend not to know me? Or does he really not recognize me?’

After their group disappeared, I looked at myself. I had come out of the house with just a simple outfit, so I was defenseless, like someone who lived there.

After all the footsteps had faded, only the Duke and I stood facing each other in the ducal estate lobby.

“Did the butler… not tell you to go home early?”

“Ah, he did. But, I… that is…”

The Duke waited patiently for me, as I struggled to form a sentence.

“So, I remembered some unfinished work…”

“Would you like to come inside for a moment?”

“Pardon? Yes.”

After we went inside, the Duke had a maid bring a cup of tea.

As I sat down, I saw the uncleaned teacups for the guests. I had chosen and bought that tea set for important guests. I couldn’t believe Adrian was somewhere in this house.

And I recalled his face. His eyes, as blue as a sea whose depths were hard to fathom, his stubbornly closed lips, and his expressionless face. I still couldn’t read any emotion from him.

Five years had passed since I escaped all the storms of Quinze-Nouais. I hadn’t considered the possibility that he might not recognize me…

But we were young then, and always half-mad, so I thought it wasn’t impossible for him to show no emotion toward me now.

“The tea should have cooled down enough.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“You look like you have a lot of questions…”

“The Emperor of Quinze-Nouais… why is he here?”

“A while ago, we received a message from the Turk Imperial Family that the Emperor of Quinze-Nouais would be visiting for a goodwill visit. And we heard that they, who were supposed to arrive in about three days, crossed into the territory today…”

“Goodwill… visit?”

“Yes, it’s not easy to understand why an emperor would personally come to the Kabyl territory for goodwill, not even the capital, but that’s the only purpose of his visit for now.”

“I see… So the Emperor will be staying at this mansion for a while?”

“That’s right. The ducal estate is the only suitable place to serve the Emperor in this territory.”

“How long did he say he would stay?”

“He didn’t specify a duration.”

“I see. If their purpose is just a goodwill visit, then I… can enjoy my vacation for a while.”

I barely managed to pull up the corners of my mouth. I thought I had experienced everything one could experience in my past and present lives, but it seemed there were still things that could shake my emotions.

“That’s right.”

“Then I will be going now. I’ll be back in three days or so.”

 

The Duke didn’t answer, but I stood up. As I turned to leave, the Duke gently grabbed my wrist. The cool temperature of his hand brought me back to reality.

“Take the carriage.”

“No, it’s alright.”

“It’s late. The forest is dangerous.”

“Yes, I know. Thank you. I’ll be going now.”

I don’t remember if the Duke answered, but when I came to my senses, I was already in the carriage heading home. When it was late at night, I would often use the carriage as a courtesy from the Duke.

As I sat in the carriage, the familiar dark scenery began to bring my thoughts back.

I had met Adrian again, the person I never thought I’d see again.

And he was both the same and very different.

The nineteen-year-old him was on edge and always looked anxious, but now he seemed somewhat bored and more aloof.

“Did he get taller? …He’s a full-fledged Emperor now.”

Adrian was still beautiful.

Now in his mid-twenties, he seemed as solid as a god of war and as elegant as a white horse from a myth.

As I got out of the carriage, the feeling of the soggy ground reminded me that I was home. When I entered the house, Leo and a fluffy Adrian greeted me.

It struck me anew how much Leo resembled him.

I decided that meeting Adrian again wasn’t enough of a reason to flee from my life. So, I would definitely take Leo and Sally to the beach town tomorrow. Because his appearance wouldn’t cause any changes in my daily life. It had to be that way.

“Leo, are you not asleep yet?”

“I’m sleepy, Mom.”

“Okay, let’s go inside. Mom will sing you a lullaby.”

Unlike Leo, who fell asleep quickly, I couldn’t get to sleep that night.

 

***

 

The Duke sat in the reception room, gazing at the breathtakingly beautiful man.

With his long legs crossed and his hand lightly holding a cup, he was every bit the emperor that people in Quinze-Nouais praised.

When a maid brought in tea, it was the Emperor of Quinze-Nouais who requested alcohol from the Duke.

And the Duke could vaguely guess the reason for his appearance at his mansion.

“You said you came for goodwill?”

“That’s right.”

Unlike their encounter at the lake, the Emperor of Quinze-Nouais did not speak down to the Duke of another country.

“But to strengthen the friendship between our empires, wouldn’t it have been more fitting for you to stay in the capital?”

“Goodwill doesn’t necessarily have to be conducted face to face.”

Adrian smiled with just one corner of his mouth. He looked quite at ease.

“Yes, that’s a valid point.”

“And, when I visited before, I thought this place was quite beautiful.”

“The Kabyl territory is famous for its beauty throughout the empire.”

“Yes, so if I’m going to have a goodwill exchange, I simply wanted to do it in a beautiful place.”

Just then, a booming male voice came from outside the reception room door.

“My Lady!”

Upon hearing that voice, Henry Kabyl and Adrian both jumped up from their seats at the same time. And the Duke saw the emperor’s face, which had been relaxed all along, instantly filled with fear.

He quickly walked and opened the reception room door. Because there was only one woman in this house who was called “My Lady.”

And the face of Tess that he saw was so stiff that even the Duke felt sorry for her.

Adrian could finally see Claire up close. She was the woman who barely even appeared in his dreams for five years.

A woman who filled his life with two years of illusion and three years of waiting.

The Claire he met again was just as he remembered her, breathtakingly beautiful.

As he got closer, he could even see the mysterious color of the woman’s eyes. The moment Claire bowed to him felt like an eternity.

“Your Majesty!”

Owen, who had entered the room, was startled to see Adrian’s pale face and called out to him.

“Huh?”

A sound that was neither a sigh nor an answer escaped Adrian’s lips. And then, like a baby taking its first breath, he took a long inhale.

“Hah, hah.”

“Are you alright?”

He was not alright at all.

“Your Majesty, you look very unwell.”

“It’s nothing. I just forgot how to breathe for a moment.”

 

***

 

“My Lady, did something happen when you went to the ducal estate yesterday?”

“Huh?”

It took about two hours by carriage to get to the beach town. The water was still cold, but the weather was better than expected, so Leo could play with his feet in the water.

“You’re not in your right mind right now. You haven’t been since yesterday.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you even put your shoes on backwards earlier.”

“Ah… it’s nothing big. A Duke from Quinze-Nouais came to the ducal estate yesterday.”

“Pardon? Who came? You mean Aurelian Quinze-Nouais?”

“Yes, but… he became the emperor.”

“What? He became what?”

Sally, who was momentarily stunned, brushed the sand from her skirt and ran to Leo, who was sitting on the beach playing in the sand. She then scooped up the child and ran back to me.

“What are you doing?”

“We have to hide.”

“…No.”

“Pardon?”

“He pretended not to see me. No, should I say he pretended not to know me, or… does he really not know me?”

Sally put Leo back down on the sand as he struggled.

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said, Sally. It’s been five years. The woman he hated to death disappeared, so he probably just forgot, or he wanted to forget. And to be honest, I didn’t leave Quinze-Nouais just because of Adrian.”

“…That’s disappointing.”

“Heh, I guess so. But, we still shouldn’t let Leo meet him.”

“But he’ll know as soon as he sees Leo. They look exactly alike.”

I watched the child who was heading back toward the water.

If Adrian became the emperor, Leo would be an imperial prince. I felt sorry for separating the child from his father so arbitrarily, but I couldn’t possibly send this child to Quinze-Nouais, could I?

“We can’t let them meet. I’m not going to take Leo to the ducal estate for a while. Adrian has decided to stay there.”

“Yes… But why did he come? The Emperor of Quinze-Nouais, that is?”

“He said it was for goodwill. The two countries aren’t on good terms… and they seem to be constantly at war.”

“It’s still strange. Why would an emperor come here of all places? The Turk Empire is huge.”

“I know, Sally. It’s a reasonable suspicion, but you wouldn’t say that if you’d seen Adrian yesterday.”

I was flustered as I said this. I felt no discomfort in calling him by his name, even though he was an emperor now.

‘Maybe because he has the same name as our puppy, it doesn’t feel awkward to say.’

“Anyway, it’s a vacation. Aren’t you going to meet Hugh?”

I deliberately changed the subject of the conversation. I wanted to organize my thoughts, but disappointingly, there wasn’t much to organize. If he had come to get me, he wouldn’t have let me leave so easily yesterday.

“I have to meet him.”

“But why does your answer sound like you’re meeting him out of a sense of duty?”

“Is a sense of duty a bad thing?”

“But, Sally, didn’t you like Hugh?”

“Yes, Hugh is a good person.”

“I know that. But there’s a big difference between a good person and a person you like.”

“A maid doesn’t get to have that kind of thing. Hugh is too good for me. For maids like us, the greatest happiness is meeting a kind-hearted man and living a comfortable life. Fortunately, marriage between knights and commoners is possible in the Turk Empire, so that’s a good thing, too.”

“But still!”

“To be frank, it’s a blessing if we don’t get beaten by our husbands, my precious noble lady. That’s the life of a commoner, a maid at that. I’m satisfied. And it’s all because of our Leo.”

“Leo?”

“He has such a pretty face and smiles all day, so my expectations have gone through the roof.”

I looked at Leo and Sally alternately. Maybe her words were right. Meeting a kind-hearted man and living a comfortable life. What is love, anyway?

Since Sally was the same age as me, she was already late to get married.

Marriage… a word so far yet so close.

 

***

 

After my three-day vacation, I returned to the ducal estate. The Duke hadn’t told me to come back to work, but it was difficult for me to keep resting when there was so much to do. Sally decided to stay home to take care of Leo, so I left for work with their send-off.

My heart pounding the entire way was perhaps a natural thing.

“Butler, what in the world is going on?”

But reality was too harsh for my heart to keep pounding.

“Ah… Lady Taylor, if you hadn’t come today, I would have come to get you.”

“I know. It’s a total mess.”

The ducal estate was literally a chaos. Familiar maids and servants were running around with things, and I even saw unfamiliar faces.

“The Emperor of Turk is coming in three days.”

“What?”

“Exactly. The Emperor of Turk is personally coming to host a welcoming banquet for the Emperor of Quinze-Nouais. And guests from Quinze-Nouais will be coming too. This is the biggest event in my life as a butler. I feel like there’s a knife to my throat.”

“I know. It’s a real battlefield.”

“Hah, but the work won’t get done without you, My Lady. Weren’t you the one who knew the exact number of silver candlesticks?”

“You should have contacted me earlier.”

“His Grace the Duke absolutely forbade it! What did he say… Ah, ‘How are we supposed to live without Lady Taylor from now on? Get a grip!'”

I burst into laughter at Gary’s imitation of Henry Kabyl.

“But that didn’t sound like it was just for me. My Lady, you’re not planning to go somewhere, are you?”

“What? Where would I go? Just don’t fire me.”

I immediately rolled up my sleeves. It was a relief that there was a lot to do.

“How many annexes do we need to use right away?”

“We need to open about four of them.”

“Are they cleaned?”

“We’re working on it now.”

“Then Butler, you organize the guest list first. That’s the top priority. You won’t know all the names, so just write down which country they’re from and what they’re affiliated with.”

“Yes, understood.”

Thanks to a full day of walking around, the four annexes were ready to receive guests. While not perfect, they were decent enough considering the state of the territory.

Because there was no mistress, Duke Henry Kabyl, the lord of the Kabyl territory, hadn’t held a single banquet for several years.

The small hall was used occasionally, but this was the first time the grand banquet hall was opened.

We also hired about thirty temporary maids. This was thanks to the surprisingly good financial situation compared to when I first arrived.

I clapped my hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Alright, there are three days left until the banquet. Everyone worked hard today.”

I had experience preparing for big social gatherings like this many times as Cha Seyoung. A familiar exhaustion washed over me for the first time in a while. Now, if I just handled the big and small tasks, the banquet would go off without a hitch.

‘Ah, is the orchestra preparing well?’

I was sitting in a chair in a corner of the banquet hall, mentally going over the things I had to do.

“Thank you for your hard work, Madam.”

The staff said a word to me as they cleaned up and left.

“Ah, I’m not the Madam…”

“We’ll see you tomorrow, Madam.”

The people who had been working together for the past two days smiled and greeted me.

I suppose it was true that the mistress of the house did this kind of work, so I stopped trying to correct them.

After all, the staff of this mansion knew who I was, and the temporary employees would soon find out as well.

I brushed off my practical dress and got up from the chair.

The Emperor of Turk was scheduled to arrive at the ducal estate this evening. I wasn’t appointed as Henry Kabyl’s aide, so there was no particular reason for me to meet the emperor.

I planned to just give Gary a few instructions and then go home.

“Adr…ian?”

Adrian was looking at me from the entrance of the banquet hall. An expression I couldn’t read was directed at my face.

My body froze for a moment, but I raised my dress and gave a perfect curtsy to the emperor of another country.

But soon the Duke appeared next to Adrian, and the two of them talked about this and that and disappeared to another place.

After Adrian was out of my sight, I sank back into the chair. I told myself I was fine, but my legs felt weak, so I didn’t leave the banquet hall until a long time had passed.

The hall was located past another garden from the main building, so I walked slowly down the central path, enjoying the breeze.

Even though I had tidied up, some unsightly weeds were sticking out, so I instinctively bent down to pull them out.

“Oh?”

The first thing I saw was the shiny tip of a dark blue shoe.

“Adr… no, Your Majesty the Emperor!”

“Claire.”

He never turned back.

“Ah… yes.”

“There’s no one here.”

“What?”

“No one to hear me call you by your name.”

“Ah, yes…”

“Are you going to be formal with me, Lady Taylor?”

“Yes, of course.”

I looked up at Adrian, who was speaking in a playful, gentle tone. He smiled faintly. Our eyes met, and I was trapped by his blue gaze.

“I thought you were dead.”

“Ah… I thought I was going to die too.”

Adrian’s eyebrows furrowed at my nonsensical words. I quickly continued.

“But it’s a good thing I survived like this… it is.”

In Adrian’s clear eyes, which were staring at me, my own shaky reflection was visible. I didn’t know what to do. Being cheerful was just as awkward as being sad.

“I won’t do anything to you.”

“Huh? I… I know.”

“So don’t run away. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.”

I wanted to make an excuse. That I had no choice at the time… But no words came out.

“Okay, I understand. I won’t go anywhere.”

It was a cooler summer than previous years.

A breeze cool enough to wash away all the beads of sweat came through. And the feeling of my black hair sticking to my face felt unrealistically slow. Adrian’s hand came close to my face. But it didn’t touch me and moved away again.

“I won’t do anything to you.”

“I know…”

Just then, the servants suddenly appeared again from somewhere. Adrian was in a comfortable shirt now. They wouldn’t know who he was. Adrian had been out of sight ever since he arrived here.

“Hello, Madam.”

“Hello, Madam.”

“Ah… I’m not the Madam…”

I glanced at Adrian for a moment, but my actions were futile, as there was no change on his face.

Five years—the time we were apart was longer than the time we were together. Maybe it was natural.

It was enough time for a once-stormy obsession to turn into a calm lake.

Nevertheless, I had never imagined a reunion like this.