“Third-person speech? What is that?”
She had never heard the term.
She tilted her head, turning the phrase over in her mind and trying to work out what it might mean.
“It’s an extraordinarily irritating way to speak.”
“Is it?”
Emily made a tight fist and said:
“I’ll demonstrate.”
“Please.”
At Emily’s expression of utter resolve, she gave her full attention.
“Emily really likes Miss.”
“…?”
“Emily wants to spend time with Miss every single day.”
“Emily, what are you doing all of a sudden? I’m being completely serious right now.”
She frowned.
Emily returned to her normal expression.
“That is third-person speech. Referring to yourself in the third person in conversation.”
“Oh.”
“Well? Miss — didn’t you just feel a sudden, quite involuntary surge of irritation?”
“Enormously! I had no idea why you were doing it, but there was this strange, instant annoyance — like my face wanted to do something it couldn’t help.”
Emily nodded as though this was precisely the reaction she had been aiming for.
“Yes. That was exactly the response I was trying to produce.”
“Emily — this might actually work.”
“I thought so too. Though I genuinely hesitated to suggest it. Depending on the person, this kind of thing has been known to inspire genuine physical violence…”
‘That’ was the reaction. The one she had been looking for.
The irritation she had just felt — that bone-deep, involuntary annoyance, that ‘why on earth is this person doing this’ feeling rising up from somewhere visceral and unwelcome.
“Emily.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“I want to try this. It feels qualitatively different from anything I’ve attempted so far.”
She looked up at the ceiling with the expression of someone who had just received illumination from on high.
“I would rather not have recommended this, for the sake of your reputation, Miss.”
“That is a problem, admittedly.”
“But given how firmly you’re committed to getting broken up with, I felt I had to mention it.”
“Wonderful! Emily. I’ll try it tomorrow, first thing.”
She clenched both fists.
Right. Reputation was beside the point. This was a matter of survival. This time she would succeed.
Honestly, this one was impossible to fail.
“One thing to remember, though.”
“What?”
“Not the bedroom. Are we clear?”
“I am never going back there. Don’t worry, Emily. I won’t set foot on the same floor as that room.”
She had learned her lesson.
“Excellent, Miss. I have a good feeling about this one.”
“So do I. This is going to work — I can feel it.”
She said it with great conviction, though privately she had to admit it felt harder to steel herself than usual. Was it really necessary to sacrifice her dignity this completely?
‘I am going to get broken up with, no matter what it takes.’
She clenched her fists.
One deep breath.
‘Knock. Knock.’
After the bedroom incident, she had developed the habit of announcing herself audibly before entering anything.
“I’m coming in…?”
* * *
“Ivelina. Why didn’t you come to the bedroom today?”
“Stop teasing me!”
‘Just stop, would you?’
She growled at him like an angry Chihuahua, and he lifted one corner of his mouth.
‘Honestly.’
Let’s see how long that lasts.
This time she was certain.
The moment she used that speech pattern, Kael would be appalled by her. She was sure of it.
Before beginning the conversation in earnest, she ran quickly through the exchange she’d had with Emily back at the Florence estate.
‘”Start with the clinginess first.”‘
‘”Clinginess again?”‘
‘”Yes. Rather than launching into third-person speech out of nowhere, I’d recommend waiting until you’re as physically close as possible. The effect will be much stronger that way — the discomfort will be more immediate.”‘
‘”Oh — that makes sense, actually. All right… I’m going to succeed today, I know it!”‘
‘”I’ll be cheering you on while I clean your room, Miss.”‘
‘Close the distance first, and then use the speech pattern when we’re at our nearest.’
Good.
She fixed her gaze on Kael with the focused intensity of a hyena that has identified its target.
‘He’s going to find me utterly intolerable by the end of today. I just know it.’
Even she herself had found it genuinely grating when Emily — her dearest Emily, of all people — had used that manner of speech. If it worked on her, it would work on him.
“So. What would you like to do today?”
“I’m going to stay right by your side! Honestly, Kael — you’re so handsome that it makes me a little anxious when you’re out of my sight!”
‘Now.’ She didn’t let the opportunity pass.
…Perhaps she should drift over toward his desk where he was working. That might irritate him.
“Is that so.”
“Yes!”
“Like this, then?”
His voice resonated through the contact between their bodies.
“…Well… yes…”
Kael was at his desk reviewing documents.
And she was sitting in his lap, folded into his arms.
‘This man is truly something else.’
Who could have predicted that a single sentence would result in being held in place like this?
“Haa…”
A long, helpless sigh escaped before she could stop it.
Directed, as it happened, straight into his chest.
“What.”
The deep voice came from somewhere above her head.
She glanced up. He was looking down at her.
“I did what you asked.”
“Hmm?”
“So why the sigh.”
“Oh — it’s just, I’m comfortable. And warm. And you smell nice.”
The words came out entirely at random.
Kael said nothing. He gave a brief, acknowledging nod, and that was all.
“Actually, Kael.”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t it bother you? Looking through documents while holding me.”
He had her tucked against him with one arm, using his free hand to turn through a folder of papers.
“Not particularly.”
She thought of something Emily had once said.
‘The Duke of Hardeion is not an ordinary man.’
She understood those words completely now, in a way she hadn’t before. Decisive and yet oddly tenacious. Someone who seemed utterly indifferent to the world around him — and yet unexpectedly perceptive when least expected.
She needed to play her final card. But he looked so busy that she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it.
“…You have a lot to get through today, it seems.”
“Nearly finished.”
He answered her without lifting his eyes from the documents.
‘Hmm. Maybe I’ve chosen the wrong day.’
And then — Kael dropped the papers he was holding onto the desk with a quiet thud.
“Oh? Already done?”
“Yes. Faster than expected.”
He said it and it was done.
Still holding her, he gathered the papers on the desk and pushed them to one side.
She expected him to let go of her now.
He didn’t.
“Could I — maybe get down now…?”
“You said you felt anxious when we weren’t close. Weren’t you the one who said you needed to stay right by my side?”
‘He doesn’t lose a single exchange.’
Although — this was actually convenient. Emily had told her to keep the distance as small as possible.
“Kael.”
“Yes.”
“I want to see your face.”
The moment the words were out, Kael shifted his hold, straightening her and turning her to face him.
“Is this all right?”
He looked at her and smiled — just slightly.
‘…He really is extraordinarily handsome.’
She gave a small nod in answer, swallowing the complicated feeling that came with it.
But.
‘Oh, honestly.’
She now had a very clear understanding of why Emily had hesitated when offering her example.
She had never felt quite this nervous before anything.
Her palms were actually sweating.
The most frightening part was that she couldn’t even guess, not remotely, at what expression Kael’s face would make when it happened. What degree of contempt, or disgust, or cold fury she was about to encounter.
‘He won’t actually try to kill me, will he?’
She wiped her damp palms on her skirt and spoke.
“Kael, so — there’s something I wanted to say…”
“Yes. What is it?”
A line of cold sweat traced slowly down her spine.
Her mouth was bone dry. The tension was so overwhelming that she bit down hard on her lower lip without meaning to.
Kael didn’t rush her.
He seemed to be waiting for her to speak in her own time.
Just thinking about the expression that was about to cross his face made her tense up all over again.
“I — um…”
“Yes.”
“It’s just, um…”
“…”
“I, I…”
‘Why am I this nervous?’
She had been so confident, going into this. How could it feel so impossible?
“Ivelina is…”
“…”
“Ivelina finds this position very uncomfortable…”
In that instant, something in Kael’s eyes went very still.
She had seen him look a great many ways before. She thought she had seen most of what his eyes were capable of.
Not this. This was different. Raw was the word for it — something unguarded and entirely unprocessed.
“Ha.”
A breath left him — low and rough, somewhere between a sigh and a sound of disbelief.
Her mind went white. ‘Oh no. He’s really angry. This was too much—’
‘Wait.’
“K — Kael! What are you doing?”
He was reaching for the topmost button of his uniform and undoing it. Slowly. Deliberately.
“Ivelina.”
“…”
“It doesn’t have to be the bedroom.”
“…”
“If you keep provoking me like this — what exactly are you expecting to happen?”
Kael lifted her lightly from his lap and set her down on the surface of the desk.
“Don’t you agree?”
* * *
