Three in the morning.
I slipped out while Kael was asleep and made my way back.
‘Ha. Half the night, again.’
I staggered to the annex feeling as though every bone in my body had been thoroughly rearranged.
“Hmm? Why is the light on?”
A faint glow was seeping through the window of my second-floor bedroom.
It was past two in the morning. Surely both Emily and Kayrin would be asleep by now.
I climbed the stairs quickly and opened the door. Soft light spilled out.
“Emily, you haven’t gone yet?”
Emily’s official duties as a lady’s maid typically wrapped up by ten o’clock, except when she was on call or spending private time with me.
“Not yet. Did you have another rough night, my lady?”
“…Yes. I’m a little tired.”
I rubbed my shoulder.
Then I noticed something — a small, round head resting against the sofa’s armrest.
I walked over.
“Oh — Kayrin. You’re still awake?”
Kayrin was reading a book.
I glanced at the titles stacked on the table beside him.
‘The Empire’s Most Horrific Murder Cases Throughout History.’
‘The Evolution of the Empire’s Most Devastating Poisons.’
‘The Empire’s Most Notorious Rebel Factions…’
“I — what is all this—”
‘I asked for books a nine-year-old might enjoy!’
I pressed a hand to my forehead. The people of this estate were decidedly not normal.
“I have insomnia. And I’m quite sensitive.”
“Insomnia?”
“Yes. I don’t sleep well in unfamiliar places.”
A nine-year-old with insomnia.
Children that age were supposed to sleep ten hours a night.
“Even so, these books aren’t really appropriate for someone your age. Just a moment—”
I rooted around at the bottom of the pile and found a few picture books that had been shoved to the floor.
‘Why are these on the floor?’
“How about I read you a story? What do you say?”
“No thank you. A picture book? How dull.”
“Oh, picture books can be very good!”
“Don’t they all end with the prince and princess living happily ever after?”
“W-well, that’s true, but there are some more original ones—”
I sifted through the pile on the floor.
‘There has to be something Kayrin would find interesting.’
Then my eye caught one title: ‘The Duke’s Secretary Wants to Quit.’
The title didn’t exactly give off a ‘happily-ever-after’ feeling.
“Oh, this looks promising. Kayrin, I found a good one!”
“What is it?”
“‘The Duke’s Secretary Wants to Quit.’ That’s the title.”
I settled in beside him and opened the first page. Kayrin, apparently curious enough, shifted his small body closer against my side.
“The heroine is called Rina. The hero’s name is Theo.”
I began reading from the opening line.
“‘Where am I?’ Rina was bewildered. Asleep beside her was none other than her employer — the Duke of Camel, Theo.”
Hmm.
‘…Let’s just keep reading.’
“Read faster, please.”
“R-right.”
Kayrin was pressing me along. He seemed genuinely interested now.
“‘Rina gathered her things and fled. Two months later, having gone into hiding, Rina submitted her letter of resignation. Theo gave a quiet, contemptuous laugh.’ ‘Rina. This is hardly proper conduct. You think you can eat and run quite so brazenly?'”
‘Why is the dialogue in a picture book like this?’
I frowned despite myself. Kayrin immediately tugged at my sleeve.
‘Keep going.’
“‘Rina replied: ‘My decision will not change. Please process my resignation.’ Theo returned: ‘You dare to run, carrying my child?””
I closed the book.
“Right! I don’t think this is a suitable book. Shall we try a different one?”
“Why? It was getting interesting. So — is the baby Rina’s carrying Theo’s?”
“W-well, I’m not sure.”
“They slept together. That’s how babies are made, isn’t it?”
Kayrin’s eyes were bright and entirely serious.
He clearly wanted very much to know whether the child Rina was carrying belonged to Theo.
“W-we’ll finish this one tomorrow. If we keep reading tonight you definitely won’t sleep. So let’s try something with a calmer story for now.”
I selected the most straightforwardly ordinary picture book I could find. It ended in perfect, unambiguous fashion: ‘the princess and the prince lived happily ever after.’
By the time we neared the final pages, I heard a soft, rhythmic breathing beside me.
I glanced sideways. Kayrin was drooping forward, struggling to keep his eyes open.
I lifted him carefully and laid him on the bed.
“No matter how much like a little old man he is — a child is still a child.”
“By the way, my lady.”
“Mmm?”
“Do you think Rina was truly pregnant? Could Theo have been mistaken?”
“……”
“It’s just — if she did fall pregnant, and spent two months hiding it… perhaps that was why she vanished. She was trying to keep it secret.”
“Probably so…”
Emily rested her chin in her hand and thought about it with genuine gravity.
I tucked the blanket snugly around Kayrin, making sure it came all the way up to his chin — children could catch cold so easily.
Emily smoothed his hair on the other side, then said quietly:
“This little one, though.”
“What about him?”
“Doesn’t he seem like someone you’ve seen before?”
“Does he? I can’t quite place it. Ahh, I’m so tired.”
I lay down beside Kayrin without much ceremony and let myself go limp.
My eyelids grew heavier with each breath. The next moment, sleep pulled me under entirely.
* * *
The next morning.
I was busy from the moment I woke up.
Emily and I split the remaining macaron boxes between us and set about distributing them.
“Macaron sets — please enjoy them! Oh, and you absolutely must not tell anyone I gave these to you. It’s a secret. ‘Especially’ from the duke — that is strictly, strictly confidential!”
“Of course, my lady! We’ll guard the secret with our lives!”
‘…Why are you already calling me ‘my lady’.’
Fifteen chambermaids and footmen, and Mr. Brendan the gardener — all accounted for.
And last of all—
“Madam Mary!”
“Oh my, my lady. Is there something you need?”
“No, nothing like that.”
I took the gold card from the dessert café out of my bag and pressed it into Madam Mary’s hands. Once I explained how to use it, the color rose warmly in her cheeks.
“Goodness, thank you so much. My son will be absolutely delighted.”
“I’ll keep earning points for you — as many as I can! Please go with him whenever you like and have something wonderful.”
Just then—
A figure like a shadow slid into view from somewhere nearby.
His movements were hushed, but his build was that of a bear.
“Oh! Who — who are you?!”
“It’s a pleasure to formally meet you, my lady. My name is Jince.”
“Jince… as in—”
Could it be?
I looked at Madam Mary.
“That’s right. He’s my son.”
Madam Mary’s son, Jince, was built like a fortress.
‘He’s far more robust than I expected. Wasn’t he supposed to be frail?’
“A-and where exactly did you come from just now?”
“I am assigned to your secret guard detail, my lady. As your shadow, I operate with complete discretion.”
Wait. Secret guard?
‘Ivelina — for smoother communication going forward, I believe additional arrangements would be helpful. Before long, I’ll place a trusted escort knight with you to serve as a point of contact. Should you need to go out unexpectedly, you can pass word through them.’
I had completely forgotten.
“You’re the one who was serving as a liaison between Kael and me — since back at the Florence estate?”
“That’s correct.”
“You’ve been watching me and following me?!”
“Hmm. Watching and following isn’t quite the right framing — my primary role is secret protection. Specific instructions from His Grace.”
‘Those amount to the same thing.’
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
* * *
I trudged along until I finally reached my last destination.
‘Knock, knock.’
I knocked and opened the door, peeking my head in.
Kael was at his study desk, working through documents. He looked up slowly.
“I was just about to come find you.”
“Why again?!”
“You ate well and disappeared again.”
“I did not! I had things to do.”
I huffed my way into the study and produced the two macaron boxes I had been hiding behind my back.
“One for Hugo. One for you.”
I placed them on Kael’s desk.
I knew perfectly well that he didn’t like sweet things. But I had given one to every other servant in the house, and leaving out just these two felt too pointed.
“You don’t like sweets, do you? If you don’t want it, leave it. I’ll eat it myself.”
“Feed it to me and I’ll eat it.”
He said this — and pulled me toward him by the hips.
‘Fwump.’ I was in his arms again. Once more, I found myself seated on Kael’s lap, enclosed inside the architecture of his arms.
He began running his hands along my body with deliberate, unhurried slowness.
“I — I’d rather not. Just don’t eat it then!”
“Come on.”
I pressed the macaron box tightly to my chest and shook my head emphatically from side to side.
Kael responded by lifting the hem of my dress and sliding his hand beneath it.
“No — stop—!”
His fingers trailed upward, slowly, along my thigh.
“I told you not to run.”
He growled against my ear and bit down on my earlobe.
“Nng.”
A soft, involuntary sound escaped before I could catch it.
His hands moved across every curve and fold of me, deliberate and unhurried.
‘Footstep. Footstep.’
Down the corridor, the sound of approaching footsteps.
Getting closer.
“A-ah. Don’t — there’s someone outside—”
“So?”
A slow, weighted exhale against the back of my neck. His hands grew rougher, working at the soft, yielding places with increasing intent.
‘Your Grace, I’m coming in.’
* * *
