The word jealous had slipped out of my own mouth before I fully registered what I was saying.
I blinked at myself.
Jealous. Axel?
I shook my head and frowned.
That word had no business anywhere near Axel. Just hearing it in the same sentence as him felt wrong.
I had clearly miscalculated — and was already looking for a way to redirect the conversation with a laugh when I noticed the reaction across from me.
Axel looked as though something had hit him directly on target. He went still and said nothing. This was usually the moment when he would immediately counter with a dismissive remark — and it wasn’t coming.
Wait. Is it actually true?
Startled, I glanced at him — and he looked away.
“…Actually? Was that — were you actually jealous just now, Your Highness?”
Even with that direct question, no answer came. He just stood there with a flustered expression, lips parting and closing without finding words.
Watching him, something electric began to build in my chest. A charged voice came out before I could stop it.
“Why won’t you say anything? You were so relentless a moment ago.”
“I’m right, aren’t I? You were jealous of Noxie just now. Weren’t you?”
The first thing out of Axel’s mouth was a denial. I had been expecting that, so I let it pass with a light smile and launched into everything I had been putting together.
“Then why would you interrogate me so fiercely about what relationship we have, and ask if I’ve started to prefer the mage over you? There’s no reason to do any of that unless it’s jealousy, is there?”
I pressed in without stopping — instinct told me this was the exact right moment.
“And you’ve been in an oddly off mood all day, Your Highness. Your eyebrows kept going up here, and your expression kept going tight. I thought at first it was work stress, but apparently not. Now I understand. It was because of me. Because you were jealous of Noxie.”
I snapped my fingers as I landed on the answer, and Axel — who had maintained a passively resistant stance until now — reacted more strongly than before.
“I believe I just said I wasn’t. Didn’t I make that clear?”
“With respect, Your Highness — you’re not actually explaining why it isn’t jealousy. Just saying no over and over isn’t convincing me. And if this isn’t jealousy, what is it? You said just now I shouldn’t even use his name — and then you say there’s nothing to it? That doesn’t add up.”
After a long silence, Axel began to speak with studied calm, gaze averted.
“…I don’t believe I ever said not to use his name. I think Lady Melberine misunderstood. And the reason I said anything at all was concern over potential rumors — not some juvenile emotion. If there’s no risk of rumor, I have no stake in whatever Lady Melberine chooses to call the mage.”
The words came out measured and even, as though genuinely meant.
But I knew. They weren’t.
This was not something spoken from the heart. It sounded, more than anything, like an incantation — something he was saying to convince himself.
Axel was trying to use wordplay to escape this moment.
I couldn’t know if it was intentional, but those words had a small, cooling effect on my mood. The surge of excitement leveled off, replaced by something cleaner and calmer.
So that’s how you want to play this.
Honestly, I had been considering letting it go with a gentle tease. Axel’s flustering was too visible for it to be anything but apparent.
But having said what he’d said — I wasn’t going to let this end without resolution.
Watching someone work this hard to deny their own feelings had reached something deep inside me and lit a match.
I finished thinking it through, lifted my head, and looked at Axel with a small, easy smile. He visibly flinched.
“Ah, I see… Your Highness, I apologize. I didn’t realize you were concerned about rumors, and I went and made a strange assumption. Of course, it would never be jealousy with you. You wouldn’t be capable of something like that. Right?”
One moment I had been relentlessly pressing him — and now I was suddenly deferent, and entirely too agreeable. Axel’s eyes flickered with uncertainty. Clearly this wasn’t what he expected.
He held his silence for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“…Yes. I’m glad you understand the misunderstanding.”
“Of course. There’ll be no more misunderstandings, Your Highness.”
I agreed without the slightest resistance.
Something in the shift of atmosphere reached Axel, and he watched me with faint tension in his eyes.
I sat there quietly sipping my tea in a manner quite unlike my usual self — and then, as though suddenly remembering something, said:
“Oh — speaking of which, there’s apparently a very well-regarded new dessert café near the capital.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes, I’ve heard about it from others but haven’t been myself. The atmosphere is supposed to be lovely and the sweets are meant to be exceptional.”
At my bright, ordinary tone, the tension that had been in Axel’s face a moment ago softened with visible relief.
He thinks I’m changing the subject.
But my plan was just beginning.
“So I’ve been thinking I’d like to go sometime…”
I glanced at him as I let the sentence trail off. He responded immediately.
“Anytime is fine with me. Set it for whenever you’d like.”
Whether the previous scene was weighing on him or not, Axel suggested the timing in a noticeably gentler voice than usual.
That was precisely the answer I had been waiting for. I tucked away the smile that was threatening to appear and put on my best surprised-and-awkward expression.
“Oh — actually, I’m sorry. I was planning to go there with Noxie, Your Highness. I forgot to mention it first. I’m sorry for making you think otherwise.”
“…What? You said you were going with who?”
“Noxie. I felt so bad about the abrupt ending today, so I thought I’d take him there next time. Oh — I should message him before I forget when I get home.”
The trace of ease that had just settled on Axel’s face evaporated completely. Something sharp and dangerous took its place, tightening steadily. His expression was going cold.
In a low voice, he spoke my name.
“Lady Melberine. I believe I mentioned just now — rumors—”
I cut him off pleasantly, and gave him my most reassuring smile on top of it.
“Oh, you’re worried about rumors, aren’t you, Your Highness? Worried that people will misunderstand when you yourself don’t care at all!”
At the perfectly natural delivery, Axel nodded.
“…That’s right.”
“Then I think you can rest easy, Your Highness. The kind of rumors you’d be worried about? Absolutely none of that will happen. I looked it up — apparently it runs as an extremely private venue. No one can even tell who’s been inside. Very suited for couples, they say, but — well, that’s nothing for you to worry about, since you have no concerns on that front.”
“I won’t be drawing any speculation from you, will I? You wouldn’t misunderstand, no matter where I went with Noxie, as a friend. So it’s such a relief. I’m not saying something wrong, am I…?”
“…No. No. Wait — what did you just say—”
Axel looked thoroughly confused, and opened his mouth to respond — but I wasn’t done.
“Oh, and actually — something I discovered today: I think I prefer being called by a nickname rather than my given name. It was a new experience, but not unpleasant at all. Of course, since Your Highness has no feelings about this either way — I think I’ll ask Noxie to keep calling me Yudi. That would be fine, wouldn’t it?”
