Two days later. The appointed day had arrived.
For one month — the duration of Kael’s bridegroom’s apprenticeship — I would be living in his house. Today was the day I moved in.
“Enough. Stop crying, my lady. We need to head downstairs soon. His Grace will be arriving any moment.”
‘Sniff.’
“I want to stop crying, I do. My tears just won’t cooperate. It’s so unfair. I wasn’t consulted on any of this. A bridegroom’s apprenticeship — out of nowhere.”
I kept breaking off mid-sentence, overcome with feeling. I pressed down on the welling grief, trying to keep it contained.
“It’ll be all right. I’m coming with you, after all.”
Kael had been deeply averse to outside visitors, but when I had asked — quite sincerely — to have Emily with me, he had agreed without hesitation.
As a result, Emily would be following me in the servants’ carriage.
“The bridegroom’s apprenticeship was just… so underhanded. He really is a terrible person.”
“He is a bit mischievous, isn’t he, His Grace.”
“What am I supposed to do for a whole month? If we’re living under the same roof, avoiding him is going to be nearly impossible. It’s not like I’ll have to share a room with him every single day, is it? Please tell me it won’t be like that.”
I kept sulking as I spoke, and Emily patted me reassuringly.
“Of course not. He’s not so inconsiderate as all that. There’ll be plenty of eyes around too. It won’t be a shared bedroom — most likely a guest room or a separate wing, like last time.”
“Really? You think so?”
“Absolutely. A guest room or the annexe. I’d be almost certain.”
My voice still had a stuffy, blocked quality from all the crying. I didn’t usually cry this often — but yesterday had been too much. It simply had to come out.
I was starting to wonder if the universe had some personal grievance against me.
“And, my lady — there’s a saying, isn’t there? Every crisis is an opportunity in disguise. Perhaps this is one of those.”
“…An opportunity?”
“You’ll be in close proximity all day, every day. Isn’t that precisely when it’s easiest to do something that puts someone off entirely?”
It wasn’t entirely wrong. I uncurled my lips from their pout and gave a small, reluctant nod.
“I was planning to keep this to myself a little longer — but I’ve already thought of several approaches. So please don’t worry too much, my lady. Try to go with a calm heart.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
* * *
The farewell party in the entrance hall was disgracefully cheerful.
‘Am I the only one who finds this tragic?’
Mother, who was not typically demonstrative, had lit up like a lantern the moment Kael appeared. And they’d barely had time to become acquainted — the dinner the night before last was really the first proper occasion. Why was she so taken with him?
What was it about him that had won her over so completely?
‘…His face, probably.’
Given her choice in Father, Mother clearly had an eye for appearances. That might well explain why Kael had won her over so easily.
Father and Jacqueline were both doing their best — suppressing whatever unease they felt behind stiff social smiles.
I wanted nothing to do with any of them. I waited alone by the carriage.
Then decided I couldn’t be bothered waiting out there either and simply climbed in.
Not long after, Kael stepped in after me.
‘He’s made himself up again just to attack everyone with that face, hasn’t he.’
Everywhere he went, people’s faces bloomed into smiles at the sight of him. And he himself remained perfectly blank throughout — detached, thoroughly indifferent to the effect he created.
‘Aggravating.’
The moment our eyes met, I turned away.
He was always perfectly agreeable when it came to promises — and perfectly indifferent when it came to keeping them.
Truthfully, I felt a little nervous about the deliberateness of turning away. It was like slamming a door in a fit of temper and then being startled by how loud it came out.
So I let my eyes slide sideways to check on him.
Kael was watching me quietly. The same unreadable expression as always — not a single clue as to what was going on in his head.
I turned away again, purely out of petulance.
‘Who does he think is being dragged into this nightmare because of him.’
“Ivelina.”
I turned at the sound of his voice. He was watching me from the seat across with that observational gaze — as though cataloguing something. He’d said my name and then gone quiet again, chin propped in one hand. A good twenty seconds of simply looking at me in silence.
I was about to ask whether he was perhaps counting my eyelashes, when he spoke.
“If you complete the lessons early, I’ll send you home.”
“…You mean that?”
Kael answered with a single nod.
I didn’t believe him, of course.
He’d reeled me in more than once before.
I kept my eyes narrowed at him, full of suspicion.
“You’ll need to cooperate, naturally.”
“…Well — I suppose.”
He wasn’t joking, was he? No flicker of amusement anywhere. That at least seemed genuine.
My less-than-enthusiastic response apparently prompted him to act. Kael extended his left hand toward me — the same motion he used when offering to escort someone.
Out of pure reflex, I took it.
Without warning, he pulled. I was across the carriage in an instant.
“Oh! What on earth are you—!”
With a soft thump, I landed squarely on Kael’s lap.
He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my right shoulder.
I went completely still.
“Tell me why you’re upset.”
“…”
I felt ticklish and frightened at the same time. A chill crept up my spine. The vibration of his voice through my back put every nerve in my body on edge.
‘If I don’t answer, this is going to get worse.’
“Hm? Go on, tell me.”
“…”
“Now.”
Kael gave my backside a pointed squeeze.
“D-don’t! Don’t touch my—”
I swallowed the rest of the sentence. I had just remembered the coachman on the other side of the partition.
Kael pressed his lips to the bare curve of my shoulder — once, and then again — soft and unhurried. His warm breath scattered across the thin skin there, and my body gave an involuntary shiver.
“S-stop. We’re in a carriage.”
I kept my voice as low as I could manage, barely above a whisper.
“I don’t want to stop. I’m going to keep going. Until you tell me.”
He bit gently at my shoulder and held it there — a quiet, patient sort of threat.
I tried to push him away with both hands. His response was to grip my hips and pull me firmly back against himself. Something unyielding and very present made itself known from below.
“Ah — mmph!”
“Shh. Everyone can hear. Keep your voice down.”
“Y-you started it — ngh!”
Kael buried his face in the curve of my neck. He licked and grazed the skin there, while his hand swept slowly, deliberately up my thigh.
My thoughts started to blur at the edges. Unsteady breaths slipped past my lips before I could stop them. Kael pulled me tighter against himself in response, and then — slowly, without hesitation — he began to move.
‘It keeps — it keeps—!’
His hips rocked upward, steady and relentless, through the layers of fabric between us. A low sound escaped him and dissolved against my chest.
Through all of it, his hand stayed on my shoulder, pressing down.
“S-stop — don’t push — you keep—”
“That’s the idea.”
He dragged his teeth across the side of my neck with the low, intent focus of something that hadn’t eaten in a very long time.
I bit down hard on my lip to keep from making a sound. The swaying of the carriage made me bite too hard — a sharp copper taste spread across my tongue. The sting made me close one eye. Kael looked at me then, his voice cracked low and rough.
“Stubborn.”
He covered my mouth with his — not a kiss so much as a claim. His teeth caught my lower lip, coaxing it open, and then his tongue swept across my teeth and moved deeper. With Kael pressing up against me from below, my thoughts grew more and more distant, dimmer with every moment.
