“I am honored to be in the presence of the brilliant morning star of Stade, favored by the grace of God — Her Highness, Lady Rene.”
Around midday, Marie came to find me.
This excruciatingly formal greeting was something she had taken to delivering every single time she saw me for the first time each day — a ritual she’d begun faithfully after deciding to become my lady-in-waiting.
“Marie, you don’t need to be so ceremonious. Even Elsa just gives me a nod these days.”
I said as much, hoping to spare us both the discomfort — and got this in return:
“But I like greeting you this way, Sister. If it troubles you, I’ll limit it to once a day.”
“…I’m sorry, say that again.”
“…Sister?”
The child was deploying exactly the right cheat code with exactly the right timing. I decided to leave well enough alone.
“Good morning, Marie. Or — good afternoon, I suppose.”
I smiled a little awkwardly and opened my arms. Marie walked into them without hesitation.
“What have you been up to?”
“Lady Marie rose at seven this morning,” Elsa supplied on her behalf, “and attended Imperial Language studies from nine, followed by Imperial History from eleven.”
The child is that diligent? I felt a small pang of conscience. Meanwhile, Marie turned her bright, curious eyes up at me.
“What did you do this morning, Sister?”
Oh, well — I was in bed with my husband, if we’re being honest. I buried that answer somewhere deep and smiled with great awkwardness.
“I slept in. Just woke up.”
“Beautiful people really do love to sleep.”
“That can’t be right, looking at you.”
At that, Marie’s cheeks went pink, and she mumbled something about how she wasn’t nearly as beautiful as me — and I laughed and pressed a small kiss to her cheek.
“Have you eaten lunch?”
She shook her head. Of course — she’d come at this hour precisely to have lunch with me. The transparency of it was entirely endearing. I poked one round cheek.
“Shall we eat together?”
Marie nodded quickly, then tilted her head with a look of concern.
“Are you feeling ill, by the way?”
“Hmm?”
“You have a handkerchief around your neck.”
“Ah.”
She was right — I had a white handkerchief tied loosely at my throat. I smiled as naturally as I could manage and nodded.
“I had the cooling spell turned up a little too high. Don’t sleep in the cold yourself, alright?”
“Does it hurt much?”
“Not at all. It’s nothing, truly.”
I shook my head in easy dismissal and touched the handkerchief lightly with my fingers.
I took Marie’s hand and walked with her to the dining hall, where two familiar men were already seated and rose at once as we entered.
“Duke Rommel — a free afternoon, it seems?”
“I merely carved out a brief moment for the privilege of dining with Your Highness.”
And then Joachim stepped forward, dropped to one knee before me, and pressed his lips to the back of my hand. I laughed at the performance and glanced past him at Friedrich.
His gaze had gone directly to my throat.
I felt it land. My jaw tightened, almost imperceptibly, without my permission.
“Have you caught a cold, Your Highness?”
Joachim rose and asked with mild puzzlement. The second lie came more easily than the first.
“The cooling spell again. You ought to be careful as well, Duke.”
“You worry about me so readily — “
“You heard the part that wasn’t meant for you.”
“Once a kindness is spoken aloud, it cannot be taken back.”
Joachim smiled and offered me his arm to escort me to the table.
Friedrich’s gaze was still on my throat. I fidgeted with the handkerchief, suddenly self-conscious — when Joachim spoke.
“Though the color seems rather understated for you, Your Highness.”
“…Does it?”
“Don’t you agree, Prince Friedrich?”
Joachim turned to Friedrich for support. I was about to head it off by pointing out that it matched my pale blue dress quite well, when —
“That is why I find myself regretting it slightly.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s mine. The handkerchief I gave her.”
Joachim turned to look at us both with a face gone utterly blank.
I felt a strange wash of embarrassment and nodded.
“It’s true.”
“…Outmaneuvered,” Joachim muttered darkly — and Marie, sitting beside him, turned to stare at me with an expression of open, somewhat inexplicable admiration.
The two people actually involved — Friedrich and myself — sat in silence and stared in opposite directions.
Impeccable timing: the maids arrived with the first course, and I lowered my eyes to the potato soup and ate without speaking.
Fortunately, neither Joachim nor Marie seemed to have any inkling of what had happened the night before.
They’d both feel the sting of betrayal when they eventually found out — but Rene’s standard was that it was a trivial matter, and I didn’t want to make them worry over nothing.
It would serve no good purpose to destabilize Marie, who had only just found her footing here.
Joachim, on the other hand, would take one look at the truth and sprint directly to the Emperor to demand more guards, wearing the expression of a man about to faint.
And since he wasn’t wholly my ally to begin with — more eyes on me would only work against me. If I wanted to protect Friedrich’s secret and my own, I needed…
Come to think of it — does he know what happened last night? About the irregularity?
Even accounting for the accelerated timeline, three in the morning was far too early.
Last night had been too chaotic for me to think clearly about it in the moment — but he must know, surely?
Even so, I felt cautious about bringing it up first.
Whether he had reverted to an adult at three, or had been an adult since before then — I couldn’t say for certain.
It might turn out to be God’s whimsy again, in the end.
What kind of inconsistent spell behaves like this? Leave it alone for now, I concluded — just as Joachim shifted the conversation.
“Come to think of it, the Founding Festival is coming up soon.”
Marie’s eyes lit up immediately.
“The Founding Festival?”
“Do you know what it is?”
“I think I may have gone once, before I came to the palace, but…”
The memory seemed fuzzy. She shook her head slightly. I smiled.
“You’ll know soon enough — you’ll see it for yourself this time.”
Marie’s eyes went wide as she looked at me.
The surprise was so genuine that I laughed despite myself.
“Is it really that shocking?”
“Am — am I allowed to go outside?”
“Of course? Who do you think has been keeping you locked in here? Anyone listening would think I’d been imprisoning you in Rene Palace.”
“N-no! That’s not what I meant — !”
I liked the way she startled so easily — the feedback was deeply satisfying. I laughed and looked her in the eye.
“Come with me, Marie. What do you say?”
“R-really…?”
“Yes, really. I hear you’ve been keeping up diligently with your lessons. Fresh air is important too.”
“Then — then I’m going to finish every book I’m reading before the Founding Festival!”
“What? Don’t push yourself like that.”
“N-no, I want to! Only — could I — if I finish them all — could we stay out the whole day?”
She glanced at me nervously, watching for any sign of disapproval.
Oh, that’s what she’s after. I smiled and nodded.
“Are you sure you can manage that? A full day outdoors from morning to evening — that’s no small thing.”
“I can! I promise I can!”
“Alright, then. It’s a deal.”
Though you’ll be spending the full day out whether you finish those books or not.
I was still smiling to myself when Marie practically vibrated with joy in her seat, barely containing it.
I didn’t think I had ever seen her this genuinely excited about anything. It was quietly satisfying.
“You’ll be needing a guide.”
Joachim, who had been listening in silence, dabbed his napkin at the corner of his mouth and inserted himself neatly into the conversation.
I shot him a look of mild exasperation.
“I’m not some sort of reclusive hermit like the other mages. I have been outside the palace before, you know.”
“Mostly to the battlefield, though, Your Highness.”
…He had a point.
I had no comeback. Joachim tilted his chin up with quiet self-satisfaction.
“I venture out into the city quite regularly, as you may imagine. You, rather less so.”
“And what exactly has a ducal heir been doing wandering the streets so often? A tryst, I assume?”
“Your Highness?”
Joachim’s expression went instantly and completely vacant.
“I have carried one person in my heart for the entirety of my life, Your Highness.”
“You haven’t even lived thirty years yet — “
“And I will go on carrying her. For all the years I have left. All of them!”
He declared his devotion with passionate intensity, then caught himself and cleared his throat, resuming a more composed voice.
“In any case — the city is extraordinarily complex. First-time visitors lose themselves in it constantly. A guide is absolutely essential to enjoying it properly.”
“Fine. You can come.”
Joachim’s face opened into a full smile at that — and then I continued:
“It’ll be fun with four of us.”
“Four?”
“Don’t pretend.”
Joachim made his displeasure entirely visible. Friedrich responded with a quiet, dry remark:
“One doesn’t need a guide in the city so much as protection, Your Grace.”
“No — a husband is what a family outing requires.”
At that, Friedrich went still and looked at me.
I curved the corner of my mouth slightly upward.
“You’ll come, won’t you? It won’t be a private date — but still.”
Friedrich’s expression shifted into something unreadable — and then, slowly, a faint smile settled at the corner of his lips.
“Being by your side is more than enough.”
After last night, that particular answer carried considerably more weight than it might have otherwise.
