Chapter 4
“Lady Melberine.”
“Yes…?” I replied, my voice small.
“I didn’t want to have to say this, but… are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Axel’s face was as grim as his words, his expression foreboding. A chill ran through me at the icy edge in his voice, and I flinched despite myself.
“N-no, of course not…”
“You expect me to believe that nonsense?” he snapped. “At this point, I’m starting to think you’re just mocking me.”
I felt a surge of indignation. I’d confessed my feelings, and when that didn’t work, I’d even given him a heartfelt reason—only to be accused of mockery!
Fuming, I couldn’t hold back. “Then what do I have to do to make you believe I love you?!”
He turned the question back on me, his tone unrelenting. “Let me ask you this instead: what will it take for you to stop this nonsense and act like yourself again?”
Tch…
His ironclad refusal to budge brought an involuntary pout to my lips. Nothing was going my way. His gaze, cold and unyielding, bore into me as I lowered my eyes. The distrust in Axel’s expression was unmistakable.
The longer this standoff dragged on, the more my impatience grew. I knew that no matter how hard I tried to convey my sincerity, nothing would get through to him. My fists clenched tightly.
…But I can’t give up.
If I backed down now, I might never get another chance to approach him. This moment felt like my last shot.
“No matter what you say, I’m not giving up!” I declared.
He scoffed. “That’s rich. And what do you plan to do if you don’t give up? Nothing you try will change a thing.”
Axel was looking down on me—on Judith, or rather, on me.
I really didn’t want to resort to this, but…
After a fierce internal battle between reason and desire, I squeezed my eyes shut and blurted out, “Your Grace, you know me! The girl who was called a mad dog for chasing after the Crown Prince for three whole years!”
He stared at me, incredulous. “…What, are you threatening me now?”
His voice dripped with disdain as he looked down at me, his gaze sharp enough to cut. Swallowing hard, I steadied my racing heart and met his eyes head-on.
There was no turning back now. If I was going to be shameless, I might as well go all in.
I shook my head vigorously, blinking as if the idea were absurd. “Threaten you? Never! I’m just talking about my persistence and dedication!”
“Persistence and dedication aren’t exactly the words for… that,” he said, his brow furrowing in open disbelief.
I pressed on, ignoring the blatant skepticism on his face. “Right now, you don’t believe in the sincerity of my feelings, do you, Your Grace? And I get it! I know I must seem suspicious, changing so suddenly.”
“So, what’s your point?” he said, his tone clipped, demanding I get to it.
“What I’m saying is this: I’m going to keep showing you, with persistence and dedication, through my actions, until you believe my heart is true! Starting right now!”
With that, I flashed a bright wink and formed a heart with my hands, aiming it straight at him. Axel’s face froze, as if he’d just witnessed something unspeakable. In that brief moment, I saw a whirlwind of emotions flicker across his expression—confusion, shock, horror. His features hardened, and with a grave look, he murmured, “So… the part about being gravely ill was true, at least?”
“No, not just that! Everything I’ve said to you is true!” I insisted.
The day Judith first confessed to him, Axel hadn’t recognized her. And no wonder—her demeanor was nothing like the Judith Melberine he’d known until now.
Under the bluish moonlight, the image of Judith crouched low, gazing up at him, was still vivid in Axel’s mind. Her flushed cheeks, her eyes sparkling as if holding light, and the pure, unguarded smile she wore between strands of pink hair fluttering in the breeze—they lingered with him. It was only when he heard her trembling voice, taut with nervous energy, that he finally realized the woman before him was Judith Melberine.
…Is that really Judith Melberine?
He was stunned. She seemed like an entirely different person. From her attire to her gestures, her expressions—nothing resembled the Judith he’d known. He’d always thought her the kind of woman who’d spend her life raging and throwing tantrums, yet in that moment, Axel realized for the first time that she was capable of such a soft, unguarded expression.
His brief confusion at her transformation gave way to composure, and he faced her as he always had. At first, Axel assumed she’d mistaken him for the Crown Prince. Surely, she wouldn’t be asking him to court her unless she’d lost her mind.
“Are you mistaking me for the Crown Prince?” he said, his voice sharp. “Judging by your state, Lady Melberine, you don’t seem entirely sound of mind. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
He turned to leave, but Judith grabbed hold of him.
It was almost laughable. To think she could spout such blatant lies. Had she changed her appearance and behavior just to mock him? Axel’s gaze sharpened.
Now that he thought about it, rumors had been swirling in the capital about illegal substances spreading like wildfire among the nobility. It had been giving him headaches as well. He lifted his eyes to study Judith.
By now, he expected her to drop the act and revert to her usual self—raging, lashing out at the slightest provocation, a woman with no patience to speak of. But his assumptions were utterly wrong.
Instead, Judith stood there, lips pressed tightly together, her eyes brimming with indignation as she stared back at him. No outburst, no tantrum—just quiet defiance.
This was not like her at all.
His brow furrowed. …Could it be?
A faint suspicion about the reason for her changed behavior began to form. To test it, Axel stepped closer to her. In the dim light, her expression came into sharper focus: her cheeks, unusually flushed, and her eyes, dreamy and unfocused, as if lost in a haze.
There was no scent of alcohol on her.
…So, it’s really drugs, then?
Judith’s eyes widened in alarm, and she shook her head vigorously, denying it. “That’s not true!”
“We’ll see about that after a proper examination,” he replied coolly. “Drugs have been circulating in the capital lately, after all.”
There was no reason to dismiss his suspicion. Someone like her could easily get her hands on such substances without lifting a finger. Suddenly, all her strange behavior made sense.
She’s gone so far as to dabble in drugs now?
It was pathetic. Judith’s reputation, already scraping the bottom in his eyes, had now plummeted beyond redemption. Forcing his hardening expression into check, Axel issued a cold warning before turning on his heel and striding out of the terrace, leaving her behind.
