The Emperor’s address concluded, and Father beckoned to me from across the room again. Beside him stood a fresh line of young nobles I had not yet been introduced to.
Oh no…
If he catches me, there’s no getting out…!
My instincts screamed with the urgency of imminent danger. I looked the other way and slipped out of his sight. From somewhere behind me, Father’s mournful voice called after me.
“Judith, my dear — where are you going…!”
I sent him another silent apology and stepped quickly into the crowd. Fortunately, the banquet hall was large enough that I was able to lose myself among the guests without difficulty.
Now I really do have to find him…!
I was weaving through the crowd with brisk, purposeful steps when—
“Oh—!”
Far across the room, through the shifting sea of people, I caught a glimpse of Axel’s hair. It was only a single second — but I knew with absolute certainty that it was him.
The detector attuned to my most beloved, capable of locating him at a hundred meters, had activated. I immediately pushed through the crowd toward him.
Axel was making his way out of the banquet hall.
His stride was so swift that keeping up was no easy task.
Of all times, why these shoes…!
Even luck seemed to be against me — the back of my shoe was cutting into my heel with a sharp, stinging pain.
Telling myself this would be my last chance if I missed him now, I ignored the pain and pressed on.
In the empty corridor beyond the hall, where not even a servant passed, I called out to him.
“…Your Highness!”
At last he turned — and our eyes met across the empty space.
Axel, seen up close for the first time in a while, looked terribly gaunt. His face had grown sharp and hollow, as though he hadn’t slept properly in days.
The sunken, haunted quality around his eyes made them look even more severe than usual. His complexion was pale as ash — the color of someone who had been ill.
…Had he been unwell?
I had never seen him look like this before.
The change from how he had been unsettled something in my chest. Without thinking, my brow had already furrowed as I looked at him.
Axel spoke to me, his voice cold.
“Did my words mean so little to you that you treat them as a joke? Or has it come to the point where you openly disregard what I say as beneath your attention?”
The words were a splash of cold water over my head.
My pupils lurched. The memory of that day came rushing back — the day I had stood in front of him unable to say a single word.
My heart beat hard.
“…After chasing me down, now you won’t even answer? If you have nothing to say, I’ll be going.”
Axel had been watching me stand there in silence, and was beginning to turn away.
I called out to him again.
“Wait — just a moment!”
An utterly indifferent gaze flicked toward me. Before I tried to speak, I pressed my fist against my side and breathed in slowly, deliberately.
…I can do this. I decided I was going to clear this up.
I lifted my eyes to him — clearer now than a moment ago.
“I wasn’t trying to ignore you, Your Highness. I only came because I want to resolve the misunderstanding between us.”
“…Is that still what you’re going on about?”
As though he was thoroughly tired of hearing it, Axel let out a sharp, irritated sound of laughter. The crooked line of his mouth set hard. He walked toward me.
“Just how far are you planning to push this? How absurd do you think I am, Lady Melberine?”
The sheer weight of his presence bearing down on me made my body begin to tremble beyond my control. The killing intent pressing over every inch of me was overwhelming.
And then — summoning the last of my courage — I cried out.
My voice cracked and shook, stripped of everything except pure desperation.
“Please — please just listen to me! Please, just this once. You can judge me after you’ve heard everything. It won’t take long.”
Axel looked at me with empty eyes for a long moment — and then the killing intent retreated. He gave a slight, barely perceptible nod. As if to say: go on then. Let’s hear it.
At last given the chance I had been waiting for, I began slowly and carefully. The first words came out cleanly enough — just as I had planned.
“…Meeting the Crown Prince at the dressmaker’s studio the first time — that truly was a coincidence. Completely and entirely. And as I told you then, I was there to look at clothing for Your Highness, not the Crown Prince. The reason I didn’t send the clothing as a gift was because I wanted to look at it together with you! …It’s all fallen through now, but I was planning to make the dressmaker’s studio our third meeting. I intended to give you the gift there, in person. That’s something the Madame who was present with us could confirm.”
As more feeling crept into my words, my voice began to waver — more than it had a moment ago.
Even so, I kept my eyes on him as I continued.
“And I cannot deny that I met with the Crown Prince that morning. It’s also true that I intended that meeting to be kept secret from the start. But it was never intended to deceive you, or to further any relationship with the Crown Prince. The first time we met at the dressmaker’s — there was a trade we agreed upon. The morning meeting was purely to exchange what had been agreed. And the item at the center of that trade was this.”
I took out the vision orb I had prepared in advance. The same one that had been cracked and damaged before, now fully repaired.
I stepped back half a pace — just in case Axel tried to knock it from my hands again.
He looked down at me. One eyebrow moved.
“I gave the Crown Prince my photo cards — photographs of Your Highness. And in return, His Imperial Highness gave me this vision orb. And the recording inside it—”
I paused, and played the vision orb.
When it finished, I began to speak again. Axel’s face had not changed at all. I worked to steady the anxiety rising in my chest.
“As you saw — it was a recording of you as a child. The reason I kept this trade a secret from you was simply because of the broadsheet. When that baseless article was published and word of my meeting with the Crown Prince spread, I was afraid you would misunderstand me — and not wanting that, I kept it secret. Of course, it ended up causing an even greater misunderstanding… but truly, that was the only reason, Your Highness. Please believe me.”
By the very end, my voice was trembling again — helpless and unsteady as a young goat’s. I had tried my best to speak steadily and clearly, but in front of him, the nerves were impossible to keep down.
When all my words were spent, I pressed my lips tightly together.
Waiting for Axel to respond felt like waiting through an eternity.
Unable to bear looking at him any longer, I dropped my gaze.
Please. With everything I had, I prayed. Please let him believe me.
And then, at last, his voice came.
“…So what exactly do you want me to do about this?”
The coldness in his voice hadn’t left. The tension holding my shoulders together gave way all at once.
I did not lift my head. I didn’t trust myself not to look a complete mess.
Axel’s words continued.
“You thought hearing this would make me nod along and let it go? There’s a limit to how little you can think of someone. How much of a fool do you take me for, Lady Melberine? Do you think I’ll swallow this kind of lie just because you keep stringing words together?”
Even now, to him, my words were nothing but lies.
Even bringing the vision orb — my last remaining hope — had resolved nothing.
“I don’t know where you got your hands on a vision orb to pull off this kind of revolting scheme, but you would do well to stop here. The next time, I won’t be letting it end with a warning.”
Having delivered those cold, clipped words, Axel turned without hesitation and walked away.
His footsteps receded, growing more distant — and when I could no longer hear them at all, I sank down right where I stood.
The heel that had been scraped raw simply stung.
I whispered to no one.
“It didn’t work…”
Even this time. It hadn’t worked.
There was nothing left for me to try.
