Axel crossed paths with Judith again when the Emperor’s address had finished and he was making his way through the corridor that led out of the hall.
What exactly am I doing right now?
He had been watching Judith from a distance with careful attention, and a sudden feeling of disgust at his own behavior hit him.
He scowled deeply and ran a rough hand over his face.
He had been trying to look away from her, and yet his head kept turning back on its own, without his permission.
He exhaled quietly.
…This is pathetic.
Axel regretted the decision to attend.
I need to leave immediately.
Better to go somewhere she couldn’t be seen. That was the only sensible choice.
He had left the banquet hall and was walking through the corridor when he almost thought at first that he was hearing things.
And when he turned — what appeared before him was exactly the image he had been carrying in his head for days.
For a split second, his body flinched.
This was the first time he had faced her properly — not from a distance — since that day.
Axel’s heart beat strangely. Something almost like relief seemed to seep in at the edges.
Startled by the unexplained rhythm of his own heartbeat, he immediately smoothed his expression and made his voice deliberately hard.
At the harshness of his tone, Judith’s eyes trembled faintly.
But then — something resolved in her face. Her fist closed tight, and she called out to him with an expression that was entirely different from before. Her eyes had changed.
“…Is this still the same thing?”
A voice at the very edge of a cliff. Desperate.
She still has that look on her face…
Normally he would have turned away without a word, cold and indifferent, and left. But somehow, his feet would not cooperate.
In the end, he gave her permission to speak, as he always seemed to do.
As soon as the words were given, Judith’s face filled with a thin, careful hope, and she began to speak — slowly, steadily.
The long explanation finally came to a close after a considerable stretch of time.
“…The reason I kept this trade from you was simply because of the broadsheet. When the article appeared and word of my meeting with the Crown Prince spread, I was afraid you might misunderstand me. Not wanting that — that was why I kept it secret. Of course, that ended up causing an even bigger misunderstanding instead… but truly, from the bottom of my heart — please believe me, Your Highness.”
Judith’s voice, which had started out measured and precise, had become completely unsteady by the time she reached the end. Her head had gradually lowered.
Axel looked down at her in silence.
When she had played the vision orb a moment ago — showing him the recording from his childhood — something inside him had stirred faintly.
…How did she get that.
His eyes wavered for just a brief moment before he brought himself back.
How she had come to possess it was not, in the end, a particularly important question.
If she had set her mind on obtaining it, there were ways. It wasn’t impossible.
Even this could simply be one more piece of her performance — constructed in advance, part of a stage she had been building all along.
Her entire explanation had fit together with uncanny precision — like a script prepared and rehearsed. Almost suspiciously so.
Which meant this alone was not enough to substantiate anything she was claiming.
Axel’s continued inability to trust her was, equally, only to be expected.
He was about to say something — when the sight of her shoulders stopped him.
Small and hunched, they were trembling finely — like a frightened rabbit.
Looking at it, Axel’s expression tightened.
Why is she doing that…
Was she trying to make him feel guilty on purpose?
It was entirely unlike her. And yet something in his chest locked down sharply at the sight.
He felt as though he were the one who had done something wrong.
He knew that was impossible. He knew it — and still.
Unable to bear the feeling, Axel bit down hard.
He decided to call what he was experiencing irritation. An unpleasant feeling — nothing more — and there was exactly one way to resolve it.
He lifted his head coldly and said something low to Judith.
She should have looked up at the sharpness of it. Instead, she said nothing.
That subdued, withdrawn posture only made him more impatient, for reasons he couldn’t name. He pressed harder, pouring contempt into every word.
“Did you think hearing this would make me nod along and move on? There’s a limit to looking down on someone. How much of a fool do you take me for, Lady Melberine? Do you believe I’ll swallow this kind of lie just because you keep speaking?”
It was as though he was driving at her, waiting for some kind of reaction from her.
When the words ended, the faint trembling of her shoulders stopped entirely.
He had been certain that releasing all of it would bring relief. The reality was nothing like what he had imagined.
On the contrary.
The more his eyes took in the small figure before him, the more indescribably awful he felt. Like a man drowning in deep water — helpless, unsteady, unable to think clearly.
Something was going wrong, and he couldn’t identify what.
Struggling to hold onto the last threads of coherence, Axel turned away.
He could no longer trust himself to stand here.
He walked alone down the dark corridor. Behind him — thankfully — no voice followed.
Judith did not try to stop him this time.
At last, everything was finished.
The moment he parted from Judith, Axel felt a headache he didn’t understand come over him. What had started as a faint pressure was now impossible to endure without his face pinching with it.
The entire inside of his head throbbed. Every time his footsteps struck the corridor floor, the sound grated on every nerve he had.
Damn. I need to go back—
“Exc-excuse me…!”
From between the shadowed walls of the poorly lit corridor, someone appeared abruptly. Axel pressed his hand against his aching head and looked at the figure.
When their eyes met, the woman’s eyes went round — and then she spoke.
“Oh — hello! My name is Isabel Yerenia, of Countess Yerenia’s household.”
The clear, ringing voice invaded his ears instantaneously and made him scowl. The headache that had already been pressing hard clamped down further.
Axel looked at the woman quietly.
Eyes that held curiosity more than fear. A gaze that didn’t flinch even after confirming who he was.
He had encountered people like this occasionally — those who had just arrived in the capital, who had no knowledge of his reputation or his standing, and approached without understanding what they were walking into.
Under normal circumstances, he might have ignored her outright, or sent her away by some relatively peaceful means. But right now, he had no capacity to spare for either.
Still feeling the unrelenting throb in his skull, Axel felt a deep, cold irritation at having his path blocked for no purpose.
If the reason for it was pointless, there was no reason for him to exercise patience.
He set his expression and was about to open his mouth — when the woman seemed to sense the sharpness of his mood and hurried on.
“Oh — it’s nothing like that… I took a wrong turn. I was wondering — do you perhaps know the way back to the banquet hall?”
Axel raised one eyebrow slightly, evaluating the intent behind the words, and studied her.
Under his gaze, round eyes moved with visible unease, trying to read him. Both hands pressed tightly together.
That careful, anxious look as she tried to gauge his mood — it overlapped exactly with someone else.
With Judith, to be precise. With the Judith who had stood just moments ago with hunched shoulders, reading his expression with those same watchful eyes.
