I pointed toward the café filled with people and spoke.
“Your Highness, do you see those people? They’re all here to celebrate your birthday.”
Axel repeated my words back with the expression of someone who couldn’t quite believe them. I nodded.
And just at that moment, the voices of people streaming out of the café drifted toward us.
“I only came out of curiosity because of the crowd, but it was actually quite good, wasn’t it?”
“I know. Can you believe all of Drumann’s menu items are free? Something like this won’t happen again. I was surprised at first when I saw the whole shop had been changed over — and then a bit startled to find it filled with photographs of the Grand Duke — but it ended up being quite nice.”
“Me too. I was honestly surprised — I had no idea the Grand Duke had been handling things like that behind the scenes all this time. I’m not sure why… but he always seemed so intimidating and frightening that I suppose it made the discovery feel all the more unexpected.”
“Exactly! I felt the same. The only things that ever spread about him were sensational, unsettling rumors — none of these contributions ever seemed to come up. Looking back, it’s strange. All that circulated were exaggerated stories. I’ve never once actually seen the Grand Duke threaten anyone directly.”
I waited for a natural pause in their conversation before slipping in, casual and light.
“Perhaps it’s the impression he gives? Whenever I run into him at banquets, he always seems to be frowning — I still remember the way my heart used to drop every time we crossed paths.”
“That’s so true. I used to think I must have done something wrong when it happened to me.”
The two women burst into warm, easy laughter.
“In any case, I hope the Grand Duke has a happier day today than he’s ever had. He’s given so much for the empire.”
“Absolutely. Happy birthday to the Grand Duke!”
“Oh, honestly — is that any way to put it?”
“What does it matter! No one’s watching, and he’s hardly here.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
They laughed together once more before moving on.
Whatever had brought them through the door in the first place, everyone who had visited the café was genuinely wishing him well.
It worked exactly as I intended. The satisfaction of it was almost overwhelming.
I turned back to Axel, ready to say something — and stopped.
His expression was not what I expected. He wasn’t simply still — there was something stormy underneath it, something that simmered.
I blinked.
Wait…
This wasn’t the reaction I had been hoping for. Had I done something wrong?
I was watching him with uncertain eyes, swallowing quietly, when he spoke.
“…Why did you do all this?”
I had been half-considering deflecting with something light — but the moment I met Axel’s eyes, I let that go. The seriousness in them was unlike anything I had seen before.
Instead, I chose my words carefully, and opened my mouth slowly.
“Because I wanted everyone to know.”
“…Know what?”
“That every rumor surrounding you is false.”
A cool gaze turned toward me. He looked like a man who found this uncomfortable.
“How can Lady Melberine be so certain of that? The rumors are false? Does she truly believe that? I’m not as generous a person as she seems to think. What she sees in front of her may well have been a facade all along. What she’s just said strikes me as somewhat naive.”
“But that’s not something that can be hidden even if you tried, Your Highness. Your warmth shows in everything you do. The way you kept glancing up from your documents to check whether I might be bored — the way you quietly listened to everything I said, however thoughtlessly I said it — the way you always smiled and let things pass when I overstepped. None of those things are possible without genuine warmth. And that’s why I wanted other people to know. How different you are from what’s said about you. How kind you actually are.”
Axel looked at her in silence. In that moment, she had absolutely no idea what was going through his mind.
After a long stretch of stillness, Axel exhaled — and then, reluctantly, found words.
“…I never asked for any of this. It’s pointless. I don’t care what other people think of me. Do you understand? Lady Melberine — this was all wasted effort.”
“It isn’t wasted. And it doesn’t matter whether you care, Your Highness. Because I care an enormous amount. Just watch — I’m going to change what everyone thinks, slowly and surely.”
“And the Crown Prince told me. That you spent every birthday without any gathering, without any celebration at all. That’s why I wanted to celebrate it with as many people as possible. Spending a birthday alone is such a lonely thing.”
“…Lady Melberine speaks about it as though she’s experienced it herself. Now and before.”
I smiled faintly instead of answering.
Axel’s lips moved several times as though he meant to say something — and then he closed them without speaking. His face was caught between something that looked like anger and something that looked like awkwardness.
The face of someone who genuinely didn’t know what expression to wear.
After a few quiet moments of looking at each other, I was the one to speak first.
“If I’ve caused you any discomfort, please tell me. If that’s the case, I’d like to apologize.”
Axel could not understand Judith’s behavior.
Sometime recently, looking at the clear, open smile she turned toward him had begun to make something in his chest feel strangely restless — a queasiness that rose and crested, like seasickness.
And on days like today, watching her extend limitless, unprompted warmth with no expectation of return — some feeling stirred in him that he couldn’t name.
It wasn’t unpleasant. It was nothing like that.
If anything — there was a fullness somewhere in his chest, something that kept itching deep inside his heart and refused to be still.
He could not understand why Judith acted with such unwavering conviction. It made no sense to him.
And so, Axel had pushed back against her words.
If he didn’t, he was afraid these strange emotions would run entirely out of his control. It was a way of trying to quiet them.
But even his cold dismissal hadn’t made her give up.
Instead, she had looked at him with something like hurt — and then, in a voice quieter than before but somehow more grounded, said:
“That’s why I wanted other people to know. How different you are from what’s said about you. How kind you actually are.”
This was a fight he was always going to lose. Emotions he couldn’t name were churning through him in waves of confusion. He understood, suddenly, that there would be no resolving them.
I.
I toward her am…
After a long silence, Axel opened his mouth to reply.
“…It didn’t cause discomfort. I simply didn’t know how to receive it. Something like this — I have no experience with it.”
Rather than saying something he didn’t mean, he offered an honest answer.
“If anything, I want to tell you — thank you.”
Judith broke into a soft, slow smile. His heart lurched again in that peculiar way.
“That’s all right, Your Highness. We’ll just have to get used to it from here! We’ll be spending all our time together going forward, after all.”
Going forward.
Together.
Axel knew she said it lightly, the way she always did — words flung out without particular weight, a habit of hers. But somehow, today, the words didn’t slide past him the way they normally would.
He didn’t want to pretend he hadn’t heard, the way he usually did. He didn’t want to dismiss what she’d said.
This time, he wanted to give her a real answer.
Before he could think about it further, he acted on impulse. It was, undeniably, an impulsive thing to do.
His lips parted.
It came out sounding calm — but the warmth in it was real.
Judith was smiling warmly at first — and then, like someone who had just registered something a beat too late, her expression went suddenly still.
The way her expression flickered and shifted in the space of a second made a small laugh escape him before he could stop it.
She was almost transparently readable, her face giving away everything she was thinking.
“Well then, let’s head back.”
He moved to leave, casual as ever — and Judith grabbed his arm.
“W-wait, Your Highness. I didn’t quite catch that — what did you say just now?”
“I didn’t say anything. What are you talking about?”
“You’re lying!”
She looked exactly like someone who had just been swindled. The expression on that small face was pure, bewildered outrage.
“Just now — you said yes. I heard it. I heard you clearly. What does it mean?”
“Did I? I don’t recall. I think you might have misheard.”
Axel had absolutely no intention of repeating himself.
“Are you going to move, or should I go ahead without you?”
Judith fixed him with a glare that could have cut glass.
At that, Axel finally laughed — openly and fully, without any attempt to hold it back.
