I blinked quietly.
How to believe it?
“For a name you claim to be hearing for the first time today, he called you Yudi in a way that seemed quite natural. Are you genuinely certain it was the first time?”
Axel’s sharp gaze was fixed on me. Suddenly feeling the injustice of it, I cried out:
“Of course it was! I’m telling the truth. I really did hear it for the very first time today!”
In the span of a few seconds, the power dynamic had completely reversed. My expression showed it.
I had been in control just moments ago — so how had the flow shifted so entirely?
Even after my emphatic denial, Axel still seemed unwilling to drop his suspicion.
“Your Highness, are you saying you don’t believe me right now?”
“I haven’t said I don’t believe you.”
“That’s a lie. You haven’t said it, but you don’t!”
“I’ve said no such thing. You must be misreading the situation. And couldn’t you simply say no if it’s no? Why are you getting so worked up? You’re behaving like someone with something to hide.”
“…That’s because you won’t believe me!”
The conversation felt like it was going in circles.
The faint chill in Axel’s gaze struck me as colder than usual, and something small and raw began to surface. Before I realized it, my lip had pushed out in a pout. When my eyes met his — clouded now with a genuine pang of hurt — his body gave a faint involuntary flinch.
Having been pushed past the point of simply feeling wronged, I finally couldn’t hold it back.
“There is no one but you for me! The only person I like, the only person I want, is you and you alone! Why won’t you believe me?!”
A single thunderclap of words, and then silence.
This hadn’t been something carefully considered before speaking — it had tumbled out raw. The volume surprised even me.
I hadn’t meant for it to come out with so much feeling—!
I had gotten worked up without meaning to.
When no answer came from Axel, I began to grow quietly worried. I had been standing with my head lowered, and at last, cautiously, I lifted my eyes — and found myself looking directly at him.
He was gazing down at me with an expression even more still than before. As though the words had stopped him completely in place.
I called to him softly.
This is bad.
It was possible that this time, he was genuinely angry.
I was wrestling with how to respond when the lips that had been pressed tightly shut finally parted. A very small sound came through.
“…Say it again.”
“Pardon? What did you say, Your Highness?”
“What you just said. Say it once more.”
“Say it again?”
I asked back, bewildered, and he gave a small nod.
“That your feelings aren’t because of me?”
“Not that part.”
Then what else was there…
I reached back through the words.
“…That there’s no one but you for me?”
“After that as well.”
“I said the only person I like, the only person I want, is you and you alone…”
Having gotten that far, I noticed something had shifted subtly in the air. I blinked in confusion — and a tentative thought formed.
…He’s not angry. He’s embarrassed.
His gaze had drifted away at an angle, one hand raised to partially cover his mouth, head turned to the side. Through the fine strands of his hair, the tip of his ear appeared faintly pink.
I was leaning forward slightly to confirm my suspicion when Axel finally made a sound, and the question died on my lips before I could ask it.
“Next time, you’ll come with me.”
“Where?”
“Where do you think?”
“Oh — you mean when I go to see Noxie?”
As though it were the correct answer, Axel gave a single nod.
“Why not?”
The mere mention of the name seemed to put him out of sorts again, because the crooked eyebrow was back. I rushed to backtrack.
“No — it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just — it’s a plan with Noxie. I thought I should ask if he minded…”
As the sentence drew out, the formidable gaze descending on me made me trail off into an awkward smile.
“Actually, I think you’d be welcome to join. Now that I think about it, I’m sure he’d understand.”
Fortunately, that appeared to be the right answer, because the creased brow gradually smoothed.
Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to grab Axel and interrogate him about whether he’d actually been pleased to hear those words — but I let it go this time.
I didn’t want to spoil the quiet contentment that was so visibly settled on him.
For now, letting this one pass quietly didn’t seem like a bad idea.
“That said — when were you thinking of going to the dressmaker’s, Lady Melberine?”
“The dressmaker’s?”
I tilted my head at the abrupt topic change.
“Didn’t you say you were having something made.”
An outfit? What outfit…
And then something I had completely forgotten surfaced. Axel was looking at me with an unimpressed expression.
“Don’t tell me you brought it up to me and then forgot.”
He was right — I had completely, entirely forgotten.
The fact that delegations from various countries would be arriving in the empire soon.
And among them, the princess who had been Axel’s childhood fiancée.
The color drained from my face.
How could I have forgotten something like that.
There had been so much happening lately that it had simply slipped my mind entirely.
His childhood fiancée. A foreign princess, no less—!
The princess and Axel had apparently been childhood friends.
The moment I received that sharp reminder, my mind began to branch in all directions without logic or order.
What if, after being apart for so long, Axel and the princess met again and found themselves drawn to one another—!
“That can’t happen!”
This was no time to be sitting here calmly.
I lurched to my feet. The chair scraped back loudly. Axel’s eyes snapped to me, startled.
“What’s wrong, Lady Melberine? Are you unwell?”
“Oh — no, no. Nothing like that, Your Highness. More than that, I think we should book the dressmaker’s as soon as possible.”
“That’s fine with me, but… are you sure you’re all right?”
Worried eyes settled on me.
“I’m fine. It was the shock of realizing I’d forgotten. I can’t believe I let that slip my mind.”
I pushed the corners of my mouth upward and forced a breezy tone. Axel seemed reassured, and let out a small, amused exhale.
“Make sure you don’t forget next time.”
“I would never. Never.”
“Can I trust that?”
“Absolutely!”
At my confident reply, Axel smiled faintly.
“All right. I’ll take your word for it.”
Know your enemy, know yourself, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
I was currently deep in preparation for the inevitable meeting with the princess.
First and most importantly — I needed information. I began seeking out anyone who might know something about her.
My first stop was Lord Shuian and Xenon, Axel’s aides.
Xenon rolled his eyes upward and scratched his cheek.
“Ah — the princess, you mean? The princess and the Grand Duke’s history… hmm…”
The longer Xenon’s silence stretched, the more loudly my heart was beating.
“Why? Was it… like some long-held feeling between them — or a painful engagement called off for unavoidable reasons, some kind of tragic story?”
“No, no. It’s not that exactly. It’s more that their relationship is simply difficult to put into words.”
The moment I heard that, my heart dropped.
What on earth was so difficult to put into words between those two?
Whatever the answer was, before it could arrive—
