Meanwhile, in Risideon’s castle, the three brothers had gathered together.
Riscal, who had been sitting on the sofa reading a book, turned his gaze away from the page.
“So what you’re saying, Risideon, is that Riersha is… getting close to some guy?”
“I said if that were the case — what would you do about it. That was the point, Riscal.”
Risideon corrected him, taking a sip of his tea.
“…Then why are you even bringing up something so strange?”
Riscal pointed it out with undisguised irritation. The look on his face, brow creased and expression sour, made it perfectly clear just how annoyed he was.
Ricador, who had been perched on the windowsill listening to the conversation, tilted his head. The sunlight reflecting from behind him made his fine silver hair glimmer.
“…So you’re telling me you called us here over something that hasn’t even happened yet?”
“You think it’s weird too, right, Ricador?”
Riscal nodded and narrowed his eyes.
Knowing Risideon’s personality as well as they did, this made the whole thing all the more suspicious.
Riscal set the book he was holding down beside him and spoke in a tone full of certainty.
“It’s suspiciously specific.”
“Exactly. Riersha gave the kid a picture book as a gift, and there were signs she’d shared her birthday cake with them too.”
“Is this someone we know? A collateral branch? Which family are they from?”
“Yeah — who is it?”
Every time Riscal threw out a question, Ricador followed up with one of his own, pressing right alongside him.
Unable to give a proper explanation, Risideon pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Isierd’s existence was, strictly speaking, a secret.
But the more he stayed silent, the deeper Ricador’s and Riscal’s suspicions grew.
“Are you afraid that if you tell us who it is, we’ll do something to them?”
“We won’t lay a finger on them, so just give us the name. We’ll keep it simple — just a quiet background check.”
“Right. If Ricador puts his information guild to work, we can pin down exactly who this person is.”
Riscal coaxed Risideon along, keeping his voice light and persuasive.
But as time passed and Risideon showed no sign of opening his mouth, Ricador shook his head.
He had noticed — Risideon clearly knew something, but he wasn’t speaking because he couldn’t, not because he didn’t want to.
“Come to think of it, does anyone know what Riersha has been up to lately?”
Ricador deliberately changed the subject.
He had switched strategies.
The plan was to get him to lower his guard and let something slip without realizing it.
Ricador shot a subtle glance at Riscal, and Riscal, reading his meaning perfectly, was the first to speak.
“Sounds like she’s been keeping herself busy. I heard she recently submitted a business proposal to Father.”
The fact that he knew something so recent suggested he had been paying quite a bit of attention to Riersha’s movements.
“Is that why no one’s been seeing her? We used to run into her all the time around the castle.”
Ricador remarked.
Riersha, who used to wander endlessly through the ducal castle every single day, had become harder to spot than a star in broad daylight.
A moment later, Ricador raised his voice as if something had just come to him.
“Actually, I saw Riersha going somewhere the other day.”
It was, of course, a lie.
What was strange, however, was that the moment the bait was thrown, Risideon’s expression cracked — just barely.
“Where was it again… It looked like she was heading somewhere with her personal knight. …Was it around here, maybe?”
“You saw it wrong, Ricador.”
“Is that so…?”
The corner of Ricador’s mouth curved upward.
He had just been taking a shot in the dark, but it seemed to have landed.
Though — what exactly was the problem with Riersha wandering around in this area?
For some reason, Risideon looked like a man trying to hide that very fact.
Just as Ricador sank deep into thought —
“Oh?”
Ricador’s eyes flew wide open as he glanced down through the window.
“It’s Riersha.”
And as if on cue, Riersha was passing by near the castle at that very moment.
Riscal quietly turned to look at Risideon.
⁂
Will the Kadimo Troupe actually accept?
Riersha was walking with a serious expression.
More precisely, she was on her way to see Isierd.
She had decided that since it was ultimately his story being brought out into the world, he deserved to know how the process was unfolding.
“Miss Riersha. …At this rate, the other young masters are going to catch on.”
Sona murmured, trailing along behind her.
It wasn’t an unreasonable worry, really.
After all, Riersha’s castle stood very close to Riscal’s.
And lately, she had been visiting Isierd far too frequently — Sona’s anxiety had been deepening by the day.
“But if she’s all alone, Isierd’ll get bored, she will.”
“…That’s true, but still.”
Sona thought of Isierd.
He didn’t exactly seem like the type who would feel lonely just from being alone.
Those sharp eyes that used to fix themselves on Sona with a piercing gaze were clearly…
Not the sort that belong near someone as gentle as Miss Riersha.
Sona couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud, and instead let out a long, heavy sigh.
Young as he was, Sona had made up her mind that Isierd was dangerous.
He gave her the feeling of a predator biding its time — crouched low and patient, waiting for the right moment before it moved.
She had no idea how he managed to play so sweet in front of Riersha, but to Sona’s eyes, it was plain as day. That child was dangerous.
“Alright, wait right here for me.”
“Yes, miss.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
By now, Riersha was coming and going through the entrance of Isierd’s castle quite openly.
Since there were limits to how well the knights could detect Sona’s concealment techniques anyway, a tacit agreement had been reached between everyone involved.
When Riersha came, they would look the other way.
It had only become possible because the knights had all received word in advance that Pernoa had given his approval.
“Isierd!”
“Riersha?”
Riersha made her way to his room with easy familiarity, and Isierd, who had been reading, lifted his head.
The way he was sitting had become genuinely impeccable — the clean, unhurried posture of a young nobleman with nothing out of place.
At the sight of him, Riersha paused for just a moment.
She had only just realized that all this time, she had been letting herself in and out of his castle as she pleased, without once thinking about how Isierd might feel about it.
…He might not actually like me showing up like this.
Isierd, after all, was in a position where he had no real choice but to welcome her.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, Riersha flinched and found she couldn’t move her feet.
“What are you doing standing there?”
“…Hm? Nothing at all. Whatcha reading?”
“The book you gave me.”
She recognized the picture book at a glance.
Riersha trotted around to the other side of the table and sat down across from him.
Without her noticing when it had happened, Isierd had set the book down and was quietly watching her.
It was the pattern she always saw just before their conversations began.
He never asked what she had come for. He simply waited until Riersha spoke on her own. This time was no different.
But today, somehow, all of it felt unfamiliar and strangely awkward.
“The Kadimo Troupe…”
“…”
“The Kadimo Troupe said they liked your story.”
“I see.”
“Mm. But nothing’s decided for certain yet.”
“Is that what you came to tell me?”
“Yeah.”
A silence settled between them.
She could feel Isierd’s gaze studying her.
Riersha didn’t know where to look, and her eyes drifted aimlessly before she finally asked, with careful hesitation —
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You always only ever talk about things related to me.”
“…So what?”
Was something wrong with that?
Or had he grown tired of conversations that always circled around the same subject?
Riersha was genuinely puzzled.
“The Kadimo Troupe and all that is fine, but…”
Isierd tilted his head slightly to one side.
The crease between his brows suggested he was thinking hard about how to put something into words. Or perhaps he looked the tiniest bit confused — it was difficult to tell which.
And then, she understood.
Riersha realized where this strange, stilted atmosphere had been coming from all along.
Isierd was acting different.
He’s not like his usual self.
But what, precisely, had changed about him — that, Riersha couldn’t say.
A moment later, Isierd spoke again.
“When we talk, you never say anything about yourself.”
“…Huh?”
“You know a lot about me, but I don’t know a single thing about you.”
So what?
Riersha blinked slowly.
Her mind was full of nothing but question marks. And yet, in stark contrast to her bafflement, the furrowed, pensive look that had been on Isierd’s face only moments ago had cleared entirely into something almost bright.
Like someone who had been struggling to understand their own mood and had finally stumbled onto the answer.
“Was it that you felt it was unfair — that only you were left knowing nothing about me?”
“…”
“So that’s why I was irritated just now.”
Is that really enough to be irritated about?
Don’t people usually prefer talking about themselves, anyway?
Riersha stared at him, completely baffled.
