Royal Dot (6)

“It really feels like I’m going crazy.”

Even to begin with, Reichardt’s traits were abnormal.

But they were growing stranger by the day.

Even without straining to listen.

Even without focusing on where Alicia might be.

As easily as breathing, he could tell where Alicia was.

Was this because of an obsession with her?

“No.”

He answered the sudden suspicion out loud before he realized it.

If this ability came from an obsession with Alicia, he would feel too vile to endure it.

Reichardt exhaled deliberately, trying to steady himself.

Racked with self-reproach, he sensed that Alicia was sitting in the tea room.

He simply knew.

Alicia returned to her bedchamber—then came out again immediately.

Walking down the eastern corridor on the second floor, she approached his room at remarkable speed.

This was wrong. Not normal.

Reichardt kept himself pressed to the bed, pretending not to notice the presence lingering beyond the door.

If he didn’t react, she would leave soon.

Alicia paused outside the door for a moment, then began to move away.

Clack—

When Reichardt came to his senses, his hand had already opened the door and his voice was calling to her back.

“Alicia, is something the matter?”

She turned at the sound behind her.

“There isn’t.”

The moment Alicia turned, a sweet scent poured over him.

“Then?”

“I wanted to confirm what you said earlier. When I’m nearby, you’re not in pain, right? How about this distance?”

“It’s sufficient.”

Reichardt answered, working hard to ignore the honeyed fragrance.

“From now on, should we always keep about this far apart?”

Alicia measured the space between them with her hands.

The slow movement of her hands—indicating it was quite a distance—seemed to pass before Reichardt’s eyes in a haze.

The sweetness fogging his head felt far stronger than before.

Perhaps because Alicia was smiling.

The fact that even from two floors away he could tell exactly where she was—he decided to mention that later.

Reichardt decided there was something a little wrong with his own head.

Letting go of the doorknob he’d been gripping like a lifeline, he stepped toward Alicia.

“Would you like to come in?”

A strange question, given he had just told her not to come closer.

“Yes.”

Alicia answered with a fresh, bright smile.

The room was quiet.

Silence wrapped them without a single sound.

Alicia’s world was too noisy.

Her heart pounded through her whole body, making her head swim and her ears ring.

She glanced up at Reichardt, who sat beside her.

It must be loud for him, too.

As if it were natural, Reichardt—who had invited her in—took her hand and led her.

He brought Alicia to a private room within his bedchamber.

Deeper in than the area with the bed, the private room was his most personal space.

It was small, cozy, and tender.

A plush carpet covered the floor; a pair of sofas sat before the window.

On the opposite wall hung a painting of a vast lake, large enough to cover the entire wall, its beauty linked with the golden ceiling fresco above.

Reichardt offered Alicia a seat and sat beside her.

Summer light leaked through the window behind them.

Still holding his large hand, Alicia gazed at the gently rippling lake in the painting.

Then she noticed the cherub on the ceiling, peering down with innocent eyes.

The lovely image pressed into her vision, already pounding with each quickened beat.

They were merely holding hands—yet oddly, her heart raced.

She shook off guilt and gloom and happily clasped the big, lukewarm hand.

Thump, thump—time beat on.

By evening,

Reichardt and Alicia walked to the great dining hall hand in hand.

There was no fuss over them.

It wasn’t the first time they had held hands.

But it was the first time they’d done so throughout the entire meal.

The chef who brought out the dishes flinched, but said nothing.

The friendly kitchen assistant stared at their joined hands, but that was all.

Henrik, Connie, Roderick, and Juan acted as if they’d seen nothing.

Only Jamie, arriving to deliver a report off guard, let out an “Oh,” then promptly shut his mouth.

Dinner ended peacefully.

After a long walk, Reichardt escorted Alicia back to the duchess’s chambers.

“Sleep well.”

“Sleep well, Rey.”

They greeted each other without letting go.

Then, slowly, their hands slipped apart—reluctance plain in the parting.

“See you tomorrow.”

“Yes, see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams.”

Waving, Alicia stepped into her room.

The door soon closed.

Reichardt lingered before it for a long moment.

Scratching the back of his head, about to do something, he turned away instead.

“…How am I supposed to say this?”

He strode off quickly, then turned on his heel and was back at Alicia’s door in an instant— and with a fading sigh, headed to his own room.

Night deepened; raindrops began to tap at the window.

The rain strengthened rapidly, wetting the panes with sheets of water.

Alicia fell asleep late.

The after-effect of stifling giggles as she listened to footsteps pacing before her door had been considerable.

She had only just calmed the floating feeling and drifted off.

But sleep broke soon after.

Through the dregs of sleep, she heard the rain.

At the sound drumming on the window, Alicia bolted up.

With Rua in the sky and rain falling, Reichardt was dragged into endless pain.

She sprinted down the passage connecting the duchess’s chambers to the grand duke’s rooms.

Light footsteps invaded Reichardt’s quarters and leapt onto the bed.

A large hand gently received her as she toppled into the mattress.

“You’re here?”

Half asleep, Reichardt had sensed her the moment she started moving.

He drew the back pressed to him into a soft embrace.

“Rei.”

At the worry in her voice, Reichardt smiled.

“I’m not in pain.”

The rain beating on the window was loud and clear.

“Really…?”

Alicia, whispering anxiously, stilled.

Soft lips pressed to her flushed cheek—warmed from the run.

“Yes. I’m not.”

Reichardt answered earnestly, planting kiss after kiss on her reddened cheek.

Like stamping a seal along the warm trail, his lips descended— at the blinking corner of her eye, upon her briefly shut eyelids, at her temple—with sweet little sounds.

“……”

Frozen by the sudden flurry of kisses, Alicia barely moved.

Then she realized: she was straddling his lap.

“This is why I told you not to come closer.”

He murmured low—and the kisses went on without end.

They fell across her whole face like soft rain.

Receiving only gentle kisses, Alicia nonetheless could hardly move, overwhelmed by the tingling that seized her with each touch— on her brow, her cheeks, her jaw, her lips.

Smiling at her flustered expression, Reichardt whispered slowly:

“I love you, Alicia.”

At the confession poured into her ear, Alicia smiled.

She reached up, cupped the face that had breathed those sweet words— and returned more kisses than she had received.

It was a night full of soft, sweet sounds.

Alicia started awake and jerked in surprise.

Her heart seemed to drop.

Lying on her side, she found Reichardt’s face filling her view.

Golden eyes stared straight at her.

Caught by the light, they shimmered oddly, as if filled with honey.

She blinked back at the captivating face lying close enough to touch.

“Good morning.”

He greeted her, tilting his head to kiss her dazed cheek.

“…Good morning.”

Alicia couldn’t easily escape the fog of sleep.

Having gone to bed late, then sprinted half-asleep, she couldn’t shake off the drowsiness.

It was also, perhaps, because that sharply carved face was right in front of her, watching.

Only after a long moment did she realize she was in Reichardt’s bedchamber, on his bed— and that she was using his arm as a pillow.

They were lying less than a handspan apart, face to face.

Unlike Alicia, still muzzy with sleep, Reichardt’s face was clean and composed— as if he had never slept at all.

“Did you sleep well?”

He kissed her other cheek and spoke.

Maybe because of her frantic run in the night, Alicia felt as if she had just blinked.

If she closed her eyes again, she would fall asleep at once.

But she couldn’t close them.

“Did you not sleep, Rei?”

She rubbed her sleepy eyes and whispered.

“I shut my eyes for a bit. I was too excited to sleep.”

He spoke slowly.

At that single admission, Alicia cycled through worry, bewilderment, and the urge to laugh.

It was still dawn.

A pale blue glowed outside the window.

The early-morning room held a strange air— like a world both mysterious and unfamiliar.

And the most arresting presence in it was the man gazing at her with sweetness.

“I have a confession to make.”

Alicia almost let a laugh slip, then held it back.

“Go ahead.”

Right now, Alicia felt like she was walking on air— too happy to think straight.

But she knew that feeling would shatter once she heard his confession.

The one confession that made her happiest had already been given last night.

What followed, she could guess, would be bitter.

“Right now, I can live so long as Alicia Rain is merely by my side.”

Alicia nodded at his words.

“Alicia, you don’t have to love me. You don’t even have to like me. Even if all you feel is pity and compassion— just… don’t leave me.”

Her brows knit.

“Rei.”

“Ordinarily, I should tell you to run from me. I love you, Alicia. Don’t abandon me.”

His confession sounded like a plea.

Alicia smoothed the crease from her brow.

“Is ‘pity me and don’t leave’ the sort of confession you should make to me?”

“No. I’m going to confess why you must not marry me.”

Alicia’s eyes wavered chaotically.

“Rei.”

Don’t marry me.

At this moment, it was the last thing she wanted to hear.

“The Grand Dukes of Tessen have been called monsters for generations. Words possess a terrifying power. Because the title ‘Grand Duke of Tessen’ was known as monstrous, the world chose to believe every Tessen Grand Duke a monster. In truth—at least I am one.”

Reichardt furrowed his brow and smiled only with his lips.

“The Royal Dot is a mark of punishment. Every royal who bears it avoids the sentence in their own generation by appointing a Grand Duke of Tessen. The oath of the Tessen title pushes the curse onto a single person.”

Alicia’s violet eyes flew wide.

“And when one enters a marriage vow with the Grand Duke of Tessen, the punishment passes to the bride. Precisely speaking—the bride is a kind of sacrifice.”

She had guessed the royals kept a secret.

But she had not imagined a system that trapped one person in agony, then demanded another as an offering.

Do not marry me, Alicia.

Reichardt’s confession was truly for her sake.

“A sacrifice…”

“I am a descendant of a Celestial. He had a certain duty. But he failed to fulfill it, choosing instead to love the Empress of the Rune Empire and build a family with her. His descendants have inherited the task he abandoned—and the penalty as well.”