112

“Chancellor?”

Even as she went to see the Minister of Finance, she bit her lip. This was clearly malice.

Not only did it belittle her competence at work, it was an absurd act carried out without her consent.

The chancellorship was a high post and therefore a target. It wasn’t a role one secured merely by handling practical tasks well. Coldly put, Cornelia currently had no backers, no background, and no faction to protect a Chancellor’s seat.

“Of course I’ll be by her side.”

Vespera intended to declare her support publicly to keep Cornelia safe. She even considered bringing in the Archducal house. Privately, Vespera felt ashamed she hadn’t noticed earlier. Even normally composed, Cornelia didn’t know what to do this time. She wanted to meet the Emperor alone at the imperial palace, but Cornelia stopped her.

“Let’s wait and see. See how things play out.”

Her gaze wavered, but in a short time she had astonishingly regained her composure. Even on the battlefield, commanders who decided so quickly were rare. She calmed herself as much as possible in this bolt-from-the-blue situation and started looking for the next strategy. She did not run away. She was young and inexperienced, and it was a hard decision for that reason, but Vespera trusted her despite the unease.

“How could I possibly assume something like that? How dare I even speak the Emperor’s name? Please don’t be too angry, Commander-General.”

Her wit didn’t end there.

At the precarious meeting of department heads, she had even exposed that the Commander-General was the Crown Prince’s new lackey. He had always presented himself as easygoing, so he’d never shown his hand before.

As her role changed, another side of her captivated him even more.

“Where did this come from…”

It had been a frequent thought lately. Beyond how lovable and kind she was, her methods and the way she thought—things he hadn’t seen before—felt unfamiliar and fascinating. She leapt so effortlessly beyond the empire’s common sense and conventions.

The same was true in romance.

“Duke, I think you should be a little more conscious of that.”

It was half-joking, but secretly he wanted her to notice him as a man. What returned, however, was provocation. When Cornelia kissed him first, he couldn’t hold himself together. Only his sense of duty as a noble—the thought that it was still too early—barely kept his reason intact.

He had intended a romantic atmosphere, but he never imagined it would lead to a kiss at such a late hour.

“Vespera.”

She so easily cut the reins of reason.

The moment his name left her lips, the fragile restraint he had maintained unraveled. It was sweet—so sweet it left him panting—and he wouldn’t have been able to stop if not for her breath.

Outside members of the Archducal house and the royal family, no one had ever called him by name. Even the young ladies who had confessed to him so far had addressed him with titles like Duke or Next Archduke.

How long had it been since anyone had used his raw name, without even the light honorific “sir”?

Hearing his name spoken by someone he liked was overwhelmingly stirring.

“Cornelia Libertas.”

A little young lady from a fallen noble house whose name he hadn’t even known. A shiver ran through him. She treated him more comfortably than anyone, even though everyone else bowed before him. Sometimes she used his title, sometimes his name, but there was no falseness in sharing small daily things and pouring out worries.

It was joyful.

She wasn’t like the other young ladies who, entranced by his looks, could only blush or freeze and be unable to speak. He liked dining with her, holding hands, walking, leaving work together. Even without anything dramatic, his heart filled with a satisfaction he’d never felt before.

“Are you very busy next week?”

The pace was unusual too. It had been only a few days since their first kiss, and she suggested taking a trip. Heat rose to his head in an instant. Instinctively, his mind screamed that he couldn’t let this chance slip. Forgetting even that he needed to answer the communication artifact, he ran straight to the Chancellery to see her.

Not good for the heart.

His heart hadn’t stopped since that first kiss. All the way to the Libertas estate he forced himself not to show his nervousness.

And then something truly bad for the heart happened.

“Did I tell you? I like swimming.”

When she stepped out wrapped in a beach towel, she looked adorable—he hadn’t expected what awaited. He had often, guiltily, imagined deep romantic moments with her, but this was on another level.

…

It was an outfit he’d never seen before. The top revealed her cleavage and abdomen, the bottoms were scandalously short. Her snow-white thighs were exposed so much he didn’t know where to look. The fabric barely covered what it should; it was shocking.

Even then, he felt he might go mad from the instinctive wandering of his gaze.

He glanced around for servants or any of those bastards. If they had seen her, he vowed he’d gouge out their eyes.

This really was the first time anything like this had happened.

There had been young ladies and noblewomen who threw themselves at him before, but this was the first time he’d seen someone shrug off their clothes saying they were going swimming.

“Did you see something bad? What’s wrong?”

She didn’t understand at all. Her innocent question made him feel guiltier even as anger crept up.

Has she been swimming like this all along? Does she not understand the seriousness of the situation?

The thought that another man might have seen her made his blood boil. He had never heard of a noble young lady acting like this. How could this happen in broad daylight…? A whirl of emotions overwhelmed him and he lost his temper. It was their first quarrel since they began dating.

“This is maddening.”

He seemed to say that a lot these days. He was crazy for liking her, and then he drove himself mad after quarreling with her. Leaving her pouting at the lodging, his own mood sank.

“It’s our first trip out.”

It was an itinerary he’d worked through the night to secure. He hadn’t expected this to happen within a day. He needed time to calm his body and mind, so he decided to spend the day in his room and think.

But he didn’t sit for long. Seeing the meal the steward had brought made him feel worse.

“I miss her.”

The joy they’d shared over a meal had been so brief, and he missed it. Her disappointed face kept appearing before his eyes. He thought he should be firm and let her know, but his resolve kept weakening.

“It’s absurd.”

He didn’t even know what it meant that his resolve weakened, but thanks to her he was learning a new emotion. There was no one in her room; for a moment his heart sank.

Did she return to the capital ahead of me?

Rationally he knew that was unlikely, but he worried she might have left in a fit of anger. Her luggage remained intact. He feared she might have wandered out of the estate late at night. Sometimes she wandered as if it meant nothing, even though she wasn’t particularly strong.

At that moment, he saw the sky studded with stars.

There was no special reason—he just felt he knew where she had gone. He headed straight for the top of the estate. To his surprise, she was there. Her lying on the ground was unexpected, but she looked free and comfortable. Perhaps they had both deliberately hidden such sides, showing only their best faces to each other.

“What a fool.”

Seeing this unexpected side didn’t cool his feelings. She barely knew him at all, yet that fidgeting look was so endearing he wanted to keep watching. She noticed him and got up. Seeing her face made him feel even sorrier about being angry at the beach.

“I’m sorry.”

Any firmness vanished and an apology spilled out without hesitation. She was too precious to stay angry at. He wanted to tell her the pants she wore now were cute. He still couldn’t accept her daytime outfit being seen by others, but rather than scold her he wanted a calm conversation. He wanted to hear her side.

“Vespera, aren’t you curious why I couldn’t accept your heart until now?”

He suddenly brought up a completely different topic. He knew she had avoided him for fear he might be in danger. When he finally accepted her confession, he took it to mean those worries were resolved—the atmosphere at the time suggested that. For him, that mattered. Better than fretting over what had already passed.

“Actually, I’m not from this world.”

But the story she told was long and contained information shocking enough to shake him to his core.