I buried my face over my knees.
〈Bianca, go to Ricardo already!〉
It felt as if my grandfather's voice was ringing in my ears.
〈Leon, I've known that guy for a long time. Where do you think that wild temper of his would go!〉
The newspaper was filled entirely with gossip about Leon and Ricardo. The article about me and Ricardo, which my grandfather had painstakingly arranged, had long since been buried.
……Well, it was bound to be buried.
There were veins bulging in our necks in the photo. It wasn’t something you could call a picture of a loving couple.
The reporter dressed it up as a lover’s quarrel, but we had actually gotten into a real brawl.
I glanced at the bouquet placed on the table.
It was the bouquet my grandfather had prepared, telling me to take it to Ricardo.
……I had to go.
The thought of once again facing Benjamin and the knights’ disapproving gazes made it hard to take a step.
Strangely, my stomach churned.
* * *
……Leonhart Owen.
Ricardo endlessly repeated a man's name from his lips.
A man utterly ignorant to the core. The way he swung the bow as if he had never learned how to shoot one looked downright ridiculous.
“I asked the butler to pass it on the other day…….”
Lost in thought, Ricardo checked the time at Idette’s voice.
“Tell me now.”
“Lord Seiren died in the Mage War..”
The Magic War. The war that had dragged on unbearably for the past twenty years. The war in which the Duke of Hessen and the Marquis of Roygin had participated and returned victorious.
“……I see.”
It was something he had already anticipated. Someone who had returned bearing the name of the dead.
Ricardo let out a faint laugh and fiddled with his teacup.
Someone returning from the dead—did that even make sense?
But for some reason, the imperial family was keeping this fact hidden.
“What about the Tower Master’s whereabouts?”
“……I’m not sure. It’s true that I was the one who woke up Lord Peril, but we’re not exactly close.”
As Ricardo’s eyes began to darken, the frightened Idette quickly added,
“I think, just a little, very slightly, we may have gotten a bit closer.”
“Isn’t that what you call being close?”
Ricardo tilted his head.
Tower Master, Peril. That man had clearly attended the hunting competition. Looking very friendly with Bianca.
That woman had clearly seen me. Seen me writhing in pain, bleeding.
Yet she turned her head away as if she hadn’t seen me properly.
……Our eyes definitely met. If she did, shouldn’t she have come running with a worried expression?
The Bianca from before would have done that. She would’ve shed tears with that fox-like face that used to deceive me.
Yes, that would’ve been right. Worrying was the right thing to do.
That was the courtesy expected of a fiancée. The kind of courtesy the Marquis of Roygin demanded of me every single day.
And yet, what on earth was she talking about with that guy that she didn’t come?
……Even now.
Were all the apologies she gave me lies? If not, then why.
Was the story of her first love, told just to deceive me, actually true?
Then who was it?
Leonhart? Or that Peril Edwin, who slithered around dripping with seduction like a snake?
Is it really possible for a person’s heart to change this quickly, Bianca?
At that moment, the teacup in Ricardo’s hand shattered with a crash.
Startled, Idette shouted hastily with wide eyes.
“You seem very unwell, so I’ll take my leave now!”
“Wait.”
Ricardo rose from his seat and took out a document from the drawer. He soon approached Idette and handed it to her.
“This is the information about Lord Picard you asked about.”
“Th-Thank you!”
Idette’s eyes sparkled at the unexpected gift. But only for a moment, as she hesitated and carefully opened her mouth.
“By the way…… don’t you intend to correct the rumors?”
“What rumors?”
“The rumors spreading around about me and you.”
Idette swallowed dryly.
“……You don’t actually have feelings for me, do you?”
“Why? That might be true.”
At Ricardo’s answer, Idette’s face hardened as if she had heard something unbearable.
“I know you want something from me. You’ll act kindly toward me until you get it.”
“…….”
“But because of me, your engagement with Lady Bianca―.”
“Ah, don’t tell me you’re worried that my engagement with Bianca will be broken because of you?”
Because of someone like you?
Ricardo let out a scoff as if he’d heard something ridiculous.
It was the correct answer. Idette lowered her gaze.
With a smirk still playing on his lips, Ricardo spoke with confidence.
“Bianca can’t leave me.”
“…….”
“She’s always been that way.”
She spoke of first love, but I knew it was a lie. Bianca always wore the most beautiful smile in the world whenever she lied.
She had done the same back then.
That’s how I knew. That woman had once again spat out a lie to deceive me.
Idette parted her lips but soon closed them again.
“……Then I’ll take my leave now.”
That woman was leaving me?
The excuse that the Marquis was in critical condition—anyone could tell it was just that, an excuse.
……And that she had someone else she loved.
That woman had hovered around me in the past, giving ridiculous reasons.
So now, for her to say she was leaving me was impossible.
Knock knock―
“Duke, Lady Bianca is here.”
At Benjamin’s words, Ricardo let out a smirk.
See, Bianca.
You can’t stay away from me.
“……Shall I tell her―.”
“Let her in.”
Ricardo quickly hurried back to bed and lay down neatly.
* * *
Ricardo told them to let me in?
As someone who thought I’d be turned away, I was quite surprised.
Creak―
Inside the room were two teacups. There was no way the mighty Ricardo had prepared them in advance for me.
Judging by the lipstick mark on one of the cups……
Idette.
Since Idette was the only woman Ricardo kept near him, it wasn’t hard to guess.
Ugh, the timing couldn’t be worse.
Ricardo’s face as he lay in bed had an oddly rosy glow. Even though he covered his eyes with his arm, I could clearly tell he was in a good mood.
……What? Is he in a good mood because he met with Idette?
That annoyed me a little.
I rolled my eyes around and carefully opened my mouth.
“……Uh, if you’re asleep, I’ll just―.”
“Why did you come?”
Ricardo stared at me with eyes as fierce as if nothing had happened.
“F-For a visit.”
“This late?”
……Was it late?
The hunting competition was yesterday.
He’d sent me away saying he needed rest and treatment, and now he was snapping like this.
Still, I couldn’t get angry at a patient.
I ignored Ricardo’s words and quietly set the bouquet I had brought onto the table.
“Is your leg okay?”
“……They said I won’t be able to walk for a week.”
“Oh dear.”
I was so jealous.
But since I couldn’t let it show, I forced my eyes to droop in sympathy.
“Then what about official duties for a week…….”
Ricardo struggled to sit up. Alarmed, I rushed to help him up.
“I still have to attend to them.”
Being a Duke clearly wasn’t an easy job. Just imagining having to work from bed was awful.
“Still, shouldn’t you rest?”
“It’s my leg that’s injured, not my head. It doesn’t interfere with work.”
Yeah, you’re amazing.
That’s exactly why I couldn’t be a Duke—I didn’t have that kind of passion!
“More importantly, what do you plan to do about Count Owen’s punishment?”
Honestly, that was the main reason I had come.
〈I think that guy got hit on purpose. Maybe it’s just my paranoia.〉
Leon’s frustrated voice lingered in my head.
Even I thought it unlikely that Ricardo couldn’t dodge Leon’s arrow. Leon’s archery skills were worse than mine.
Well, not that Ricardo would have any reason to get hit on purpose.
At my words, Ricardo asked with an oddly crooked tone.
“……Ah, so you’re more worried about the Count than about me?”
“Of course not.”
No matter what, the victim here was Ricardo.
“Responsibility, huh. I have nothing to gain from the Count. I don’t want his apology either.”
……Then what does he want?
His next words made me a little uneasy.
When I unknowingly looked at Ricardo, he let out a hollow laugh.
“What? Are you afraid I’ll hold him too accountable?”
“That’s your decision to make.”
I regretted bringing up Leon. I quickly tried to backtrack.
“You seem to be doing well, so I’ll be going now.”
Just as I was hastily bidding farewell—
“Ask for help, like you used to.”
A voice, unbearably arrogant, echoed.