The steps, carrying thoughts, gradually quickened.

Since she injured her leg, she surely couldn’t have gone far. The imperial garden is long, so she must be sitting on a bench somewhere to rest.

As he quickened his pace down the stairs, he saw a familiar silhouette under the lantern. It was as he expected. There, Selene was sitting on a bench, massaging her ankle. A pair of high-heeled shoes lay beneath the bench.

“Haa.”

As he was catching his breath, he heard a sigh from somewhere. Boreas looked up at her. A faint smoke was rising from her small, pink-tinged lips, and her eyes gazing at the dispersing smoke seemed somehow empty.

Unable to easily approach, he stood still, and seeing Selene’s empty gaze, Boreas vaguely understood why she was no longer throwing tantrums.

The reason why she, who should have been shouting and storming off on a day like this, quietly disappeared.

The woman was exhausted. This realization, flooding in like a tide, momentarily confused him.

As Selene, who had been staring into space, sighed once more and buried her face between her knees, a strange impulse arose in his heart that he must call out to her.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh?”

Selene’s eyes widened as she discovered him. Only then did he begin to move.

One step, two steps, three steps… Boreas approached Selene.

Because their relationship had been one of drifting apart or passing by, this moment of closing the distance between him and her was unfamiliar to both.

“No need to get up.”

Boreas raised his hand to stop Selene, who was trying to stand up and put on her shoes.

“You came out early.”

“I asked what you’re doing here.”

“I was looking at the stars. They’re really visible from here.”

Selene answered, stretching her hand high towards the sky.

Why did he come out early? Ah… Could he have heard the commotion? He must have. Of course he would have.

Selene’s eyes drooped slightly as she guessed the reason for his approach.

She had intended to behave quietly this year, but it turned out to be a lie after all. Last year she caused such a scene in the banquet hall, and this year she stirred up trouble again without change.

From his perspective, it would be enough to be annoyed. The party was still far from over, yet he came out early and spoke to her when he would normally have passed by.

Thinking more critically, given her past behavior, one might think she deliberately caused a commotion.

Selene spoke to him, who had stopped about five steps away.

“It was an accidental incident, and I intended to stay as quiet as possible.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you come after hearing everything? You might think it’s unnecessary meddling, but anyway, I wasn’t hurt and I left the place quickly before more words could be said.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“I caused a similar accident last year, didn’t I? I made a mess of the banquet hall in front of His Majesty. Because of that, you had to clean up after me.”

As she spoke, his face gradually hardened.

“This year, since I didn’t cause the accident intentionally, the Adrian name won’t be tarnished again. Even if an issue is raised, His Highness the Crown Prince will prove my innocence. He said he saw everything. So don’t worry.”

Listening quietly, it seemed the woman had misunderstood something.

“I don’t want to cause any more misunderstandings for you. I’ll be more careful from now on. So as not to harm your name or the Adrian name.”

She was speaking as if explaining something that wasn’t even her fault.

“Usually, no one blames you in such situations. Neither do I. It’s not something to be criticized for.”

“Given my past behavior, one might think I intentionally caused a commotion.”

“I admit I’m the type to keep all possibilities open, but only in normal aspects. Moreover, I’m not the kind of person who scolds someone for getting hurt.”

Frowning as he argued, he knelt down on one knee midway through speaking. As his face suddenly disappeared from the higher eye level, Selene’s gaze followed downward.

With his head slightly bowed, he carefully looked at her ankle exposed beneath the hem of her dress. He was just looking, not touching. Yet somehow, Selene felt embarrassed and pulled down the skirt that wasn’t even going any lower.

“It’s nothing. It doesn’t even hurt. That’s not important. I was more worried about causing unnecessary misunderstandings than this.”

“I told you I didn’t have any unnecessary misunderstandings.”

“Now I’m not worried because I know. I was worried before talking to you.”

The flow of the conversation took a strange turn. The belief that she had always known and used the word ‘worry’ clearly was shaken in an instant.

That she had worried about him. Because it was an expression that couldn’t be applied to their now rusted relationship, Boreas had to reconsider the meaning of ‘worried’.

He soon recalled another expression with a similar meaning and said, as if catching her off guard:

“Why are you being so mindful of me? You’ve always done as you pleased until now.”

“I told you before. That I’m sorry to you.”

“Valencia.”

He called her middle name, which even she had forgotten. Even in this situation, his gaze, trying not to call her by name, was infinitely serious and solemn.

Selene held her breath and looked into his eyes, which had become pale with the moonlight settling on them.

Through the open window gap, the melody of a changed waltz was carried on the wind. It was a signal that it was time to let go of the current partner’s hand and look for a new one. As the silence cracked, Selene remembered the name of the melody that had come between them.

It was a piece that composer Shoshobachi had created while confessing his true feelings to a departing lover, regretting not holding them back—Shoshobachi’s Symphony No. 3, 1st movement, also known as ‘Hidden Heart’.

In the garden where the gentle melody flowed, his voice softly broke the reverie that had been recalling the love story of a sorrowful composer.

“I won’t be fooled by lies.”

“…What?”

Selene rose from her seat with very slow movements.

“Am I not allowed to be mindful of you and worry about you?”

“You once said you felt nothing for me. That I only annoyed you.”

And now you say you’re worried?

The omitted reproach was not difficult to infer.

“No, that’s…”

That was before the regression, Boreas.

‘But…’

Can I really say that wasn’t me? After all, both before and after the regression, now and then, I’m the same person to him. If I say here that it wasn’t me, I become a contradiction to him.

“Trust is momentary, and I know how it feels when that trust crumbles. So now I’m trying not to be fooled.”

“That’s not…”

She instinctively reached for the hem of his clothes. Then, suddenly realizing what she was about to do, she stopped her movement.

“You told me you were sorry before.”

Reading hesitation in her wandering hand gesture, Boreas stepped back exactly as much as she had stepped forward and said,

“How can I believe that?”

The eyes that asked this were too calm.

Selene read the firmly built steadfastness from the black eyes that reflected her expression.

She wished words could become tangible. Or that she could show what was in her mind, or if not that, at least what was in her heart… Selene wished.

Then she could have gladly proved it.

“To be honest, I’m suspicious of you. No matter how much I rack my brain, I don’t understand. Your actions don’t make sense.”

“I have many reasons to apologize to you.”

“During all those many reasons piling up, you never said such things. Why are you doing this now?”

“I’ve always been sorry to you, and I’ve just now gained a little strength to say it.”

“Why, are you planning to leave?”

“…”

“Are you going to fall into the lake again?”

A cold wind passed between the two. The breath from his lips filled the space where the chilly wind had passed.

“I’ve been thinking a bit.”

A few minutes later, a low voice penetrated Selene’s ear. He spoke with his head turned as he put his hands in his coat.

“Visible lies are so easy to make. I’ve been fooled by those easy things many times. You keep acting differently from usual, and to my eyes, it looks like you’re preparing to leave. So I don’t want to accept that apology.”

It was conveyed how much he must have been pondering. It sounded almost like a self-affirmation, so Selene couldn’t say anything in response.

Following his silently turned gaze, Selene discovered a carriage waiting in front of the imperial palace entrance. The carriage, bearing the crest of the Grand Duke’s family, was ready to take her. Since she hadn’t actually called for it, it was easy to guess who had sent the carriage.

I am not his lie. But to him, I am indeed his lie.

Selene followed behind him as he walked towards the carriage, pondering the truth he had awakened her to.

She lowered her hand that had been touching the scar on her forehead and gently tapped her chest, just enough not to make a sound.

Her lips, which had been closed for a long time, opened when Boreas placed his hand on the door handle of the carriage that would carry only Selene.

“Do as you have been doing.”

With those final words, the carriage door closed firmly.