As if indicating that she would surely accept her, Siana slightly opened her eyes that had been closed. The queen, who looked like sugar, was turning to her husband beside her and asking.

Soon the king’s gaze reached her. Siana felt the cold golden eyes scan her up and down. Frightened, she lowered her eyes. It felt like something was about to happen.

But contrary to her expectation, the king answered in a gentle voice.

“Do as you please. If you want to keep her in the castle, just let the head servant know.”

That can’t be right.

Father tried to interfere with everything the king was trying to do, solely because of the mixed Brinwell royal blood. He did so even here in Aglante, not Brinwell.

So naturally, the king also disliked the Nebel people led by her father.

It was then that the queen turned to her again and asked.

“Will you continue to enjoy the banquet, or would you like to go to your room?”

It was as if there was no option to send her back.

If that happened, her father’s plan would be ruined. A flustered Siana lowered her eyes. Clearly, her father seemed to want her to be driven out by the queen’s hand. But if she were to stay in the castle…

However, the queen did not seem likely to send her back.

She hadn’t been told how to act in this situation. A chill ran down her spine from bewilderment. She had received the queen’s question and needed to answer quickly, but her mind went blank and no thoughts came.

“I, I…”

She couldn’t think of any words to follow. Continue to enjoy the banquet? But if she went back down to the banquet hall, she would have to face her father.

Even without deliberately turning her gaze downward, Siana could tell. Her father was watching her.

And if she told her father that the queen seemed to plan on keeping her in the castle instead of driving her out…

Then she would be beaten by her father again.

It felt like she couldn’t breathe. No matter how many times she endured it, she never got used to the violence. When her father raised his hand, Siana still felt pain and fear.

It was then, as she was unable to finish her words.

“Judging by her condition, it would be better for her to go to her room.”

The king, who summed up the situation with cold words, gestured to a servant nearby.

“Take Siana Nebel to the head servant.”

“Gilrod Nebel did not offer his daughter with good intentions.”

That night, in the now shared bedroom of the couple, Idren said so.

Lying on the bed looking up at the canopy, Ophelia replied to those words. I know. I have my own thoughts too.

“Are you not going to tell me what those thoughts are?”

“Later, I’ll let you know if it succeeds.”

She said this because if Siana didn’t move according to her intentions, she would have to take care of it herself. Idren looked at her intently and then said.

“Just don’t do anything dangerous.”

I gave you a knight, so have the knight do what can be done.

And then Idren climbed onto the bed. Ophelia felt the side sink under his weight. Soon his fingers touched near her forehead. It was now a familiar touch.

As if playing with a ball of yarn, the man fiddled with her hair, and Ophelia said.

“Gilrod didn’t seem to treat his daughter well.”

“It was the same in the previous life.”

At his attitude as if he knew something, Ophelia asked.

“What happened?”

“I don’t remember well, but… in the previous life, Gilrod Nebel tried to bring in an adopted son-in-law to inherit the family.”

“Instead of passing it on to his child?”

Even in Reden, where males were treated as superior, families were inherited according to bloodline.

She had heard that there were countries far away that brought in adopted sons-in-law separately, but this didn’t apply to Aglante, Reden, and Egelbamot.

Because the royal family strictly followed hereditary succession by blood, naturally the noble families also followed the same trend.

Then Idren looked down at her intently.

“Gilrod Nebel is a greedy person. He must have thought he couldn’t pass on the family to a daughter who stutters.”

So he brought in someone with Brinwell royal blood mixed in. His added words were tinged with coldness. Ophelia thought that among the people she knew, Gilrod seemed to have the worst relationship with Idren.

She asked the man who couldn’t hide his hatred.

“So what happened?”

“The marriage didn’t go through. When the groom’s procession crossed the Aglante border, Siana’s corpse was found floating in the moat.”

Then Gilrod adopted the one he had originally intended to make his son-in-law. Idren added and asked her. May I kiss your forehead?

Ophelia looked at the man who had changed his mind in just a day, asking after saying he didn’t want to do anything yesterday. Due to the angle, his shadowed yellow eyes were looking down at her.

Yesterday she was clearly willing to accept whatever he did, but seeing those slightly wavering eyes now, she couldn’t readily open her mouth.

After silently gazing into those uniquely colored eyes, Ophelia turned on her side. Idren didn’t ask further and got up to turn off the lamp.

In the darkened room, lying back down beside her, he said.

“Call my name.”

“…Why so suddenly?”

“Weren’t you going to call it earlier?”

Only then did Ophelia remember the conversation they had in the banquet hall. At that time, Idren had called her name several times, trying to get her attention.

It’s not a difficult thing to do. As Ophelia was about to open her mouth, thinking this, Idren added more words.

“I want to hear you call my name without getting angry.”

Just like yesterday, at these words that made her out to be a terrible person, Ophelia frowned sharply.

“What does that make me when you say things like that?”

“What does it make you? You’re always the same Ophelia.”

And the man murmured, sounding a bit wronged. Yet why do I like you?

It was a statement that suddenly made real a fact that had been momentarily forgotten, not being particularly mentioned. Ophelia replied with her back turned.

“…How am I supposed to answer that?”

Then, she wondered if her response, which had somehow seemed small, might have sounded strange. It was an uncommon occurrence.

Fortunately, Idren didn’t say anything else. Instead, he persistently demanded.

“Anyway, please call my name.”

He would keep complaining if she didn’t do as he wished. Sensing this, Ophelia opened her mouth with a small sigh.

“Idren.”

“…”

“Are you satisfied?”

But no answer came. Curious about what expression he might be making, Ophelia turned around. Then Idren, who had clearly been looking her way all along, hurriedly lay on his side.

At the suddenly reversed position, Ophelia blinked.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“…You don’t need to know.”

The voice that leaked from his back, as large as a bear with a bit of exaggeration, was trembling finely. Realizing what was laced in it, Ophelia opened her mouth in bewilderment.

“Are you crying?”

“Who’s crying?”

His denial in a voice with raised ends was quite suspicious. Ophelia looked at the man’s back for a moment, his eyes probably not crying but likely misted over, and asked.

“Should I call you one more time?”

“…That’s enough.”

It wasn’t good to hear it too many times in one day. Blinking in the pitch-black darkness, Idren recalled his name called gently by her for the first time. Idren.

It was a word meaning ‘nothing’ in ancient Aglante. A name that came about simply because a title to call him was needed, given by the previous king as if bestowing charity. But the moment it brushed Ophelia’s lips, he was suddenly overwhelmed. It was an uncontrollable emotion that welled up from somewhere unknown.

I’ll ask her to do it again. Idren thought, pressing his lips tightly. Next time, I should ask her to call me without getting angry. Then this name, which he had never liked before, might become a bit endearing.

As he harbored a wish too honest to voice aloud, Ophelia cleared her throat behind him.

“Since you say you’re not crying, can I ask you one thing?”

“…Ask.”

“It’s about Netepel.”

“You want to ask about that at this moment?”

Ophelia looked with dumbfounded eyes at the man who had completely changed his attitude in the span of a single breath.

“You told me to ask, didn’t you?”

“You really know how to ruin the mood… Never mind. I’m the fool for expecting anything from you.”

And Idren turned to face her. The blanket beneath them rustled.

Ophelia thought that even if he had stayed still, she wouldn’t have been able to hide her face. The room was so dark that nothing could be seen.

“If he’s your friend, why don’t you ask him directly instead of asking me what you’re curious about?”

Why is he upset again?

Turning her head towards the man whose emotional changes were utterly unpredictable, Ophelia asked.

“In the previous life, did Netepel also go down to Reden at the same time?”

Even as she asked, she worried that he might not answer – a reasonable doubt given how he kept grumbling over trivial things – but contrary to expectations, Idren answered readily.

“Probably so. I remember hearing news that the prince of Egelbamot was staying in the river area around the time I was returning to Aglante.”

Idren suddenly remembered that the previous Ophelia had never even opened a window for him.

Then she threw herself from the balcony, and the next time she even locked the door to her room.

Compared to that, they were now almost like a very close couple. Quickly burying the bitter memories of that time deep below his consciousness, Idren asked.

“Why do you ask that?”

“Something seems strange.”

“What seems strange?”

“If he came to Reden in the previous life too, why didn’t he come to see me?”

At that question tinged with pure curiosity, Idren let out a small sigh.

After hesitating for a moment, he opened his mouth.

“Perhaps he couldn’t come to see you.”