Blair struggled to suppress the sudden surge of longing as she began to read the storybook. At first, it was difficult as thoughts of Asiel came to mind, but gradually her heart settled.

Perhaps her body had mistaken the small warmth in her arms for Asiel.

Nevertheless, enjoying that sense of stability and peace, Blair did her best to narrate the story.

Fortunately, the child showed interest and focused on the story Blair was telling.

The peace was broken the moment a prince appeared in the fairy tale.

“I want to read a book too.”

A boy who looked about five or six years old approached with a storybook. Behind him, a girl who appeared to be the same age came running.

“Hey! That’s my book, you know? Give it back!”

“No! It’s mine!”

“You left yours over there!”

The girl grabbed the boy’s storybook and pulled. The boy held on just as stubbornly.

“Um, children?”

Seeing the two children bickering, Blair stopped her storytelling in confusion. The child in Blair’s arms frowned deeply and shouted in a clumsy pronunciation.

“Noisy!”

But the older sister and brother showed no sign of stopping their tug-of-war over the book.

Finally, unable to watch any longer, Blair put down the child in her arms on the chair and stood up to approach the two children.

“Children, if you pull like that, the book will get hurt. I’ll read it to you, so let’s—”

Just as she grabbed the book the children were pulling, the girl let go, and Blair’s hand was cut by the sharp edge of the paper.

“Ah.”

“Oh no.”

The two children stopped fighting when they saw blood coming from Blair’s finger. Their faces turned pale at the same time.

“My lady?”

Mellie, who happened to be coming this way, witnessed the situation and hurriedly approached.

“Oh my, your hand…! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. It’s nothing, so please don’t make a fuss. The children will be frightened.”

Blair quickly covered her bleeding finger to comfort the startled children, but the child who saw it burst into tears.

“You’re hurt!”

“Hurt? Who?”

Miela approached, having heard the commotion. Blair’s plan to avoid making a scene seemed to have already gone awry.

The boy pointed at Blair and said in a small voice:

“The, the princess is hurt.”

“I’m fine. It’s just a small paper cut.”

Blair tried to reassure them that she was alright, but the children were not easily calmed. It seemed to be due to their feelings of guilt.

Then, as if remembering something, the girl approached Miela.

“Sister Miela, can’t you heal her?”

“Th-that’s right! Help her, sis.”

“Alright. I’ll treat the lady, but you two promise not to fight anymore. Promise?”

The children nodded vigorously.

Miela made them pinky swear before sending them away. Then she approached Blair.

“You took time out of your busy schedule to come here, and now you’ve had to deal with an unnecessary incident.”

Blair tried to hide her emotions, sensing that those words seemed to imply her visit was unwelcome, though it was likely just a feeling stemming from her personal emotions towards this woman.

“It’s alright. I’m just glad the children weren’t hurt.”

“I’m glad you feel that way. Well then, my lady, may I see your wound?”

Miela held out her hand to Blair.

Blair placed her hand, which had begun to sting belatedly, on top of Miela’s.

At that moment, memories from her past life suddenly overlapped.

In her past life, on this day, she had also received treatment from Miela, though for a different reason. In the main hall of the temple, for her heels that had been rubbed raw by new shoes.

This was followed by the memory of Miela’s touch as she caressed Herdin’s abdomen to treat his broken ribs. Recalling that memory made Blair’s fingertips tremble.

At that moment, Blair unconsciously withdrew the hand she had extended to Miela.

“…No.”

Miela looked at Blair with puzzled eyes.

“My lady?”

“On second thought, I don’t think it needs treatment. It would be a waste of the Priestess’s precious energy.”

Blair clasped her hands together, as if afraid Miela might try to grab them. She had a baseless premonition that she shouldn’t receive treatment from her.

“I don’t mind, but if you don’t want it, I suppose there’s nothing to be done.”

Just as the conversation with Miela was about to conclude—

“Princess!”

Several children came running, out of breath.

Blair and Miela looked at the children with curious eyes.

“What’s the matter?”

“The prince! The prince has come!”

“…Prince?”

“The person who looks like a prince! You said he was the princess’s husband.”

Looking in the direction the children were pointing with their small hands, Blair saw Herdin approaching.

Blair’s eyes widened in surprise.

‘We were supposed to meet at 2 o’clock.’

Today, he was scheduled to attend a morning cabinet meeting at the imperial palace and come to the temple as soon as it finished.

She had planned to go out to the main hall of the temple to match that time.

Because he came early, Miela and he ended up meeting. Her heart began to race at this unexpected situation.

“Blair.”

Herdin approached with large strides, his gaze lingering on Blair for a moment before turning to Miela beside her. His eyes narrowed as he recognized her.

The woman Blair had said he would come to love in the future.

He still thought it was a ridiculous story, but imagining Blair laughing and chatting with such a woman just moments ago put him in a sour mood.

Unaware of his feelings, Miela greeted him with a bright expression.

“Hello, Your Grace. We meet again.”

“Indeed, we meet again. What brings you here? I was under the impression that a priestess’s duties were quite demanding.”

Herdin deliberately responded to Miela’s words, watching for Blair’s reaction.

“Ah, it’s a rare day off, so I came to see the children and happened to meet the Duchess. It seemed like she needed help, so I was assisting.”

“Taking my place, I see. I’m grateful.”

“Oh, no. I’m doing it because I enjoy it.”

But Blair was just quietly observing the conversation between the two. With that unreadable expression of hers.

As if she, not Miela, were the uninvited guest in this conversation.

Herdin, who had kept his gaze fixed on Blair even while conversing with Miela, finally took Blair’s hand first.

“Well, we have matters to attend to, so we’ll be going now.”

Blair was helplessly pulled along by his hand, without even a chance to say goodbye to Miela.

“Ah…”

A trace of regret and sympathy flashed across Miela’s face as she watched the two of them walk away.

“…As expected, he doesn’t smile when he’s with the Duchess.”

Poor soul.

You should be happy, without fail.

‘I must save that person.’

From that hellish political marriage.

* * *

After leaving the orphanage, the two headed for the annex of the temple.

Most nobles of the Ardel Empire are laid to rest in their own territories.

However, nobles often spend long periods in their townhouses in the capital, making it difficult to visit family graves on memorial days.

For such people, the temple created an annex to enshrine souls, called the Spirit Hall.

From the temple’s perspective, it was an opportunity to receive donations, and from the nobles’ perspective, it was beneficial to have a place nearby to visit the deceased.

The building created in this way was strictly guarded by holy knights at the entrance.

Although there were no actual remains here, security was tight to maintain a solemn atmosphere in the place where the deceased were enshrined.

“Please enter, Your Graces.”

A holy knight who confirmed their identities guided them into the annex.

After climbing several flights of stairs in the annex, they reached the room enshrining the ancestors of the Delmark ducal family. The family crest was painted on the front.

The holy knight who had guided them withdrew, and the two entered the room. Inside were portraits of the previous Duke and Duchess of Delmark.

Blair hesitated as she was about to enter the room, suddenly confronted with their portraits.

‘Is it alright for me to be here?’

In her past life, it had been so natural to be by his side, but in this life, that thought came first.

I’ll be leaving this house soon.

Wouldn’t I just be interfering with his time to talk with his parents?

Blair looked at Herdin’s back as he entered ahead of her and carefully opened her mouth.

“Herdin.”

He turned at her call.

“I’ll wait outside for a moment.”

“Why?”

“…I thought you might be uncomfortable.”

Herdin stared at Blair for a moment.

His fake wife often distanced herself from him at crucial moments like this. He didn’t like it.

“What could a husband have to hide from his wife?”

Herdin stepped forward and took Blair’s hand, bringing her to his side. Blair allowed herself to be pulled along and stood beside him.

Standing next to him in front of the portraits, holding hands, she felt a twinge of guilt, as if they were deceiving the late Duke and Duchess by appearing as a real couple. But his hand holding hers seemed to have no intention of letting go, so firm was his grip.

Blair looked up at Herdin standing beside her.

His expression as he faced the place where his parents’ souls were enshrined was terribly impassive. He looked like someone visiting the grave of complete strangers, not the resting place of his parents’ souls.

But Blair knew.

She knew the boy who had pretended to be unbothered when others spoke of his parents’ accident, only to slip away from the banquet hall to grieve alone.

How much pain that boy must have endured to become the man he is now.

Once, she had even loved that loneliness. She had thought she could fill that void.

But now she knows that was a presumptuous hope.

“Let’s go back now.”

After staying in that place for a while, the two left the Spirit Hall with a final prayer for the deceased.

At that moment, they saw someone walking from the far end of the corridor. Blair’s eyes widened as she recognized him.