When Celiya, startled by the silently approaching presence, turned around, there stood Dietrich whom she had been looking for.

With his back to the sunlight, Dietrich appeared in black armor and tightly fastened Celiya’s coat.

“It’s a cloak. Tailored just for you.”

He bent down, moving his hands with protruding veins, and began to fasten the buttons of the pink cloak one by one.

The faint bite marks on her collarbone were completely hidden beneath the buttons of the cloak.

Anderson, who was watching this from the side, asked in an incredulous voice.

“Your Excellency, don’t tell me you went outside the palace earlier to buy that clothing?”

“……”

“If it was just to buy clothes, you could have sent me……”

Dietrich straightened up and looked at Anderson.

“I heard rumors that the Crown Prince’s face has become hideously changed. Find out the details of what happened.”

Anderson looked like he had a lot to say, but Dietrich’s attitude that prevented him from speaking made him withdraw obediently.

“Understood.”

As Anderson disappeared, Dietrich led Celiya into his mansion.

Unlike last time when there were a few blind maids, there was not a single person in the hallway.

Finding this strange, Celiya asked Dietrich.

“There were a few maids, why can’t I see any of them?”

“……I fired them all.”

At Dietrich’s words, Celiya tilted her head.

“Why? All of the few maids?”

“One of them was Ileon’s spy. There’s no guarantee the others weren’t the same.”

Celiya was surprised. Not by the fact that a maid was a spy, but because his voice was so calm as he said it.

“Has this happened often?”

“Countless times.”

“……”

Celiya fell into thought. If what Dietrich said was true, it meant that Ileon was considerably wary of Dietrich, so why did he allow the Emperor to give Dietrich the title of Duke?

And Celiya realized that Dietrich, who always hid something, was telling her the truth without concealing anything.

Now, does he trust her to some extent? Or…

Celiya looked at Dietrich’s indifferent face and opened her mouth.

“Don’t you think I’m a spy?”

At Celiya’s question, Dietrich’s lips curled into a faint smile.

It was just a slight smile, but it seemed to completely dispel the chilly atmosphere that had been enveloping his body.

“You are not a spy.”

Celiya’s eyes widened at the confident voice.

She was about to ask why he thought so, but Dietrich, who had already wiped the smile off his face, cut in.

“Ah, I forgot about the dagger.”

Dietrich took out a dagger from his breast and handed it to Celiya.

The dagger with a black sheath was the one he had used when teaching her dagger techniques.

“The dress you’re wearing is not suitable for hiding a dagger.”

Dietrich took Celiya to a room on the third floor.

The spacious room was furnished with only the bare essentials.

A wardrobe and a plush sofa, a desk and chair for work, and a bookshelf on one wall.

Celiya looked around. Seeing the room without even a bed, she genuinely wondered if Dietrich actually slept.

Dietrich silently opened the wardrobe and took out a box from the bottom.

Click.

Inside the box were a white satin dress and silver shoes without heels.

Although it was also white, it was clearly different from the form-fitting mermaid dress Celiya was currently wearing.

The flowing satin dress had loose sleeves that didn’t reveal the body’s shape explicitly, and the neckline was positioned near the neck.

Moreover, there was a pocket on the inside of the dress, suitable for hiding a dagger.

It looked like a dress focused on practicality rather than beauty.

“What is this?”

“A gift for you.”

Dietrich answered promptly.

“Actually, I was going to give it to you on the day of the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet.”

“……”

“Unexpectedly, I’m giving it to you now.”

After finishing his words, Dietrich seated Celiya on the plush sofa.

“In any case, it should be more comfortable than the dress you’re wearing now.”

He handed the dress to Celiya.

“Can you change into the dress by yourself?”

“……You.”

Celiya met Dietrich’s eyes.

Under his straight eyebrows, his red eyes held a warmer light than before.

Celiya was not used to such kindness and affection.

Having always been exploited, it was perhaps natural for her to be wary and unable to accept kindness at face value.

Even though what Dietrich really needed was her.

“What’s your real purpose?”

“……”

“Tell me. That’s how I can help you.”

Dietrich rested his arm on the sofa’s armrest and looked down at Celiya.

After keeping silent for a moment, he knelt on one knee in front of Celiya and began to undo the buttons of the pink cloak one by one.

“I’m asking about your purpose right now.”

“……Celiya.”

He called Celiya’s name in a low voice and continued.

“Perhaps, it’s the same as yours.”

It’s an ambiguous answer.

This wasn’t the answer Celiya wanted.

Celiya needed certainty.

“Do you, like me, want the downfall of Abelon?”

So, she uttered what she had never said to anyone. She revealed the true feelings she had always swallowed and kept inside.

As the last button of the cloak came undone, Dietrich’s gaze fell on the bite marks on her collarbone.

Although they had faded thanks to his rubbing the night before, bite marks don’t disappear in just a day.

Dietrich furrowed his brow and muttered lowly.

“It’s irritating. Everything about you.”

After saying this, Dietrich lowered his head to Celiya’s collarbone.

Celiya stiffened in surprise at his sudden action.

Soft lips gently enveloped her collarbone.

As something hot and soft stimulated her skin, the heat seemed to spread from that point.

Celiya reflexively embraced Dietrich’s neck, which was buried in her collarbone.

Until now, Dietrich had wiped bread crumbs off her, had held her hand, but had never made contact like this.

Celiya loosened her hand from his head and whispered softly.

“Are you getting revenge like this for kissing me on your own earlier?”

“……”

Instead of answering, Dietrich raised his head. His lips were moist beneath his high nose bridge.

Celiya, meeting Dietrich’s eyes, closed her mouth.

He was looking at her with a very unfamiliar face.

His clear red eyes shone like those of a predator.

Unlike the looks of men lusting after her, it was the look of a hungry beast about to hunt its prey.

Celiya knew that look.

The day the kingdom fell, and she arrived at the allied Inata Duchy after riding all night.

The eyes of the large eagle that stared at her while pecking at a corpse with nothing but bones left.

Feeling like prey before a predator, Celiya held her breath.

−I warned you last time. Be careful, you might be devoured without a scrap of flesh left by that man.

Ileon’s words echoed in Celiya’s mind.

Celiya finally understood why he had said such a thing.

The way Dietrich was looking at her now resembled that eagle then. Circling above her head, waiting for her to fall exhausted.

As Celiya stared blankly at Dietrich, a large hand brushed away the hair stuck to her cheek and said,

“I won’t harm you.”

It was a kind and gentle voice that was hard to believe came from the same person who had just given such a look.

His face had already returned to its usual expressionless state.

“What did you just do?”

Dietrich’s gaze fell on Celiya’s collarbone.

Following his gaze, Celiya saw that the faint bite marks had disappeared without a trace.

As if they had never existed in the first place.

“……How did you do that?”

Celiya asked in surprise.

Dietrich slowly scanned her wide green eyes and drawled,

“Who knows.”

“……”

“Whether it was irritating or not, maybe it would have been better to leave it alone from the start.”

He muttered lowly and placed the silver shoes from the box on the floor.

The heelless silver shoes were the same color as Celiya’s hair.

“The day I first saw you, would it have been right to kill you when you collapsed in my arms, coughing up blood?”

Dietrich’s expression was so dry that Celiya couldn’t tell at all whether his words were sincere or false.

Kneeling on one knee on the floor, Dietrich grasped Celiya’s right ankle.

“……”

Celiya said nothing. No answer came to mind immediately.

As if he didn’t expect an answer, Dietrich removed the shoe Celiya was wearing and put one of the silver shoes on her foot.

After putting on the shoe with the delicate touch of handling fine porcelain, he silently put on the other shoe as well.

His attitude, so different from his words, as if handling something very precious, made Celiya feel strange.

“What exactly do you want to say to me?”

“What I want to say to you……”

“Yes. If you have something to say, don’t speak vaguely, look me in the eye and say it. Do you regret saving me now?”

At Celiya’s question, Dietrich slowly closed and opened his eyes.

His clear red eyes beneath his thick eyelashes fully captured Celiya.

“I don’t regret it.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Dietrich didn’t answer Celiya’s question and spat out as if chewing his words.

“The problem isn’t with you.”

When Celiya frowned at the incomprehensible answer, Dietrich stood up and said,

“I’ll go out first now. The Crown Prince, realizing you’ve disappeared, might search my mansion again.”

“……”

“Think of this as your home and rest comfortably. Master.”

Adding the insincere ‘master’, he left the room with those final words.