Doha suppressed the subtle competitive urge rising within him and slowly lowered his head, dropping his gaze. Then, in accordance with proper etiquette, he offered a respectful greeting.
“This servant of Alteon greets Your Grace the Duke.”
So this was why he should have worn his glasses. He had wondered why, unlike usual, he had felt like dressing especially neat and unassuming today—sure enough, there had been a reason.
There was not a single good thing that would come of Duke Candel discovering his identity now. And so, once again, he cast aside his pride and presented himself as a lowly junior priest.
“Hic!”
Lariette tried desperately to hold it in, but in the end she could not stop an ill-timed hiccup from escaping.
It would have been impossible not to be startled when Asrahan had appeared in an instant like this.
Worse still, the timing of his appearance could not have been more unfortunate. Even in her own opinion, they had been in a posture that invited misunderstanding.
“Lie, here.”
Though he had killed his pride, Doha, feeling needlessly spiteful, handed her a glass of water in a voice even kinder than usual.
Lariette pinched her nose and covered her mouth to stop the hiccups as she accepted the cup.
‘……Lie?’
Meanwhile, Asrahan frowned at the sight of him calling her by a nickname so naturally. A dark, murky aura surged as though it might tear Doha to pieces at any moment.
Perhaps wanting to stop him, Lariette hurriedly drank the water and opened her mouth.
“Asrahan, it’s a misunderstanding!”
“……What is?”
“Just now! The position we were in! He was only healing me.”
“I know it might have looked strange, but Doha and I are just friends!” she added, waving her hands.
To Asrahan, it was laughable. What man looked at a friend with eyes like that?
However, he knew that, at present, he was in no position to interrogate her. Lariette seemed to realize this as well and stopped making excuses.
“Priest. Leave.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Doha bowed deeply and answered.
He obediently withdrew, but the face he turned away with had sunk into a terrible stillness. His usual relaxed gaze was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a fiercely distorted expression.
‘I thought he had no heart.’
Doha clenched his fist tightly as he walked away. It was not a pleasant feeling, watching something he had thought he could have at any moment slip through his fingers.
At the same time, however, it was exceedingly interesting. A woman who had even turned the heart of that Duke Candel. She was indeed worthy of being considered special by him.
He was stepping back for now, but who knew what would happen from here on? He curled one corner of his mouth into a crooked smile.
Meanwhile, once Doha had completely left, Lariette looked at Asrahan with a slightly flushed expression.
What his actions meant was clear. And so, a quiet expectation was buried in the voice with which she asked.
“……You said you don’t get jealous.”
“……I do not.”
“Liar.”
Lariette snorted as she replied. Then she rose from her chair and approached him, standing there so firmly.
Asrahan looked at her coming closer with a confused expression. The nearer she drew, the faster his heart beat.
“Then why did you scare Doha and drive him away?”
“……It was merely for the mage’s sake.”
“For me? I was perfectly fine with Doha touching foreheads with me, so why is that for my sake?”
At her logical point, Asrahan could find no answer and remained silent.
As she had said, it had not been for her sake. He simply had not been able to endure seeing Lariette and the priest so close together.
Why? Asrahan asked himself. Why had he been unable to endure it?
The moment he saw that scene, it felt as though something inside his heart had snapped. A passionate feeling he could not possibly withstand engulfed him and made him move on its own.
He wanted to cut off the neck of the priest who had pressed his forehead to Lariette’s that very instant, and at the same time, he was afraid that if he did so, she might hate him.
He did not want to be hated. And he wanted that affectionate gaze and voice to be enjoyed by him alone.
Asrahan knew now that the time had come to admit it. The time had come to say the words he had been avoiding all this while, afraid that once he acknowledged them, there would be no turning back.
“Should I go drink with Doha?”
Lariette asked, her eyes curving slyly. Before he knew it, she was right in front of his nose.
“Shall I, Asrahan?”
The whisper that followed was full of breath, almost as though she were seducing him. She slowly placed her slender fingers on his shoulder.
And only then did Asrahan open his mouth.
“……Do not.”
The eyes that had once been nothing but emotionless now held a mournful feeling. As if giving certainty to himself, he repeated the words.
“Do not go, Lariette.”
At the thick voice calling her name for the first time, Lariette widened her eyes and looked up at Asrahan. The gaze approaching her was especially heated.
“……I never knew a heart could beat this quickly.”
“Pardon?”
“My gaze turns entirely to one place, and even when I do not wish it, my thoughts continue without end.”
Asrahan lowered his eyes as though confessing a sin and spoke in a low voice.
“When I imagine you with another, it feels as though my blood is flowing backward. Enough that I want to cut off the hands that touched you at once.”
“Asrahan.”
“If this is jealousy, then yes. I am jealous—madly so.”
His voice was like molten iron boiling over. Beneath it lay a dense heat that seemed ready to chew up and swallow everything at any moment.
Asrahan slowly reached out his gloved hand toward her face.
Lariette blinked at the hand that seemed about to touch her at any moment, but his hand only hovered near her cheek and chin, unable to make contact.
As if she were too precious to touch, or as if he feared his own contamination might stain her.
“……It was such an unfamiliar emotion that I wandered for a long time.”
Asrahan lowered his head and looked at her with infinitely solemn blue eyes.
“Lariette.”
Lariette had no room even to swallow dryly, focusing only on his gaze, the movement of his lips, and every tip of his fingers.
One second passed like a minute. The moment his lips parted stretched on unbearably slowly.
“That proposal to date. Is it still valid?”
The end of his question trembled faintly. It seemed as though he feared hearing an answer he did not want.
But to Lariette, that worry was simply absurd. There was only one answer she could give.
“Of course!”
With a smile blooming brightly across her face, Lariette promptly threw herself into his arms. Though it was a sudden action, Asrahan lifted her in his firm arms.
Thump, thump, thump.
At her answer, at the contact with her, his heart once again pounded quickly.
He could not believe it. That such a moment would come to him. That he would harbor feelings of love for someone, and that those feelings would be returned.
“I look forward to being with you from now on, Asrahan.”
Lariette said, her eyes curving prettily. Asrahan looked at her with trembling pupils and slowly answered.
“As do I.”
I look forward to being with you. He whispered softly by her ear.
However, there was a considerable difference in what each of them meant by “from now on.”
Lariette believed that he had accepted her proposal to date for exactly three months, while Asrahan felt no need to set a period on a relationship.
In other words, while Lariette’s “from now on” meant three months, to Asrahan, so long as he held that passionate feeling, it meant eternity.
Unaware of this difference, Lariette only smiled brightly, not knowing that in the near future she would beat the ground in regret.
***
Whoosh!
A luxurious-looking notebook was opened quickly before Asrahan’s eyes.
It had been a notebook filled almost entirely with blank white pages, but once it reached the latter part, it was packed densely with black writing.
With an expressionless face, Asrahan glanced at the notebook spread open before him. Then he lifted his gaze and stared at Lariette’s face.
She had suddenly burst into his office and stood before his desk, looking at him with eyes sparkling full of expectation. Then, in a flushed voice as though seeking persuasion, she asked.
“What do you think?”
“……What is this?”
Asrahan slowly began reading the writing densely filling the notebook.
(Complete)
The list went on for quite some time besides this. At the very top was the title, “Things I want to do!”
“We have to do all of these together.”
At the sight of her asserting this innocently, Asrahan lightly bit the inside of his lip. There were far too many things in it that were impossible for him.
He turned the pages of the notebook here and there to examine its contents thoroughly. When he tried to go back to the first page, Lariette hurriedly grabbed his hand and stopped him.
“That side has other things. You can start from here.”
“Yes.”
Lariette smiled gracefully, pretending to be composed, but inside her heart was pounding.
That was because the first pages contained her bucket list and matters concerning her terminal condition.
‘That was close.’
She let out a small sigh and stroked her chest. After finally managing to begin dating him, she did not want him to discover her condition right away and have it all end in catastrophe.
Asrahan, having answered obediently, calmly read down the lists she had written. But only for a moment. He discovered one sentence that bothered him and frowned.
(Complete)
A tour of the city, was it. He had never done it with her, yet it was marked complete, and that displeased him considerably.
When he looked up at her as though demanding an explanation, Lariette only then seemed to discover the phrase and let out a gasp.
“You must have enjoyed yourself greatly.”
Seeing as you even marked it. Asrahan muttered in an icy tone.
“No, no, this is just a list of things I wanted to try, and it’s not like I only cross them off when I do them with a lover……”
“Then there is no need for you to do them all with me.”
Asrahan abruptly turned his gaze to the side and answered. Seeing that, Lariette immediately burst into laughter.
“Pfft! Hahaha, I’m sorry. But you’re just too cute when you’re jealous.”
She made her excuse while subtly sitting down beside him.
Cute? Asrahan thought there must surely be something wrong with her eyes. It was a word he had never heard even once since he was born.
Lariette placed her arms on his desk, propped her chin on them, and stared intently at him. Her eyes curved leisurely, expressing her pleased feelings.
“I want to do them with my lover. Do you not want to, Asrahan?”
When her seductive question ended, Asrahan clenched his fist without realizing it.
She surely had not meant it in that sense, but the words left far too much room for interpretation.
Looking at him like that was against the rules. Asrahan sincerely thought so. As long as those violet eyes sparkled at him like that, he could not possibly refuse.
“……I will tell them to prepare a carriage.”
“Eek! As expected, Asrahan, I like you so much!”
Lariette cheered and lightly rested her head on his shoulder.
To her, it was skinship light as a feather, but to Asrahan, it was not.
The corners of his mouth twitched against his will, and his ears grew hot. He could not understand at all why his body kept tensing up.
“I will go and make preparations now.”
Asrahan hastily made an excuse and sprang to his feet. At this rate, he felt he might cause some kind of incident.
Lariette, never even imagining that he had deliberately avoided her, headed to her room in high spirits. It was their first official date together, so it was impossible not to be excited.
The place they headed to by carriage was the downtown area of the capital.
At the destination that was plainly chosen out of jealousy, Lariette burst into laughter once again, but Asrahan remained silent throughout.
However, the final destination was a place she had not expected. After getting down from the carriage, Lariette widened her eyes and looked at Asrahan.
“Why a boutique?”
“Did you not say you had no things with which to adorn yourself?”
The place they had arrived at was Artiz, a boutique said to be the finest in the Harshan Empire. It was also famous for mainly accepting orders only from women of the imperial family.
At Asrahan’s words, Lariette diligently searched her memory. She could not quite recall when she had said such a thing.
And before long, a faint memory surfaced of saying something like that to him on the day they had gone to see the performance, when he had come out before her.
“Hehehe.”
He remembered something she had said in passing—how kind! Thoroughly pleased, Lariette smiled brightly and stealthily reached for his arm. She meant to link hers with it.
“Please go in.”
However, Asrahan smoothly avoided her and opened the door for her. His manner was so natural that she could hardly think he had done it on purpose.
Lariette felt a little disappointed, but since she now considered it something she could do anytime, she did not grow impatient and accepted his escort into the building.
“Your Grace, you have arrived. Ah, is this the lady?”
“Yes. See that she is attended to without lacking anything.”
“Of course.”
Madame Charbet, the owner of Artiz, came out to greet them. She was said to be more difficult to meet than most high-ranking nobles.
Madame Charbet quickly looked Lariette up and down. She had been at a loss because she had not been told the status or appearance of the woman coming with him, but she was surprised to see that Lariette was far more refined than expected.
She brought dozens of dresses and accessories before Lariette, who was seated on the sofa. Every last one was splendid and beautiful. Lariette’s eyes went round as she continued to marvel at them.
“I believe these lines would suit you, miss. Please try them on.”
“Ah, yes. Asrahan, I’ll be back. Don’t get lonely without me, all right?”
“……Yes.”
In the past, he would have ignored such coquetry, but now it was a lover’s whisper. And so he answered meekly and leaned back against the sofa.
Following Madame Charbet, Lariette tried on countless dresses, regardless of her own will.
She was deeply moved to be wearing dresses from Artiz, each of which was said to cost an enormous sum. Even when she had been a duke’s daughter, she had never been able to wear one because of her family’s financial circumstances.
After a long period of consideration, the ones left were a dazzling blue dress and an elegant beige dress.
When Lariette could not bring herself to choose between the two, Madame Charbet suggested that she show them to Asrahan and ask him.
“Asrahan, what do you think?”
Lariette asked with a shy smile, wearing the blue dress adorned with delicate frills.
She had forgotten for a moment.
That he was Asrahan.
“…….”
Asrahan only stood there, staring at her without an answer. A familiar silence quietly drifted through the boutique.
Madame Charbet smiled awkwardly, watching both Lariette and Asrahan for their reactions. In such a situation, it was only proper to immediately say she looked beautiful, but there was no way Duke Candel could say such a thing.
“Between this one and the beige one, which do you think is better?”
Lariette kindly provided him with options for his sake. But Asrahan looked at her with puzzlement and continued speaking.
“There is no need for you to choose.”
“I will purchase everything she took a liking to. All the accessories her gaze touched as well.”
He gave the order as naturally as if he were buying a few pieces of fruit at the market.
Lariette gaped and tried to stop him, but this time, even her sparkling eyes were of little use.
***
Time spent together passed far too quickly.
Before they knew it, the shadows had lengthened and darkness was slowly settling over the streets, so they climbed into the carriage to return to the mansion.
After chattering for a long while about other topics, Lariette suddenly narrowed her eyes and looked at Asrahan. Her voice rose as though she were interrogating him.
“But why didn’t you answer earlier?”
“What answer do you mean?”
“I asked if I looked pretty in the dress.”
Lariette poked his stomach with her finger as she questioned him accusingly. In the midst of it, she found herself admiring how firm his abdomen was.
“……You were beautiful.”
Asrahan answered, drawing his body back to avoid her touch. Undeterred, she moved even closer.
“Your answer was late. This is an insult! An insult, I tell you!”
Lariette deliberately put on a sulky expression as she continued. However, the corners of her mouth were full of mischief she could not hide.
As her finger kept poking his body, Asrahan felt as though he had been driven into a corner. That ticklish sensation was far too great a stimulus for him.
In the end, unable to endure it, Asrahan caught Lariette’s wrist and stopped her.
“You are beautiful.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
So much so that I wanted to gouge out the coachman’s eyes the instant he saw you. He barely swallowed the words down. For fear that the young beast might be frightened of him.
But the fearless rabbit did not even know she was sticking her head into the jaws of a beast, and kept urging her own doom.
“Then kiss me.”
“……Pardon?”
Asrahan asked back, unable to believe what he had heard.
Lariette gazed at him with her coquettish violet eyes and opened her mouth again.
“I said, let’s kiss.”