Grace handed over a thick sheaf of documents. I took them without hesitation.
"This..."
The topmost page seized my attention entirely.
For a moment...
Line after line of information, each carrying enough weight to shake the whole of the Empire. Should this reach the public, it would not be an exaggeration to say that every soul across the realm would be thrown into an uproar.
I was certain Grace had placed that page at the very top deliberately. Those sharp eyes of hers had surely caught every minute shift in my expression from the first instant.
"Much like yourself, I too was startled when I first received this. But it has since been confirmed directly by those within the palace."
"Is that so."
My thoughts scattered briefly before arranging themselves once more into order.
"And what has His Imperial Majesty decided?"
"An official ruling is likely to follow shortly. The day after tomorrow, an unannounced inspection will be conducted. It involves the Prime Minister, the Minister of the Interior, the Deputy Commander of the Capital Defence Knight Guard, and several senior figures from the Magic Tower at the Imperial Academy."
"An inspection?"
"The agenda is entirely closed. The public knows nothing of it."
A joint inspection involving the Empire's highest officials alongside the executive ranks of the Magic Tower. A gathering of that scale pointed to only one conclusion.
A significant visitor was expected, and they were ensuring that every security protocol and every provision of the new curriculum was without flaw.
Tomorrow I was accompanying Charlotte to a riding engagement. It was possible I might gather additional intelligence from the higher nobility during the visit to Count Welser's estate.
Even so, hearing it laid out directly from Grace was plainly far more efficient and reliable.
"Saintes arriving alone could not possibly compel the most influential figures in the capital and the Magic Tower to convene an unannounced inspection simultaneously. Is that right?"
"Precisely. However considerable Saintes' religious influence may be, it is not sufficient to move His Imperial Majesty and the master of the Magic Tower together under a single agenda."
"So there is another figure who will be arriving?"
"Curious, are you?"
Her tone shifted. Enticing, sweet, and rather pleasant to hear.
A deliberate lure, cast to draw me into her little game. She winked, her satisfied expression entirely unguarded.
Today, Grace seemed to have no conception of restraint when it came to her own amusement.
"Grace, today you have already had me comply with nearly every wish of yours without any meaningful resistance. Yet I myself have not received a single thing I came for."
She dismissed my words without a second thought.
"Ian."
"What?"
"You were not the least bit surprised when I called you by that name."
"We have already spoken of this. I have long suspected you knew my true name."
"Tch. How dreadfully dull."
I said nothing.
Watching Grace pout stirred something peculiar within my chest.
She shifted her position then. Without any trace of hesitation, she lay back slowly and rested her head upon my lap.
The difference in our ages was considerable, yet Grace behaved with a childlike ease that belied her years.
Was she sulking?
"Why are you lying down?"
"I suddenly feel like sleeping."
"Did you not sleep well last night? Then rest. I will remain here until you wake."
"I do not want to sleep."
Her lips pressed into a faint pout.
"Besides, I wish to spend this time with you, not sleep and waste precious moments with my beloved."
"I have already promised to stay. There is no need to worry over that."
She raised one hand slowly. Her fingers moved with patience until they found my throat.
A faint, trailing sensation crept along the length of my neck.
"From now on, you need not make any formal promise simply to keep me company."
Her voice came softer than before.
"Might you grant my small requests willingly, without my having to press you each time?"
"That is no trouble, Grace."
"Truly?"
"We are a pair of lovers, are we not?"
"Ah... yes. Indeed we are."
We were bound now by a commitment I could not simply set aside.
Barring any urgent matter, I had no sufficient reason to refuse her company.
Besides, spending time in the quiet of her study was no great burden. The stack of documents upon the marble table could not be seen to in a single day, and I still had need of Grace's assistance.
It was no poor thing, having a beloved this perceptive.
Her fingertips moved again.
From my neck, that touch rose slowly toward my lips, tracing the surface with great care, as though reading something invisible through the tip of her forefinger alone.
"Ian."
"Grace."
"The situation at the Academy will in all likelihood be far more turbulent than in previous years."
"Because of Saintes?"
"Yes."
She did not lift her gaze from the ceiling.
"Even without Saintes, that place would eventually become a crucible of scheming and political rivalry all the same."
Her gaze grew serious by degrees.
"This Empire is in all likelihood moving toward a far more turbulent era in the years ahead."
"The probability is considerable."
"Precisely."
"Conflict among the factions of princes, princesses, and nobility has persisted throughout the history of the Imperial Academy. The presence of Saintes will only drive the internal political tension of the Empire to a far greater height."
The forefinger that had been idling at my lips seemed unsatisfied with whatever reaction I had given. This time, its tip pressed slightly deeper, grazing the warm inner surface of my lips.
The romance novels I had read contained scenes far bolder than this. Yet when such a situation turned upon me directly, the sensation was enough to make my entire body stiffen without thought.
"You are right, darling."
Darling?
That address always sounded rather absurd whenever Father used it with Mother.
Even so, I chose neither to correct it nor to acknowledge it.
If it pleased her, I saw no reason to take issue with it.
Grace resumed her analysis.
"As you said, the arrival of Saintes will amplify the tension that has long smouldered among the various internal factions. A force entering from without will only add pressure to a situation already fragile at its foundations. And when that conflict finally erupts, the losses it brings could far exceed whatever political advantage the Empire sought to gain."
"Yet that alone is still not sufficient."
I paused to gather my thoughts.
Her analysis was not wrong.
Even so, the presence of Saintes alone was not enough to shake the political foundations of the Capital down to their roots.
"The authority of a Saintes is far stronger in the religious sphere than in the realm of practical politics, which is riddled with concealed interests and nearly impossible to predict."
"Are you not curious as to who else is coming, besides the Saintes?"
Who else?
Not only one person.
Intelligence concerning the arrival of Saintes at the Academy was already sufficient to unsettle the whole of the Empire. Yet it appeared there were other figures from beyond the Empire's borders who would also be setting foot within the Imperial Academy.
"Is this information offered freely?"
"Certainly not."
A sly smile spread across her face.
"You are far too guileless, my man. How could I possibly give away something of such value without asking something in return."
"Even in a situation like this, you still find room to think about payment."
"Because I am your woman."
Her tone was entirely at ease, as light as a breeze unaware of how sharp its edge could be.
"Is it not only natural that I make use of every opportunity to secure your attention?"
"You are remarkably candid."
"That is what you like about me, is it not?"
I gave a slow nod.
Stubbornness aside, her candour was one of the things I admired most in her.
I turned my gaze briefly toward the ceiling.
The light of the magic crystals glowed steadily overhead, illuminating every corner of Grace's study with a soft radiance that felt almost like a watchful presence rather than mere light.
After a moment, my gaze descended once more.
My eyes came to rest on the woman still lying at ease upon my lap.
As though that place had long been hers, far before I had ever thought to notice.
The fact that she was no longer a girl in her youth did nothing to diminish her allure. If anything, her boldness, which seemed to know no reasonable boundary, had a way of making my entire body stiffen without warning.
Grace was not wrong.
She simply wished to satisfy her desires through me. I had no objection, so long as I remained capable of meeting them.
"Tell me, Grace. What is it you want this time?"
For a moment...
My gaze fixed upon a birthmark: a small, fine dark point resting just beneath her left eyelid. We had met many times, and I had seen it many times before. Yet only now did I feel such a distinct desire to touch it directly.
I moved my hand slowly.
My fingers advanced with great care, brushing softly against the delicate skin beneath her eyelid.
"Ian."
I paid no heed to the brief flash of surprise that crossed those honey-brown irises.
Her shining eyes held me with something I could not easily name, a kind of longing she had kept tucked behind her gaze for a long while.
Grace lowered her hand from my lips and moved it to clasp the back of my hand, which still rested against her face.
I whispered, my voice softening without my intending it to.
"Tell me."
"What?"
"Your wish, Grace."
A flush appeared at once, colouring both sides of her porcelain cheeks, spreading swiftly to the tips of her ears.
"Why did you touch my face like that so suddenly?"
Her voice carried the tone of someone seeking an explanation, as though she genuinely wished to understand the meaning behind a touch she might interpret as sincere affection, or as something else entirely.
"I... I am not certain myself."
It was hardly possible to speak honestly, to say that the small dark mark had made her face appear more beautiful to me than it had before.
"You are not certain?"
"No."
Grace laughed quietly.
The sound was melodious, the kind that made no effort to be lovely and was lovely regardless.
"Such a guileless man..."
Her other hand reached out, this time slipping boldly through the open gap of my shirt. I felt the warmth of her fingers against my chest, pressing with a deliberate insistence, and at once my body went rigid, beyond my ability to prevent it.
"Truly... I want so very much to do that with you now. But you are not yet ready for it, are you?"
She said it in a lowered tone, leaving a trace of quiet disappointment at the end of her words.
Do that?
Until now I had simply endured each of her provocations with resignation, including the promise of a particular gift she intended to bestow at some future time.
I could guess precisely what she meant. Yet I was not certain our bond would ever reach that point, even if I were to want it to.
Affection does not grow only from words or tender gestures. It can take root through physical closeness, which deepens the tie between two people by degrees.
Whether or not love forms its foundation, an emotional bond will inevitably take shape through the manner in which two people come to know each other. For the present, I had no wish to move in that direction. I could not permit any feeling, beyond what concerned my family, to grow large enough to obscure everything else.
"Grace."
"Ian."
"You have not yet told me your wish."
I steered the conversation elsewhere deliberately.
Slowly, I shifted my palm from her cheek to rest upon her head, concealing in the same motion the brief tremor in my arm brought on by the movement of her hand still stirring within my shirt.
Her long red hair felt remarkably smooth between my fingers as I began to stroke it gently.
As though she savoured the gesture, Grace withdrew the hand that had been clasping mine and pressed it softly against my cheek instead.
"My wish... I have two requests."
"Then speak."
"The first, I am not yet ready to say."
"That is your prerogative. And the second?"
"It is a simple thing, Ian."
The corner of her lips curved faintly.
"The second... is this."
"So long as it brings you happiness. You need only say it."
"This."
She lowered her hand from my cheek.
Then her eyes fell shut, and with a small, almost bashful gesture, she pointed to her own closed eyelids before me.
"I want you to kiss me here."
"What?"
I went still for a moment.
I had assumed her second request would concern the sort of bold act she usually carried out of her own accord, yet she was asking me to be the one to take the initiative.
"Why? Is that not permitted?"
I chose not to answer with words.
Without hesitation, I slipped my palm beneath her nape with great care. In one slow, deliberate motion, I lifted her head and drew it toward my own face as it inclined to meet her, closing what little distance remained between us.
In that instant, it was Grace's body that went rigid.
The hand still resting at my chest reflexively clutched my shirt, and a faint sound followed as a button gave way beneath the force of her grip.
I spoke in a low voice.
"Close your eyes."
"...Mm."
A flush far deeper than any before now swept across the whole of her face.
Within mere seconds, a gentle kiss came to rest precisely upon her closed eyelids.
For a moment, my attention returned once more to the small dark mark beneath her left eye, resting quietly in its place, like a sign that had always been there, waiting for me to finally take notice of it.