I arrived at the mansion.
Dorothea was nowhere in sight. The little girl was likely with her mother.
Ian had not yet returned either. I still wondered where he had gone since morning.
But the panic left over from that embrace, along with the fact that Fabian would be arriving tomorrow, forced me to set aside any thought of Ian.
I pushed open the door to my room, then threw myself onto the bed.
What worried me more was the rumor now surrounding myself and the Grand Duke. Word of it had surely already begun spreading among the nobility.
It was only a matter of time before it reached my aunt's ears, and Ian's as well.
Before I knew it, night had fallen.
I did not stir from the bed once. I pulled the blanket up until it covered my shoulders.
That had been the first time in my life I had ever stood so close to a man.
Fabian.
A man who felt strangely familiar, though I myself could not say why.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Sister."
Ian.
He had come home.
I was certain it truly was Ian. That lazy clone of his would never bother coming just to check on my condition.
The knocking sounded again.
I kept up the pretense of being asleep.
The door opened slowly.
"Dinner is ready. Aunt and Dorothea are waiting in the dining room."
Silence.
"Sister, are you ill?"
I could not tell whether it was a question or simply a murmur to himself.
A moment later, his palm rested against my forehead.
"No fever."
Which meant he had realized I was deliberately ignoring him.
"Very well. I shall have a servant bring food up to your room."
Ian had always been like that.
Sometimes I found myself worrying that he cared more for me than he ever did for himself.
"I do not know what happened while I was away. But if anything threatens you, sister, I will not stand idly by."
Cold.
Leaving no room whatsoever for compromise.
Ian knew me better than anyone alive. There was no possibility he had failed to notice something different about me.
And I knew him just as well.
That was precisely what began to unsettle me.
He might act without my knowledge.
Ian had never once hesitated to remove anything he deemed a threat to me.
Even someone entirely innocent of wrongdoing.
Ian's obsession with my safety frightened me at times, more than I cared to admit.
Fabian.
Why him?
Do not tell me...
I was worried about him.
Impossible.
"Get some rest."
That simple sentence only tightened the ache in my chest further.
"Ian."
I finally abandoned the pretense.
"I only wished to rest a while longer. It is nothing."
Ian read the look in someone's eyes far too well.
I did not want him discovering what occupied my thoughts.
For tonight...
Let everything sink quietly into the dark.
Tomorrow's troubles could wait for tomorrow.
I was already prepared to face whatever storm of rumor awaited me at sunrise.
"Very well. I shall bring the food myself. I need to be certain sister eats properly."
"Ian, I am not some little girl who needs constant watching."
"I am responsible for you while we remain away from home. My priority is ensuring you remain well."
"Do not exaggerate, Ian."
"Which is precisely why sister must listen to me."
I clicked my tongue softly.
Listen to him?
How bold of him to even say such a thing.
"Listen here. You left without telling Aunt a word, vanished from the mansion for nearly an entire day, and left that foolish clone behind to fool Aunt and Dorothea. And now you still dare tell me to listen to you?"
"Do not change the subject. I am only carrying out Mother's wish, that I remain always at sister's side."
Mother...
It had been days since I last saw her.
I missed her.
"Ian..."
"What?"
He had brought up Mother's name on purpose.
Because he knew full well I always yielded whenever she was involved.
"I will listen to you. But after dinner, do not disturb my rest."
"I will not disturb you."
I finally sat up.
"I am hungry. Bring a larger portion."
"I shall return."
"Do not take too long."
The door closed once more.
I truly was hungry.
But my thoughts were far too tangled for any appetite to remain.
Even so, Ian's words left me no choice but to keep up the appearance of being fine.
Tonight...
I was certain sleep would not come easily.
Asteria drifted back into my thoughts.
Tonight I wanted nothing but peace.
Not this unease that refused to leave me be.
"Asteria... please, let me rest tonight."
I waited for Ian.
Tomorrow...
This mansion would surely fall into an uproar.
"Blast you, Fabian."
***
Since being in the capital, Adela's workload was nowhere near as demanding as it had been back in Brandenburg.
Most of the Handler family's affairs remained centered in the Southern Duchy.
That morning, she spent her time in her study.
Yet unease continued to cloud her thoughts.
Not because of her meeting with Countess Welser the day before.
That meeting had been little more than a reunion between two old friends, sprinkled with a few matters of importance not weighty enough to linger on further.
What had filled her mind since earlier was Charlotte alone.
While they remained in Kaiserheim, both her nieces and nephew fell under her responsibility.
"Meeting a man... who could that man be?"
Amy had already explained the reason behind Charlotte's late return.
Charlotte herself had never claimed to have come home late because of meeting a man. But Amy had seen with her own eyes a man approaching her. That alone had been enough for Adela to draw a great many conclusions.
"Mother would surely be furious if she knew I had grown careless in watching over Charlotte."
Compared to Ian, Adela worried far more over Charlotte.
As a woman herself, she understood all too well how easily a girl of Charlotte's age could become the center of men's attention.
"Perhaps I worry over her too much."
But since the previous night, Charlotte had not once left her room.
That was not like her niece at all.
Charlotte had always been cheerful, easy to get along with, and rarely one to shut herself away.
That shift in behavior only deepened Adela's growing sense of foreboding.
"I must go see her. The two of us need to talk."
Just as she rose to leave, a knock sounded at the door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Madam, it is Ellen."
"Come in."
The head maid stepped inside, carrying the morning edition of the newspaper.
It was not the newspaper itself that caught Adela's attention.
Rather, it was the paleness written across Ellen's face.
"Madam... something has happened."
"Calm yourself. Tell me slowly."
"Forgive me. I truly cannot remain calm. This concerns Miss Charlotte."
"What happened?"
"Look at this."
Adela took the newspaper from her.
Her brow furrowed at once.
The headline on the front page had been printed in bold, striking letters.
But what startled her most were the images produced by Magitech Guild technology.
Charlotte.
Together with a man.
In one image, the man held both of Charlotte's hands.
In another...
Charlotte was held within his embrace.
"This..."
How could this be?
Adela knew Charlotte better than most anyone else alive.
Her niece was not a girl who opened her heart easily to just anyone.
And that man...
Adela's gaze turned cold.
This was no longer mere gossip.
A single misstep would be enough to drag Charlotte, and the entire Handler family besides, into the churning currents of noble political games.
"Ellen, do not tell a soul."
"But, Madam... it will not be long before everyone in the mansion reads this newspaper themselves."
"I know that. Which is precisely why you must not be the first to spread it. Let them discover it on their own."
"Yes, Madam."
"Go to Dottie's room. Wake her."
"Yes, Madam."
Once Ellen had gone, Adela turned her gaze back to the image in her hands.
The Grand Duke.
"What exactly are your intentions toward Charlotte?"
Adela's stare grew darker still.
Behind the status and power a Grand Duke carried, no action of his was ever truly born without some interest attached to it.
She needed to hear everything directly from Charlotte herself.
Without wasting another moment, Adela left her study and made her way toward her niece's room.
She knocked several times upon the door.
No answer came.
Charlotte had not even come down for dinner the night before.
"Charlotte. It is your aunt. May I come in?"
***
I needed to train alongside Ian.
I had not slept at all through the night.
Chakra kept my body in good condition, but it could do nothing to chase away this mental exhaustion.
Perhaps a short session of training might ease the tension pressing down on my thoughts.
Since the night before, I had done nothing but turn over what this morning might bring, and Fabian's coming visit later that afternoon.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Charlotte. It is your aunt. May I come in?"
Why had she come so early?
Instinct told me at once that something was wrong.
Could it be...
Had she already found out?
For a moment I considered pretending to sleep.
But I could never do that to my aunt.
I opened the door.
Her face was etched with worry.
"Aunt, what is it? Why come so early in the morning?"
"Let us speak inside."
I followed her in.
My attention fell at once upon the newspaper in her hands.
A newspaper?
The moment I saw its front page, my whole body seemed to freeze.
My aunt said nothing.
She simply sat down at the edge of the bed.
I sat beside her.
"Charlotte."
"Yes, Aunt."
"Tell me the truth. What happened yesterday?"
I took the newspaper from her.
The situation had already been bad enough with so many witnesses.
Now it had turned into the capital's leading headline.
And the title read...
THE GRAND DUKE'S POSSESSIVE EMBRACE: THE IRON GRAND DUCHESS?
Possessive?
As though I were Fabian's woman.
THE GRAND DUKE'S OBSESSIVE GRIP: IS THIS WOMAN THE NEXT GRAND DUCHESS?
WHO IS SHE? THE WOMAN WHO DROVE THE GRAND DUKE BEYOND ALL RESTRAINT!
I wanted to strike whoever had written such cheap, sensational headlines.
How could I possibly step outside the mansion now?
People would surely begin searching for who I truly was.
They would discover I held no noble title at all.
And then they would wonder why a Grand Duke had treated me so.
"Charlotte."
My thoughts scattered.
"Forgive me. My mind is full of too many things."
"You have not yet answered my question."
"Very well."
There was no need to recount our meeting at the teleportation tower again.
My aunt already knew that part.
"The Grand Duke approached me just before I boarded the carriage. After that... everything unfolded exactly as written in the newspaper."
"And this report?"
I looked back down at the paper in my hands.
For some reason, seeing my aunt's face wounded me far more than reading any word printed there.
She was truly worried for me.
And for the first time...
I saw fear in her expression.
My hesitation over telling her of Fabian's visit grew heavier still.
A letter from the Grand Duke's residence would likely arrive within the hour.
"Does Aunt believe all of this is merely a misunderstanding?"
"Explain it to me."
"The Grand Duke gave me no chance to keep my distance. Everything written here did indeed happen, but every part of it was his doing alone."
"Charlotte."
"Yes, Aunt."
"You do not care for that man, do you?"
"No."
My answer came without a moment's hesitation.
A man so domineering, so stubborn, so utterly shameless as Fabian was nothing at all like what I wanted.
At least...
That was what I kept insisting to myself.
My aunt fell silent.
"Charlotte, I worry for you."
She stroked my cheek with such tenderness.
"The Grand Duke holds a poor reputation among the nobility. Most officials within the Empire fear him. Do you know why?"
"No."
"He commands the Imperial Intelligence. His influence surpasses even that of the Crown Prince."
My aunt drew a slow breath.
"I do not worry much for the Handler family. We shall face whatever comes our way."
"..."
"What weighs on me is you. Your face has already spread across the entire capital."
"..."
"Before long, the whole Empire will come to know your name."
"Aunt..."
I could offer no argument.
All of this had happened because of me.
And it was not only I who had been swept into it.
The Handler family, too, had been pulled into this whirlpool.
"Stay within the mansion. It is far too dangerous for you outside."
I nodded.
"I will go speak with the Countess. Perhaps there remains some way out of this."
Even now, my aunt still sought to shield me.
Though we both understood full well how vast the gulf between our stations truly was.
Fabian was no mere Grand Duke.
He was also a member of the imperial family.
"Aunt."
"Yes, dear."
"There is one more thing."
"Tell me."
"The Grand Duke will be coming to the mansion today."
"...What?!"
I had already braced myself for that reaction.
She sank back down onto the edge of the bed.
The news had clearly struck her harder still than the newspaper she still held in her hand.
All I could do was sit with her in silence.
But my aunt was not the only one weighing on my mind.
There was one more.
Ian.
I could only hope he would do nothing beyond my control.