* * *

“Is Nias waiting for me?”

“Yes.”

Rick’s voice sounded from a distance, somewhat less cheerful than usual. I realized why when I saw that he was answering from afar without even entering the bedroom. He seemed unusually cautious today. Something must’ve happened.

“….”

However, there was no sign of any turmoil in Diello’s clear eyes.

—Click.

The door closed, leaving us alone in the bedroom. Diello let out a short sigh.

“When you say you’re unharmed, do you mean he didn’t recarve the name?”

I nodded at his question.

“Yes, he said the bruising hasn’t faded.”

“That means you overexerted yourself.”

He came to the same conclusion as Vielle. Then, he sighed briefly before opening his mouth again.

“I’ll order Nias to adjust the schedule so that you can rest.”

After that, he said the same thing.

No…

“First, all of your upcoming supply duties will be transferred to me…”

He went a step further.

I hurriedly waved my hand in refusal.

“You should focus on preparing for war.”

“But…”

I placed my index finger on Diello’s lips, who was about to say more. I understood his concern, nevertheless.

“You don’t intend to send me to the Duke of Alors again, do you?”

I needed to be a little forceful with the ever-worried Diello. My words made his face stiffen.

“Of course not. This is the last time.”

He said it with a face that was surprisingly resolute… No, surprisingly? Come to think of it, he was resolute when he needed to be, only in front of me.

“Then, may I examine you now?”

That was all he said in that gentle voice as if he couldn’t force anything, as if he would kindly listen to any request I made.

However, he was a man with a quietly burning flame within him. I looked up at him.

“You’ll keep your promise, right?”

He wouldn’t… pry any further, would he? He wouldn’t shake me, would he?

Still, I couldn’t add those words. I couldn’t bear to. I felt like I shouldn’t let him know that I had been shaken. I felt like something else would change if I did.

“…Of course.”

Diello narrowed his eyes and smiled.

“I promised, so I must keep it.”

He approached me after answering before he stiffened.

“…Diello?”

A sharp aura emanated from him as if he had detected an enemy. Was someone coming? The moment I tried to turn quickly to the door. Diello’s two hands covered my face and ears. His firm hands did not allow me to look away.

He looked at me and spoke in a low voice.

“…The smell of water.”

I blinked.

‘…The smell of water.’

“It seems to have gotten stronger after visiting Alors.”

It couldn’t be helped since Alors’ magic was abundant there. I thought that perhaps it was because he was sensitive to water as an Argenta.

Suddenly, Diello spoke in a growling voice.

“I smell the water of another.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Even if you visited Alors, it would be difficult to leave such a strong trace. Especially concentrated in one area.”

His blue eyes, illuminated by the firelight, looked particularly dark.

“That’s…”

…Ah.

I found the answer without even realizing it. When I was suffocating in the water of the Duke of Alors, so it seemed that his magic had left a trace then.

“It must be because of the Duke of Alors.”

Diello’s lips pressed together into a thin line at my words.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

His thumb gently brushed my cheek as though wiping something off my face.

“I just said that there were only two lilies left… Ah.”

I suddenly frowned as I recalled the sensation of being trapped in the water again. I could have controlled that much water, of course, and I thought about it while suppressing the water’s energy. I could have resisted the power of the Duke of Alors, but I didn’t.

I remembered that I had just given in to the thought that I shouldn’t control it and that a sense of powerlessness had slowly consumed my mind.

“Krua.”

Diello called my name again.

“It’s okay, Krua.”

He repeated his words and hugged me.

“Ah…”

I realized that I had been holding my breath without knowing it. After exhaling in his arms, I was finally able to recall that memory without fear… feeling once again that this person was on my side and that he would defeat him with me.

“…The Duke of Alors just threatened me for a moment.”

I continued. I told him what had happened when I went to the Duke of Alors’ mansion. And how I had injured the inside of my arm.

“…The Duke of Alors, you say.”

Diello’s voice was sharp.

It was a voice meant for someone else, not me. The next moment, he hugged me again and again.

“I’m sorry, Krua. And you’ve suffered.”

“It’s okay now.”

His whisper continued, “You won’t go to Duke Alors again.”

I realized that I had been tense only after he hugged me again and again. Of course, it was scary to be trapped in the water until I was suffocating and my life was threatened. Nonetheless, I thought I was okay since I came back safely.

Anyway, Duke Alors couldn’t hurt me until the lilies of Diello disappeared. Besides, even if I was scared of being trapped in the water, the past was the past. Now, I could get out whether I fell into the pool or the sea. There was no one to drop me, and there was someone to save me.

So, I thought I was okay.

But I wasn’t.

“Diello….”

The shoulders that had been so tense relaxed only then. My neck and shoulders were sore.

“As you said, we can start a war whenever we want.”

Diello’s voice filled the bedroom.

“We can take revenge whenever you want.”

As if to make me forget my fear, he kissed my forehead. I closed my eyes at the familiar and sweet warmth and exhaled briefly. I was surprised that I accepted his kiss so naturally and familiarly.

I have to stop.

However, the next moment, the warmth that spread from my forehead reached his hand around the back of my neck and spread a tingling heat. He moved away from me slightly and faced me. His gaze was fixed on me at a distance where our breaths seemed to mix—a clear gaze, clearly… a gaze that desired me.

“….!”

He kissed me on the bridge of my nose, and the lips that had touched the tip of my nose came close enough to cover my upper lip, but that was it. He didn’t dig into me any further, smiling with his forehead touching mine.

“….”

He laid me down on the bed and was already ready to trap me as if to never let me escape, like a vine that wrapped around me. He held me between his arms and pushed his knees into me, and he could have eaten me at any moment.

Still, he stopped with a gaze that wanted more than a kiss.

He touched my cheek and ear with trembling fingertips, then took them away.

“You’ve really suffered, Krua.”

Whispering so, he slightly pulled his forehead away from me. The hand running down the back of my neck and the strong arm supporting my waist gave me a strange and thrilling feeling. I opened my mouth slightly at the feeling of tension rising from the center of my body.

Feeling his clear gaze, I called him.

“Diello.”

“Yes.”

I stared at him for a long time at the answer that came back without hesitation.

The gaze that had always looked at me.

However, when did it start to carry warmth? It must have started as an act to appear as a sweet newlywed couple to others. But now, even when we were alone like this, he constantly gave me warmth.

“You, this… is practice?”

Was it really just practice? I had no choice but to ask.

At my words, the corners of Diello’s mouth smoothly drew an arc.

* * *

“You, this… is practice?”

Diello thought her excited voice was testing him. Her voice, asking if it was really practice, was trembling. Did she know the answer or not?

The corners of his mouth drew an arc.

“Perhaps.”

He answered, looking at his lovely wife. Did she widen her eyes because of his ambiguous answer? Diello met her gaze and kissed the back of her hand. He couldn’t lie. Still, she should have asked what the practice was for.

He swallowed his pitch-black thoughts.

So that she wouldn’t be surprised, and the moment she reached out her hand, he would grab it.

To do that, he had to get closer than he was now. And fortunately, his wife was a very merciful person. His wife, who blushed but didn’t push him away even when he made eye contact while kissing the back of her hand, was too merciful for him.

* * *

While I was visiting Duke Alors, Argenta had finished all the preparations. The information I had given them, that the power grows stronger near the source, was of great help.

There was only one thing left.

The river flowing around Argenta—the water that would be the biggest threat if Alors used it in battle.

“There… might be a way.”

I looked at the mountain far away.

Upstream of the river, where the very thin stream of water would begin, I smiled as I thought of the plan that came to mind. I thought all the preparations were perfect. I thought it might be worth a try, even without Ferro.

In the original story, Diello dealt a great blow to Duke Alors even when Argenta was divided and Redias was dead.

Now Argenta was united, Redias was alive, and I was here.

There was a chance of winning.

So…

‘Duke Alors will also be busy preparing for war, so he won’t be able to do much until I contact him about the lilies?’

I ended up thinking so naively.

—