“…….”

Patter, patter. The noisy sound of rain striking the carriage roof echoed.

Not difficult at all.

Was it merely a polite comfort, or was she truly a little glad for this isolation?

The interior of the narrow carriage filled with a damp warmth. Perhaps because of the world outside being swallowed by mist, the carriage interior felt exceptionally vivid. Though Cedric felt a chill from the wet shirt clinging to his body, he could not tear his gaze away from Lavinia sitting across from him.

Suppressing his surging expectations, Cedric gripped her handkerchief in his hand even tighter.

“Actually, I’m unusually comfortable today,” she answered after a short moment of thought, offering a quiet smile.

“……Really?” Cedric asked, his voice thick with feverish excitement.

Lavinia nodded with a gentle smile.

“Yes. I didn’t expect you to help me like this. To be honest, I was a bit intoxicated that night, and I regretted it the moment I woke up today. I knew it wasn’t something I should have done, especially since Your Grace was…”

“Please, call me Cedric.”

As if he could no longer endure that stiff formal title in the midst of such a conversation, Cedric hastily requested a correction. Lavinia nodded and continued her thought.

“Yes. Especially since you, Master Cedric, never showed much interest in me.”

As she spoke, her steady gaze seemed to peer right through him. It felt as if she were scrutinizing his hidden intentions. She was a brilliant woman indeed—throwing a lure to gauge her opponent rather than being flustered by the moment.

However, the lure was inaccurate. Even though Cedric knew everything she said was the truth, he was the sort of madman who felt wounded by it nonetheless.

He bit his lip and offered a low retort.

“It is not that I have no interest.”

“…….”

“I know I appeared indifferent in the past. I can explain why. But not now—I wish to explain it when you, My Lady… truly become curious about it.”

“Pardon?”

“Currently, you have no interest in me, do you? You are likely asking out of mere etiquette or curiosity.”

“Then are you saying it is different for you, Master Cedric?”

“That, too, is something I wish to answer later.”

His rain-dampened green eyes ensnared Lavinia tenaciously, like the deep shadows of a forest. They looked hot enough to spill over at any moment, yet precarious like fragile glass.

Lavinia suddenly felt she had stared into those eyes for too long. With a short, soft exclamation, she turned her gaze away. Her thin arm, stretched out as if bored, nearly brushed against Cedric. She laughed awkwardly and slunk her arm back down.

Even at that small movement, Cedric had flinched and shrunk back in surprise. Then, feeling a sense of self-loathing at the fact that he had behaved unseemly again, he made an effort to straighten his back and correct his posture.

Since it was all so transparent, it was, frankly, a little humorous.

Lavinia asked with a light heart, “Then what should we talk about? While the coachman fixes the wheel.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Cedric realize the fatal mistake he had made. In his desperation to make Lavinia fall in love with him, he had focused solely on creating a situation where they would be isolated together; he hadn’t thought about what came after.

Now that he was actually in this narrow space with her, he had no idea what kind of ‘ordinary conversation’ they should share.

His heart beat as if it might explode, and his vision kept catching on her white fingers. Swallowing dryly, Cedric combed through his past memories. The only topics that came to mind were the cliché questions shy noble ladies used to ask when they were anxious to win his favor.

Back then, he had thought those questions were incredibly tedious, but only now did he realize they were the desperate byproduct of a frantic heart.

“What are your… tastes, My Lady?”

“Isn’t that a bit too broad?”

“I want to ask what you like. Starting from the lightest things. What color you like, what is the very first thing you think of when you open your eyes in the morning. Or… whether you dislike sudden rain like today’s.”

“Well. I don’t have a particularly favorite color, but if I had to choose, perhaps green?”

“Green…?”

Cedric tried his best not to be too conscious of the fact that his own eyes were green. He also did his utmost to ignore the fact that his eyes had brought forth the admiration of countless people.

“Yes. Because it was hard to see greenery in Barkazar. And the rain… I don’t dislike it. Especially rain like today’s. The rain that falls in Nordiel has a romantic quality to it.”

“……Romantic?”

“In Barkazar, when it rains, it’s nothing short of hell. When rain pours over heated volcanic ash, the world turns into a gray space where it’s hard even to breathe. But in Nordiel…”

Lavinia’s voice trailed off. Closing her eyes gently, she twitched her nose and inhaled. The distinct scent of water and earth that comes with rain mixed strangely with the cool scent of perfume emanating from Cedric’s wet clothes. It was a cold, transparent scent, entirely different from the hot, acrid air of her homeland. As she reflexively leaned toward Cedric to catch the scent, his face turned a violent red once again.

It felt as if a part of him was being inhaled into her nose to become a part of her, causing an indescribable, tingling thrill. Realizing belatedly that her body had leaned toward Cedric, Lavinia straightened herself.

“What about you, Master Cedric? What do you like?”

Conscious of the distance in the narrow carriage where their knees were close enough to touch, Cedric answered very slowly.

“……I like being inside this carriage right now. To the point that I find myself wishing the wheel would never be fixed.”

Lavinia’s eyes widened, her speech momentarily cut off by the blatant confession. Even Cedric flinched at the words he had blurted out unconsciously, but this time, he did not avoid her gaze.

Just then, the sound of the wheel being struck came from outside the carriage, followed by the coachman’s voice.

“Your Grace! It’s done! We can move now!”

Cedric felt an impulse to gag the coachman. With eyes dripping with lingering regret, he turned his gaze toward the world outside the closed carriage.

***

From then on, Cedric truly did his absolute best to woo Lavinia.

It was the first time in his life he had paid this much attention to another person. Cedric meticulously collected every detail: the routes she traveled, the foods she mainly ate, and even the time of day she usually strolled through the palace gardens.

And after that?

“What a coincidence, My Lady. It is truly a matter of chance.”

Wearing his most carefully selected attire, he would feign surprise and strike up a conversation under the guise of a chance encounter.

The locations were truly diverse.

The seat next to her at social balls and concerts, a private art exhibition, a tailor shop, and even minor places like the exact same bookshelf corner in the library he visited today.

And whenever they met by such “chance,” he unfailingly orchestrated a minor incident to ensure they were isolated together.

At a ball, he caused the palace to be submerged in pitch-black darkness; on the way back to the royal palace from an exhibition, he broke her carriage. At a tailor shop that only accepted royalty as clients, he muddled the reservation system so they were called in at the same time.

Thanks to that, he discovered the dress Lavinia would wear to the next ball was blue and changed the color of his own vest.

‘I must make it look like we matched—not Philip.’

To the owner of the tailor shop, who was repeatedly apologizing for the “accident” of calling them both at once, Cedric had issued stern warnings and insistent requests.

Consequently, when he stood side-by-side with Lavinia in those clothes at the next ball, he managed to garner a fair share of stares and whispers.

No matter the means, Cedric was willing to do anything as long as he could appear as one with Lavinia that day. Using magic without permission in the capital was strictly forbidden, but he felt he had no choice in order to create such elaborate coincidences.

Lavinia seemed to view these as coincidences caused by the smallness of high society at first, but later, she began to harbor some doubts. She would peer into his eyes intently as if trying to read his mind, and occasionally, she would let out a small laugh upon spotting him.

Today, as he spotted Lavinia turning pages beyond the bookshelf and debated how to act as if he had just noticed her, she called out to him first in a low voice.

“Your Grace.”

A moment later, Cedric poked his head around the corner of the shelf as if he had just arrived.

“Ah, My Lady. So you were here. Truly… an amazing coincidence. I also happened to develop an interest in ancient history and decided to stop by.”

Cedric hurriedly flipped the book in his hand—the title of which was upside down—and offered a smooth smile.

Lavinia let out a soft laugh, closed her book, and lightly tapped the cover with her finger.

“That is a truly bizarre coincidence. Since the book you were holding was about botany.”

“Ah, I see.”

Cedric shoved it onto a random shelf without even looking at it. Offering a tiny smile that was almost a sigh, Lavinia looked up.

“So, what is going to happen this time?”

“Pardon?”

“Will all the bookshelves collapse? Will the door be locked? Or will my carriage break down again?”