Wavering Trust

Yuri cried out urgently from beside the fallen Dowager Duchess.

"Peanut cookies! Her Grace ate peanut cookies!"

Bolan and Marshal worked at the Dowager Duchess's wrist, watching the unconscious woman with growing agitation.

"She's trembling. Good heavens — her lips have gone blue!"

"Fetch a physician at once! Inform His Grace as well!"

A maid hurried over with medicine meant to neutralize the Dowager Duchess's allergy.

"There's a prescription prepared in advance. If she takes this, she'll come around..."

But as the maid moved to administer it, Esika strode forward and struck the woman's hand, sending the medicine clattering to the floor.

"Esika!"

Yuri's eyes flared as she shouted. Kalian, who had come running just in time to catch the act, approached with a rigid brow and seized Esika's wrist as if to wrench it from her.

"Esika, what do you think you're doing?!"

Yuri's eyes flashed as she reported to him.

"The Dowager Duchess has a peanut allergy, and Esika prepared peanut cookies."

Kalian's grip on Esika's wrist tightened.

"And when they tried to give her the medicine that would neutralize the allergy, she smashed it."

"What?"

"Esika is clearly trying to harm the Dowager Duchess. How could she do such a thing?!"

Kalian's piercing gaze locked onto Esika.

"Is that true?"

It was a look that suggested he might close his hands around her throat if she said yes. Even amid the uproar, Esika didn't so much as blink. She regarded him with eyes that held no emotion at all.

"Giving allergy medicine to someone who has no allergy is harmful to the body."

"What?"

"So of course I knocked it away."

Esika found Kalian's reaction merely amusing. Liona's theatrical performance, put on for all to see, was equally tiresome. They were a mother and son who ought to have spent their entire lives alone on some deserted island. Watching the pair of them put on this ridiculous farce was enough to set her teeth on edge.

"Those cookies only smell of peanuts. They contain none whatsoever."

"...What?"

Kalian's brow twitched.

"That's a lie! They're peanut cookies, I tell you. Esika! How dare you do this to Her Grace—!"

Tears even welled in Yuri's eyes as she piled accusation upon accusation. Esika strode to the platter, picked up a cookie, and held it out toward him.

"Try it yourself. Confirm it with your own eyes."

Kalian's brow shifted again. His mother had just collapsed after eating this cookie. Even if she didn't have a peanut allergy, he could hardly want to put it in his mouth. Standing as if frozen, he challenged her.

"Then are you saying my mother collapsed as a lie?"

Whenever conflict had arisen with the Dowager Duchess, Kalian had never once stood at Esika's side. He was a fiercely devoted son. And Liona had used that devotion to torment Esika all the more.

A bitter smile touched Esika's lips. He could simply eat it and know the truth at once, yet Kalian refused — as if he could not bear to admit he was wrong.

And then—

Esika flinched at the figure of the man approaching. Black hair, golden eyes of a brilliance so deep they seemed to glow, a tall and solidly built frame. His black uniform was hung with medals awarded for his service to the Empire.

"Fortunately, I have a peanut allergy as well."

A cool voice seeped into her ear. What... was fortunate about that?

He came to stand before Esika and raised a hand, wrapping her wrist with a gentleness that belied his size. The heavy sensation against her skin made Esika's brow twitch. Their differently colored gazes collided in the air.

Lesban bit lightly into the cookie she held. Slowly. Without taking his eyes off her.

When he chewed and swallowed, a long silence settled over the room.

"Your Highness, it could be dangerous."

"I'll fetch the allergy medicine again."

A maid darted off, prepared for the worst. Kalian watched Lesban with a rigid face. Esika, inwardly, was no less startled.

Don't add peanut powder. Just make it smell as much like peanuts as you can. I'll see to it you suffer no disadvantage.

She had trusted Hemos's skill would be more than sufficient, and indeed he had produced peanut cookies that contained no peanuts at all. If it came to light that the cookies held none, Liona's fainting act would all have been for nothing. But the Crown Prince's appearance was something she had not anticipated.

"...It's delicious."

Gazing at Esika, Lesban lazily moved his red lips. Esika, who had been staring at him blankly, hurriedly averted her eyes and pulled her wrist free of his still-holding hand.

After looking at her for a rather long moment, Lesban spoke to Kalian.

"There's no peanut in those cookies. Ask the imperial physicians if you like — they'll confirm I have a peanut allergy."

At those words, Kalian looked at Esika with a flustered expression.

"Which means your wife... is innocent."

Esika's gaze was cold. The belated thought that she had made a mistake crossed her mind, but the moment had already passed. Yuri could only furrow her brow at a situation that had ended so absurdly.

"The Dowager Duchess has opened her eyes."

A moment later, the maids helped the Dowager Duchess to her feet. Seeing her mother weakly open her eyes, Kalian paused, then approached with a hardened face.

"Mother, are you all right?"

"...I felt dizzy for a moment..."

The Dowager Duchess pressed a hand to her forehead. Esika barely suppressed a laugh. Liona, pouring every ounce of her being into the performance — inwardly, she must want to tear Esika limb from limb. She had intended to spend days in bed, fanning Kalian's resentment toward Esika. All of it had come to nothing.

"What happened, Mother?"

"I don't know. Suddenly my head spun... I suppose it's anemia."

Bolan and Marshal spoke with worried expressions.

"It's a relief it wasn't a peanut allergy, at least."

"That's right. It must have been a momentary dizzy spell. You've been worrying so much every day, all by yourself... your body must be wearing down."

Marshal piled on the concern while watching Kalian's face for cues. Kalian supported Liona, letting her lean against him.

"I'll take you to your bedchamber. Shall I carry you?"

"No. His Grace is so occupied with official duties... ah."

At Liona's staggering, Kalian wordlessly hoisted her onto his back. Then he turned to Lesban.

"I apologize, but I'll see my mother to her rest and return. Your Highness."

Lesban nodded with cool eyes, and Kalian immediately set off. The maids followed after him as he carried Liona.

Esika watched the scene as calmly as an audience member watching a play. Then she slowly turned her gaze to Lesban. He regarded her with a somewhat languid look.

Esika's heart was beating a little faster.

Supported by Kalian, Liona lay down on the bed with difficulty. Looking at his hardened expression, she reached out and stroked his cheek.

"I'm sorry this weak body of mine has caused such trouble. When His Highness the Crown Prince is here as a guest... to take up your time like this."

Kalian looked at Liona with slightly wavering eyes. All the way here, Esika's expressionless face had kept rising in his mind. That composed look, as if she had known something like this would happen. And the sound of his own shouting still swirled confusingly in his ears.

There had been a time before when Esika's mistake had harmed his mother's health. His mother had been bedridden for a week, and Esika had spent that entire week kneeling before her door, begging forgiveness. I didn't know something like this would happen, she had said, weeping as if she'd lost her mind. That image was still vivid.

What if that incident... also had another story behind it?

"Kalian...?"

Liona called him softly. His mother's gaze, always so full of warmth, now looked suspicious. Coincidence? How likely was it that dizziness would strike at such an inopportune moment? Of all times, the instant she bit into a cookie that smelled of peanuts.

Liona's constitution had always been frail, and whenever physicians came and went from the house, Kalian had worried for her. But even that past was now being overtaken by suspicion.

"Don't worry about your mother. Go to His Highness."

Kalian nodded and stood. As he was about to leave, he saw Yuri standing with her hands tightly clenched, her head bowed. He stopped before her.

"Take good care of Mother. And..."

Esika's gaze as she had looked at him so calmly was lodged in his heart like a wedge. Until just now he had been furious at her for rejecting his goodwill... Now it felt as though he had been sent back to the beginning.

"...You are merely a head lady-in-waiting. Esika is the Duchess."

Yuri's pupils trembled.

"Friend or not, refrain from calling her by name from now on."

From Kalian, she felt an enormous wall she had never sensed before. Yuri clasped her own trembling hands. She bowed her head slightly and answered.

"I will keep that in mind. Your Grace."