Archel learned what happened when she ignored a letter three times.
He came in person.
Kael Edelhardt was a man accustomed to getting what he wanted. When one route was blocked, he found another. When letters failed, he moved on foot. She had spent seven years by his side, so she knew that much.
So when Verosa reported that Grand Duke Edelhardt had arrived at the main gate of the imperial palace this morning, Archel wasn't greatly surprised.
She simply closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
“Where will you meet him, Your Majesty?”
“...The reception room.”
The reception room was better than her study. It was an official space. A space where she could maintain her distance. Archel rose from her seat and straightened her clothes.
Ren quietly moved to her right. Archel didn't look at him. But she could feel him there. Today, yesterday, and the day before that. He was always in the same place.
That alone made it a little easier to breathe.
The door to the reception room opened, and Kael entered.
His ice-blue hair, tinged with lavender, was neatly combed down today. His pale blue eyes found Archel and locked onto her at once. Then he noticed Ren standing beside her and paused for a moment—just a moment.
Archel didn't miss it.
“Chel.”
Kael spoke first. His voice was still sweet. But today, something lay beneath that sweetness. A faint irritation.
The feeling of a man whose letters had been ignored three times.
“Grand Duke. What brings you here so suddenly?”
“It seemed you kept missing my letters.”
He said it with a smile. Archel knew how practiced that smile was. It was a smile meant to conceal his displeasure.
“I received them. I simply wasn't able to reply because my schedule was too full.”
“I see.”
As Kael sat down, he glanced once more at Ren, who stood behind Archel. His gaze lingered on Ren for a moment before returning to Archel.
“Has your guard changed? I don't recognize him.”
Archel felt where Kael's gaze was directed, but her expression didn't change.
“He's the Commander of the Imperial Knights. I've had reason to pay more attention to my personal safety lately.”
“Your personal safety?”
Kael's brow moved ever so slightly. His eyes feigned concern. Archel met his gaze head-on and gave a short laugh.
“It's nothing. Not something you need to worry about, Grand Duke.”
That was all. She offered no further explanation. Kael wasn't in a position to ask for more. Not yet.
Ren showed no expression as he listened to their exchange. But whenever Kael's gaze turned to him, their eyes met. Kael looked away first. Ren did not.
It meant Kael was bothered. Good.
“About lunch, Chel. How about today?”
Kael changed the subject. Smoothly, naturally. As if he'd come to discuss that from the beginning.
“I have plans this afternoon.”
“Then at least have tea with me. It won't take long.”
A brief silence followed. Archel looked down at her teacup and thought.
She could refuse. She could send him away with her schedule as an excuse. But turning away someone who had come in person after she had ignored three letters would be a signal that their marriage negotiations were completely over. It wasn't time for that yet. If she pushed Kael away before the investigation into Sophia was finished, she might lose the lead.
“All right.”
Archel nodded toward Verosa. Verosa led the attendants out in silence.
Only Archel, Kael, and Ren remained in the reception room.
Kael's gaze turned toward Ren again.
“Will the Commander of the Imperial Knights be staying as well?”
“He's on guard duty.”
Ren answered first. His voice was brief and dry. Kael looked at him for a moment, then turned to Archel.
Archel's expression remained unchanged.
“I see.”
Kael said nothing more. An attendant brought in the tea, set it down, and withdrew. The teacup was filled with crimson tea.
Archel looked at it. Hibiscus tea. The tea she'd once said she liked. She didn't know whether Kael had requested it specially or whether the imperial palace had prepared it.
Her hand stopped for a moment.
The red tea. Kael's hand tilting the teacup. The liquid spilling onto the floor. The stuff she'd violently vomited up.
Archel picked up the teacup. She didn't drink it. She simply held it in both hands, feeling its warmth.
“You don't look well lately, Chel. Are you very tired?”
Kael's voice grew lower. His tone was full of concern. It sounded so natural that Archel paused for a moment.
She had listened to that voice for seven years. Are you sick? Are you tired? Have you eaten? Each time, she'd believed he was sincere.
It was different now. But even knowing that, she couldn't help finding the sound familiar and comforting in her ears.
“I'm fine. I just have a lot of work.”
“You still need to rest. If you collapse, who will protect the empire?”
Kael spoke with a smile, his eyes fixed on Archel. She wondered what those eyes were seeing.
Were they looking at the Empress? Or at the person he needed to eliminate?
She didn't know yet. Which was why she needed to find out more.
“You must be busy too, Grand Duke, and yet you came all this way.”
“Do you think I could look busy when I'm worried about you?”
It was sweet. As Ren listened, he watched Archel's fingertips where they rested against the teacup. They were tense. Only very slightly. No one else would have noticed.
Ren did.
That man was doing something to Archel. He didn't know exactly what, but he knew those sweet words were touching some part of her. It displeased him. He could recognize the feeling without bothering to examine why.
Ren kept his gaze fixed on Kael and did not move.
Perhaps Kael sensed it, because he turned toward Ren once more. Their eyes met.
Kael gave a short laugh. His eyes seemed to be measuring something.
Ren did not smile.
“Commander.”
Kael addressed him first.
“You're Sir Cassius, aren't you? I've heard of you. They say you possess the Mark of Annihilation.”
“That is correct, Your Highness.”
“I've also heard you're not far from awakening your aura. To have that on top of being Commander of the Imperial Knights—that's impressive.”
It sounded like praise. But his eyes were not those of a man offering praise. They were assessing Ren.
“That's more than I deserve.”
Ren answered briefly and said no more. He could feel Kael trying to read something into that short reply, but he gave him nothing. Kael wasn't the only one doing the measuring.
Archel set down her teacup and rose from her seat.
“I have to prepare for my afternoon schedule. We'll end here for today.”
Kael's brows lifted slightly, then fell again. She was getting up before she had even finished a cup of tea. But he didn't object. He rose with a smile.
“I see. We'll have lunch together next time, then.”
“I'll think about it.”
Archel turned away first. Kael's gaze followed her back, then shifted to Ren.
Ren followed Archel, giving Kael one last look over his shoulder. Kael met his gaze and narrowed his eyes briefly.
The door closed.
Archel said nothing as they walked down the corridor. Ren didn't either.
They walked side by side. The familiar interval, the familiar distance. But today, the silence was different. It held more than before.
Archel spoke first.
“What did you think?”
“...He was watching us.”
Ren didn't say what Kael had been watching. Archel didn't ask. But they both knew.
Kael Edelhardt had not come today just because of lunch. He had come to confirm something. Why Archel had changed, whether she was pulling away from him, and—and what that knight was to her.
Archel walked on, gazing out the window.
She had seen the look in Kael's eyes today. Eyes measuring something beneath his sweet words. Eyes whose direction had not yet been decided. They were the eyes of a man who had only recently lost Sophia and resolved to seek revenge.
Archel knew when those eyes would settle on a definite course.
She had to move first.
“Ren.”
“Yes.”
“Look into Kael Edelhardt as well. Separately from Sophia.”
A brief silence followed.
“How far should I investigate?”
“Everything you can.”
Ren lowered his head.
“I will carry out your command, Your Majesty.”
The corridor turned, and the light shifted. Archel did not stop walking. Neither did Ren.
They simply walked side by side, in the same direction.