The Grand Duke standing beside her was no different.
Unlike her pale complexion, he bore deep black hair and indescribably beautiful crimson eyes.
If the Grand Duchess was like a white swan, then he was the wolf guarding that bird.
What am I even thinking right now?
Comparing people to animals in front of them—
Carol was stunned, for she had never done such a thing before.
His appearance was that striking.
But the most astonishing thing was something else—
The Grand Duke’s gaze.
Even in the presence of new acquaintances, his eyes were fixed solely on his wife.
They were such a gentle and magnificent couple.
Thanks to Carol’s admiration for the two, Iris managed to calm her temper.
She nodded lightly in response to Carol’s greeting.
“Pleasure to meet you. I brought a small, modest gift as well—have you received it?”
“Oh, ah! Yes, I did. It’s an honor just to have you here, let alone a gift... Thank you very much.”
“Since I came by introduction from the Count of Tran, it’s only natural. Please don’t worry so much.”
How could someone be so kind even in spirit?
Carol held her chest, touched deeply, and bowed in gratitude.
Yet, as the two radiated such grace, Carol’s initial worries grew stronger.
“Have you perhaps... heard the story?”
“The story?”
At Iris’s question, Carol’s heart sank.
What should I do? She doesn’t know.
How was she to reveal such a truth to these precious people?
Choosing her words carefully, Carol spoke cautiously.
“Our children have been a bit—”
“Teacher, visitors have arrived!”
The lively children approached, showing interest in the Grand Duke and Duchess.
Their eyes sparkled brightly as they asked,
“Teacher, who are these people?”
“Are they a married couple? They look so perfect together!”
“Yes! So cool!”
Even to the children’s eyes, Iris and Cedric appeared naturally as a loving couple.
Iris liked hearing that.
Do Cedric and I really suit each other?
Cedric seemed to share that thought, smiling happily at the children’s words.
“I always thought Theo was the coolest in the world.”
One child whispered as if sharing a great secret.
“Since you two look so good together, I’m making you the coolest from today.”
“Theo?”
Iris blinked at the familiar name.
Cedric, ever sensitive to Iris’s changes, immediately asked,
“Is that someone you know, my lady?”
“Ah, I’m not sure if it’s the same person.”
“Do you know Theo too? Theo!”
The children, eager for praise from adults, hurried off to fetch the one called Theo.
Though the Hill Duke family was established in the East,
Could it really be that Theodore?
But no one can predict what might happen.
Just as Iris never expected the voice now reaching her ears.
“Kids, kids, you’re stretching my clothes—”
“Master! Snap out of it! Master! Don’t cry!”
A man, hair tied with a parrot dangling, was dragged along by the children.
He held a rag doll, so he couldn’t stop them.
“Kids, if you don’t prepare this, big trouble for me—huh?”
The silver-haired man looked up and saw Iris.
He was so surprised he straightened abruptly, nearly causing the chasing child to fall backward.
“Sir Knight?”
“Prince Theodore. Long time no see.”
It really was Theodore.
Since the hunting festival, she hadn’t seen him at all, so Iris greeted him warmly.
Theodore smiled broadly and hurried over.
“What brings you here?”
“I came by invitation from the Grand Matron of Tran. And you?”
“Ah... I... came under my father’s orders...”
He was embarrassed to admit it wasn’t by his own will.
He rarely visited this orphanage under his father’s foundation.
Theodore was afraid of children.
They ran to him saying he was handsome, but they were so small he didn’t know how to handle them.
But his father had scolded him,
“How can the head of the Hill family be scared of such things? Come along!”
So despite the Grand Matron’s visit, he had come.
Still, I’m glad to see the knight.
Just then—
A strong grip seized his shoulder. “My lady.”
Theodore looked up to see a man.
Black hair and red eyes.
Though similar in age and build to me, the man’s aura was incomparable in its overwhelming presence.
He raised his well-groomed eyebrow lazily and asked,
“Who might this be?”
“Oh, this is Theodor Hill, heir to the Duke of Hill. Theodor, this is my husband, Duke Leontheim.”
So this was the Duke of Leontheim—
the imperial heir cursed with misfortune, exiled to the North, a prodigy of swordsmanship, the empire’s most handsome man, and—
‘the knight’s husband.’
He was a striking figure, unlike myself.
Judging from his resolute gaze and commanding presence, fear or intimidation would hold no place before him.
A wave of gloom settled over me.
Of course, I already knew the knight had a beloved. Still, facing that man was an entirely different matter.
As Theodor’s expression shifted, Cedric’s displeasure grew.
“Huh?”
His arrogant red eyes immediately glinted with a possessive hunger.
A large hand swiftly wrapped around Iris’s waist. Surprised, she was drawn into Cedric’s embrace as he fixed his gaze on Theodor.
Theodor’s emerald eyes looked only innocent at first glance.
Yet those eyes trembled violently now.
“Ah, I see.”
Cedric smirked.
“I roughly understand what thoughts and feelings that brat harbors.”
He wanted to bare his teeth as a warning not to covet, but there were things to handle first.
“What’s going on?”
Before Iris could turn around in surprise, Cedric released her.
Better she see him first and be cared for before that brat could interfere.
“Oh, he tripped. Over this.”
Cedric pointed with indifference to a scattered stone on the ground.
Too large for a child to trip over.
Avoiding Iris’s serious gaze as she fretted, Cedric’s eyes caught Yurian in the distance.
‘Come to think of it…’
He estimated the distance between Iris and that man—exactly 300 nat.
A crooked grin formed on Cedric’s lips—a smile wicked enough to enthrall, despite his dark intentions.
“By the way, I haven’t introduced myself properly.”
Cedric had sensed not only Theodor’s yearning but also a smaller, hidden emotion—admiration.
He reached out his hand toward Theodor.
“Pleasure to meet you.”
“Ah, g-good to meet you. I’m Theodor Hill.”
Theodor’s face flushed with mixed emotions.
Despite being a rival, anyone with a refined eye would find it impossible to reject Cedric’s presence.
‘To think I’m shaking hands with such a man.’
It felt disrespectful, and he hesitated.
But while Theodor faltered, Cedric snatched his hand and said slowly, firmly,
“I hope we can be friends.”
“That would truly be wonderful.”
‘Good heavens. What a fine man.’
Tears almost welled in Theodor’s eyes.
While Theodor wagged an invisible tail with joy, Cedric laughed darkly inside.
“We’ll have to stay friends just out of reach—about 300 nat apart.”
Had anyone sensed his true thoughts, poor Theodor might have faced a severe fate.
But sadly, no one did.
Iris’s affection for her husband was too great to notice his hidden intentions.
‘Thank heavens.’
Against expectations, Cedric and Theodor might just become friends.
Iris smiled softly, relieved, imagining Cedric brushing off the idea.
Nearby, a parrot circled, squawking,
“Lies! Lies!”
“A parrot?”
Theodor looked at it with innocent eyes.
“Get a grip! Behave yourself!”
The parrot, having missed Iris for a while, perched quietly beside her, preening its feathers.
“Always mind your manners, heir boy.”
“Parrot, could you use someone else’s voice instead of father’s…?”
Theodor sighed, and the parrot indignantly shook its head.
“Get a grip!”
Watching their reunion, Iris smiled gently.
Just then, Theodor’s right hand reached out into her view.
‘What kind of puppet is this?’
Before Iris could ask, Theodor raised his right hand and smiled brightly.
“Oh, now that I think about it, this puppet might look strange.”
“I was curious. What kind of puppet is it?”
“Every time we hold a banquet, we perform storytelling for the children! This time, we decided on a puppet show.”
Theodor’s voice brightened as he added,
“If you’re interested, Sir Knight and Your Grace might want to join in?”
“Us?”
Admittedly, from the moment she saw the puppet, Iris felt a strong curiosity.
But Cedric didn’t seem like the type to enjoy this sort of thing.
He glanced down at Iris, who was awkwardly smiling.
Noticing her hesitation, Theodor let out a short sigh and muttered,
“Oh, now that I think of it, you’d have to memorize the script—”
“No, I’ll give it a try.”
Before he could finish, Cedric interrupted calmly and pulled out a bundle of papers from Theodor’s pocket.
“Hm. Is this the script?”
Iris asked, watching Cedric casually read it.
“Do you like this sort of thing?”
“Of course. Besides my wife, I love fairy tales and children the most in this world.”
There was no inflection in Cedric’s voice; it was clearly a lie.
But Iris didn’t press it.
She now understood that this was Cedric’s way of considering her feelings.
So she smiled faintly and began reading the script alongside him.
The atmosphere between them was so natural and understanding that Theodor swallowed a bitter smile and spoke,
“Since memorizing the lines might be difficult right now, how about taking this role—”
“Anything’s fine. I’ve memorized it all.”
“...What?”
Surely a joke.
But the look in Cedric’s eyes was void of humor—completely serious.
Theodor, stunned, shook his head as if a halo had just appeared behind him.
Snapping himself out of it with a few pats to his cheeks, he said to Iris,
“Then Sir Knight, you’ll take this—”
“Oh, I’m fine too.”
But she gently raised her hand to stop him, still smiling softly.
No way...
“I’ve memorized it all.”
Only Theodor looked awkward as he held out the script.
He must have seemed perfectly normal, yet somehow his shoulders shrank in front of these two.
“Get a grip!”
The parrot pecked fiercely at Theodor’s silver hair.
“I was wrong, Parrot.”
“Get a grip! Is that the mindset you’ll become Duke of Hill with?”
Watching the parrot mimic her father’s voice exactly, Theodor frowned.
‘Maybe the parrot’s actually on Dad’s orders.’
He briefly entertained that absurd thought.
Iris looked at the two hand puppets in her hands.
Having said she had memorized the script, Theodor said nothing else and handed her the puppets.
One was a golden fairy, the other a princess.
‘Today’s story is The Moonflower.’
A famous myth and fairy tale among the empire’s children, told by parents whenever sleep was elusive.
Iris remembered the steward Brown once telling her the story—
about a prince cursed not to sleep and a fairy who put everyone else to rest, but was left alone.
‘I... don’t like that story.’
Iris had said so once before.
Because the story ended in tragedy.
“Waaah!”
The children’s cheers pulled Iris from her bitter thoughts, and she snapped back to reality.
The stage was set before the children, and Cedric was sitting underneath.
The table was small for his frame, one leg sticking out awkwardly.
Suppressing her smile, Iris slipped beneath it as well.
“Is this uncomfortable?”
“Not at all—”
When she lifted her head, their noses almost touched.
The closeness inevitably reminded her of their first kiss. The space under the desk where she hid to avoid Vincent was about the same size.
Unable to contain her embarrassment, Iris turned her head away first.
Cedric’s ear also flushed red as he turned his head.
“Today’s story is The Moonflower. Does everyone know it?”
Though Theodor had studied the script diligently, he had ceded all the speaking parts to Iris and Cedric. He took charge of cues and social interactions instead.
Though he hadn’t come often, he was familiar enough that the children responded naturally.
“Yes!”
“We know it!”
“Then everyone, let’s welcome the fairy with a round of applause!”
Iris lifted the small fairy figurine onto the stage.
She spoke her lines.
“I am lonely. I have put everyone to sleep.”
This fairy was unlike the others who blossomed flowers or stirred the wind.
She cast sleep over all.
Lonely beyond measure, she wandered endlessly.
Behind her, all the flowers and trees fell asleep, as did the fairies and people alike.
Eventually, she arrived at a grand castle.
A prince lived there.
“Who are you?”
“A rather, rather rebellious prince, aren’t you?”
Cedric’s deadpan voice prompted Theodore to hastily add,
The children burst out laughing at the unintended joke.
“Why aren’t you asleep?”
“Because I can’t fall asleep.”
Thus, the fairy listened to the prince’s tale.
He had been cursed by sealing the witch of the forest, doomed never to sleep again.
“I am the fairy of sleep.”
Iris already knew how the story ended.
“I might be able to lift your curse.”
That line was one Iris dreaded to say.
Because after the prince overcame the curse by the fairy’s power, he would forget her.
Though the fairy had come to love the prince, her only friend.
Still, the fairy dared not approach the prince, fearing she too might fall into eternal slumber, like everyone else.
The prince, having forgotten the fairy, fell in love and married another princess,
And the watching fairy eventually became a yellow flower.
A pitiable flower, longing for the moon that appeared every time the prince visited—a sunflower.
Even now, I hate it.
While the prince thought of himself, the princess, and his people,
The fairy thought only of the prince.
And chose eternal solitude.
Though she chose it herself...
Was she not unbearably lonely?
Young Iris had once been so lonely that she pitied the fairy who could only choose eternal solitude.
She hated the prince who never understood the fairy’s heart.
Though she too did not fully grasp the fairy’s feelings—having once chosen death for Cedric’s sake.
Now it’s time to let go of the fairy’s hand and the prince’s.
But the fairy’s doll hand would not let go.
Flustered, Iris looked at Cedric.
“What are you doing?”
She spoke quietly enough so the children could not hear, but Cedric replied with a line.
“Don’t go.”
That line was not in the script.
Theodore, reading the stage directions, stammered in surprise.
“…But if you let go, you can sleep.”
“What happens if I fall asleep?”
“I…”
I’m fine. I might just put you to sleep and leave.
That’s what the original story would say.
“I’ll... bury you in my heart and live on.”
But Iris thought more of the fairy’s feelings.
Though she regretted saying it afterward,
She looked up at Cedric, silently urging him to return to the original lines.
Yet, as always, Cedric moved faster than she expected.
He lowered his head and his lips landed on hers.
Fearing any sound might escape, Iris barely breathed.
Fortunately, it was a brief, gentle kiss—just their lips touching and then parting.
Before Theodore could call out to Cedric, he spoke.
“Then I won’t let go of your hand.”
“…Even though you can’t sleep?”
“But instead, we can be friends forever.”
Cedric removed the princess doll from Iris’s hand,
And gently clasped their hands together.
“We can’t live in the same time.”
Those words echoed, reaching the Iris before the time rewind.
Even now, the two still walked different temporal paths.
“But from now on, we can always feel each other in the same space.”
As he said this, the prince doll embraced the fairy doll.
Below the stage, Cedric held Iris close.
He probably didn’t know—
He couldn’t have known this wasn’t just about his death or Iris reversing time.
Tears fell.
It felt as if the sins she carried through the ages were washed away by that one phrase.
Though she knew it was not truly so.
The children cheered at the new fairy tale’s ending.
Iris, cradled in Cedric’s arms, whispered,
“I love you, Iris.”
Cedric whispered by her ear.
That was the last thing he said.
The malice she had quietly held inside, collected over long years against him, vanished.
What remained in her embrace was the unchanging heart of one person, despite the passage of time—
That feeling of longing that never faded, even when close.
Chapter 97