Moonlit Stroll
The corridor was lined with countless works of art. When I showed it to her and explained that the building across the way was my father’s study, Aria’s eyes widened slightly. Of course they did. The pieces our family’s gallery held were so rare and exquisite that no one could rival them. All of it was thanks to my father’s deep love of the arts.
I was giving her a brief tour of the gallery, pointing out this and that, when she suddenly spoke.
“What is this painting?”
“Pardon?”
Her finger was aimed at the large canvas in the center. My gaze followed—and the moment I saw it, cold sweat trickled down my back.
A completely unexpected landmine.
Father, why on earth would you do something so pointless…
I tried to brush it off somehow, but my name sat boldly in the artist’s signature line. There was no escaping it now. All I could do was pray she wouldn’t notice.
“…I’m not sure. I don’t know much about it either.”
“Hmm… Is this person a woman?”
“Yes, well… it appears so.”
“She looks a little like me…”
Aria leaned in to study the painting more closely, and fresh sweat broke out across my skin.
It was a clumsy portrait painted on a canvas no wider than the span of an arm. I had drawn it back when things between us were going well, intending to give it to her as a birthday present. My skills had still been immature then; the lines were awkward and the coloring terrible. Even so, it was immediately obvious that the subject was meant to be a silver-haired woman.
I had been coldly rejected right before I could hand it over, so I never gave it to her. The facial features were left unfinished, and the painting had remained incomplete. I’d wondered where it had disappeared to—only to discover my father had kept it and, of all days, chosen today to display it here.
Yet Aria kept staring at the canvas, murmuring under her breath.
“Was I… really that chubby back then?”
“Let’s move on to the next area.”
I cut off her gloomy muttering and hurried out of the gallery.
“…Haah…”
After giving her a general tour of the mansion, I excused myself to the restroom and let out a long sigh, palms braced against the sink. Being around that woman was terrible for my mental health in every way.
Just looking at her face already stirred up memories of the past and left me rattled. But the longer I spent with her, the more she did these incomprehensible things, and I felt like my sanity was reaching its limit.
Earlier she had scrutinized the painting I’d made with such care. When I showed her the garden, she kept subtly closing the distance between us as we walked. Thanks to that, the sweet scent of her body kept drifting over, and pretending to be unaffected nearly killed me.
Honestly, she was a woman who displeased me in every possible way.
She had said she wouldn’t interfere. That she would try her best not to be a burden. So what the hell was all this?
And on top of that, she wanted us to live together in the same mansion for an entire month? Don’t make me laugh. Damn it all.
“…Hoo.”
The face reflected in the mirror looked noticeably more haggard than usual. It was all because of her. If things kept going like this, I was going to be in real trouble. If I ended up falling for her again, it would be nothing more and nothing less than a repeat of the past.
I needed to come up with a plan, and fast.
Aria
“……”
After parting from Leo for a moment and stepping into the restroom, I couldn’t contain the joy bubbling up inside me.
The portrait Leo had painted of me.
In my previous life, he had given it to me as a gift on my fifteenth birthday. Compared to a professional artist’s work it was clumsy, but to me it was more precious than any treasure of gold or silver in the world. A portrait painted by my own fiancé—where in the world could you buy something so rare with money?
In this life it wasn’t the finished piece I remembered, but the fact that he had kept it instead of throwing it away filled me with overwhelming happiness.
So he still had feelings for me after all.
He had still been thinking of me.
I let myself indulge in that wild interpretation and pressed both hands to my burning cheeks.
What should I do?
Ever since I saw that painting, smiles kept slipping out uncontrollably. Managing my expression was going to be a serious problem. I had to go back and face Leo again soon, but I couldn’t possibly step out looking like this.
It seemed I would need a little more time before I could return to the hallway.
Leo
That evening.
After somehow finishing the tour of the mansion and enduring dinner, I had returned to my room to rest. Barely two hours had passed since we parted when Aria appeared at my door again.
“Um… I was thinking of going for a walk. Would you… possibly accompany me?”
In truth I wanted to refuse with every fiber of my being, but if I let her go alone and something happened, I would end up shouldering all the blame. So in the end I swallowed my reluctance and agreed.
“……”
“……”
The quiet night garden was lit only by the faint glow of streetlamps. Just like during our weekend date, not a single word passed between Aria and me.
The only difference was that the two-meter gap we had maintained before had now shrunk to about one meter. I had vaguely noticed it earlier while working and during the mansion tour, but today it felt as though Aria was deliberately closing the distance between us.
Still, I couldn’t just come out and ask her about it. In the end I could only tell myself it was my imagination and let it go.
Because I was deliberately avoiding looking in her direction, my eyes kept drifting toward the lake on the opposite side. Yet whenever I stole a quick glance at her, our eyes would meet for some reason. The moment they did, both of us would look away at the same time, so I never had time to figure out what it meant.
It must be a coincidence. There was no way she was looking at me…
We walked around the lake in silence for a long time.
It’s not a boast, but the Stuart Fief had quite beautiful natural scenery. My father, who loved such verdant landscapes, had put special effort into it. The wide lake behind the mansion, the tree-lined path encircling it, and the streetlamps placed at intervals along the path created a view that lost none of its splendor at night. The chirping of insects from the grass added a touch of romance.
It would have been perfect—if only the woman walking beside me weren’t her.
With that meaningless complaint, I sneaked another glance at Aria.
She wore what appeared to be a deep blue nightdress and a thin outdoor robe that fell to her ankles. The outfit was quite revealing, with her collarbones fully exposed and a hint of cleavage visible. Wouldn’t she be cold dressed like that?
The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but I quickly shook my head to dismiss it. A wicked woman like her could just catch a cold for all I cared. I deliberately thought something cruel.
That was when it happened.
“Sniff…”
A small sound of her sniffing came from beside me. From the noise alone, it seemed the chilly air had lowered her body temperature. I told her to dress warmer, didn’t I?
I tried hard to ignore it, but… it seemed I couldn’t be as cold-hearted as that wicked woman after all.
“My lady.”
At my voice, Aria turned her gaze toward me.
“Wear this.”
I took off the outer coat I was wearing and held it out to her. Aria stared blankly for a moment, then waved her hands in a fluster.
“N-no! I’m fine. You’ll be cold too, my lord…”
“I’m not the one who’s not fine. If you catch a cold after going on a night walk with me, what kind of scolding will I get from my father?”
“……”
I deliberately spoke in a curt tone so I wouldn’t sound too kind. Yes. This was all for my own sake. A purely formal courtesy so I wouldn’t be reprimanded by my father. That was how I rationalized it.
“T-then… I’ll accept your kindness, even though it’s shameless of me.”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
When I gave a dry reply, Aria carefully accepted the coat I offered. Watching her slip my garment over her slender frame gave me a strangely… peculiar feeling.
Aria wearing the coat I had just had on. The brilliant moonlight mingled with her silver hair, creating a soft, shimmering glow. In contrast, her vivid red eyes and the pure white profile of her face were captivating enough to enchant anyone who looked at her.
If a moon goddess from myth truly existed, perhaps she would look just like this. The thought even crossed my mind.
I must have been staring in a daze without realizing it, because Aria asked shyly,
“Um… Lord Leo…?”
“…Yes?”
I must have been staring blankly again. An absentminded voice slipped out before I could stop it.
“Is there… something strange about my appearance?”
“Ah, no. Not at all.”
“I-I see. You’ve been looking at me quite often since earlier, so…”
“It’s a misunderstanding.”
“I see.”
When I hastily denied it in embarrassment, Aria gave a deliberately shy smile and turned her head slightly away.
…Damn it.
I unconsciously bit down hard on my lower lip. Why had I acted that way? Even I couldn’t understand it. It occurred to me that perhaps that woman had somehow led me into behaving like that.
That must be her goal. To steal a person’s heart at will, wait until they believed they were completely hers, and then cast them aside in the cruelest way possible.
It was a humiliating experience I had already suffered once—an unforgettable disgrace. I had fallen for it in the past, but I would not fall for it a second time. The moment my heart gave in, I would lose. No matter what, I would not give my heart to her again.
Even as I desperately tried to erase those troubling thoughts, my eyes kept drifting to Aria’s pure, lovely profile as she continued to steal furtive glances at me from the side.
Aria
“……”
After returning from the walk with Leo, I sat by the window in my spacious room, staring endlessly at the garden path we had walked together earlier with unfocused eyes.
The consideration Leo had shown when he took off his outer coat and offered it to me because I was shivering from the cold. The single thread of kindness hidden beneath that indifferent exterior—when I felt it, my heart began to race wildly.
I couldn’t hide the pounding no matter what I did, so from some point onward I simply couldn’t look at Leo’s face. If just walking side by side made my heart feel like it would burst, what would happen if we held hands or kissed?
Things I had taken for granted in my previous life now felt so fresh and thrilling that I could never have imagined it. They say a person only truly understands something precious after losing it once.
The fact that the affectionate gestures I used to share with Leo every day were now something I could no longer do—even though I desperately wanted to—hurt my heart more than I could bear.
Still, what was with that gaze of his?
Those red eyes that had stared at me as if spellbound. When our eyes met—eyes so similar to my own—I really thought my heart might stop. Although he had brushed it off as nothing, there was no way I could have missed it when he looked at me so intently.
Could it be that Leo had fallen for me again?
Could it be that he had started to like me once more?
If that was the case, it would be wonderful if we could simply love each other again. Though… it might already be too late to turn back.
“Haah… Leo…”
He was right next door, yet I couldn’t go see him. Was there anything more heartbreaking than this? Really, he was a man who knew exactly how to torment a person’s heart.
I clasped my hands over my chest and pressed down on my wildly beating heart.
Yes. Even so, when tomorrow came, I would be able to see Leo’s face again. I tried to comfort myself with that thought.
Yet the tender emotions that had already begun to bloom refused to fade so easily. It seemed I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep easily tonight either.