The young emperor left the banquet hall, almost being supported in Duke Fernan’s arms. As the emperor disappeared with unsteady steps, the small murmur quickly grew louder.

“He’s a sinful man, Duke Valdeck is.”

“Even after losing his memory, His Majesty is still His Majesty. Just look at how he can’t take his eyes off Duke Valdeck.”

“A person’s tastes don’t change so easily.”

“Judging by Duke Valdeck’s attitude, he doesn’t seem like he’ll accept His Majesty’s courtship again anytime soon... Then is it Count Almir again after all?”

“Well, if he got slapped on the cheek after kissing His Majesty...”

“I watched earlier, and he didn’t pay the slightest attention to the candidates Duke Fernan diligently presented. Duke Fernan too... knowing full well His Majesty’s taste, he should have prepared someone a little more similar.”

“Where in the continent do you find pure black hair often? And pure golden eyes are even harder to find.”

The nobles gathered in ones and twos and chattered as if for others to hear. Archiel left the banquet hall with an unpleasant look.

As soon as he stepped outside the banquet hall, the attendant waiting for him came right over. Seeing Archiel’s fierce expression, the attendant did not awkwardly try to speak, but followed like a shadow.

High-ranking nobles, the emperor’s close aides, or those in favor were each assigned rooms in the imperial palace according to their status. Archiel, as Duke Valdeck, was naturally also assigned a fairly large and lavish bedroom inside the imperial palace.

“Will you be staying in the imperial palace?”

The attendant asked quietly. Archiel hesitated for a moment over whether to go to the mansion or the bedroom in the imperial palace, since Valdeck was located close to the imperial palace.

Normally, he would have left the imperial palace at once to avoid the emperor who clung to him stubbornly. But for some reason today, he did not feel like leaving the imperial palace.

“...I will stay in the imperial palace tonight.”

Archiel gave the order in a low voice and headed to his quarters. As he strode along, the hand loosening the shirt collar that was tightly constricting his neck was distinctly irritated.

Once inside his quarters, Archiel roughly threw off his top and collapsed into the armchair. The emperor’s light green eyes, which had just approached him and held out a pitifully trembling hand, were vivid before his eyes.

The golden long eyelashes draped over eyes reddened by drink were trembling as finely as the hand he had held out to Archiel. And that light green gaze looking up at Archiel in silence... After being put through that much, he should have come to his senses by now, and yet Archiel found himself once again groping for Andrea’s shadow in the emperor.

Had he really lost his memory? Was that why the light green eyes, which had always held greed and lust, had changed like that?

With his hand covering his eyes for a moment, Archiel traced the emperor’s gaze from earlier and tilted the scales of his thoughts toward the idea that the emperor had indeed lost his memory.

Not only did that gaze and expression seem utterly unlike the usual emperor, but above all, Michael Andor himself was not the sort of man who would feel the need to put on such a performance.

Should he go back to his territory soon?

Archiel pressed his temples with his fingertips and thought it over.

Over the years, he had tried several times to return to his territory. But on the emperor’s orders, who was obsessed with Archiel, he had been forced to remain in the imperial capital every time.

But if the emperor had lost his memory now, wouldn’t it be possible? Judging from the emperor’s reaction earlier, even now that he had lost his memory, he seemed to feel a strong liking for Archiel. Still, it would not be the kind of obsession that would forcibly pin him down in the imperial palace. If he was going to leave, now was the right time.

However...

Archiel recalled the sensation he had felt when he lightly took the emperor’s hand to kiss the back of it.

It was only natural for the emperor, who enjoyed hunting, to have the distinctive calluses on his hands. But from the emperor’s hand he had just held, he could not feel the slightest trace of the calluses that should be present in anyone who handled a bow. The calluses on his hand were mostly the kind that would form on someone who held a pen for long periods of time.

Calluses do not form overnight. And they do not disappear overnight either.

A face that had not changed at all. But eyes and calluses that had changed completely.

What, exactly, did this mean?

What if. If only, just maybe...

A threadlike hope was stirring again in his chest.

“...Andrea...”

Archiel let out a heavy sigh and lowered his eyes. The already tattered thread of hope still would not let go of him.

***

“How is your body?”

The empress dowager asked as she set down her teacup without a sound. At the question, a slight heat rose to Andrea’s face.

Yesterday, Andrea had left the banquet hall almost being held in Duke Fernan’s arms. He had been so drunk he could not walk properly on his own. This morning, he had even gotten medicine from the attending physician because of a headache.

“Mm... I’m fine now. I just drank too much wine.”

As Andrea said that with his cheeks slightly red, the empress dowager gave a faint smile.

“How was the party? Did you enjoy it?”

At the empress dowager’s question, Andrea thought back to yesterday’s party and nodded.

“The music was incredibly beautiful. It was really amazing that instruments could come together and make such a beautiful melody. Listening to it made me feel as if I were in heaven.”

When Andrea spoke honestly, the empress dowager let out a small laugh.

If it were the emperor, he must have heard music like that until his ears were calloused over, so had he made himself seem too fake? Andrea sent her a cautious look. But the empress dowager did not seem to mind at all.

“Since you’ve lost your memory, everything in the world must seem wondrous to you. If you liked the music, then summon the musicians and enjoy it as much as you like. Enjoying beautiful melodies is a fine hobby too. There are always many excellent musicians staying in the imperial palace.”

“Is that allowed?”

Andrea asked brightly.

“Of course. Everything in the empire exists solely for His Majesty. Your Majesty only needs to command whatever you wish. If they can play at your summons, it would instead be a great honor for the musicians.”

The thought of being able to listen to that beautiful music to his heart’s content already made his heart swell. As Andrea smiled with curved eyes, the empress dowager’s gaze grew distant.

“Enjoy every pleasure you can, Your Majesty, without hesitation. This mother wants that.”

The empress dowager reached out her white hand and carefully took Andrea’s hand as she spoke. Andrea knew that those words were being said not to “Your Majesty,” but to “Andrea.” It was a request to happily enjoy everything he had been erased from the world and unable to enjoy all this time.

Feeling his heart unexpectedly tighten, Andrea gripped the empress dowager’s hand tightly. As he held the small, elegant hand and lowered his eyes, the empress dowager let out a faint sigh.

“Since you keep holding onto this mother’s hand and won’t let go, it feels as if you’ve returned to being a child.”

“...In front of my mother, I’m always a child.”

Andrea said it like a sigh, savoring deep in his heart the touch of a mother’s hand he had never once felt in his life.

Andrea, who had been fiddling with the empress dowager’s hand for quite a while, finally let go of it. The empress dowager, who had been silently offering her hand, lifted her teacup again.

“Yesterday, I heard Duke Fernan introduced several people to your majesty?”

Andrea, chewing on a colorful snack, almost spat out what was in his mouth.

Oh, my God! Did she know all about that embarrassing, secret matter of introducing men and women who would provide the pleasures of the night!

His face naturally flushed red. Seeing that, the empress dowager chuckled. The maids standing behind the empress dowager also hid their smiles behind their hands or fans.

“So, there was no one you particularly liked?”

The empress dowager asked with mischievous eyes. Andrea chewed the snack in his mouth halfheartedly, swallowed, and then let his gaze drift to the side.

“I... I am still not... such things....”

As Andrea mumbled, the maids whispered in small voices, “How cute.” Andrea once again felt that the sense of chastity among those living in the imperial palace was so different from that of the monastery, which had been somewhat private. To talk so openly about a lover, and not even a marriage partner. Oh, God....

“...Do I really have to do that?”

Andrea asked, glancing at the empress dowager. The empress dowager looked at Andrea with eyes that said he was cute, and a little pitiful.