Free love.
At least in noble society, I had heard it was rarely permitted.
And to pursue free love within the pages of a romance fantasy novel,
there was a great deal one had to be willing to give up.
Well — wasn't that exactly right?
Daniela herself had fled to the North, practically driven out, because of the Crown Prince's free love.
And that victorious heroine — wasn't she someone who had won her own battle for free love?
But in the North, free love was something deeply embraced.
Just hearing the words felt good. When a person loves another person, what else could possibly matter?
"So you're saying they truly ran away together?"
"Yes. Right now I've posted him as an official in the Northwest Region, but I'm thinking of calling him back to Central before long."
"To think something like that actually happened. I'd never heard of it before, Grand Duke."
"No, but still — running all the way to the Northwest Region. What were they thinking? It was quite the ordeal tracking them down."
Fortunately, I happened to need an official for the Northwest Region.
Otherwise, I might have had to send soldiers after them.
What must it have felt like — a young noblewoman and a newly appointed official, running away together?
Had they despaired, believing their love could never be?
That much I couldn't know. Though I was a little curious.
I couldn't very well bring them back only to separate them, so we reached an agreement: they would return to their post in the Northwest Region. Since their families were bound to make a scene, I promised to personally name their child when the time came — and with that, their free love was made whole.
"What about you, Daniela? Have you ever dreamed of something like that?"
"....."
Daniela, who had been smiling, suddenly fell silent.
Right. That had been my mistake.
She'd been expelled from the academy because of exactly that.
Here was a case that shattered the romantic notion that those who believe in free love are beautiful.
"I'm sorry. That was thoughtless of me."
"No, please. Grand Duke. I — I've always dreamed of it too."
"Have you?"
"It's beautiful, isn't it? Just the thought of it."
"Mm. Daniela."
The mood had shifted into something strange.
I was not the sort of person who could mend another's wounds.
Becoming Grand Duke had left too much behind — too much that would have to be abandoned for free love to be possible.
"It's something about — perhaps because I've been reading so much lately — whenever I think of it, it just keeps feeling beautiful."
"I think so too."
"I suppose I simply lacked the courage."
An awkward silence.
I turned the time I had spent with Daniela over in my mind.
If I were to pursue free love with Daniela — what would that even look like?
Like that young official who had fled to the Northwest, I suppose.
I had too much I couldn't abandon. I didn't think I could run.
No — come to think of it, free love wasn't something I was incapable of in the first place, was it?
"Actually, when I think about it — it doesn't really matter for me."
"Don't you believe in free love, Grand Duke?"
"For me, if I decide I want something, I pursue it. It's not as though I have a betrothed already chosen for me."
"When you put it that way, I suppose that's true."
Daniela forced a smile.
What was I thinking, exactly?
The truth was — if Daniela were meant to die for this world to turn as it should,
what could I do about Daniela?
No. If that had been the plan, I would have ignored her from the start.
But there was a reason I hadn't done that.
"Come to think of it, Grand Duke."
"Yes?"
"I feel as though I've been staying in your chambers for far too long. Is it really all right—"
"I find it perfectly agreeable."
"But — there are matters of propriety to consider, and all things considered—"
"It's fine. Didn't House Barth's letter say as much?"
I had my justification.
The letter from House Barth had clearly stated that I was to handle things as I saw fit.
The fact that they had sent their daughter meant that even a relationship like this was acceptable.
Some might call it greed, and they wouldn't be entirely wrong.
But this, too, was no different from free love.
"Didn't they say I could handle it as I pleased?"
"That — that's true, but—!"
"I accepted you, and it's precisely because of that I've kept you by my side. Isn't that rather wonderful?"
"...."
Daniela gave a small nod.
If I had harbored ill intentions, Daniela would not have been a guest — she would have been made to disappear.
But the reason I hadn't done that
was because Daniela was beautiful.
I could say it honestly now.
"Well, looked at another way — isn't this free love too?"
"Is it?"
"Of course! House Barth made the introduction, but that sort of thing is neither here nor there to me."
"When I think of it that way — being here with you like this, Grand Duke."
"If you were to say otherwise, I suppose there would be nothing to be done."
Though I think it would hurt. If she said otherwise.
I watched Daniela quietly, like a wolf with its tail tucked in.
There was clearly something I wanted to hear,
but I didn't want to press for it.
No — it wasn't the kind of thing that could be pressed for.
Could one fall in love with someone in less than a month?
"Hmm — when you put it that way, this really is free love!"
"Isn't it?"
"Though it did get a little tangled along the way!"
"Yes, yes. Tangles can always be undone. That sort of thing."
"You're right."
Laughter filled the room again.
Alfredo stepped carefully inside.
With word that the bath had been prepared,
Daniela went out first to wash.
"You appear to be in good spirits, Grand Duke."
"Do I?"
"As expected of one who carries the blood of the wolf—"
"That's enough. I've heard it far too many times."
"And yet the blood of the true and great wolf seems to run all the deeper, my lord."
"Yes, yes. Let's say that."
I returned to my desk in the study and turned my attention to the documents.
Strangely, I couldn't quite focus,
but I made a proper effort to look through the papers, as befitted the Grand Duke's station.
"Alfredo."
"Yes, Grand Duke."
"It's remarkable. That a single person can be so beautiful."
"To know that joy, my lord — Alfredo could not be more glad."
"Is that so. This winter in the North feels like the warmest one yet."
Could one find joy in such small things?
I had never thought of myself as that kind of warm person.
But this time was different.
Something soft and round was stirring inside me.
"That said, I've been thinking."
"Yes, Grand Duke."
"Even so — isn't it true that one must know someone deeply before falling in love?"
"There are those who say as much, from time to time."
"Mm. I'm not sure what to make of this feeling."
Truthfully, wasn't it all rather sudden to call it love?
I had wanted to show off the North,
had wanted to wander various places together,
but at this point in time, there was no room for any of that.
When would there ever be time for a proper outing?
"Grand Duke, this old man does not think of love in quite those terms. Though of course, everything Your Grace says tends toward the truth."
"What do you mean? You've made me terribly curious."
"I'm not sure if Your Grace will recall — that matter of the couple who fled to the Northwest Region—"
"I remember. You know about it too, yes? I hear they're still together out there."
"So I have heard as well, my lord."
"What a business that was. Free love, of all things—"
Beautiful in one sense, and in another sense, perhaps not.
The natural course of falling in love with someone.
Could love exist without that process?
"I wonder if Your Grace happens to know how long they had known each other before they ran away together."
"That part I don't know well. I never heard the full story."
"It was barely two weeks, Grand Duke."
"Barely two weeks?"
"Just so, my lord."
That was something I hadn't known.
Could a person truly abandon their life and flee with another after only two weeks?
I looked at Alfredo steadily.
Whether what he said was true, or whether Alfredo was simply telling me what I needed to hear — I couldn't say.
But there were certainly people in this world who could abandon everything in two weeks.
"I'm not sure what to make of it. Whether that's right or not."
"Grand Duke, I rather think the matter of love is not a question of right or wrong."
"I still don't know. This feels like something beyond what I'm equipped to handle."
"Grand Duke, I believe in the wolf's blood that runs in Your Grace's veins."
The blood of the wolf.
House Wintergard, said to carry the blood of the wolf.
How long does it take a wolf to choose the one it will love for the rest of its life?
Is it simply a matter of instinct?
I couldn't say. I was not a wolf — only a man.
"Then perhaps the reason I want to be near Daniela is also because of the wolf's blood."
Why I had asked Alfredo something like that,
I truly could not say. The words had come out as though carried along by some current.
But if the wolf's blood truly ran in me,
perhaps it could explain why I was drawn to her in so short a time.
"People often say that love requires no great occasion, Grand Duke."
"I know that too. I've heard it said in many places. Free love, they call it. Isn't that right?"
"And yet, as Alfredo sees it — when the heart begins to pound, that is most often love."
When the heart pounds.
I knew well enough that it was different from the pounding I had felt when facing the nomadic armies.
A physical response that arises when two people stand face to face.
Isn't that what we call a flutter?
"Then there's a more fitting way to put it."
"I would be honored if Your Grace would share what you mean."
"I believe I read it once in a popular novel—"
"Yes, Grand Duke."
I slowly scrawled something across a sheet of paper.
Before I had come to this world,
in the fading gap where memories of my past life grew dim, a single verse had surfaced.
A well-known verse.
One that had appeared often on television.
"I'm back."
A woman like a violet stepped into the room.
A pleasant fragrance drifted in with her.
In that instant, my heart gave a single, resounding thud — and then kept on pounding.
"First love."
I looked at Alfredo.
He was entirely right.