INTERLUDE     Gilbert’s Summer Vacation

The night of their return from the cottage, Gilbert woke up feeling stifled. Lying on his back, he rubbed at his forehead and found his hand came away shiny with sweat.

It’s so hot.

Heavy, humid air clung to him. Even though summers in Prosper were relatively mild, they were still plenty warm. The heat pervaded his whole body, especially on his first night back from the cooler waterside.

I’ll go get a glass of water, he thought, head still muddled as he sat up to force himself awake. Then his gaze slid over to the spot next to him—and he froze.

Wh…at…is happening…?

It was no wonder he was petrified. Cecilia was in the bed with him, sleeping soundly after crawling in next to him.

Wait, I didn’t do anything, did I?

Struck with horror and disbelief that he may have gotten carried away and seduced her, he frantically patted himself down to check, then timidly drew back the sheets from her—and breathed a sigh of relief.

Good, good, good…

She wasn’t naked.

He buried his face in his hands. This was way too much of a shock. He broke into a fresh sweat, this time for an entirely different reason.

That’s right—she did say she wanted to sleep in the same bed…

Gilbert sighed, thinking back on previous events. In the evening, Cecilia had shown up at his room with her pillow in hand. Though flummoxed by her flimsy summertime nightgown, he managed to ask her what was wrong. Then she confessed to being scared of the Killer and requested that she sleep in his bed. Apparently, Lean had gotten her all riled up and thrown her into a state of fright. While the sight of her face, paler than usual, aroused his sympathy, he led her back to her own room and reassured her that he had posted more guards. He thought she had understood, and yet…

I certainly didn’t expect her to sneak in while I was sleeping.

…apparently, she hadn’t understood one bit.

He readjusted the covers over her, which granted him a glimpse of her ivory collarbone. He zeroed in on it. A bit of her décolletage was exposed, her skin flushed pink from the heat. Strands of her hair clung to her sweaty skin; the effect was strangely erotic. As she lay on her side, a bead of sweat formed at the mound of her breasts, sliding along her skin and disappearing between them into her cleavage. Gilbert tracked its movement before he managed to tear his gaze away.

No, I shouldn’t.

He felt hot all over. Although Cecilia saw him only as her little brother, Gilbert saw her as a woman. Despite calling her his sister out loud, he’d never thought of her as a sibling.

“Nnngh—”

She must have been uncomfortable. Cecilia turned over to her other side, causing a slender leg to poke out from under the blankets. She was exposed all the way to her thigh, so Gilbert rushed to cover her up.

“Aaaaahhhhh…”

All he could do was sigh. He’d only wanted to get up for a glass of water, but now he had to suffer through this? The situation was bringing all sorts of wicked thoughts to mind.

Gilbert brushed away the strands of hair stuck to Cecilia’s cheek. Then he touched a finger to her lips. He pressed down lightly and felt overwhelmed at their softness.

“Cecilia, don’t you want to break off your engagement? Should I help you along?” he whispered to her. He was referring, of course, to her engagement to Oscar. He knew of one way to get it called off.

Come to think of it, it would be pretty easy…

The qualities required of a queen were intelligence, dignity, high birth…and purity. If any one of those was stripped away, she would no longer be qualified for the position. Which meant…

If right here and now, I simply…

He touched her lips again, tracing slowly along the edges.

“But she’d hate me for it.”

The act would be effortless to pull off. But it would also wound her deeply, so she would very likely never listen to him again.

But if that was what it took to take her for his own and keep her at his side every day, wouldn’t it be a small price to pay? She told him practically every day that she loved him. Perhaps, with the passage of time, she would forgive him.

“Uggghhh!” he moaned, throwing himself down on the bed. All these impulses he wouldn’t consider in the light of day were rising vividly in his mind; he was fed up with himself.

“I bet His Highness would never even dream of something like that…”

In Gilbert’s opinion, there was no man so upright and cleanhanded as the prince. Even if he were in Gilbert’s position, a solution that would hurt Cecilia would never have occurred to him—and even if it did, he would dismiss it out of hand right away.

As he stared up at the ceiling, Lean’s words from a few days earlier replayed in his mind.

“You’re the type to sacrifice anything for your sister’s happiness, aren’t you? Even yourself. Somewhere inside, you’d even be willing to let the prince have her if that’s what she wanted. You rail against it with all your heart, but deep down, you’re also working out how to give up on her.

“I hate how calculating you are, Gilbert. The type of person I hate most of all in this world is a coward who’s given up.”

“I mean, I do lose faith sometimes,” Gilbert whispered weakly.

He knew that if Cecilia went on to marry Oscar, she’d be happy. He would protect her, shield her from anything, and cherish her. Anyone could see that. The whole thing was practically a done deal.

Which left Gilbert as the only one fighting it. He was the only one desperately clinging to her hand to keep her with him.

He brought the finger that had touched her lips to his own.

I don’t plan on letting anyone else have her…but…

He heard her steady breathing right in his ear. When he turned to his side, Cecilia was right there, eyes peacefully closed.

Lean’s voice reverberated in his mind once more.

“A favorite. Like how Huey was mine… You know, the person she liked the most.”

“Is the prince the one you liked?”

Cecilia turned over in her sleep again and gave no answer.