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Albert left the room under his second brother's admiring gaze.

This "little city" was his father's domain. He had his own residence elsewhere in Holy Radiance City, a magnificent building constructed from white marble.

The garden was filled with Moon God Flowers shipped from the south, considered heavenly treasures in this country, with twelve fully armed knights taking turns guarding them day and night.

When Albert's carriage rolled across the courtyard paved with golden sand, William, the old butler, was already waiting in the entrance hall with a physician.

Seeing the dents in his master's armor, William knitted his graying brows into a knot. "My lord, should we inform your wife?"

"No need." The movement of Albert unfastening his shoulder armor tugged at his wound. Dark red blood had long since soaked through the lining. "Just tell her I scraped myself at the training grounds."

But Mariana came anyway. As she lifted her skirts and hurried through the corridor, morning dew clung to the tips of her spiral-curled twin tails. Clearly, she had rushed over from the prayer room.

Her high-necked chiffon gown covered her completely, with only the occasional glimpse of dazzlingly white wrists beneath the lace cuffs.

"Holy Light above!" She sat beside her husband, her lashes casting trembling shadows over her cheeks.

When she noticed the golden motes lingering in the wound, her ointment-coated fingertips paused almost imperceptibly. These were traces of a high-level divine spell of the Holy See.

Albert reached out and rubbed the top of his wife's head. "A newly trained magic beast scratched me."

It was not a particularly convincing lie. Everyone in Holy Radiance City knew that a magic beast capable of injuring "Ironwall Albert" had yet to be born.

Mariana lowered her head to tie the bandage, her spiral curls falling