Marin swallowed hard, staring at the black carriage.
Her palms were slick with nervous sweat. She started to wipe them on her skirts—then noticed the sleeping pill still clutched in her fingers and quickly curled them closed again.
The Duke emerged from the black carriage, dressed in simple traveling clothes.
He carried himself impeccably—as though embarking on a long journey were the most natural thing in the world. *Why do women have to wear these ridiculous bulky skirts?*
"Ready?"
"*Yes!*"
Marin took a deep breath and answered with deliberate cheer, forcing brightness into her voice.
"You seem well prepared."
The corners of the Duke's lips twitched slightly at her ringing enthusiasm.
"Yes! I can handle this! I'm sitting down—I'm sitting down *right now!*"
As though hypnotizing herself, she repeated the words and took a step toward the four-horse carriage.
"Not that one."
"Huh?"
*Click. Click. Click.*
A sudden loud clatter of hooves made her spin around.
Her eyes went wide.
For a moment, she was literally blinded.
No—not *literally*. It simply *flashed* so brilliantly that it felt like blindness.
Another four-horse carriage approached, similar in scale to the Duke's. But what the horses were pulling...
Was a diamond the size of a carriage.
Light struck the facets and exploded into rainbow fragments. Viewed from any angle—standing, sitting, lying down—it was unmistakably, impossibly, a *true diamond*. The cutting was flawless: every facet caught the sun and fractured it into dazzling shards.
The horses harnessed to this crystalline impossibility stopped directly in front of her nose.
"Oh. *No way*."
"Wow! It's *beautiful*!"
"Sister, the carriage is *shining*!"
These were, in order, the voices of Garnet, Rubiena, and Perido.
Marin and Daya, confronted with such an enormous diamond at point-blank range for the first time in their lives, stood utterly frozen.
Finally, a door in the diamond swung open—*we'll set aside for now the question of why a diamond has a door*—and out stepped Surenn and Zeromian.
"Lady Marin! How do you like it?"
Surenn hopped down easily and gazed at the carriage with the satisfied expression of a proud parent.
"Surenn... what *is* this?"
"Can't you tell?"
"It looks like a diamond to me..."
Surenn laughed heartily and clapped Marin on the back—friendly, but this time, not painful.
"Exactly right! It's a diamond. Carved from a single genuine stone."
She said this with the expression of a thoroughly satisfied artisan.
*That thing covered with white cloth at the back of the forge—was* this *what she was working on?*
Still reeling, Marin turned her bewildered gaze to Zeromian.
*He* would explain properly.
He stood with the look of a man who had been awake for approximately three hundred hours. But when their eyes met, he quickly rearranged his expression into something more presentable.
"Mr. Zeromian, what exactly is this?"
"A diamond carriage." His voice was flat with exhaustion. "From the outside, nothing is visible except dazzling light. But from the inside, the walls are completely transparent—a windowless view of the entire world. The result of extremely complex, difficult, and precise work."
The more he spoke, the more obvious his bone-deep tiredness became.
*"The Duke has given me a task that's making my head spin: 'Make it so that nothing is visible from the outside, but everything is clearly visible from the inside.'"*
Marin suddenly remembered Zeromian's complaint from weeks ago.
*So this is what he meant.*
She nodded along—nodded and nodded—until she couldn't contain herself any longer.
"Wait—*why a diamond carriage?!* Does he have money to *burn?!*"
"Those were his orders." Zeromian nodded his chin toward the Duke, who stood there looking perfectly serene. "For Lady Marin."
"What?"
"He says it's an engagement gift."
"*What?*"
"Money frenzy. Love frenzy."
"*WHA-A-AT?!*"
Marin stared at the Duke, mouth hanging open as though her jaw had come unhinged.
But he acted as though none of this commotion concerned him in the slightest.
"Sit down."
"In *there*? *Who*?"
"You, of course."
"No." She shook her head vigorously. "I don't like being the center of attention. I'm *not* sitting in that."
The mere thought of entering the capital in a diamond carriage made her cheeks burn. Every eye would be riveted. Every single one.
Worse—the road to the capital was probably crawling with bandits.
*Will I even arrive alive?*
"Just sit down first."
The Duke didn't retreat.
"Don't want to."
"Why?"
He looked at her with genuine incomprehension.
"It's *embarrassing!*"
"Is that all? If you don't like it, we'll break it."
He extended his hand. A knight instantly drew his sword and placed it in the Duke's palm.
"*WAIT—!*"
Marin went white and darted forward, throwing her arms wide to shield the carriage.
*Shatter this miraculous diamond into pieces?* They'd built it without asking her opinion, and now they were going to destroy it without asking either? *So NOW you want my input?!*
"O-okay! I'll sit down!"
The Duke returned the sword to the knight.
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
She noticed. *Clearly.*
Daya, who had been observing quietly from the side, approached and whispered:
"Teacher Marin... perhaps I should ride in a different carriage after all."
"Daya..."
*Traitor. You promised to come with me.*
"I simply don't have the courage."
She hung her head guiltily.
*Well. I understand completely.*
"L-Lady Marin..."
Julia's voice came next—trembling, nearly tearful. She'd gone white as chalk and was stuttering again.
The thought of a simple maid climbing into a diamond carriage had clearly terrified her beyond reason.
"All right. You go with Daya."
"Thank you." Julia's relief was palpable.
"I'll accompany you," the Duke said, his expression returning to its usual impassive mask.
"Why?"
"You'll get bored alone."
"I'm perfectly capable of entertaining myself."
"Sit down."
The Duke was the first to climb into the diamond carriage, then extended his hand to help her up.
Marin grimaced—but placed her foot on the diamond step. Even that small gesture made her shudder.
Surenn approached with a sly grin.
"Lady Marin, do you remember when I took your measurements?"
"I remember."
"I adjusted everything to fit your figure. It'll be comfortable inside."
"Ah. So everything went according to plan from the start."
Marin forced a smile.
"Thank you."
"Safe travels!"
Butler Sebas and Head Maid Paige approached and bowed deeply.
"Safe travels, my lady."
Zeromian handed her a long scroll with a dazzling smile—though the exhaustion beneath it was obvious.
"I've written down all the operating instructions. Read them."
*Why is it so long?*
"Thank you. And Mr. Zeromian—you're not coming with us?"
"The Duke's commission must be completed." He shot a displeased glance at the Duke, who stood serenely with his eyes closed. "I'll finish and catch up."
"Well, well... at least he assigned something *interesting*." He grumbled this last part—half bored, half genuinely intrigued.
"I see. Then I'll see you in the capital."
"May your journey be peaceful."
He adjusted his glasses and closed the carriage door behind them.
---
The horses began to move.
Marin clenched her fists tight.
When the initial shock of being inside a *diamond carriage* finally faded, a new wave of realization crashed over her.
*She was in a carriage. Inside.*
"Marin."
She hadn't even noticed that she'd squeezed her eyes shut. At the Duke's voice, she raised her head.
"Yes?"
"Open your eyes."
"How did you know they were closed?"
"If you were looking, you would have said something by now." His voice was patient. "Open them. Look at the ceiling."
Marin drew a deep breath and opened her eyes.
"*Oh.*"
The ceiling showed a clear blue sky and drifting white clouds—as though there were no roof at all, no barrier between her and the heavens.
She looked around, stunned.
The walls were transparent. The floor too. She could see the whole world around them—even the way small pebbles bounced off the wheels as they rolled along the road.
"How is this *possible*?"
"Zero explained it to me. He did excellent work."
Marin felt a sudden pang of guilt. She should have praised Zeromian more effusively.
The diamond carriage glided forward as though it were sliding rather than rolling—not a carriage at all, but a sleigh on invisible ice.
The Duke, seated across from her, extended his hand.
"What for?"
"If it becomes difficult, I'll lend you mine."
"What would I do with Lord Gerald's hand?"
"You've used it before."
Marin flushed, remembering how she'd wept into his palm that night.
"I didn't have a handkerchief then."
"And you don't have one now either."
"And now I don't *need* one."
The Duke withdrew his hand, expression unchanged—though somehow, he seemed almost... disappointed.
Marin smiled and looked at him properly.
"Thank you. For the carriage."
"...My pleasure."
His lips softened.