I turned away from his approaching face and spoke first.

“Wait. I, just in case—”

“…… Just in case?”

“If you’re going to say I owe you my life and want to have relations because you saved me, I can’t today—!”

“What?”

Had I said it too loudly. Rubenstein asked in a voice of pure disbelief, but I had no intention of backing down.

You hurt me and it hurts.

I had been about to say that much, but my lips pressed shut. It would be nice if he just understood without me having to say it.

But saying it would only give him something to pick at. Hadn’t every encounter between us gone exactly that way. The more I spoke, the more he found fault, and by the time I came back to my senses I was the only one making a sound.

A wave of sadness came over me, and I looked at him with tears in my eyes.

“Because…… it hurts……”

I blinked. In that moment, tears I hadn’t known were there fell, one after another, down my cheeks. Oh. Tears.

I dropped my head as the tears kept falling.

“D*mn.”

He muttered a quiet curse. Then he moved toward me.

Here we go again. I could predict what came next. Rubenstein would push me, and sitting as I was, I would be pressed back down onto the bed.

…… Except that wasn’t what happened. Instead, Rubenstein climbed up beside me. He pulled back the blanket, climbed in, and……

Wrapped his arms around me.

Wh, what?

“Wh, what are you—”

I squirmed and tried to pull away, but of course there was no escaping him. He lay down beside me and, rather than push me or climb on top of me, he held me firmly in his arms. One hand even laced its fingers tightly through mine, making it impossible to slip free.

It felt like being held by a tiger. Flustered, I thrashed and cried out. Every hair on my body stood on end.

“Why? What are you trying to—”

“Nothing.”

“I don’t want this! …… Wait, what did you say?”

I had barely swallowed a breath and shouted when those words reached me.

“……”

“You said you’re not going to do anything?”

“That’s right.”

Rubenstein, still holding me in place and watching me, opened his mouth.

“Relax. I won’t act like an idiot today either.”

It was a soft, gentle voice unlike anything I had heard from him before.

“I know you’re in pain. I already heard. I was simply worried.”

“……”

It was a voice I had never heard from him since he came to this estate. The first time I had heard him sound warm and sincere, and it left me more flustered than anything else.

“…… So.”

“I had no intention of hurting you or tormenting you. Even if it’s called a contract…… I mean. This morning too.”

“……”

Why is he being like this. I was staring at him intently when he furrowed his brow for a moment.

It was strange. He was frowning the same way he always did, but somehow the expression struck me as troubled. Like a child trying very hard to say something difficult in front of an adult.

The tears receded. I had forgotten I was about to cry, and I just looked at him.

“So…… today.”

The man stumbled over his words. But Rubenstein hesitating over what to say felt more awkward and strange to me than him simply lashing out.

“…… So.”

Rubenstein’s words slowed. How little must he have to say for the pace to slow this much. I watched him for a moment, then felt the need to step in myself.

“You know.”

“……”

“I’m all right. So…… you probably aren’t worried about me, but.”

“……”

“My life was saved thanks to you. The northern business will go forward. The contract is still valid.”

What am I even saying. I knew I was babbling. I knew I was gritting my teeth and trying to seem fine.

Whether or not Rubenstein knew I was rambling out of awkwardness, he didn’t answer and just kept looking at my face.

“And if I’m being honest, I’m more worried about the Reinach family.”

“You’re more worried about that?”

At his words, I nodded vigorously.

“Because the attack on us, no matter how I look at it, was aimed specifically at us, and it’s clear the culprit isn’t Geut.”

The softness that had been settling in the man’s eyes hardened in an instant. He nodded at me like someone hearing welcome news.

“…… Right. Even putting all the information together, it isn’t Geut. No assassin ever names their client.”

“Exactly!”

I told him everything I had said to Melly earlier. He seemed to already know most of it, but even so, he never once cut me off or dismissed me.

What a relief. I finished speaking and let out a long sigh.

“So that’s why I said I was worried…… about it.”

I finished my sentence, watching his expression.

Rubenstein hadn’t looked away from me the whole time I was speaking. I didn’t know what that gaze meant, but it was a relief. I had been quietly worried he might get angry because I had spoken over him. The sigh of relief came on its own.

“A very sound judgment, wife.”

The man smiled and said this after hearing me out.

“But there’s one more possibility.”

“One more?”

“The combination of option one and option two, wife. The case where Tito Tymveck’s remnants have joined forces with a third party.”

“……!”

I drew in a sharp breath. Right, that was possible. It made far more sense that way. A third party had joined with Tito Tymveck’s remnants, who knew the inner workings of this duchy well.

“But who could—”

“That’s what we need to find out from here.”

Rubenstein let out a long sigh.

“I truly don’t understand. Why. What are they holding out for, to this extent. I can’t figure it out. The fact that it isn’t only Tito Tymveck who has been targeting the North means there’s something here beyond this barren land and its thorny trifoliate orange trees.”

A look of exhaustion seemed to pass over Rubenstein’s face for a moment. I watched him and then asked.

“Do you have any suspicions?”

“I do, but nothing certain. There isn’t enough evidence to name anyone.”

Rubenstein leaned back against the headboard and continued.

“Part of it is that I was too young, and that my parents died early, but even I don’t know many things about this North properly. You probably know this place better than I do.”

“No, honestly I don’t know it that well either. Embarrassing as that is.”

“What about notes left by the previous duke?”

“I’ve never touched them.”

I frowned and sank into thought. During my time here, I had been focused almost entirely on maintaining the status quo, things like the North’s financial situation, agricultural conditions, and tax revenue. The idea of this land’s latent value had only occurred to me relatively recently, and I had never even thought to look at the duke’s study, the library, or any hidden records.

“But even if I never touched them, someone else already did. There’s someone who spent ten years coming and going through this place, expecting it to become their home.”

The moment I said it, thinking of Tito Tymveck, the man furrowed his brow and muttered a quiet curse. Something along the lines of should have cut his throat one more time, but I did my best to ignore it……

“Wait.”

A thought struck me, and I frowned.

“There are no records.”

“No records?”

“But. There are things I hid away because I couldn’t bear to see them lost, things passed down through the generations all the way from the previous duke.”

“What?”

I looked at Rubenstein directly.

“I didn’t want the North’s treasures and records to disappear. I kept them hidden away desperately. Of course, the truly valuable jewels were probably taken by Tito Tymveck. But most of the old things he had no interest in, the antique furniture, the smaller gems, I hid all of it.”

What might be in there?

“It might be worth going through those too, at least—”

That was when it happened. I was pulled into a strong embrace. And who was it that embraced me, but Rubenstein, of course.