After ten days had passed, close to fifteen, Rose noticed changes in Maverick’s attitude. Though very subtle, it was clear to Rose. That’s when it began.

Over another ten days, Maverick’s attitude changed even more. Now it was noticeable not just to Rose but even to others in the mansion.

Maverick reduced how often he went to that tavern. He spent that time in his office instead, and no longer drove Rose away or avoided her when she visited. Though he was still cold or annoyed when Rose persistently tried to talk to him, he had reached the point of answering consistently.

Given his size, it felt like taming a fierce feline predator rather than a wild alley cat. His difference from a cat was the fear that he might bite her neck or turn away on those long legs with just one mistake from her.

‘Well, I’ll just chase after him again then.’

Rose was extremely happy. Though it had seemed endlessly far away, and she would have loved him even if it took a lifetime. Still, she liked that Maverick was showing reactions and giving her attention.

Above all, the greatest achievement was…

“…A date, you say?”

“Yes.”

That Maverick had accepted her date proposal that she had worked up the courage to make! Without conditions!

‘Actually, I would have agreed even if he asked for ten million gold or a territory.’

If she had blurted that out, she would have received cold contempt in return. Though she didn’t yet know everything about Maverick, she knew that he was fastidious in nature, as much as what was visible, if not more.

The place she suggested was Cambrak Park. Located in the western part of the capital, when the season and weather were nice like now, countless nobles would come for outings or use it as a dating spot. Simply put, it was a meeting place even outside of social gatherings or banquets.

The date she had arranged with Maverick approached quickly.

On the day, she personally selected Maverick’s clothes, and he docilely accepted and wore them. They were clothes tailored for him after Rose had secretly pressured the designer and paid several times the normal price.

Unfortunately, there hadn’t been enough time for the full production.

‘Still, it suits him perfectly.’

She gazed contentedly at her husband sitting across from her in the moving carriage. Though she wasn’t actually drooling, her expression suggested she might as well have been. Of course, her gaze frequently and persistently focused on his chest.

‘Wow, dressing him to show off that solid chest really makes him shine. He looks stunning.’

The outfit she had given Maverick was, naturally, a formal suit that reflected Rose’s tastes one hundred percent.

From the neat collar shape to the cravat color and the tightness of the vest, every detail contained her instructions.

Looking at him like this felt somewhat unfamiliar.

“You’re about to drool, wife.”

“…Oh, am I already drooling?”

“……”

Maverick had a peculiar expression.

“Do you like my chest that much?”

“Ah, is it that obvious?”

“…Considering how persistently you touch it every time I penetrate you, I’d have to be an idiot not to notice.”

Rose propped her chin up and smiled elegantly.

“Really? When your c*ck enters me, I feel like I become an idiot. Must be instinct.”

“…Where exactly did you learn to talk like this?”

“I won’t tell you. I don’t want you to hate me.”

“……”

Considering their backgrounds, their positions seemed completely reversed. The one born as the only daughter of a ducal family and raised in luxury all her life was more proficient at crude speech.

Maverick stared intently at Rose. His expression was unreadable.

“If I say I won’t hate you particularly, will you answer?”

His voice was somehow stiffer than usual. From her accumulated experience, Rose could tell he wasn’t angry with her. Though she didn’t know why he had become stiff.

He was curious about who had taught her to speak so frivolously.

“Are you jealous?”

The words flowed out before she could think. At her quiet question, delivered with surprising calm, Maverick gave no answer.

Before anything more could be said, the carriage came to a stop. They had arrived at the park.

Maverick silently got out first. Since he at least properly escorted her rather than abandoning her to get out on her own, Rose exited the carriage without complaint.

‘I noticed it from the start, but he lifts me so easily.’

Rose had experienced various positions at Maverick’s tavern, the ‘Red Carnelian’. Among them were positions where she was held and penetrated in his arms, or with her back against the wall, and even positions where she was practically lifted while they’re joined together.

It was a position Rose had never even thought of before. Though she had had knight lovers before, Rose had never wanted it. Give control to her partner during the act? It was unthinkable.

Because she had experienced so many new things with Maverick, Rose briefly worried that perhaps her new tastes had been developed too extensively. Of course, the worry didn’t last long. After all, she liked everything Maverick did.

Rose stared intensely at Maverick’s arms. Not noticing how his brow slightly furrowed at her persistent gaze.

“First my chest, now my arms? You’ll bore holes in them soon.”

“That won’t do. Those hands have so much work to do.”

“……”

If Rose had adapted to the maniacal or humiliating acts Maverick had done to warn her, Maverick had not only adapted to her way of speaking but had reached the point where even normal statements sounded lewd to him. It was troublesome.

“Please, refrain from suggestive remarks in public, wife.”

“Why?”

“Do you want to reveal your preferences in front of all these people?”

Because Maverick whispered right in her ear, Rose experienced shivers down her spine. Ah, I wish he would lick my ear with his tongue like last time. I wish he would hold me and put it in again. I want to try sucking it too, why won’t he let me?

“Get ahold of yourself, you lewd lady.”

Rose’s cheeks showed a faint blush. Discovering this, Maverick whispered with a growl. Oh my, repeated whispers in the ear excite Rose Clematis. Why didn’t he know this basic fact yet?

“Maverick, why don’t you whisper more lewdly? I think I could get more excited with just a little more.”

“…Do you have no sense of time and place?”

“If that’s your preference, I’ll follow along.”

“……”

Maverick finally frowned and said, ‘Having a sense of time and place isn’t a preference, it’s common sense, wife.’ How funny. He was the one who acted more perverted in that tavern.

Only after Maverick moved away could Rose look around. The weather was perfect today and, befitting an official Imperial holiday, many nobles were in the park. And their eyes were all focused on Rose and Maverick.

Each containing various emotions — interest and surprise, shock and envy, anger and jealousy.

These were very familiar gazes to Rose. In a way, she had expected this. Given the rumors that had spread, anyone who didn’t expect people to crowd the park on a day like this would either not be a noble or be quite stupid.

So everything was going according to plan.

This man is my man. Today is a perfect day for properly announcing it to the world.

Rose wasn’t unaware of what people had been saying about Maverick.

‘Male Poiret.’

Poiret was a commoner woman who lived 50 years ago. She was also the woman who became Empress after the Emperor fell in love at first sight and made her his official consort despite her having nothing. Afterward, women who achieved social advancement without having anything were called ‘Lady Poiret.’

In the current era, it was also used as a mocking term for husbands who married into their wife’s family like Maverick did. Maverick, seen up close, was by no means a foolish person. He was smart and quick-witted. So he must have anticipated the countless remarks he would hear from the moment he accepted becoming a married-in husband.

‘The tavern we frequented…’

Rose wasn’t ignorant of what kind of place the ‘Red Carnelian’ tavern was. More precisely, she had roughly figured it out. Before her regression, Maverick had appeared to have built his own independent power base. If so, wouldn’t he have used that tavern as his base? It was highly likely that it outwardly posed as an information guild.

Then why would Maverick secretly gather power?

This wasn’t hard to guess either.

Revenge.

Rose’s father, Duke Clematis, had killed Maverick’s parents and all members of their family, resulting in the extinction of their house. Yet Maverick had accepted becoming a married-in husband? It made no sense logically. When you inserted the word ‘revenge’ into this connection, everything fell into place.

Then why had her father brought in a man who would clearly seek revenge as his daughter’s husband? The answer to this must lie in the ‘information’ her father hadn’t yet revealed.