As I opened the door to the study and entered, Ilion, neatly dressed, was sitting at the desk looking at me.

His appearance was still dazzling. I immediately understood why the author spent several pages describing his beauty.

Because of that, I didn’t even notice the maid closing the door and leaving, as I was mesmerized by his face.

“You seem to have had a busy day.”

His gaze swept from the top of my head to my toes.

Was it because I came in late, or was it because he saw my dirty dress and shoes? Probably both.

Well, I was busy running around, but no matter how busy I was, could I have been busier than Ilion?

It wasn’t something I wanted to hear from someone who didn’t even come out for breakfast. I have a more vengeful personality than you might think.

But having a petty argument here wouldn’t benefit me, so I just smiled.

“Staying in the room was boring, so I went for a walk with my maid.”

“You went quite far for a walk.”

His tone suggested he already knew where I had been.

I knew most of the information had already reached his ears when he called for me, but I pretended to be an innocent young lady and widened my eyes like a surprised rabbit.

“Oh my, you already know where I’ve been?”

“Why did you suddenly buy land?”

Whether I widened my eyes like a rabbit or not, he asked what he was curious about right away. And here I was, putting all my effort into acting…

Ilion’s gaze clung to me persistently, as if examining me.

“Oh my, news travels fast. I thought you might not even know I had arrived at the mansion.”

When I asked back with a slightly pouty expression, a slight crack appeared in the Duke’s smooth forehead.

“If you’ve had dinner, would you like to have tea with me?”

“I don’t have time for long talks. I just called to ask why you suddenly bought land.”

“Do you not even have time to have tea with me? I was looking forward to when you would call me, I’m really disappointed.”

Ilion stared at me silently for a while, then eventually got up and rang the bell on the desk. Soon, a maid entered, and he ordered her to bring tea.

This must be what they mean when they say you can’t win against someone who doesn’t communicate.

He might not want to talk to me, but it was Ilion, not me, who needed something. So he had no choice but to comply with my request.

I sat confidently on the sofa in one corner of the study, waiting for the tea.

Compared to the Emperor, Ilion was a secondary male lead with less screen time. Whenever he was described in those few appearances, he was always portrayed as sharp and sensitive.

But fundamentally, he was someone who didn’t show his emotions to others, so he usually maintained his composure in any situation.

Just a moment ago, even though I did something he hated, there was almost no emotional disturbance on his face.

And perhaps because of that personality, he had a bad habit of pushing himself due to unexpressed emotions, which might have been the catalyst for his rebellion.

Well, Ilion didn’t become like that because he wanted to.

Today’s goal was to break that armor-like face of his somehow. Of course, in a bad way.

Soon, the maid brought the tea, and I took a moment to relieve the fatigue of the day with the warm tea.

“Now, tell me why you bought the land.”

I had just taken a sip, and he was already in a hurry.

Ilion leaned back on the sofa opposite and crossed his arms, looking at me. Even in such a pose, he looked like a scene from a photo shoot, it’s unfair.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to calmly admire that appearance, so I began to gather my emotions to answer his question.

“You may not know, but I’ve liked flowers since I was young. But growing up in a poor family, I didn’t have a garden, let alone a decent yard.”

The Duke listened to my words with little interest.

I’m sure, even if I said I liked dragon poop instead of flowers, he would have had the same expression. It was a look that said, ‘I’m not interested in the preamble, but I’ll listen since I don’t want to talk.’

But this is the climax.

Summoning the spirit of acting, I poured my emotions into every word.

“So I thought, if I ever got the chance, I would cover a vast land with flowers!”

Silence fell.

My words seemed quite absurd, since Ilion blinked quietly for a long time.

Then his expression crumpled a bit. It seemed he finally understood my words.

Seeing that smart man stutter while trying to understand my words was amusing. But I’m not done talking yet.

Immersed in my own performance, I clasped my hands together and continued with a joyful expression.

“But then, a very nice piece of land came up for a very cheap price. And the shape of the land is a heart, isn’t that pretty? If the land is covered in flowers later, it will surely become a huge heart shape. People will love it, right? I’ll definitely show it to you, so come and see it.”

“Ha.”

A small sound escaped his lips, whether it was a laugh or a sigh.

“Do you even know that land has market value?”

The intention of his question was clear. ‘You wouldn’t say you don’t know that, would you?’

To meet his expectations, I answered with a big smile.

“Market value? What’s that?”

“…”

“Do I really need to know? Well, even if I don’t, you know, so isn’t it fine? They say couples help each other, right?”

I can be the one flaw in your perfect self. How about that? Doesn’t the ‘future of helping each other’ worry you a bit?

Ilion seemed to be pondering where to start with my pathetic answer. If not that, he might be wondering, ‘Is continuing this conversation even worth it?’

“The value of that land is at most 200 gold. That’s the market value. You bought it for 2000 gold.”

His tone was resigned, but his explanation was kind.

It was cheaper than I thought? A swindler is a swindler, after all. I silently praised the real estate agent’s skill while widening my eyes.

“Oh my, could it be that you are mistaken, Duke? The agent told me that because I was so beautiful, they would give me a discount. Thanks to that, I bought it very cheaply. When you see the land, you’ll feel it’s worth it.”

Of course, the agent never said that, but I pretended to have been fooled by the compliment. That way, it would upset the Duke.

And my prediction was correct. It was so absurd that he didn’t even think of getting angry.

Seeing the depth of his sigh grow deeper than before, I guessed it would take at most 3 minutes? No, he would probably dismiss me within a minute.

Looking at his face, which seemed twice as tired as before, I decided to irritate Ilion a bit more.

I walked around all day until my feet were sore just to get a chance to see his face, a man who didn’t care whether I was at the mansion or not. It was too wasteful to end it here.

“By the way, Duke. From now on, could you call me by a pet name instead of ‘you’? We’re about to get married, and it feels distant, which I don’t like.”

The Duke, who was about to end the conversation, looked at me with a displeased expression at my continued words. Annoyance slowly crept onto his perfect face.

“Come to think of it, in the romance novel I read yesterday, the male lead called the female lead ‘baby bird.’ It was so romantic! So, could you call me ‘baby bird’ too, Duke?”

Emphasizing ‘baby bird,’ I gave the most innocent and radiant smile I could muster, like a naive child.

Ilion, who had been staring at my face, sat silently for a while before getting up from his seat.

“The questions are over, so you can leave.”

In the end, he seemed to pretend he hadn’t heard my words.

“Oh my, already? Can’t I stay a little longer? I finally got to see your face, Duke, and you’re already telling me to leave.”

Of course, I didn’t mean it, but I tried to hold out to give him a bit more damage.

“Lady Rischefeld. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

Suppressing a laugh at his insistence on calling me by my surname instead of ‘baby bird,’ I stood up.

I felt I had left a strong enough impression to make him reconsider the marriage.

“I guess I have no choice. I’ll go back now.”

Not forgetting to add one last thing.

“By the way, if ‘baby bird’ doesn’t suit your taste, you can call me Ravenne. Calling me Lady Rischefeld feels too formal.”

***

Back in my room, I sprawled on the bed like a corpse, not moving for a while. Once the tension released, I didn’t have the strength to lift a finger.

Ilion’s face and the air around him were even more intense than I had imagined.

His aura, or charisma, had an inexplicable way of intimidating others.

The Ilion I remembered was always infinitely kind to the female lead, the saintess, so his scrutinizing gaze and interrogative tone felt like those of a stranger.

Come to think of it, his kindness was limited to the saintess, so it was natural that the Ilion Ravenne would see was a side I didn’t know.

“Did you meet the Duke?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of person is he? Is he as handsome as the rumors say?”

Lily asked while helping me change clothes.

When we came to the Duke’s mansion, she was excited to see the Duke’s face, which she had only seen in newspapers, so it was natural for her to be curious.

“Yes, he is handsome.”

“Is he really like a sculpture?”

“Yes. A talking sculpture.”

I buried my face in the pillow and answered perfunctorily.

“When will I get to see him?”

“Who knows.”

I felt sorry for Lily, but I hoped she would be sent away before she even got to see Ilion’s face.