Conrad clasped both hands on the desk and quietly looked at his aide.

The Harrison he knew wasn’t someone who would dare let people into his master’s study carelessly.

No matter how good-natured he was, he was someone who knew how to distinguish between public and private matters.

Yet his aide said he had let Roina in here, wondering what he was thinking.

“Why did you do something I didn’t ask for?”

Conrad, letting out a deep sigh, pressed his throbbing forehead.

Then Harrison, with obvious difficulty, opened his mouth in a flustered voice.

“I apologize. Since the duchess came with documents related to domestic affairs……”

Only then did Conrad’s gaze turn to the documents placed on the table.

Noticing this, Harrison quickly picked up those documents and delivered them to his superior.

The several sheets of paper with neat handwriting showed traces of much consideration.

“Roina brought this?”

“Yes, from what I glimpsed, she seems to have put in a lot of effort.”

At the aide’s polite yet careful words, Conrad furrowed his brow.

“Effort, at this point……”

Was there any word that suited Roina Würetti less than that?

Conrad recalled the scene of her presenting divorce documents last late spring and raised one corner of his mouth obliquely.

“I want to divorce you.”

“Do you still need my attention?”

“You…… don’t love me.”

“Love…… How long will you chase that illusion?”

“You should have just ignored me to the end.”

“I told you. What I want is a wife in name only.”

“……”

“That’s the position that suits you.”

The woman who had presented the divorce documents suddenly disappeared without a trace not long after.

Though they rarely encountered each other even when living in the same space, that was another matter.

As an unpleasant emotion of unknown cause arose, Conrad had to forcibly suppress it.

It was always like this. Whenever he thought of Roina Würetti.

Conrad looked again with sharp eyes at the documents she had supposedly left behind.

“Causing unnecessary trouble.”

“……”

Muttering quietly, he cast his gaze at his aide.

“You may leave now.”

“Then have a peaceful night.”

When Harrison left the study, Conrad leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes tightly.

He knew it. That Roina wasn’t the type of woman to carelessly enter someone else’s space.

Nevertheless, it was difficult to maintain composure when it came to matters related to Würetti. It was like a terrible curse.

‘Trying to escape this hell alone, how absurd.’

His mood sank low at the unknown emotion that surged again.

Whether the reason was simply recalling the existence of House Würetti, or because he saw those wretched divorce documents, he never found an answer.

Conrad, letting out a long sigh, took out a cigar and lighter from the desk drawer.

Then, as if about to light the cigar he hadn’t smoked for a while, he crumpled it up instead.

※※※

Having spent the night with her eyes open, Roina finished her simple preparations and immediately went to find Conrad.

Not only did she need to clear up his misunderstanding, but there was something she absolutely had to ask.

However, Conrad had been out at the construction site since early dawn to check the harbor construction progress.

Having no choice, she could only ask the servants to notify her immediately when he returned to the estate.

Roina wanted to recover her relationship with Conrad even a little.

Yet it seemed like ink had already spilled on white paper beyond control.

A shallow sigh flowed from her lips as self-blame and injustice, two conflicting emotions, intertwined.

Only in the late evening could Roina hear news that her husband had returned.

Heading downstairs to meet Conrad, she encountered the man walking from the end of the long corridor.

Roina, urgently approaching him, spoke in a voice revealing her desperation.

“Conrad, I’d like to have a conversation.”

At those words, the man slowly looked around before answering quietly.

“Then let’s walk for a moment.”

Roina, blankly watching Conrad’s back as he walked ahead, hurriedly moved her steps.

The cool autumn breeze blowing felt lonely and desolate as if representing her heart.

‘It feels like it reminds me of the past.’

Perhaps because she recalled chasing after Conrad at the coming-of-age ceremony, a bitter taste circled in Roina’s mouth.

Conrad stopped walking in a quiet garden away from the main building where servants didn’t frequent.

Then he turned his head to look at her. With an indifferent and dry gaze as if asking what she had to say.

At his characteristic cold atmosphere that seemed to overwhelm the other person, Roina stiffened slightly.

Though yesterday’s incident when she had caused a misunderstanding came to mind, she resolutely opened her mouth.

“I have something I must tell you.”

“Please speak.”

“You may not believe me, but I have absolutely no intention of stealing information from the ducal family.”

Roina first wanted to address the part he was misunderstanding. That the incident in the study was definitely not with such intention.

But Conrad, seeming to have no intention of listening to her innocence, just answered in a dry voice.

“Even if that’s true, does anything change?”

“……”

‘You have no intention of believing my words at all.’

Roina had resolved countless times not to carelessly hope or be disappointed until she came here.

Because she already knew what kind of existence she was to him.

Nevertheless, she felt as if unhealed wounds were festering and oozing.

Conrad’s brow furrowed slightly as he watched her standing quietly.

Whether he wanted to leave this place, he lifted the pocket watch he took from his bosom.

His intention not to waste any more time seemed quite apparent.

Though Roina’s throat choked up, she forced herself to swallow dryly and spoke with difficulty.

“Did we perhaps promise to divorce?”

“Why do you think that?”

As an excessively low and calm voice echoed, her purple eyes trembled finely.

‘Of course……’

Having seen divorce documents written in both their handwriting, how could she think otherwise?

Since she couldn’t understand his intention in counter-questioning her, Roina hesitantly continued after deliberation.

“Because it must have been agreed upon.”

“Agreed……”

Conrad, letting out a sigh close to mockery, asked with a subtly hardened expression.

“Do you really mean that because you think so?”

“As you know, I have no memory at all.”

The man watching Roina answer calmly had a thin sneer spread across his lips.

“Memory that disappears when inconvenient must be convenient for you.”

He strode toward Roina.

At the narrowed distance, her eyes widened like lanterns.

“……!”

The man, pulling up one corner of his mouth obliquely, added in a somewhat cold voice.

“So think carefully with that head of yours.”

“……”

Thus Conrad passed by her and leisurely moved toward his bedroom.

Roina couldn’t bring herself to stop him and could only stand still in place.

Unable to find an answer to that problem either, she lowered her head deeply with complicated feelings.

‘What else can I do?’

Still…… if I try harder, won’t our relationship change a little too?

Even if things had gone wrong beyond repair, Roina wanted to restore her relationship with him through effort.

If this marriage had to continue inevitably.

With her mouth going dry, she stared blankly at flowers blooming by the roadside and muttered quietly.

“You probably don’t remember.”

Recalling those days that were now like fabricated fantasies, her chest became tingly and stuffy.

Withdrawing her gaze from the flowers, Roina recalled their first meeting.

※※※

Roina first met him when she was eighteen, attending a charity gathering.

Unable to resist her parents’ insistence, she had followed them here and was trying to hide her bored expression.

Perhaps because she had no insight into art, she couldn’t feel much interest in charity gatherings.

Moreover, she felt somewhat uncomfortable under the gazes of noble ladies who used to scout marriage partners for their children.

Eighteen-year-old her was a very suitable person for the marriage market.

‘Ugh, I should escape from here quickly.’

Roina, having shown appropriately polite behavior, quietly headed toward a place with few people.