“……Maah!”

“Angie, you’re still awake?”

As I entered my bedroom in Cedrion’s arms, expecting Angie to be asleep, she greeted me with a bright smile instead.

“She woke up a little while ago. Did she sense that you were coming?”

Perhaps the nanny had dozed off while Angie was sleeping, for she greeted us groggily.

“Oh dear, my lady! You’ve collapsed again?”

She gasped in shock upon seeing me being carried in Cedrion’s arms.

“I-I’ll go fetch Dame Gwendolyn.”

“Please do.”

As Cedrion carefully laid me down on the bed, the nanny glanced at us curiously before slipping out of the room.

“Do you like the room?”

“……How could I not?”

“Just hold on a little longer. By the day after tomorrow, you’ll be moving to your own room.”

I let out a hollow laugh at Cedrion’s casual remark.

By ‘your own room,’ he must mean the Grand Duchess’s chambers.

Who in their right mind would give the mistress’s quarters to a fake fiancée who wouldn’t even last a year?

That madman, as he surveyed the room, muttered to himself.

“Now that I think about it, there isn’t a cradle, is there? We should get one for the baby tomorrow.”

“Shii…!”

Whatever it was that Angie understood, she scrunched up her face the moment Cedrion finished speaking.

Seeing this, Cedrion picked her up and locked eyes with her. His gaze was chillingly indifferent.

“If your mother is to get proper rest, there’s no other choice. You must yield.”

“Sii, siing… hushii.”

As if she understood his words once again, Angie wore a resigned expression.

“Excuse me, ‘mother’?”

“Until this engagement ends, wouldn’t ‘prospective mother’ be accurate?”

“Then say ‘prospective mother.'”

“A baby wouldn’t understand such a complicated term.”

“Uung!”

As if she comprehended once more, Angie nodded her round head enthusiastically.

The sight was so adorable that I almost let out a chuckle—

“Cough, hack!”

A sudden coughing fit overtook me, but thankfully, there was no blood. It would have been mortifying to let Cedrion witness that.

I masked it as if I had merely choked and forced a smile.

“Maah, mmuah!”

“Alright, hand Angie over to me.”

“You’re exhausted.”

“I’m fine.”

Being with Angie seemed to ease my pain. Swallowing back the words I couldn’t say, I reached out my hands.

Cedrion, looking somewhat concerned, gently placed Angie into my arms. She instantly clung to me.

“Mmuah! Appui… Maah!”

“Mm, did you eat well and have fun? I also had something delicious.”

As expected, pressing my cheek against Angie’s chubby, round face felt like a balm for my soul.

The cough subsided, as did the unhealthy pounding in my heart.

Ah, cuteness truly is a cure, even for the terminally ill…

***

Crossing the courtyard—one he had declared would be cleared to make room for Odelia’s garden—Cedrion was lost in thought about Odelia.

‘She’s collapsing far too often.’

Just yesterday, she had fainted out of fury at the Baron of Meldorf’s arrogant words. And today… was it exhaustion from the sudden relocation?

Moreover, in the past few weeks, as she went in and out of the Blue Roof Manor, there had been several times when he had seen her gasping for breath or growing pale.

To dismiss it as simple frailty seemed unreasonable.

And then there was the barrier that had been placed for her protection.

‘Judging from the reaction of that so-called Baron, it must have been created after that incident.’

Cedrion had traveled to Meldorf more than a dozen times, never once realizing a barrier had been erected. That meant it had to be Michael’s doing.

If the king had been responsible, Cedrion’s movements would have been interfered with somehow.

That incident.

The events from fourteen years ago, when Odelia had secretly been his childhood friend.

“Even when you fell, you never cried. You’re beautiful.”

“Odelia is beautiful?”

“Of course.”

“Then could Odelia become the Crown Princess?”

“Crown Princess?”

“Mm. Father says Odelia must become the Crown Princess. Even His Majesty wishes for it.”

“Then why wouldn’t you be able to?”

“But His Highness the Prince doesn’t like me. He says I’m ugly.”

And then, the painful memories that followed.

The girl who had collapsed, the traces of a foreign and powerful magic, the forest behind the Blue Roof Manor that he could never enter again.

And Michael, gazing at him with intrigue.

Memories that, whenever he felt himself weakening, forced him to steel his resolve repeatedly.

‘That incident is definitely connected to all of this…’

Cedrion clenched his hand into a fist—the hand that had held Odelia just moments ago.

“You have to answer my questions sincerely. For example, regarding my lost memories.”

And Odelia, despite claiming to have lost most of those memories, seemed to understand instinctively that she needed to regain them.

Lure had likely kept those secrets buried all this time.

If that weren’t the case, they wouldn’t have tried to push Odelia into the position of Crown Princess.

“Sasha.”

At his voice, quieter than usual, the sound of leaves rustling against each other echoed through the garden, even though there was no wind.

“Find out the exact relationship between the VBaron of Meldorf and Michael. Also, investigate the relationship between the royal family and Lure after ‘that incident.’”

Before long, only the gentle breeze remained in the inner courtyard of Norhart Grand Duchy under the moonlight.

***

“Lady! Good morning!”

As I awoke with the morning sun and played a hand-clapping game with Angie, an energetic knock was followed by the entrance of Margaret, the head maid, who cheerfully called out.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

“Yes, good morning.”

“I didn’t attend to you last night in case the baby woke up. Instead, I shall now show you the best of Norhart.”

With a crisp clap—just like Viscount Nielsen had done before—Margaret signaled, and a procession of Norhart’s skilled maids entered, carrying a luxurious bathtub.

A bathtub that was obviously of the highest quality, warm water, bath oils, aromatic essences…

These were luxuries I had only ever seen in pictures in my past life.

From the moment I entered the Grand Duchy yesterday, the maids had reassured me with their warmth. Now, they professionally assisted in preparing my bath.

Angie also joined me in the tub, wearing a shampoo cap on her head. Crystal toys, designed to jingle with embedded jewels, filled the scented bathwater.

“Thanks to you, Angie, I get to enjoy such luxury, don’t I?”

“Aboo!”

“With such a big tub, we can finally take a bath together for the first time.”

“Kyah!”

I couldn’t resist showering Angie’s chubby cheeks with a flurry of kisses, making exaggerated smooching sounds.

“You two look so wonderful together.”

“It must be Lady Odelia’s warm heart that charmed our Grand Duke, despite him being so inhuman.”

“Yes, that must be it.” The maids nodded brightly at Margaret’s words.

“In this day and age, how many households would take in an abandoned baby as their own?”

“My goodness, who could have abandoned such a beautiful baby?”

“Angie is truly blessed to have met such a kind older sister, isn’t she?”

“Woo!”

An abandoned baby.

The servants seemed to think Angie was simply a child I had taken in. So, did the secrecy surrounding Norhart even apply to them?

I had worried that this arrangement might tarnish Odelia’s reputation, but I felt relieved.

“The Lady has such a beautiful nature.”

“They say a kind heart matches a kind face.”

“You all have good eyes. Our Lady has been gentle and capable since she was little.”

There it was again—nanny bias.

As the maids continued to praise me, the nanny chimed in, making me feel even more flustered.

Knowing about Odelia’s infamous reputation, their kindness was both touching and embarrassing. I mumbled awkwardly, as if confessing something.

“Um… thank you, all of you. For welcoming me like this…”

Seeing me unable to finish my sentence, Margaret smiled warmly.

“There are many rumors about our Grand Duke in Belvo, right?”

“Well, um…”

A battlefield Northern Battlefield Reaper, the Golden-eyed Sniper… Even I, an outsider, remembered those notorious nicknames.

‘Hot-tempered, distrustful, and rumored to enjoy bloodshed.’

Looking at him now, some of those seemed quite exaggerated.

“You wouldn’t believe it, My Lady, but our Grand Duke was incredibly affectionate and kind when he was young.”

“Really…?”

The same man who exuded coldness toward Mathias and scolded his own baby like that…?

“If anyone knows how unreliable rumors can be, it’s the people of Norhart.”

Margaret smiled reassuringly.

But in my case, most of the rumors about me were true… which made me even more self-conscious.

“To us, you are simply a warmhearted Lady who took in a baby.”

“And the one kind enough to accept our cold-hearted Grand Duke.”

“No matter what injustice the royal family tries to pin on Lure, our Grand Duke handles it, so everything will work out.”

“So please, make yourself at home in Norhart.”

Their unwavering trust made me feel even guiltier. I wanted to hide, so I sank half my face into the bathwater.

***

That afternoon, the gardener visited the Grand Duchy.

Cedrion had promised to create a vegetable garden for me as an engagement gift, so the specialist had come to assess the land.

“Is this the garden?”

The gardener beamed, already calculating how much soil and fertilizer he could sell upon seeing the central courtyard of the Grand Duchy.

“No. Using this space would inconvenience the Grand Duchy, and it would be too much for me to manage alone.”

Of course, Mathias had been handling most of the difficult work.

At my words, the gardener looked at Cedrion in disbelief. Cedrion had accompanied me despite being busy dealing with Viscount Nielsen’s ongoing lamentations in the background.

“She is the owner of the garden. Do as she says.”

Cedrion’s curt response made the gardener’s face darken.

Oh dear.

It seemed he had arrived with high hopes after seeing my generous spending on the first day.

‘But I’m only staying here for a year at most.’

I couldn’t destroy the Grand Duchy’s historic garden just for my temporary stay.

“Instead, I discussed another location with His Grace.”

I led the gardener to the flowerbed near the greenhouse, which I had noticed the previous night while walking to Cedrion’s office.

“This is the spot. I’d like to relocate this flowerbed to the lawn before the central fountain.”

“If you’re relocating it…”

“Yes, you’ll need to help with that as well.”

Realizing he still had a profitable task ahead, the gardener’s expression brightened again.

As I smiled and prepared to move on, escorted by Cedrion, I suddenly heard—

“Nyaa.”

…Nyaa?