Over several weeks, he prepared and installed the magic stones, and even secretly conducted a rehearsal while she was briefly out. After completing thorough preparations and checks, Daniel had lunch with Lenore on the day of execution.

“Shall we go for a walk together?”

Daniel held out his bent arm to lure her. Lenore told him to wait a moment while she carefully wiped her mouth and turned to the maid. The maid then dabbed something on her lips.

“Done?”

“Yes, Madam.”

After they whispered together, Lenore came back to Daniel with quick steps. Her lips had returned slightly redder.

When Daniel held out his arm again, she quickly linked arms with him. The couple headed toward the garden. As they entered the garden entrance, Lenore suddenly unlinked their arms and stood in front of him.

“Do you notice anything different about me?”

Daniel blinked and then smiled gently.

“Your lip color is different.”

“You weren’t supposed to notice that. Look at something bigger. You should see something unfamiliar.”

Lenore spun around once in place. Her skirt spread out in a circle before swirling back.

At the mention of something unfamiliar, Daniel examined her from head to toe. Since she was someone he took in with his eyes every day, he couldn’t spot anything unfamiliar.

When Daniel couldn’t answer, Lenore disappointedly gave him the answer.

“It’s a new dress. The first time I’m wearing it in front of you.”

Daniel tilted his head as if he still didn’t understand. She had bought the dress nervously hoping he would like it, but his reaction was quite lukewarm. Lenore turned her head away disappointed, saying never mind if he couldn’t tell.

“I knew it was a new dress. You were trying it on yesterday, weren’t you?”

Lenore was startled. As he said, she tried on the newly completed dress yesterday. She planned to wear it prettily today when he unusually insisted they must have lunch together.

But then Daniel thoughtlessly entered the bedroom.

‘How can you just enter a lady’s room!’

Lenore covered the dress with her hands and shouted at him to get out quickly. Daniel apologetically stumbled out of the bedroom. Actually, the bedroom wasn’t Lenore’s private room but their shared bedroom, so he had the right to be there too, but they both momentarily forgot that fact.

Anyway, it hadn’t taken long for Daniel to leave at Lenore’s insistence. But she was quite surprised that he recognized the dress exactly.

How good are his observation skills and memory?

Lenore thought he was a bit scary as she positioned herself well to show off the dress.

“How is it?”

I chose it hoping you would like it.

Lenore swallowed the latter words and looked at him intently. Daniel tucked one hand between his arms and stroked his chin with the other.

“Don’t examine every detail like that… Just tell me your first impression.”

Suddenly embarrassed by his intense gaze, Lenore clasped her hands behind her back and fidgeted.

Daniel’s eyes changed. He brought out the ‘rough but sly with his woman’ character he had become accustomed to while acting.

“I don’t like it.”

“…You don’t?”

Daniel grabbed Lenore’s dejected, lifeless face. Then he slowly lowered his gaze to her chest.

“You wore such an exciting dress to seduce me.”

“N-no I d-didn’t!”

Lenore avoided his eyes and drew out her words. Daniel told her not to lie as he grabbed her waist and pulled her close. Her pressed br*asts were clearly visible.

“If not, then why are you wearing such an audacious dress?”

“That’s…”

“Seems I hit the mark. Did you think I wouldn’t notice you pretending to be innocent while trying to seduce me?”

Daniel used his tongue broadly to lick her nape. Lenore felt a shiver as she grabbed his head and rubbed his lips. The rough kissing caused the red lipstick to smear around his mouth.

As his neat appearance became disheveled and stained with lipstick, Lenore gulped.

“You’ll pay the price for trying to deceive me, Lenore.”

“I’m not scared at all. You’re always just talk.”

“I’m always just talk?”

“Aren’t you? You threaten to punish me but end up forgiving me with just a kiss. Because you love me.”

Lenore’s heart pounded loudly. Previously, even when he confessed his love, she had dismissed it as lines from his acting and hadn’t taken it seriously. This was the first time she had asked with her own lips if he loved her.

Lenore waited for him to say yes.

“You say I’m always just talk… Very well, Lenore. Then I’ll have to show you with actions.”

Daniel stretched his hand toward the building. His index finger pointed at the study window.

“I didn’t like seeing you always absorbed in books while putting me second.”

“Daniel?”

Lenore called out to him, suddenly feeling an ominous premonition.

“So, I decided to get rid of them whenever I got the chance.”

As soon as his words ended, an explosion occurred in the study. Daniel held the frozen Lenore and protected her from flying debris and wind.

When the dust storm finally stopped, the devastation was revealed. The explosion had been so large that not just the windows but entire walls had been torn off and fallen to the ground.

“……”

Lenore was speechless. Burnt remnants lay beside the torn walls, and shredded papers fluttered in the air.

“Will you still say I’m all talk?”

Daniel smirked. Lenore alternately looked between the devastation before her and Daniel’s smile for a while, unable to process both simultaneously. So this man had just blown up the entire study.

Why? Because she put him second and only read books? No, since he seems to be acting as a villain now, it could be just a made-up excuse. Then why did he blow up the perfectly fine study? Surely not…

“Even if you’re immersed in acting, acting is just acting. How could you blow up the study and all those books!”

Lenore condemned Daniel, saying he must be out of his mind.

Daniel was taken aback. He had done something bad because she liked villains who did bad things, but she didn’t like it at all. Instead, she was angry with a scary face he had never seen before.

“I like the villains in books because no matter how much they blow things up, I don’t suffer any real damage!”

“Lenore, I’m sorry. I misunderstood something…”

“I don’t want to hear it!”

“Lenore!”

Daniel tried to grab her arm. Lenore roughly shook off his hand and ran to the study. She needed to see with her own eyes if all those books that rivaled a library were really gone.

Most were books he had been collecting, so one could say what he did with his own things was his business.

But some were books she had brought when she married, and others were bought after marriage. No matter how immersed in acting he was, he couldn’t just blow them all up in an instant.

“I can’t believe this!”

Filled with anger, Lenore ran down the corridor in one breath and stood before the study door. Despite the massive explosion, the study door looked fine.

What horrific scene would unfold? Lenore took a deep breath and opened the door.

But what was this? All the books were fine. Not a single bookshelf had fallen over, and even the window that had clearly been on the ground was cleanly attached.

“Lenore!”

Daniel, who had chased after her, called out while catching his breath.

What is going on here?

When she asked with her eyes, Daniel caught his breath and clasped his hands politely in front.

“It was illusion magic. I only made it appear as if there was an explosion. Nothing actually happened.”

It was a relief that all the books were safe. But she couldn’t easily say the word relief in front of him.

She thought he had gone mad, becoming so immersed in acting the villain that he believed he really was one.

“My heart dropped. It’s still pounding.”

“I’m sorry, Lenore. I went too far. I didn’t know you would be this shocked.”

Daniel held Lenore’s hands and apologized several times, asking for forgiveness. Lenore bit her lips tightly and exhaled through her nose. Her startled heart wouldn’t easily calm down.

“Daniel, you’re forbidden from doing that from now on.”

“Wh-what are you forbidding?”

“To me…!”

As Lenore was about to speak, she stopped when she saw the butler approaching. Though she didn’t know what it was about, the words “Can’t you see we’re busy, let’s do this later” rose to her throat.

But Daniel was the one who had done wrong, not the butler.

Lenore calmed herself, held back, and asked the butler what the matter was.

“An urgent letter has arrived from House Bergis.”

The envelope he handed over had two long red lines. The letter the butler had brought in such a hurry was news of death — an obituary from the Duke’s family.