Three months later, if you were to ask how the bet turned out, Mironica was winning so far. Despite her sisters’ urging to find out the results, Lenore had someone follow her husband when he went out, but nothing suspicious was detected.

However, not all of Mironica’s predictions were correct. Daniel Shillinger was not at all dignified in bed. He didn’t pray or anything, he got right to it.

‘Stop, ahh, Count, please, I feel like I’m going to die, ahh!’

Her sisters had said there was no worse man than one who didn’t properly arouse a woman before thrusting, and Daniel was exactly that kind of man. Being her first time, her body was tense and in pain, but he didn’t listen.

Unable to bear the pain, Lenore resisted, and an accident happened. She elbowed him in the face and gave him a nosebleed.

‘This injury was not caused by my wife.’

He refused to admit that he got a nosebleed from being hit by a woman. Fortunately, he didn’t try to hit her back, but the atmosphere became awkward. They couldn’t go all the way that night.

After the disastrous wedding night, Daniel didn’t try to sleep with Lenore again. Lenore understood his feelings. She wouldn’t want to get elbowed in the face and have a nosebleed either.

But where did that vigor go? Before the accident, he had pounced on her with completely wild eyes.

Surely he wasn’t holding back, and he must be meeting someone to release it. Lenore guessed that he had hidden his lover so well that she hadn’t found them yet.

She wanted to dig deeper to see if her guess was right, but she couldn’t. He found out she had someone tailing him.

‘I’m sorry, Countess. The Count questioned me, and I confessed everything.’

Lenore regretted not using a more competent and tight-lipped person. If she had, she wouldn’t be sitting here now, awkwardly facing her husband who had suddenly invited her for lunch.

She had momentarily forgotten when he suddenly asked about her favorite book. This was not a place to candidly discuss book preferences, it was a place for questioning about yesterday’s incident.

‘Thank you, Count Tivonne. I almost acted without realizing it.’

When Lenore expressed her gratitude, Count Tivonne winked at her.

“The book I like the most…….”

Lenore, who had been keeping her mouth shut, finally spoke. She rolled her eyes deliberately as if she couldn’t remember.

“Well, I don’t know. You asked me suddenly, so I’m not sure.”

“Is there anything among the books you’ve read recently? You’re in the library every day.”

He wasn’t really curious, so why did he keep asking? Lenore could tell he was trying to make light conversation before getting to the main point, but still…….

As Lenore thought it strange, she suddenly realized his intention. He had just said something important. He mentioned that she was in the library every day!

Was he criticizing her for reading books all the time instead of managing the castle as the mistress of the household? Was he now attaching a guard to monitor her because he suspected her?

Lenore bowed her head with a truly apologetic face.

“If I seemed negligent, I apologize, Count. I’ll refrain from going to the library.”

Daniel, who was cutting meat, paused. He looked at Lenore for a moment, then put down his fork and knife and wiped his mouth.

“I didn’t say it to get an apology. I was just curious about what kind of books you enjoy reading.”

‘Just curious,’ but wasn’t his gaze too sharp for that?

Lenore didn’t believe his words. Even if she did, it would be difficult to tell him about the book she truly liked.

If he were someone who liked novels, it might be different. Judging by the state of the books in the library, he didn’t read novels much. So she would have to explain why she liked novels, especially romance novels, in detail, and Lenore didn’t want to do that.

She knew well that he wouldn’t understand even if she tried to explain. He would probably mock her for being childish. It was a reaction she had often received from her family.

“I recently read a book about ships, and it was very interesting.”

Lenore lied, looking at the ship model on the wall.

“What kind of ship are you interested in? Cargo ships? Passenger ships? Warships? Or the structure and technology of ships themselves?”

It was just something she said, but Daniel’s gaze changed, and he asked in detail.

Lenore regretted her short-sightedness. Why would there be a ship model on the wall? Tegroniki was the kingdom’s largest port city, and it was highly likely that Daniel, the owner of Tegroniki, liked ships.

“Oh, I also like history.”

Not knowing anything about ships and having no interest in them, Lenore quickly changed the subject. She could answer adequately about history. Lenore listed the history-related books she had read so far in preparation for his next question.

“I see.”

……Huh? That’s it?

His reaction was completely different from when she mentioned ships. She had lined up the mixed-up books in her head, only for Daniel to respond lukewarmly, which left her deflated.

It seemed they couldn’t get close because their tastes didn’t match. Daniel, too, seemed to realize they couldn’t get close, as he didn’t say anything more and quietly finished his meal.

Maintaining an awkward silence, Daniel got up first, saying he would leave. When she said he could go, Daniel’s eyes looked strange. It seemed like he was resenting her.

Did he hate history that much?

Because of Daniel’s last look, Lenore felt complicated. She felt like she had done something terribly wrong. But no matter how much she thought about it, she didn’t think she had done anything wrong.

Of course, there was the matter of attaching a guard, but why didn’t he question her about that? She suddenly wondered.

Anyway, she felt completely drained after just one meal. Lenore headed to the library to recover her mood. She had said she would refrain from going to the library, but she didn’t feel like keeping her word since she was in a bad mood because of it.

“This place is still the best.”

As soon as Lenore entered the library, she took a deep breath. The cool scent of wood seemed to comfort her.

The study in the Shillinger Castle had so many books that it could be called a library. Not only that, but it also had a soft sofa that wasn’t in the ducal castle.

Lenore lay comfortably on the soft sofa. If she did this in the ducal castle, Duke Bergis would immediately order her to get up and sit properly.

Thinking of her father’s displeased face made Lenore feel a bit better. She decided to do something that would shock her father even more.

She reached for the glass jar on the low table. When she opened the lid of the jar full of cookies, a sweet smell wafted out. When she took out a cookie, Duke Bergis took a deep breath.

Leaving him looking as if he might scream any moment, Lenoa popped a cookie into her mouth. And she did it while lying on the sofa!

The real Duke Bergis, who was far away in the ducal castle, wouldn’t know she was doing this. But at least in her mind, her father was furious enough to turn red up to his neck.

‘A cookie……!’

Duke Bergis hated snacks so much that it seemed like he had a grudge against them and forced that preference on his family. This meant that eating snacks in the ducal castle was only possible in dreams.

‘Lenore Bergis!’

“Oh my, Bergis? I’m now Lenore Shillinger.”

Lenore sneered and took out two more cookies. Because she didn’t eat carefully, cookie crumbs fell on her chest.

Bubble bubble. The Duke, who had been blowing bubbles continuously, was finally buried in bubbles and disappeared. Lenore felt much better after her successful revenge.

Although she took out her anger on her father for the slap she received from Daniel, she didn’t feel any guilt.

“Even if he slapped me, my father has slapped me far more.”

Both mentally and physically.

Lenore enjoyed the small victory of her mental triumph.

* * *