“It seems they had been hiding like rats from the very start of the war, and they cowardly set their sights on the Duke’s life while he slept!”

Cohen continued, the veins in his neck standing out as though the memory still infuriated him.

“But the Duke handled it with remarkable composure.”

“Oh my! How did he handle it?”

“There were five assassins in total who had infiltrated the barracks, but……”

Cohen reenacted the situation with animated gestures, using both his hands and feet.

Ahin, watching from a distance, said a few brief words to Claudin.

“You would do well to build more strength in your lower body.”

“Ah! I see. Thank you, Your Grace!”

Claudin bowed repeatedly with delight, and Ahin turned and walked toward Sierra.

—

For well over an hour, Cohen had been going on and on about Ahin’s tales of valor.

There were quite a few episodes that did not appear in the original work, so she had been able to listen with some genuine interest, but the story Sierra had most wanted to hear was conspicuously absent.

“Um, Sir Cohen.”

Sierra nudged Cohen’s shoulder as he continued his passionate recounting.

“Please go ahead, Duchess.”

“Was the Duke ever injured during the war?”

“Injured?”

“Yes, something like a serious head injury, for instance…… something like that.”

“That is a good point, Duchess. It was something I had left out because it was difficult to bring up.”

Sierra nodded as if to say he should go on.

“It was when the assassins infiltrated the barracks! The Duke took a blow to the head from a mace……”

Cohen lowered his head with a somber expression, then lifted it again and continued.

“There is likely a scar left on the back of his head. Attacking from behind, they were shameless cowards with not a shred of a knight’s pride.”

Timing it for the moment Cohen finished speaking, Sierra quickly posed her next question.

“Would it be possible to hear about the other knights who distinguished themselves on the battlefield, aside from the Duke?”

It was because, if she didn’t steer the conversation, Cohen looked ready to go on about Ahin’s tales of valor for another hour or two.

“Other knights, you say……”

Just as Cohen was blinking at Sierra’s question.

Someone placed a hand on Sierra’s shoulder.

She turned in surprise, and Ahin was looking down at her with narrowed eyes.

“The two of you seem to be getting along quite well.”

His face was expressionless and his voice was flat, yet it seemed as though a murderous intent was radiating from Ahin’s red eyes.

“……”

“……”

At Ahin’s sudden appearance and the killing intent he was scattering about, not only Sierra but Cohen as well creaked like a broken robot.

“Since when?”

At Ahin’s cold voice, Sierra furrowed her brow, and Cohen tensed sharply and said,

“I-I’m not quite sure what you mean.”

Ahin shot him a cutting look.

‘You, keep that mouth shut and stay still.’

That was what Ahin’s eyes were saying. Cohen seemed to read the intent as well, for he promptly closed his mouth.

“My lady. Please answer me.”

As he said this, Ahin pulled Sierra toward him. Sierra ended up in a state that was nearly an embrace.

As a bonus, this produced the sight of a newlywed couple so sickeningly close they resembled a pair of cockroaches.

“Oh dear, I’ve been far too oblivious. I shall take my leave.”

Cohen pressed his lips together as if to keep the smile from spreading to the corners of his mouth, then bowed.

“I’m not quite sure what you mean, Your Grace.”

“I am asking since when you have become close enough with Sir Cohen to enjoy a private rendezvous alone with him. My lady.”

Ahin pulled Sierra firmly into his arms. As though urging her to answer.

“Your Grace, I believe there may be some misunderstanding……”

As Sierra stole a glance at Cohen’s retreating figure, another person came into her line of sight.

‘……Hm?’

Claudia was at the training grounds, watching their direction with curious eyes.

It would not be much of a flaw for a ducal couple to be seen in close contact.

In noble society where political marriages were common, a couple being on good terms was, if anything, a welcome thing.

But at the very least, not in front of his future wife.

Sierra glanced up at Ahin, who was using her shoulder like an armrest, and said,

“I think it might be better to speak with a little more distance between us. What do you think, Your Grace?”

But Ahin’s eyes grew even fiercer.

“Sierra. Why should we?”

“Wouldn’t it be better for everyone?”

“For everyone?”

Ahin asked back.

Sierra nodded as if it were obvious. Ahin gestured with his eyes toward Claudia and growled,

“Why, because someone you’re concerned about is looking this way?”

Sparks flew from Ahin’s eyes.

“What do you mean by……”

“Someone like that pretty-faced fellow over there, for instance.”

Ahin had concluded that Sierra was trying to be discreet in front of a man she was interested in.

If that was the case, he had even less intention of giving Sierra what she wanted.

And so, somewhat on impulse, Ahin pressed his lips firmly to the top of Sierra’s head and lifted them away slowly.

“……Ah, Ahin?”

Sierra fumbled and once again stole a glance at the pretty-faced fellow. Unaware that it was making Ahin’s mood all the more unpleasant.

Ahin intended, this very day, to make it unmistakably clear that he was Sierra’s husband.

On her body, and in that small head of hers.

—

‘Not just at night, but now in the middle of the day as well……’

Ahin kept Sierra locked in his arms and would not let her go until she pleaded with him to stop.

Only after she had barely managed to send Ahin, who had stubbornly refused to leave, out of the bedroom was Sierra finally able to be alone.

‘The stamina of a male lead……’

Sierra shook her head with a dazed expression. Of course, as Ahin had said, her body had certainly spent a rather enjoyable time, but.

In any case, the gap between a novel and reality was quite significant.

If she kept living like this, her body wasn’t going to hold up……

“Haah……”

Sierra let out a deep sigh.

‘But why on earth has Ahin become so earnest about producing an heir?’

Sierra simply could not figure out the reason.

She wanted to ask Ahin why he was acting this way, and yet she didn’t. Bringing it up and provoking Ahin would only be a loss for Sierra.

Then she recalled the story she had heard from Cohen. The assassin who had supposedly crept into Ahin’s barracks while he slept.

‘Ah, could that be it?’

Ahin was the last remaining person of the Valdevern ducal house.

If Ahin were to die without an heir, not a single direct bloodline of the Valdevern ducal family would remain in the world.

It seemed like a plausible reason, and Sierra found herself nodding involuntarily.

Come to think of it, even in the original work, Ahin would occasionally feel a fear of death. As though suffering the aftereffects of war.

“Ah……”

It felt as though she finally understood Ahin completely.

The original novel had been rated for mature audiences, and bed scenes had appeared endlessly throughout.

“He wanted to produce an heir with Claudia as quickly as possible, so that’s why he was like that!”

It was only because the original work’s focus was on Ahin and Claudia. If she thought about it carefully, there was no content stating that Ahin and Sierra had not been intimate as a couple.

“Hmm……”

When her thoughts reached that point, Sierra gasped in horror.

‘Wait, wait. Shouldn’t the original have included some kind of bad boy keyword?’

Imagining that he would have held Sierra while Claudia was there at the same time made her feel quite disgusted.

“Stop! That’s enough. Stop thinking about it. Just stop.”

Sierra cut off the unpleasant feelings before they could take hold.

If this assumption was correct, all she had to do was quickly bring Claudia and Ahin together and make her own exit.

For the happy ending of all three of them.

“Right, right. That’s all it takes.”

Sierra nodded and pulled the bell cord.

A maid who entered the bedroom shortly after bowed.

“Is there something you need?”

“A healer……”

Perhaps not having heard the small movement of her lips, the maid asked again.

“Pardon?”

“A healer…… would you call one for me?”

“Oh! Yes……”

The maid bowed again and left the bedroom. Sierra pretended not to notice the maid’s pale cheeks flushing red as she lay down on the bed.

‘I’ll just rest a little until the healer arrives……’

That had been her intention, but it seemed she had dozed off.

At the sensation of someone gently shaking her shoulder, Sierra slowly opened her eyes.

“My lady. My lady. Please wake up.”

“Mmm……”

When she managed to lift her eyelids with difficulty, two maids were standing beside the bed, looking at her.

“I’m sorry for waking you while you were sleeping. The healer you requested arrived quite some time ago and has been waiting.”

Perhaps because she had been worn out by Ahin day and night, sleep came pouring over her the moment she laid her head down. But she couldn’t say such things to the maids, so Sierra made up a suitable excuse.

“I must have dozed off. Please tell them I’ll be right there.”

“Yes.”

“And tell them I’m sorry to have kept them waiting.”

“Yes.”

Sierra watched blankly as the maid left the bedroom, then tried to rouse herself from the bed.

The remaining maid helped support Sierra and lift her up.

Having to call a healer, and not even being able to manage her own body on her own, her situation felt quite pitiful.

Whether the maid knew this or not, she smiled brightly as she supported Sierra to the console.

“My lady. Let me comb your hair.”

Sierra’s hair, reflected in the mirror, was quite tangled.

Meeting a guest in this state could diminish the dignity befitting a duchess.

Sierra said nothing and entrusted her hair to the maid’s hands.

“Please go ahead.”

“Yes.”

The maid carefully combed through Sierra’s golden hair with a wide-toothed comb.

Stroke, stroke.

Thanks to the skilled maid, Sierra’s hair soon regained the appearance befitting a noblewoman.

“Thank you.”

“Not at all.”

The maid waved it off.

Sierra glanced at her reflection in the mirror, then rose from her seat and walked toward the door.

“Just a moment, my lady.”

The maid called out to Sierra urgently.