“…Dad! Go take care of your work now!”

Saena practically forced her father, along with Sage and the nanny, out.

“Nanny! Take him too!”

“Kyaang!”

She sent Yolly out too, practically forcing him into the nanny’s arms.

Bang!

The reception room door closed firmly, separating the inside from the outside.

Traditionally, it was proper etiquette to keep the door open when receiving guests of the opposite s*x, but Saena closed it completely. She knew they would try to eavesdrop through any gap.

“……”

Though she had sent everyone out due to embarrassment, now that she was alone with Constantine, she felt awkward.

He silently watched her behavior with a faint smile. Feeling his gaze, she became embarrassed by her impulsive actions and sat down hesitantly across from him.

“…You didn’t have to go that far.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, how you acted like… you did all this because you liked me so much.”

While she was grateful that it helped save face with her family, it was too much.

“I only stated the truth.”

“What?”

“Wasn’t I the one who was desperate first, begging and pleading with you to marry me when you said no?”

…When was that?

“You could do without me, but I cannot do without you.”

“……”

“So everything I said was true.”

She wondered what he saw in her. Come to think of it, he had been consistently pursuing her since their first meeting.

Saying he couldn’t do without her… It sounded like a heartfelt confession of a lifetime.

However, his expression remained calm despite his words, making it confusing.

“So about the wedding, I was thinking next month.”

“What? Next… month?”

To rush a noble’s wedding like this?

She had only just decided to marry recently, and now they were jumping straight to the wedding.

Saena couldn’t help but be flustered.

“With the prince’s issue… I think the sooner the better.”

“W-well, that’s true, but……”

Still, isn’t one month too rushed?

“The cancellation of Hebeta’s engagement has been submitted.”

“……!”

So that’s what happened with Hebeta Elaine?

“We don’t know what the prince might do regarding the next Hebeta candidate.”

“……”

She wanted to say it wouldn’t happen, but even Saena couldn’t quite believe that.

“That’s actually why I announced it so early. He won’t easily try anything with my fiancée.”

Fiancée…..

Though the unfamiliar term momentarily silenced her, it was an understandable reason.

Even the prince had restrictions when it came to the ducal houses. This was especially true since he hadn’t obtained the crown prince qualification.

“…Alright.”

As Saena agreed to go along with his opinion, a brief flash of relief crossed Constantine’s eyes, though she didn’t notice it.

“We’ll take care of all the preparations. Just let us know if you have any opinions or requests.”

“Yes.”

They briefly coordinated various aspects of the wedding. More detailed matters would need to be discussed at the family level.

After their conversation ended, the duke stood up.

Saena stood up as well to see him out.

“And.”

Constantine suddenly stopped just before reaching the reception room door and turned to look down at her.

“The Count wasn’t wrong either.”

“……?”

Constantine took a step toward her.

“Regardless of title…”

He wrapped his arm around her waist, lifted her slightly, and set her down to one side. She felt the solid wall against her back.

“C-Constantine?”

“A beast, that’s right. I too…”

He trapped her between himself and the wall, placing his arm against it and lowering his head.

“Mmph…!”

Their lips met urgently.

His tongue parted her teeth, opening her mouth and invading inside. He sucked on her lips while his tongue swept across her palate, coming down to wrap around her tongue. He sucked in her wrapped tongue and swallowed their saliva.

As the kiss deepened, his grip on her waist tightened.

“Mm… hng.”

His tongue explored everywhere with wet sounds. Saliva pooled in her mouth that couldn’t close. Constantine swallowed it with sucking sounds.

Her neck tingled at the explicit kiss.

“Nng……”

“Haa… do you know how cute your m*ans are?”

He whispered as he wrapped her trembling body and made her lean against him.

“But since they might hear outside… let’s keep it down a bit.”

“Mmph!”

He bit her lips again and swallowed her breath.

As her legs weakened and she started to sink down, he caught her and pushed his thigh between her legs.

His thigh, hard as stone, prevented her from sinking down while simultaneously pressing against her pubic bone.

“Hnng.”

Ah, what is this feeling?

Unable to handle the unfamiliar sensation in her lower abdomen, she clutched his collar tightly.

As if that wasn’t enough, she felt something even more unfamiliar near her hip bone. The feeling of something hard and *rect pressing against her.

‘Could it be……’

While Saena didn’t particularly like s*xual relations, she wasn’t ignorant.

Though this body had no experience, she had been married in her past life. So she could easily guess what ‘this thing’ pressing against her was.

But it was startling how different it felt compared to her former husband’s.

Constantine noticed her gaze unconsciously dropping downward and broke the kiss.

What she glimpsed showed… a rather alarming volume.

“Mmph.”

Constantine lifted her chin, forcibly blocking her gaze.

“That kind of look isn’t good.”

Did she look at him too much like a beast…?

“S-sorry.”

“It’s too stimulating.”

What? Stimulating?

“When you look at me like that, it’s hard to control myself.”

Something seemed off about this context. Could he mean her gaze was stimulating?

‘I was just looking because I was surprised…’

Seeing her dumbfounded expression, Constantine slightly raised the corner of his mouth. Then he briefly sucked on her lips before pulling away with a wet sound.

“Let’s stop here for today.”

…For today? What was he planning to do next time?

Though such questions naturally followed, she had enough sense left not to voice them.

“I’ll take my leave.”

“Yes. Take… care.”

Though she wondered how he would manage to leave in that state, he solved it simply. He just turned one side of his cloak forward to cover it.

As soon as he left the reception room, his usual expressionless face returned.

Her worry about someone noticing his condition proved unnecessary as he gracefully bid farewell and left the Count’s residence.

Watching the Kramer family’s carriage leave, Saena suddenly realized.

How different his expressions were when he was with her versus in public.

* * *

While the marriage announcement surprised people, the noble society was even more shocked when they learned the wedding would be in just one month.

“Not only a surprise announcement but in one month!”

Saena’s family was also shocked by the one-month timeline.

She had to endure very suspicious looks questioning whether nothing really happened during the heavy snowfall.

“Nothing happened, I tell you! It’s not that… it’s because of the Hebeta.”

“Hebeta? Does Duke Kramer know about that too?”

“He’s the one who told me about the Hebeta’s engagement cancellation being submitted.”

“……”

Though Count Debov and Sage wore dissatisfied expressions, they couldn’t argue that this was the best solution.

“My daughter… getting married right after her debut…”

“We should have just paid the fine instead of the debutante ball.”

“Right. If we had, this wouldn’t have happened…”

The Count and Sage regretted their past efforts to convince their uninterested daughter to participate in society.

But there wasn’t even time for regret.

Even commoners needed a long preparation period for weddings. As a result, the Debov household became incredibly busy with wedding preparations.

Ironically, Saena, the bride herself, was relatively free.

Though all sorts of rumors about this strange marriage were circulating outside, Saena remained unaware as she had always been uninterested in such matters.

“Today too… there’s so many.”

Still, the impact of the marriage announcement didn’t completely bypass Saena.

One example was these letters.

Such an enormous amount of letters poured in that sorting and replying to them had become her main daily task.

“There’s no end to this. Ah, this one…”

Among the fancy envelopes, one stood out for being unusually plain — from Bellua Antiquarian Bookstore.

[To Lady Debov.

How are you?

I heard about your marriage news. The imperial capital is quite abuzz about it. Congratulations.]

Reading the first page, Saena rubbed between her eyebrows.

It felt strange hearing that everyone in town knew about it, enough to make the imperial capital buzz with gossip.

[…Fortunately, the book restoration work has been completed successfully.

While we couldn’t do anything about the already deteriorated parts, the remaining pages won’t fall apart even with frequent turning.

You can come pick it up when you have time. Or would you like us to send it to you?…]

She was planning to go out for a wedding dress fitting today anyway, so she could stop by before going to the boutique.

“Ah, my fingers.”

She roughly finished today’s letters.

She now understood why both her father and brother Sage had personal assistants. Even with most matters delegated to the administrative staff under the butler, there was still this much work…

Knock knock.

“Miss.”

As she was preparing to head to the imperial capital before it got too late, Butler Uz came to see her.

“Uz? Is something wrong?”

“I apologize for bothering you when you’re busy. There’s just one thing I need to verify.”

“What is it?”

The butler presented a rectangular silver tray. On it lay a single folded paper.

‘Not a letter.’

Saena took it and opened it.