Forgetting even to breathe, Saena had to listen to all sorts of lewd sounds filtering down from above without any filter.

After a while, she heard the sound of the man and woman straightening their clothes after finishing their business.

‘Go first.’

‘Yes. Call me whenever you need me, Duchess. Hehe. Our chemistry is killer, isn’t it?’

‘Alright.’

She heard the man leave first, and after a while, the woman muttered.

‘Vulgar bastard.’

Her voice was cold and teeth-chattering, completely different from the coy tone she had used when the man was present.

Soon after, the woman left too.

After they left, Saena stood there for a long time with her trembling body.

The man and woman who had shown such debauchery—

They were none other than… Saena’s husband and Saena’s friend.

George Hollander and Elizabeth Valdez.

‘No, at that time she was Elizabeth Kramer.’

Though shocked and feeling betrayed, she also couldn’t understand something else. Why would someone choose to be with someone like George Hollander when they had a man like Duke Kramer?

Given Elizabeth’s final comment about him being ‘vulgar,’ it didn’t seem like she enjoyed it either, which made it even more puzzling.

‘Why did Elizabeth do that?’

Because of their good chemistry…?

Remembering her encounters with her detestably former husband, that didn’t seem likely either.

Though George Hollander constantly chased after women, due to his selfish nature, he had no interest in satisfying them.

He was busy pursuing only his own desires, regardless of whether the woman was in pain or suffering. No, he was actually a pervert who enjoyed it more when they were in pain. So unless Elizabeth had some unusual preferences, it didn’t seem like she would have enjoyed being with him.

‘Because her husband was away from the imperial capital?’

At that time, Elizabeth had frequented the imperial capital’s social circles daily while the Duke never left his territory, so Saena had wondered if she had done it out of loneliness.

But after learning about the existence of warp gates, that didn’t seem like a valid reason either.

She just couldn’t understand the reason.

‘No matter how I think about it, to compare someone like George Hollander to…’

Saena stared blankly at Constantine, lost in thought.

Even when she had been pushed by circumstances to marry Constantine, Saena never thought he would be a bad husband.

Still, she expected just a properly respectful marriage of mutual consideration, so she was surprised. Because he had turned out to be an even better husband than she had imagined.

How could someone betray such a good man?

Saena truly couldn’t understand it.

While she stared at him lost in thought, Constantine approached with an increasingly strange expression, but Saena didn’t notice.

“I suppose… since I’m lacking, I can’t focus properly.”

“……”

“I’ll need to try harder.”

“Huh?! What– Ah!”

Constantine suddenly licked her nape while shifting her center of gravity backward. Before she knew it, Saena found herself lying back on the bed as he climbed on top of her with a languid smile.

“Wait, no– Your Grace!”

“Am I so lacking that you won’t even call me by my name?”

“That’s not it, Constan– mmph.”

Saena’s breath quickened as he stole her breath mid-way through calling his name. His tongue invaded through the gap, thoroughly exploring every soft corner of her mouth.

As his massive calf subtly wedged between her legs and changed angles, she couldn’t keep her legs together. Far from keeping them together, they spread wider and wider.

The sensation of his firm thigh pressing against the sensitive inner part of her thighs alone made her feel overwhelmingly aroused and helpless.

“W-wait! Suddenly, mm, nngh…”

Though her appearance was becoming increasingly disheveled, Saena was powerless to stop it. Her skirt had somehow risen to her thighs, and her dress bodice was pulled down enough to expose her shoulders.

Constantine’s lips traced along her exposed skin. She couldn’t maintain her composure under his breath and touch.

Growl.

While his lips were busy around her collarbone, Saena’s stomach suddenly growled loudly. Constantine paused at the sound and raised himself up.

He grinned at Saena’s face, which had turned red with embarrassment.

“Hmm… I can’t let my wife go hungry.”

“……”

“Shall we continue this tonight?”

Saena looked up at him, still breathing shallowly with quickened breaths.

Constantine looked perfectly fine. His breathing and appearance seemed unchanged. The only difference might have been his slightly disheveled hair falling over his forehead.

Meanwhile, Saena was exposed to the bright sunlight in a state neither properly dressed nor undressed.

She felt embarrassed but somehow wronged.

“…I don’t want to!”

“You don’t want to?”

Saena sat up, pulling up what had been pulled down and lowering what had been raised. The contrast was too stark between her seemingly debauched state and his neat appearance.

“Saena?”

Saena fixed her appearance without answering, slightly sulking.

“Are you angry?”

“……”

“Because I stopped midway?”

“Th-that’s not it!”

That wasn’t why, but when Constantine asked like that, it made it seem like it was!

Feeling more wronged from the embarrassment, Saena jumped up from the bed.

“I suppose my efforts were lacking. Saena, don’t be angry.”

“Ugh!”

Is he teasing? He must be teasing.

‘Come to think of it, why did he come here in the first place?’

Seeing Saena’s attempt at a fierce glare, Constantine quickly suppressed his smile and changed the subject, perhaps deciding he’d gone far enough.

“After we eat, would you like to go somewhere with me for a moment?”

He finally stated his purpose for visiting just as she was wondering about it.

“What? Where?”

“There’s… someone I’d like to introduce you to.”

Come to think of it, it was customary to greet the family elders and seniors upon arriving at the territory. Though she had heard the previous Duke and Duchess were no longer around, there must be other elders.

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

I’ll have to get the massage later. Saena answered cheerfully.

“Let’s have our meal together.”

“Yes.”

* * *

After finishing their meal, Saena requested a moment.

She felt she should change into a more formal attire.

“Wear comfortable shoes.”

“What?”

“We’ll need to walk a bit.”

Shouldn’t the elders come to the castle to meet them, given that Constantine was the head of the family and the Duke?

Though something felt odd, Saena agreed without questioning further.

‘Aren’t we going to meet family elders?’

Even so, as they walked through the back garden, she naturally began to wonder, ‘Where exactly are we going?’

‘This place… feels familiar?’

It even felt somewhat familiar.

Through the forest path. A route slightly off the walking path, strangely deserted and somewhat hidden. Confusing sections appearing here and there.

‘Ah…’

She thought she knew. This path definitely led to the red brick house…

‘He must be introducing me to the nanny.’

Given that she hadn’t looked very healthy when seen before, it made sense that they would visit her instead.

However, what didn’t make sense was Constantine’s attitude. She noticed his expression becoming subtly more rigid as they approached their destination.

When they were almost at their destination, he stopped briefly and said to Saena.

“I have a nanny.”

“……”

Saena briefly wondered if she should mention that she had already met her before.

“She… loved me more than my birth parents.”

More than his birth parents? Though Saena understood this sentiment having grown up under Martha’s care without a mother, something felt different.

That statement somehow… sounded as if his birth parents existed but didn’t love him at all.

Moreover, while he said she loved him more than his birth parents, his expression seemed somehow stiff while saying it, creating a disconnect between his words and expression.

“The nanny will really like you. Her wish was to see me get married.”

“Oh, when Your Grace mentioned earlier that marriage was urgent, perhaps…”

“…That’s right.”

So in her past life, was that why he had married, even if just contractually, because of his nanny?

If his beloved nanny’s death was approaching and that was her wish, it would make sense that he wanted to show her his married self before she died.

“What if… what if…”

“Yes?”

“What if I hadn’t been here?”

“……”

“In such a situation, if someone had proposed a contract marriage, would Your Grace have accepted?”

Constantine raised his eyebrows as if he couldn’t understand why she would ask such a thing.

Well, Saena herself wasn’t quite sure why she was asking this. Perhaps it was because she still felt like she had stolen Elizabeth’s place.

“I might have. I hadn’t really thought about marriage… but if it was a contract.”

So if that was why he had entered into a contract marriage in her past life… perhaps she could feel less uncomfortable about taking someone else’s place?

“But I hope you won’t misunderstand.”

“Pardon?”

“That’s only a hypothetical, as you said.”

“……”

“I married you because I wanted to.”

“W-what?”

“The marriage, I mean.”

Saena’s face flushed as if she had just heard an extraordinary confession.

“Ah, yes. I… too…”

“You too…?”

“I… didn’t dislike it.”

“Oh my. Just ‘didn’t dislike’ it?”

“No, no. Because it was Your Grace…”

“Because it was me?”

Constantine repeated her words, waiting for her to continue.

“Because it was Your Grace… I think I’m fortunate.”

Truly, she thought she was fortunate. Though she had chosen it at the time because it seemed like an easy option, now it felt more like luck.

She had felt somewhat indebted for unintentionally taking Elizabeth’s husband, but now that feeling seemed resolved, which made her even happier.

As Constantine looked down at her smiling, blushing face, he raised his hand and slowly caressed her cheek with his thumb.

“I’m the one who’s lucky.”

As his thumb traced downward, his other long fingers cupped beneath her ear, and then his lips descended.