Belita patted her pounding chest and caught her breath. She was relieved that nothing had happened. She flinched at Rian’s action of plopping down next to her and glanced at him before moving slightly away.

He would rather stand if there were no chairs, which was completely different from His Grace. It was only natural that she felt like they were two completely different people.

She wondered what he was thinking about. His gaze, as he looked somewhere with an unusually serious expression, seemed somehow bitter. There was no trace of his usual sly smile or slickness. His serious expression suited him, but it was also incredibly unfamiliar.

Being suddenly dragged here and sitting next to a man she never expected to be with was suffocating. Both of them were equally good at making her uncomfortable.

Ah, this guy is that guy. Sigh…….

Her head throbbed in this confusing situation. It was shocking enough that the man who shouldn’t be here was sitting right next to her, but on top of that, she felt like she was going crazy, constantly trying to separate one man into two, only to realize that they were the same person. It was fine when she saw them separately, but now that the man she thought was His Grace had suddenly turned into a crazy bastard, she was completely at a loss.

She had a lot of questions, but she couldn’t ask any of them. Belita just fidgeted with her fingers and stared blankly at the scenery in front of her, afraid of how the sullen beast might suddenly react.

But then, she heard Rian’s calm voice. She turned to look at him, wondering if he had switched back again.

“I am both.”

“?”

Belita gulped and listened intently as he spoke, as if he was about to make a confession. It was the first time he had ever spoken about himself so seriously, and she wondered if he would tell her why he had become this way.

“And one more thing.”

“……”

“Then who is the true owner of this body?”

Belita blinked in surprise at his sudden question.

The true owner of this body…?

But before she could even think about it, Rian answered his own question as if he had read her mind.

“Of course, you would think that this idiot Rian is the owner of this body. It’s only natural. But why don’t you ever consider the possibility that I might be the owner…?”

She felt dizzy, as if she had been hit in the back of the head.

Had she really thought that? Hearing her own thoughts from his mouth was more shocking than she had expected. And unlike her vague notion that he might be mistaken, his question threw her into further confusion.

The owner of the body. Of course, she had thought that the first man she met was the owner of the body. Wasn’t it obvious…? That was the man she had first met…? The one she married and lived with was Grand Duke Rian. Above all, it was His Grace who maintained his daily life as the Grand Duke, and he only appeared when there was thunder and lightning.

As if reading her mind, Rian asked another question.

“If you had met me first, would you have been so wary of him?”

If she had met this man first……? Ah, she didn’t know…….

Her head was spinning. It was something she had never even considered. She had always been certain that this man was a new ego created by His Grace, so she couldn’t even imagine such a thing.

“People are all the same. They judge someone as good if they’re upright and polite, and bad if they’re a little aggressive and self-centered. It’s only natural.”

Isn’t that obvious…?

“But is that really true?”

“?”

His gaze, which had been fixed ahead, turned to Belita. His eyes seemed to pierce through her.

“Was this bastard really a good person to you? Just because he’s outwardly upright and polite, does that make him a good person? A husband who keeps his distance as if you were worse than a stranger. A husband who buys his wife with money. A husband who hates even touching her. What’s so good about him?”

“……!”

“What about me? Was I that terrible? Was it so wrong of me to sleep with my wife who came to me so bravely?”

“Th—That’s.”

I only went to you because I was scared of the thunder!

“I was just fulfilling my husbandly duties, which that bastard couldn’t do. But you judged me as a bad guy and ran away.”

Th—That’s…. Because you were so scary….

“It’s natural for a husband and wife to be intimate, but you were the one who refused.”

That’s because you drew the line first……. Ah, His Grace did that. Still, you were too forceful…!

Belita refuted his sophistry one by one. Of course, her thoughts didn’t come out loud, but she felt strangely wronged.

But she didn’t understand why this man’s words seemed to make sense. As she listened, she felt like she was the one in the wrong. She was confused. Was this man feeling wronged right now?

In any case, he was definitely a scary man.

But why was she scared? Because he suddenly approached her…? Because he suddenly wanted her body? Come to think of it…… why did she always run away when she saw this man?

As if brainwashed by him, Belita began to feel as if there was something wrong with her actions. He had simply fulfilled his husbandly duties, but it was as if she had pushed him away and run away, leading to this situation.

She was overwhelmed by a torrent of questions. But the shock she was about to receive wasn’t over yet.

“You saw me as thunder. You met me when the thunder you feared the most struck, and I happened to be there only then. You projected your fear onto me.”

What…? You’re saying it was a coincidence?

“I existed even when you didn’t know, and I was always there. I just didn’t come out often because it was bothersome.”

What was he talking about now? Was he saying that it wasn’t the first time? Was it really a coincidence that she only met him when it thundered?

“I don’t like the night. It feels like I’m the only one awake when everything else is asleep. Of course, it’s easier for me to move around when he’s asleep. So I’m mostly awake at night. But I never thought you’d come looking for me at night.”

After bombarding her with shocking remarks, he chuckled as if reminiscing about a pleasant memory.

“Th—Then after that……”

“I knew my wife was afraid of thunder. So from then on, I always woke up at night. Because I wanted to protect you. Because you came to me for the first time.”

That’s ridiculous. You call that protecting me? You scared me even more!

He pressed his frown, pretending to be more upset than she was.

“Then why did you run away from me like I was a monster? And you even provoked me with that look in your eyes that I hate the most. Do you have any idea how annoying it was to see you tremble in fear whenever you saw me, while acting so meek and submissive towards that bastard?”

“……You didn’t have to be so scary. Do you have any idea how scared I was?”

“I’m sorry about that. But I’m only human. Just like you have a trauma of thunder, I have one too. And you triggered it. Do you know what it’s like to have your personality split in two? It’s not normal.”

“Ha.”

She was speechless. Well, maybe she was better off than him. At least her personality wasn’t split.

“Still!”

She was angry. Wronged and frustrated. It wasn’t like she did it on purpose! He should have just told her. If he had, she wouldn’t have run away. How could she not run away when he was being so scary!

“The thunder was just a coincidence. It was the rainy season, so it rained often, but I was always there at night. So don’t look at me like I’m thunder and run away anymore. It doesn’t feel good to have my wife tremble in fear every time she sees me.”

“Ha…!”

She was enraged by his words, which so casually blamed her for the terrible pain she had felt.

“That’s sophistry!”

Yes, it was sophistry. This man was deceiving her again. But her heart still raced. She couldn’t believe that everything was due to her misunderstanding, but she was shaken.

Where did it all go wrong? Was it not knowing her husband’s condition? Was it treating the two of them differently? No, it wasn’t that. It was wrong of her to marry him in the first place.

An upright and polite husband. Of course, he drew a line and didn’t open up to her, but he always respected her. But now that she thought about it, he was polite and upright to everyone. He only drew a line and didn’t open up to her.

The respect he showed her was just basic courtesy to his wife, whom he had bought with money. It was nothing more than a tacit warning not to expect anything more.

Then why did she think he was a good person? Because he saved her from that hellhole, even if it was with money…? Ha.

So, what about this man? He may have been scary on the outside, but his heart was trying to protect her, so was he a good person now?