“Who are you looking for?”

“!?”

Startled by the sudden chilling voice, Belita covered her entire body with the blanket and turned her head toward the source of the sound. Rian, already fully dressed, was standing by the window looking outside. But somehow his figure seemed unfamiliar. His style of clothing was completely different from what Rian had been wearing these past few days.

That outfit…. It’s what His Grace often wore…….

“Wife.”

Gasp…!

He slowly turned around to face Belita. He smirked at her increasingly pale face.

No, it can’t be…. It’s not possible. It mustn’t be!

To confirm it wasn’t true, Belita called out to him with a trembling voice.

“Ri, no, Y-Your Grace…?”

But his response to her call was like a bolt from the blue.

“Wife. Have you perhaps taken a lover behind my back?”

The emotionless yet cold face. The chilling gaze staring at her with one eyebrow raised, completely devoid of emotion—Belita realized something had gone terribly wrong.

It’s really His Grace!? Since when…? Then who did I sleep with last night?

Her mind was in complete chaos. Her breathing quickened, and her heart raced wildly. She pulled the blanket up to her neck, completely hiding her body while her eyes darted around.

Grand Duke Rian had returned. And simultaneously, Crazy Rian had disappeared. But her returned husband was displaying inexplicable anger and asking strange questions.

A lover…? What on earth is he talking about!?

Belita rolled her eyes around, searching for her clothes. But perhaps due to extreme tension, she couldn’t focus on anything. Her hands trembled, and her mind spun. Not understanding what was happening made her feel even more desperate.

“I don’t understand why you’re being shy. You were so lustfully seducing me yesterday.”

“!”

“I was quite surprised by how skillfully you undressed me. It didn’t seem like the skill of someone who had only done it once or twice.”

His voice was clearly intended to show contempt and insult. First, she urgently looked around for her clothes, avoiding his gaze. Suddenly, tears welled up. She felt wronged and angry at this situation where she appeared guilty of something she hadn’t done. Yet she couldn’t tell the truth either.

How could she possibly say that she had passionately rolled around with another version of him that existed inside him? Perhaps the moment she said those words, he might consider her mentally ill.

Her hand, which had finally found her clothes, trembled uncontrollably. No matter how hard she tried not to shake, her body trembled helplessly in this miserable situation.

“C-could you turn around, please.”

“……Very well. I don’t particularly want to see that body anyway.”

Did I just imagine hearing the word ‘filthy’ before ‘that body’…?

He slowly turned his body to look out the window again. Her dazed eyes lingered on the back of Rian’s head for a moment before she grabbed her clothes and hurried to the bathroom. She quickly washed herself, tied up her disheveled hair, and got dressed. Then, seeing her pale face reflected in the mirror, Belita bit her lip tightly.

Why is this happening? Did I really sleep with him? Did he actually embrace me?

Belita was dumbfounded by the fact that the man who had always drawn a line, never approaching or allowing her to cross it, had slept with her. She couldn’t understand why he had taken her to bed when he was looking at her with such contemptuous eyes. Then suddenly, Rian’s words came to mind.

‘I don’t understand why you’re being shy. You were so lustfully seducing me yesterday.’

I seduced him…? That’s impossible.

She was desperately curious about yesterday, which she couldn’t remember. She wanted to tear out her head that had recklessly consumed alcohol, caught up in the mood after so long. And soon, her resentment turned back to Crazy Rian.

You bastard. How could you leave in that situation!? What was I supposed to do!?

In any case, that man, whether this one or that one, was impossible to view favorably.

“Sigh……… Let’s go out first. Tsk.”

Belita checked herself once more and then dragged her reluctant feet to the living room.

Someone must have come and gone, as he was now sitting on the sofa drinking tea. She had no idea what kind of misunderstanding had occurred, but the coldness she had never seen before chilled her to the bone. She began to feel tense again with a different kind of fear than what she felt with Crazy Rian. After moistening her dry lips, she sat down across from him.

She stared blankly at the steaming teacup, thinking deeply. But knowing she couldn’t answer any of his questions, she felt like going crazy. She desperately wished he would just leave. However, he showed no intention of doing so.

“Belita Amoris Royte.”

“!?”

Belita’s heart began to race again at the chilling voice of the man calling her full name for the first time. Like a judge about to pronounce a death sentence, his eyes showed no mercy whatsoever.

“It would be better to speak honestly. That is, if you wish to remain the Grand Duchess.”

“……”

That cold gaze. That chilling voice. Belita suddenly felt hurt by his unfamiliar appearance filled with anger.

If you had such a side, why didn’t you show it to those people who insulted me back then? I thought you were a man who didn’t even know how to get angry.

“Let me ask again. Did you take a lover? Have you been secretly intimate with another man behind my back?”

“……”

“If you don’t want a divorce, you’d better speak.”

Her heart sank at that moment. Divorce….

That word she had desperately wished for, yet couldn’t bring herself to say due to fear of an uncertain future, had just come from his lips. Ironically, Rian’s words made her chest ache.

It wasn’t from happiness or fear. She hadn’t expected to hear the word “divorce” from the lips of a man who had been singing declarations of love just yesterday.

Ah…. Is this how it ends?

A man with the same face who whispered love and now spoke of divorce… Which rhythm should she dance to? It was exhausting.

The look in her eyes, which had held a hollow laugh, suddenly turned cold.

Yes, perhaps this is an opportunity. A chance to escape this crazy man. He’s a man I can never handle.

“Are you not going to answer?”

Still, she didn’t want to be labeled with such a vulgar tag. Even if she were to leave, she would refuse such a misunderstanding.

With determination settling in her eyes, as if she had made up her mind, Belita firmly set her lips and spoke confidently without a hint of wavering.

“I never did such a thing.”

“Never did…… I didn’t know you could be so brazen. Then who did you mistake me for last night?”

“……”

……You. You! The other self inside you. Crazy Rian!

Barely swallowing the words that were about to burst from her throat, Belita took a deep breath. She tried to calm her increasingly agitated emotions and remain cool-headed. However, her emotions surged once more at Rian’s words.

“You seemed very close. Close enough to seductively call my name while tempting me. It didn’t seem like you had only slept with him once or twice.”

“Haa……”

Rian’s eyebrow twitched at Belita’s sigh. Despite trying to speak with as much patience and courtesy as possible, to his eyes, Belita seemed to find this situation merely annoying and bothersome.

‘Is that why she wanted to go back to her hometown then…? To set up house with that bastard!?’

Rian’s gaze darkened. And his subsequent words contained neither courtesy nor politeness.

“Since when?”

Belita’s shoulders flinched at the informal speech she had never heard from his lips before. Just one informal word from Rian’s mouth, and it felt like Crazy Rian had returned.

Ha, he’s lost his mind.

She must have grown accustomed to him already. The man she had hated so much was now someone she desperately wanted to see.

Having regained her composure, Belita looked directly at Rian and asked back.

“What do you mean?”

“When did you start being intimate with another man?”

“I told you I never did.”

“Is that why you said you wanted to go back to your hometown? To secretly set up house with him?”

“I said no!”

“Did you crave a man’s body that badly? Enough to bring another man to your bedroom when your husband was right beside you?”

“I told you I never did such a thing!”

“Damn it! If you were that desperate, why didn’t you tell me? I would have gladly given you this body!”

“Ha…!”

Belita didn’t bother hiding her scorn at the man’s increasingly absurd words. Her heart pounded so hard that she couldn’t judge how much more she should listen to and endure.

“Are you laughing at me now? Do I look that ridiculous to you? After all I’ve done for you, you—!”

“What exactly have you done for me……?”

“……!”

Belita’s reason snapped at Rian’s increasingly nonsensical words. She no longer had the patience to listen to what hardly sounded like his words anymore.