“Yes, I know well how difficult and painful a time you went through. But you know what? Among commoners, there are countless children who were more terribly abused and abandoned than you. And I was also beaten countless times by my father. You know that well, don’t you? So why are we still sane? Because we’re not from the imperial family?”

“!?”

“Of course, everyone has different ways of coping. Some endure, some find other methods like you, and some take their own lives. But you chose to split your personality, and in the end, you lived by expressing yourself as you wanted depending on the situation.”

“Ha, so you’re saying it’s my fault? That I became like this?”

“No, it wasn’t your fault, but it was your choice. So now I’m telling you to come to your senses and choose again. If that was all a weak child could choose, now that you’re an adult, you can try to change yourself. If you truly want to start over with your wife, if you don’t want to show your child the same behavior as your parents, stop that damn crazy act and come to your senses!”

As if struck by something, the back of his head rang with a ‘zing.’

‘It was my choice? If I decide to change, can this crazy mind actually be fixed?’

As he spoke, Font calmed himself, taking deep breaths as his emotions had gradually intensified. In a moment of anger, he had unintentionally touched on his wounds.

“Haah….. Rian. I’m saying this because I’m genuinely worried about you. But I believe in you. You’re not that weak. Yes, you probably can’t merge your personalities into one right now. I’ll research more and help you somehow with that. Instead, learn the emotions you lack. If you can’t learn them, at least pretend. For your wife’s sake.”

“Emotions I lack?”

“Don’t just act and speak according to your thoughts; try to think from your wife’s perspective once in a while. Otherwise, your wife will live with wounds for the rest of her life. If you don’t understand, just ask your wife. Tell her what you’re thinking and ask how she feels.”

“……”

Font sighed as he looked at Rian staring blankly. If these were emotions that could be understood through verbal explanation, he would have fixed them long ago.

“Huh, cut off my head later. I can’t die now since I still have two patients.”

“Am I one of your patients?”

“Not you. I mean the Grand Duchess and your child.”

“You bastard.”

“By now, your child’s hearing should have developed to some extent. I wonder what the child will think with a mentally unstable father who also has a foul mouth.”

“……Ha! Get out.”

Font chuckled as he stared at Rian’s face turning red and blue. He placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder, who was grinding his teeth, and fired his final arrow.

“Falling in love is easy. It’s difficult to realize it. And it’s even harder to maintain it. Since you’ll have enough trouble just merging your personalities again, just honestly ask your wife for help. Ask her to help you. Start over from there. Drop that arrogant attitude.”

Font mixed sincerity and jokes as he spoke to Rian, who still looked confused.

“I’m giving you serious advice because I’m worried you might actually get abandoned by your wife. You seem to have just fallen in love, and it would be troublesome if you get abandoned again and develop yet another personality.”

“……”

“I’m hungry. I’ll be eating, so call me when your wife wakes up. I should see my patient before I leave.”

Rian blankly watched his friend’s back as he leisurely left the room after hitting his entire mind with an invisible club. Then he looked back at her.

‘Fallen in love… Was I really in love? Was this feeling really love?’

His mind was in chaos. Everything was confusing—Font’s words and his own unfamiliar feelings that he had just become clearly aware of.

“I thought love was just fun, but I didn’t know it was this difficult.”

“Looks like you’re really trying to become an adult. Seems like you’re growing up as your brother said.”

At that moment, Belita’s eyelids opened with difficulty.

* * *

Awakened by the noise that sounded like someone arguing beneath the surface of sleep, Belita slowly blinked her dry eyelids. And the first thing she saw through her blurry vision was Rian looking at her with an indecipherable expression.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes….”

“Haah…. I’m sorry.”

He sat down in the chair with a self-deprecating sigh. He gently grasped her weak hand and lowered his head, pressing it to his forehead. It felt strange to hear an apology from the man who had been so arrogant. He seemed to have changed a lot since she first met him.

“Belita.”

“……”

“About what I said earlier.”

“Later……”

“Hm?”

“Let’s talk about it later. That conversation. I want to be alone right now.”

“……Alright. Let’s talk later….”

The man rose with a hurt expression and left the room weakly after she firmly drew a line as if she didn’t want to hear it. His drooping shoulders looked unfamiliar. But it couldn’t be helped. This was an issue she hadn’t even had time to think about properly yet. She was afraid of getting hurt again if she believed everything he said at face value.

“Haah….”

The words he had said earlier kept spinning in her head. A man who confessed in such a strange way. And why did he have to say such random things in that particular situation, making her heart rise and fall? Anyway, both personalities were the same—lacking consideration, empathy, and doing whatever they wanted.

She gently rubbed her lower abdomen and closed her eyes. She felt bad thinking that her child might have felt the pain she experienced. Yet even in this situation, she felt relieved. That the fence hadn’t collapsed, that he wasn’t trying to abandon her…. That the child wouldn’t be abandoned by its father.

His words came to mind.

‘I want you to expect more from me. Whatever it may be.’

“Whatever it may be…. Does that mean he’ll grant everything I ask?”

‘My feelings for you are shaking uncontrollably. Yet I don’t feel it’s a waste of emotion. Seeing that I don’t mind the constant burning feeling.’

“His feelings are shaking… He’s burning? For me?”

‘So I’m asking you to be my real wife, not just the mistress of the Grand Ducal household.’

“Not just a role, but a real wife. So I really was a fake wife until now. Hmph….”

The fluttering feeling subsided in an instant. Yet while her lips pouted, her heart was pounding. Unlike before, it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. It felt like she had fallen into an abyss and then been lifted up in an instant. Since when had her mood been so controlled by his words, her heart racing and tears welling up at his every word?

“That jerk. Where did he sell his tact? They’re both the same! Hmph.”

Knock knock!

“Yes…?”

She peeked her head out, thinking Rian might have returned. But it was Font who entered, not him.

“Ah, hello.”

“Are you feeling alright?”

“Yes.”

“Please stay lying down. You need to rest now.”

“Ah…. Then I’ll just sit.”

Belita, who had been about to get out of bed quickly, reluctantly leaned back against the headboard at his dissuasion. She had wanted to have a conversation with him if the opportunity arose, but meeting in this situation made her feel awkward and embarrassed.

“Wife, how is your stomach?”

“It’s fine now. Oh, is our child okay?”

“Yes. There’s no problem at all. So you don’t need to worry.”

“That’s a relief. Thank you.”

………

An awkward silence fell. Moreover, with the man staring at her, she didn’t know where to put her eyes, and her gaze wandered aimlessly through the empty space.

“Grand Duchess.”

“Yes?”

“Would you mind having a conversation with me for a moment?”

“What….”

“It’s about that crazy bastard.”

Crazy bastard…. Even if that’s what he was, he was still the Grand Duke, so calling him a crazy bastard seemed a bit………

“You seem offended. I apologize. I meant His Grace the Grand Duke.”

Belita’s gaze wandered through empty space once more as the man smiled brightly while correcting himself without her saying anything. They say birds of a feather flock together, and this man seemed just as slick as Crazy Rian.

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Yes? A favor…? What….”

“Please make a decent human being out of that guy, I mean, His Grace the Grand Duke.”

“……What?”

What was he saying? She couldn’t understand why both this man and that man were saying such incomprehensible things today. And they both cut off the beginning and end, leaving only the middle part, making her confused again.

“For His Grace to regain his sanity, he needs someone to help him. To constantly make him aware of his condition and prevent the two personalities from talking to each other, it’s best to have someone continuously engage him in conversation.”

“Are you saying his personalities can be merged into one?”