“Continue.”

“Well…. They were wondering if it was okay to have relations like that when there’s a child….”

“……”

“Ahem. Everyone was excited about the child in the Grand Duchess’s belly.”

“Ha, so she did that act even while carrying a baby. And in a carriage while going out…? My, I didn’t know His Grace was such a romantic man.”

“……”

The knight lowered his head at Lovia’s face, which was trembling and swallowing her anger despite her words. After all, the wound of the woman he loved was as good as his own wound.

“Haah…. It must have been a good time. Then I should make them realize how precious that time was.”

“Just give the order.”

“My Rian must be safe. He needs to feel the loss deeply when he loses something precious.”

“Understood.”

“There will be a banquet at the imperial palace soon. I should wear the most splendid dress that day.”

“You will be the most beautiful.”

The knight stared at Lovia’s bright smile in a daze. A woman for whom he wouldn’t hesitate to give his heart. The knight resolved to sacrifice everything for her.

“Will you stay the night?”

“What about His Grace the Count…?”

“Hmph, why should I care what he’s doing somewhere? He’s probably drinking and disgracing our family again. It’s better to get rid of an ungrateful beast even after raising it. I might soon become the mistress of the Grand Duke’s residence, so I should tell father in advance.”

“I will serve you.”

“Yes, today I want to be a woman who is loved.”

The knight picked up her slender body and headed for the bed. As he bent over after carefully laying her down, his black hair cascaded down. Lovia fiddled with his hair and murmured regretfully.

“If only your eye color were a slightly deeper yellow.”

“I’m sorry.”

“But this is not bad. Every time I’m in your arms, it feels like I’m in Rian’s arms.”

“I love you, Lovia.”

“I too, I too love you, Rian.”

The knight’s body holding Lovia trembled momentarily. However, just as Lovia was obsessed with Rian, he was also pathologically obsessed with Lovia. Determined to give her pleasure, the knight’s mind cooled down, unlike his hot touch as he caressed her.

* * *

She had a very sweet dream. She held the child’s fern-like hand, went on a picnic, and made rings from grass blades. How adorable the toddling walk was. When the child came running and hugged her tightly, she felt like she owned the world. Kissing the soft cheeks and feeling everything about the child with her whole body, she felt the greatest happiness in the world. Could there be anything happier than this?

“What’s making you grin in your sleep?”

“Mmm…. Don’t wake me up…. I’m having a really good dream… mmph!”

She opened her eyes wide at the flesh suddenly pushing in. It had become a habit now. Since that day they had made love in the carriage, Rian touched and explored her at all hours. Even a beast wouldn’t mate this frequently. Using the excuse that soon they wouldn’t be able to do it even if they wanted to, he pounced on her whenever there was a chance.

“Mmph! Haah…. Stop it!”

“I’m just making your really good dream continue into reality.”

“What…?”

“You love kissing me, don’t you? Enough to come just from kissing.”

“Ha, that’s funny. Who comes? You’re the one who’s good at coming. Hmph.”

“Because I’m good at coming, your belly is swollen like this. You should be grateful.”

He stroked her round, swollen belly and grinned. Rian seemed to like children more than expected. She thought that since his basic nature was cold and aloof, he wouldn’t like children, but that didn’t seem to be the case. He always put his ear to her belly, felt the child’s movements, and talked to it. Sometimes he would use the shameless excuse that the child wanted its parents’ love and pounce on her.

After that day in the carriage, he pounced on her relentlessly like he’s trying to make up for the month he had held back. Fortunately, whether due to hormonal influence or because she had grown accustomed to it, she didn’t hate his advances. No, to be honest, she might have even liked them.

“So what dream were you having?”

“Mmm… I dreamed of going on a picnic with the child.”

“A picnic?”

“Yes, the child hugged me so well and was so pretty. I think a truly lovely child will be born.”

“Really? What about me?”

“What?”

She couldn’t help but chuckle at the expectant look in the man’s eyes. His increasingly new sides were both fascinating and made her heart flutter.

“Was I not there?”

“Ah… of course you weren’t…”

“I wasn’t?”

Belita paused and furrowed her brow, staring into space as if trying to recall something. It seemed like there was definitely another dream, but…?

“Ah! You were there!”

“I was?”

Only then did the corners of the man’s mouth curl up. At times like this, he was such a child. Seeing him grinning with shining eyes as if asking her to tell him quickly, she felt mischievous and wanted to tease him. She deliberately narrowed her eyes, pouted her lips pretending to be upset, and turned her head away with a “hmph.”

“Why are you acting like this? Did I do something wrong in your dream?”

Belita’s eyes trembled at Rian’s suddenly changed speech pattern. Since they couldn’t talk to each other, now the personalities were alternating without rhyme or reason. She had clearly meant to stop them, but somehow couldn’t bring herself to do it. Because she couldn’t decide which one to stop.

Perhaps it was a sign that they were trying to merge into one, so she deliberately pretended not to notice and continued the conversation. But she couldn’t help her body’s initial reaction. A person couldn’t adapt to someone changing so easily.

She had only been lost in thought for a moment, but Rian, whose expression had become quite serious, called her again. She was about to say it was just a joke, but wanting to get revenge for everything he had done to her, she continued the prank.

“Belita?”

“Ah, hmm! You weren’t standing next to us but next to someone else.”

“Someone else?”

“Yes! Next to some beautiful woman.”

“A beautiful woman?”

“You smiled at that woman so warmly. You’ve never smiled at me like that.”

“I smiled? Then why didn’t you come and pull my hair or something?”

“Ah, I should have done that. I’m just too nice, even in dreams.”

“Pft! Who? Surely not you?”

Her pretend-upset eyes genuinely narrowed. She had prided herself on living a fairly kind life, and his mockery actually hurt her feelings. It was even more upsetting to be ridiculed by a man known for being mean.

“So you’re lying. Would I smile at another woman? Don’t you know I wouldn’t do that even in dreams?”

“It’s true, I tell you!”

“Whether in dreams or reality, I hate the thought of anyone but you approaching me.”

It’s true. You… were standing with my mother, watching us. You were smiling so brightly, your face looked truly happy watching us.

Belita’s eyes grew moist at the first dream of her mother since her parents passed away. She couldn’t forget the expression as Rian stood side by side with her mother, looking at her and the child. But why couldn’t she remember it at first? Perhaps the dream with the child had been too intense.

If both her parents were alive, would they have liked this man? No, perhaps such a marriage wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Who knows. Even if they had married, if her father knew how this man treated her, he wouldn’t have stood for it. There might have been an incident of a viscount beating up his Grand Duke of a son-in-law. Heh.

“What now?”

“Huh?”

“Are you laughing because you liked seeing me smile at another woman?”

“Ah, no. I was just thinking of something else…”

“Hmm….”

She glanced at the man who was narrowing his eyes suspiciously, then carefully got up. The considerably swollen belly now made it difficult to get up and lie down. Though she pouted, she couldn’t help smiling at the man who supported her. Now such teasing and arguments had become quite natural. Though they hadn’t had any major fights yet, the couple had grown close enough to have small arguments.

Crazy Rian’s way of speaking was still aggressive and crude, but it felt much more tame than before, as if the two personalities were somewhat harmonizing. But there was another problem. She wondered if the harmonization was one-sided, as if the proper His Grace was gradually becoming more like Crazy Rian.

“Wife, we have somewhere to go today.”

“Where?”

“I plan to go out to buy clothes for you and clothes and items for the child.”

“What? Why my clothes…?”

“You’ve never properly bought clothes all this time.”

“Then we could call someone…”

“I want to go on a date.”

“Ah……”

“If going out seems difficult, we can set a date soon and call people. Instead, today we’ll date in bed.”

“L-let’s go out!”

She couldn’t tell if the grinning face was now Crazy Rian or Crazy His Grace. She had hoped they would blend evenly, but it felt like they had blended evenly only in the bad aspects. She wasn’t sure whether to think of this as good or bad. She even questioned whether it was right for the two personalities to become one.