Focused on his wounds, she didn’t notice that Lucas’s face had turned red.

Nor did she realize the heat contained deep in his gaze as he looked at her.

“There, now I’ll wrap the bandage.”

Giselle began wrapping the bandage around his hand. One turn, two turns—in her enthusiasm to wrap it well, she used almost all of the new bandage.

His hand had become about two or three times thicker than usual.

“Done. How is it?”

She tied the end of the bandage like a ribbon and looked at him with a satisfied expression.

Lucas stared at Giselle, who was looking at him with expectant eyes, and then lowered his gaze.

“Someone might think I’m a boxer.”

“……I was just trying to wrap it securely!”

Giselle’s expression soured at his muttered comment.

After going to the trouble of applying ointment and wrapping the bandage, he didn’t even say thank you or acknowledge her effort, but instead made a comment about boxers, which annoyed her.

“Well, anyway, thank y……”

Just as Lucas was about to thank Giselle belatedly, something slipped out from his hand as he lowered it under the table.

And immediately after, something heavy fell to the floor.

“Uh……”

Giselle instinctively looked down at the floor. A white bundle of bandages had fallen to the floor under the table.

It was the bandage she had just wrapped around his hand dozens of times.

In the exact same shape as when it had been on his hand.

“I wrapped the bandage securely.”

Lucas gently waved his hand in front of Giselle’s eyes. The hand that had been thickly wrapped in bandages just moments ago was now remarkably free.

“You must have wrapped it very securely indeed. It came off in one piece.”

“N-no. Why did it……”

Giselle blinked rapidly at his teasing words and blushed with embarrassment.

She bent down to pick up the fallen bandage from the floor, partly to hide her reddened face. However, Lucas stopped her with a shake of his head.

“Leave it. We can have a maid clean it up later.”

“……But.”

Giselle nervously bit her lip in embarrassment.

She had boasted about wrapping the bandage securely, only to have it slip off intact the moment she finished.

“I’ll call a maid to bring more bandages.”

“I told you it’s fine.”

Lucas grabbed Giselle’s wrist as she was about to call for a maid. Her green eyes turned to him and then to his hand gripping her wrist.

“Ah. Sorry. Did I touch where you’re hurt?”

Perhaps misinterpreting her gaze, Lucas quickly released her wrist and apologized. She felt her face flush slightly as she shook her head.

“No, it’s not that. I’m fine.”

“That’s good then…… By the way, what happened to your hand? How did you get scratched?”

When Lucas asked about the bandage wrapped around Giselle’s fingertip, she awkwardly clenched her hand.

“I got scratched by the decoration while removing my hat. It wasn’t serious enough to need a bandage, but everyone acted like it was a major incident……”

“Let me see. I’ll check with my own eyes whether they overreacted or not.”

He reached out toward her embarrassed form. Giselle rolled her green eyes and slightly furrowed her brow.

“It’s really fine.”

She hesitated to show her hand, but it was futile in front of Lucas. He quickly reached out and firmly grasped her hand.

Then he immediately turned her palm upward and unwrapped the bandage. Surprised by his decisive action, Giselle wiggled her fingers and spoke.

“You unwrap bandages very quickly. The knot wasn’t easy to untie.”

“I suppose it’s from daily practice.”

Lucas responded indifferently to her comment as he set the bandage aside. She felt shy under his gaze as he examined her fingertip and continued speaking.

“Practice?”

“Your dresses, and your undergarments.”

Giselle was speechless at Lucas’s casually delivered answer.

“What, what did you just……”

But the very person who had rendered her speechless calmly examined her finger, narrowing his eyes as if finding something unsatisfactory.

“The wound……”

“You can’t see it, right? See? I told you everyone was overreacting.”

Giselle’s face heated up at the feeling of Lucas handling her hand, and she hurriedly tried to pull it away. But Lucas wouldn’t let go.

“What do you mean I can’t see it? It’s right here, yes, here it is.”

He contradicted her words and pointed to her fingertip. At first, it wasn’t very visible, but squinting his eyes, he could just barely make out a faint mark.

“Hold still.”

Lucas held Giselle’s hand with one hand while using the other to apply ointment to the wound. Perhaps because the ointment had a cream-like consistency, her hand became even more slippery.

Perhaps that was why.

Giselle quickly pulled her hand away from his grasp and pressed her lips together.

Lucas quietly observed the flush on her face and then slightly clenched his own hand.

A slender wrist. An even more slender and smaller hand.

She seemed like a woman whose wrist or fingers might snap if he applied just a little force.

Yet this woman had made such a fuss about treating his wounded hand.

While she was embarrassed to even show him her own wound.

‘She probably would have done the same even with a more serious injury.’

Lucas’s gaze darkened as he looked at her.

It wasn’t that she was embarrassed because the wound was minor. She would have dismissed it with little concern because it was her own injury.

That’s how she must have lived all this time.

He recalled the man who had come to him demanding money to be repaid. And he also remembered what his secretary had reported after investigating the matter on his orders.

⟨It seems Baron Anticia borrowed money using madam’s name.⟩

⟨Borrowed money?⟩

⟨Madam…… or more precisely, he used your name as President to draw money from various places.⟩

The secretary tried to be discreet but couldn’t hide his contempt for Baron Anticia.

He looked as if he expected Lucas to take firm measures against the baron.

⟨Pay it back. Whatever the amount.⟩

But after a moment of silence, Lucas’s words were not what the secretary had expected.

⟨But President, if we pay his debts like this, won’t the baron just cause more trouble?⟩

⟨Of course he will.⟩

⟨Then why are you willing to overlook his behavior? I know it’s not my place to ask, but……⟩

⟨Because, regardless of everything, they are my wife’s parents, her family.⟩

That was reason enough for this uncharacteristic decision.

Being Giselle’s parents and her family meant that much to Lucas.

Though he had always been thorough when it came to money, Giselle had always been the exception. It had been that way since he first proposed marriage to her, so it wasn’t surprising.

Regardless of whether his secretary looked at him with astonishment, Lucas continued giving instructions.

⟨First, confirm how much the baron has borrowed and pay it back. Keep this a secret from my wife. She must not hear about this.⟩

⟨……Yes.⟩

⟨However, if the baron, or rather the baron’s family, commits similar acts in the future, record everything.⟩

Of course, his generosity toward them would not be unlimited.

At least as long as they stayed within the bounds of what he could tolerate, he was willing to overlook most things.

……He only hoped they wouldn’t cross the line.

“Hmm…… Ah, right. I have something to ask you.”

Lucas, who had been momentarily lost in thought, heard Giselle’s voice.

He looked up at her. He noticed her face was still slightly flushed from earlier.

And her expression as she bit her lip, as if hesitating about something.

‘……Ah, right. She said she had something to ask me.’

Lucas recalled what she had just said to him and opened his mouth.

“Something to ask? What is it?”

“Is there anyone admitted to Brensy Mental Hospital?”

The question Giselle posed was completely unexpected. It was also about a place that had nothing to do with him.

Perplexed by the sudden question, Lucas narrowed his brow and instead of answering, asked her back.

“Brensy Mental Hospital? Why are you suddenly asking about that place? How would I know if someone is admitted there?”

“……Don’t you know anyone who’s hospitalized there? Or perhaps receiving treatment at that hospital?”

Giselle asked again as if to confirm, despite Lucas’s puzzlement. He thought carefully with furrowed brows, then shook his head.

“No.”

“Really, no one?”

Giselle asked again, like someone unable to let go of her suspicions despite his repeated denials. Seeing this, Lucas’s eyes narrowed.

“Why exactly are you asking about this?”

“Huh? Ah, that…… Wait a moment. I was going to tell you about it anyway.”

Giselle hesitated briefly, then nodded as if having made up her mind and began to speak.

“I’ve mentioned this before—the money that disappeared from the previous family head’s ledger without proper records.”

“Ah, yes. I remember. But why?”

Lucas recalled and responded to her words.

“I went to the bank today and confirmed where that money went. It was difficult to trace since it was from so long ago, but not impossible to figure out.”

“And that place was ‘Brensy Mental Hospital’?”

Lucas’s expression darkened, though he had been treating this as light conversation. Giselle also nodded with a serious expression and added more.