What does it have to do with me?

Sigh. How could I give a smooth answer without provoking this man’s strange temperament or revealing my true intentions?

He was incredibly perceptive, so I needed to be careful with everything.

“Well… when Your Highness is in pain… I feel pain too?”

I forced a bright smile while swallowing nervously.

He had been quietly watching me, but now closed his eyes again, seemingly uninterested.

“You bark nonsense quite well.”

“Hey, bark? I’m not a puppy.”

“True… you’re even noisier than a dog.”

“Come on. What are you saying? When I say I feel pain when Your Highness is hurt, I don’t literally mean my body feels the same pain. I mean my heart aches!”

He looked down at me through narrowly opened eyes.

“Don’t smile. When you smile, it puts me in a bad mood.”

Wow… they say people don’t spit on a smiling face, but this man seems like he absolutely would.

Feeling annoyed, I deliberately smiled even more brightly as I looked at him.

“Why? I’m feeling sooo good right now.”

“For what reason?”

“Because seeing Your Highness makes me happy?”

“Why would seeing me make you happy?”

He asked with an expression that showed he had absolutely no intention of believing my answer.

“Well, Your Highness is handsome and impressive.”

“What?”

He raised one eyebrow dismissively and closed his mouth, refusing to respond further as if ignoring my words.

I didn’t particularly enjoy giving insincere compliments, but objectively speaking, saying he was handsome and impressive wasn’t entirely a lie.

Of course, this man had probably heard such words tens of thousands of times since birth, so they would have no impact on him.

Thinking it would be better not to continue the conversation, I gathered my dress and sat on the carpet.

“Shall I start the treatment now?”

I hesitated about how to ask him to take off his pants when the Grand Duke took his eyes off me.

“Leave.”

“What?”

“I said leave.”

What the actual XX is this?

First he tells me to come, and now he’s telling me to leave.

Is this how young masters born into wealthy families train people—with complete inconsistency?

“Wait a minute! If you listen to me, you’ll have no choice but to get treatment?!”

Thinking I needed to negotiate before he drove me out, I quickly raised my hands.

“You’re using me!”

The Grand Duke glanced down at me after my desperate cry.

Ugh, it’s so hard to get his attention!

“Instead, you can use me!”

When I spoke while staring into his eyes, the Grand Duke gave a casual nod as if telling me to continue.

“Everyone suspects me as the culprit.”

“……”

“But I really can’t remember anything. And when I hear the circumstances, even I find myself suspicious.”

He began to fix his gaze on me, as if checking whether I was telling the truth.

I tried my best not to avoid his gaze and briefly bit my tense lips.

I felt his eyes briefly brush over my lips.

“If I’m connected to that crime… maybe I had someone helping me.”

He didn’t respond as he looked at me.

This man would naturally have anticipated that I couldn’t have planned this alone.

Perhaps his plan was to eliminate everyone involved in this incident, one after another.

Otherwise, why wouldn’t he hand me over to the Grandis Imperial Police Investigation Bureau or the Azanie family?

“…So.”

My plan was to slowly feed him information bit by bit, while I secured what I needed and gathered funds to escape.

This was the best solution I’d come up with over the past few days.

In the meantime, I needed to find out how much money it would take to smuggle myself out of here and decide where to go.

The money for such an escape plan would have to come from the divorce settlement the Grand Duke would give me.

I couldn’t exactly ask for jewels or expensive land each time I passed information to him, could I?

His reward to me was simply letting me live.

To get a settlement, I needed to fulfill my role as grand duchess diligently to restore my reputation in the Empire, and create allies among the servants who would testify on my behalf during the settlement lawsuit.

“If it wasn’t just me acting alone, then whoever helped me will try to contact me after hearing rumors about my memory loss, or they’ll find some other way to approach me. If they hear that Your Highness and I seem to be on good terms, they’ll become even more anxious and act more quickly.”

“……”

“If anyone reaches out to me, I’ll tell Your Highness.”

“And I should believe that?”

“It’s true!”

In this situation, even if only temporarily, the only person who could protect me was this man, Grand Duke Carlo.

The Azanie family had merely used Lea as a tool.

They had probably already destroyed all evidence and were preparing to frame me as the sole culprit in this case.

Moreover, the Imperial Police Investigation Bureau would interrogate me immediately upon arrest, claiming that attempting to kill the Grand Duke constituted treason. They might not even hesitate to t*rture me.

Without this man’s hand, I had nothing to hold onto.

“I can really do this well. Please?”

In my desperation, I grabbed his arm.

“Ah… I take that back.”

What am I doing, touching a man who hates being touched?

I quickly let go and smiled gently, but he slightly furrowed his brow.

“Why on earth would you think I’d grant such a request…”

“You can monitor me all day!”

“……”

He seemed speechless at my response, his gaze faltering.

Oh? Was this it?

Seeing his reaction, I excitedly exclaimed:

“Monitor me! You can monitor me as much as you want! All day, 24 hours, please!”

“……”

“I have nothing to fear! I’m confident in showing Your Highness everything!”

Of course! If this man was watching me, no one would dare attack me!

“I promise I won’t do anything suspicious! I swear! Please monitor me thoroughly!”

Since I was planning to focus on my duties as grand duchess and show my support for my husband anyway, there wouldn’t be any problems.

I shouted without thinking about how these words might come back to haunt me later, not realizing how terrifying they were.

“It seems you’re overlooking something important.”

“What is it?”

“When you’re implicated in the crime or revealed as a suspect. What will you do then?”

“……”

What would I do?

For a moment, I lost my words and blankly stared at this man’s face that looked like it could have stepped out of a masterpiece painting.

‘Will you… let me escape?’

The words I couldn’t bring myself to say out loud lingered in my mouth.

Eventually, the culprit would be revealed, and I would be among them—either as the main perpetrator or an accomplice.

It was clear that Lea had passed on his movements to the villains and drugged him.

I had no way to explain that it was the real Lea Azanie who did these things before I transmigrated into this body.

Yes, it would be absurd to ask him to help me escape when I rightfully deserved punishment.

Of course, this man was absolutely not the type to grant such a request.

Instead of asking him to let me escape, I needed to give a reasonable answer he might accept.

“If I’m really the culprit…”

I composed my expression and forced a playful smile.

Like a careless woman who believed “I” couldn’t possibly be the culprit.

“Then I’ll accept my punishment willingly. But until then, you need to protect me. As my husband.”

What I needed right now.

Your protection. That was all.

“So you’re volunteering to be monitored.”

“Yes, and I’d prefer if Your Highness did it personally.”

Seeing me grinning, he let out a faint sigh as if finding me pathetic.

“Well then, can I treat you now?”

I put down the tray of medicines on the table and pointed to his pants.

“But for this, you’ll need to h-help me?”

“With what?”

“Y-your clothes!”

He should have understood by now, but the Grand Duke let out a scoffing laugh and looked down at me with an incredulous expression.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well…”

“Say it.”

Somehow, trying to speak made my face feel hot.

Perhaps it was because of this man staring at me with such a penetrating gaze.

I tried to maintain a firm expression as if it were nothing and looked at him.

“T-take off your pants…!”