“It’s temporary.”

A calm voice penetrated the bedroom where only the clinking sounds of medicine bottles could be heard.

“What?”

“Staying in this room is only temporary.”

What? Unable to believe my ears, I looked up at him.

The Grand Duke, wearing only a robe, sat at the edge of the bed receiving disinfection as he looked down at me.

“……”

Suddenly, the fact that this person was breathing and alive before me felt strange.

I mean… the fictional man I had only vaguely imagined in my mind was actually alive in the same space. The reality of it suddenly hit me.

Small goosebumps rose all over my body.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

He asked with a slightly furrowed brow.

“Ah!”

Staring blankly at his eyes that resembled a deep blue winter lake, I quickly came to my senses and nodded vigorously as if delighted.

Seeing my reaction, he paused briefly before returning to his usual expressionless face.

Afraid he might withdraw his words, I quickly opened my mouth.

“Yes, yes! That’s great!”

I smiled brightly, wondering if I should clap like a seal, but he indifferently lowered his eyes.

“You don’t seem worried about anything else.”

“Anything else?”

“Knowing what might happen at night.”

“Oh… wow! What would Your Highness like to do with me?”

I raised my voice with sparkling eyes like someone seizing an opportunity, and he immediately showed signs of irritation.

Hmph, did he think I wouldn’t realize he was trying to scare me into refusing to stay in this room!

“Don’t even dream of it. That will never happen.”

“Tch, I knew it…”

I grumbled while loudly closing the medicine bottle, and he watched me as if I were a strange woman.

It was obvious this man had not the slightest intention of sharing a bed with me.

I know what I’m saying. Did he think I asked to stay in the same room without any thought?

The more I looked at him, the more obvious his dislike for me became.

“Ah, that’s right!”

Realizing I had almost forgotten something important in my excitement, I looked up at the Grand Duke.

“Then can I just lie beside you in the morning and evening? Just those times?”

I pointed to the empty space on the bed where the Grand Duke was sitting.

Since it was obvious he would refuse, I quickly added my reasoning.

“We need rumors to spread that we’re getting along well. That way, when the villains hear those rumors, they’ll become anxious thinking, ‘What if they’ve really fallen in love?’ When they get impatient, won’t they come looking for me faster?”

“…Villains? That’s the first time I’ve heard such a term.”

He let out a scathing laugh, seemingly astounded that I referred to bad people as villains.

“They’re bad guys, so they’re villains. What else should I call them? Anyway, we need to pretend we’re getting along very, very well until such rumors reach their ears.”

“……”

“So I shouldn’t be seen by the servants getting up from the sofa.”

“…So you need to pretend to sleep and wake up in my bed morning and evening?”

“You don’t like it? But couples who get along naturally share the same bedroom, and one of them wouldn’t just sleep on the sofa, right? Hey! Don’t just reject it right away—think about it!”

“……”

“What would happen if people came in and saw me curled up asleep on the sofa, then waking up all disheveled? Everyone would inevitably misunderstand… that we’re not getting along well…”

“What else happened?”

“What?”

At that moment, he sharply questioned me, staring intently.

“What else happened to you?”

The Grand Duke’s expression became so fierce that my heart sank, and I was momentarily speechless.

“…What do you mean, happened to me?”

Ah! Was he referring to what the servants did when they trashed my room?

Realizing this belatedly, I hurriedly shook my head.

The servants merely disliked me but had never harmed the Grand Duke. If anything, they were loyal to him.

Plus, those two maids had just prepared snacks for me.

I didn’t want to cause any misunderstandings.

“I-I’m just speaking hypothetically!”

“……”

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that it’s important to be seen waking up from the same bed.”

Finding his gaze unbearable, I pretended to take out new bandages to avoid his persistent stare.

“…Was the bed such an important issue for you?”

“It’s like the core of the matter.”

“The core… Ha.”

Did he really need to mock me so openly?

“Look, if a married couple doesn’t come out of the same bedroom? That means they’re sleeping separately. Then what could happen during the night? It would prove they’re not doing what married couples should be doing, right?”

“And what should married couples be doing?”

When he asked me back in an incredulous tone, my cheeks involuntarily turned bright red.

Isn’t this right?

I must be crazy. Because I read so many adult novels in my previous life, I thought getting physical was the first step for couples who got along well.

I was hit by a car when I was barely twenty—how would I know without dating experience!

The problem was that in trying to persuade him, I blurted out whatever knowledge I had.

“W-well, I wouldn’t know! But anyway, couples who get along well should appear like they can’t live without each other.”

“And that’s possible when you wake up from the same bed…”

“Y-yes, that’s it!”

“No shared bed.”

“What about just the e-edge here?”

“Even worse.”

Tch, what a fortress he is!

So he wants me to show everyone getting up from the sofa?

“…Fine.”

Hmph, this man tends to wake up early anyway, so after the Grand Duke leaves, I can secretly lie on the bed and pretend to wake up.

If I greet the servants that way, it won’t look much different from actually waking up in bed, hmm.

“Judging by your expression, you’re making another ridiculous plan.”

As I was reaching my own plausible conclusion while wrapping the bandage, his chilly voice suddenly interrupted.

I feigned innocence as I picked up a pin for the bandage.

“No, I’m not?”

“Don’t even think about trying anything foolish.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything!”

“Sure.”

He let out a cold, mocking laugh and silently watched my hands as I inserted the pin.

“You’re putting a lot of emotion into that.”

“I’m just being thorough.”

“The last one was neat, but this one is crooked.”

Oh, come on! Then do it yourself!

“Tilt your head like this. See? It looks straight.”

“Do it again.”

“Yesss.”

I pressed my lips together as I removed the pin.

I should endure for now since he might change his mind and not let me use the bedroom. Right, it’s my fault for having nowhere else to go.

“Do it with a smile.”

What? The stepmothers and witches in fairy tales would be nothing compared to this man. For sure!

This tyrannical human!

“Ha ha. Yes, understood.”

I quickly put on a full smile, then clutched the pin with my trembling fist.

I may be smiling now despite being treated so poorly, but just wait.

I will definitely establish my position and leave this place without looking back.

“Then good night. Sweet dreams.”

After finishing my preparations for bed, I greeted him and carefully took one of the pillows from the bed into my arms. He watched me with his beautiful sapphire-like blue eyes and suddenly smirked.

His face said, “See, I knew it.”

“Ah, this… um… when I laid on the sofa with the cushion last time, my neck felt a bit uncomfortable. I thought it would be nice to have a pillow… is that not okay?”

“Don’t you need something to cover yourself?”

“Come on, I have some conscience. How could I ask for a blanket when I’m barely allowed to sleep on the sofa…”

He stared at me with his lips tightly closed as if finding me ridiculous, but I immediately scurried to the sofa.

Though I felt his cool gaze piercing my back like an arrow, I lay down on the sofa and gently closed my eyes, pretending to sleep.

“……”

I know.

From his perspective, I was just an annoying and suspicious woman, not someone worthy of understanding.

How absurd I must seem, asking to be monitored without even knowing I was the culprit.

But having been treated so coldly since the moment of my transmigration until now, I felt a little sad.

“By the way, Your Highness.”

“What.”

“Do you happen to have any spare blankets?”

I heard a short sigh and the sound of him getting up from the bed. I should have just endured the cold. I shouldn’t have said anything.

But after a while, something thick yet light as a feather and cozy settled over my body.

Wondering what to say, I forced my eyes open and met the gaze of the Grand Duke, who had carelessly dropped the blanket with an indifferent touch.

“…Thank you.”

“You must have lost your conscience along with your memories.”

“Hehe, it’s soft and light. Must be a really nice feather comforter.”

“Just go to sleep.”

“Huh? But if you give this to me, what will you cover yourself with?”

I sat up abruptly, addressing him as he walked steadily back to the bed, ignoring my words.

“…!”

At that moment, my heart sank.

He had casually removed his robe and was looking at me with annoyed eyes.

With his firm torso fully exposed, I didn’t know where to look and stared up at empty space.

If there was one thing I couldn’t get used to, it was this giant man’s statue-like body.

“Sweet dreams!”

I quickly lay down on the sofa and bid him goodnight, and soon all the lights went out.

“……”

Just like yesterday.

When would the message come again?

I stared at the table across from the sofa, thinking about tomorrow.

Now that I would be living in the same bedroom as him, perhaps from tomorrow on, the servants would stop treating me like a ghost and cooperate with me in my duties as grand duchess.

“Hmm…”

While blankly staring at the book on the table, blinking my dry eyes, the letters on the book cover began to wriggle and emit light.

[Congratulations! Ms. Lea Azanie, you’ve succeeded in negotiating!]

Golden letters rose up, almost enveloping my vision.

[You can immediately use the fact of your negotiation with the Grand Duke in the trade for finding the secret of your birth. Would you like to use it?]

And I immediately pressed ‘yes’ as if entranced.