When the apothecary owner raised his head to check the customer’s face, his expression immediately changed to one of welcome spreading across his entire face.

“Welcome, Your Highness the Grand Duke!”

What? The Grand Duke?

My entire body froze like a statue in shock.

Odin was equally startled, enough to hiccup. He gaped with his mouth wide open, his face asking why the Grand Duke had arrived so early when the hunt should still be in full swing.

Only after dropping the flower I had received earlier did my senses snap back.

I needed to turn around, but my limbs refused to obey, so I squeezed my eyes shut.

After putting on a tearful show to finally get permission to go out, I’d been caught doing something else—now I would have nothing to say even if he decided to lock me away somewhere.

“……”

The sound of approaching footsteps seemed as terrifying as the grim reaper coming to take me.

Soon I felt a presence directly behind me.

A cold, menacing presence.

“Oh my. This is an honor for our establishment, Your Highness. Is there something you’re looking for?”

Unlike me, who felt like crying, the old man rushed forward with a face full of excitement, as if he had caught an unprecedented stroke of luck.

With a face close to whimpering, I hesitantly turned around.

Icy blue eyes were looking down at me coldly.

“Didn’t I say there would be no wandering around alone?”

“Well…”

The Grand Duke, seemingly uninterested in hearing my explanation, cut me off and nodded toward the envelope on the counter.

“What did you come to buy?”

“What?”

Just as I instinctively reached for the envelope, the Grand Duke’s hand grabbed my waist.

“I didn’t tell you to move.”

My heart sank as I was suddenly pulled close to his body.

With my hair standing on end, I looked up at him as he exuded a murderous aura, gripping my waist tightly to prevent me from moving an inch.

“Stay still.”

Bending his head so close that it nearly touched my hair, he whispered in a chillingly calm tone.

“I’ll decide who to kill first after hearing your answer.”

“……”

“If you don’t care who dies first, feel free to say whatever you want.”

After that frightening whisper, the Grand Duke met my eyes.

If I said the wrong thing, innocent people might really get hurt as he threatened. Killing anyone in sight… it didn’t sound like a joke at all.

“What are you trying to do this time?”

Looking at his eyes brimming with madness, as if on the verge of explosion, I realized the Grand Duke misunderstood that I had secretly come to buy medicine.

Perhaps he suspected I was seeking another drug, like when I had mixed a powerful poison and sleeping drug in his tea.

After staring at me as if he would devour me, he looked down at the apothecary owner.

“Explain.”

The old man looked back and forth between me and the Grand Duke with a surprised face, then quickly returned to the counter and picked up the envelope.

“Ah, are you telling me to wait?”

“No! If you would just give me a moment to check…!”

The apothecary owner quickly pulled out a black wooden board from under the counter and poured some of the powder onto it.

His hand trembled like an aspen leaf as he examined the powder with a magnifying glass.

Because of me, an innocent person was about to face his threats.

If the Grand Duke caused trouble here due to a misunderstanding, it would be welcome news to the Azanie comital family, who were watching with bloodshot eyes for any chance to catch him making a mistake.

Squeezing out courage I didn’t have, I tugged at his collar.

“Please… listen to me…”

“Listen to you?”

The Grand Duke cut me off immediately, and a murderous gleam shone in his eyes as he glared at me quietly.

Ack! His hand gripping my waist tightened even more.

As I swallowed my silent pain, the Grand Duke, who kept his eyes fixed on me, spoke again.

“I told him to say what kind of medicine it is. I don’t recall telling him to waste time.”

“But I, I don’t know what this powder is, Your Highness! To explain, I absolutely need to verify it…!”

“Verify…”

The Grand Duke’s gaze faltered at the apothecary owner’s answer.

Then he quickly turned to the owner.

“What do you mean?”

The apothecary owner, even more tense at the Grand Duke’s reaction, added in a diminishing voice once more.

“This lady just now asked me to identify this powder. She didn’t come to buy our products.”

The Grand Duke looked at me again upon hearing that I hadn’t come to buy medicine but to find out what the powder was.

“…It’s true, Your Highness.”

As soon as the man finished speaking, the Grand Duke’s grip on my waist, which had been crushing me, loosened.

Ugh. It hurt so much I wondered if something had broken, but since I was holding Odin and couldn’t take off my dress to check in the apothecary, I barely managed to stand upright.

His murderous gaze softened as he seemed to examine me carefully.

“I didn’t intend to deceive you.”

“Tsk tsk, that temper of his…”

Only then did Odin, who had been curled up in my arms, sigh and gently close his eyes.

After examining the powder for a while, the apothecary owner eventually declared that no one in the world could accurately identify what a white powder was just by looking at it.

He explained that the only way to determine what the powder was would be through multiple experiments to check which components reacted, and this powder, visibly a mixture of several medicines, would take quite some time to identify.

The Grand Duke instructed him to contact us when the results were available, then took me out of the apothecary.

“……”

After leaving the apothecary and walking silently for a while, the Grand Duke suddenly stopped and looked down at me.

A shadow fell over his deep blue eyes, filled with thoughts.

With my mind blank about how to explain, I looked up at his eyes while clutching the flower I had picked up again before leaving and holding Odin tightly.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise…”

“Your body.”

“What?”

“…How is your body.”

Huh? I looked at him, wondering what this sudden talk about my body was about, when I belatedly realized he was asking if I was injured.

So he does feel a bit sorry for grabbing me like a piece of taffy?

Actually, I hadn’t dared mention it earlier, but I had been terrified about what might happen to my spine.

Though he seemed to have controlled his strength somewhat, it was obvious that if he had applied full force, my bones would have been crushed.

His grip was so strong…

I stared up at him and took a step closer.

“Why? Are you worried?”

“……”

“You are worried, aren’t you?”

“Not at all.”

Come on… His face already showed subtle concern.

Though his expression remained blank as he looked at me, the fact that he bothered to ask about my condition seemed like proof that he wasn’t entirely a bad person.

At least he was much better than the Azanie mother and daughter who had trampled and beaten me with their boots.

“I see you brought that lion cub with you after all.”

“He’s still a baby, so I can’t leave him alone.”

Whether or not an awkward air flowed between the Grand Duke and me, Odin was fast asleep, his eyes closed, instinctively pleased by the warm sunlight.

Being such a small cub, he seemed overwhelmed with sleepiness.

Unlike me, with my waist still smarting from being grabbed, Odin looked peaceful. I gripped the rose that had nearly fallen and looked at the Grand Duke.

“I’m fine. Nothing’s broken.”

“Have Medlin check when we return.”

“I’m really fine.”

“Shall I do it?”

His sharp response made me blink, momentarily at a loss for words.

His irritation was palpable, as if he detested even the lingering discomfort.

“No. I’ll ask Medlin.”

After I nodded and answered, the Grand Duke, who had been staring down at me, firmly closed his mouth and walked ahead again.

Sharp like a knife, yet somewhat tsundere… What a confusing person.

As I scurried along, looking up at his tall figure, his voice came from above.

“Walk beside me.”

“But your stride is so long, it’s hard to keep up?”

“Good grief.”

The Grand Duke frowned and turned to look at me.

His gaze suggested he found me beyond exasperating.

“If you match your pace to mine and walk slowly, I could walk alongside you.”

“All talk.”

“Will you do that for me?”

“…I’m already waiting.”

“……”

Despite his indifferent reply, he slowed his pace.

When I quickly approached and stood beside him, he finally began to take one step at a time.

As people who spotted the Grand Duke stopped in their tracks or turned around, passersby began to notice us one by one.

“Didn’t your statement that you wouldn’t mind being monitored all day mean you wouldn’t hide anything?”

He glanced at me walking beside him and asked.

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

“Then why did you think to go secretly?”

Well, that’s…

Avoiding his gaze, I glanced at the innocent benches along the road before carefully opening my mouth.

“…I found an envelope containing powder in my bedroom.”

“I thought you said you would tell me if you learned anything.”

“Of course I did, but…”

Hesitating, I stroked the sleeping Odin’s head and sighed deeply.

“Tell me.”

“……”

“I need to hear this.”

As he stopped walking and stood watching me, as if determined to hear what I had to say, I reluctantly opened my mouth.

“I’m afraid it might be evidence proving I really am the culprit.”