Lie…?

I looked at Brianna, who glanced up at me with wide eyes, startled by the message.

Even I could tell that Brianna was being cautious and watching our reactions whenever we spoke to her.

And her attitude showed she was more conscious of me than the Grand Duke.

I had sensed she couldn’t quite meet my eyes and kept avoiding them…

I suddenly recalled Brianna’s hand clutching my collar.

Among Brianna’s words, there was a lie told for my sake.

It said she had told a lie for me.

Could it be about that gentleman?

[Congratulations! You’ve come one step closer to the secret of your birth!]

[Achieve ‘500 Redemption Coins’!]

[Upon reaching the goal, you can exchange them for 1 Past Viewing Ticket containing the secret of your birth.]

[475 more needed to reach 500 Redemption Coins. Keep up the good work!]

What?

I rubbed my eyes at the numbers 500 and the Past Viewing Ticket for the birth secret floating in the book.

Not 50, but 500?

How many people would I need to meet to collect that many coins?

Besides the problem of having so many coins left to gather, the word “redemption” attached to them was even more perplexing.

So did this mean I had to take actions worthy of redemption to earn these coins?

[Visit Mertid Square in one month to meet Brianna again.]

The message disappeared indifferently, as if ignoring my questions.

I took a deep breath, trying to straighten out my confused thoughts.

Yes, now wasn’t the time to be lost in thought.

Besides the coins, I needed to come back here in a month to meet Brianna again and find out what lie the child had told for me.

I couldn’t ask the child right now, given the situation.

If what Brianna had done was truly a “lie for me,” there was a high probability it was something the Grand Duke or the guards outside shouldn’t hear.

“Here, Brianna.”

I composed myself, conscious of the Grand Duke and Brianna beside me, and handed her the book first.

Brianna looked up at me as she carefully took the book.

Her eyes, sparkling like the morning star, were genuinely filled with gratitude.

“Thanks to you, I’ve gained some good energy too.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

Because this child felt grateful, I had earned my first Redemption Coin.

Those coins could be exchanged for a Past Viewing Ticket, and seeing the past would obviously be a great help in uncovering the secret of my birth.

However, “redemption” is typically a word used when a person who has done wrong starts to correct their life, so it seemed to mean that I, having transmigrated into Lea’s body, needed to make amends for the wrongs the original Lea had committed.

Whew, from now on I absolutely have to collect 500 Redemption Coins.

“You’re giving me this?”

Just as I was firmly resolving this, Brianna’s surprised voice reached my ears.

The startled Brianna was looking up at the Grand Duke with her head raised high.

“Take it.”

“But…”

“I should pay for the flowers.”

The Grand Duke bent down, briefly glanced at the book Brianna was holding in one hand, then opened the child’s small hand and placed a gold coin in it.

“Which subject do you like best?”

“I like basic geometry. But algebra is very difficult.”

“I think I disliked math too.”

When I slipped in with my answer, the Grand Duke looked at me with a frown and a scoffing laugh.

Well, adults can’t be expected to like every subject, right?

“Since you’ve gone through the trouble of coming here, that adult wearing the silver-tasseled jacket will take you home. Is that okay?”

The Grand Duke pointed to a guard.

“Yes. Thank you, Grand Duke.”

Brianna nodded and tightly clutched the gold coin and basket.

My small accessory sparkled in the child’s hair.

“You may go now.”

At his permission, a guard approached and took Brianna away.

Due to the museum’s size, it was only after a while that I could see the child leaving the building and boarding a carriage through the window.

Before getting into the carriage, Brianna looked back at the building, and for a brief moment, a trace of anxiety and unease seemed to cross her face.

“You’re having her taken home by carriage?”

As I turned to ask the Grand Duke, I noticed him looking down at me intently with an expressionless face.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

His gaze somehow seemed indifferent, and displeased…

How to put it? I couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but it was hardly a kind look.

Ah, I get it.

“I’ll pay you back.”

“…What.”

“The gold coin you gave Brianna. I asked to buy all the flowers, remember? Thank you, Your Highness.”

Come to think of it, aren’t the accessories I brought when I married into this family mine? I wasn’t sure about that pearl hairpin, though.

If they were mine to dispose of, I could sell them and pay him back later.

“You think that’s the issue right now?”

“Isn’t it?”

He looked down at me as if I were completely missing the point.

Then what’s the problem?

“Ah! Don’t tell me you think I’ve been having an affair?”

“……”

“With that gentleman?”

“Sir…”

“I don’t know him at all!”

“Adding respectful terms to someone you claim not to know. How polite of you.”

A chill ran down my spine at his scathing remark.

Yes, the Grand Duke’s reaction made sense.

He believed I couldn’t have attacked his castle alone and must have had accomplices.

And now if there existed a “gentleman” sending messages to rescue me…?

Perhaps the Grand Duke now thought I was having an affair with this so-called gentleman and had plotted to kill him. Yes, it was certainly reasonable for him to think that way.

“No, that gentleman—I mean, that man! Whoever he is, I truly don’t know! Right? I have amnesia!”

“How convenient to have such a good excuse.”

“But it’s true! I’m really being wronged here!”

“Should I listen?”

His response was so cold it could make even a crying child stop tears out of fear.

My heart sank so suddenly that I was at a loss for words.

“You… you’re not imagining such nonsense, are you? Logically, having an affair makes no sense.”

“I don’t care.”

Cold air seemed to emanate from him as he turned away indifferently.

After swallowing hard, I scurried to his side.

“Of… of course you don’t care, but there’s no way I could have done such a thing.”

“I said it doesn’t matter.”

“Think about it.”

“No.”

“No, even if you don’t want to, think about it. Leaving someone like Your Highness for another man?”

I unconsciously grabbed his collar and clung to him as he walked away, ignoring my words with his large strides.

A sinister aura hung gloomily in his half-lowered eyes, dark as the night sea, as he looked down at me.

“……”

If the grim reaper existed, wouldn’t he have eyes like these?

Besides, what if the original Lea in the novel really did have an affair?

The strength gradually left my hand gripping his collar.

However, there was no time to think about what kind of acts Lea had committed.

Looking at the man walking ahead again, I closed my eyes tightly, then opened them and gathered my courage.

“That’s unimaginable. Your Highness must be a hundred times more handsome and a thousand times more attractive, right?”

“……”

“I have eyes too, you know. I wouldn’t have been foolish enough to fall for someone inferior to my husband.”

“……”

“Everyone said it earlier. That the Grand Duke Hedegen is the most handsome man in the Empire. To leave such a husband for someone else…”

My words were cut off as he suddenly stopped walking.

I nearly bumped my nose into his back, so I quickly covered my face and stepped back.

After staring into space for a moment, as if lost in thought, he finally turned to look at me.

“I don’t care what you did.”

“……”

“Stop being noisy.”

His voice, lowered to a point that made my body tremble, was fierce.

He turned his back on me indifferently and flung open the door.

As we left the spacious museum director’s office and passed through the secretary’s office and waiting room, the Grand Duke didn’t look back at me even once.

Yes, his reaction was understandable…

If I were him, I would be angry too.

He must be convinced that his wife was responsible for the attack on him, and then that same wife receives a message saying someone is coming to rescue her.

It was absurd, vexing, and his suppressed hatred might explode like a time bomb at any moment.

Walking while staring blankly at his back with the cold wind blowing, I carefully spoke up.

“I’m sorry…”

His steps halted as soon as my words ended.

“…I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“……”

“I’m sorry you had to see that letter too.”

I had almost given him the rose containing the letter telling me not to trust the Grand Duke, but changed my mind and placed it among Brianna’s flowers before taking it back.

Watching me, his jaw clenched momentarily before his face returned to its expressionless state.

“Don’t apologize.”

“But still…”

“You said you have no memory. Are you apologizing for something you didn’t do?”

“……”

“Or did you really do it?”

“No!”

The truth is, I don’t know either.

There was no mention of an affair when Lea was described in the original work, but if it didn’t significantly impact the protagonists’ story, it might have been omitted from the novel.

I opened my mouth while slightly avoiding his cold gaze.

“…I’ll stay quiet until your anger subsides.”

“……”

“I’ll walk far away from you.”

I can read the room.

In this situation, the best strategy was to keep my distance to avoid irritating him further.

His gaze, which had been quietly scanning the widened gap between us, suddenly turned fierce as if displeased.