His clear eyes beneath the wet hair were cold.

“Um… shall we do your treatment?”

As I quickly brought over the medical box, he dropped the towel into the basket and headed toward the bed.

“It’s fine.”

“I can pin the bandages neatly too! I can do it with my eyes closed now.”

“I said I don’t need it.”

“What if you get a fever again?”

“……”

The Grand Duke turned to look at me trailing after him, and seeming to know that further argument would be pointless, he started to say something but then stopped and sat on the bed.

“You’ve lost your fear along with hitting your head.”

“Last time it was conscience, now it’s fear?”

As I approached him, the fresh scent of his recent bath wafted toward me.

His hair, usually neatly swept back, now partially covered his forehead, making him look much younger than usual.

I hesitated with the tweezers in my hand before sitting in front of him.

“I am scared, but this is the only thing I can do, so I’m being brave.”

“……”

“…I know you’re being very lenient with me despite finding me vexing.”

Thankfully the branch managers and their spouses were staying in the annex; otherwise, the Grand Duke might have already thrown me out in exasperation at my shameless behavior.

The Grand Duke neither promised not to cast me out nor gave any response at all.

Well, if I were him, I would probably be the same way.

The best way to repay his kindness would be to quickly accept the alimony and leave his side.

Since I had already resolved to be a good grand duchess, if I lived diligently to earn Redemption Coins…

Maybe people would open their hearts one by one and give me 10 or 20 coins each, sigh.

Clink, one penny; clink, two pennies…

Yes, that way I might somehow collect 500 coins and be able to view the past.

The problem was that Lea seemed to have committed quite a few wrongs.

What and how much had she done wrong that none of the people I’d met so far had opened their hearts to me? It was telling that Brianna was the first to do so.

Ugh, why do I have to pay for the karma of wrongs I didn’t even commit?

With my lips tightly shut to contain my bubbling sense of injustice, I dabbed alcohol on the gauze.

I examined the wound on his thigh muscle with a mix of apologetic feelings for having to be so shameless for a while longer, and cautious concern.

“That’s good. You heal extremely fast.”

When I spoke while disinfecting the area that seemed to have healed considerably, he looked down at me indifferently.

His eyes were calm with thought, so I didn’t say anything more and continued the treatment.

“Your hand.”

“My hand?”

“…Who treated it?”

Ah… he seemed to remember that I had injured my hand.

Was it so difficult to ask how my hand was doing?

I glanced at my fingertips with their bandages and looked up at him.

“Medlin did it for me.”

When Medlin saw the bandage the Grand Duke had wrapped, she clicked her tongue and asked if His Highness had done this. Then she unwrapped the bandage, disinfected between my nails, and wrapped it neatly again.

“She wrapped it again after I washed earlier. She did a pretty job, didn’t she?”

“……”

“I’ve noticed something while living here. Everyone seems kind and good.”

“You think the people here are good…”

“Yes.”

The Grand Duke, who had been staring at me, suddenly gave a cold, scoffing laugh.

“Even though they trashed your room and tried to torment you.”

“That’s because they all love Your Highness so much, and they thought I betrayed you. I don’t think they’re really like that.”

“……”

“I was a bit resentful at first, but after learning about the attack, I understood. They’re loyal to Your Highness.”

Compared to when they left curses or treated me like I didn’t exist, I was receiving tremendous treatment now.

Though not exactly warm, everyone was at least willing to listen to what I had to say.

Considering that the original Lea in the novel had tried to kill him, it was something that the servants treated me even this well.

Even if my soul had completely changed, the fact that they accepted my changed behavior as genuine was proof they were quite decent people.

So I would work hard until I could move their hearts.

It wasn’t just for the coins, but because I didn’t want to be remembered as a bad person by good people.

“All done!”

When I looked at him with a bright smile, the Grand Duke, who had been watching me with his lips firmly closed, looked down at the bandage I had wrapped.

How to put it? It seemed like he just avoided my eyes, but was that my imagination?

“I did well this time, right?”

“Not at all.”

“It’s much better than last time!”

“Go to sleep.”

He spoke curtly and nodded toward the sofa.

He was so cold; he clearly had a knack for being harsh.

He never spoke at length, and his gestures were minimal. It seemed entirely appropriate to define “cold-hearted” as “referring to the Grand Duke Hedegen.”

“Yes, sleep well.”

After bidding him goodnight, I gently pulled one of the pillows placed side by side on the bed.

Fortunately, although he watched my actions with his eyes, he said nothing.

“I’m going to sleep now?”

“It would have been better if you’d gone without saying anything.”

After giving him a bright smile, I turned toward the sofa.

The sofa where I slept every night was clearly expensive and elegant, but it was too inadequate to use as a bed.

I fluffed the pillow repeatedly and propped it against the armrest. Then I sat on the sofa and craned my neck toward his bed.

“I was just wondering… by any chance…”

“Don’t.”

“Have you considered adding another bed?”

The Grand Duke, who had been reading a book, paused and raised his head.

Even from this distance, his gaze sent chills down my spine… Being a Grand Duke was clearly not for just anyone.

“No.”

His tone was as cold as if asking whether I had neither fear nor conscience.

“…I mean, with two beds, you could roll around more freely and sleep more comfortably…”

“I don’t tend to roll around.”

“Ah, I see.”

As I nodded in agreement, he frowned and stared at me intently.

Thinking it would be better to sleep at this point, I quickly lay down on the sofa.

“Good night.”

“Whatever.”

Lying on the not-so-soft sofa, I stared blankly at the ceiling.

I couldn’t sleep like this. I would need to find another solution.

Carlo stared at the bedroom wrapped in silence, unable to fall asleep.

The sound of gentle breathing could be faintly heard.

The grand duchess, who had been chattering like a lark, seemed to have already fallen asleep. She was a woman who fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

He got up and approached the window.

In the distance, he saw Randolph taking a walk in the garden near the annex.

Passing by the sofa where the woman slept and crossing the carpet, he left the bedroom and headed toward the annex garden where Randolph was slowly walking.

So he was… thinking about why he couldn’t do anything about that grand duchess.

She was a woman he had never cared about enough to mind if she died somewhere.

“You’re still awake, Your Highness.”

Seeing Carlo, Randolph looked quite surprised before regaining his usual smile and greeting him.

“And why are you not sleeping?”

“Mariette is chatting with the other ladies. It would be troublesome if I fell asleep first, so I came out to ward off drowsiness.”

“You could just fall asleep first.”

“As I’ve grown older, I’ve found that lying side by side, talking until we fall asleep is the happiest time of the day.”

Randolph answered discreetly and looked up at the night sky.

The Milky Way, like snowflakes, was embroidered across the dark blue night sky.

“I suppose you ended the hunt early today because of the grand duchess?”

“Hardly.”

In response to the Grand Duke’s curt reply, Randolph smiled and said, “I see,” recalling the morning’s hunt.

‘There’s nothing to hunt.’

Randolph, who had arrived at the forest with an excited heart early in the morning, looked at the Grand Duke, wondering what he meant.

‘Pardon?’

‘I said there’s nothing worth hunting.’

‘But… there’s one right there.’

‘Where.’

‘There…’

‘Where exactly.’

‘Right over there…’

Unable to bear watching the conversation between the Grand Duke and Randolph, Adley cut in and pointed beyond the forest trees.

‘No, it’s right there!’

Bang!

After immediately hitting the target, the Grand Duke looked down at Adley.

‘Do you see any more?’

‘Yes… there’s one over there…’

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As he continued to hit every target they pointed out, everyone could only stare at the Grand Duke, at a loss for words.

His eyes were indifferent, but somehow seemed tinged with irritation.

By not giving them any chance and unilaterally ending the hunt, everyone had no choice but to speak up first.

‘Um, Your Highness. Perhaps we should… end here.’

When Adley cautiously suggested this, the Grand Duke walked out indifferently and handed his gun to the weapons manager.

‘If that’s what you want.’

After recalling the morning’s events, Randolph turned his head toward Carlo, who was staring at the forest landscape.

“Mariette seems to like the grand duchess very much. She says she’s a very pure and wise person.”

“That’s excessive praise.”

“Not at all. That’s my impression too, from what I’ve seen yesterday and today. So much so that I think it would have been better to meet and judge her directly, much earlier.”

Randolph recalled the grand duchess smiling brightly at Carlo.

“I noticed there were some reporters in Mertid Square earlier, so articles about how well you two are getting along will start appearing soon. Public opinion was indeed serious, but it will gradually change from now on.”

“……”

“By the way, did you know that the grand duchess didn’t buy anything at Mertid Square earlier?”

“……”

Carlo, who had only heard that the grand duchess had gone shopping with the ladies and had no way of knowing whether she had purchased anything, met Randolph’s eyes.

“The other ladies shopped a lot, but the grand duchess didn’t. It’s a time when she should want many things.”

“……”

“Do you know why?”

Considering the grand duchess’s young age, as Randolph said, it was indeed a time when she would want to buy various things. Even if he didn’t know much about women, he knew that much.

Carlo maintained his silence and turned his gaze away.

He had felt something different about the grand duchess mingling with the ladies at Mertid Square earlier, and now he seemed to understand why.

She was dressed much more simply, in other words, a bit less adorned compared to the other noble ladies.

Randolph added a few more observations about the grand duchess he had seen and took another step.

“I’m concerned that she might be self-conscious due to the negative public attention. She tries very hard to appear cheerful.”

At some point, I felt bright light coloring my eyelids.

Opening my drowsy eyes and staring blankly at the ceiling, I realized it was morning from the bright sunlight coming through the window.

“Gasp!“

Jumping up from the sofa, I put my ear to the door leading to the corridor and heard what sounded like Medlin and other maids walking.

I quickly grabbed the pillow and blanket and staggered toward the bed.

Huh? When did I bring a blanket?

Before resolving this question, I threw the blanket and pillow onto the bed and crawled under the covers.

“Honestly, he could have at least woken me up. Such a jerk! If he had woken me, I wouldn’t have to rush like this. But with that knife-like personality, of course he wouldn’t…”

“Is this what you do whenever I’m not around?”

“Eek!”

Just as I poked my head out from under the covers, the Grand Duke’s low voice resonated.

“Your cursing sounds quite natural.”