“…No!”

Everyone in the reception room turned to look at me.

Countess Azanie’s glare was particularly unsettling, like the eyes of a slaughterhouse owner pushing cattle to their doom.

I looked directly into the Grand Duke’s eyes and grabbed his hand.

“I don’t want to go, darling.”

The Grand Duke’s elegant brow immediately furrowed, either because the word “darling” grated on him or because he found my touch unpleasant.

But that word marked me completely as his person.

For the Grand Duke, it showed I had turned my back on them.

And for them, it showed I had taken the Grand Duke’s side!

“You won’t send me away, will you? Right, honey?”

When I made an even more pitiful face while speaking to the Grand Duke, the Azanie mother and daughter gaped in shock.

The Grand Duke’s expression hardened just as much.

“Lea?”

Countess Azanie, realizing the situation wasn’t going according to her plan, quickly intervened.

“You’re not in your right mind. Listen to what your mother says…”

“You hit me.”

“What?”

The Countess looked flustered by my response and anxiously checked the Grand Duke’s reaction.

“Lea, how dare you make such absurd claims!”

“It’s true!”

“Nonsense!”

When I spoke while recalling where I had been struck, the Countess glared at me with a raised voice.

In the original story, Lea Azanie was a daughter who revered the mother-daughter duo’s words as if they were divine will.

She had lived like a puppet, treating the entire family’s words as God’s plan.

The Countess must have been confident things would go her way, but she was mistaken.

I had no reason to follow their wishes now.

“Mother grabbed my hair and pushed me. She kicked my shins while yelling at me.”

“My goodness! How dare you tell such an insolent lie!”

“I can show you!”

When I quickly reached for the hem of my dress to show my reddened thighs and shins, the Grand Duke forcefully stopped my hand.

“What are you doing?”

I noticed the butler and servants had turned their heads away as if they’d seen something inappropriate.

“Can’t I even lift it to my calves?”

“What…”

“Not even a tiny bit?”

One of his eyebrows arched as he looked down at me.

“…A surprising response.”

The Grand Duke looked at me as if I were an alien.

I knew excessive exposure was forbidden in this world, but to prohibit even showing one’s calves…

“Then how can I prove I was beaten?”

His gaze faltered when I asked again, unable to suppress my sense of injustice.

“Would you like to see it privately? I could show you when we’re alone.”

The man’s sapphire-blue eyes stared at me for a long time.

He seemed to be pondering whether I was in my right mind.

An eerie feeling crept in as the silence stretched on.

“……”

As time passed in silence, I began to understand the meaning behind the Grand Duke’s gaze.

He was testing me.

He was staring at me as if he would skewer each of my limbs and torso one by one, testing whether this woman was acting or speaking sincerely.

I belatedly realized this man had no qualms about looking directly into someone’s eyes.

“Yoonchae, avoiding eye contact is like confessing your lie. So when you lie to that lady, look straight into her eyes but relax them. Then you’ll have no trouble maintaining eye contact.”

“Our Yoonchae can do it, right? To help recover the deposit for the old woman who was renting there, you need to pretend to be her granddaughter who knows the law.”

In my previous life, Dad always said you should never avoid the other person’s eyes when lying.

I never thought Dad’s words would help me survive, but yes, now if I avoid that gaze, it’s all over.

I looked into the Grand Duke’s eyes, forcing my downward-drifting gaze to stay fixed.

“Count Carlo, look at me. This child is no longer the good Lea she used to be, understand? Surely you don’t believe such ridiculous lies? What mother in the world would inflict violence on her own daughter?”

Countess Azanie seized the opportunity and quickly interjected.

“Forgive my impertinence, but in my view, Lea is clearly out of her mind right now…!”

“Why… are you making that judgment?”

The air, which had been flowing smoothly, instantly froze at the Grand Duke’s indifferent rebuke.

Despite his leisurely and polite tone, the Countess’s face trembled—clear evidence of the Grand Duke’s power and status.

“Pardon? No, I just…”

The Countess blinked, unable to find an appropriate response.

The man who had been observing me intently finally turned his gaze toward Countess Azanie.

“Did I give you permission for that?”

“Th-that’s not what I meant!”

“Wouldn’t the judgment. Be my responsibility?”

The Grand Duke calmly stroked his chin, cutting off the Countess’s words.

“O-of course, Your Highness. But since you seemed not to believe what I said…”

“That’s only natural.”

He responded coldly with a piercing gaze that emanated k*lling intent.

“I have no need to listen to anyone’s words. Much less any obligation to do so.”

The Countess’s face turned deathly pale at his response, which carried an underlying savage warning.

She seemed to have finally been struck by the realization that she had crossed a line.

I almost dared to hope that this man might have believed me for a moment, but that was my misunderstanding.

His words clearly drew an invisible line not only for the Countess but for me as well.

“…I apologize, Your Highness. In my excitement, I spoke out of turn.”

The Countess quickly collected herself and offered an apology.

Though frustrated, she seemed to have no choice.

Despite being her daughter’s husband, the Grand Duke’s rank was far above her own, and she couldn’t express anger toward him.

“Your Highness.”

Just then, the butler opened the door after knocking and entered.

His expression looked serious, making me wonder if something had happened outside.

“The Grandis Imperial Police Investigation Bureau is here to see the lady.”

The Grandis Imperial Police Investigation Bureau was an agency that investigated major criminal cases threatening the Grandis Empire.

The attack attempting to assassinate the Grand Duke—the empire’s only Grand Duke and a general who had brought victory in war—was considered an attempt to destroy the empire’s defense, and the investigation would be conducted by the Imperial Police Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Defense.

“Therefore, we need to question the witness regarding the attack on St. Berte Castle.”

A man in a purple uniform, who introduced himself as Commissioner Marcel, spoke in a respectful tone.

He personally handed a summons to the Grand Duke, which he received from his subordinate.

I caught a glimpse of Lea’s name written at the end of the document.

“Are you saying you need to take Lea away?”

Countess Azanie asked with a confused expression, seemingly unable to gauge whether this development would benefit or harm them.

Commissioner Marcel nodded with a dignified expression.

“Of course, madam. An attempt to assassinate His Highness the Grand Duke clearly shows intent to overthrow the Grandis Empire. We must identify the culprit. Therefore, questioning the grand duchess, the first witness, is a necessary step.”

With an unreadable, expressionless face, Commissioner Marcel looked at me, Countess Azanie, and Lily in turn.

His suspicious gaze revealed his determination to root out the culprit, and I sensed from his subtly hostile look that he considered me to be at the center of the incident.

An investigation…?

My heart was already pounding and cold sweat broke out at the thought of being taken away.

Once the investigation began, it would become clear that I was the culprit. Evidence would surely be discovered while I was being detained. After all, there’s no such thing as a crime without evidence, right?

My eyelids drooped with anxiety, but it seemed only the Azanie mother and daughter and I were tense in this situation.

“Of course, that’s necessary.”

The young Grand Duke Hedegen merely nodded as he casually skimmed through the document with a nonchalant attitude.

The tip of his chin even waggled pleasantly, like someone who had discovered something interesting.

The Grand Duke smiled faintly and elegantly dropped the document on the table.

[An attempt to assassinate Carlo Albrecht Wilhelm von Hedegen shall be considered an act of treason against the Grandis Empire.]

[Lea d’Orleang von Hedegen, the first witness, is suspected as a prime suspect and must undergo a thorough investigation.]

Ha, I’m going to be handcuffed—no, bound—and dragged away.

“With Your Highness’s permission, we will escort the grand duchess immediately.”

Commissioner Marcel spoke confidently, as if certain he would receive approval.

The Grand Duke, watching Commissioner Marcel with calm eyes, leaned deeply into his chair and twisted his head to look at me.

What could that man be thinking?

Is he thinking, “How convenient that a way has appeared to get rid of this cumbersome murderess claiming memory loss”?

“Would you please stand, Your Highness?”

As Commissioner Marcel addressed me and signaled to his subordinates, the men surrounded me.

Having just woken up, been beaten like that, and now about to be taken away—what kind of transmigration is this…?

As I stood up trembling, the Grand Duke spoke indifferently.

“But we have a problem.”