“Before you lost your memory, my lady… you threw many things at me.”

At Jeanne’s answer, I stared at her momentarily speechless.

“It was probably my fault. But there wasn’t a day without bruises. I was in charge of cleaning your bedroom, and you would hit me for supposedly snooping through your things while cleaning. If even a speck of dust was visible, you’d hit me for being lazy.”

Jeanne, who appeared to be around my age or perhaps two or three years older, continued speaking steadily despite the large tears dropping from her eyes.

“I didn’t know what to do. No matter what I did, you would throw anything at my face and body. You often pushed my face down into the water basin. During that time, hatred grew in my heart. I committed a mortal sin, my lady. I knew I shouldn’t have, but when I heard you had lost your memory and wouldn’t say anything no matter what we did to you… I temporarily lost my mind.”

My heart sank.

“Did I really… do that?”

When I asked Medlin who had approached me, she lowered her gaze, unable to answer.

“…If it had been reported to His Highness, I couldn’t have done such a thing. Why didn’t anyone tell him?”

“His Highness was away on campaign for a long time, and Norbert doesn’t know about these matters. Managing the servants is the head maid’s responsibility, and her reports ultimately come to me.”

It seemed Medlin hadn’t been able to inform even Norbert about this.

Now I finally understood why the servants had been avoiding me.

“Please forgive us. Please don’t send us away.”

As Celli knelt down, Jeanne quickly wiped her tears and also dropped to her knees.

“No! It’s all my fault. If you want someone to leave, please send only me away. Celli only joined in because she felt sorry for me always getting hit…”

“I’m sorry.”

I hurriedly grabbed Jeanne’s arm as she knelt.

“I didn’t know. So that’s why you did it. I’m sorry for not knowing anything.”

Jeanne’s hand, which I had hastily grabbed, was extremely rough.

“I just wanted to bring you some snacks. I’m sorry. I never dreamed I could have done such things. I’m truly sorry.”

Just looking at the laundry hung here, I could see how meticulous they were.

Though they might voice complaints, their hands had worked diligently. All the laundry was stretched taut to prevent wrinkles and hung neatly at regular intervals.

“I brought these for you to eat. I remembered how you prepared snacks for me then.”

“……”

“You must have been in so much pain. It’s natural that what I did is unforgivable. I know mere snacks can’t fix this, but…”

Jeanne and Celli trembled as they looked at me.

I released Jeanne’s hand briefly and handed over the small bundle of snacks I had placed on a dish.

“I should have looked for you sooner when you disappeared. I’ve been so busy trying to learn about this place. I can’t ask you to forget your painful memories, but nothing like that will happen again. Really. I’m truly sorry.”

Jeanne and Celli’s shoulders shook violently as they tried to hold back their tears.

“Is doing laundry a punishment?”

“It’s work assigned to newly arrived maids.”

At Medlin’s answer, I felt even more sorry for them and didn’t know what to do.

Whether I had done those things or not, to them I must have seemed like a cunning, hypocritical person pretending to be a good mistress just because I claimed to have lost my memory.

“Let them return to their original duties now.”

“I’ll call the head maid and tell her.”

When Medlin nodded, Jeanne, who had been kneeling and holding back her tears, began to sob openly.

It seemed like all the sorrow she had been suppressing was finally bursting forth.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, my lady.”

“It would be best if you left now.”

The implication was that it would be better to let them cry it out.

I agreed with Medlin and walked out through the maze-like path.

“Did I treat everyone carelessly?”

“No, you didn’t.”

At her immediate response, I asked again.

“Did I hit anyone or throw things?”

“It was because we made mistakes. Please don’t worry too much. It’s my fault for not training the servants better.”

This answer confirmed it. Lea Azanie before my arrival had been abusive to everyone.

As I walked, trying to gather my complicated thoughts, I saw a familiar silhouette moving between the trees along the path.

“…Huh?”

It was the Grand Duke.

This was where laundry was hung—what could he possibly be doing here?

“What are you doing there?”

As I approached, he looked at me indifferently, like someone who hadn’t expected to encounter me here at all.

“Walking.”

“Here?”

This path was a place where servants came and went, densely overgrown with vegetation. Besides trees and abundant laundry, there wasn’t much scenery to enjoy.

The wide grand canal over there seemed more like a proper walking path.

“Did you come here knowing I was here?”

“Ha, not at all.”

“So you’re saying you were really walking here for a stroll?”

“Yes.”

“But this isn’t a walking path.”

He let out a hollow laugh, seemingly dumbfounded.

“Can’t you see there’s clearly a path here?”

“Still, you don’t seem like someone who would stroll in a place like this.”

“You wouldn’t know anything about me.”

“I’m not completely ignorant.”

“You know nothing.”

He replied nonchalantly as he continued walking.

Norbert, who had been standing beside the Grand Duke, greeted me with a slight smile and stepped back as if making room for me.

I know nothing about him? I walked beside him for a while, lost in thought, then spoke.

“What do you like, Your Highness?”

“Nothing.”

“What do you dislike?”

“Everything.”

“Why are you so negative?”

“Because you’re here?”

When I looked at him with displeasure, he scanned me with an arrogant gaze before looking straight ahead.

“I don’t like anything. I forgot such things long ago.”

“Why did you forget?”

“Because they’re too trivial.”

At his answer, I found myself staring at him for a long time.

“Even if they’re trivial, wouldn’t it be good to remember at least a few things that make you happy?”

“Such things aren’t more important than duty.”

His calm voice dispersed with the sound of leaves rustling in the wind.

Important matters…

Though invisible, his seemingly solid shoulders must bear tremendous responsibilities and obligations.

Clearly, not only St. Berte but also people loyal to him and many territory residents depended on those shoulders.

I felt certain that even if bombs exploded and flaming arrows flew beyond this man’s broad shoulders, anyone within his protection would surely remain safe.

He was strangely the kind of person who inspired such infinite trust.

“What do you like?”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm… I didn’t expect you to ask me something like that. I’m usually the one asking such questions, aren’t I?”

When I answered with a bright smile, he seemed displeased and drew a businesslike line.

“There’s no need to assign meaning to the question.”

“I was just happy about it, that’s all.”

“I’m asking because we need to go to Brüpelier.”

“Ah… because we need to appear as a loving couple?”

When we went to the palace in the capital, we needed to appear sufficiently intimate and deeply connected.

The imperial family and Count Azanie would be watching us there in some way.

We needed to present ourselves as a proper couple, different from before.

“Hmm… what I like is…”

Acknowledging the sense in his words, I looked up at the sky for a moment, contemplating things that made me feel good.

“Warm weather…”

“……”

“Cool breezes, nice homes, clean and soft beds. Tender meat and sweet desserts. Golden baby lions, good people.”

“…That’s it?”

“Among those…”

Looking up at the Grand Duke, who seemed to dismiss my words as trivial with his “that’s it?” attitude, I smiled mischievously.

“Especially… Your Highness?”

I smiled like someone whose husband was the only person she could trust in the world.

As expected, he didn’t like my answer and pressed his lips firmly together.

Then he began to examine me carefully.

His gaze, reminiscent of a bluish winter dawn, slowly and thoroughly scanned my smiling face.

Somehow feeling a cool breeze blow through one corner of my heart, I was inwardly startled but tried not to show it.

Just as I was beginning to worry that my upturned lips might start to look awkward, he showed a cynical smile.

“How very convenient.”

“…What?”

“I told you not to play games.”

With an indifferent tone, he dismissed my words as worthless and immediately looked at me with his usual expression—an elegant arrogance without the slightest hint of wavering. His face annoyed me.

Startled, I deliberately ran to his side out of sheer stubbornness and walked alongside him.

“But it’s true!”

“……”

“Really!”

“Let’s say it is.”

“I’m not just saying—it’s true!”

Why can’t he believe what I’m saying?

Every time I discovered his good qualities, my conscience would sting like this, making me determined to become a better grand duchess and find him a good woman.

My growing respect and fondness for him as a person was genuine, yet he showed nothing but unwelcome responses.

“Please tell me what you like too. We should know at least that much about each other before going to the capital. What if someone asks ‘What does the Grand Duke like?’ and our answers don’t match?”

“Carlo.”

“What…?”

“Call me by my name.”

I unconsciously stopped walking…

The distance between us suddenly widened, and I found myself staring blankly at his back.

Looking at the man with his distinctively tall height and build that stood out in crowds, I unconsciously repeated his name: Carlo.

It must be to prepare for when I need to call him in public, but…

“Carlo!”

I called his name with deliberate enthusiasm.

“……”

“So tell me what you like.”

When I quickly regained my composure and closed the distance to walk beside him again, I saw him glance at me with a hollow laugh.

“You adapt quickly.”

“Think about what makes you feel good when you recall it. Don’t just say you’ve forgotten.”

After passing through an area densely lined with trees like walls on both sides, the grand canal of the backyard finally came into view.

Beyond the open vista, a greenhouse was faintly visible, and the river breeze creating refreshing ripples made my dress flutter.

“……”

As I barely managed to catch and arrange my windblown hair, he stared down at me with an intense gaze before finally speaking after a long pause.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing at all?”

“That’s right.”

“Then we should make up something you like, even roughly. A wife would naturally know that much, hmm…”

“Just use whatever catches your eye, then.”

“What?”

He spoke with a tone even more insensitive than his emotionless gaze.

“Use you.”

In a place where the strong wind disturbed everything, only his gaze remained unwavering.

“Let’s use you.”