While heading towards the dining room, I realized that I had thought complacently, casually brushing off the dust from my dress.
 
Although I had made up my mind to poke Diart, I couldn’t figure out how to do it. It was understandable since, after graduating from elementary school, and taking the unfortunate route of middle school, high school, and women’s college, my experience with men had been limited to idols I could only meet online.
 
I felt the trembling shoulders of the maids who were following me as I sighed, but I didn’t have the luxury to pay attention to that. I called Lily, who was behind me.
 
“Lily, just a moment.”
 
“Yes, madam.”
 
With a tense expression, I hesitated for a moment and whispered quietly to Lily, who was standing beside me.
 
“How did I behave towards that bas, no, Diart?”
 
“…Yes?”
 
Lily blinked with a confused look, as if she didn’t understand what I was saying. I poked her arm lightly and insisted on an answer.
 
“I’m asking how I treated that annoying, I mean, Diart.”
 
“Well, um…”
 
Lily’s face turned pale at the difficult question. I understand that it’s hard for her to speak honestly.
 
But the book doesn’t describe how Roeni’s stalking happened, or how persistently she pursued Diart. I want to look at it from Roeni’s perspective, just like in a romance novel.
 
I had no expectations that Diart Wheaton would undo my curse. According to the data I’ve gathered as a novel reader, the divorce process with Diart would take longer than I thought.
 
‘After all, for a noble divorce, you need the emperor’s permission, right?’
 
Diart was not someone who inherited his title from his father. He obtained the position of duke solely with his own power at a young age.
 
He had gained tremendous trust from the emperor and possessed influential power, owning the largest territory in the empire. So much so that later on, he would bring down a country over a woman.
 
Of course, he is still someone who even the emperor cannot easily touch, but at this time, he hasn’t been completely under the spell of the heroine yet, so he was a loyal noble. If the emperor, who had to consider the opinions of other nobles, wanted to follow the proper procedures, he would obediently comply.
 
‘Besides, it’s not just about getting the emperor’s permission.’
 
Beyond the emperor, he needed the approval of the high priests at the temple, and only then could he submit divorce papers at the courthouse.
 
In short, the process was so complex that even if I were to hand divorce papers to Diart right away, it didn’t seem likely that the divorce would happen within the three months when the imperial ball was held.
 
‘The curse manifests after ten days.’
 
According to the book, after a grace period of ten days, the curse would begin to manifest slowly and the pain would intensify over time, although one wouldn’t die. It was written that intermittent pain would occur, and the suffering would worsen as time went on.
 
The only way to alleviate the pain was through contact with the opposite s*x, but in my current position as a married woman, there was only one decent man to consider. So, somehow, I had to get involved with him in order to survive.
 
Three months. Just three months, let’s act crazy like Roeni. Until Diart meets Adelia, I had to stick to him, pretending to be insane, and explore if there were any alternative plans. It seemed to be the best course of action I could think of right now.
 
I felt deeply resentful as I recalled Diart’s contemptuous expression from last night.
 
Perhaps because my face looked fierce, Lily flinched and stepped back. She quickly opened her mouth, but no words came out, her lips only trembled.
 
While I stared at her open mouth, I suddenly found myself in front of the dining room.
 
“Open the door.”
 
Lily quickly stepped forward and opened the door with a shocked expression on her face.
 
As I took a step into the dining room, I held back my admiration. I knew the mansion was grand, but I didn’t expect the dining room to be so splendid.
 
Expensive-looking frames were hung all around, and on one side, there was a fireplace crackling with burning logs. The dome-shaped ceiling, painted in golden hues, was intricately carved, and a luxurious chandelier hanging long in the center illuminated the table.
 
Yes, the reason for my admiration was precisely that table.
 
‘What’s… this?’
 
Despite my arrival, I quietly passed by Diart, who was eating without even giving me a glance, and took a seat.
 
The distance between me and Diart was more bewildering than the two sculptures placed in front of me. It wasn’t just the mental distance I felt toward him, but a real physical distance.
 
The table we sat at was long enough to accommodate several people. And because of the dim lighting, I couldn’t even see his face.
 
I glared at him as I picked up an oyster that wouldn’t come off my fork and took a long drink. I don’t know why we need this ridiculously long dining table when we’re the only two people in this mansion.
 
I tried to pretend to be crazy like Roeni, but at this rate, I can’t even lay a finger on him, not even accidentally.
 
‘Shall we start with some light conversation?’
 
As soon as I cleared my petrification, I pondered on what topic to bring up. The book only mentioned that Roeni bored him with her incessant babbling, so I wracked my brain to come up with things she might have said.
 
“Your face is glowing again today, Duke.”
 
I was ignored.
 
“I heard you were practicing swordsmanship at the training ground earlier. Did you get hurt anywhere?”
 
Ignored again.
 
“The food tastes particularly good today. It must be because I’m with the Duke, right?”
 
Even after that, I continued to make efforts to match his mood and smiled, but Diart didn’t even look at me. If it hadn’t been for the grilled quail that Lily greased to make it easier to eat, I might have thrown the fork in frustration.
 
Diart put down the cutlery as if he had finished eating and tipped his glass of water. As much as he would like to rush out and leave right away, I felt like he had no choice but to sit down because of the family rule that everyone had to stay in their seats until everyone had finished eating.
 
I chewed the quail, thinking of the person sitting in front of me.
 
Then I suddenly noticed the stone shell left behind by Lily. I swallowed the meat in my mouth and opened my mouth.
 
“Duke, do you like oysters? I really like them.”
 
Unsurprisingly, there was no answer. Undeterred, I continued.
 
“Duke, I love your face!”¹sorry, i can’t translate the joke/wordplay well. The word for face is 얼굴 and in this sentence, the author said 얼’굴’ in which ’굴’ means oysters
 
“……”
 
At the idol fan cafe, I proudly raised my experience level by chatting tirelessly. It was the first time that Diart’s gaze fell on me. Of course, his expression was so cold that I could feel it even from a distance. It seemed like his forehead had narrowed disapprovingly.
 
“I sometimes the Duke is so perfect…. A perfect wall!”²there’s another wordplay here. In the second part of the sentence, the author said 완벽 which means perfect, while 벽 means wall
 
“……”
 
“Duke, do you believe in God? I do. …Right, you!”³again, another wordplay. ‘You’ in Korean can be written as 당신, while ‘신’ translates to god/diety
 
As soon as I finished speaking, Diart stood up from his seat frighteningly. Excited at the thought of his reaction, I suddenly closed my mouth. I couldn’t help but realize that his eyes, which were looking at me, carried a hint of contempt.
 
“I can’t listen to this.”
 
Coldly scolding, Diart left the dining room without turning back. I almost raised my middle finger as he was heading towards the door.
 
‘Did you hate listening to me so much that you even broke the family customs?’
 
This stuff works on my brothers, so it’s a hundred percent effective, right? He left so quickly! He’s so arrogant but he didn’t even have a sense of humor.
 
I clicked my tongue and flicked the empty plate with my fork. Then Lily quickly served me some well-cooked meat.
 
“Why is this dining table so stupidly long?”
 
I asked nonchalantly while enjoying my meal without a care in the world. Then everyone, including Lily, who was busy spreading butter on a piece of bread, froze their expressions.
 
And from their awkward expressions, I read a collective outcry saying, ‘Did you really have to ask that?’
 
I turned my head toward Lily. Chewing hard on her lower lip, she slowly opened her mouth at my silent urging.
 
“Um, last time, Madam… You know what happened, right?”
 
What’s that? Impatient, I drummed my fingers on the table as if to tell her to hurry up.
 
“The madam swept up the master’s calf with her foot!”
 
Lily tightly closed her eyes and yelled.
 
“……Me?”
 
“The master had this table brought in the next day, immediately.”
 
At that moment, perhaps due to being scolded severely by Roeni, the servants’ expressions were not good. They didn’t show it, but it seemed like they were asking me if I couldn’t remember what I had done.
 
“Did I…do that…?”
 
Lily explained briefly, but just with that, I couldn’t help but recall a worn-out seductive scene that one might only see in a B-grade movie, and I had to cover my eyes with my hand.
 
Oh, how embarrassing…