Despite his fierce energy pressing down on her, Rosie felt strangely calm. The angrier Callios became at the suggestion of bringing another woman into the house, the lighter her heart seemed to become.

At least it meant that his pride and sense of duty were still intact.

‘Then he might accept the idea of meeting her only after the divorce.’

Divorce among the nobility was never straightforward. Marriage was considered a sacred bond bestowed by God, and for a prominent noble house such as the Benedicts, it held even greater significance.

Divorce required just cause. It had to be deemed valid by the Holy See.

‘I have no proof of how that woman abused me. I’d only humiliate myself.’

Hardly anyone on the ducal estate knew the truth. Those who did were all of Isabella’s loyal servants.

With a single goal ahead of her, she had to remain cautious.

Rosie spoke before her husband’s patience ran out.

“No. I meant it. More importantly, about Viscount Russel—”

“Don’t change the subject. That matter is finished. What’s more important is this.”

His other hand brushed lightly along the back of her neck, his large fingers parting her soft, brown hair.

In a low whisper, Callios murmured.

“Rosie. Are you thinking of abandoning your duty?”

As the duchess of the house, her duty was to produce an heir.

Rosie let out a soft sigh and looked up at him.

“I’m not abandoning it. That’s why I’m offering an alternative.”

“Stop saying nonsense.”

Despite his quiet warning, Rosie continued, unyielding.

“It’s been five years since we got married. At this stage, we can’t keep pretending that the lack of good news doesn’t matter.”

“People are always saying that I must be unable to have children. Maybe we should just give up.”

In truth, this was just a desperate attempt to avoid getting pregnant at a time when she was about to fall pregnant.

‘We’ll separate soon. A child is the one thing that can’t happen.’

Callios listened silently as Rosie spoke with calm detachment. Then he said coldly.

“Then should I cut out the tongues of the fools who say such things?”

“…What?”

“I’m asking if that would make it acceptable.”

Rosie stared straight into Callios’s eyes and realized that he meant every word. He would do exactly what he said he would and cut out tongues.

A chill ran down her spine. She tried to step back, but he gripped her jaw more firmly, stopping her from escaping.

Rosie brushed a trembling hand over the goosebumps on her arms and parted her lips.

“…You’re serious. Are you insane?”

“If baseless talk bothers you so much that you’d abandon your duty, then I’ll handle it.”

Confronted by those unflinching black eyes, Rosie couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

People already feared him. How much worse would things get if he really went through with it?

“You don’t care about public reputation?”

“I’ve never cared about that garbage. You’re the one who cares.”

He was offended by how much she was affected by the circulating rumors.

‘Is it that he’s angrier about me abandoning my duty? That he thinks I’m neglecting what I’m supposed to do?’

Despite having lived under the same roof for five years, she still didn’t understand what went on in his mind.

‘Though we hardly spent any time together.’

Rosie glared at him, then sharply slapped away his hand, which was holding her chin. His seemingly immovable and unyielding grip paused, then released her without resistance.

“Why are you acting like you suddenly care about me? You’ve never been like this.”

All Rosie wanted to know was why he was behaving differently from before, including his refusal to join the expedition.

Rosie pressed him, her eyes cold.

“I heard from Sir Beisler. You’ve been clashing with the pro-war faction.”

At this, one corner of his mouth lifted in a crooked smile.

“They’re all useless vermin of the Empire.”

“I heard you refused to go on the next campaign. Why?”

“I won’t be away from the duchy for long anymore. I’ve thought about it for years.”

He said it as though it were obvious, but Rosie’s confusion only deepened.

“If you’ve only just started thinking about it, why are you acting on it now?”

Callios froze, staring directly at her. His usually solid and impenetrable pitch-black eyes shook ever so slightly.

But he answered stubbornly.

“There’s no reason. And I’m disregarding anything you said about bringing in another woman.”

Rosie exhaled a quiet sigh. Whether past or present, conversations with him rarely went anywhere.

“Do as you please. It has nothing to do with me.”

“…Nothing to do with you?”

Once she left the duchy, they would be strangers. Whether or not he produced an heir was none of her concern.

Callios looked genuinely taken aback.

With a cold, reprimanding expression, he said:

“Do you even understand what you’re saying right now.”

“You mean I’m unfit to be the duchess?”

“…….”

“You don’t want to live with someone so shameless, do you? So you should hurry and find another wom—”

“If you say that one more time, I won’t let it pass. Even if it’s you.”

Callios delivered the warning with a face like drawn steel.

Well, if he was going to go that far…

At last, Rosie fell silent.

Then Callios sat down beside her. The soft mattress dipped heavily under his weight.

Rosie brushed her long hair back and asked casually.

“Do you have anything else to say?”

“No. You shut down the only thing I wanted to say.”

He opened his mouth with a furious look—but bit the words back.

“…Don’t worry about Ashley’s situation. I’ll look into it myself.”

Unlike in her previous life, if he investigated thoroughly, he might uncover Viscount Russel’s behavior before it was too late.

‘Good. The more he focuses on that side, the easier it’ll be for me to slip out of this house.’

While he immersed himself in his sister’s affairs, she quietly searched for a way to leave.

Rosie straightened her clothes and stood up.

“Well then, I’ll go back to my room. Good night.”

But he grabbed her arm.

Rosie sighed briefly.

“What now?”

“Sleep here tonight.”

“…What?”

She blinked, unable to believe what she had heard.

Sleep here? After everything she had said? Had none of it got through?

Rosie frowned unconsciously. She wanted to avoid sharing a bed at all costs.

As she frantically tried to think of excuses, Callios added, seemingly to reassure her:

“I won’t do anything. Just sleep here. You’ve already prepared to sleep anyway.”

Only then did Rosie look closely at his face.

‘…Huh?’

Callios was still holding her arm, but he looked flustered. It was as though he didn’t understand his own actions.

He looked confused and almost regretful. His expression changed constantly. She had never seen him display such a wide range of emotions before.

This only served to make him seem all the more absurd.

Rosie let out a cold, faint laugh.

“You really are strange today, my lord.”

“…….”

“All right. I’ll trust you.”

Rejecting him too strongly would seem even stranger.

With this in mind, Rosie sat back down on the bed. She lifted the blanket and slid beneath it. The soft fabric wrapped around her body.

“I’m going to sleep right away. Can you turn off the lights?”

The room went dark without warning.

She closed her eyes. She could feel her husband’s solid weight beside her as he got into bed.

Whenever they had spent the night together in the past, he had always turned off the lights first. Perhaps he didn’t want to see her face.

The only thing she had ever received from him was his body — large and solid for his age. She could still vividly remember his rough, sculpted abdomen in the dark, and his heavy breathing growing hotter with arousal.

Maybe it was because it had been so long since they last shared a bed. Her thoughts wandered unnecessarily.

Rosie forced herself to push them away, gripping the blanket tightly.

‘Just ignore it.’

She tried to sleep, repeating it to herself. But the thick, muscular arm that brushed her shoulder felt — perhaps only in her imagination — uncomfortably warm.

Until the moment she fell asleep, she could feel an unfamiliar gaze on her face and trailing down her body.

‘This is uncomfortable…’

The longer she lay there, frustrated and restless, the more sleep slipped away.

Then, behind her, she heard Callios’s deep voice.

“Can’t sleep?”

“…Seems so.”

“Has it always been like that?”

“No. Just today, I suppose.”

She almost said, Because I can’t sleep when you’re here, my lord, but she swallowed the words back down.

When she glanced behind her, his solid face appeared in the flickering candlelight, his expression impossible to read.

She could feel the heat from his body radiating towards her back.

‘Is it… too warm in here?’

She tended to feel the cold easily, so she turned the room’s heating up a little.

Suddenly, she felt Callios rise abruptly from the bed and step outside.

The mattress, which had dipped under his weight, slowly returned to its original shape.

Only then did Rosie close her eyes. Now he was gone, sleep washed over her almost instantly.

***

When Rosie regained consciousness, she realized that she was in a familiar dreamscape.

Her hands and feet were much smaller, and her frame was more delicate. She had reverted to childhood — something reality could not allow, but dreams could.

‘It’s been so long.’

As she walked along the path, she encountered a young Callios, who was much younger than he is now.

He was surrounded by a group of noble boys.

‘Ah… this moment.’

It was only then that she realized when this dream was set.

It was a long time ago, shortly after her engagement to Callios had been arranged.

Back then, the young Rosie had always felt shy when greeting her fiancé.

She had been that kind of child: timid and overly self-conscious.

Rosie hurriedly hid behind a large tree.

This meant that she overheard the noble boys speaking to Callios.

“Of all people, the Count’s second daughter? It must be disappointing not to be engaged to the eldest.”