“Are you feeling alright?”

Vaniel lowered her head to hide her flushed cheeks at Lias’s question.

“What’s wrong? Are you in pain somewhere?”

“…No.”

“Then why are you avoiding my eyes?”

When his hand caught her chin and lifted it, their eyes met. How clueless he was about a woman’s feelings. Vaniel glared at him sharply out of embarrassment and stepped back.

“Don’t ask so directly!”

At her prim response, Lias chuckled and moved toward her. It was the same single step, but the distance closed much more due to the difference in their leg lengths.

As they faced each other almost in an embrace, Vaniel reflexively extended her hands to his chest.

She was trying to create a small gap to hide her wildly beating heart. But Lias’s ears were better than she thought, and his desire stirred with the sound of her quickening heartbeat.

‘D*mn it.’

Was he going crazy? As he had felt since yesterday, he seemed intoxicated by this woman. Everything about Vaniel was triggering his desires.

The situation was serious. Not only was his body heating up, but his mind was growing hazy. Overnight, it had spread from his body to his head, and his reason—which always made cold judgments—was wavering.

Lias didn’t believe in love. To him, love was unnecessary.

Even without love, there were plenty of women who wanted him.

He disliked clingy, sticky women. That’s why he usually preferred brief, casual encounters, and if he noticed a woman’s feelings deepening even slightly, he never met her again.

Yet now, somehow, he was the one becoming clingy. Though he felt he shouldn’t be like this, part of him also felt it was fine this way.

In fact, yesterday Lias had already tried once to break away from her.

But in the end, he had held Vaniel until Daniel arrived with his schedule.

So that attempt had failed.

Yes. Though he didn’t know how long this feeling would last, for now, he would do as he wished. With that thought, Lias grabbed the back of Vaniel’s neck and consumed her lips.

He inserted his tongue as if invading and wrapped it around her soft tongue. When he sucked and gently bit it, Vaniel gasped and pushed against his chest, but he didn’t let go.

After staying like that for a while, the two separated at the sound of knocking.

Hearing the sound from outside the door, Vaniel came to her senses and hurriedly fixed her crumpled dress and disheveled hair.

Meanwhile, seeing Lias regain his composure unlike herself, she felt indignant.

Seeing Vaniel’s sulky expression, Lias chuckled.

“What?”

“Only I’m a mess. You look perfectly fine…Your”

“My name.”

“Pardon?”

“Call me by my name, not ‘Your Grace.'”

Vaniel pondered. While it wasn’t wrong for spouses to call each other by name, most nobles used titles. That was the norm.

“Won’t people think it’s disrespectful?”

“What does it matter?”

Lias’s eyebrows twitched as if she was worrying about something trivial, but his hands gently removed the strands of hair stuck to Vaniel’s cheek.

“Then… um… Lias?”

Vaniel whispered, carefully gazing into his blue eyes.

“Lias. Like this?”

With Vaniel’s whisper, it seemed as if fresh grass scent and flower fragrance were emanating.

“Yes. Vaniel.”

Lias gazed into her teal eyes and was about to kiss her again, but suppressed his desire at the repeated knocking sound.

“Come in.”

At Lias’s permission, Lady Rene entered and announced.

“The meal preparations are complete. Would you like to dine in the dining room?”

Lias turned to look at Vaniel.

“Where would you like to eat?”

“Can I choose?”

“Yes.”

“Anywhere?”

Her teal eyes sparkled with expectation. Lias smiled and nodded.

“Then I’d like to have a meal in the garden! With Your Grace… no! With Lias!”

Spring sunlight shone upon Vaniel. With her shy, peach-colored cheeks, she looked like a chirping baby bird.

“Alright. Vaniel.”

At Lias’s permission, Vaniel’s smile shone even brighter.

***

Lady Rene’s footsteps toward the kitchen were heavy. It wasn’t that she hadn’t anticipated this situation, as her master spending time with women was a common occurrence.

But the Grand Duke’s attitude toward the Grand Duchess was special.

It was completely different from all the women Lady Rene had seen before.

And… what was most special was that the Grand Duke, who usually had an expressionless face that concealed his thoughts and gave only brief instructions or orders, was smiling.

Lady Rene hadn’t expected the couple’s relationship to grow close so quickly.

She was very worried about this situation. Considering the relationship with the Imperial family, the Grand Duke should keep his distance from the Grand Duchess, and the one who knew this best was actually drawing closer.

‘Did he really fall for her face? No. That couldn’t be.’

Lady Rene shook her head. Having substituted the vacant role of mistress of the Grand Duchy until now, she knew well the rift between the Imperial family and the Grand Duchy. And that rift was very serious.

The current Emperor was excluding the House of Istua from central politics. The reason was that the Grand Duchy received greater respect from the people than the Emperor.

The Emperor couldn’t show his feelings while Evan Istua was alive. But when Evan died and young Lias ascended to the position of Grand Duke, the situation changed. The Emperor no longer hid his jealousy.

The incompetent Emperor, aging while indulging in luxury and pleasure, probably envied Lias, who looked more like an emperor than himself.

Moreover, as the power of the nobles increased, the Emperor’s power decreased, while the Grand Duchy’s power became more solid.

So the Emperor wanted to control the Grand Duchy as he pleased, but Lias didn’t move according to his wishes. In other words, to bend the Grand Duchy to his will, he needed a weakness.

The Emperor’s target was the Grand Duke’s heir. A child born to Vaniel, daughter of House Drenarpin, who supported him.

Of course, being Lias’s child, they would be educated in the Grand Duchy, but who could say for certain? No one knew what influence Vaniel, as the mother, might have on the young lord, and Lady Rene didn’t want to take that gamble.

And this whole situation was a fact well known to everyone in the Grand Duchy, which is why people in this mansion were ostracizing the Grand Duchess. Lady Rene was doing the same.

“Move the prepared meal to the garden. Set up the table and chairs as well.”

When Lady Rene entered the dining room and gave instructions to the servants, a maid with a cute smile asked.

“What’s happening, ma’am? Is the Grand Duke dining with the Grand Duchess?”

“That’s right. So don’t slack off and go prepare to serve them.”

After Lady Rene replied indifferently and left, Cali collapsed as if she had never smiled.

“No way! My money!”

Cali, who had bet that the Grand Duke would not dine with the Grand Duchess as had always been the case, cried out.

And beside her, Yui was rejoicing, clenching her fist and exclaiming, “Finally!”

“Are you stupid? The Grand Duke entered the Grand Duchess’s bedroom yesterday, so of course they’d have a meal together today.”

Yui clicked her tongue with a smug expression.

‘This is huge. Jackpot!’

Calculating the amount she would receive, she thought she would spare Vaniel, whom she cursed with hatred every night, just for today.

“But our lord has never had lunch with any woman he’s been with before!”

Cali, knowing that the Grand Duke had casual encounters with women, was confident she would win. And not just her, but most of the servants in the Grand Duchy had bet on “they won’t dine together.”

‘Wait. Then how much money will that unlucky woman get?’

It must be at least thirty gold. Fuming at that thought, Cali pulled Yui’s sleeve and headed to a corner.

“What are you doing? Let go.”

“Just a moment. Stay still. I’m going to tell you what you asked me about yesterday.”

At those words, Yui followed obediently and listened to Cali.

“I couldn’t remember well yesterday, but I think I remember now. So, if you give me ten gold, I’ll tell you.”

Cali whispered, glancing around to see if anyone in the dining room was eavesdropping. Yui’s expression hardened.

“What? Ten gold? Are you crazy?”

An ordinary family of four in the Empire lives on 4-5 gold per month. And she’s asking for twice that? As Yui’s angry voice grew louder, Cali covered her mouth.

“Be quiet! If this story leaks out, both you and I are dead.”

Yui finally calmed down at the fierce threat. Seeing this, Cali withdrew her menacing aura and whispered softly.

“The Grand Palace is tightly guarded by trainee members of the Istua Knights, so there are no gaps. But there’s one hole that even the knights don’t know about.”