Lucenford Grand Duke Hyperion Siebrand Ferraro.

The nobles of the Crania Empire had never heard of the surname ‘Ferraro’, and he had nothing but the title of Grand Duke of the barren northern region.

The only recent addition was that he was the son-in-law of Duke Ostein and the husband of the future Duke Ostein.

He was a man of few possessions, blunt and indifferent, and did not fit well in social circles. The opinion was that his special relationship with Beatrice was due to their mothers’ friendship since they were very young.

So how good could the relationship between the newlyweds be? No one thought the Grand Duke would properly fulfill his role as a husband to the Duke Ostein’s daughter. Everyone seated at this table thought so, and so did Kaella.

“…Excuse me for a moment.”

Kaella, who had been pressing her napkin to her mouth, finally stood up. Even her voice asking for understanding came out as if squeezed.

With her face turned pale, she disappeared through the back exit. As this was a banquet to welcome the Emperor’s investigator, one of the Grand Duke’s couple had to remain at the table.

As soon as his wife left her seat, Peon’s expression completely disappeared from his face.

Isidore Dakiten eagerly followed but ultimately couldn’t figure out where the Grand Duke and cousin was heading. After alternately looking at his disappeared cousin-in-law, he finally decided. It would be better to hear the victim’s story than to witness a brutal fight.

“I’ll also excuse myself for a moment.”

The table suddenly quieted as two people left in an instant. Beatrice glanced at Isidore’s back and made a deflating sound as if dumbfounded.

“What’s this? Is he her husband?”

“Don’t cross the line.”

“No, it’s strange. Since when were they so close? I didn’t know they were doing something behind my back.”

“Line.”

A murderous intent flashed in Peon’s eyes.

“Don’t cross it.”

“Why are you acting like this to me? Are you angry at me?”

“Don’t ask when you already know. It’s a stupid question.”

“What?”

Beatrice’s expression instantly distorted.

“You shouldn’t be like this to me, right?”

She looked around and then spoke in a low voice, as if spitting out the words.

“Why do you think I came here? I came all the way to this cold place because I wanted to see you. You shouldn’t betray me.”

“You shouldn’t have come. I don’t even want to see your face.”

Beatrice didn’t back down and smiled sweetly this time. A spell containing taboos that ordinary people couldn’t see crept up towards Peon.

“Really? For someone who says that, you were eating well?”

“I wasn’t eating because I saw you, but because I saw the rain, so I didn’t get indigestion.”

Although Kaella seems to have indigestion. Peon tried to remain calm as he had always done out of habit, but in truth, he was going crazy with irritation that Isidore had followed his wife.

Before marriage, how close were Kaella, who was desperately trying to pass through the Klein Gate, and Isidore, who was the chief responsible for the gate at the time? No, he had no right to know.

Beatrice smiled even more broadly.

“Since when did your taste become so cheap?”

“When did my taste ever change? I’ve only met you, so it’s always been cheap.”

A crack appeared in her smiling face. Her smooth pink lips trembled and then twisted frightfully as she retorted to his words.

“Ah, so that’s why you looked at her?”

Beatrice’s silver hair shook roughly as she pointed with her chin and eyes towards where Kaella had left.

“Yeah. Compared to what I’ve been seeing so far, she’s so precious that I can see how cheap I was.”

“You’ve known her for how many years and you’re saying this now? Do you think I’ll believe that?”

Peon’s cold purple eyes turned askew towards Beatrice, whose eyes were bloodshot with disbelief.

“What do you expect from a mongrel?”

There was no trace of noble chivalry or courtesy in Peon’s attitude or gaze towards her.

The man who used to say that Beatrice should be treated preciously because she’s a lady was now treating her with a very improper attitude and gaze as the ruler of the North and the strongest knight. She gritted her teeth.

“You son of a bitch.”

“Woof.”

His languid gaze and slanted attitude were no different from a hoodlum.

Everyone who knows Peon, even the Emperor, would be shocked. To think that a man known for his strict adherence to etiquette, refinement, and high reputation would suddenly behave like a lowly street thug.

‘What is this?’

Beatrice’s pink eyes shook violently. This is not ‘the Peon she knows’. This is not the simple-minded Peon whose answers came easily. She doesn’t know who this man is. The puzzle she thought she knew was breaking apart.

Her pink lips curved into a hiss.

“So this is how you’ve always been?”

How utterly captivating. Her shaking eyes gleamed.

“From the beginning, this is how it was.”

It smells like one of her own kind. Beatrice was excited as she inhaled deeply the dangerous male scent emanating from the man who had, for the first time, become ‘like her’.

Yes. No matter how elegant the Empress may be, could she have inherited only the Empress’s blood? Somewhere, there must have been an unknown father who provided a different temperament, a dirty temperament that had to be hidden.

“You tried hard to hide it.”

“It was hard to endure.”

The man who had never hidden it simply corrected her.

“Then, this time you’re holding back in front of your wife?”

“I have to hide it in front of Bi. It’s useless though, since she’s smart.”

“Her?”

A scoffing sound, lips twisting upwards, eyes full of contempt, and shrugging shoulders. Peon engraved all of this clearly in his mind. All of these were the contempt and insults that his poor wife had endured throughout her life.

“Well, do that. It’s convenient when a wife is a virtuous homemaker, at least for now. And when you’re bored…”

Her eyes, filled with red as they took him in, swallowed hard.

“Play with me.”

Her cheerful voice was full of greed.

“Yes. That’s your true nature. You can’t proudly show it, you have to hide behind and pretend to be a mistress, that suits you well.”

A low voice settled on the quiet table where murderous intent flowed.

“You like that kind of thing. People should live according to their nature.”

“What?”

Watching Beatrice’s expression distort in an instant, Peon laughed softly. Even in that moment, the laugh appeared self-deprecating yet decadent in the dim lighting, making Beatrice unable to look away.

“Keep living like that. Don’t change, just keep going. Deceiving moderately and pretending moderately.”

“What about you? Do you think you won’t be deceived?”

Pretending to have something when you have nothing.

Beatrice couldn’t stand Peon scratching at her, Peon no longer blindly following her words, it was irritating, annoying, she wanted to possess him, to flatten him completely.

“Do you think that’s all you know? You know nothing.”

“Well. Whether I know or don’t know, check after you go back.”

“What do you mean check after I go back? You better keep your wife in check. It’s always men like you who underestimate quiet wives and end up with a big nose. That Isidore, he likes pathetic women.”

Beatrice smirked.

“Women who quietly keep house, play the piano, and cry at every little thing, exactly like Kaella. Did you see his eyes when he followed her? Anyone watching would think they were already in a deep relationship. Haven’t they already crossed the line?”

“You interpret everyone as having extramarital affairs because you’ll never have a legal relationship in your life. Well, what would you know.”

Peon also smirked.

“Divorce isn’t easy, but it’s a bit easier for men. Do you know why husbands don’t divorce even when their wives cheat?”

They already knew one such person. Someone who holds onto his wife until the end, even while angry, cursing, and sad.

“They can’t ignore the affection built up over years of living together. It’s scary how powerful that is, they even forgive when a child born outside is brought home. I didn’t understand before, but now that I’m married, I do.”

He smiled at the one who was either the Emperor’s mistress or a sorceress, desperately wishing for the marriage to break.

“Marriage is too sacred to break no matter who prays or begs for it to end. When you’ve lived together for so long, if one falls ill, you mobilize doctors, sorcerers, witches, everything to save them, and even in death, you should die together on the same day and hour.”

Beatrice flinched.

“Unlike you, my wife has a clear sense of morality and ethics, so she wouldn’t do such a thing. But even in the unlikely event she bears another man’s child, well, I was born that way too, so it doesn’t matter. I’ll raise it. It’ll be pretty, taking after its mother.”

“Are you crazy?”

The title of illegitimate child had caused no one more pain than Peon himself, and Beatrice knew best how hard he had tried not to hate his mother. Yet he says it doesn’t matter?

Beatrice’s bloodshot eyes widened and trembled.

Why is he acting like this? Why has he ‘changed’ so much?

She was so dumbfounded that she needed to speak, but words wouldn’t come out. No, her words no longer reached Peon.

The words that used to cast spells had lost all their power.

“The only crazy one here is you, Lady Lavalle. Denying obvious facts, denying all laws and courtesies, not even thinking about what price you’ll pay later, just you alone.”

Peon, who had spoken quietly, stood up from his seat.

“Well then, I’m in a position where I need to entertain the investigator well. I’ll excuse myself first.”

Beatrice, left alone at the table, trembled as even the Grand Duke left without looking back. Finally turning her gaze to the only butler nearby, she asked,

“Why on earth is he acting like that?”

The butler, who should pretend not to hear or see even when he does, knows all the shame of those he serves. He just hoped that the investigator’s visit, which he had slyly arranged, would be good medicine for Peon.

However, far from being good medicine, the butler’s face was paler than Beatrice’s, having heard such shocking words.

He couldn’t even speak properly, standing awkwardly and shaking his head. Even the butler didn’t understand. The Grand Duke who had just passed by him was not the child he had raised. It was not his son.

*

“Oh my, Your Highness.”

Cecil was startled to see Kaella, who was drenched in cold sweat, unable to straighten her back properly and clutching her stomach.

“Do you feel like vomiting, Your Highness?”

Kaella, without the strength to speak, gestured for her to move aside. The symptoms were getting worse, and above all, the speed was too fast. Her stomach was tightly clenched and it hurt so much.

“Her Highness seems to have indigestion. Is there no medicine?”

Lord Isidore Dakiten, who was supporting Kaella, asked urgently, and Mari answered.

“We sent for the doctor. He’ll be here soon.”

“How long will it take? Kaella, sit down for now.”

Indigestion is a serious illness. Isidore, who had seen people die suddenly from indigestion while working at the gate, urged them to bring the doctor quickly and helped Kaella sit down.

“No…”

A cracked voice rejected him. Kaella didn’t want to sit now. What’s the point of sitting when she couldn’t even straighten her back? The piercing pain in her stomach was growing.

“Moving around more isn’t good for you, Kaella.”

Isidore restrained Kaella and forcibly sat her down, then anxiously waited for the doctor. They waited in silence for a while.

Lucenford Castle was still cold and dreary. Seeing Kaella like this after finally getting to eat southern food, Isidore recalled the incident report and felt newly enraged.

‘Either sort it out properly before getting married, or don’t show it in official places!’

Beatrice and Peon are the same. Only the kind and soft Kaella gets hurt multiple times between them. After waiting and waiting, Isidore finally exploded in 1 minute.

“Where on earth is the doctor!”

“There are many people to care for, so he might be outside.”

“Is there not a single resident doctor?”

“The resident doctor is that very person.”

“Isn’t there another doctor?”

“He’s been in charge of all the food and medicine Her Highness consumes, so rather than another doctor…”

At that moment, Kaella suddenly stood up.

“Where are you going? You’ll fall like that. Kaella!”

Brushing off Isidore’s hand, she covered her mouth and ran. She didn’t have the strength to run, so it was more like walking quickly while staggering.

The urge to vomit rose, but her obsession with not showing an unsightly appearance in front of others for fear of being criticized drove her to move.

She barely managed to close the door before immediately retching. But nothing came out properly. Even painfully squeezing her stomach didn’t resolve anything.

“Ugh…”

Tears flowed and she couldn’t see. Why did she eat so much? But she wanted to eat so badly.

She had been determined to eat everything she wanted before dying, to definitely die with a full stomach. Beatrice, who had poisoned her, pointed this out. And in front of Peon, no less.

She must have eaten hastily and unsightly. Her position must have become that much more precarious. Would she be able to eat everything she wanted before dying? When would this pain end?

At that moment, the door opened again. If it was Isidore, she should tell him to leave. But the much larger and darker shadow than Isidore immediately bent down and started patting her back.

“Throw it all up.”

Kaella, who had taken a breath, pushed her husband away. He was the last person she wanted to show an even more unsightly appearance to, even if she were to die. He shouldn’t see this.

“Vomit. That’s the quickest way. Come on.”

The hand that held her pushing arm with one hand and patted her back with the other did not stop. Her stomach twisted severely again.

While Kaella finally threw everything up, Peon did not leave her side. Patting her back, letting her rinse her mouth, and carrying her completely limp body was all the husband’s role.