When I woke up in the morning, Dimidius was gone. He tends to wake up early, so it was understandable. This time I couldn’t sleep well. Perhaps due to the shallow sleep, my head felt slightly dizzy. Sleeping with Dimidius was truly nerve-wracking. I really struggled to sleep, tossing and turning all through the early morning.

Olentia returned to her room to get dressed, then headed to the familiar rose garden. Breakfast would be prepared there, and Dimidius would be there too.

However, in the rose garden, Killen was standing next to Dimidius, having some serious conversation.

Olentia carefully approached and listened to their conversation.

“Who on earth published such a scandal article?”

“I will find out immediately, Your Grace.”

“It doesn’t seem like the Crown Prince’s doing…”

Olentia heard all the faintly audible words and appeared before them.

“A scandal article? What’s going on?”

Dimidius then folded the newspaper he was holding and cleared his throat.

“It’s nothing.”

‘How much I hate that sound!’

Olentia looked at him with sharp eyes and held out her hand.

“Give me the newspaper. I need to know why you’re hiding it from me.”

Quite assertively, Dimidius sighed and handed the newspaper to Olentia. Olentia unfolded the newspaper and was shocked by the article on the front page. She had thought there would surely be an article about the Empress, but there was an article about her and Regalis having an affair.

Olentia screamed.

“What is this!”

Unable to believe it, she read the article several times. The article stated that Olentia and Regalis had met separately at the hunting competition to enjoy a secret rendezvous. Of course, it was true that she had encountered Regalis at the hunting grounds and had a conversation. But to call that a secret rendezvous! It was preposterous.

Could someone have overheard her conversation with Regalis at the hunting grounds? At that time, Regalis had confessed to her several times.

If someone had heard that conversation, it was certainly enough to cause misunderstanding. But for such an article to come out!

Olentia looked at Dimidius with a desperate face.

“It’s true that we had a conversation at the hunting grounds, but it was a one-sided confession from His Highness the Crown Prince. It’s not this filthy adulterous relationship.”

Olentia was terribly afraid that Dimidius might misunderstand. After whispering all sorts of sweet words last night, she didn’t want to grow distant again.

But Dimidius spoke calmly, as if to reassure her.

“I believe you, my lady. However, such gossip stimulates people’s interest. It might be talked about even more than the Empress’s crime.”

It wasn’t that she couldn’t predict how much people would tear into her. Olentia held her aching head and said to Dimidius.

“Who on earth could have done this? It must be someone who overheard my conversation with His Highness the Crown Prince at the hunting grounds.”

“Actually, even if we catch the culprit, it won’t be of much use. The article is already out and rumors are spreading, so we can’t turn it back.”

“Then, what should we do?”

“We should quickly issue a rebuttal article, and it would be good to hold a grand party at the Grand Duchy.”

Olentia made a puzzled expression at the sudden mention of a party.

“Why a party?”

“There’s no better way to show that the relationship between the Duke and Duchess is intact than a party.”

“I see.”

“In any case, we will respond with all our might, so don’t worry too much.”

Dimidius saying that seemed to ease her mind a bit. She had been worried every time Regalis took dangerous actions, but in the end, this happened.

Olentia was gloomy and couldn’t eat breakfast properly. The food wouldn’t go down her throat well.

A faint smile spread across Dexter’s face as he looked at the newspaper. He had deliberately published the adultery article about Regalis and Olentia to bury the Empress’s crime as much as possible. It would be troublesome if the Empress opened her mouth and mentioned his name for bringing information from the Grand Duchy.

While thinking he had to do something, overhearing Regalis and Olentia’s conversation in the forest at the hunting grounds was truly fortunate.

Of course, the Empress would have no idea that her son had been used by her.

It was just something Dexter did out of anxiety, hoping to be of even a little help to the Empress. If the Empress could feel even slightly at ease, she wouldn’t say what she shouldn’t and would show mercy.

Dexter was currently heading to the Crown Prince’s Palace. He had to go and check how the parties involved in the scandal were reacting.

Upon arriving at the Crown Prince’s Palace, a servant guided him to the lake garden. Dexter sat down where he could see the beautiful lake and waited for Regalis to arrive. Even though he thought Regalis wouldn’t know it was he who had published the article, he felt his chest tightening for some reason.

Regalis was a cruel person despite pretending to be friendly. He would stop at nothing to achieve his goals and had no qualms about stepping on people to get ahead.

While thinking about Regalis for a while, he appeared.

Regalis had a haggard face like someone who hadn’t slept. Still, he seemed to have worried a lot about the big incident with his mother.

Dexter comforted him.

“I came to see you because I was worried. It must have been hard for you lately.”

Then Regalis picked up a teacup, drank some tea, and smiled coldly.

“You didn’t really come because you were worried about me, did you? We may be friends in name, but we’ve never had a heart-to-heart conversation.”

Regalis was indeed quick-witted. Dexter swallowed nervously and spoke in the softest voice possible.

“I really came because I was worried. You must be concerned about Her Majesty the Empress, and now there’s even a scandal article.”

At the mention of the scandal, Regalis’s eyes changed. His blue eyes flashed dangerously.

“Right. The content of the scandal article was quite detailed. It seems someone overheard my conversation with the Duchess.”

“Then, what are you going to do now? Your Highness’s honor has been tarnished! The Imperial Palace should respond thoroughly.”

“Tarnished? It won’t have much effect on me. It’s been well-known for a long time that the Crown Prince fools around with women. And it’s all true, so what’s the need to respond? It might even be a good thing.”

Regalis would have nothing more to wish for if the scandal article distanced Dimidius and Olentia. Even if the two remained steadfast, the elders of the Belial territory wouldn’t stay quiet.

In the Bonus Empire, when such scandals broke out, it was much more disadvantageous for the woman. All sorts of dirty rumors would stick to Olentia. Thinking about it made Regalis’s heart ache too, but there was nothing he could do.

Regalis just hoped that Olentia would divorce of her own accord.

Upon returning to the Grand Duchy, the servants’ gazes were different from before. They all seemed to have heard about the affair, unusually hesitating and acting awkward.

Olentia didn’t have the strength to explain to each of them that it wasn’t true, so she just returned to her room to rest. With no energy left in her body, she really wanted to wring the neck of whoever had tipped off the newspaper about the article content.

At that moment, Bobby rushed into the room and said to Olentia.

“The elders will be coming soon.”

Usually, they would send word a few days in advance before coming, so why so suddenly?

Olentia hurriedly changed into outdoor clothes and got dressed up. Somehow, she had a feeling that the reason for the elders coming to the Grand Duchy was because of the scandal article.

When it was time, she went out to the colonnade entrance, and carriages engraved with the emblems of each family started to arrive.

Dimidius held her hand tightly and greeted the elders.

“What brings you all here without notice?”

Then a stern-looking old man looked at Olentia disapprovingly and said.

“The honor of the Belial family has fallen to the ground. How could we sit still seeing that?”

Others chimed in.

“That’s right. We need to decide through a meeting how to handle the scandal article.”

“Your Grace must also organize your thoughts.”

Just a few days ago, the elders’ gazes towards her were clearly warm. It felt like welcoming a new family member. But now they were either glaring unpleasantly or simply ignoring her.

This was all because of the scandal article. They clearly thought that she, a married woman, had seduced the Crown Prince. At times like this, women were always treated as temptresses who bewitched men.

Dimidius held Olentia’s hand tightly and said to the gathered elders.

“The content of the article is half right and half wrong.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“The Crown Prince harassed my wife, but my wife did nothing wrong.”

Yet the elders’ gazes remained cold. Their stern attitude was suffocating. It seemed that just dealing with Regalis was enough to be considered a crime.

‘Is it all my fault? I tried so hard to cut ties with His Highness the Crown Prince…’

Tears welled up in her eyes from the feeling of injustice.

Olentia looked at the elders with trembling eyes.

“Please believe me. I have no feelings whatsoever for His Highness the Crown Prince. It was extremely one-sided.”

The elders cleared their throats and said as they entered the Grand Duchy.

“Now that the rumors have spread, no one will believe any rebuttal article.”

The elders seemed to be heading to the grand meeting hall. What kind of words would be exchanged there? Would talks of divorce come up as expected?

Of course, Olentia only had a few months left in her contract marriage. But at the thought that she might divorce now, she bit her lip anxiously.

Olentia didn’t want to part with Dimidius right away. She had just begun to see his true face, and she wanted to see Dimidius freely revealing his beautiful face under the bright sunlight.

She didn’t know why such thoughts came to her, but her heart was drawn in that direction.

Unable to attend the meeting, Olentia returned to her room.