There was no way Anna couldn’t understand the meaning, but she pretended not to know and continued speaking.

“No, but why are you just cooped up in your chamber like this?”

Then Delphine, who had been lying in bed ever since returning to the mansion, slightly trailed off her words.

“…Why is that?”

“What do you mean, why!”

Anna exclaimed, pounding her chest as if truly exasperated.

“You should hurry and go see if he’s alright! Where in the world can you find a husband who gives you all the precious things and even saves your life twice!”

“……”

Delphine remained silent, her lips pressed into a straight line.

It was the expression she used to make when being stubborn since childhood.

Anna, who had been looking at her worriedly, carefully opened her mouth.

“…Perhaps, is it because of the late Count that’s weighing on your mind, my lady?”

This crossed the line.

Delphine opened her closed mouth and murmured in a firm tone.

“Anna.”

“Even if you say I’m overstepping, I can’t help it.”

However, Anna had a very determined expression.

“As the person who nursed and raised you with my milk instead of my own child who died right after birth, can’t I at least do this much?”

“…Why bring that up now.”

When Anna brought up those words, even Delphine would back down from her fiery temper.

Sensing that her stubborn stance had been broken, Anna knelt beside the bed and pleaded in an earnest tone.

“In any case, he saved you when you were about to lose your life.”

“……”

“And it’s not just anything, but treason! The master must have had no other choice.”

It’s not simply because of that.

There are too many strange things.

How nice it must be for Ioan, who doesn’t remember anything that happened at the mansion that day, to have such peace of mind.

Delphine glared at her nanny with an aggrieved expression.

But Anna just stroked her head, as if dealing with a child’s tantrum.

“I only wish for you to be loved and live happily, my lady. You know that, don’t you?”

“…Yes.”

“Now you should forget everything that’s past and move forward quickly.”

At those words, Delphine’s eyes shook greatly.

Move forward? Forget everything?

“So hurry and go to the master…!”

Knock knock.

Just then, someone knocked on the chamber door.

“My wife.”

It was that man.

Anna’s face lit up with a bright smile before she quickly withdrew from the room.

‘Really, whose side is she on….’

Delphine painfully raised her body, which had started to ache.

The bandage on the forehead of the man who opened the door and entered pricked her conscience.

“You were about to sleep.”

“…Yes. What brings you to my chamber at this dinner hour?”

The man approached the bed and answered nonchalantly.

“Ah, I just want to check if you have any injuries. If you’re tired, you can keep lying down.”

He spoke in such a casual tone that Delphine didn’t understand the meaning of those words for a moment.

“…Pardon?”

“I heard from the maid that when you changed clothes, she saw bruises on your body.”

In just a few steps, he approached the bed and reached out to the string of her nightgown without hesitation.

Delphine was startled and grabbed the string, backing away.

“No, it’s fine…! It’s nothing.”

“Whether it’s nothing or not, I need to check for myself.”

The man smiled gently as he spoke in a kind tone.

His expression and tone were affectionate as usual, but only his eyes were a bit off.

Just like she had seen in Sector 2 a few hours ago.

Delphine finally realized that this man was not in the least bit appeased.

Delphine gripped the string of her nightgown even tighter.

“There’s no need to be wary at all. It will only take a moment.”

“No……”

As Delphine was speaking, her body fell back too lightly.

She was startled, but fortunately, what her back touched was the soft bed.

“Wait……”

“Yes. It will only take a moment. My wife.”

Even when acting like a gentle thug, he always adds “my wife” at the end of his sentences.

“I said it’s fine……”

Before she could stop him, he pulled down her white nightgown in one swift, decisive motion.

The silk fabric slid down below her round shoulders.

And revealed her left elbow.

“Ah.”

Delphine raised her head at the short gasp.

The man’s face, which had been pretending to be gentle, was now set in a fierce expression.

With a pained look, he carefully stroked her bruised elbow.

She bruises easily to begin with, so there’s no need to worry about it.

Delphine looked at the man caressing her arm, overcome by a strange feeling.

The man who had been bleeding profusely from his forehead, who had seven stitches sewn and a bandage wrapped, is only now in distress.

Because of a single bruise on her arm.

“These bastards……”

A gloomy voice flowed from the man who had buried his face in her arm.

Harsh curses followed, saying he would tear them limb from limb, but strangely, she didn’t feel scared at all.

Perhaps because it was when her body and mind were at their weakest.

She didn’t dislike the sight of the man expressing anger over her small bruise.

She’s no longer afraid.

Because she knows that anger will never be directed at her.

But…….

“If only I had known beforehand. …Why did……”

Delphine blankly stared at the man’s distorted face as he mumbled incomprehensibly.

This afternoon.

When she saw the man who had thrown off his mask and instantly wore the face of a beast.

Even as she trembled in fear, Delphine felt a sense of déjà vu.

“I’m losing control, my lady. And his strength is so great…”

The slave boy Ioan.

He was always like a gentle lamb in front of her, but occasionally Wilson would come to her and pour out his grievances.

She would tilt her head wondering, ‘That child…?’ but one day, she encountered it in the garden.

The cruel face of the boy Ioan, beating a servant to a pulp.

That cold and expressionless, beast-like face, focused solely on violence without any regard for the person dying by his hands before his eyes.

It was the same now.

His frowning face, focused on her injury, strangely kept reminding her of that boy.

“It’s trauma. Our brain is creating an illusion. To forget reality for a moment.”

“Now you must forget all that’s past and move forward quickly.”

Could all of this truly be her delusion?

Was the boy Ioan a fantasy created by her overwhelming loneliness?

Delphine, who had been staring intently at the man, suddenly opened her mouth.

“… There’s another injured spot.”

“My lady?”

… One last time.

Before acknowledging all of this as her delusion, there was one final thing she needed to confirm.

‘That man’s… back.’

He always changes clothes alone, never allowing a maid to assist.

Though over two months had passed since their marriage, Delphine had never once seen him change.

When she opened her eyes in the morning, he was always perfectly dressed in his uniform.

She clearly remembered the traces of that cruel abuse Ioan’s father had inflicted on him in childhood.

After all, it was she who had personally applied medicine to him.

Just that.

She just needed to confirm that one last thing.

‘Before being swayed further by a man whose identity I don’t even know.’

“… Knee.”

Delphine murmured, staring fixedly at the man’s face contorted with anger.

“When I was dragged out of the carriage. I think I hit it.”

The man muttered a word Delphine had never heard before. It was likely a curse.

Delphine paid no heed to such a reaction.

Instead, she slowly extended her hand and lifted the hem of her white nightgown herself.

The man took a sharp breath at that moment.

Closely observing his reaction, Delphine stretched out her long white leg towards him.

Whether he was gritting his teeth, the tightening of his jaw was clearly visible.

“There’s a… slight scratch mark.”

He barely managed to utter, as if someone were choking him.

Darkened eyes and roughened breathing.

The man who had clenched and unclenched his fist several times, moved back with somewhat uncomfortable movements.

“Then I shall take my leave…”

“It’s my turn now.”

Delphine hurriedly called out to stop him.

“What do you mean?”

Delphine, as if baiting a beast, deliberately stretched her white leg towards his side and said.

“To check, I mean.”

Then she grabbed the sleeve of his clothes and looked up at him.

His Adam’s apple danced greatly.

“… I have no injuries except for my head.”

“But that white uniform was all soaked in blood.”

Delphine tightened her grip on his sleeve.

Before moving ‘forward’, before giving her heart more to this man, she absolutely had to check his back.

Thwack.

But before she could even remove his shirt, her wrist was caught in his large grip.

He seemed surprised by his own action and quickly loosened his grasp.

Then he smiled, the corners of his eyes curving.

“You must be tired, why don’t you retire for the night?”

A kind face and elegant manner. He had put on his mask again in no time.

Before Delphine could hold him back further, he retreated from the bed and walked quickly towards the door.

“No, wait…! You checked my body as you pleased, and yet…!”

The man hesitated for a moment at her words, spoken with an indignant expression.

He turned around and smiled at her with his masked face.

“Isn’t that much a husband’s right?”

“You seem to have forgotten, but then I too, as a wife, have the right to… Ah!”

The man approached with surprising speed and instantly caught her waist.

With tremendous strength, his body pressed against hers without a gap.

It happened before Delphine could even compose her disheveled attire.

“Wait, you…”

Delphine, not expecting such a sudden reversal of the atmosphere, drew in a breath in bewilderment.

He had taken off his uniform and was wearing only a thin shirt.

Her own white nightgown was thin, to say nothing of it.

Because of that, the sensation of her soft flesh being crushed against his firm chest felt so unfamiliar.

“… What’s the matter, my lady?”

He asked in a calm tone.

Unlike his somewhat aggressive action, the masked man’s face remained serene.

So much so that Delphine hadn’t realized at all how excited he was until their bodies touched.