So this time will be the same. He will surely coax Natasha in various ways, then treat the woman led by emotions as a fool.

She faced the man with the intention of fully confronting him. The first thing she noticed was Sieghart’s unusual expression.

“…Why do you look shocked?”

She expected him to frown and ask what she meant, or show anger unable to contain his irritation, or put on an indifferent expression as if tired of her resentment as usual.

It was none of those. The man, surprisingly, looked shocked.

Only then did Natasha realize the impact of her words. Indeed, it was a topic worthy of shock. The fact that Sieghart had been complicit in killing a member of the Charliee royal family was a secret known only to the emperor and those involved.

Oh no, she covered her mouth without realizing.

There were two ways Sieghart had contributed to her misfortune. Instigating the downfall of the Charliee royal family, and persuading the ignorant Natasha to become the duchess only to neglect her like luggage afterwards.

The former was a secret known only to Sieghart and the emperor, while the latter was a secret known only to Natasha who remembered her past life.

Sieghart, unaware of Natasha’s regression, would naturally think she had spoken about the former. He would find it suspicious that she knew about it.

After a moment of silence, she glanced ahead. Sieghart seemed to be pondering her words. Of course, he was not a fool. She couldn’t pretend she had misspoken now.

In the end, Natasha decided to reveal everything.

To drop a bomb that would render Sieghart unable to think at all.

“How could I not know, Sieghart.”

“…”

“Every night my family torments me saying you are my enemy. How could I, who grew up feeding on my family’s grudge, not know…”

She poured out all the emotions she had been holding in.

By now, even he seemed about to change. Since the reason why Natasha had no choice but to love him was revealed, Sieghart would now realize his efforts had been in vain.

She looked up to see his raw expression. The man stared at Natasha blankly before smiling weakly. The smile did not have a mocking appearance.

‘Why that expression?’

Once again, Natasha’s expectations were wrong.

The solid rock had crumbled. An incongruous expression was drawn over the face composed of only dark, thick lines. The reddened rims of his eyes, like irises, revealed the man’s vulnerability.

Sieghart hesitated to speak, as if considering the ripples his answer would cause. He occasionally opened his mouth only to close it again.

“Yes, you couldn’t not know.”

The calm silence was broken only after a long while.

“So endure until you regain the happiness I took away. Live until you reclaim what you’ve lost. Keep listening to my eternal atonement, continuously.”

“…Selfish person.”

“I always have been. You should know that well.”

He added dryly as he unwrapped his arms from around Natasha’s body. As if the conversation was over, he stepped down from the windowsill.

Afterwards, he left as if fleeing. His robe fluttering wildly in the strong wind concealed the man’s traces. Sieghart, now a mere dot, disappeared without a trace.

Natasha inhaled slowly. When her breath was about to stop, she exhaled slowly again. As the fragmentary actions repeated, her bored mind kept recalling unwanted scenes.

Sieghart’s urgent appearance seen between closing eyes. The hasty approach and forceful embrace as soon as he saw her awake. The uncharacteristically weak expression…

The image of Sieghart acting as if he was hurt strongly remained in her mind.

‘Those are acts too.’

She shook her head. Yes, those are acts as well. It must be the man’s base ploy to manipulate her using sympathy as a weakness.

Sieghart had not shown his face for a long time.

According to the servants, he had started living in seclusion in his office due to busy work, but Natasha knew it was an obvious excuse.

As a couple, they naturally shared information about each other’s workload, and while his workload wasn’t small, it wasn’t so overwhelming as to make normal life impossible.

And above all, the man was wasting time by undertaking troublesome tasks.

If he had truly been busy, Sieghart wouldn’t have had time to deliberately enter the bedroom every morning to leave a note.

“What is this…”

Natasha couldn’t hide her bewilderment when she returned to the bedroom.

The once boring white hospital room was filled with all kinds of flowers. The refreshing floral scent that tickled her nose from the corridor turned out to originate from her bedroom.

In addition, decoctions made with only the finest herbs were lined up on the table.

“Ah, my lady. You’re here?”

Meliana happily greeted Natasha as she returned. She pulled the food placed on the tray cart and set it down in front of the table. When she lifted the cloche, delicious-looking food appeared along with appetizing steam.

Meliana proudly boasted about how many premium ingredients went into this dish, and how good it was for recovering a patient’s strength.

“As you know! All of this was prepared by the Duke himself!”

“…I’m sure he did.”

What’s the point of pretending to be busy? His excessive free time is naturally revealed through things like this.

As she took a spoonful of porridge, plenty of bright red crab meat spread out. Meliana proudly explained that it was the finest crab, grown in good water and caught at the perfect time.

Natasha paused eating the porridge and looked around the room again. According to Meliana, there was no place in the hospital room untouched by the man’s hand.

“Meliana.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Why do you think His Grace is being so good to me?”

“That’s because he’s your husband, my lady. Because he loves you!”

“…Love?”

“Yes!”

Meliana answered energetically.

Though she didn’t know the details, it was understandable that Natasha was confused about their relationship, given that they had quickly joined together without spending much time together.

Meliana began to describe in detail how caring and gentle a husband the Duke was, to help the confused lady.

The story started with the man’s strict attitude when hiring the Duchess’s maid, and ended with describing his dedication in still summoning the servants every week to check how well they were serving the Duchess.

Another intelligent woman, Vanessa, was no different.

“The Duke loves you so much! Surely you’re not asking because you doubt his love?”

She too was busy talking about how blindly in love and devoted to the Duchess Sieghart was.

‘He loves me, they say.’

It was nothing new, but everyone believed that the man loved Natasha.

‘That can’t be.’

Natasha didn’t.

She had never once thought that Sieghart’s actions stemmed from sincerity.

No, in fact, she had doubted it occasionally. After all, the man didn’t stop his act even when Natasha confessed that she knew his true nature.

But the conclusion was still ‘that can’t be’. The man’s acting was just exceptionally good, but his true feelings couldn’t have changed.

Because Sieghart Asthart was the man who had driven her to the extreme in her past life.

The one who ignored her plea for help to escape from the imperial family. The one who endangered Cayena by calling her blood lowly. The one who turned his back on their child and even led to its death.

‘…But that Sieghart was from the past life, the past life.’

She thought and thought that such a man couldn’t possibly change his nature now.

‘He can be considered a completely different person.’

Yet the world’s truth keeps invading her mind. As if arguing that her belief is wrong.

She knows too. The Sieghart from her past life and the Sieghart from this life would be different. Aren’t their starting relationships clearly different?

‘…But it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter.’

That’s why she hated it.

Without needing to know the reason why the man was giving his heart to her, she simply hated even that heart.

‘Because what I resent is Sieghart Asthart himself.’

It felt as if she was the sinner for pushing the man away. Since she alone knew the truth of that day, the burden of enduring the sorrow was hers alone.

“I repeatedly told you that you need to rest…”

The doctor shook his head in frustration as he looked at the Asthart Duchess lying sick in bed.

It was understandable, as he would surely be summoned by the Duke for the unjust reason of not properly taking care of the Duchess’s health. He would have to apologize profusely for hours again this time.

Meliana and Vanessa were equally frustrated at receiving an indirect scolding from the doctor.

They had taken care of the Duchess wholeheartedly, combining the Duke’s strict orders and their own concern for her, but just when she seemed fine for a few days, she fell ill again.

The doctor checked her condition and clicked his tongue. Whether by visual inspection or detailed examination, it was the same. Her health had deteriorated much more than before.

He quietly wiped away tears at the anticipated gathering before finally prescribing medication. It was antipyretics and painkillers to alleviate high fever and dizziness.

“You must take good care of the Duchess by her side. Make her drink water regularly, and don’t let her skip meals entirely. And as I emphasized before, let the Duchess get sufficient rest.”

Meliana and Vanessa tensed up at the warning-like caution and said they understood. They too felt guilty about the Duchess’s weakened state, though they didn’t deny they had done their best.

“I want to be alone… Please, let me, cough, be alone?”

However, Natasha ruthlessly drove away the maids, seemingly oblivious to their well-meaning intentions.

There was no way they would be persuaded by her pushing them away with a dying voice.

“But you’re sick! How could we leave you alone, my lady?”

“…Right now, I really, want, cough, to be alone, cough, you see.”

But as the Duchess pushed more strongly than expected, they had no choice but to back down.

Left alone, Natasha blankly stared at the ceiling.

The small chandelier became two, then three, then one… The number of chandeliers changed each time she blinked. Ah, now it’s back to three again.

Suddenly the calendar caught her eye. Checking the date, she immediately understood her rapidly deteriorating physical condition.

It was already close to ‘that day’. The day that inevitably brought Natasha a fever, the proud day of achievement for the empire and the glorious founding day for the duchy.

But for Natasha, it was a day that approached more terribly than any other.