“Your Highness, is that true?”

At Camilla’s words, the eyes of those around began to sparkle with curiosity.

“What do you mean? Could it be that things have gotten even worse between you?”

“Oh my, oh my! What should we do…”

Their faces could not hide the excitement over new gossip.

‘I had an ominous feeling. So this is why they called me here.’

Camilla quickly stood up from her seat, waving both hands as if trying to stop the murmuring noble ladies.

“This is my mistake! So don’t breathe a word of this to anyone!”

Her attitude was as if she was trying her best to protect me.

I stared at Camilla blankly, as if observing her.

While silencing the noble ladies, Camilla’s mouth occasionally twitched as if holding back tremendous joy.

‘Camilla, I didn’t realize when reading the novel… you’re quite stupid.’

I snorted softly and continued in a relaxed voice.

“Camilla, don’t try so hard.”

At that, Camilla’s bustling movements stopped abruptly.

When she turned her head, a faint anxiety was visible in her eyes.

I looked at Camilla and slowly crossed my legs.

“There’s no need to deny that we’re living separately. It’s true, after all.”

The ladies exchanged glances with shocked expressions.

A suffocating silence ensued for a while.

Then the ladies began to whisper to each other.

“Oh my, oh my! Is it really true?”

“I knew it all along. Their relationship has been strained from the beginning.”

What’s the point of whispering so quietly? I can hear everything.

Despite achieving her goal of embarrassing me, Camilla’s expression was uneasy.

My relaxed attitude, without a trace of surprise, seemed to bother her.

After rolling her eyes, Camilla soon opened her mouth again with an awkward smile.

Her lips trembled slightly at the corners.

“Your… Your Highness, is it alright to admit such a thing so easily?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

When I asked back, Camilla’s brow furrowed slightly.

‘I can see right through you.’

I turned to the other ladies with a relaxed smirk.

“As everyone knows, it’s true that His Highness the Grand Duke and I have been distant for years. We’re trying to overcome that, and living separately is part of that effort.”

“Oh my, oh my…”

“We were going to give up if even that didn’t work, but in the end, because of it…”

I wrinkled my nose playfully at the noble ladies.

“Our relationship has become very, very hot day and night?”

“Oh my… Oh my!”

The noble ladies bit their lips as if unable to contain their imagination, their faces twitching.

And they all looked at me enviously with slightly reddened faces, hands clasped together.

Seeing the ladies like this, Camilla’s mouth trembled minutely again.

“Your… Your Highness, no matter how upset you are, to cover up a truth that will soon be revealed…”

“A truth that will soon be revealed?”

“As sad as it is, everyone here knows that your relationship can’t be fixed so easily…”

Camilla smiled faintly as if pitying me.

At that, the ladies who had been looking at me enviously began to waver again.

“W-well, your relationship wasn’t very good, was it?”

“That’s right. It can’t improve so easily…”

Camilla shrugged her shoulders as if regaining her composure.

I looked straight at her and raised the corners of my lips.

“Camilla seems to find it hard to believe me. After all, you were by my side when the Grand Duke and I were at our most distant.”

“Your Highness, no matter what you say…”

“I suppose. Since everyone knows about our strained relationship, it must be hard for the other ladies to believe me too?”

The ladies looked at me with expressions that neither affirmed nor denied.

I smiled gently at them and ordered the servant in the banquet hall.

“Bring the Grand Duke here.”

At my confident attitude, Camilla’s brow gradually furrowed.

‘Camilla, you seem quite flustered that things aren’t going as you planned.’

As I smiled leisurely at Camilla secretly biting her lower lip, it was then.

“Your Highness, I have brought the Grand Duke.”

The servant who had returned bowed before me and reported.

When I turned my head, I saw Cedric approaching me.

At that moment, everything around became blurry, and only Cedric’s appearance continued in slow motion.

As everyone’s gaze focused on his elegant movements.

“I heard you were looking for me. What’s the matter?”

A familiar yet charming low voice was heard nearby.

Only then did I realize that Cedric had come right next to me.

It seemed the noble ladies around me were also overwhelmed by Cedric’s unique aura.

They exhaled their held breaths at once and hurried to greet Cedric.

“We… we greet Your Highness the Grand Duke…”

“…We greet Your Highness the Grand Duke.”

They all had dazed expressions as if enchanted by something.

‘I understand better than anyone why they’re all like that.’

Even I, living in the same castle as Cedric, often experienced this when encountering him.

‘Now that Cedric has appeared and everyone’s attention is gathered, it’s time to put on a proper show.’

I stood up from my seat, smoothed my dress, and approached Cedric.

“Cedric, I was in the middle of discussing with the ladies about why we started living separately.”

“…The reason we started living separately?”

Cedric’s eyebrows curved greatly into a mountain shape.

Although it was unlikely, I opened my mouth in time, fearing that a flustered Cedric might mention ‘divorce’.

“Yes, I told them it was a choice we made to turn around our strained relationship. And…”

Then I took a few slow steps closer to Cedric.

Although I had said earlier that we should avoid anything that might give Bianca hope, given the situation, I had no choice.

I finally wrapped my arms around Cedric’s neck and continued softly.

“That because of it, things have gotten quite hot between us.”

As I brought my face close, a faint wave rippled in Cedric’s blue eyes.

The distance between us had narrowed to where we could hear each other’s breaths.

“Cedric.”

I whispered softly in his ear.

“This is just business.”

And I gently caressed Cedric’s lips with my finger.

It was a signal that I would kiss him.

Fortunately, I didn’t feel the same rejection from Cedric as before.

He seemed to recognize my signal and just looked down at me blankly.

Eyes shining brilliantly like a blue sea.

Adam’s apple falling and rising deeply.

The tip of his tongue carefully brushing his dry lips.

The more I was captivated by those subtle movements, the louder my heart pounded.

Suppressing the stirring heart caused by this, I gently pressed my lips to his, and I felt Cedric’s shoulders stiffen slightly.

But only for a moment.

Soon he too began to move softly, following my movements.

The reason we were kissing now, and the numerous gazes around us.

All those things scattered like a fantasy at the tips of Cedric’s and my lips.

It was dangerously sweet and seductive enough to absorb me like that.

The heartbeat resonating throughout my body grew fierce enough to be painful.

And my skin grew even hotter due to an inexplicable heat.

I should stop. No, I don’t want to stop.

How long did that fierce and enchanting battle continue in my head?

“Now, enough…”

I muttered as if trying to persuade myself to break free from addiction, and barely parted my lips.

I felt dazed.

I looked up at Cedric with blank eyes and our gazes met.

Cedric too was looking down at me blankly, as if he had just woken from a dream.

As our eyes met again, another fierce wave surged at the entrance of my heart.

‘I can’t… calm down.’

As I turned my head with effort, a cool breeze brushed over my wet lips.

Only then did my mind finally clear, and I looked around.

Numerous gazes now focused on Cedric and me.

The emotions in those eyes were mostly superficial and shallow ones like admiration, jealousy, and envy.

Except for one place, where a deep emotion was felt from an intense gaze.

‘…Adrian, when did he arrive?’

His amethyst eyes, which always shone gently, looked somehow sad, and at the same time, exuded a deep sense of defeat.

As I couldn’t take my eyes off those eyes swirling with numerous emotions, at that moment.

Cedric’s blue eyes, which had been looking down at me all along, began to move slowly following my gaze.

And finally, his gaze that reached Adrian lingered in the same place for a long time.

‘If Adrian is here… it means Bianca must have seen us from somewhere too.’

Trying to hide the belated embarrassment washing over me, I turned to the ladies.

“…By now, can everyone believe what I said?”

All the ladies in the gathering nodded blankly, their gazes fixed on Cedric.

They all had dazed expressions.

‘Now there won’t be any more talk about our separate living arrangements.’

I slightly turned my head to check on Camilla.

Her face had already turned red, and she was continuously biting her lower lip.

When our eyes met, she tried her best to raise the corners of her mouth.

“It seems your relationship has improved… I’m really glad, Your Highness…”

As I saw a slight tremor at the corners of Camilla’s mouth, I smirked quietly. It was then.

Cedric, who had finally taken his eyes off Adrian, muttered as if reciting while looking at Camilla.

“It seems we needed to prove our relationship to the Countess.”

At that, Camilla couldn’t hide her flustered expression.

She seemed to think his words were meant to reprimand her.

“Th-that can’t be, Your Highness! How could I dare not believe Her Highness’s words!”

Camilla’s expression became increasingly desperate as she made excuses.

However, no emotion could be read in Cedric’s eyes as he looked at her.

Her lips opened and closed meaninglessly, as if anxious from his continued silence.

“There’s no need to be so flustered. In fact, I feel like giving a reward to Lady Dmitri.”

Cedric’s gaze, after uttering these incomprehensible words, turned to Adrian once again.

At this, Adrian’s face began to harden once more.

In contrast, the corners of Cedric’s lips curved up leisurely.

“Indeed, as Rebecca said, there has been tremendous progress in our marital relationship recently.”

“…”

“Now we can hardly bear to be without each other.”

Cedric gently lifted my chin with his finger and continued.

“In fact, until just now when we had to be apart…”

He paused briefly, and a soft curve formed at the corners of his mouth.

“I was feeling thirsty from missing you.”

With those final words, once again, Cedric’s lips gently descended upon mine.