The moment Lea saw Terran’s eyes burning with impatient lust and his broad shoulders, she knew she wouldn’t be able to escape tonight.

But she wanted to know the reason for this situation. Somehow, it felt like she had fallen into Terran’s scheme.

“I… won’t refuse either.”

“Is that so? No need for any more pointless words then.”

Terran tried to remove Lea’s chemise.

“No, before that, I need to hear some pointless words. What’s going on?”

Lea asked in an agitated tone. She felt like she had played an invisible game with Terran and lost.

Simply put, she felt like she had been played by Terran.

“Well, I had to stop my meddlesome fiancée.”

Terran began speaking with his arms crossed.

But his bare upper body and disheveled hair covering one eye looked intensely sensual.

“Stop… me?”

She had no idea what he was talking about. She wondered how he knew about and interfered with the women’s plan.

Terran found her adorably innocent face as she asked again utterly lovable. In truth, when he heard that the women were gathering to plot something, he had sighed.

[James, what did you discuss with Grace?] [She gave me this and asked for the love letters sent to the Duke.] [Love letters?]

Were there such things? Ah! There had been steady letters coming from some woman named Emily or something.

He had never opened and read them even once. After that, James had taken care of it, so it became a matter outside his concern.

[By any chance, was Grace jealous?]

He secretly hoped so.

[Not at all.] [Ah…! Not at all, you say.]

The fact that only he was jealous and acting crazy was pathetic. He almost let out a bitter laugh at how petty he looked, frantically reacting to swat away the flies buzzing around her.

[James, do you have those love letters?] [Yes, I have them. There’s quite a lot.] [Burn them all.] [Pardon?] [They won’t help Grace at all. Rather, they’ll only cause her to be embroiled in scandal.]

Terran knew Count Armand well. When his wife visited the Duke’s residence, he could roughly imagine her divorce story in his mind.

Count Armand’s character wasn’t too bad, but he was a stingy person in all aspects.

And he fell in love with a woman who scattered love letters everywhere?

Even if he lost his mind for a moment, such a relationship couldn’t last long, so there was no need for her to step in between the two of them.

It would only provide fodder for unsavory gossip in high society.

[Your Grace, I will tell the young lady that there are no love letters.] [No, would that work? I don’t want to see Grace disappointed.]

A blatant lie, it was a golden opportunity to catch and tease the rabbit that had been tormenting him.

After explaining the situation so far, Terran ultimately said that all the love letters had been burned and were gone.

He also advised her not to meddle rashly in other people’s affairs. But then, very unexpected words came out of her mouth.

“I was curious.”

“About what?”

“What kind of content she wrote to a man with a proper fiancée, I was actually jealous too.”

‘Jealous?’

Terran had an ‘oh no’ moment. If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have needed to cause that commotion by bringing in Vivian earlier to stimulate her emotions.

“I can get jealous too, you know.”

Lea said sulkily, turning her head to the side.

On the other hand, Terran was speechless, wanting to smack himself for being so oblivious to everything.

It wasn’t just about meddling to help Madame Armand. She actually wanted to know the contents of the love letters.

He needed to soothe her feelings, even now.

“I don’t know what was written either. I wasn’t particularly interested.”

“Tch!”

“I’ll introduce a competent lawyer to handle Madame Armand’s case.”

No matter how much he tried to coax her, she said nothing, covering herself with the blanket. This was troublesome…

All his efforts to make her come to his bed on her own would be for naught.

Terran carefully lifted the blanket and slipped inside.

But surprisingly, she placed her face on Terran’s bare chest and traced his skin with her hand.

“!?”

He thought perhaps tonight was finally the night. That grape didn’t mean anything anyway.

If she was taking the initiative like this, he had no reason to refuse.

‘Do you know how much I like you?’

A woman who flies in like a dove, hops around like a teasing rabbit, and tickles one’s nerves as softly as goose down.

‘You’re the only woman who doesn’t know your own worth.’

Tonight, he should plant infinite trust in him in her heart with his abundant love.

Terran ran his fingers through her lush golden hair. But there was no reaction.

“Huh?”

He lowered his head and soon confirmed that she had fallen asleep with her face on his chest.

“Damn it!”

He had forgotten for a moment. How much energy she had expended at the incinerator today.

‘This isn’t so bad either.’

Terran kept stroking her hair. So that she could sleep soundly, all night in his arms.

‘I’m glad I told James to lock the door from outside.’

Even if he couldn’t achieve his goal, he was happy just to be able to sleep soundly with her all night.

Looking at her sleeping with her small head on his chest, he whispered.

“I wish you would rely only on me. To the point where you can’t do without me.”

Terran cast his own spell on the sleeping Lea.

‘If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even be alive like this. How much I…’

Pretending to be asleep, Lea silently answered his question. How could she express in words the existence of Terran that filled her heart?

‘I like you so much it’s frightening.’

In this world, there are words that one dares not utter.

Lea wanted to endure a bit longer and listen to his whispers, but her exhausted body couldn’t keep up.

‘I’m happy to be able to fall asleep in your arms.’

* * *

In the end, Lea’s plan came to nothing.

“I’m sorry, Mary.”

“No, it’s rather fortunate. How could I have lived with such a man for life? It’s good that I found out his true nature now.”

“But I should have helped recover Mary’s property.”

Lea felt most sorry about that part. However, Mary didn’t seem to regret it much.

“The Duke said he would entrust the matter to a competent lawyer.”

“Yes, I heard that too.”

“That’s truly something to be grateful for.”

Rather, the person who felt regretful was Lea. She had wanted to give Emily, who stole another woman’s man, a good beating, but it turned out quite disappointing.

‘Mary is right. It’s best to discard such a man.’

In a way, Emily might have saved Mary’s life.

Lea decided to visit Chainer’s workshop in town with Mary and Sonya.

Since Allen’s younger sister Libet’s commissioned dress was completed, she prepared to go out to check on it as well.

When Lea said she was going to the workshop, Terran provided a four-wheeled carriage.

However, she wondered what he had been up to lately, as high-ranking imperial officials had been frequently visiting the Duke’s residence every day.

‘What’s going on?’

She was curious, but decided to put aside her doubts since Terran wasn’t the type to do pathetic things like herself. Finally, the three arrived at the workshop.

“Unni!”

“My lady!”

Chainer and Pauline greeted Lea very warmly when she visited. Tom and Paul also stopped what they were doing to greet her.

“The workshop is really pretty.”

Lea looked around the workshop. It was so neat and luxurious like a boutique that people passing by would stop to look at least once, she was told.

“Chainer, I heard Libet’s dress is finished?”

“Yes. It’s over there.”

Chainer guided everyone to where the dress was.

Among them, the most nervous person was undoubtedly Sonya.

She was also in the process of making a dress for another crown prince candidate. Finally, she got to see Chainer’s dress.

“Oh my! This is terrible.”

Both admiration and concern burst from Lea’s mouth at once.

The lace dress Chainer made was truly beautiful. And that’s why it was worrying.

Because it would be a big problem if Libet was selected wearing that dress. On the other hand, Mary and Sonya just tilted their heads without saying anything.

“Why? Is there a problem with the dress?”

Lea asked the two.

“Did Chainer design this dress? Or was it made according to the request?”

Mary asked with a serious face. Then Chainer answered.

“I just made it as I was asked to.”

Chainer showed Mary and Sonya the design sketch that Libet had sent. Then they praised Chainer with a smirk.

“It’s excellent. So don’t sell it cheaply at all.”

“I won’t sell it cheaply.”

Meanwhile, Lea was curious about Mary and Sonya’s true thoughts.

Why did both of them show displeasure at the same time when they saw the dress? Of course, she knew it looked like a wedding dress.

Libet wanted to look like a pure white goddess after all.

“It’s exactly the same as the dress Empress Teresa wore when she got married.”

Mary said something shocking.

“That’s right. It could be mistaken for Empress Teresa’s dress.”

Sonya also said she had visited Galdensia with the imperial couple of Saint-Eburg when Empress Teresa got married.

“Miss Libet used her head well.”

Lea thought that was the most important reason.

“It will remind viewers of a happy moment, so everyone will be moved.”

Sonya spoke about that time in a calm tone.

“No matter how hard I try, I won’t be able to beat that dress.”

Lea was greatly flustered by Sonya’s words. In fact, when Libet asked to make a wedding dress, she thought it crossed a line.

She thought Libet’s behavior of acting like she was already the crown princess would rather be poison, but her prediction was off.

“Sonya, did the Emperor like the dress at that time?”

“Of course. It was before he contracted smallpox, so he was so beautiful then.”

‘What should I do about this? I was too arrogant.’