And realistically, it was impossible not to hurt even a single hair in the process of forcibly capturing her. Some injuries were bound to occur.

“So. What did you do to them?”

“……I haven’t done anything. What should I do?”

At the Duke’s entirely unexpected response, a bewildered Lawrence stupidly asked.

“What you should do? You must do the same. Charge interest as well.”

The reason for going this far was simply because he was angry.

If someone scratches his possession, anyone would feel bad. Thus, the Duke excused himself as if comforting himself.

But as Lawrence watched him, he thought.

The Duke is infatuated with the maid.

The mansion, no, the entire empire will spread such rumors.

“It’s frustrating.”

Lina looked out the window and muttered to herself. It had been two days since she was unable to leave the room. And she was voluntarily confined in this luxurious room.

“I have to find the ring first.”

As soon as day broke, Lina asked May, who had come to her room, to bring the cookie jar she had placed under the bed.

But she had learned that all her belongings had been taken away for investigation right after she left, and nothing was left in the room.

“Sigh.”

As the situation became more tangled, a sigh escaped Lina’s lips.

Should she have refused when the Duke told her to stay in this room? Rumors surrounding her and the Duke had already grown uncontrollably in the mansion.

‘There’s no longer the whispering or contemptuous glances like before…….’

Instead of ignoring her, they seemed afraid of her. They didn’t even dare make eye contact.

Of course, they would. When she first came to the mansion with the Duke, everyone thought Lina would be severely punished.

But contrary to everyone’s expectations, Lina, who was not penalized at all, was even assigned a room on the third floor. As if she had become a special person to the Duke.

That’s when everyone in the mansion realized it. That the suspected rumor was true.

So now everyone had no choice but to be mindful of Lina. Since she had become the Duke’s woman, their necks could be cut off at a single word from her.

And those who had tormented Lina were even more afraid. Of Lina. No, of the Duke who loved Lina.

“Hoo.”

A sigh was all that came out in front of a problem with no answer. Then she suddenly recalled May’s words.

That the Duke had been emitting a murderous aura all this while.

He seemed to have been in a bad state during her absence.

‘Didn’t he sleep properly again?’

Certainly, here is the translation:

The image of Valige, who had been having a nightmare, came to mind. A trembling hand desperately holding himself.

“Still, it seemed to have gotten much better lately.”

Suddenly, doubts that had been ignored until now surfaced.

The duke’s gestures, always seeming to beg to be put to sleep, sleeping with her by his side.

And even the sounds of calm breathing that would return, as if nothing had ever happened, when she would hold the hand of the duke who was having a nightmare.

She mumbled, raising her right hand.

“Does sleep come easily if I hold your hand?”

At that moment, when she was thinking of a seemingly plausible hypothesis, she remembered the duke from last night, intently caressing her hand, and shook her head.

‘What am I thinking now…!’

It was then when she was cooling her once again flushed cheeks. A sound of something hitting came from the window.

“What’s that?”

Lina approached the window. Then, at that moment, a thrown stone hit the window and fell to the floor.

Startled, she opened the window and looked down. There was a familiar man waving as if he was glad to see her.

“Hello?”

With bright golden hair like the sun’s rays and blue eyes. It was the prince.

“Your Highness?”

“You recognize me?”

‘Ah, I’ve never met the prince in this form.’

She reproached herself inwardly for her carelessness.

“I heard it from a friend. That Your Highness is in the mansion……”

He seemed to understand Lina’s hasty excuse. In this mansion, the only man with blonde hair was Alex, so recognizing him at once was not unreasonable.

“Well, that’s not important. I’ve been waiting for you all this time.”

“……For me?”

Alex spoke towards Lina, who was pointing at herself with her finger, asking back.

“How about coming down for a walk with me?”

At his words, Lina hesitated. But how could she, a commoner, refuse the prince’s request?

Perhaps even if she were not a commoner but a noble lady, she could not have refused his request.

In a garden filled with evergreen trees without a single flower, Alex and Lina were walking together.

“It’s such a desolate garden.”

At Alex’s words, Lina turned her head and looked around.

The Fermanness family’s garden was filled with trees and grass that did not die in winter and were easy to care for. It could not be anything but a lackluster garden.

When she first came here, she too had thought the garden was quite chilly.

“In the past, this place was full of blooming flowers. Daffodils in spring, roses in summer. New flowers filled this place all year round. Not now, though.”

Alex’s voice, speaking as if recalling the past, somehow felt sad.

‘A duke’s garden filled with bright flowers.’

She could not quite imagine it. Somehow, the duke’s appearance and flowers did not seem to match.

Lina smiled quietly.

“You must have heard about the curse descending upon the Fermanness family once or twice, right?”