I was so taken aback that I couldn’t find the right words to say.

Can’t I just walk there on my own? I didn’t even say it out loud, but Reus promptly responded.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to consider why you’re being carried.”

What kind of thought is that!

He would know if I told him, but I heard such an absurd remark.

“And… isn’t the marital bedchamber on a high floor?”

‘What does that have to do with anything…?’

I was still puzzled, but Reus walked ahead as if there was nothing more to explain.

“No…! I can go by myself just fine. Please put me down now… Ah−.”

Reus tried to adjust his hold on me, but he must have misjudged his strength because my body briefly floated in the air.

Feeling my heart drop, I instinctively hugged Reus tightly around his neck.

But then, at an impeccable timing, three maids appeared from the opposite side.

“Yeah. Yesterday, she told me… Oh my.”

One of the three maids walking side by side let out a surprised voice and stopped. The other two also halted and naturally shifted their gazes to us.

“…We, we didn’t see anything…”

“Be quiet…! Let’s go quickly, hurry.”

“No…! Girls, wait a moment! It’s not what you think…!”

The three maids disappeared in a flash before I could even make an excuse.

Come to think of it, we were supposed to act like an intimate married couple until we left the duke’s castle, so it would be better if the maids who saw us spread rumors.

But that’s beside the point.

“I told you to put me down…”

Anyway, to those maids, we became a couple caught in a display of affection in the corridor in broad daylight.

Thinking about it that way, my face quickly turned red-hot.

Reus, who had been silently looking down at me, spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

It was a voice that didn’t sound sorry at all. It even seemed to have a hint of laughter.

For the first time, I glared at Reus with eyes full of resentment. But this man insisted on carrying me all the way to the floor where the bedchamber was located.

The 5th-floor corridor, where the duke and duchess’s bedchamber was located, was completely empty.

Even before I arrived, access to this floor by the servants was limited to set times and the minimum number of visits, as per Reus’s orders.

‘Then what’s the point…?’

We already encountered numerous servants on the way here!

Thanks to that, I could now feel the heat rising up to my neck. There were no eyes on us on this floor, but I felt like hiding somewhere, so I completely buried my face in Reus’s shoulder.

‘What’s the big deal about skipping lunch…?’

On the way here, I kept asking him to put me down, but Reus mentioned that I had skipped lunch today and said it would be better not to walk.

It’s not like a person would collapse from missing one meal, so I was dumbfounded by his reaction that seemed to worry about such a thing.

Come to think of it, it was the same during my period. Even though I wasn’t particularly groaning in pain, he kept asking me several times if I was really not hurting whenever he had the chance.

How am I actually perceived by this person?

‘…A walking paper doll?’

I’m not sure what he thinks, but I felt a bit wronged.

The difference in physique between Reus and me was very large. Just looking at the arms, Reus’s arms looked more than three times thicker than mine.

‘Strictly speaking, it’s not that I’m particularly small, but Reus’s body is especially larger…’

And I don’t know what he meant by telling me to think about something while being carried.

I tried to recall if I had made any mistakes, but there were none this time.

While I was inwardly expressing my frustration, we finally reached the bedchamber. As soon as Reus set me down on the sofa, I moved to the end of the sofa and turned my head to the opposite side.

I thought he would immediately return to his office, but Reus didn’t leave and sat down a short distance away.

“I will bring you the books.”

“…I don’t need them.”

“Are you angry?”

“No.”

“You look angry.”

“I’m not angry.”

“I noticed your face was red earlier.”

“That’s…!”

Despite completely turning my head to avoid showing my flushed face, my head reflexively turned at Reus’s words.

I almost burst out in anger like I did to Theron earlier. Honestly, I felt like it would be fine to do so now, but I calmed my mind for the moment.

And I turned my head back to the opposite side.

“If we move around the castle like that… people will gossip about us.”

“It didn’t seem that way.”

“What do you think people will think when they see a grown adult woman being carried by her husband?”

“They’ll probably think the husband is crazy about his wife.”

He said such an inappropriate thing in a calm voice, causing me to turn my head again without realizing it.

But Reus immediately continued.

“If you put it that way, shouldn’t I be the one feeling embarrassed, not you?”

“No…! That, why does it turn out like that?”

I was flaring up, but suddenly a thought occurred to me.

‘Is he… teasing me right now?’

Judging by the situation, it seemed like it, but thinking that Reus was joking around made me tilt my head in confusion again.

Anyway, I quickly got up from my seat, feeling like I would be swayed again if I stayed like this.

“Where are you going?”

“To get a book.”

“I will bring it to you right away.”

“No. I want to go to the library again to put the book back.”

“Please don’t go.”

Reus spoke so seriously that my body momentarily stiffened.

‘Did he actually dislike me frequently visiting the library…?’

Thinking I might have crossed the line again, I was a bit wary, but Reus gently took my hand and slightly pulled me to sit next to him.

“I will tell Rotheo to bring up a meal for you, so please eat before you go.”

…That talk about meals again.

Last time, before the conversation about Viscount Pillaren, he said the same thing, and today was no exception.

“I ate too many desserts while reading, so I’m not hungry yet.”

“But that’s not a proper meal, is it?”

“But I ate enough to substitute for a meal.”

Reus silently looked at me and spoke as if he was very puzzled.

“Is it possible for you to live on… No. …Is it possible to live on eating so little every day?”

Is he trying to say…?

‘Is he trying to say I’m like a baby bird?’

For a moment, I let out a hollow laugh because it was so absurd.

“Little? I eat a lot.”

“A lot?”

Reus’s reaction was of genuine incomprehension.

But this time, I felt really wronged.

In Evelle, I starved for half the days and barely managed to eat leftover food for the other half.

However, since coming to the duke’s castle, I’ve been diligently eating every meal.

‘How much dessert, various drinks, and tea do I consume between meals?’

Not only have I been eating more than before, but the amount I eat now is also quite a lot compared to my peers.

Coincidentally, women in this world also tended to be obsessed with dieting. It was even more so for noblewomen who wore dresses every day. There were so many women who straight-up starved themselves.

‘It’s not even that, and just because I skipped lunch once…. And I told you I ate that much dessert.’

Millie brought so much food to the library for me to eat. Today, I drank a whole pot of black tea and ate so many slices of cake and various snacks.

But after staring at me seriously for a while, Reus deliberately said,

“You are… seriously thin.”

Seriously?

“I’m at an average body type for my size.”

At my words, Reus’s expression became even more exasperated.

“It wasn’t difficult at all to carry you here.”

“That’s…! Isn’t it because you are physically superior to others, Reus?”

“Even so, your ankles are completely grasped by my hands with room to spare.”

“That, that’s also…! It’s because your hands are too big, Reus…!”

I tried my best to explain, but in the end, we couldn’t understand each other. The conclusion was that I couldn’t leave the bedchamber until I finished the meal Rotheo brought up.

* * *

A few days later, a welcome guest visited the duke’s castle. It was Shanette, who had left for the Levaen Kingdom right after my marriage to Reus.

“I thought I could come earlier, but I ended up being so late. It’s been so long, Roel. Have you been doing well?”

It had been over two months since the wedding, and we hadn’t met even once, so it was really a long time.

“I’m sorry for coming so late.”

Shanette seemed genuinely sorry as she held my hands tightly and asked in detail about how I had been doing.

I was just as happy to see her and wanted to focus more on the conversation. However.

‘What on earth did you buy this time…?’

I couldn’t help but have my attention stolen by the procession of boxes continuously entering the lobby.

The number of gifts shipped under Shanette’s name was countless.

Yet, even after sending all those, there were still more things to buy.

I watched them with a slightly shocked expression, but Reus and Shanette didn’t seem to mind at all.

“By the way, Roel… Why do you look like you’ve lost weight? You’ve become half the size since I last saw you. You’re not skipping meals, are you?”

“Of course not…! Everyone is…”

I was about to say that there was no need to worry because all the servants in the duke’s castle took such good care of me, but Reus intercepted my words faster.

“Didn’t you skip dinner last night?”

“…That’s because I fell asleep from fatigue.”

“And you barely ate anything for breakfast.”

“Reus…! When did I barely eat…!”

Honestly, skipping dinner… was true.

But I could confidently say that I ate a lot for breakfast. I wasn’t even hungry yet, even though it was almost lunchtime!

However, after hearing Reus’s words, it seemed like my words went in one ear and out the other for Shanette.

“You were already thin, and now you’re skipping meals… What if you collapse? Huh?”

No, why are the people here so eager to feed me?

A person won’t collapse from skipping one meal…!