I don’t understand why Johan looks so pleased.

Anton writhed as if he was trying to say something. Seeing this, Johan stomped on Anton’s windpipe.

All that was left was the sound of a choked breath.

“But I can’t keep such a bug alive forever. Treating him is out of the question.”

In other words, he wasn’t going to kill him ‘here’.

“Because he dared to hurt my wife.”

But I didn’t care about that.

“Do as you wish, Your Grace.”

“No, I’ll follow my wife’s opinion.”

What did he say?

“It’s only right to do as my wife wishes, as it’s the man who tried to harm her.”

Johan asked in a gentle voice. I could feel the restrained madness and violence from him now.

“How shall we kill him?”

But the words themselves seemed to show respect for me. What on earth is going on?

“If you want to torture him while he’s still alive, just command it.”

“I… ”

I don’t know what to say to please Johan.

“I don’t want to see Anton anymore. I want this to end quickly.”

“And?”

“I don’t know about the rest.”

“Such demands are always the hardest.”

Johan nodded leisurely.

“I have several ideas, but I think my wife would want a clean death.”

Fortunately, Johan seemed to understand my words.

“As my wife wishes.”

A sweet voice tilted towards me.

At that moment, Anton, who had been writhing, suddenly stiffened and vanished. Thick blood splattered around, including on Johan near me. It all happened too fast for me to properly see.

I was so shocked that my body stiffened.

A person can disappear so quickly.

When the stench of rotting blood reached me, I felt as though my body had received an unconscious shock.

Johan slowly wiped off the splattered blood on my cheek, not caring about the blood that soaked his body.

“He probably went without pain. I wouldn’t know because I’ve never died like that.”

Covered in remaining blood, Johan smirked.

“Just tell me what you want. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Sorry, but I never wanted such a thing.

Johan took me out of the room.

I felt freed from the terrible smell of blood when I stepped outside.

‘All I thought about was the disappearance of Anton’s body.’

I didn’t expect such a direct method, even though I heard it was ruthless. While enjoying the cool outside air, I remembered Anton’s death vividly.

‘I won’t have nightmares tonight, right?’

The fortunate thing is that I don’t dream much. Even when I fall asleep, I sleep so deeply that it’s hard to wake me up.

‘I’ll be fine.’

With that thought, my mind felt a lot more relaxed.

“Johan?”

Johan, who had been leading me, had stopped on the stairs without my noticing. I looked at him and tilted my head.

“What’s the matter?”

After a brief pause, he looked at my face and gave a gentle smile.

“Nothing. I just had a strange thought.”

“A strange thought?”

“This.”

While we were facing each other, he pulled me into his arms. I could feel his solidity from his large frame that seemed to engulf me.

“I should have hugged you as soon as we entered.”

“……”

“I couldn’t properly look after my wife because I was cleaning up that garbage.”

Even amidst the fear, a strange sense of calm enveloped me.

“Were you very scared?”

The hand of Johann patting my back.

“It’s okay. Because the Duke arrived immediately. And this.”

I showed Johann my wrist. When Anton tried to forcibly take me, this red mark slightly heated up and protected me.

“The Duke’s mark has been protecting me all this time.”

Johann, who was looking at my wrist with a peculiar gaze for a moment, gave a small smile.

“That protection magic, it works when you have been thinking about me for a long time.”

“What?”

“You were trusting me and kept waiting, weren’t you?”

I had no idea that there was such a secret to this simple magic.

‘Johann must have noticed that I was thinking about him.’

It wasn’t a bad thing that I could prove what I had been saying all this time. But I was embarrassed because my innermost feelings were laid bare.

I felt my cheeks burning in embarrassment.

‘Is it not?’

As soon as I thought it was hot, my head started to spin a little.

‘It seems that the incident with Anton was more difficult than I thought.’

Usually, when I cry a lot or go through a tough time, I get a fever all of a sudden. Especially since I had been threatened with a dagger, it seemed I had a really hard time.

“But where are we going now?”

“To my room.”

“What?”

“I can’t help but worry about you. I plan to put you to sleep in my room from now on.”

My eyes widened at Johann.

‘I can’t sleep in peace now!’

Although Johann doesn’t always bother me when I sleep, I still had an issue. I wasn’t comfortable being conscious of Johann next to me.

“Don’t worry. You have your own room. We’re only together when we sleep.”

The problem is being together while sleeping!

“Do we sleep together every night?”

“Why, do you hate sleeping with me?”

“It’s not exactly that……”

“It seems like exactly that kind of reaction?”

Anyway, he was sharp.

“Or did you hear something strange from that bastard?”

Johann bent his knee, matching his eye level with mine to some extent. His face suddenly came a bit closer, causing me to step back a bit.

“I didn’t hear anything special.”

“Even about your family?”

“I’ve heard about the Duke Libertan.”

I had heard all of it from the outside. I calmly answered, grumbling to myself.

“Don’t worry. I don’t believe a single word from a person I can’t trust.”

“You always tell me not to worry.”

“But there’s really no need to worry.”

There’s no need to be shocked just because I heard something I already knew with my ears. I had already had enough shock when I recalled the original work.

“The story I heard was that the culprit who framed the Duke Libertan was the husband.”

At that moment, Johann’s face stiffened slightly.

“So I thought about why I was brought here as a condition to write off that debt. I remembered what you told me before.”

Johann wouldn’t say anything for revenge anyway. I don’t have any false expectations. So, I laughed heartily.

“You told me I’m worth that much.”

“……”

“So, I decided to trust it once more.”

Strength flowed into his large hand holding mine. His red eyes looked at me somewhat confusedly.

Whether it was to clean up after Anton’s death, the servants of the Duke Blanquit were moving around the vicinity. Among them was someone I knew.

‘Lady Patricia Gillyte.’

Her dark brown hair, neatly tied up without a single strand out of place, her cold turquoise eyes, and her face without a single change of expression, like a plaster statue.

Even just standing still, I could feel her meticulous and strict attitude.

‘The housekeeper of the Duke Blanquit.’

In the original work, she was a woman who ostracized and harassed me in the house.

I thought I would meet her someday, but I didn’t expect to meet her at such an exhausting event.

‘She’s a more exhausting opponent than Erich.’

I didn’t see Erich often as he was Johann’s aide, but Patricia was the housekeeper of this house and my constant adversary as the hostess.

Unlike Erich, whose situation had come out quite a bit, Patricia had not revealed much about her past, making her difficult to deal with.

“Good day, Madam. I greet you for the first time. I am Patricia Gillyte, the housekeeper of the Duke Blanquit. I was not able to greet you properly before due to my hectic schedule.”

Patricia, who slowly approached, respectfully bowed to me.

“Are you feeling alright? I heard you’ve faced great difficulty due to my negligence. I apologize”

My vision had gotten blurrier than before.

‘I shouldn’t be showing such a bad state at our first meeting.’

I couldn’t beat the fever rising from my head and staggered. Johan, who was holding me, quickly embraced me.

“Ma’am. Why have you been feverish since”

In my fading vision, I saw people murmuring in confusion, and Johan’s eyes, which looked shocked.