Blair barely managed to pull the bell cord and curled up on the bed again, waiting for Lina. The room was still warm from the lingering heat of the fireplace. Herdin must have lit it in the morning before leaving.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

‘I don’t think Herdin is behind the assailant.’

The man who readily admitted his faults and apologized, who stayed by her side because of her fear of fire – even if he hated her, she didn’t think he would have tried to kill her.

As she was about to doze off with these thoughts, a knock sounded and Lina’s voice was heard.

“My lady, I’m coming in!”

Lina entered the room carrying a basin of water.

As Blair was about to get up, she suddenly looked down at her body. It was covered in red marks, as if flowers had bloomed all over. What used to be embarrassing traces of the night were now familiar.

“Lina, could you bring me some clothes?”

“Oh, yes!”

Lina quickly set down the basin and brought fresh clothes.

“Thank you.”

Blair took the clothes Lina handed her and put them on. However, Lina, who would usually be chattering away, was oddly quiet.

Finding this strange, Blair looked at her and noticed she was deliberately avoiding eye contact.

Blair then realized that Lina was embarrassed after seeing the marks left on her body.

‘In my past life too, Lina became very quiet when tending to me in the mornings shortly after I got married.’

Suppressing a smile, Blair asked Lina:

“Where is the Duke?”

“Ah. He left about an hour ago. A knight came from the Imperial Palace saying magical beasts had appeared in the outskirts.”

Blair’s expression hardened at the news.

It’s clearly the Imperial Knights’ duty to maintain order in the territory.

But Ivan had used Herdin like his own knight in her past life too. Saying the northern knights were much more skilled in fighting magical beasts, so their help was needed.

Knowing that innocent people would suffer if he didn’t step in, Herdin would often go without showing any displeasure.

Blair disliked that.

She disliked civilians getting hurt, she disliked Imperial Knights getting hurt, but she also disliked Herdin enduring unreasonable demands.

‘If he divorces me, brother will lose his excuse to ask for favors.’

Thinking that, she felt she couldn’t just sit still.

Blair hastily put on her clothes and got off the bed. At that moment, her legs gave out and she collapsed on the floor.

Startled, Lina rushed to support Blair.

“My lady! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“Why don’t you rest today? You don’t have any pressing schedules anyway… and… you’ve been overexerting yourself lately…”

“No. I’ll be fine soon.”

Blair got up, ignoring the worried look in Lina’s eyes. She smiled, sensing that Lina was displeased with Herdin, the cause of this situation.

Concerned that Blair was pushing herself, Lina brought the washbasin closer to the bed. She persuaded Blair not to go to the dining room and instead brought meals to her bed.

After eating under Lina’s overprotective care, Blair seemed to have recovered some strength.

Only then did she start her day.

She stopped by Pipi’s room to check how much more it had grown and played with it briefly, then left for the library in the mansion. It was to study about neighboring countries.

‘I plan to stay in the Kingdom of Clania until Asiel is born, but I don’t know where I’ll settle after that, so it’s best to study about the countries around the Empire.’

However, the book Blair was looking for wasn’t in the mansion’s library.

The librarian looked troubled.

“It seems one of the servants has borrowed it. It’s on the borrowing list, so I’ll go get it right away.”

Although books had become somewhat commonplace by now, they were still expensive items. Therefore, nobles didn’t allow servants access to their libraries.

But Herdin had kept the library freely open. So that everyone in Delmark could read books comfortably anytime.

Blair didn’t want to go against his wishes.

“No, there’s no need for that. It’s not urgent, and the person who borrowed it first should read it.”

Mason, who had been watching nearby, suggested to Blair:

“My lady, how about checking His Grace’s personal study?”

Herdin’s personal study was connected to his office. It was designed so he could easily access it whenever he needed reference materials while working.

In her past life, she had never visited it, feeling like she would be intruding on his personal space.

“Would it be alright for me to enter?”

Mason gazed at Blair, who asked cautiously.

Most people in the ducal household were wary of her.

Although they couldn’t openly mistreat her as she was the Emperor’s sister, they weren’t friendly enough to have personal interactions with her.

Blair didn’t try to win their favor or pay attention to their attitudes, but perhaps because she knew her position, there was a carefulness in her behavior.

As if she were a guest in someone else’s house.

Mason too had been somewhat wary when he first started serving her as the mistress, but after observing her closely over the past few months, he thought he could understand.

Esmeralda’s heart that had loved the daughter of a political enemy.

How could one not love a child who eagerly learned and worked hard at everything, and who sincerely rejoiced at even a single word of praise?

Blair resembled Esmeralda, who had raised her with love, more than her own mother.

Others might laugh if they heard, but to him, who had long passed his forties and was no longer swayed by the world’s prejudices, that was how Blair appeared.

Since they were joined in marriage before God, he hoped she would adapt well to this ducal residence and to his master.

“My lady, you are the mistress of this Delmark household. There is no place you cannot go and no object you cannot use in this mansion.”

As if to reassure Blair, he added, “His Grace didn’t say anything specific about the study either.”

Hearing this, Blair immediately headed to Herdin’s office with Mason. But as soon as she entered the office, she regretted it.

The office, which had been left in disarray ten days ago, was neatly tidied up as if nothing had happened. Her face flushed with heat.

Embarrassed, Blair quickly averted her gaze.

Mason asked curiously:

“My lady? Is something wrong?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

I shouldn’t come near the office for a while…

Blair thought as she followed behind Mason. The passage leading to the personal study was on the right side of the office.

“Please call if you need anything.”

Mason guided her that far and then withdrew.

As she opened the door and entered, the view of a large room entirely surrounded by bookshelves unfolded before her.

The study was spacious and quiet, appearing clean at first glance, but upon closer inspection, there were books left unorganized here and there. Since Herdin was the only one using this study, they must be books he had been reading.

‘I thought he liked everything to be neatly organized.’

Surprised by this unexpected sight, Blair looked around the study and found the bookshelf containing history books of various countries. There were the books she was looking for.

She picked up a few volumes and was looking around to see if there were any other interesting books when the adjacent bookshelf caught her eye.

‘I wonder what kind of books are shelved here?’

Usually, the classification of books is written in the center of the bookshelf, but nothing was written on this one. That made her even more curious.

Blair moved to that bookshelf. It was full of books written in an unfamiliar language.

Blair recognized the language at a glance.

“Ancient language?”

Books written in the ancient language are usually magic books. That meant all the books on this shelf were magic books.

‘Come to think of it…’

Suddenly, she remembered his appearance at the New Year’s Festival. The way he wielded both sword and magic simultaneously.

Those chosen by mana from birth become true magicians by learning magic from magic books. Herdin, being both a swordsman and a magician, must have studied magic books like other magicians.

It suddenly hit her that he was indeed the Empire’s only magician-swordsman with overwhelming power. At the same time, she became interested in the magic books before her. It reminded her of a childhood dream.

When she didn’t know that not just anyone could become a magician, Blair wanted to be one.

She thought that if she became a magician, she could fulfill any wish, no matter how physically impossible.

So for a while, she diligently read magic books in the imperial library. Thinking she could become a magician if she mastered magic books, she struggled to interpret the incomprehensible ancient language using a dictionary.

In the end, she couldn’t become a magician, but thanks to that, she could interpret the difficult ancient language to some extent.

While examining the bookshelf full of magic books, Blair discovered a magic book placed on top of the shelved books.

Blair took out that magic book. It must have been left in that state for quite some time, as dust had accumulated thickly on the book, making her cough.

Blair coughed as she dusted off the book, then examined the cover.

Unlike other books where the title is usually written, this black book cover had only a small symbol drawn on it. It was the symbol for infinity.

‘Infinity? What kind of magic could it be to have such a cover?’

Curious, she turned the cover, revealing the very first page of the book. As if proving it was a very old book, there was ancient script written on the faded paper.

Blair deciphered the letters, drawing on her childhood memories.

“Magic… of Time.”

What kind of magic could the magic of time be?

She had barely managed to read the title of this magic book, but it only made things more puzzling.

As Blair was about to turn to the next page, that’s when it happened.