‘Deceive? What exactly?’

Although Letia heard Kallion’s whisper, she fell into a deep sleep without thinking further.

Kallion stared at Letia with a heavy expression.

While it was important to let the eyes and ears here know that they had spent their first night together, he actually had a more important purpose for sharing a room with her.

He tightly gripped the hilt of the sword he had drawn from thin air.

The extremely dark blade made even the air tremble as it emitted a chilling blue light.

This terrifying sword was Mork, the sword of madness that the Sword Master had created by extracting his own life force.

Only Kallion, its master, could wield Mork, and its true power was manifested using Kallion’s lifespan as its source.

Using Mork, he cut his palm and carefully lowered Letia’s dress to write his name on her left breast.

‘Kallion Luca Harencloud’

This was the blood contract between a direct imperial bloodline and a Gemma.

“So that you won’t die from going berserk when you become a Spinel. Letia, I can’t lose you.”

At that moment, as Letia’s light began to settle into his name written in blood, it started to shine brightly with each beat of her heart.

Eventually, the name that had become one with her light transformed into a sharp shape and pierced Kallion’s heart.

“Hah!”

Kallion gritted his teeth and exhaled sharply at the unbearable pain.

With this, the contract was sealed, and the two became connected as one.

‘If she were a Nebula, the contract itself wouldn’t have been possible. She’s definitely not a Nebula.’

Moreover, it was clear that she was slowly regaining her power.

But the reason he had secretly made this contract was because Letia herself still needed to believe she was a Nebula.

Feeling his heartbeat becoming somehow heavier, he slowly reached out to stroke her hair.

Now she was like a raw gemstone, not just a mere pebble.

Someday, she would fully regain her light and shine so brightly it would be blinding.

Yet, there was one thing that weighed on his mind.

“I’m sorry for deceiving you. I’m sorry for not keeping my promise. I’ll probably continue to deceive you. But I swear this one thing.”

Kallion engraved another contract as he firmly held her small hands in both of his.

“As long as I live as your husband, I swear on this Mork that I will protect you. I will be your sword.”

Just as she had stayed by his side until the end in the Winter Tower long ago, now it was his turn to stay by her side.

***

Early morning.

Letia slowly blinked her eyes at the faint sunlight she could feel.

Though her vision was still blurry from sleep and her head felt fuzzy, she somehow felt well-rested.

‘Right. I slept really well. Really well… Wait a minute!’

Letia suddenly opened her eyes wide and sat up with a start.

“Is it okay to wake up feeling this well-rested?”

Is this what the first night is like? But why can’t I remember anything from last night?

Letia tilted her head, unable to recall anything as if her memory had been erased.

“Am I not remembering because I was too tired?”

At that moment, her hair flowed down following her movement.

Letia absentmindedly brushed back her hair that was tickling her cheek, then was startled and hurriedly stood in front of the mirror.

“What’s going on here?”

Her hair, which had definitely been short until yesterday, had returned to its original length.

Just then, with a knock, Kallion entered and paused upon seeing Letia.

But outwardly showing no sign of surprise, he approached her as she was panicking.

“My hair grew this long overnight. What on earth happened yesterday? No matter how hard I try to remember, nothing comes to mind…”

“Well. Nothing much happened. Except that you suddenly fell asleep as if you had collapsed.”

“Really? I’m sorry. I must have been too tired.”

Kallion stroked her lengthened hair.

‘Is she awakening faster with the contract?’

It was hard to judge whether this was a good thing or not.

“This is strange.”

“There’s nothing strange about it. I was bothered by how short it was.”

He lightly kissed the strand of her hair he was holding.

“You’ve become even prettier.”

As soon as Kallion’s gaze fell upon her, Letia’s cheeks became unbearably hot.

“W-What are you saying all of a sudden!”

At that moment, there was a presence outside, followed by a knock as maids filed in.

They brought a tray full of breakfast along with a new dress for Letia to wear.

Despite the maids’ arrival, Kallion remained in a peculiar pose next to Letia.

‘He’s pretending to be affectionate.’

Letia calmed her quickened heartbeat and smiled properly.

“Thank you for saying so.”

Kallion, slightly displeased with Letia’s sudden prim behavior as if she were a well-dressed doll, abruptly picked her up.

Letia unconsciously let out a yelp and clung to him.

“What are you doing!”

“We should be more affectionate.”

The maids also glanced at the couple’s behavior, frozen and unable to do their work.

Kallion put Letia back down on the bed and, without taking his eyes off her, spoke to the maids.

“Set the meal on the bed, and help her change into the dress a little later. The Grand Duchess is still unwell.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Letia made a puzzled expression at the mention of being unwell.

‘What? I’m fine though? If anything, I feel refreshed from sleeping well. Is there a reason I should appear to be in pain?’

Somehow, the maids kept glancing at Letia out of the corner of their eyes, then hurriedly left the bedroom while trying to maintain their expressions.

However, the maids who had left the bedroom didn’t leave, but instead leaned their ears towards the room.

Then Kiyan appeared and cleared his throat.

“Ahem! What are you all doing there?”

“K-Kiyan, sir.”

“We were just… in case Her Grace the Grand Duchess might call for us…”

Kiyan smiled brightly at the maids who were hurriedly making excuses.

“She won’t call for you right away. Let’s give them some time alone. It’s their honeymoon after all. You never know when things might heat up again. It’s not right for you to be watching and listening like this, is it? Her Grace the Grand Duchess would be very embarrassed.”

“Y-You’re right.”

“Then we’ll take our leave.”

As the maids quickly moved away, Kiyan clicked his tongue at the sight.

***

Letia ended up having to eat breakfast in bed.

“Did our first night go well?”

“Yes. It went well for now. Kiyan will take care of the aftermath here.”

“Why Kiyan? Is it because you don’t trust the maids?”

“That’s part of it, but there’s more to it.”

Kallion’s words landed intimately, and Letia, completely oblivious, was caught up in other thoughts.

‘I need to find the Empress’s person as soon as possible.’

“I plan to tour the estate today.”

“I have some things to do as well.”

Seeing Letia’s somewhat solemn expression, Kallion suppressed the corners of his mouth that were involuntarily curling up.

“Still, we must have dinner together. Pretending to be an affectionate couple.”

“Do we have to eat together from now on?”

“For the time being.”

Kallion intended to keep Letia by his side and watch over her.

It seemed that the Spinel was awakening faster and faster.

***

After finishing her grooming, Letia was looking around the Grand Duke’s residence.

Although it was called the Grand Duke’s residence, it had been left empty without an owner for so long that its condition was beyond words.

First of all, the land was so dry and parched that it was impossible to even dream of garden trees, with thorny bushes overgrown everywhere, as the water supply had been cut off for who knows how long.

It seemed they had hurriedly brought in water to manage it upon hearing the news of Kallion’s return, but it was far from enough.

‘They must have disobeyed the order to maintain the mansion consistently.’

They probably embezzled a lot of the money they received under the pretext of management.

Letia observed the maids following behind her.

They grumbled as dirt kept getting on their skirts and they coughed from the acrid air that was difficult to breathe.

In particular, there were two maids walking at the very front who were the most sarcastic.

“Ugh! Dust in my hair…”

“I just took a bath!”

“Why did she suddenly decide to take a walk…”

“Maybe she doesn’t care because her hair was originally full of ash.”

“Is that so?”

Their attitude of daring to badmouth their master while giggling did not seem to recognize Letia as their mistress at all.

Well, since they were maids sent from the imperial palace, most of them were of noble birth and had pride as nobles.

So, having to serve a Nebula, who was considered a noble’s accessory, as their master… Even if Kallion and Letia’s relationship seemed good now, they were visibly taking a step back, not respecting Letia, thinking she might fall out of Kallion’s favor at any time.

At that moment, Kiyan approached Letia.

“Your Grace, Grand Duchess.”

“Were you looking for me?”

“You can speak comfortably. His Grace the Grand Duke said he might be late returning due to increased work and asked me to relay the message.”

“I see. Still, I’ll have dinner with the Grand Duke when he returns.”

“Yes, that sounds good.”

Kiyan smiled brightly at Letia, and thanks to that, the atmosphere around them seemed to brighten.

Although Kiyan appeared very frail on the outside, and his large glasses that seemed about to slip off made him look even more clumsy, Letia knew that appearances weren’t everything.

“You two really get along well. His Grace the Grand Duke thinks so highly of you, Grand Duchess.”

Kiyan clapped his hands while staring intently at Letia.

He had already heard about Letia’s true identity from Kallion.

‘To think she’s a Spinel.’

‘Until she fully awakens, we’ll help with Letia’s revenge. This is another card to bring down the Empress.’

‘That’s right. She killed the Duchess of the Crystallos family for no reason. When this fact comes to light, it will cause a rift. But why did she kill her? She should have been on good terms with Crystallos.’

‘We can look into that when we need to.’

‘True. Well, it’s a good thing. If he had to marry anyway, a lady like this is good. She has various uses.’

Letia found it difficult to speak under Kiyan’s somehow blatant gaze.

“Do you have something more to say?”

“Ah! No. Hehe, I just can’t help but smile when I look at you, Your Grace.”

“Is that so? If you think that highly of me, I’m grateful too.”

But Letia didn’t fully believe Kiyan’s words.

His mouth was smiling, but the look in his eyes as he gazed at her was very sharp.

“By the way, what were you doing here?”

“I was inspecting the Grand Duke’s residence. There are many things that need to be taken care of.”

“That’s true. We need to restore it to normal quickly. We’ll soon have to hold the official Harencloud ball.”

Letia nodded at those words.

The official ball was a very important event to announce the reinstatement of the Harencloud Grand Duchy to high society, and its preparation was entirely the Grand Duchess’s responsibility.

“Indeed, many things need to be addressed.”

For a moment, Letia’s gaze flashed sharply towards the maids.