The night air felt incredibly refreshing as I came up from the underground prison. The guard I had sent outside was looking at me, hesitating.

“Now that things have turned out this way, I hoped the nanny would finally tell the truth, but…”

“Ah, I see.”

As I pretended to wipe my eyes with my sleeve, the guard seemed to misunderstand, thinking I was the “poor Lady Anette”.

When Anette was truly the pitiful daughter of the marquis family, no one paid attention to her. But now, with a few fake tears, people’s attitudes change.

I deliberately bit my lip.

“Please take good care of the nanny until the end.”

“Of course.”

I wonder what punishment one receives for stealing. Whatever the punishment, she will never be able to work in an aristocratic household again. She will never be able to secretly bully weak children again.

Just as I turned to head towards my room, someone walked out from the darkness.

“I see you’re feeling better.”

“Your Highness, the Grand Duke?”

In the darkness of the night, Darius’s black hair and black eyes were buried. The guard recognized the Grand Duke and quickly bowed.

“It seems late to visit your family home for the last time.”

He escorted me as if he were going to guide me. I slowly walked out from the direction of the prison.

“But she’s still my nanny. I wanted to hear her story.”

“After hearing it, was it a situation worth forgiving?”

“No.”

I shook my head with the most discouraged expression.

“Until the end, she only resented me.”

“Ah, I see.”

We walked slowly to my room. He was silent, and so was I.

“Thank you for escorting me.”

“Did the maid really steal the necklace?”

My hand slipped off the doorknob.

This was a question I hadn’t planned for at all.

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“In the first report I read, you were a fragile and weak-willed person. But the person I met in person was pleasantly firm.”

There were only two people in the hallway. In the quiet silence, Darius stared at me.

“You’re not the type of person to cry helplessly, claiming the maid stole your necklace. The Anette I know.”

“Then am I the type of person to run up to someone who stole my necklace and kick their butt? Is that me?”

That’s right. I’m the one who ripped out Caitlin’s hair. No matter how precious that necklace is, I wouldn’t collapse and cry if it went missing. I would go and find it myself.

“It must be true that the nanny bullied you. She couldn’t deny it. But her face didn’t seem like she was lying when she denied stealing it either.”

This is a crisis.

‘The protagonists are basically on the side of justice.’

If he finds out that I framed the nanny, the favorability I’ve worked hard to build may plummet. He may think I used unjust methods.

Should I insist that the nanny is not lying, but I am?

That he can’t trust me over something like this, even though we’ve decided to live together from now on?

However, completely different words flowed out of my mouth.

“If I hated what my nanny had done to me so much that I couldn’t let it go and framed her for stealing the necklace…”

I tightly grasped his trembling hand. Although an adult, the 20-year-old male lead was still innocent despite pretending to be strong.

“And if Your Highness knew this fact but pretended not to know… Then we would have our first shared secret as a married couple. Will you keep this secret for me?”

Instead of answering, Darius lowered his eyes. That was enough.

Today, we got married and shared a secret to commemorate it.

* * *

After escorting Anette to her room and returning, Darius was lost in thought. He hadn’t expected Anette to confess her wrongdoing so readily.

〈Let’s say it’s true that I framed the nanny.〉

〈Then, will Your Highness become an accomplice to my secret?〉

She revealed it as casually as if handing over a wedding ring. And yet, she acted as if she wouldn’t mind if he demanded to break off the engagement over this matter.

In fact, he would never believe that Anette was actually very surprised and wondering how things would turn out, while outwardly pretending to be nonchalant.

A pink rose with thorns. At the dinner they shared together, people were captivated only by her lovely appearance. They must have thought she was an ordinary, fragile and lovely noble girl.

But the woman he encountered in the night breeze…

She wasn’t just a pretty ornamental flower. She had a strong will and thorns to protect herself.

She did not hesitate to retaliate against those who attacked her.

Darius rather liked those thorns of Anette’s.

〈The southerners’ minds have all rotted, mired in peace.〉

〈There’s at least one person here who uses their brain.〉

He didn’t need a flower that could only grow in the blessed environment of the south. To become his “wife”, she had to be able to sprout and bloom even in harsh cold and foul conditions.

Entrapping others was not the right thing to do.

Nevertheless, strangely, he didn’t feel bad about sharing the crime with her. Rather, he began to feel a rising expectation that they could have a good cooperative relationship.

‘My heart is already weakening, calling her my wife when we haven’t even held the ceremony yet.’

Darius laughed at himself.

* * *

Secrets bring people closer together. Without the miracle of the wronged nanny being released, we left the south.

“The north is a cold land. Colder than you think.”

He advised me as he fastened my coat.

“It will take more than ten days by carriage. In the cold, barren territory, there are even monsters. We fight and live day by day.”

A kind man.

In Darius’s voice as he described his territory, there was both pride and bitterness. How nice it would be if those strong people could live on better land. He was a good lord.

“The north where we live will be very different from the south where you grew up.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s the land where I will live from now on.”

“You’re spirited. When I first saw you, I didn’t expect us to have this kind of relationship.”

“You hated the Porsche family, right?”

“Yes, I still don’t like them.”

Thud. My heart sank.

Being the “daughter of an enemy family” was a debuff I had.

“To be honest, there are times when I still can’t believe I accepted a person I thought I would never take as a wife.”

You don’t trust me yet.

We had a few meals together and shared a small secret like mischievous kids, but we haven’t known each other for long.

‘So there’s no need to rush.’

Let’s not be discouraged. As long as I don’t die, trust can be gained gradually.

Just as I was consoling myself, he spoke in an awkward tone.

“Since you’ve become my wife, I’ll do my best to give you everything I can.”

His cheeks were slightly flushed.

“You came from the south where everything is abundant to the north, so there may be many shortcomings. But I will do everything I can for you.”

He couldn’t meet my eyes and turned his head. I suddenly laughed at his reddened ear tips.

“Yes.”

I remember Darius in the original work, indifferently speaking of his wife Anette’s death.

Darius, who erased Anette from his memory with those words.

But saying he would do his best to give me what he could was a good sign.

‘Even if it’s a beginning with a determined end, let’s try to get along until the original female lead appears.’

“Your Highness the Grand Duke, Madam Anette!”

“Ahhh!”

Thud, at that moment, the carriage shook and swayed. Daniel, who was sitting in the front seat, shouted at us.

“It’s an attack by a demon beast!”

A demon beast?

Darius held my swaying body.

“Stay put. Don’t ever come out of the carriage. Daniel!”

Without any sign of panic, Darius drew the sword at his waist and ran out.

‘Why are you going out!’

Squeal, squeal.

A wild boar the size of a house was baring its tusks and snorting. Every time the wild boar stomped its feet, the ground was deeply plowed like a field.

“It’s a wild boar transformed by a demon beast! It seems to have been influenced by a demon living nearby.”

“Enough explanation. You protect the carriage. I’ll take care of slicing that thing.”

“What are you saying, it’s dangerous!”

Leaving the horrified Daniel behind, Darius charged at the wild boar with his sword drawn.

“It’s dangerous!”

A scream involuntarily escaped my lips. I knew Darius was the male lead and a skilled swordsman, but he looked so small in front of the huge wild boar.

The wild boar opened its mouth wide as if laughing at him. Just as I thought its sharp tusks would bite Darius…

Flash.

Darius’s sword was faster. As if cutting through paper, very lightly, he sliced the wild boar’s neck. Its very large neck.

“He’s crazy…”

Why do the protagonists have such reckless arrogance and a gambling spirit to try things out?

My heart was racing like crazy. I glared at Darius as he nonchalantly approached me, shaking off the hot blood as if nothing had happened.

This isn’t good for my heart.

“I’m sorry your first impression of the north is like this.”

“You said you’d do anything I wanted? First, listen to the people who worry about you, Your Highness!”

I know the male lead never dies, so why do I, an extra who can easily die, have to worry about the powerful male lead?

“I judged that if I stepped in, it would be dealt with quickly.”

“Do you not know that trying to get there 5 minutes faster can send you to the afterlife forever?”

This is a saying that usually appears in traffic law violations, but I thought it could be applied here too.

“You must have been startled seeing it for the first time, but it’s not that dangerous of a demon beast. No, it wasn’t even a demon beast. It was just a wild boar that turned ferocious under the influence of a demon.”

“That’s not the issue right now. I’m telling you I was worried about you, Your Highness!”

Darius blinked as if hearing an unfamiliar word.

“You were worried about me?”

As if he had never heard the word “worry” before.