In the bathroom, only low breathing and the rustling of clothes quietly echoed.

Dalia unconsciously swallowed as she stood before Clayton, who was wearing only a robe.

Through the thin cotton fabric, she could feel the firm male body.

It seems her judgment was momentarily clouded earlier.

To think that all she could come up with was offering to bathe him. With an expression mixed with anticipation and regret, Dalia slowly removed the man’s robe. And then.

“Wow.”

She involuntarily let out a perverse exclamation.

At the sound, Clayton’s body flinched momentarily, but Dalia, oblivious to this, began openly admiring Clayton’s body.

Yesterday, due to the darkness of the room, she couldn’t see properly, but seeing Clayton’s body again was very…

‘Incredible.’

Broad shoulders and a firm chest that could be felt without touching. And below, well-placed muscles.

It was a large and beautiful body worthy of the title of male protagonist in a novel.

Perhaps because Dalia stared too intently at his body, Clayton tilted his head askew and muttered,

“It might wear out if you keep looking like that.”

Startled by Clayton’s voice, Dalia’s shoulders twitched. It seems she had been too obvious in her admiration.

“Haha. The hot water is ready, please get in.”

As Dalia guided him with an awkward laugh, Clayton immersed himself in the bathtub.

Clayton leaned back in the tub, surrendering his body to the hot water.

With a splashing sound, steam from the hot water filled the space between the two.

“Let’s see, where’s the sponge…”

Despite boldly offering to bathe him, Dalia was wandering around the bathroom, not knowing where the sponge was. After rummaging around for a while,

Having found everything she needed, Dalia took her place beside the tub.

“Then I’ll start!”

A confident voice echoed in the bathroom. The steam rising made the view hazy.

But Dalia, undeterred, began washing the duke with a sponge full of water.

Clayton, receiving Dalia’s clumsy ministrations, slightly opened his eyes that had been closed.

‘I wasn’t expecting much, but.’

Where had the woman who was giving him a gloomy look earlier gone? Dalia, now sincere about washing Clayton’s body, began scrubbing the man’s body like a professional bathhouse attendant, forgetting her own position.

‘To think she’d focus only on washing the body.’

It was a touch devoid of any ulterior motive.

The splashing water echoed in the bathroom.

Every time Dalia’s fingertips brushed against his skin, his body unconsciously stiffened.

He felt ridiculous for being so tense just from having his body washed.

It felt like he had become an amateur who had never met a woman before.

Clayton tried to maintain composure as he gazed at Dalia.

Although obscured by the thick steam filling the bathroom, Dalia was pursing her lips, concentrating more than ever on washing him.

It was truly baffling.

‘But.’

Clayton, who had been quietly observing Dalia so absorbed, smiled silently.

‘This isn’t so bad either.’

Clayton leaned his head back on the tub and closed his eyes, seeming comfortable.

* * *

It had already been four days since she started sharing a room with Clayton.

The awkwardness of the first day was gone, and now having light conversations with Clayton before falling asleep had become a natural part of their daily routine.

Dalia leaned back on the sofa, recalling the past few days.

Bathing him turned out to be more tiring than expected, so she hadn’t done it much after the first time.

This was because, given the considerable size difference between the two, Dalia washing Clayton’s body required as much labor as a hamster washing a wolf’s body.

Instead, Dalia would tidy up his clothes when he woke up in the morning, or bring him a cup of tea while he worked in his office.

She was narrowing the distance with Clayton without exerting too much effort.

And perhaps because of these efforts, Clayton’s demeanor seemed to have softened considerably.

‘He’s become a bit more affectionate lately.’

Of course, the basis for Dalia’s efforts bearing fruit was also that Clayton had somewhat accepted her actions after she had given him blood.

‘Things are going more smoothly than expected.’

At this rate, it was clear that the relationship between the two would deepen further during their trip.

Just as Dalia, feeling more at ease, settled into a more comfortable position on the sofa, Jason entered with a knock.

“My lady, the room preparation is all finished.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then let’s go take a look.”

As soon as Jason’s answer ended, Dalia rose from the sofa as if she had been waiting.

It seemed the room renovation was finally complete.

She had thought they would just change some furniture or curtains, but it had taken longer than expected, piquing Dalia’s curiosity.

Dalia’s steps were light as she walked down the corridor, as if there was no reason to delay.

As she walked ahead of Jason, Dalia suddenly remembered something she had been curious about and stopped.

“By the way, why did the duke suddenly decide to renovate the room?”

“The duke had been concerned about you using the previous duchess’s room as it was. The marriage itself was so sudden that there hadn’t been time to prepare. It’s just that what should have been done originally was delayed.”

“Is that so?”

Pure lies.

Even a passing dog would snort at the suggestion that Clayton had been concerned about her room from the beginning.

He probably wanted to show his appreciation for the blood she had given him in this way. This was a common story even in novels.

Showing off wealth to express feelings in place of the male lead.

This was clearly a positive sign that his feelings towards her were changing.

‘More than that, we’ll be staying in separate rooms again now.’

In a way, it had felt like they had become a real couple while sharing the same room.

It seemed like they had grown a bit closer. So Dalia had secretly hoped the renovation wouldn’t end.

‘Well, it’s fine. We’ll be together all day at the villa anyway.’

She had heard that preparations for departure were almost complete.

It must be a beautiful place to have a Sayer family villa. As Dalia recalled the villa they would soon depart for, she looked at Jason.

“Have you heard anything from the duke about the villa? How long does he plan to stay there?”

“Well, I haven’t heard much about that either. However, judging by the preparations made for the duke to conduct business without issue at the villa, I think you might stay for quite a while.”

Staying for quite a while. It wasn’t particularly bad.

She was getting tired of being in the capital all day. Moreover, with the rumors swirling in social circles about the incident at the imperial palace, it wouldn’t be bad to stay in a quiet place until the gossip died down.

She recalled the invitations nestled in Samantha’s arms this morning.

While ostensibly inviting her to parties under the pretext of friendship, the real reason was likely to probe about the incident at the imperial palace.

She didn’t want to pay much attention to such trivial matters at a time when she needed to maintain stability.

Lost in these thoughts, how many steps had she taken? As they finally arrived in front of the room, Jason opened the door as if he had been waiting.

Just as she was about to take a step into the room…

The previously unhindered progress came to a sudden halt as the door opened.

“…What is this?”

“It’s your room, my lady…”

Jason responded to Dalia’s dumbfounded question as if asking if she couldn’t see for herself.

‘Is this really the same room I’ve been using?’

While the location and size indicated it was undoubtedly the place where her room had been, the contents inside were beyond imagination.

The stunned Dalia carefully examined the room once more.

The first thing that caught Dalia’s eye was the royal blue color covering the entire room.

Unlike the previous dreary room filled with meaninglessly displayed expensive antique furniture, the royal blue, said to be used only in the imperial palace, matched Dalia’s hair color quite well. And that wasn’t all.

It was a given that all the furniture had been changed, and even the vases placed on top were clearly not ordinary items.

It wasn’t simply a matter of changing furniture or wallpaper.

From small details like accessories to wallpaper, carpets, curtains – everything that made up the room had been altered.

When she first opened her eyes in this room, she was amazed at how luxurious it was. But that previous room seemed not even worthy of being called luxurious compared to this one that truly took her breath away. Moreover.

“What is that…?”

As Dalia slowly walked around the room, her eyes fell on the bathroom.

Pointing at the unusually shiny bathroom walls that were previously just ivory marble, she asked Jason.

He responded as if he had been waiting, puffing out his chest as he began to explain.

“It’s crystal.”

“Crystal? In the bathroom…?”

“Yes. As you know, when water gets on regular marble, it becomes slippery and accidents can occur. That’s why it’s becoming fashionable among southern nobles to add crystal to bathroom walls.”

“…”

As Dalia was left speechless, Jason continued his explanation as if he wasn’t finished.

“The carpet on the floor was made by a master craftsman from Persiare. It usually takes over a year to order and receive, but fortunately, a suitable piece had just arrived in the capital, allowing us to lay it in your room. And as for this tapestry…”

‘No wonder it took so long.’

There was a good reason for everything.

Someone once said that if there’s something money can’t solve, it’s because you don’t have enough money. Unfortunately, that saying seemed to be true.

This room was blatantly showing just how much wealth in the empire could rival that of the imperial family.

‘It’s excessive, too excessive.’

While it’s a characteristic of male leads in romance fantasy novels to show off their wealth for the female lead, she never expected it to be to this extent.

She could now belatedly understand why the female leads in novels showed such bewildered reactions.