“Wh-What are you doing!”

Karina ended up shouting in surprise, startled by the situation.

“…That’s what I’d like to ask.”

Jeremiah said, narrowing his brows.

Karina quickly turned around to calm her surprised heart.

“I… I came because I have something to tell you.”

Her voice cracked due to the shock.

“For that, you seemed to be quite diligently searching through an empty office, weren’t you?”

“…!”

Karina bit her lower lip at his pointed remark.

There was no way Jeremiah, who had reached the level of Sword Master, would miss the presence of a person with just a wall between them.

Moreover, he already knew everything she had been doing until just now.

‘So you knew and just watched? What a nasty attitude.’

Karina grumbled that his disposition was vicious.

Swallowing her complaints, Karina decided to just be brazen since it had come to this.

“I definitely knocked. It’s the fault of the person who wasn’t in their seat.”

“Ha.”

Jeremiah snorted as if it was absurd.

“So if the owner isn’t present, you can freely search through their belongings? I wonder what etiquette that is.”

“I was in a bit of a hurry.”

Karina retorted with a defiant tone, crossing her arms.

She felt Jeremiah approaching behind her back.

Jeremiah, with his hand on the doorframe, stood right behind her and asked.

“So. What were you looking for?”

At his interrogating words, Karina turned around.

“That’s… huk!”

And once again, she was too surprised to continue speaking.

‘What! Why are you still undressed!’

It was because Jeremiah, who had approached her closely, was still in his bare state.

Karina was flustered and didn’t know what to do.

But this time, she didn’t turn away to avoid him.

Instead, she was cursing with her eyes while frowning deeply.

‘Why on earth are they all not wearing clothes!’

Karina screamed inwardly while fuming.

Still, she didn’t know where to put her eyes.

But momentarily, a stubbornness arose that she would absolutely not make the same mistake as last time.

Karina clenched her mouth shut.

‘If I turn my head away in embarrassment, it’ll be the same situation as before.’

Karina recalled the situation she had experienced recently when Mikhail was changing his uniform.

‘Absolutely not!’

She absolutely hated the idea of being in that kind of situation where she seemed to have revealed a weakness, especially with Jeremiah.

‘Especially not with Jeremiah of all people!’

Karina stared straight at Jeremiah with her eyes wide open.

She could see every single water droplet slowly rolling down his sculpture-like features, over his wet, even blacker hair and clear white skin.

Following the path of the falling water droplets, his sculpted features were imprinted clearly in Karina’s vision.

The smooth, honey-like glow of his skin, thick eyebrows and high nose bridge, clearly defined and plump red lips, and sharp jawline.

Below that, the water droplets that flowed along his strong neckline passed over his protruding Adam’s apple and straight collarbone, down to his firm chest.

But Karina stubbornly kept her gaze fixed on Jeremiah’s eyes, not lowering her sight.

Then his moist red lips parted, and his low, even voice pierced her ears clearly.

“Tell me. What were you looking for?”

“……”

Karina couldn’t open her mouth to his question.

She felt that if she spoke now, her voice would tremble.

If that happened, she felt she wouldn’t be able to even stand there pretending to be unaffected, which she was struggling to do.

Karina clenched her fists and endured.

“……”

Jeremiah raised one hand and cupped Karina’s chin.

“Not going to speak?”

He brushed his thumb over her closed lips.

“……”

Jeremiah stared back at Karina’s gaze, which was looking straight at him, with an expressionless face.

His deep, dark eyes like an abyss gazed at her intently.

How much time had passed?

A water droplet that had slowly gathered at the tip of his wet hair fell and landed on Karina’s cheek with a plop.

Surprised by the cold sensation, Karina’s eyelashes trembled slightly.

Taking that as a signal, Jeremiah’s face drew even closer to Karina’s.

It was such a precarious distance that their breaths could be felt, as if their lips would touch at any moment.

Karina’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

Unconsciously, she wanted to take a step back.

But she barely managed to hold her ground without retreating.

As if to say she wouldn’t run away no matter what he did.

At some point, a faint sigh escaped from Jeremiah.

It was an ambiguous feeling, like a sigh but also somewhat like a laugh.

The gazes of the two people, which had been tightly intertwined in mid-air, slowly drifted apart.

Jeremiah had taken a step back.

“Get out.”

“…Pardon?”

Karina wore a blank expression at the sudden order to leave.

Jeremiah grasped Karina’s shoulders and gently pushed her back.

“…?”

With his slow touch, Karina was pushed back without even realizing she was being moved.

“Wait a moment. I said I came because I definitely have something to say.”

“We’ll do it later.”

Jeremiah turned around and firmly closed the bedroom door right in front of Karina’s nose.

“…Huh?”

Karina blinked her eyes.

Looking at the closed door, it took Karina quite a while to come to her senses.

‘What? Did I just get kicked out without saying anything?’

Karina muttered with a bewildered face as she grasped the situation.

“Why…?”

‘Ha, this is ridiculous.’

Jeremiah brushed up his dripping wet hair, openly showing his discomfort.

He was dumbfounded by Karina’s attitude of being unfazed even when seeing a man’s naked body.

‘Shouldn’t she be more flustered normally?’

It was only at first that she showed a surprised appearance when seeing him.

Even that seemed more like she was surprised by the fact that someone was there, rather than being shocked by his naked body.

‘Doesn’t she have too little wariness towards men? Surely she doesn’t act like this in front of that guard too?’

As that thought occurred to him, his displeasure crossed the line.

Jeremiah frowned deeply.

He recalled her eyes that had been looking straight at him.

It was as if a lush green forest had been perfectly captured in a transparent glass bead.

His throat went dry at that blind gaze directed at him.

The moment he touched her stubbornly closed lips with his thumb, Jeremiah was seized by a dizzying feeling.

Her slightly flushed cheeks and plump lips looked tempting.

So much so that he almost unknowingly kissed her.

As soon as he realized that fact, a bitter laugh escaped without him knowing.

‘I must be crazy.’

He felt his already uncomfortable mood worsening.

Jeremiah glanced towards the door.

He could feel that Karina hadn’t left yet and was waiting behind the door.

“Huu.”

His sigh deepened.

Jeremiah quickly wiped off the moisture and put on his clothes, having calmed his confusion.

His only thought was that he needed to chase her out of his room quickly.

When he opened the door, Karina was still standing in the same place where she had been pushed earlier.

Although she had her arms crossed and looked quite annoyed.

“So what did you want to say?”

Jeremiah asked directly about the main point, without even suggesting to move elsewhere.

“You remember, right? It was my idea to hold Caroline’s proposed tea party as a regular meeting combined with a charity event.”

Jeremiah nodded as if telling her to continue.

“I want to personally oversee the overall management of the event and guest reception. All by myself, without Caroline’s help.”

“Do so.”

“Pardon…?”

Contrary to Karina’s expectations, Jeremiah easily gave his permission.

‘I thought he would refuse since he probably doesn’t know much about Northern banquets.’

Still, she was satisfied to hear directly from Jeremiah’s mouth that she could do it alone.

Now the risk of Caroline discovering her plan or interfering was reduced.

But there was still something left to say.

What she was about to say now was even more important.

Karina hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth again.

“I want to send out the event invitations with the seal of the Grand Duke couple, not just the Grand Duchess.”

“…?”

Jeremiah tilted his head slightly and asked back.

“You want to send invitations with the seal of the Grand Duke couple, not just the Grand Duchess or Grand Duke?”

“That’s right. What I was looking for earlier was also the family head’s seal. I need it to send the invitations.”

To send it with the couple’s seal, she needed to stamp the family head’s seal next to the Grand Duchess’s seal at the end of the invitation.

That would confirm that both the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess had consulted and agreed to send the invitation together.

Karina felt embarrassed to make such a request after confidently talking about divorce.

Even to herself, it seemed inconsistent and shameless, but it was necessary for her plan.

“Why does it have to be that way?”

To Jeremiah’s question, Karina calmly replied.

“It will carry more weight that way.”

She swallowed the words ‘as a couple’ and kept them to herself.

She absolutely didn’t want to say it, even as a lie.

“……”

After a moment of silence, Jeremiah opened his mouth again.

“So the talk of divorce was just words after all?”

“…!”

Karina frowned.

This was why she didn’t want to use this method, for fear he would misunderstand like this.

She was afraid the weight of her words about divorce, which she had uttered with firm resolve, would become as light as dust.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t misunderstand.”

Karina said solemnly with a stiff expression.

“My thoughts on divorce haven’t changed at all. I just didn’t think there was a need to create unnecessary noise before the divorce preparations are complete.”

“Divorce preparations?”

Jeremiah, who had maintained an expressionless face until now, narrowed his brows.

“Even if you don’t like it, it’s a marriage formed by imperial decree. Did you think you could get it dissolved just by asking for a divorce without any preparation? I never thought it would be easy to get permission in the first place.”

Karina spoke as if it were obvious.

Jeremiah looked slightly surprised, as if he hadn’t expected Karina to say such things.

“And it’s the same for the Millainer Viscounty. Just because it’s my family doesn’t mean they think the same as me. If I say I’m getting a divorce, my father is the type who would go out of his way to interfere and say it’s not allowed.”

“……”

“Don’t worry that I’ll use that as an excuse to take back my words about divorce.”

Karina smiled leisurely on her face.

“For the sake of a perfect divorce, I’d like you to cooperate with me for now.”

“……”

Jeremiah stared at Karina with a meaningful expression that made it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

And finally, he opened his mouth.

“How can I believe those words?”

“If you can’t believe me, I’ll write you a memorandum.”

Karina said boldly, as if she could write it right now.

“If I write a memorandum, will you lend me the family head’s seal as I want?”