My body shrunk when my wrist was seized.

Johan’s deep gaze slowly reached my eyes, nose, and mouth, and eventually returned to my eyes. Tensely rigid, I found it hard to even breathe properly as I stared at him.

However, the words that came out of his mouth were totally different from what I expected.

“Don’t wipe it off.”

“Pardon?”

“You don’t look well right now.”

Johan slowly bent his legs and met my gaze as I sat there.

“Did you eat something that didn’t agree with you?”

Reality suddenly hit me and my tension eased.

‘Ah, this is not Libertan.’

It seems that I temporarily lost my senses due to the oppressive education in Libertan. This proves how terrifying habits embedded in the body can be.

Only then did cold rationality return to my head.

‘Well, this man wouldn’t talk like Libertan.’

Johan was not a very sympathetic person, unlike the Duke and Duchess of Libertan.

He was trying to seduce me to take revenge on me. He wouldn’t be one to burst into anger forcefully.

“I’m sorry for showing you such a bad state from the first day.”

I carefully chose my words before slowly opening my mouth.

“When I’m tired, some foods don’t agree with me. It seems like today was one of those days.”

“Is this often the case?”

“It’s not often, I guess I was tense without realizing it.”

The elongated fingers of the man sorted my hair and lightly grazed my ear. The subtle contact that made me feel both touched and confused gave rise to a peculiar warmth.

‘I see why I was deceived.’

From Johan’s behavior, he didn’t seem like he was treating a fake wife that he was going to play with and then throw away. My body tensed up as he approached.

In a languid tone, Johan asked,

“So there’s no problem with the food?”

“Yes. It was surprisingly delicious.”

I was in a state where I needed to be careful no matter what I did.

‘I don’t want to harm the innocent duke’s chef.’

Honestly, I didn’t want to be a duchess who causes harm to the household staff right after getting married. Especially since everyone in the Blanchedt Duke family already had enough reasons to dislike me.

‘There has to be a good way to let this pass.’

I cut a small piece of the Eleon fruit cake that I was eating with another fork at my side, and offered it to Johan with a light smile.

“Try it. It’s really delicious.”

Johan, who had been looking at me with an indescribable expression, slowly opened his mouth and accepted the cake.

“…Not bad.”

“Right, it’s delicious.”

Even though it wasn’t a cake I made, I couldn’t help but smile brightly.

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Estelle, having finished her dinner, stood up to return to her room. For some reason, she seemed very happy just from feeding him the cake.

“Then, I’ll go now.”

Estelle, who had just walked to the door, turned back to him, her pink ribbon fluttering.

With her white cheeks turning rosy, Estelle hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“I enjoyed tonight’s dinner. Let’s eat together again.”

Johan was left pondering over Estelle’s shy smile as she left. He briefly looked at the cake that Estelle had left, dipped a little cream from the remaining cake and licked it.

The cream was sweet, neither more nor less.

‘It doesn’t taste like this.’

Although there was no way the taste could have changed in such a short time, it felt different from when Estelle gave it to him.

‘Must be a hallucination.’

But there were more than a few things that troubled him.

‘Sorry, I…’

A white face filled with fear, a voice tinged with frail fear. Her hand that hurriedly wiped the cream off the dress with a white handkerchief even seemed desperate at a glance.

‘Why did she say that?’

Honestly, it was strange from the moment she ate that cake.

The Eleon fruit cake was a favorite of the Libertan Duke’s family. The spies definitely said that Estelle, who was an adopted child, also liked the cake, so it was always present at family meals.

That’s why the cake was served as a dessert at this evening’s dinner.

‘If she has a favorite cake, she’ll feel comfortable.’

But when Estelle received the cake, her pupils trembled slightly. Her reaction was not like someone seeing a dessert they frequently had at home.

‘Is this a reaction a beloved daughter would have?’

Especially when she said she was not feeling well. A typical young lady of nobility would have demanded an apology from the person responsible for the meal.

‘Yes. I was surprised because it was so delicious.’

But Estelle did not try to get an apology from the Duke’s cooks or anyone else. Instead, she made efforts to compliment and move on.

‘I don’t understand.’

Sitting in his office reading the spies’ reports once again, Johan asked Erich,

“Erich. Is this information really true?”

“These are reports from spies deployed in Libertan.”

[The Duke and Duchess of Libertan cherish Estelle so much that unless a servant has built a considerable amount of trust, they are not even allowed to approach her.]