Is this about me? What business could I possibly have with Gillian?

“Speak plainly. What are you talking about!”

Gillian glanced sideways at Hersia.

“It’s difficult right now since you still have ears to hear. If you get rid of Hersia, I’ll tell you.”

“No, forget it. It’s bound to be nonsense anyway. I know you’ve got a serpent’s tongue, but it won’t work on me!”

Gillian looked genuinely disappointed.

“That’s a shame. Since you’ve come all this way, I’d hoped you’d listen to me—I want to see your face twist in distress.”

Gillian chuckled obnoxiously again, clearly intending to use the torment he’d suffered from Sikar to mock me.

But living with Sikar had toughened me mentally—I wasn’t about to be shaken by mere petty taunts.

“If you keep sneering like that, I’ll go straight to the Duke and tell him to have this palace demolished.”

Just seeing Gillian flinch and scratch his nose with an awkward expression confirmed he knew full well Sikar was more than capable of doing exactly that.

“Then promise me—if you listen to my story and keep silent about it, I’ll tell Hersia where my hidden fortune is.”

“Seems your mouth is itching to talk, huh?”

“As you can see, leaving here is impossible, and no visitors are allowed—so that money is already useless to me. But even if I can’t use it, I hate the thought of giving it away without getting anything in return.”

“You’d just give it away because your mouth is itching?”

“Seeing the Duke’s wife so blissfully clueless—it just makes my mouth itch uncontrollably. The wife of the man who betrayed me shouldn’t be allowed to be happy, right? Heh heh heh.”

Could I really become unhappy? What exactly would make me unhappy?

Until now, I’d been smirking dismissively, but suddenly I had to turn serious. Hersia, sensing something was off, was watching me warily.

“M-Madam Duchess. Ah, perhaps I should leave now. I’m so sorry for dragging you into this trouble—I never should have asked you to come here with me… I’m truly sorry, Madam.”

“No, it’s fine, Hersia. I have matters to discuss with the disgraced noble—please step aside for a moment.”

“Ah, but Gillian might commit another rudeness… Should I call someone?”

“No, it’s fine. Just retreat beside the guards standing over there.”

Seeing my stern expression, Hersia sensed this wasn’t ordinary—she stopped asking questions and quietly stepped back.

Watching Hersia fully withdraw, Gillian smiled pleasantly.

“So now you’re interested in having a serious conversation?”

“I want to hear seriously just how far your nonsense goes. Swear first, as a knight: if I listen to you, you’ll tell Hersia about your hidden fortune.”

“You swear too—that you’ll never reveal what I tell you to the Duke. Swear on the honor of the Duchess.”

Anyway, even if I didn’t say anything, Sikar would find out automatically. It was something I couldn’t hide even if I tried.

But I couldn’t know what Sikar was hiding from me. To find out what he was concealing, I had no choice but to go through Gillian’s mouth.

“Fine, I promise I won’t speak. But first, tell me where the fortune is.”

Gillian tore a page from the back of a book, scribbled something, and handed it to me.

“The location where the fortune is buried is written there. Now sign here too.”

I examined the paper Gillian offered—it was a pledge stating that if I ever revealed our conversation to anyone, I would relinquish my position as Queen Mother.

Without hesitation, I signed and handed the paper back. Gillian took it with evident satisfaction and tucked it into the book.

Gillian, delighted at the chance to torment me, began chuckling loudly and genuinely.

Watching him like that made me want to kick him in the shin—but since he’d obviously protect himself with his divine power, I just glared at him instead.

“Let’s get to the point.”

Gillian clutched his stomach laughing, wiped away tears, and took a deep breath to calm himself.

“Hmm. I clearly warned you—you’d become unhappy if you listened to me.”

“If you insist that ‘you won’t be able to stand not knowing’ counts as a warning, then fine—I’m listening. Now tell me why I’ll become unhappy.”

Gillian scanned my expression thoroughly, eyes gleaming with anticipation.

“From now on, your peaceful life will shatter completely—you’ll live in fear. Heh heh.”

“Live in fear?”

“The fear of vanishing at any moment. That’s how your life will change.”

“Explain clearly what you’re babbling about.”

“You’ll suddenly disappear one day—precisely when you’ve finally obtained what you longed for most.”

Seeing him smirk while saying this, he clearly intended to toy with me.

If he knew Sikar would see my memories afterward and wouldn’t let him off lightly, he wouldn’t dare act like this.

“You seem to enjoy mocking me. Keep flapping that loose tongue, and you’ll truly end up weeping blood.”

“I’m curious who’ll actually weep blood. Will the King and the Duke weep blood when you vanish?”

“You keep repeating this absurd claim that I’ll disappear…”

At that moment, I recalled Sikar’s recent habit of telling me, whenever he saw me, not to disappear.

I’d assumed he just loved me too much to let me go—was there another reason?

And was Gillian part of that reason?

“I’ll disappear? Explain in detail.”

Gillian sat down on the bench as if he’d been waiting for this, eyeing me askew.

“Finally showing some interest?”

“Speak. Why will I disappear?”

“This might take a while—are you ready to listen?”

“Stop stalling and speak.”

“If I talk for long, my throat will dry—bring me tea.”

Gillian put on airs, clearly determined to boss me around. Since I was ready to deliver a crushing blow to him later, I indulged his arrogance.

I sent the guards to fetch tea, had them wait nearby, and returned.

“Now speak.”

“The tea hasn’t arrived yet.”

“You’re really something.”

“I hate wasting such an entertaining moment.”

I tried to keep my expression neutral, but Gillian’s constant smirking at me was getting on my nerves.

Once the guards brought the tea and left, Gillian leaned back on the bench and looked up at me.

“Pour.”

I quietly poured tea into a cup. And at the exact moment he reached out to take the cup I offered—

I slowly poured the tea over his head. Tea streamed down Gillian’s face as he stared blankly ahead, utterly dumbfounded.

In my old life, I’d never have dared consider such an action. But thanks to having a good husband, I could now act boldly without restraint.

“Now that you’re fully hydrated, stop stalling. What do you mean I’ll disappear?”

Gillian snorted angrily, wiping the moisture off his face.

“Since you seem eager to suffer misfortune even sooner, I’ll tell you—you’ll vanish soon. Or rather, someday.”

“Don’t just say ‘vanish’—explain in a way I can understand. Why will I vanish!”

“You seem fully prepared to listen, so I’ll tell you.”

And Gillian began explaining. The black-eyed people he claimed to have seen were indeed the Koreans I knew. At first, I couldn’t easily believe his claims about them vanishing, but gradually, it started making sense.

“Now do you understand? The reason you haven’t vanished until now is because you’ve been living comfortably here. If you’d been imprisoned like them, dreaming only of escape, you’d have disappeared long ago. The same likely applies to that black-eyed woman from the Marquis’s household.”

Thinking about it, it was strange that only I had come here. Was this a place anyone could enter under certain conditions—and leave under others?

I retraced why I’d come here.

I’d lived wishing for my life to end. That day, the child hit by the car had merely provided the trigger—I’d always been ready to die.

Then, was Seo Yeon here for the same reason? I needed to understand her thoughts.

Noticing my grave expression, Gillian’s face brightened considerably.

“May you find peace amid anxiety and suffering. Heh heh.”

Gillian’s giggling face didn’t look hateful anymore. No—he looked pitiful.

Because soon, Sikar would learn of this.

I decided it was time to reveal one fact Gillian didn’t know.

Soon, he’d lose all this freedom—he wouldn’t have anywhere left to spout nonsense.

Just as he’d smirked slyly at me until now, I smirked slyly back at him.

“Gillian. There’s one thing you don’t know.”

“Whether I know it or not, nothing matters to me right now.”

“No, this is something very important you must know. The thought of you living in anxiety and suffering from now on makes me smile.”

Gillian’s eyes turned sharp.

“Are you threatening to break your honor-bound promise and tell the Duke?”

“Seems the black-eyed people didn’t tell you the Duke’s secret. That’s why you made this pact with me—perhaps because you believed you and the Duke were allies, and you stayed silent to preserve your life from him.”

“What exactly are you trying to say?”

“The Duke has one extraordinary talent—he can see others’ memories. So whether I speak or stay silent, the Duke will see my memories and learn everything you told me.”

At this absurd claim, Gillian’s cheeks twitched nervously.

“What nonsense!”

“I mean the Duke will soon learn, through my memories, that you revealed this fact. Since the Duke apparently ordered me not to speak of it, I’ll return your own words to you verbatim: now your peaceful life will shatter completely, and you’ll live in fear.”

Gillian’s face turned pale.