CH 9

In Virtual Reality

After the first night, the Grand Duke rode a horse every morning after breakfast. It wasn’t until late at night that he came back.

Every single day.

It’s been three days.

“…Phew.” 

I also looked out the dark window today, and shook my head as I saw the Grand Duke returning in disappointment.

‘Since that day, we haven’t spoken to each other once.’

I thought I would become the His Excellency’s wife, no, I mean the Grand Duke’s wife. It’s done, but it’s a bit ambiguous and strange position. 

I thought everything would be fine if I became Roselia. But I didn’t expect to run into such difficulty. 

‘No, Roselia ran away, and he chased her to the ends of the earth. But as soon as you saw her, you said let’s divorce? If so, why did you find Roselia? Is he really blinded by his pride?’ 

What a strange person, a strange person.

Honestly, is it because I’ve met all the different types of people so far? It’s ridiculous, but I was like, “What are you going to do?”

“…Ha.” 

But the problem is that the Grand Duke has my fox bead. 

‘I didn’t know this would happen because there were no fox beads.’

So far, after getting married, I handed over fox beads to men. Of course, they all died before spending 100 nights, had an affair, or were caught.

In any case, I handed over the fox beads to a trustworthy human, so it was the first time I had not received any energy while losing the fox bead to someone else.

I didn’t know either.

Since there are no fox marbles, there is no sign that the power once used will be recharged.

‘If I keep going like this, won’t I be unable to change into a human in the future?’

Even at this moment, the power to maintain the human form was still being consumed.

The fox beads had to go through the lips to insert and remove them.

It’s so easy that I can solve it quickly with just one kiss.

But can I really kiss a man who demands a divorce as soon as I see him?

‘I’d have to use the power of temptation to steal it….’

All of the temptation’s power has been used up.

‘To fill the power of temptation before that, I need to have a fox bead….’

If I want to get the fox bead back, I can use the power of temptation—.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t escape the useless bondage.

In many ways, it was a dilemma.

I stood up from my seat after thinking deeply.

It’s ruined anyway. From the start, winning over the heart of someone who put up a wall against me was hard.

‘I’ll have to run into ihim first.’

I was going to see the Grand Duke right away, even though it was late at night.

*****

I put on my coat and walked quickly toward the Grand Duke’s castle.

“What are you doing here, Grand Duchess?”

It was not the Grand Duke who greeted me, but Elaine, the butler.

I think I’ve seen this person more than the Grand Duke.

“I need to see His Highness the Grand Duke for a moment.” 

“…At this hour?” 

Elaine looked carefully and said.

“…You’d better come back tomorrow morning.”

“It’s urgent.”

At my firm words, Elaine stood by quietly.

The person guarding the Grand Duke’s door looked at me and hesitated with the same expression as Elaine. 

He looked at my determined gaze, knocked on the door, and spoke with a trembling voice. 

“Your Highness. Her Highness the Grand Duchess is here.”

After a moment of silence, the Grand Duke said calmly, “Come in.”

Upon entering, a late meal was on the table.

“Are you eating now?”

“….”

“You came in late, but you must have had some urgent business today.” 

It was just something I said to spark a conversation.

“It must also be written in that contract that you will not interfere with my affairs.”

The Grand Duke seemed to be nagging.

“What are you doing here at this late hour?”

“You told me to tell you whatever conditions I wanted. It’s a little late, but I came in a hurry.”

“What are the conditions?”

“Looking at the contract Your Highness gave me yesterday, I still don’t like seeing the relationship as a husband and wife in a bad way.”

“…Yes.” 

“In order to look good, we should be close a little more naturally….” 

“Just keep it simple.”

As if not interested, the Grand Duke raised the glass of water in front of him and took a sip.

Should I ask for it directly instead of just talking around it?

“Then at least kiss me.”

At my words, the Grand Duke stopped. It looked like water might be flowing.

His expression was rotten as he looked at me.

“What did you say now?”

Was it too direct?

No, you told me to keep it simple.

I had no intention of forcing someone who said he didn’t like it.

I was in a hurry.

The fox bead is in his body. I have to be human in a year. If I want to spend 100 nights in a year, shouldn’t I attack him, get back the fox bead, and quickly find another man?

I had to spend the night for more than three months out of the year, so I had nine months left.

Then I gave a good reason I had already thought of.

“I think we need to be able to make at least light skinship not stiff so we can still look like a friendly couple at official events.” 

“….” 

“If we see each other awkwardly, everyone will think it’s strange, and there will be a behind-the-scenes story about a disagreement between the couple. I mean, shouldn’t we practice beforehand?”

Even when you get married under contract in a romance novel, don’t you use this as an excuse to do a little bit of skinship? That’s how you get into a passionate mood.

The Grand Duke asked me differently if it was hard to argue against what I said.

“Is it necessary to look friendly? We’ll get divorced anyway.”

Whoo. The sly fox even expected this.

“If I get divorced, I will remarry again. It’s good if my relationship with Your Highness is somewhat good. Otherwise, they might think I got divorced because I have a lot of problems, right?”

“….” 

“In many ways, in this situation, I, a woman from a fallen family, is more likely to be swept away by rumor than the high-ranking Grand Duke.” 

That’s true.

I’ve seen countless times when the arrow returns to someone who can easily be blamed for the same mistake.

“Of course, there may be cases where this is not the case. I don’t want to be pitied, and I don’t want to be treated as a troubled person.”

“In short, you are worried about remarriage.”

I turned my head to Epher’s slightly mocking voice. 

“That’s strange. Doesn’t being more pure help remarriage?”

“I think being skilled is better.”

I said something bold, but what made the Grand Duke’s ears turn red? 

“…Lady, isn’t there anyone you want to remarry?”

“Yes, I don’t have?” 

After a moment of silence, the Grand Duke slowly opened his mouth. 

“…I understand what you mean. If that’s the reason, it makes a little sense.” 

Is that the expression of someone who understands?

Epher’s face looked as cold as if it could freeze in May.

“As the Young Lady said, we should do the minimum duty between husband and wife.”  

Are you saying that skinship is okay?

‘Who said that with such a stern expression….’

However, I didn’t miss the chance to get back the fox bead.

“Yes. Then, is a kiss okay?”

Epher frowned.

“Let’s just have a meal together, maybe twice a week.”

Ah, the minimum duty— is having a meal together. 

Is it because I’m in a hurry? I have no idea either, but my insides keep coming out.

“No, we can do some skinship—” 

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that story. Please leave.”

Isn’t this punk crazy? What’s so hard about kissing him once? 

I wanted to close his eyes and even touch his lips. However, if I do, I will be warned not to come within a radius of 1km, so that can’t be the case. 

However, I couldn’t go back without income.

It was the first time that a fox bead had been taken away unintentionally — technically, it was lost — so it was necessary to confirm that my hypothesis was correct. 

“…Actually, my request is different.”

I ignored the Grand Duke’s words to get out and moved closer to him. 

“As for that kiss story….” 

“You said you’d pretend you didn’t hear it.”

This time I cut off his words at once. 

“The story just now is a joke, a joke.”

Looking at the Grand Duke’s expression, I can tell what he is thinking without him having to say it. 

I must be making such a nasty joke.

Anyway. If you’re not the man who’ll make me human, give me the fox bead back. 

“Even if it’s not a very close relationship, I hope we get along moderately.”

I put my hand on the back of his hand as if to coax a child.

“If Your Highness ignores me, the servants also ignore me.”

I felt a strange energy flow from the back of his hand to my palm.

‘As expected.’

The energy returned when I contacted the man with the fox bead.

* * *

After Roselia left. Epher stood in front of a bookshelf on one wall of the room.

When he pulled out a book at the end of the bookshelf and pressed the button, the bookshelf moved automatically, and a hidden space came out.

There was a desk in the middle, and a lot of papers surrounded the wall.

“…Fellua… Fellua…”

Epher found the documents he had been investigated several weeks ago. 

He held up the documents he thought he would never have to take out again and frowned as he turned them over one by one.

‘Lucas, a commoner. This person must be her lover.’

It couldn’t have been wrongly examined. Didn’t he confirm everything in the first place and put a marriage talk in the Felua family? 

He knew that Roselia had a lover and that she would be grateful if he offered to divorce her a year later, but it was strange that she didn’t show any sign of that.

‘It can’t be…. Did they get my weakness already?’

As of now, the possibilities are pretty high.

‘I wonder if my brother is holding the Grand Duchess’s lover hostage and telling her to get something out of me.’

Herian’s aide must have looked into it as soon as he started talking to the Fellua family about marriage talks.

However, Epher immediately shook his head and touched his forehead. 

‘Ha… There won’t be time for that.’

He sent his escort to take her to the Grand Duke when he was about to get married.

He thought there might be someone on Herian’s side among the escorts he sent, so he kept an eye on each one, and none of them did anything strange.

‘I heard she was away for a while a few days ago… Could it be that he contacted her at that time?’

Epher sighed deeply, pointing his hand at a sentence in the document. 

She was clearly shy and passive, didn’t deal well with rejection, and was said to be a very quiet person. 

The Roselia he encountered looked very different from what he had imagined.

– “Then at least kiss me.”

It’s very reckless for a gentle person to ask for.

– “You said you’d pretend you didn’t hear it.”

It seemed pretty brazen.

‘Her original personality is like that, but maybe not many people know it?’

He got little goosebumps when he thought of Roselia, who confidently asked skinship.

‘If that’s the case… she looks a bit like a twist.’

No, actually, it looked a lot like that, not a little.

‘Did I choose the wrong person to marry…’

Standing on his brother’s side and saying they plotted something would be better.

Rather than pushing for a kiss with any guy—but not one—while having a lover.

His thoughts became complicated, and his head throbbed.

At times like this, he had a face that kept coming to mind.

“…Sienna. I miss you.”

He called the name of the being that filled his heart and bit his lips hard.