# 5.
Inside the bedroom was an elegantly seated, beautiful woman.
She had blonde hair and crimson eyes. The platinum-blonde unique to the imperial family radiated a brilliant color.
Her fiery red eyes were so sharp that if you met them, your body felt like it would instantly freeze.
Her majesty almost intimidated me, but I didn’t shrink away and gave a meticulous greeting.
“Did you call for me, Mother?”
“This is unusual. You call me Mother. Haven’t you always drawn a line, calling me Grand Duchess?”
Oh, was that so? I didn’t know.
You should have told me earlier.
I rolled my eyes in confusion. Come to think of it, the Grand Duke did seem to widen his eyes when he heard me say ‘Father-in-law.’
I just thought he was looking at me because I was acting differently than usual, wondering why I was doing that, but was it because of the title?
I hadn’t been Roena for long, and my reconnaissance wasn’t complete.
I had seen Akid quite a bit since our private chambers were connected, but not the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess.
I had heard they ate meals together periodically, but it wasn’t a frequent occurrence.
The issue of the title was something I hadn’t considered and was a little embarrassing.
‘Hmm. But since I’ve already said Father-in-law and Mother, wouldn’t reversing it be even stranger?’
After all, if I wanted Akid to become a beloved son of this house, my role as his daughter-in-law was crucial.
If I also kept my distance from the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, like Akid, there would be no progress.
‘I read that if you act shamelessly, the other person won’t be able to say anything.’
I smiled brightly and said,
“I just thought I should try to get closer to you starting now, Mother.”
“Get closer? I have no intention of getting close to you.”
The Grand Duchess smiled sweetly and drew a firm line. Since she countered my smile with a smile, I had no retort.
‘There was a person even more brazen than me.’
I felt awkward at the Grand Duchess’s cold attitude but did not drop my smile.
“So, your reason for summoning me was…”
“Still so impatient. Come sit here and let’s talk.”
The Grand Duchess gestured toward the chair in front of her. Chamomile tea, good for drinking before sleep, was prepared.
She seemed to have considered my sleep schedule. As I sat down awkwardly, a maid poured the tea.
I was already quite weary after soaking in the bathtub. Therefore, drowsiness crept up on me despite my best efforts.
I tried hard to suppress a yawn, but the Grand Duchess opened her mouth.
“I heard you were summoned to the Grand Duke’s study yesterday. Did something happen?”
“No, he just called to ask if I was doing well.”
“Is that so? I heard Miss Rourke was dragged out of the study crying that day…”
“Haaam. Yes.”
“…Are you sleepy?”
When the Grand Duchess asked sharply, I quickly shook my head.
“No.”
“You seem sleepy. Your pronunciation is slurred.”
“Yes… Actually, I am sleepy.”
I couldn’t endure the overwhelming drowsiness and yawned widely. Being in a twelve-year-old body, I became tired easily.
Seeing this, the Grand Duchess clicked her tongue and quickly continued speaking. She wouldn’t tell me to just go to sleep, not even if it killed her.
“What exactly happened inside the study that day?”
I slapped my cheeks hard to wake myself up and replied.
“Nothing. Nothing happened.”
The Grand Duchess looked briefly surprised by that, but what could I do about being sleepy?
In fact, the Grand Duke’s command not to tell anyone included the Grand Duchess.
The relationship between the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess was extremely poor, and though they shared a bedroom suite, they slept in separate rooms.
The same was true for Akid and me. When the bedroom door opened, there was a small lobby, and two more doors appeared.
The one on the right was my room, and the one on the left was Akid’s. There was also a door leading out of the lobby.
The castle structure seemed to be designed to suit business couples who practiced political marriages for generations, I suppose. It was a very inconvenient structure for me, though.
‘Please, just let me see Akid’s face when he first wakes up.’
When I played ignorant, the Grand Duchess sent me a persistent look.
She seemed unaware of what exactly happened inside the study that day.
Come to think of it, only the Grand Duke’s men were inside the study that day. People outside wouldn’t have been able to hear the private conversation.
‘She didn’t call me because she knew; she called me to test me. She clearly doesn’t know the exact inside story yet.’
She probably called me because she thought I had a looser tongue than Akid.
The previous Roena had a mouth as light as a feather, easily spilling secrets if coaxed gently.
Especially when it came to anything related to Akid, she was not hesitant.
She enjoyed finding fault with him. Sure enough, the Grand Duchess asked coaxingly.
“Then why did Miss Rourke leave crying?”
“Well…”
When I rolled my eyes and dragged out my words, the Grand Duchess pressed me.
“Anything is fine.”
Well, I really don’t have much to tell you.
I rolled my eyes, making her impatient. After a moment, I remembered something I could say and replied.
“Ah! The Grand Duke sternly told Miss Rourke not to visit anymore. She must have left crying because of that.”
The thing the Grand Duke told me not to speak about was the abuse.
He hadn’t forbidden me from talking about Miss Rourke being dumped by him.
Elena blinked her eyes in surprise. Miss Rourke was an imperial concubine the Grand Duke had cherished for quite a long time.
She seemed quite shocked that a woman who shouldn’t be cast off so abruptly was dismissed with a single word.
I was deliberately giving her a clue to investigate them.
That the Grand Duke had dumped *her*, not the other way around.
“Hmm, come to think of it, Miss Rourke didn’t visit today.”
“Maybe her pride was wounded, so she didn’t come? Usually, when they fight, Father-in-law goes to see her.”
That was true. My father-in-law, whose emotions were as vast as the Pacific Ocean to match his wandering eye, melted completely for his favored mistresses.
Even if a former lover came crying, the Grand Duke would first comfort them before sending them away.
There were quite a few women who used this as an excuse to cling to him.
“So, what do you think the Grand Duke will do?”
“Hmm.”
“Do you think the Grand Duke is serious?”
The Grand Duchess continued to probe with her questions.
Judging by her expression, she seemed to expect them to make up again in three days.
“Miss Rourke seemed regretful. Maybe she’ll come back soon.”
“I suppose so. She wouldn’t stay quiet with that personality, having been told to break up without a specific reason.”
Elena scoffed and tapped the table with her finger. I spoke with an innocent look.
“Mother, don’t worry. The Grand Duke will never seek out Miss Rourke again.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because Father-in-law’s eyes were scrunched up like this.”
When I pulled up the corners of my eyes with both hands, making a fierce expression, Elena let out a small laugh.
“You’re the only person who would describe the Grand Duke like that.”
“But it’s the truth.”
“Hmm.”
Elena seemed to be in a better mood than before.
Was she happy that Miss Rourke, who was a thorn in her side, had been cast off? Just as I was about to relax with a sigh.
“By the way, is Akid ill?”
“Pardon?”
“I heard the Grand Duke sent a physician immediately afterward. The maid said he went to Akid’s room.”
“That is…”
It seemed the Grand Duke had called for a physician to check on Akid’s injury.
He must have been horrified to see the bruises all over his body. Baron Rourke hadn’t only hurt his forehead all this time.
The fact that the Grand Duke dismissed Baron Rourke the very next day without waiting for the outcome confirmed that he was furious.
‘How much should I reveal?’
I glanced at the Grand Duchess. Judging by her expression, she seemed unaware that Akid was being abused by Baron Rourke.
If she knew, she would have gone straight to the Grand Duke instead of questioning me.
Until now, the Baron had inflicted punishment in places that weren’t immediately visible, so it was hard to notice without careful observation.
Even the original Roena, who was in the same bedroom suite, didn’t know Akid was being abused.
The torn forehead was the Baron’s mistake. If I hadn’t intervened, Akid would have covered it with his bangs, and it would have passed unnoticed.
After that, Baron Rourke would have become bolder, and eventually, the Grand Duchess would have caught him.
But the Grand Duchess, who had zero interest in Akid, wouldn’t have noticed the change in his hair or his forehead.
‘She still doesn’t know. Neither the abuse Akid suffered nor the real reason the Grand Duke cast off the Rourke siblings.’
“Why are you silent?”
The Grand Duchess looked at me coldly when I didn’t answer.
The original Roena would have spilled everything, but I kept my mouth shut.
However, if I spoke without tact here, I might incur the Grand Duke’s displeasure.
My relationship with the Grand Duchess wasn’t good enough to risk revealing information.
Lost in thought, I blinked innocently and replied,
“Well, because I was in Akid’s room.”
“What?”
“The physician came to see me. To check if I had any aftereffects from falling into the water.”
When I told a brazen lie, her eyebrows furrowed.
“Didn’t you two not share a bed after your marriage?”
“That’s true.”
*But isn’t that the same for you, Mother?* I swallowed the urge to say that.
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess only shared their wedding night and have been sleeping separately and keeping their distance ever since.
Before she could retaliate, I quickly got ahead of her.
“Actually, after falling into the water, Akid looked a little different.”
“…”
“I also heard that Akid was very worried about me. He was the one who saved me, after all.”
“…So what are you trying to say?”
Elena asked awkwardly, wanting to know what my motive was.
I smiled brightly at her and said,
“I’m going to be a dutiful wife from now on!”
*The role of my favorite character’s wife, I won’t let it go.
