9. Honest at Night  

The night air felt incredibly refreshing as I emerged from the underground prison. The guard I had sent outside was hesitantly looking at me.  

“Since things have come to this, I hoped you’d speak honestly now. The nanny…”  

“Ah, oh dear.”  

Pretending to wipe my eyes with my sleeve, the guard seemed to misunderstand, thinking of me as the ‘poor Miss Annette.’

No one cared when Annette was truly the pitiable girl of the house, yet a couple of fake tears were enough to change people’s attitudes.  

I deliberately bit my lip.  

“Please take good care of the nanny until the end.”  

“Of course.”  

What punishment does one receive for stealing? Whatever it is, she will never be able to work in a noble household again. She won’t be able to secretly torment weak children ever again.  

As I turned toward my room with a smile, someone emerged from the darkness.  

“You seem to have recovered.”  

“Your Highness?”  

Darius’s black hair and eyes blended into the night’s shadows. The guard recognized the Grand Duke and quickly bowed.  

“It’s quite late to be visiting your family home one last time.”  

He guided me as if to escort me. I slowly walked away from the prison.  

“Still, she was my nanny. I wanted to hear her side of the story.”  

“Was it a story you could forgive?”  

“No.”  

I shook my head with an utterly disheartened expression.  

“Even until the end, all I felt was resentment toward her.”  

“Ah, oh dear.”  

We slowly walked to my room. Neither of us spoke, and the silence remained unbroken.  

“Thank you for walking me back.”  

“Did that maid really steal the necklace?”  

My hand slipped off the doorknob.  

This question was truly unexpected.  

“Why do you suddenly ask that?”  

“The Annette in the reports I first read was described as fragile and timid. But the Annette I’ve met in person is resolute, in a way that’s quite admirable.”  

There were only the two of us in the hallway. In the quiet stillness, Darius looked at me intently.  

“The Annette I know isn’t someone who would cry helplessly because a maid stole her necklace.”  

“Then, if someone stole my necklace, am I the type to run over and kick that person’s behind? Is that what you think of me?”  

Well, yes. I’m the one who tore out Caitlyn’s hair. No matter how valuable that necklace was, I wouldn’t throw myself on the floor crying over its loss. I’d go find it myself.  

“It’s true that the nanny mistreated you, isn’t it? She didn’t deny it. But when she denied stealing, it didn’t seem like a lie either.”  

This was dangerous.  

‘Protagonists are fundamentally on the side of justice.’  

If he found out that I falsely accused the nanny, all the goodwill I had painstakingly built up might collapse. He might think I used unjust methods.  

If the nanny wasn’t lying, does that mean I’m the one lying now? Would he press me on that?  

Could I ask if he couldn’t trust someone he’d decided to live with over such a trivial matter?  

But what came out of my mouth was something entirely different.  

“What if I was so angry about what my nanny had done to me that I couldn’t let it go and falsely accused her of stealing the necklace?”  

I grabbed his trembling hand tightly. Though he was an adult, the 20-year-old male lead was still innocent, despite his strong exterior.  

“And what if, knowing this, Your Highness pretended not to know? Then this would become the first shared secret between us as a married couple. Will you keep this secret for me?”  

Darius lowered his gaze instead of answering. That was enough.  

Today, we were married, and as a commemoration, we shared a secret.  

* * *  

After escorting Annette to her room, Darius fell into thought. He hadn’t expected Annette to confess her wrongdoing so readily.  

〈What if we assume I did falsely accuse the nanny?〉  

〈Would Your Highness then become an accomplice to my secret?〉  

She had confessed as casually as if she were handing him a wedding ring. And yet, she acted as though she wouldn’t mind if he demanded an annulment because of this.  

In truth, Annette was outwardly calm but inwardly quite startled about how things would unfold. This, Darius could never believe.  

A pink rose with thorns. During dinner, people were captivated only by her lovely exterior. They must have thought she was a delicate and charming noblewoman.  

But the woman he encountered in the night breeze…  

She wasn’t just a pretty ornamental flower. She had resilience and thorns to protect herself.  

She didn’t hesitate to strike back against those who attacked her.  

Darius found those thorns of Annette’s rather appealing.  

〈The southern folks are so complacent in their peace that their brains have all rotted.〉  

〈At least there’s someone here who knows how to think.〉  

He didn’t need a flower that could only grow in the blessed environment of the South. To be his ‘wife,’ one needed to sprout and bloom even in harsh cold and rough conditions.  

Laying traps for others wasn’t the right thing to do.  

And yet, strangely, sharing guilt with her didn’t feel bad. Instead, he began to feel a rising expectation that they could form a good partnership.  

‘Am I already softening just because she’s my wife, even before the ceremony?’  

Darius mocked himself.  

* * *  

Secrets bring people closer. Without any miraculous event of the wronged nanny being exonerated, we left the South.  

“The North is a cold land. Colder than you might imagine.”  

He adjusted my coat and offered advice.  

“It’ll take over ten days by carriage. It’s cold, the land is barren, and even monsters appear. We live fighting every day.”  

What a kind man.  

In Darius’s voice, as he described his territory, there was both pride and bitterness. How wonderful it would be if those strong people could live in better lands. He was a good lord.  

“The North will be very different from the South where you lived.”  

“It doesn’t matter. It’s the land where I’ll live from now on.”  

“How brave of you. I didn’t expect we’d end up in this kind of relationship when I first saw you.”  

“Your Highness didn’t like our Poche family.”  

“Yes, I still don’t.”  

Thud. My heart sank.  

Being the ‘daughter of an enemy family’ was a debuff I carried.  

“To be honest, I still can’t quite believe I’ve taken as my wife someone I once thought I’d never marry.”  

He still doesn’t trust me.  

Though we’d shared a few meals and a small secret like mischievous children, we hadn’t known each other for long.  

‘There’s no need to rush.’  

Don’t lose heart. If I don’t die, trust can be built over time.  

As I consoled myself, he spoke in an awkward tone.  

“Since you’re my wife now, I’ll do everything I can for you.”  

His cheeks were slightly red.  

“Coming from the abundant South to the North, you might find many things lacking, but I’ll do everything I can for you.”  

He couldn’t meet my gaze and turned his head. His reddened ears made me suddenly smile.  

“Yes.”  

<The Madam has died.>  

<That woman from the Poche family?>  

I remembered Darius from the original story, who spoke so nonchalantly about his wife Annette’s death.  

<That’s unfortunate.>  

With that one sentence, he erased Annette from his memory.  

But his words now, that he’d do everything he could for me, were a good sign.  

‘Even if this is a doomed beginning, let’s do our best together until the original heroine appears.’  

“Your Highness, Lady Annette!”  

“Kyaa!”  

Thud! At that moment, the carriage swayed violently. Daniel, seated in front, shouted toward us.  

“We’re under attack by a demonic beast!”  

A demonic beast?  

Darius caught my swaying body.  

“Stay here. Don’t come out of the carriage no matter what. Daniel!”  

Without any sign of panic, Darius drew the sword at his waist and ran out.  

‘Why are you going out there?!’  

Screeeech, screeeech.  

A boar the size of a house revealed its tusks, snorting out hot breath. Each stomp of its feet plowed the ground as if tilling a field.  

“It’s a boar corrupted by demonic energy! It seems to have been affected by nearby monsters!”  

“That’s enough explanation. You guard the carriage. I’ll handle that thing.”  

“What?! That’s too dangerous!”  

Ignoring Daniel’s alarm, Darius charged at the boar with his sword.  

“That’s dangerous!”  

A scream escaped me involuntarily. I knew Darius was the male lead and a skilled swordsman, but he looked so small in front of the massive boar.  

The boar opened its mouth wide as if mocking him. Its sharp tusks seemed ready to devour Darius whole, and my heart tightened with fear.  

Flash.  

But Darius’s sword was faster. Like slicing through paper, he cleanly severed the boar’s massive neck.  

“Unbelievable…”  

Why are protagonists always so recklessly daring and willing to gamble?  

My heart pounded wildly. Glaring at Darius, who approached me nonchalantly, shaking off the hot blood as if nothing had happened, I thought:  

This isn’t good for my heart.  

“It’s unfortunate that your first impression of the North is like this.”  

“You said you’d do anything I wanted, right? Then please start by listening to the people who worry about you!”  

I knew the male lead wouldn’t die, but why did I, an easily disposable extra, have to worry about a strong male lead?  

“I judged that stepping in myself would resolve the situation quicker.”  

“Don’t you know the saying, ‘Trying to save five minutes could cost you your life forever’?”  

Though it’s a phrase more suited to traffic violations, it seemed applicable here.  

“You might have been surprised since it’s your first time seeing this, but that wasn’t such a dangerous monster. Actually, it wasn’t even a monster. It was just a boar that had become ferocious due to demonic influence.”  

“That’s not the point. I’m saying I was worried about you, Your Highness!”  

Darius blinked as if hearing something unfamiliar.  

“You were worried about me?”  

As if he had never heard the word ‘worry’ before.