Chapter 20

“If anyone gets in trouble, it’ll be me, not you. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure nothing happens that would require you to clean up a dead body.”

I softened my tone to reassure them, then stepped into Louis’s bedroom.

They must not have had the courage to follow me into the room, because it instantly got quiet outside.

After such a dramatic entrance, the whole mansion would be buzzing with gossip by tomorrow. I wondered what story they would be spreading this time.

Looking around the bedroom, I realized it was, to put it politely, very neat, or to be honest, pretty much empty. It felt like Louis had gotten rid of everything except the absolute essentials. I actually considered asking for another bed to be brought in. Though we were only engaged now, after the wedding, we would have to share a bed, whether I liked it or not.

‘I’d honestly be more comfortable sleeping on the sofa.’

Fortunately, the sofa was so large and plush enough that even with my legs stretched out, there was still room to spare.

My eyelids grew heavy, and my body sank halfway into the cushions like a soggy cotton ball.

‘It should be fine to just nap for a little bit.’

After debating for a moment, I closed my eyes.

It felt like I had only blinked, but when I opened my eyes again, it was dark outside. It must’ve turned to night.

“You seem awfully relaxed.”

A low, smooth voice drifted to my ears, but I was still half-asleep and barely registered it. Perhaps realizing this, the person deliberately made their presence known as they approached.

“I thought there was still a lot we needed to discuss.”

“…Duke Louis?”

Only then did I snap out of my daze, and I instinctively sat up straight on the sofa.

“When did you get here?”

“Hmm, about five minutes ago?”

He was loosening his tie with one hand and added playfully.

“I’m going to go wash up, so stay awake and wait for me.”

There was no way I would be able to relax enough to fall asleep again, so I just nodded. Louis then started unbuttoning his shirt, not caring at all whether I was looking or not. I had always assumed, given how obsessed he is with cleanliness, that he would be self-conscious about people watching, but apparently, that wasn’t the case.

‘…Huh?’

I quickly turned my head away, trying not to show my surprise.

That was because, with all the shirt buttons undone, I caught sight of scars scattered across Louis’s chest and torso.

‘…I feel like I just saw something I shouldn’t have.’

He was the one undressing as he pleased, so why was I the one feeling awkward?

It wasn’t like he was going to stab me just because I saw a few scars, right?

“If you’re bored, read a book or something. I don’t know if there’s anything worth reading, though.”

Without even taking a breath, I nodded and headed to the bookshelf. It was better to stare at a book than keep staring awkwardly into space.

Fortunately, Louis’s presence soon faded, and I figured he had finally gone to wash up. Just as I relaxed—

“Did you see something you weren’t supposed to?”

A voice with no trace of laughter called out.

“It kind of hurts that you turned away so blatantly.”

“….”

“We’re going to be husband and wife soon, after all.”

He sounded mostly like his usual self, but there was a strange chill in his tone.

Alarm bells went off in my head. I needed to smooth this over.

“Is it so horrible you can’t even stand to look at it for a moment?”

“That’s not why I turned away.”

I immediately denied it and added,

“It just felt like something I wasn’t supposed to see, that’s all.”

If I were the type to be scared off by a few scars, I wouldn’t have agreed to marry Louis in the first place.

“We’re not even a real couple, just bound by contract, so I thought it would be better to pretend I didn’t notice.”

Despite the fact that he was the one who started undressing, somehow, I was the one scrambling to explain myself. It felt a bit unfair.

“What a commendable answer.”

Regardless of how unfair it felt to me, it seemed my excuse worked as Louis gave me a faint smile.

‘Did that work? I guess that’s good enough?’

“But still, you should be more careful in the future.”

“….”

“We wouldn’t want stupid misunderstandings to ruin our relationship, would we?”

Although he omitted the subject, it sounded like a subtle threat, so I just nodded.

‘…Hah.’

As soon as Louis disappeared into the bathroom, my legs finally gave out.

‘…I almost became a corpse on my very first day in this house.’

I couldn’t help but question what I was even doing here. At this rate, it felt like I would have a short life for a completely different reason.

‘But what were those scars from earlier?’

Most of the marks on Louis’s body looked like they had come from small knives or whips. If those were battlefield scars, shouldn’t the wounds have been from something more deadly?

‘Something is strange.’

Feeling like I was missing something, I sat down and wrote a letter to Alice. Since I needed her help with the wedding preparations anyway, I figured I might as well ask her about this as well.

There was no way I was just going to sit on my hands and let myself get blindsided later.