“Mmmpf…!”
Grand Duke Richard’s lips twitched like he meant to speak, but I pressed mine harder over his so he couldn’t get a single syllable out. Very effective, as it turned out—there wasn’t the faintest leak of sound between our sealed mouths. I hooked both arms tight around his neck.
‘It would be a disaster if he suddenly threw me off.’
I worried he’d panic and fling me away, but thankfully he just froze, stiff as a board, without much resistance. I pulled his face deeper toward mine, making sure neither of our faces could be seen. With any luck, we’d look like that couple over in the bushes making an obnoxious show of affection.
The strategy seemed to work. The approaching footsteps stopped getting closer. Then—tsk—a tongue click, and the presence retreated. Judging from the soft rustle of skirts sweeping quickly over grass that followed, it could only mean the Empress had left as well.
‘Whew. Close call.’
The tight knot of anxiety in my chest, afraid we’d be caught eavesdropping, finally loosened. I slowly slackened my arms that had been tightly wrapped around him.
“Th–that was…”
Now that the fear had passed, awkwardness crept in. I began to pull away and explain, but before I could, his arm wrapped firmly around my waist.
“……!”
This time I was the one caught frozen by surprise at his suddenly proactive behavior.
A strong, muscular arm wrapping tightly around my waist. The cool, clean scent of him hit my nose. Soft lips pressed against mine. Hot breath scattering over them.
‘W-Wait a minute. Is this an actual k-kiss?’
I’d only lunged at him without thinking because of the very real risk of being skewered by Lawrence’s sword—but now, with this reaction, my brain simply short-circuited.
“Yes! Right there! More, more!”
“I love you!”
The awkward moment shattered—only to be replaced by something even more mortifying. The man in the bushes groaned, then shouted his devotion with his climax. At the same time, the Grand Duke recoiled from me like a faulty spring.
“What—what do you think you’re doing?!”
“M—me?”
“Yes! You! Th—this is a serious breach of contract!”
The Grand Duke wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, practically fuming. His face was so red I could make out the flush even in the dark.
Without another word, he spun on his heel and strode off. It took me a moment, staring blankly after him, before I hurried to catch up. Instead of heading back toward the noisy ballroom, he made straight for the carriage we’d arrived in.
“Breach of contract? What are you talking about?”
I deliberately feigned outrage. Truthfully, I had been a little dazzled by him back in the ballroom. But I could not let that show—ever. If he suspected I’d violated the ‘no personal feelings’ clause, all my work so far could go up in smoke.
“You just engaged in… in-inappropriate physical contact with me!”
He collapsed into the carriage and slammed the door, then pressed his hand to his brow with a grave expression. I shot back, bristling.
“That was clearly self-defense.”
“What?”
“Lawrence and the Empress were having a serious conversation right there! If we were caught eavesdropping on their conversation, it would’ve been trouble, so I acted like we were lovers.”
“A-Acted…?”
The Grand Duke stared blankly at me, his face still flushed. His expression cracked with the faintest trace of bafflement.
“And for the record, I was going to drop the act once they left… but then you escalated—”
The memory of how the Grand Duke had suddenly gotten more… involved made my own cheeks heat. He was the one who suddenly escalated things!
Feeling wronged, I narrowed my eyes at him.
“So isn’t Your Grace the one who violated the contract? Even though the two of them had left, you still engaged in… in-inappropriate physical contact with me—.”
“No!”
The Grand Duke cut me off sharply.
“I have a keen and sharp sixth sense developed through numerous battles to detect danger.”
“A… sixth sense?”
I squinted up at him, skeptical. He swallowed once and spoke again.
“Y-Yes. My sixth sense was telling me that the danger was not over yet.”
“So, you’re saying that you sensed the danger and then wrapped your arms even tighter around my waist, and then moved your lips, all to look even more like real lovers?”
“O-Of course…”
The trembling voice that flowed out from his parched lips was much smaller than the voice he had used to accuse me of breaching the contract a little while ago.
“…That’s right.”
“Whew. So, this isn’t a breach of contract for either of us, right?”
“……”
I finally breathed a sigh of relief at the clarified facts. I also felt much lighter, thinking that the issue of contract violation had been neatly resolved mutually. Then, I began excitedly chatting away.
“Anyway, this ball was worth attending. I found out that there’s something between the Empress and Baron Hayden, and that Lawrence is involved in it.”
“So, you’re saying…”
The Grand Duke who, following my words, had a somewhat sullen expression. His face seemed somehow regretful and disappointed. I nodded at him as if I understood.
“I’m disappointed I couldn’t hear the whole thing too, but next time—”
“You did th-that just to avoid suspicion, with no personal feelings at all.”
Watching the Grand Duke obsess over the contract more than the case to be solved, I couldn’t help but sigh. It seemed that I was the only one who thought that the issue of contract violation had been neatly resolved a little while ago.
I had felt it before, but the Grand Duke was relentless about contract management—he tolerated nothing that even looked suspicious.
‘Or could it be…!’
It couldn’t be that he was deliberately bringing up the breach of contract to avoid giving me a contingency fee, now that he seemed to have found a clue to get acquitted. I narrowed my eyes with suspicion. Then, I quickly put on a business smile as if to reassure him.
“Of course. One hundred percent, guaranteed. That contact was an emergency measure to ensure the physical safety of the contracting parties. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“You make it sound so trivial.”
His face, with his arms crossed, looked a little sulky. To smooth his ruffled feathers, I gave him my most cheerful, customer service voice.
“Now, let’s just put this matter behind us. Even though it was my first time, I have decided to forget it ever happened.”
“F-First time…”
His face, which seemed to have been strangely shocked, flushed red once again. He flung open the window, as if it were suddenly stifling inside, and remained silent all the way back to the Grand Ducal Residence.
* * *
The next morning, in Benedict Richard’s study at the Grand Ducal Residence. Benedict rubbed a hand over his somewhat haggard face, having stayed up all night.
“I knew it.”
He snorted. He’d spent the night replaying Elena Christie’s actions over and over, unable to sleep. But his conclusion was crystal clear.
“No personal feelings, my foot!”
He almost got fooled by Elena Christie again.
Of course, he had believed Elena’s words at first. Her excuse that her actions were just a spur-of-the-moment cover to avoid detection, not an outburst of passion.
‘I almost misunderstood women-kind entirely.’
Benedict stroked his chest for no reason. Last night, Elena had given him such an ecstatic kiss, and then acted as if she had been engaging in that kind of kissing on a daily basis. He had never had such intimate contact with anyone in his life, but Elena had made it seem like it was nothing. So, he had felt a surge of betrayal towards the woman who had been acting so completely in love with him all this time. But fortunately, he had stayed up all night to sort through her actions and finally had a realization.
“Even though it was my first time, I have decided to forget it ever happened.”
Elena had said that deliberately—subtly letting him know it was her first time kissing too, to keep him from misunderstanding.
“Good thing I’ve got my sixth sense.”
He shook his head, proudly regarding his excellent intuition honed through hundreds of battles. If it had been another man, he would have completely mistaken Elena was a promiscuous woman.
‘Saying it was her first time… was kind of…’
Cute. Recalling Elena’s bright smile and warbling voice from last night, he unconsciously brushed his lips that were rising.
As expected, Elena Christie was sincere with him. However, she was trying to hide her feelings because of the contract conditions he had set.
With everything neatly sorted in his mind, Benedict turned toward the walnut desk to deal with his backlog of work.
“……!”
His hand, which had been casually flipping through the piles of paper stacked on the desk, froze mid-page. Then, his eyes went wide in shock.
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