Anne nodded and added her explanation.
"Yes, that's the woman. She deserves to pay the price for what she did to you."
While I stood there in surprise, Anne started to vent her anger.
"What on earth was she thinking, daring to do something like that?
You must be out of your mind. To deliberately take firewood out of the Vizier's bedroom and make him sick with a fever. When I think of all the trouble that woman caused Her Highness...
"Is it really worth going to this extent to be interrogated...?"
"Yes?"
I answered Anne, who asked in bewilderment, exactly as I had thought.
"I find it a little strange. That the Grand Duke would personally imprison and interrogate that woman for something like that."
Anne seemed to understand, as she firmly believed that Kishian loved me, but I knew the truth.
There's no way Kishian would personally take care of the person who tormented me.
Perhaps Kishian had also been disliking the head maid from early on.
Since I collapsed while I was trying to take care of it anyway, I guess he's making excuses and taking care of it.
As I was guessing to myself, Anne shook her head at me in confusion.
"Is it really that bad of a thing to do? It's only natural that she should suffer like that since she harmed Your Highness the Grand Duchess! The Grand Duke must have been very upset!"
"...I see."
I couldn't bring myself to tell her that Kishian couldn't possibly be worried about me, so I nodded my head.
Anne seemed dissatisfied with my moderate and lukewarm response and started to fuss again.
"That woman will be out of prison for a while. The Grand Duke has been unable to properly perform his duties because of this incident. She will be severely punished."
"..."
This time too, I couldn't take Anne's words at face value.
There's no way the man was that worried about me enough to not be able to concentrate on his work.
Anne seemed to have interpreted it as me being distracted and not concentrating.
"Well, I understand. But can you prepare some water to wash in? I feel uneasy after lying down for so long.
"Oh, yes! I'll get it ready right away!"
Anne answered cheerfully and then immediately prepared water for me to wash in.
It was not the cold water that I had been forced to receive from the North Annex, but rather warm water that had been carefully heated.
***
After that, I was able to live a fairly comfortable life.
When I was bored, Anne would stay by my side and chatter away, and when I needed something, she took care of me.
Thanks to this, I was able to stay in comfort that was incomparable to when I was stuck in the annex.
If there was one thing that bothered me a little, it was Kishian's behavior.
He hasn't shown his face since he left like that before.
I couldn't really find out much because the maids didn't tell me much about it. All I knew was that he was busy interrogating the headmaid.
So I spent some time feeling comfortable but also a little anxious.
About two weeks had passed since then.
It was great to be able to see Kishian again, whom I hadn't seen in a while.
"Why do you keep skipping meals?"
It was a question that Kishian suddenly asked when he barged in without notice around nine in the evening.
I was shocked when a man whose face I hadn't seen for a while suddenly started interfering with me.
"Food?"
"I heard from the maids. They said you haven't been eating properly lately."
Although I was open to the maids who took care of me, that didn't mean I trusted everyone in the Grand Duke's residence.
So, I only ate a little bit of food when I was really hungry, and it seems that the maids reported this fact to Kishian.
'I don't trust the food they serve in your mansion.'
I said, knowing I would be treated like a sensitive woman, so I made up an excuse.
"I have no appetite."
"Are you skipping meals because you have no appetite? You're a patient who just recovered."
"My body is completely recovered now. I don't need to force myself to eat. Is that why you came to me?"
"..."
Suddenly a long sigh escaped his lips.
After that, he strode towards the bed where I was sitting and sat down on a nearby chair.
As I tried to keep my back straight so as not to show my intimidation, he let out a hollow laugh.
"Yes, that's what I came to say. If you, the Grand Duchess, were to be seen starving and not even able to eat properly, who do you think would be the most troubled?"
"...You won't be in trouble. I've never been hungry enough to feel like I was dying-"
"No."
He cut me off in the middle of my sentence with a firm tone and then glared at me even more sharply.
"I can't stand being so nervous. From now on, I'll keep an eye on you every time you eat, so just know that."
There was no time to respond this time either.
After he had finished speaking, he pulled the rope next to the bed, and immediately two servants came inside.
Pulling a trolley full of food.
Unable to hide my embarrassment, I called out to Kishian in a hurry.
"Wait, really? It's okay. Besides, I just finished dinner..."
"They said you only drank a few spoonfuls of soup. Is that a meal?"
It seemed like he had already heard that I had only drank the soup.
Thanks to that, I got into trouble.
Because I really didn't like the food served here.
So I furrowed my brow to show my discomfort, but it didn't work on him.
Kishian picked up the largest-looking plate from the trolley the attendant had brought.
As he removed the silver cloche covering the plate, a glossy steak was revealed.
"...."
I had been refusing food for a while, but suddenly when I saw fatty meat, I felt a sense of rejection inside me.
As if he couldn't see my crumpled expression Kishian handed me the plate.
I had no choice but to accept it for now.
As he stood there motionless, Kishian's gaze gradually grew fiercer.
"Are you going to stay like that for the rest of your life?"
"I don't feel like it..."
"Ha..."
With a long sigh, he took the plate away from me again.
I was relieved to see that he was going to stop forcing food on me.
At that moment, I forgot for a moment. He was a man with incredible tenacity who had overcome all kinds of difficulties that threatened death.
To conclude, he didn't give up.
I just found another way.
"Mouth."
"Yes?"
I asked in bewilderment as he cut the steak himself and brought it to my mouth.
I never even imagined a situation where Kishian would feed me food himself.
The situation was so unrealistic that my mind went blank for a moment.
What are you doing?
As I stood there with that question in my mind, his already fierce gaze grew even fiercer.
"How far should I go? You're not even a three or four-year-old, and you're complaining about food..."
"No, it's not that I'm complaining about the food. I just really don't like it-"
"Let's stop wasting time."
Suddenly, he reached out his hand towards my face.
I instinctively closed my eyes and felt his hand grab my chin.
In that state, Kishian used his strength in his hands to force my mouth open and stuffed the meat into the gap.
As the food arrived, as expected, a feeling of rejection washed over me.
It was something that couldn't be spit out after it had already been said.
He sighed deeply again as he watched me chew and swallow the meat with my eyes distorted.
"I never asked for much. I thought I would be disappointed anyway. So you just-"
Finally, Kishian picked up the next piece of meat with his fork and held it out.
"I'm telling you to at least take what I give you and eat it properly."
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