In the end, young Lord Spencer agreed to my request. Though he did attach a rather absurd condition.
"I'll be looking forward to it, then, Your Highness."
He gave me a distinctly mischievous smile before taking his leave. By the time we reached the grand duchy, he had another engagement to attend to and departed as soon as he stepped out of the carriage.
After seeing him off, I turned to the Grand Duke, who looked rather displeased about something.
"Say, how about we inspect the grand duchy before returning to the residence? I could take the opportunity to meet the people as their Grand Duchess."
"Why?"
Grand Duke Richard raised an eyebrow suspiciously at my suggestion. Puzzled by his reaction, I tilted my head.
"For our prosperous future in the grand duchy, of course."
Now that I had obtained the clock blueprints, I needed to find out whether the grand duchy had the infrastructure to manufacture them. Besides, it was about time we showed the people how happily married the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess were, just to make sure the Imperial Family didn't start questioning our relationship.
But instead of agreeing, he let out a derisive laugh.
"Ha. I believe I made it clear that ours is nothing more than a contractual relationship."
"When did I ever say otherwise?"
I blinked at him, my eyes wide. He had been so cold and dismissive when he first rejected my proposed Contract, yet somewhere along the way, he'd developed a strange obsession with bringing it up whenever I said anything.
"I suppose you've decided my body alone won't be enough, so you've changed your strategy. Now you intend to stay in the grand duchy indefinitely and play the role of Grand Duchess."
He muttered the words almost like a sigh and dragged a hand down his face.
I stared blankly at the enormous palm covering half his face, then frowned.
His body? And what strategy is he talking about?
I was still trying to make sense of his baffling remarks when he continued.
"Talking about sharing a future here together goes well beyond the terms of our Contract, doesn't it?"
Oh!
At last, I understood what he meant. I clapped my hands together.
Our Contract had been made in exchange for his freedom—his body, in other words, being released from imprisonment. But somewhere along the way, I'd started reviewing territorial reports as Grand Duchess and even gotten involved in the grand duchy's business affairs.
That had to be what he was worried about.
He was afraid I'd demand additional compensation for performing work outside the scope of our Contract!
Well, in my previous life, I did sometimes use the strategy of subtly expanding a client's agreed scope of work so I could charge extra fees...
Moments like this reminded me that he really was the Hidden Villain, utterly ruthless and meticulous.
Impressed by his thorough financial calculations, I waved a dismissive hand.
"Oh, come on. There's no need to worry about something like that between us. I'm doing this much out of the goodness of my heart."
A little complimentary service, that's all!
I gave him a generous smile, making sure he appreciated my magnanimity.
Of course, the real reason was that I wanted to protect as much of the fortune I'd eventually receive as possible.
"..."
Once again, his expression grew complicated.
Since he still didn't seem convinced, I flashed him my brightest smile and reassured him.
"I don't want anything more from you, Your Grace. So you really don't need to concern yourself with me."
"...!"
He abruptly turned his head away.
He didn't say another word until we entered a village in the grand duchy.
******
We finally arrived at one of the grand duchy's villages.
My original plan had been to inspect the territory, determine whether it had the resources to manufacture clocks, and show everyone what a harmonious couple Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Richard made.
But instead of accomplishing any of those things, I found myself completely dumbfounded.
"Are you seriously telling me... this is the busiest commercial district in the entire grand duchy?"
Until now, I'd spent all my time inside the Grand Duke's residence, estimating the territory's financial difficulties from numbers in reports.
Seeing the village for myself was an entirely different matter.
It was far worse than I'd imagined.
The fields were covered in reddish soil, with only sparse patches of crops growing from the barren ground. Even the street supposedly serving as the territory's busiest shopping district was desolate, with many of its stores shuttered.
Worse still, the streets were so deserted that I couldn't spot a single living soul. It was enough to make me wonder whether anyone lived here at all.
"It wasn't nearly this bad just a few months ago..."
Victor, who had accompanied us as an escort, glanced uneasily at the Grand Duke before whispering to me in a somber voice.
I surveyed our surroundings with concern and let out a quiet sigh.
"It must be because His Grace's assets were confiscated after the incident."
According to the territorial reports I'd received from Albert, the butler at the Grand Duke's residence, the grand duchy's land was so infertile that Benedict had routinely used his personal fortune in the capital to provide financial assistance to its residents.
But ever since his assets were confiscated following the murder accusation, those subsidies had stopped.
Naturally, the people's circumstances must have grown even worse.
Just then, I spotted two people trudging toward us from down the street. They appeared to be a father and his young son.
Delighted to finally encounter some residents, I approached them.
"Hello!"
"Eek!"
The man caught sight of us and let out a shrill cry of alarm.
At the same moment, the little boy looked at the Grand Duke and suddenly burst into tears.
"It's the monster! The monster who kills people! Waaaah!"
The Grand Duke faltered at the child's words.
The father's face instantly drained of color.
"Y-Y-Your G-Grace! I-I've committed a terrible offense! P-Please forgive me!"
He threw himself flat on the ground, bowing his head and begging for mercy.
If anything, his excessive reaction left me even more bewildered.
"It's just a child's mistake. You really don't have to—"
"P-Please spare our lives!"
"..."
The man looked genuinely terrified.
He seemed convinced that the murderous Grand Duke might draw his sword and cut him down at any moment.
Feeling strangely embarrassed on Benedict's behalf, I stole a glance at him.
His face had gone rigid.
"Oh, goodness! What's going to happen to Mr. Smith and little Thomas...?"
"Sh-shut up! If you upset His Grace, h-he might kill us!"
I flinched at the faint whispers coming from a dark alley and turned toward them.
Only then did I begin to understand why the streets had seemed so deserted.
It's not that nobody lives here... They're all hiding.
According to the original novel, Grand Duke Richard had a terrible reputation throughout the Empire.
He was a villain, after all.
But seeing that reputation's effects with my own eyes made the situation seem far more serious than the novel's descriptions had suggested.
I can understand why other people might fear him, but why would his own people...?
I frowned at the question.
After all, Benedict had been spending his own money to help the residents of his territory all this time.
Then, all at once, the details of twenty years' worth of territorial reports flashed through my mind.
It's missing! There's nothing there!
My mouth fell open before I knew it.
Now that I thought about it, one essential expense had been completely absent from the accounts.
Advertising and publicity.
And that wasn't all. There wasn't a single record of the Grand Duke's residence hosting a social event since he'd taken possession of the territory.
Which meant the residents had absolutely no idea how much their lord had been doing for them.
Worse, he'd never once organized a major event that might have generated additional income for the locals. If anything, their dissatisfaction with him had probably only grown.
And, of course, he'd earned himself a reputation for being unsociable in the process.
As a result, the Grand Duke they imagined was still the Battlefield Butcher.
Or simply a murderer.
Even the romantic love story the newspapers had been making such a fuss about might have seemed like an unwelcome spectacle to people struggling to make ends meet.
The Grand Duke continued staring at the father and son, his expression frozen.
The man trembled uncontrollably beneath his gaze.
"Y-Your Highness! I'll accept whatever punishment you see fit, but please, spare my son..."
"...There's nothing to worry about. You may go."
His voice was low and rough, almost as though the words had scraped their way out of his throat.
"Th-thank you!"
Relief flooded the man's face. He repeatedly wiped away his tears, keeping his head bowed so low that he could barely bring himself to look up.
The Grand Duke walked past him without another glance.
I cautiously raised my eyes to study Benedict's expression.
He didn't look particularly shaken, but something was different from usual.
The muscles of his jaw stood out as he clenched his teeth.
For some reason, the sight made my heart ache a little.
"They say he murdered the Crown Princess's father and threatened the judge into letting him go!"
The hushed accusation drifted toward us on the breeze from somewhere beyond a wall.
The Grand Duke must have heard it too.
His shoulders gave the faintest tremor.
Feeling sorry for him, I reached out and gently patted his shoulder before I even realized what I was doing.
"I'll make sure we catch the real murderer and clear up this misunderstanding. So please don't let it bother you."
I quietly brushed my hair back.
Although the Grand Duke had been released, people still feared him and refused to believe him.
And if even the residents of his own territory felt that way...
It certainly wouldn't help us secure a Not Guilty verdict.
Now this is a situation that calls for a real strategy.
My mind made up, I clenched my fist.
******
As soon as we returned to the Grand Duke's residence, I shut myself away in the library.
My first task was to reproduce the blueprints I'd memorized, transferring them from my mind onto paper.
Developing a strategy to rehabilitate the Grand Duke's public image was an additional priority.
But several days passed after our return from the Kingdom of Grace without any substantial instructions from me, and people began looking at me with suspicion.
"Don't you think Her Highness's idea is a little too far-fetched?"
"I really don't know whether a territory with absolutely no technical expertise can support a clockmaking business."
Several people had their doubts about my proposal.
Albert, in particular, kept giving me skeptical looks whenever I passed through the library.
In fact, he'd made his displeasure with me quite obvious ever since the day I'd pointed out the problems in the territorial reports.
But I had a plan.
A few days later, I'd finally devised the perfect strategy.
I summoned everyone to the Grand Duke's office.
"It's finally finished."