“…But, you—haven’t you slept with him already?”

Vivian’s eyes grew wide—incredibly shocked by his words.

“How… how could you even know that?”

“That’s precisely because I am his chief physician.”

Just as though everything that transpired in bed was suddenly disclosed in detail, Vivian’s face immediately dyed in crimson red.

“…Then, are you going to expose my secret?”

“Nah. I won’t—for now.”

“For now?”

The physician smirked when he heard the questioning tone in Vivian’s words.

“Well, that’s because you haven’t brought any harm to the Grand Duke. Besides, the Grand Duke’s mood seems to be getting better ever since he met you. So, you can just think that I’ll be keeping this as a secret.”

The physician spoke as if the whole thing was rather interesting before closing his lips.

“Ah! Of course, there’s but one condition.”

“Condition?”

“Rather than the Grand Duke, how about me instead? After we met previously, you always seem to haunt my mind.”

“Are you mocking me right now?”

“I’m not.”

He gave a slight shrug before touching her hair that was dangling smoothly under the hat. That bright, red locks of hair. Then, could this be not her real hair as well?

“I’ve never thought deeply about this until now, but today—I finally became sure of it.”

His green eyes glowed as he spoke.

“I like you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Vivian’s eyes instantly narrowed.

Has this person in front of me finally lost his mind? In contrast to Vivian, who was being fairly serious, the physician was behaving rather irritatingly, which seemed already enough to distort her feelings.

“Oh my, perhaps you couldn’t hear it due to your fever? Then, once again—”

“No, there’s no need to repeat. I did hear it—crystal clear. Are you kidding me right now? Do you see me as an easy woman since I’ve already slept with the Grand Duke?”

“No kidding. I meant what I’ve just said.”

The physician continued to shrug his shoulder.

His casual attitude had made Vivian’s face turn cold immediately as usual. It was up to the point that she even wanted to rip off all of the bandages that were once applied by him right at that instant.

However, as Vivian was quite conscious of others’ peering gazes, she endured it albeit barely. It was due to the fact that people could still see them, even if they couldn’t make out the things which they said. Vivian just didn’t want to be nitpicked any more than this.

As soon as Vivian drew some steps back with wariness in her eyes, the physician instantly let out a sigh.

“Okay. I’ll retract my confession for now because you seem to hate it so much. Then again, I’d like to propose to you yet another condition.”

Seeing how Vivian glared him back instead of answering, the physician shrugged his shoulders once again. As if he was trying to pacify Vivian, who seemed so much like an aggressive cat, he reached out his hand.

“I’d like to know you better.”

“I refuse.”

Vivian coldly refused the physician’s outstretched hand whose intent was clearly being displayed.

“Huh, why?”

“Because I can see through your obviously impure intent.”

“You’re the first person to ever say the word impure towards this transparent me.”

What the hell does this person want to do with me? She couldn’t discern any meaning from the physician’s trivial words.

At first, she thought that he had only wanted to take advantage of her weakness, but now, it didn’t seem to be like that at all.

“If there’s nothing else you’d like to say, I’ll be taking my leave then.”

“No way. Isn’t there a lot more things left for us to talk about? Ah, there’s the issue of your own identity as well.”

“…you—really.”

I can’t let my guard down at all. Why was I discovered by this kind of person? It might be better to get caught by someone who’d ask for money, or even valuables—instead of this person.

Vivian tried to hide her throbbing head by pressing on her hat tightly before heaving out a deep breath.

“Haha. I’ll honor my promise to keep your secret. But, it’d also be better for you to follow my words as well.”

She ended up nodding at the physician’s words. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing that she could do as of now except to nod her head in agreement all the while by saying; ‘I understand’.