"A divorce?" He looked at me confused.

I covered my mouth and wanted to slap my face for this wasn't the right time to open it up. The moment wasn't right. I wanted to tell him it was just a joke, but what if I open it up in the future? Wouldn't that make him think that I just joking again? So, in the end, I come up with a conclusion to say it now. I don't care about the moment anymore. It's now or never.

"Yes, a divorce," I repeated, but this time with certainty.

He put down the papers at the near table and he walks towards me. This time, I couldn't read his expression. I couldn't be so sure if he was angry or sad or something. It's just a normal-looking Grand Duke face in front of me. He was now sitting beside the bed and looked me straight in the eyes. He was gazing at it as if he was checking if I was joking or not. I stared back and didn't blink an inch. 

"If you wish to divorce me, then so be it." He said. My face lit up and wasn't expecting his direct answer. Well, that was easy.

"But, there's a problem though." He added, my face fell.

"The contract that we had was bound by a spell. It can't be undone unless one of us dies." He said seriously showing me a mark on his wrist which was a star-shaped scar. I checked on mine but it wasn't there. He pointed at the back of my shoulder and I checked it through a mirror that he gave me. There it was, a star-shaped scar which is identical to his.

I was trying to hold back my scream of frustration that I almost pulled my hair out too. A spellbound contract?! SERIOUSLY SOPHIA, YOU NEVER MENTIONED THAT? Or put it in your journal?!

"How will I know that you're not lying to me?" I asked him, praying that he was joking.

"You may have forgotten it but you have a copy of that contract." He said with arms folded.

I frowned at what he said because, after all this time, I couldn't find the contract. It wasn't in her room nor the secret chest filled with her stuff. "What is the content of the contract that I need to fulfill for us to have a divorce?" I was waiting for him to answer but he was kind of hesitant to reply. But he sighed and said; "An heir, I need a son."

I was kind of expecting that he needed an heir, but the problem was how to create an heir. That concerns me because I died a virgin in my past life. Being intimate is the last thing I'd want to do in Sophie's body, especially to this man that I just met a few days ago. Even though Sophie originally loved this man, I don't. If I want to be intimate with someone, it has to be someone I love.

"But, there has to be another way we could have an heir. Let's adopt a child!" I tried my best to think of some alternative solution to this problem of mine.

"No, it's also stated our very own flesh and blood." He said as he crossed his legs in front of me. He returned to reading his papers as I was thinking of another solution.

After minutes of thinking, a sudden thought came up to me. It was a procedure done in my past life, but with the presence of magic in this world I think it can be done. Even though the technology here is not yet advanced, it can be done with the help of their magic. I turned at him and he gazed back at me. I looked at him with enthusiasm because I certainly thought this would be the best solution.

"How about surrogacy?"

"Surrogacy? What is that?" his brows furrowed as he never knew what that word meant.

"A method of giving birth to our flesh and blood. It just needs an ovary egg from mine, then a sperm from yours. With a little help with magic, we can preserve both and have surrogacy! And no sexual intercourse required."

He was looking at me like I was some kind of weirdo spouting nonsense. This time, he pinched the bridge of his nose and somewhat looked frustrated with my answer. 

He sighed deeper and said; "Do you hate me so much that you came up with a concept that hasn't been done before? Or do you hate to have intercourse with me?"

"Oh my god, don't say it like that, Your Grace." I covered my face with my hair for I was blushing due to embarrassment. I wasn't ready for this kind of conversation. My virgin self couldn't take it. I'm sorry but I'm still slightly innocent when it comes to this. It's not that I'm not open-minded, it's just that I find it awkward talking about it with the opposite sex.

He leaned towards me and was checking my face, "Then, what is then? What is the reason you hate it so? Do I not satisfy you with my - -" I covered his mouth before he could continue his sentence. It was all too much for me to take in. AND I CERTAINLY DON'T WANT TO HEAR WHAT HE WAS GOING TO SAY. TMI.

"Stop it, Your Grace. It's not what you think it is!" I shrieked.

I heard him trying to speak but all I could hear was his muffled voice. I removed my hands and he said; "What is it then? What's your reason?"

Well, I couldn't certainly say that 'I am not Sophie, I am still a virgin so being intimate with you is a bit awkward especially since you're a stranger to me.' If only I could, then I would say it like that. I tried to think for a moment and I pushed his face away from mine because he was basically near my face. He leaned back in his seat and folded his arms in front of me. He was waiting for my answer.

"I have lost my memories, you know that, so casually speaking about intercourse without me remembering any of it is somehow a bit embarrassing and new to me. And because I can't even remember anything, it made you look like a stranger to me." that's all I could ever come up with. I certainly hoped he would take my bait of excuse and carry on with it.

"So you're saying you don't remember any of it? As in nothing of any sort?" he asked again.

I nodded and I knew my face was red as a tomato for I had no idea this conversation would lead to this. I'm a virgin in my previous life but I'm not ignorant about sex. I know how it works but I have no experience of it. I saw some pornography but I just didn't experience it for I was busy with my stories. You could say I'm still a baby in this kind of thing. And also, why the heck are they having intercourse at such a young age?! Is this normal in their world?! Oh wait, it is normal even in our world during historical times. Why did I even reincarnate in this kind of world?

"Fine, I'll respect your decision. I will not touch you until you are ready to. But I will not allow your request for divorce until you fulfill your duties as a Grand Duchess." he said. I nodded and felt relief that he was considerate of my feelings for now. He rubbed his chin and kind of thought something.

"But don't you remember, we do it every week before, Grand Duchess," he said.

"I beg your pardon? Every week?!" my eyes widened and my mouth gaped at what he just said. He just nodded nonchalantly and I swear he was teasing me this time. His lips curled up slightly as he was enjoying the sight of me being surprised and embarrassed.

I narrowed my eyes, pointed at him, and said; "You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I am not kidding you. We do it every week because I was busy, but if I wasn't we could do it every night. Do you certainly not remember anything? Try thinking about it again, maybe it will come." he said again with a sly smile.

I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him, but he dodged it; "Stop it, Your Grace. Don't make me hate you even more. I swear to the gods of this world, if you're planning to do it every day I'm going to resent you."

"Then, what do you want me to do? It's our marital duties." he chuckled.

"You know these marital duties you speak of, it needs intimacy between the pair. So, I don't think this will work if both of us don't even love each other."

This time, he paused for a moment and folded his arms again. He looked at me seriously and said; "Love? Do you need me to love you just for us to have intercourse? Or is that what you want?"

"I don't think this is going anywhere, Your Grace. You may take your leave now, Grand Duke. Goodbye, see you tomorrow." I said and covered myself with the blanket. I waited for the sound of the door to be closed but when I peeked out, he was still there sitting beside the bed.

"Why aren't you leaving yet, Your Grace?" I asked him.

He looked puzzled and said; "Why would I leave my room?"

I looked around the room and realized, it wasn't my room. No wonder the bed was big and the mattress was so soft that I could almost sink in it. I was even more surprised that I was in his room. Why am I in his room? I don't remember anything. I immediately stood up and tried to run away but the Grand Duke immediately grabbed my waist and tossed me back to his bed.

"What the hell are you doing, Your Grace?!" I yelled.

"Where are you going? We were still talking about our marital duties. Why are you running away?" he said as he trapped me in his arms. I struggled to break free for he was strong. He waited for me to stop struggling and I did. Then, he released his grip. I sat down on his bed and looked at him angrily.

"I wasn't running away, I was going back to my room," I replied. I stood up again but he grabbed my wrist and said; "Your room? This is OUR ROOM now."

"What did you say?" A frown painted across my face as the thought of sharing rooms with the Grand Duke was a good idea.

"From now on, this is now our bed chamber. We should sleep here together especially now that there's a lot of people wanting to kill you." He said as he patted his bed with his other hand.

I removed my hands from him and asked him seriously; "What do you mean by that, Your Grace?"

He sat up straight and looked at me with his golden eyes. "That man on the inn, he tried to kill you, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did."

"He mentioned the 'CRAIGS', right?"

I felt a chill when he mentioned that name. I never told anyone about the encounter at the inn. I was so preoccupied with the bullying issue that I almost forgot about it. That's right, the CRAIGS. I still have no clue why are they after Sophie and why they tried to kill her.

"How did you know that? I never told anyone about that."

He stood up and retrieved the papers he had read earlier, he gave them to me and I looked at him in confusion.

"Because I knew who they were. CRAIGS is not a person, it's an organization. It is a group of people that aim for a certain goal; to revive black magic. They've been targeting you ever since they knew you woke up."

"Why?" I asked as I flipped through the pages. It was about the poison that was in the dagger. Doctor Dom was researching its components and found out that it was a venom instead of a potion. I was amazed at how organized and categorized his research was. I looked back at the Grand Duke and waited for him to answer my question. He shook his head and replied; "My apologies, but I don't know. I'm still investigating it. But your assistant, Reagan, I think he knew why."

"I've been searching for him and finding ways to talk to him but I don't know where he is."

"There's been a sighting of him. One of my spies saw him in an auction hive in the black market. He was searching for something. We tried to capture him but he escaped."

I felt happy but disappointed at the same time. I thought we could find him and he could answer all my questions. There's a lot of mystery to Sophie's life. If only I could unlock her memories faster, I could leave this place in peace.

"It's better for you to stay beside me at all times so that I can protect you. So, I suggest you endure this situation for a moment until we find a way to stop the CRAIGS." he walked to the other side of the room and hid in a partition. Then, his clothes were hung on the partition wall. I looked away for he was changing his clothes. I should be getting used to him by now if were to be living in this same room every freaking day.

"You wouldn't touch me or anything, would you?" I said with a nervous laugh.

"I'm not going to touch you nor even have intercourse with you without your consent," he said, this time he was already at the other side of the bed all dressed up to sleep. I looked at him and saw his long silver hair flowing gracefully to his broad shoulders. He was dressed modestly, thank goodness. I thought he was going to sleep half-naked. I wouldn't want that.

He lay down on his bed and then patted the other side, gesturing at me to sleep beside him.

"Good, now fetch me more pillows, Your Grace."

"Are you ordering me, Grand Duchess? And whatever is it for anyway?"

"I need to make a barricade, just in case."

He rolled his eyes and summoned some maids to fetch a bunch of pillows. As it arrived, I immediately arranged them into a wall between us. He just chuckled at my creation and lay down on the other side of the bed. I was proud of my barricade and I snuggled to sleep on my side of the bed.

"Grand Duchess, wake up. It's time to go to the Arch Tower." I heard a faint voice whispering in my ears. I waved my hands on my ears as if I were swatting a fly. Its whisper felt like a buzzing fly in my ears. It tickles. I hugged the nearest pillow that was beside me and realized it was quite hard but warm. It wasn't soft like the others. But still, it was nice to hug it. It was warm and somehow fragrant. I snuggled on the pillow and continued to sleep. Then I felt the pillow move and somehow a vibration came out from it with the sound of a chuckle. A deep familiar chuckle. The way of how fast I opened my eyes when I realized what was happening and then what greeted me was the Grand Duke's chest. I immediately removed my arms away from him and stood up as far as I could.

"Why are you hugging me? And why is my barricade removed? And why is your chest showing?!" I gestured at the area of my barricade which was now gone. He placed his hands on his head as a support and looked at me with a smile.

"First of all, you were the one who hugged me. Second, the barricades that you speak of, you removed them during your sleep. Look at the floor and see it to yourself." He pointed at the floor.

I looked down and saw the pillows on the ground. All of them were on the side of my bed. I was left defeated. He won in this round. I sat back on his bed and sighed in disbelief. I could not have expected that the first day was already like this than I ever imagined. This is not going to work for both of us. This Grand Duke was making fun of me and always teased me like were friends. I just wanna punch this man one time to let out my frustration. But I can't do that, I don't wanna die yet.

"You know, you're so active in your sleep. You always move that you almost fell from the bed earlier. That's why I have to pull you closer to the middle." The Grand Duke whispered in my ear. I covered my ears and stood up so fast again.

"My apologies, Your Grace. It won't happen again." I bowed and gripped my fist.

"What would not happen again, Grand Duchess? You moving in your sleep or you cuddling me during your sleep?" he said teasingly. This sly man is toying with me.

"All of it, Your Grace!" I left the room with a red face and I heard him laugh as I walked away.