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Chapter 5
After the Negotiation Ended
After quickly reaching an agreement, the two immediately drafted a prenuptial contract.
The contents were roughly as follows:
This contract certifies the premarital agreement between Party A and Party B. The agreed terms are listed below.
- Terms –
- Party A shall complete and submit the marriage registration documents with Party B to the government office, thereby guaranteeing Party B’s succession to the Barishart County title.
- During the execution of Clause 1, Party A and Party B shall legally become husband and wife. However, this is only a secondary effect accompanying the main purpose of this contract, therefore both parties are not required to fulfill the responsibilities or obligations normally expected in a standard marriage.
- Despite Clause 2, Party A and Party B are obligated to attend events or gatherings deemed necessary for the establishment and maintenance of their legal marital relationship.
- Party A and Party B shall make efforts to appear publicly as a harmonious married couple or an equivalent relationship.
- Party A and Party B shall treat each other with at least basic human consideration.
(omitted)
- Party A and Party B shall never reveal the contents of this contract to any outside party.
- In exchange for the completion of the marriage registration documents, Party B shall pay Party A 3,000,000 crovats.
- Any party who violates or fails to fulfill the terms of this contract must pay the other party compensation equal to twice the total contract amount (6,000,000 crovats).
As soon as the two copies of the contract were completed, Serenia picked up the fountain pen.
Then she immediately signed her name under the section marked <Party A>.
‘Party A.’
She thought it was a word that truly did not suit her at all.
For a brief moment, she worried about what would happen if she somehow ended up needing to pay six million crovats in damages.
But she quickly snorted at the thought.
‘There’s no way I’d be insane enough to break such a favorable deal.’
Thinking that, Serenia handed the signed contract over to the man.
“Here. It’s your turn now.”
Although he accepted the stack of papers obediently, the man did not sign immediately.
Worried that the deal might collapse at the very last moment, Serenia hurriedly added,
“It’s already late, so let’s finish signing quickly and part ways neatly. You need to get off work too, don’t you?”
But at those words, the man tilted his head with an even stranger expression than before, even pulling his eyebrows together slightly.
Serenia wondered if she had accidentally said something wrong and replayed her words in her head.
But nothing seemed particularly problematic.
‘Then did I maybe make some mistake while signing?’
With that thought, she stretched her neck slightly and secretly glanced at the contract in his hand.
But the signature seemed perfectly fine too.
No, more importantly, his gaze was not even directed at the contract.
His eyes were fixed on Serenia herself, sitting properly across from him.
Only then did Serenia notice the obvious stare directed at her.
Startled, she leaned back slightly and asked,
“W-Why? Is there some kind of problem?”
At her awkward question, he smiled crookedly and replied,
“Yes. I think there is a problem.”
“Huh? W-What is it…? Me? Or you?”
Watching her panic, his smile twisted even more as he continued,
“Ever since earlier until now, you’ve kept calling me ‘you.’”
At those words, Serenia’s shoulders stiffened.
Looking guilty, she tightly shut her mouth and quietly turned her head away.
In front of her, the man opened his mouth with an expression that somehow looked both hurt and amused.
“My lady.”
His soft voice was calm and quiet, yet strangely, it sounded incredibly loud to her.
As though it had reached her soul directly instead of passing through her ears.
The moment she realized that, a shiver ran down her spine.
Without meaning to, Serenia swallowed dryly.
Stepping even closer to her, he asked in a subtle voice,
“You… don’t remember, do you?”
“R-Remember what?”
Seeing her finally break into cold sweat, he leaned near her ear and whispered teasingly,
“My name.”
“…”
Serenia tightly shut her eyes.
‘Ah. I got caught…’
And just like that, the balance between them completely reversed.
Crossing his arms, he deliberately put on an offended expression.
Having nothing to say, Serenia lowered her eyes gloomily.
Looking at her, the man sighed dramatically on purpose.
“You’re really too much. Didn’t we clearly introduce ourselves in front of the bank?”
“…”
“And that’s not all, is it?”
He waved the contract in front of her face while raising his voice.
“The moment I sign under this <Party B> section, we’ll officially become engaged. And yet you’re saying you don’t even know my name?”
Serenia deeply realized she had absolutely no excuse and quietly lowered her head.
The man repeatedly let out disbelieving sighs before muttering to himself,
“Even if times have changed this much… how could someone propose to a person without even knowing their name? Seriously.”
Hearing that somehow, Serenia instantly widened her eyes and forgot her guilt.
“…Excuse me? P-Pro… proposal?”
“Honestly, it already bothered me that there wasn’t even a ring or bouquet.”
“W-What?”
“And now I find out you did it without even knowing my name. Incredible.”
Unable to tolerate the way he clicked his tongue at her with a face full of contempt, Serenia finally shouted,
“What do you mean proposal?! When did I ever do something like that?!”
“Oh? So now you’re denying it too?”
Seeing him act utterly shocked on purpose, Serenia could only stare blankly in disbelief.
Meanwhile, with his arms still crossed, he looked directly at her and asked,
“You suddenly proposed marriage, wrote a prenuptial contract, and now you’re saying it wasn’t a proposal? What kind of nonsense is that?”
“T-That may be true… but! What I did wasn’t some embarrassing romantic proposal! It was purely a business transaction!”
In truth, her intentions had not been pure at all.
Rather than business, it had been closer to extorting a social evil loan shark.
Still, Serenia defended herself stubbornly.
But the man calmly replied without even twitching an eyebrow.
“My lady. Even if what happened earlier was merely a ‘pure business transaction,’ it’s still a problem.”
“…What?”
“Where in the world does someone make a three-million-crovat deal with a person whose name they don’t even know?”
Serenia could not think of anything to say back.
Whether from frustration or embarrassment, her face gradually turned red.
Honestly, part of her felt wronged.
‘It’s not like he gave me a business card. He only casually mentioned his name once in passing.’
But what could she do?
Since she was guilty, the only option was to lower herself.
Carefully watching his expression, Serenia bowed her head deeply.
“I’m sorry. Really, truly. I apologize. I’m sorry.”
Then she slowly lifted her head again and continued carefully with an awkward smile.
“I promise I won’t forget it next time. So please just pretend not to notice and sign the contract. I’ll read your name myself afterward…”
Even at her almost pitiful request, the man merely tilted his head and replied,
“For free?”
“…What?”
While Serenia once again made a confused sound, he shamelessly continued,
“As I mentioned earlier, I’m very strict with calculations. If I’m going to pretend not to notice what happened, I’ll need compensation.”
Serenia forced herself to suppress the fist that almost flew forward and smiled through gritted teeth.
“Then what do you want? Would sending some apology gift make you feel better?”
“I was under the impression the count family had no money for that.”
“…”
A blue vein bulged at the side of Serenia’s smooth forehead.
The man happily admired her failed expression management for a while.
“So forget the gift.”
After a long pause, Serenia answered sullenly,
“Then what?”
At that, he smiled deeply and finally spoke.
“What you said earlier.”
“…Earlier?”
“Yes. Earlier, you said we should pretend you had completely fallen for me and willingly handed over your title and everything.”
The way he smiled brightly while saying that felt unbelievably ominous, making Serenia awkwardly trail off.
“Uh… I did say that… but… why…?”
To her, he replied with an extremely cheerful smile.
“Let’s make that our official story.”
