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Chapter: 1
Rattle…
Inside the dim carriage, lit only by the faint glow of lanterns outside.
Every time the carriage shook, Natalie jumped as if having a seizure.
The prince sat across from her, staring at her intently.
His sharp gaze was anything but ordinary.
But wasn’t this prince nicknamed “the Angel”? Natalie felt uneasy, yet she doubted anything truly dangerous would happen.
“Miss Daus, I’m merciful, so I’ll give you a choice.”
“A… a choice?”
As expected. There seemed to be a loophole to survive whatever this was. Natalie lifted her eyes, glancing at him.
“Yes. Two options.”
When their eyes met again, the prince smiled with a surprisingly gentle expression. For a moment, Natalie felt relieved.
“One option is to be eliminated the moment you step out of this carriage, and the other is to marry me.”
“…What are the options?”
Natalie twisted her face and asked. Although she was a country girl, as the daughter of a baron, she knew it was extremely insolent to question royalty. But this was a reflex she couldn’t suppress.
Fortunately, the prince didn’t reprimand her for her insolence.
“What can I do? You’ve overheard everything.”
In other words, since she had eavesdropped on his secrets, he was powerless.
“Personally, I’d recommend living as my wife for a year and then becoming a divorcee. As you’ve probably heard, my dream is to be a divorced man.”
The prince added this with a bright smile.
The words “So you want to get divorced with me now?” surged to Natalie’s throat. She couldn’t ask, fearing he would simply reply cheerfully, “Exactly.”
Death or marriage. Natalie realized she could never forgive herself for overhearing the prince’s secret. A sense of crisis burned her throat dry.
“…Please spare me.”
“Please spare me, please spare me,” she whimpered.
Her life had already been twisted beyond normalcy, but that didn’t mean she wanted to die at this age. Yet she couldn’t simply say, “Yes, then I choose marriage.”
She could understand that the prince dreamed of being a divorced man, but she had never once dreamed of becoming a divorcee. Divorce was, after all, extremely rare.
The prince looked pityingly.
“Of course, I’d like to spare you.”
Her eyes trembled with desperate hope, silently begging him to show more mercy.
“You weren’t originally my candidate for a bride.”
Natalie nodded vigorously, agreeing.
Yet the prince smiled slyly, once again betraying her expectations.
“But since you’ve overheard everything, what choice do I have?”
“But I really…”
“I don’t want unnecessary sacrifices, and with your background, you’re actually an excellent bride. I don’t even need to explain this plan twice, so it’s efficient.”
Natalie shook her head frantically, thinking this was all wrong.
“The more I think about it, there’s no one better than you to be my bride. What do you think?”
He whispered this to her—the girl clearly the worst candidate in society. Marry me, and then let’s get divorced.
“And I bet there’s no man like me for you either.”
Good grief. He must be insane. The prince was clearly a magnificent bomb wrapped in a beautiful shell. Natalie darted her eyes frantically left and right, searching for somewhere to dodge it.
“With me as your wife for a year, we could accomplish many things.”
As he said this, moonlight filtered through the clouds and partially illuminated his face.
His piercing blue eyes sparkled as if they understood everything about her.
“For instance…”
When he began, Natalie silently called his name in her heart and held her breath.
“The ruined reputation of you and your family, destroyed because you wrote that obscene novel.”
Ah. But the prince didn’t stop. He ruthlessly exposed Natalie’s shame.
“Once a reputation collapses, it’s hard to restore.”
Natalie wanted to hide anywhere, even jump out of the carriage.
“But as my wife, you could at least unblock the path to marriage for your younger sister who’s trapped, thanks to you.”
She let out an involuntary, thin breath. The face of her younger sister, whose marriage prospects were blocked because of her, filled her mind instantly.
If she could, she wished she could rewind time and live her life again. She had imagined countless times what could have happened if she had acted differently back then.
But the fairy godmother never actually did, so time kept flowing relentlessly.
The prince was speaking of miracles that seemed possible only for someone like a fairy godmother.
‘Even so… a contract marriage?’
How had it come to this? Natalie slowly traced the past in her overloaded mind. She knew it was useless now, but it was instinctive.
Three years ago. Spring.
The social season began in Drwan, the capital of the Grand Barten Kingdom.
For unmarried young ladies of marriageable age, the social season was akin to the battle of their lives.
From debutantes making their first appearance to ladies retrying after failing to secure a match the previous year, all of them approached Drwan with serious resolve.
Except for Natalie Daus and a few close friends.
“Miss Daus!”
Mary, the young but stern maid of the Hytton family, suddenly burst open the door, surprising the uninvited guest, Natalie.
“…Mm.”
“You must get up. A lady of dignity should be at breakfast on time.”
“Ah… Mary, I have such a terrible hangover. Just today…”
A dying voice came from the cocoon-like blanket pile.
Yesterday, Natalie had partied at a ball with her noble friend, Christina Dowie, until it ended. Naturally, Emily Hytton, her cousin and peer, who was likely sprawled in a similar state next door, had been with them.
The three girls were inseparable and perfectly in sync. This was likely one reason they were still unmarried.
“Pull yourself together, Miss Daus. No matter that you got home at 3 a.m. yesterday, missing breakfast won’t be tolerated by our mistress.”
As always!
Mary had a commanding voice. Thanks to it, Natalie’s hangover pain doubled, and she grimaced.
Their mistress was Mrs. Hytton, Natalie’s aunt. She was also Emily Hytton’s mother, who had stayed up drinking with Natalie until dawn.
Mrs. Hytton had married the eldest son of a wealthy physician family and owned prime property in Drwan. Anyone who loved the city would envy her.
Though her husband had no title, her background as the third daughter of a rural noble family made her quite successful.
Unsurprisingly, she was full of pride in her accomplishments and admiration for the life of a lady. Vanity and fussiness were added traits.
“Miss!”
And as they say, servants resemble their masters. Mary sharply urged Natalie again.
She wasn’t going to let Natalie off. As a last resort, she grabbed the blanket cocoon wrapping Natalie and yanked it off roughly, shouting. All her effort had strengthened her muscles.
“The ten o’clock bell will ring soon! Uphold the rules of Hytton Park as a proper lady!”
Hit unexpectedly by the fluttering blanket, Natalie almost vomited and hurriedly covered her mouth.
‘Hytton Park… rules… ridiculous.’
Still, she thought, one must follow the rules of the house she’s in, just like laws of the land.
Natalie was currently under the care of her aunt and uncle at their mansion, Hytton Park.
The mansion’s name was Mrs. Hytton’s whimsical invention; no one had called it that before. It was simply “the Hyttons’ house.”
Yet the mistress and staff seemed quite fond of the nickname and used it persistently among themselves.
Natalie yawned widely and stretched, thinking it was just a cute bit of pretension.
But to Mary, the hangover-stricken guest merely wriggling under a white sheet looked like a worm.
Even so, Natalie was, technically, a baron’s daughter—the only noble in the house. Even if she were a country girl from the southern outskirts, it didn’t change her status.
‘That troublemaker…!’
Mary could only grumble inwardly. As a proud servant of Hytton Park, the brazen girl staying with them every social season, yet seemingly indifferent about finding a husband, was an eyesore.
“Rules are rules. Even if you’ve spent three social seasons here.”
Finally, unable to suppress her irritation, Mary subtly vented it in her tone.
“…Fine. I’ll get up. Yes, the sacred rules of Hytton Park demand it. I’ll rise at once.”
Blinking at the sharp words, Natalie finally exaggerated a stretch and pretended to get up.
The strict Mary only moved briskly after confirming she had truly risen. She then drew back the thick curtains, revealing sunlight.
With a whoosh…, the room brightened instantly, revealing Natalie’s dark chestnut hair and eyes. Against her pale skin, her soft, round features appeared sharp and exotic.
Startled by the sunlight, Natalie grimaced reflexively.
Yet she didn’t complain. She understood the subtly cold attitudes of the mansion’s staff, and had always pretended not to notice.
‘Well, I guess I’d be annoying too,’ she thought.
Natalie had debuted in society two years ago; this was already her third season.
In other words, it was also her third time relying on her aunt’s house.
