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Chapter 5
Maddy calmly organized Yulikyan’s requests and wrote them down on the paper.
1. Marry as lavishly as possible.
2. Act sickeningly sweet and lovey-dovey in public.
(Yul: Do you really have to write ‘sickeningly sweet’? Can’t you use any other expression?)
(Maddy: Sickeningly sweet is sickeningly sweet, what else would it be? And what makes Your Highness the Grand Duke so high and mighty to talk like that… Ah. Never mind, it’s your birth that’s high and mighty.)
3. Consistently act immoral and lacking in common sense.
4. Immediately after the wedding, Yulikyan will pay Maddy an advance of 100 million. Additionally, living expenses will be provided sufficiently every month, and after 3 years, 1 billion Dillons will be paid to Maddy.
5. Absolutely no physical contact except in special circumstances where people are watching.
6. The above contract terms are valid only if both Yulikyan and Maddy survive safely until the end of the 3 years.
※ Maddy will do her best to protect Yulikyan.
Maddy stared blankly at the contract, which contained the most peculiar requests she had ever received, and then looked up.
“Why are you doing something like this? And with me, of all people. Looking at the conditions, they’re really strange. ‘Consistently act immoral and lacking in common sense’?”
Yulikyan, who had been standing with his back against the wall because the chair was broken, irritably brushed back his drooping bangs.
His straight eyebrows and somewhat sharp-looking eyes were revealed.
“It’s the same purpose as what you said anyway. Protecting me.”
“…Ah.”
“So you understand? You’re quicker on the uptake than I thought.”
Maddy twirled her pen as dexterously as she had twirled the knife a few minutes ago, and muttered.
“So the Emperor sends assassins to nip any potential sprouts that could become the next emperor in the bud, and that’s why you’re wrapping yourself up like trash. To not look like a promising sprout. And I’m that trash wrapper.”
Yulikyan was about to get angry at Maddy’s expression ‘nipping the bud’ to describe the Emperor sending assassins after him, but he held his tongue when she called herself a ‘trash wrapper.’
‘Judging by her perceptiveness and way of speaking, she doesn’t seem to have a bad head on her shoulders, and she’s pretty good with her body too, so why is she stuck in a slum like this? Just gambling away her days?’
A thread of doubt grew in Yulikyan’s mind.
“Hey. With your skills, you could easily get a job as a personal bodyguard for a noble. So why do you live in a slum like this, cleaning up after others?”
“Goodness. How can you say something so crude to the person you’ve promised to marry?”
Maddy played dumb, but when Yulikyan just stood silently, she finally answered.
“I don’t know. I don’t have any memories, but for some reason, I hate being tied down. I hate belonging to someone else.”
“Fix that first.”
“What?”
“Talking informally to me. What will people think? Now that we’re engaged.”
“They’ll think I’m a bitch with no manners or common sense.”
“Exactly, so you’re ruining my reputa—”
“Wasn’t that the point of this contract marriage with me? We’re pulling a scam on the entire nation, so we can’t afford to be sloppy, honey.”
He had nothing to say.
“Still, drop that title.”
“What? ‘Honey’? If you don’t like ‘honey,’ how about just ‘hon’? Hon? Don’t like it? How about ‘darling’? Sweetheart? My love? My dear?”
“…I understand you’re trying to ruin my reputation, but have some moderation. I have my own preferences too. At the very least, people need to be convinced that I fell for you.”
“Oh, yes sir! Understood, customer.”
Maddy added a 7th clause to the contract.
—
7. Moderate mischief.
—
“That’s it, right?”
Just as Maddy was about to sign, Yulikyan walked over to the table and blocked her.
“Add one more.”
“What?”
Yulikyan took the pen from Maddy and wrote down an 8th clause.
His handwriting was neat and clean, a stark contrast to Maddy’s scribbles.
—
8. No running away, regardless of any insult or threat.
If the contract term is not fulfilled, a penalty of ten times the amount Yulikyan has paid to Maddy will be charged.
—
After reading the final condition, Maddy chuckled and opened her mouth.
“How can you make such a sweet request—’please stay by my side and don’t die’—sound so terrifying?”
“…I want to safely complete the 3 years just as much as you do.”
“If you’re that worried, write this down too.”
—
9. Both parties will make an effort to survive during the contract term.
—
After writing one more copy of the same contract, Yulikyan signed it.
Maddy’s signature, with only her own name written elegantly, was placed beneath Yulikyan’s name.
“So when’s the wedding?”
Yulikyan thought for a moment, then answered Maddy.
“I’ll propose first. Loudly and publicly.”
Maddy’s eyes widened, and after hearing Yulikyan’s plan, she laughed heartily and nodded.
“Are you good at acting? I’m confident in myself.”
“I’ve lived as a scoundrel for 10 years. Don’t worry.”
“You’re not that good at it. It’s so obvious.”
“…We’ll see how good you are.”
“First, you need to change how you address me. It’s Maddy. Are you going to keep calling me ‘hey,’ ‘you,’ and ‘that person’ until the end?”
“…Fine. Maddy.”
It was a more compliant answer than expected.
Maddy thought her future groom, despite being sensitive, had a rather naive personality.
“You don’t need me to walk you back, right?”
“…At least show me how to get out of here. This place is too secluded.”
Maddy laughed out loud and rather noisily escorted Yulikyan to the entrance of the slums.
Only after returning home did Yulikyan realize that the platinum watch he had worn was missing.
He was briefly flustered, but then thought of it as a wedding gift, and his mind was at ease.
If this matter made the Emperor take his eyes off him, he could go through with even a marriage.
—
* * *
—
His Highness the Grand Duke had always left the mansion wearing whatever clothes he could find, without even properly combing his hair.
But today, His Highness was a little different.
The servants were running around the mansion frantically, asking each other questions.
“Why is His Highness acting like that?”
“I don’t know, neither do I!”
“Is that jacket the one? Take it with these shoes!”
“He said he didn’t like the maroon one earlier!”
“That was because of the perforated detailing. This one is neat, so you never know!”
“Oh dear, really. He’s never been so picky before, why the sudden fuss?”
“Is he meeting someone important?”
The servants’ guess was exactly right.
Yulikyan neatly swept back his silver hair and put on a matching dark navy suit.
He had polished his shoes so thoroughly that the toes reflected the sunlight.
The carriage carrying Yulikyan traveled far, leaving the city behind.
On the way, he stopped at a market and bought a large bouquet. The carriage was so filled with the scent of flowers that it was giving him a headache.
“We have arrived.”
Upon hearing the coachman’s voice, Yulikyan let out a loud, nervous sigh.
A flicker of confusion passed over the coachman’s face as he opened the door, wondering why His Highness had dressed up so finely to come to such a slum.
Pretending not to notice the coachman’s gaze, Yulikyan stepped out of the carriage and, with a look of anticipation, said to him.
“Wait for me. On the way back, there will be two of us.”
“P-pardon?”
Leaving the confused coachman behind, Yulikyan strode forward with his long legs.
As soon as the vagrants noticed the nobleman dressed so flashily, reeking of money, they began to slowly approach him, begging.
They had agreed to meet at the entrance of this alley, but Maddy was nowhere to be seen.
A thought crossed Yulikyan’s mind—had she chickened out?
He didn’t have the courage to go back to Maddy’s ‘office,’ which was in such a secluded corner.
As he stood there, stepping on the muddy ground with a slightly annoyed and baffled look, a woman came running from afar, her brown hair adorned with wildflowers here and there.
Thanks to being told in advance that he would propose, Maddy was wearing the neatest clothes he had ever seen on her.
It was a dark navy dress that showed signs of age but didn’t look shabbily worn.
Sunlight poured brilliantly onto Maddy’s face.
Beneath her eyes, which resembled an emerald sea, her plump red lips curved into a graceful arc.
“Darling!”
“…Da-uh?”
Flustered, Yulikyan missed the timing to hand over the bouquet and stood there blankly for a moment.
He had planned to say the line, ‘Maddy. From the moment I first saw you, I have dreamed of a future with you.’
But ‘Darling’?
She must have forgotten the ‘Moderate mischief’ clause.
Or perhaps her definition of ‘moderate’ differed greatly from his.
Regardless, Maddy, running towards him with a bright face, looked exactly like an innocent country girl in love.
Her eyes were completely different from what he had seen in the tavern or the office.
“Huff, huff. Yulikyan. You came all the way here again today? You always come to see me, but huff. I wanted to come to you today.”
Breathing heavily as if out of breath, Maddy waited for Yulikyan’s answer with an excited look.
But Yulikyan just stood there stiffly, without saying a word.
Her vivid expression, her rosy cheeks as if she were truly in love, the yellow wildflowers adorning her hair, the stray strands of hair, and the beads of sweat on her forehead from running to see him.
It all seemed so real that Yulikyan almost forgot it was an act.
“Is that for me?”
“…Yes.”
He had said he would use formal speech since he would be treating her as a fiancée.
He had forgotten that too.
Maddy took the bouquet Yulikyan dazedly held out, her lips curling into a wide smile.
Her round cheeks puffed up.
“…Thank you. I’ve never received such a big, fresh bouquet before.”
Slowly smelling the flowers, Maddy’s neck and earlobes flushed a deep red.
“Thanks to Your Highness, I’m experiencing so many things for the first time… Thank you.”
Maddy briefly looked up at him, her eyes glistening, then quickly lowered them. Her eyes were so red they looked like they were about to shed tears of emotion.
For some reason, Yulikyan felt embarrassed too.
Yulikyan quickly came to his senses, leaned down to Maddy, and whispered quietly.
“Hey. You haven’t forgotten this is all an act, have you? Get a hold of yourself.”
Maddy’s eyes widened, and she covered her right ear, the one Yulikyan had whispered into, and lowered her head.
Her face flushed even more, as if it were on fire.
Maddy lightly tapped Yulikyan’s arm and smiled, her eyes crinkling beautifully.
“…There are so many people around, yet you say such things. Honestly. I can’t live.”
It was only when Maddy fanned her face with her hand that Yulikyan realized.
That this woman had been acting from the moment she stepped into the alley.
It wasn’t Maddy who needed to get a hold of herself—it was Yulikyan.
