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Chapter 1 Prologue
“Kyaaaah!”
“Someone fell in!”
Shrill screams erupted from all around.
It was because someone had fallen from a precariously rocking boat in the middle of a deep lake.
“We have to save them!”
But although people stomped their feet in panic, no one dared step forward.
The lake was vast and deep enough to float a boat. No one wanted to risk their life by jumping in recklessly.
As time ticked by…
“Huh?”
“Who’s that over there?”
The flustered nobles belatedly noticed another small boat nearby—and a man aboard it.
Even from a distance, he had an overwhelmingly striking physique.
Tall, broad shoulders, and a sharply tapered waist formed a perfect inverted triangle that couldn’t be hidden by clothes.
Despite the emergency, the noble ladies couldn’t help but peek at him through their fingers.
With swift movements, the man began stripping off the clothes clinging to his body one by one.
The women watching forgot to breathe as they stared in a trance.
Splash!
Once he had shed all the cumbersome garments, the man jumped into the lake without hesitation.
The surface of the lake quickly calmed.
“Will he be okay?”
“We should still call for help, just in case!”
People anxiously stared at the lake, hoping the man wouldn’t meet the same fate and get swallowed up.
Losing a man with such a divine body would be a great loss to humanity.
How much time had passed?
Sputter!
The man surfaced, spitting out water.
And in his arms, he held the woman who had fallen in.
It was a scene so beautiful it seemed painted—a living masterpiece. The crowd gasped in awe.
With barely any effort, the man lifted the woman onto the boat and climbed in himself.
“No way…”
And when he lowered his head, seemingly to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation—
Squeals erupted as noble ladies looked like they were about to faint.
Meanwhile, inside the boat.
“Oh no, what do we do? Countess! Please wake up! You mustn’t die like this~!”
Unlike her wailing assistant, Lerazie looked not just calm but outright bored.
He looked down at the woman lying flat on her back, eyes closed, and spoke.
“Calliope Verdi.”
No response from Calliope.
Instead, the sobbing assistant abruptly stopped crying, glanced around, and whispered like a ventriloquist:
“You were told to do it properly, convincingly, flawlessly—without leaving a shred of doubt.”
Ha, Lerazie let out a dry laugh.
“Of course.”
He mocked, but obediently got into position—just enough to look like he was performing chest compressions.
In truth, he was pressing into one of the soft, plush cushions that had been lying around the boat.
Thump, thump, thump. With every dramatic push that looked like it might punch through the floor, the wet shirt clinging to his muscles rippled enticingly.
‘Is now a good time to wake up?’
Just as Calliope was calculating the perfect timing to stir, she happened to crack her eyes open—
Only to be met with an overwhelming, up-close view of a very naked, muscular torso in motion. She silently screamed.
‘What… did I just see?!’
Panicked, she quickly shut her eyes again—but it was too late. The image had burned into her mind, the afterimage even clearer in the darkness.
“How about you stop faking and just wake up?”
Lerazie’s voice dropped down from above. It was even lower than usual, adding a strange tension to the air.
Calliope said nothing. More accurately—she couldn’t say anything. It was the most scandalous sight in all of her twenty years of life.
Her face burned red with embarrassment.
“Ah, right. I was told to be convincing.”
Suddenly, Lerazie’s hands stopped moving.
As silence fell, Calliope involuntarily clenched her fists.
“Still, I didn’t think I’d have to give actual mouth-to-mouth.”
Mouth-to-mouth?! In an instant, Calliope’s mind snapped alert.
‘What the hell?!’
And of course, her eyes flew open.
“You’re awake.”
Lerazie’s face was now directly in front of hers.
If she had opened her eyes even a second later, their lips would’ve touched.
“Hey! Are you out of your mind?!”
She shoved at Lerazie’s chest with both hands and yelled.
But his upper body didn’t budge.
“Aren’t you supposed to be immersed in the role? Don’t you want to become the heir?”
Instead, he swiftly caught her hands and leaned in further, as if to trap her.
“You told me to do it properly. I’m doing exactly what you said. So what’s the problem?”
“I told you to pretend to rescue me, not to actually do CPR!”
“Ah, I figured maybe you had some hidden motive.”
“Motive?”
“Like using this as an excuse to finally kiss a man?”
…What the hell is wrong with this guy?
Did he get hit in the head with a frying pan or something?
“Want to keep spouting nonsense?”
When Calliope pushed him away again, Lerazie finally backed off.
“Even if I did want to kiss someone, it wouldn’t be you.”
“Well, that’s a problem.”
“What?”
“You’ve got a perfectly good fiancé, and yet you’re out here saying you’d kiss someone else? That’s cheating, you know.”
Lerazie flashed a flirtatious smile, his eyes sparkling like amber gemstones.
Calliope grabbed the back of her neck in frustration.
She was Calliope Verdi, the woman said to be able to make even birds fall from the sky with her name alone.
And now here she was, being subjected to this insane conversation with her lifelong nemesis.
This had definitely not been part of the plan.
Damn it!
