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Chapter 6
‘The moment I touched her—’
A moment when he wished the fleeting instant could last forever.
Just recalling it made his breath momentarily rough. Letting it out softly, the Duke closed his eyes gently.
“……”
“My lord, you must remain vigilant.”
A young lady from a rival house.
A sudden, groundbreaking treatment proposal.
Suspicious no matter how you look at it.
‘She looks suspicious, doesn’t she.’
It was only natural for the aide loyal to the Ducal House to be wary.
That’s what the Duke thought, and yet…
“W-Would it be possible to consider this positively? T-The ‘marriage proposal,’ I mean…”
As soon as he thought of her, those perfectly reasonable doubts would vanish.
Before those trembling eyes, he simply couldn’t raise the sharp thorns of suspicion and caution.
“No interrogation is necessary.”
“Pardon? My lord, but…”
Interrogation?
Her skin looked like it shouldn’t even touch rough leather, let alone blades—
The Duke suddenly realized his thoughts were drifting somewhere strange and gave his head a shake.
“I’ll keep an eye on her myself.”
“Ah, yes! If you’re personally monitoring her, my lord, then surely nothing will happen!”
Monitoring… Not that he denied the necessity.
But the girl he saw in person didn’t seem like someone who could harm anyone.
‘Even the first time I saw her…’
The Duke was aware that this irrational trust kept rising in him, but he made no effort to erase it.
“She’s my responsibility. Don’t interfere.”
“Yes, my lord!”
Having drawn a firm line, the Duke turned back to his documents.
But ever since earlier, he hadn’t been able to focus—his mind kept replaying one particular face.
“Please marry me for just one year!”
As if bracing for something terrible, her eyes tightly shut.
Recalling her face as she curled up like a trembling rabbit, the Duke chuckled.
Contrary to Eblin’s expectations, the Duke had been thinking deeply about her.
He kept recalling the same scene until a small detail caught his attention.
“To others, it probably looks like I’m the beloved youngest daughter of my family.”
‘To others,’ she said…
Which meant the opposite was true.
In other words, she was actually being mistreated in her household.
‘To the point that she ran away and came to me, a virtual stranger.’
What had been festering in her heart all this time under the Sincere family’s false front?
He remembered the strained smile she forced when they first met.
The slightly trembling lips wouldn’t leave his mind.
“……”
As he quietly scanned through the documents, the Duke’s eyes landed on the word “Sincere,” and he unknowingly crumpled the paper in his hand.
“M-My lord? If the existing files aren’t satisfactory, shall I investigate and compile new ones?”
“Do that.”
Giving the order naturally, the Duke mentally recalled the information he already had on the Count of Sincere.
It had never held much importance to him before—but now it meant something very different.
‘To drive someone to such desperation…’
Remembering Eblin’s slightly pale face, he unconsciously clenched his hand into a fist.
A deep, bitter disgust churned in him for those who made her wear such an expression.
“Dig up everything on the Sincere family. Leave no stone unturned.”
“Yes, my lord!”
In the near future, the Sincere family would come to regret ever attracting the attention of Ivernum.
* * *
“Haaah!”
I stretched out with a yawn, loosening my stiff back.
“It’s already been a few days since I’ve been staying here.”
The fact that they hadn’t kicked me out yet probably meant things were going well, right?
“Contract marriages are practically a tradition for northern dukes, aren’t they~.”
Well, technically Ivernum was a duchy, not a grand duchy.
And the territory was more northeast than true north.
Still, humming a meaningless tune, I recalled the enjoyable stories of northern duke male leads from romantic fantasy novels.
Though I had no original plot knowledge or future foresight, the many fantasy romance novels I read in my past life gave me plenty of ideas.
‘Like proposing a ridiculous marriage contract with a duke just to break off a terrible engagement—something a typical noble lady couldn’t even dream of.’
This new world still had a rigid class system, so anyone raised in it would never even think of such things.
But my memories from my past life allowed for freer ideas, which had given me a lot of advantages.
Even though trying to use a “childcare novel” setting on people backfired badly…
‘Never making that mistake again.’
So I wouldn’t just assume this proposal to the Duke would go like a contract marriage from a fantasy novel.
I just offered him a deal that gave him merit too—if it succeeded, great. That’s all.
‘Hope, but don’t be overconfident.’
With that mindset, I organized my thoughts before they wandered too far.
No need for bad luck. Instead of worrying, I should plan for the future in case the Duke actually accepts.
‘Once the divorce is done, I need to start building my post-marriage life step by step.’
After becoming the Duke’s ex-wife, I wouldn’t be bound by so many restrictions.
Ironically, the noble society that judged unmarried noblewomen so harshly gave much more freedom to those who had been married—even if divorced.
They rarely expected women to want a divorce, so once it happened, they treated widowed or divorced noblewomen surprisingly warmly.
‘They treat unmarried people like they’re incomplete.’
In this unfair society, unmarried noblewomen had almost no decision-making power.
But once you shed that “unmarried” label and became a noblewoman—even divorced or widowed—you could be socially active and independent.
‘It’s such a bizarre structure.’
Grumbling internally about the unjust system, I wrote down everything I needed to do before the divorce, and what to start with after.
Tap tap.
I tapped my plan with my quill, checking for anything I missed—
‘Come to think of it… what’s my fake family doing right now?’
Their usually obedient daughter had stormed off the moment the engagement talk came up.
And I hadn’t returned to the mansion in days. I even made sure no one saw me come to the Duke’s estate.
So they probably had no idea where I was.
‘They might think I ran away from home?’
Even better.
While they’re still confused, I can finish everything and hit them with a proper betrayal.
‘Hmph. Think they’re the only ones who can stab backs?’
If my deal with the Duke goes well, I’ll expose all the shady dealings they’ve been hiding with the Second Prince’s faction.
‘You sure were happy to leech off me when it suited you, huh?’
Well, now I’ll strip you clean too.
Imagining the satisfying revenge in my head, I sat in the rocking chair I’d grown used to and swung my legs—when something outside caught my eye.
“Huh? What’s that?”
Rushing over, I opened the window.
A small weight flew right into my arms.
“Gugu!”
Coo coo coo—
Flapping its wings cheerfully, Gugu was my personal messenger pigeon.
Specially trained to find its designated recipient from anywhere.
‘Only a few people know how to contact me through Gugu…’
Hurriedly, I untied the message scroll from Gugu’s leg.
As I read the tightly rolled note, I felt my face freeze up.
* * *
From the grand main gate I built with my own hands to the hidden entrance, I knew every inch of the merchant guild’s headquarters.
And now, through a secret corridor not open to the public—
I met face to face with the person who had sent Gugu.
“Mitchell.”
“Master.”
Mitchell had helped me since the early days of the merchant guild’s founding and was one of my closest confidants—the few who knew how to use Gugu.
He ran straight over as soon as I arrived.
His face was full of unease and embarrassment.
‘Mitchell wouldn’t have contacted me unless it was really serious.’
I trusted him enough to share that method, and I even gave him a hint beforehand not to be surprised if I disappeared from the guild unexpectedly…
“You’re not just shocked I missed work. You sent Gugu, so it must be urgent.”
“Yes, just as you guessed.”
“What exactly is it?”
“Well…”
Mitchell’s face twisted in guilt. Just as he opened his mouth—
A loud crash rang through the walls.
“What was that? Something breaking?”
Some punk was making a scene in our headquarters?
Frowning, I saw Mitchell squeeze his eyes shut, as if bracing himself.
“Don’t tell me… the one causing trouble is…”
“M-Master!”
Just as I began to speak in a cold voice, already suspecting the answer—
Members of the guild burst through the secret corridor in a panic.
